JOHN OF APPLEBY

Ecclesiastical lawyer, dean of St. Paul's, London (1365–89) ; b. perhaps at Appleby, Westmorland, date unknown; d. between Sept. 24 and Oct. 1, 1389. A bachelor of civil law by 1349, he had a doctorate in this subject by 1359, possibly from Oxford. He was not John of Appleby, bachelor of civil law, Archdeacon of Carlisle (1364), and brother of Thomas, Bishop of Carlisle. He was active as a lawyer, and in 1361 the convent of Durham retained him as adviser, a position he held until his death. In 1363, while an advocate at the papal Curia, he obtained a reservation of the deanery of St. Paul's. Archbishops william wittlesey and simon of sudbury employed his services. He was present at the condemnation of John wyclif's doctrines at the Blackfriars' synod (London 1382). Twice in 1372 King Edward III used him on diplomatic missions; in 1389 he was a member of the famous court of chivalry that affirmed the right of Sir Richard le Scrope of Bolton to bear the arms "azure, a bend gold." He was a great pluralist. In his will he remembered the parish church and poor of Appleby and asked to be buried in St. Paul's cathedral.

Bibliography: North Country Wills, ed. j. w. clay, 2 v., Durham Surtees Society (Durham 1908–12) v. 2. a. b. emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500, 3 v. (Oxford 1957–59) 1:40–41. i. j. churchill, Canterbury Administration, 2 v. (New York 1933) 1:29 n., 501 n.; 2:3. j. leneve, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicannae 1300–1541 (1716) v.5.

[f. d. blackley]