Sir John Kendal, prior of St John, to Sir Robert Plumpton

117 Sir John Kendal, prior of St John,¹ to Sir Robert Plumpton 3 September
        [before 1501] (No. 143, p. 87)

Right worshipfull Sir, I comend me vnto you with all my hart, thanking
you of þe great love & favour þat ye have shewed vnto my nephew,
the comander of Rybston;² & not only vnto him, but as well vnto his
servants & tenaunts in these partyes, as well in his absence as in his
presence, praying you so to contynew; & ye may be assured if ther be
any thing þat I may doe for you or for any of yours, ye shall alway
find me redy, to my power. John Trongton, the brynger herof, shall
shew vnto you in what case the matter standeth in that is betwyxt my
nephew & John of Rocliffe,³ & I pray you give credence to the sayd
brynger of herof; & Jesu keepe you. Wrytten at St Johns þe iij day of
September.

Your owne           Sir John Kendal, prior of St John^a

Endorsed: To the right worshipful <and my right hartely beloved friend>
Sir Robart Plompton knight

     ^a Appended: Copied þe 19 day of Aprill 1613.

     ¹ John Kendal (d.1501), Grand Prior of England of the Order of St John of Rhodes,
VCH, Middlesex, ed. R.B. Pugh, i (1969), 200.

     ² John Tong, 118.

     ³ John Rocliffe, App. III.

LETTER XCII.

To the right worshipfull and my right hartely beloved frind Sir
Robart Plompton, knight.

    Right worshipful Sir, I comend me unto you, with all my hart
thanking you of the great love and favor, that ye have shewed
unto my nephew, the comander of Rybston;^a and not only unto
him, but as well unto his servants and tenaunts in these partyes,
as well in his absence as in his presence: praying you so to con-
tynew, and ye may be assured, if ther be any thing that I may
doe for you or for any of yours, ye shall alway find me ready to
my power. John Trongton, the brynger hereof, shall shew unto
you in what case the matter standeth in, that is betwixt my
nephew and John of Rocliffe;^b and I pray you give credence to
the sayd brynger hereof, and Jesu keep you. Wrytten at St.
Johns, the iij day of September.

            Your owne,
                 Sir JOHN KENDAL, prior of St. John.^c

^a Sir John Tong. (See Letter XCIII.)

    ^b John Rocliffe of Cowthorpe, esq. afterwards Sir John Rocliffe, Kt.

    ^c Brother John Kendal, Turcopolier of Rhodes, was the commissary and deputy of
Pope Sixtus IV. throughout the globe, in aid of the expedition against the Turks
A.D. 1480, tenth of his pontificate. To those who should contribute to this object, he
had authority from the Holy See to grant faculties to their confessors in reserved cases,
together with plenary indulgences; and for that purpose had with him printed forms
on parchment, to which he affixed his seal. One of these to Dame Joan Plumpton
has been copied into the Cartulary (No. 699), and as attention has been drawn to this
personage from his having been the subject of the earliest contemporary English
medal in existence, its perusal will probably gratify the curiosity of the reader, and I
have given a transcript of it below. See also the remarks of Sir Frederic Madden con-
cerning these forms. (Arch?olog. vol. XXVII. p. 172. noteg.) The medal is en-
graved in Pinkerton's Medallic History of England 4to, 1790. Sir John Kendal suc-
ceeded Sir John Weston as Prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, Clerken-
well, but the exact date is not ascertained; the earliest discovered is the year 1491.
He occurs ten years after, and is stated to have died in November, 1501.

    Frater Johannes Kendal Turcipelerius* Rhodi, ac commissarius a sanctissimo in
Christo patri et domino nostro, domino Sixto, divina providentia, Papa quarto, et vigore
literarum suarum, pro expeditione contra perfidos Turcas, Christiani nominis hostes, in
defensione Insul? Rhodi, et fidei Catholic?, facta et facienda, concessarum, and infra-
scripta per universum orbem deputatus. Delect? nobis in Christo, Domin? Johann?
Plompton, salutem in domino sempiternam. Provenit ex tu? devotionis affectu, quo
Romanam ecclesiam revereris, ac te huic expeditioni sanct? et necessari? gratum reddis
et liberalem, ut petitiones tuas, illas pe?sertim qu? conscienti? pacem et anim? tu?
salutem respiciunt, ad exauditionis gratiam admittamus. Hinc est quod nos, tuis devotis
supplicationibus inclinati, tibi ut aliquem idoneum et discretum pr?sbiterum secularem,
vel cuiusvis ordinis regularem, in tuum possis eligere confessorem: qui confesssione
tua diligenter audita, pro commissis per te quibusvis criminibus, excessibus et delictis,
quantumcunque gravibus et enormibus, etiamsi talia fuerint propter qu? sedes aposto-
tolica sit quovismodo merito consulenda, iniectionis manuum in episcopum vel superi-
orem, ac libertatis ecclesiastic? offense, seu conspirationis in personam aut statum
Roman? Pontificis, vel cuiusvis offense inobedienti? aut rebillionis sedis ejusdem, ac
pr?sbitericidii casibus duntaxat exceptis, in reservatis semel tantum, in aliis vero
non reservatis totiens quotiens fuerit opportunum, debitam absolutionem impendere, et
p?nitentiam salutarem iniungere, ac omnium peccatorum tuorum de quibus corde
contritus et ore confessus fueris, semel in vita, et semel in mortis articulo, plenariam
remissionem et indulgentiam, auctoritate apostolica tibi concedere possit, dicta aucto-
ritate, qua per ipsius sedis literas, sufficienti facultate muniti, fungimur, in hac parte
indulgemus. In quorum fidem has literas nostras, sigilli nostir appensione munitas, firei
iussimus atque mandavimus. Dat visesimo secundo die mensis Aprilis, anno Domini
MCCCCLXXX ac pontificatus pr?fati sanctissimi domini nostri, domini Sixti Pap?
quarti, anno decimo.

    (699. Deed. Copied on tuesday the 13 of februarii, 1626, having then a seal.)

    *The military dignity of Turcopolier, or General of the Forces of the Order,
which at first was inseparable from the post of Grand Prior of England, [and the latter
might be held by a foreigner,] was subsequently attached absolutely to the English
nation, or Langue d' Angleterre, in the Order. (Vertot, Hist. de l? Ordre de Malte, vol.
I. p. 206, 4to. 1726.) In 1480 Borther John Kendal, and in 1522 Brother John
Boucq, were Turcopoliers of the Order, in which same years John de Weston and Wil-
liam de Weston were Grand Priors of England. I observe the name of Brother Tho-
mas Ploneton among the brethren of the Order present at the siege of Rhodes in 1480,
who I presume was of the Yorkshire family, and probably nephew to Dame Joan
Plompton.