Henry de Cliff (died 1334), was an English judge.

First mentioned

De Cliff is first mentioned as accompanying the king abroad in May 1313; and on 11 May 1317, as a

master in chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equ ...

, he had charge of the Great Seal at the house of the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

, John Sandale, Bishop of Winchester.

Possible confusion and further career

There is another master in chancery in Edward II's reign of the same name, probably a brother. From 1317 till 1324 de Cliff continued to be one of the clerks under whose seal, during the absences of the Lords Chancellors Sandale, Hotham, Bishop of Ely,

Salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

Bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The bishop of Norwich is Graham Usher. The see is in t ...

, and

Baldock Baldock ( ) is a historic market town and unparished area in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the county of Hertfordshire, England, where the River Ivel rises. It lies north of London, southeast of Bedford, and north n ...

, the great seal was constantly secured. On the opening of parliament on 6 October 1320 he was auditor of petitions in England and Wales. On 23 February 1324 he appears as a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

of York and as procurator in parliament at Westminster, both for the dean and chapter of York and for the bishop of St Asaph.

As Master of the Rolls

On 4 July 1325 he was appointed

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and Head of Civil Justice. As a judge, the Master of ...

, and after the abdication of Edward II in 1326 he was, on 17 December, directed to add his seal to that of the

to secure the great seal. Until the appointment of Bishop Hotham of Ely as lord chancellor on the accession of Edward III, the Bishop of Norwich and Cliff discharged the chancellor's duties. For some dispute with Thomas de Cherleton, Bishop of Hereford, in connection with the presentation to the prebend of Blebury in Salisbury Cathedral he incurred the penalty of

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

, in regard to which, within a month of his accession, and again in the following March, Edward III personally wrote letters on his behalf. The great seal continued to be often entrusted to him. From the resignation of John de Hotham to the appointment of

Henry Burghersh Henry Burghersh (1292 – 4 December 1340), was Bishop of Lincoln (1320-1340) and served as Lord Chancellor of England (1328–1330). He was a younger son of Robert de Burghersh, 1st Baron Burghersh (died 1306), and a nephew of Bartholomew de ...

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and ...

(1 March to 12 May 1328), he held it along with William de Herlaston, and during absences of Burghersh it was in his custody again in 1328 (1–30 July and 17–26 August), and in 1329 (31 May-11 June). He was similarly entrusted with it under the next chancellor,

John de Stratford John de Stratford ( – 1348) was Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop of Winchester, Treasurer and Chancellor of England. Early life Stratford was born into the landed Stratford family of Stratford-on-Avon around 1275. His father was Robert d ...

, bishop of Winchester, in April and November 1331, and April and December 1332. In 1329 he was a commissioner with the Bishop of Hereford and another to open the adjourned session of parliament.

Death

He died in January 1334, and on the 20th was succeeded by Michael de Wath.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cliff, Henry de Year of birth missing 1334 deaths 14th-century English judges