[CROMWELL, Oliver (1599-1658). Lord Protector 1653-8.]
Document in his name, a plea concerning a land dispute "inrolled at Westminster before Oliver St. John & his associated Justices of the Comon Bench of the Terme of Easter". Signed above the tag "Robinson".
1 page large oblong folio on vellum, c. 18 x 27 ins, with elaborate pen and wash decoration to the first three words and their initials, as well as along the left and right margins, with the major portion of the Seal of the Court of Common Bench [of which an indistinct impression only remains]. Westminster, 11 May 1657.
An elaborate and very beautiful document, with the very rare Seal of the Court of Common Bench, albeit in an indistinct impression on which only the recto, showing the House of Commons, bears a distinguishable image.
The document concerns a land dispute in which ". . .Andrew Hilly & Nicholas Peryn in their proper persons doe demand against Edward Giles rent twelve messuages fifty gardens three hundred acres of land thirty acres of meadow one hundred & twenty acres of pasture thirty acres of wood & one hundred acres of furze & heath with the appurtenances . . .". Interestingly, the document further refers to the fact that Andrew Hilly and Nicholas Peryn were resident in ". . . the tenements aforesaid with the appurtenances in their demesne as of fee & right in the time of peace in the time of Charles late king of England takeing thereof the profits to the value. . ." The judgement appears to have gone in favour of Hilly and Peryn, as their opponent did not appear in Court when summoned ". . . but departed in contempt of the Court & maketh default".
The Robinson who signed the document is most likely Sir Thomas Robinson who "in Hilary term 1657 . . . was able to purchase the immensely lucrative office of chief protonotary of the common pleas. This office usually changed hands for over £5000." ( DNB ).
The justice presiding over the trial, Oliver St. John, had been king's solicitor to Charles I, but he was also a supporter of Parliament and a key figure in bringing Archbishop Laud to trial for treason. In 1648 he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, a post which he only lost in 1660 with the Restoration.
A magnificent document in excellent condition.
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