Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Northburgh, Michael de
NORTHBURGH, MICHAEL de (d. 1361), bishop of London, was probably a relative, perhaps a nephew or younger brother, of Roger de Northburgh [q. v.] He was possibly educated at Oxford, and is described as a doctor of laws. On 13 Oct. 1331, when he is called Master Michael de Northburgh, he had license to nominate an attorney for three years, as he was going beyond the seas (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edw. III, 1330–4, 180). On 7 July 1330 he had received the prebend of Colwich, Lichfield, which he held till the next year; afterwards he held at Lichfield the prebends of Tachbrook from 23 Oct. 1340 to 29 Jan. 1342, Wolvey from 15 Sept. 1342 to 4 April 1353, and Longden from 21 Oct. 1351 to 29 Oct. 1352; he was also precentor from 29 March 1339 to 1340, and archdeacon of Chester from 5 Feb. 1340. Northburgh likewise held the prebend of Banbury, Lincoln, in 1344, and was archdeacon of Suffolk 27 May 1347. In 1350 he received the prebend of Bugthorpe, York; on 6 May 1351 Netherbury, Salisbury; on 1 Sept. 1351 that of Mapesbury, St. Paul's; and 30 June 1353 that of Strensall, York. He was dean of St. Clement's-within-the-Castle, Pontefract, before 21 May 1339, when he exchanged this post for a canonry at Hereford. From 1341 to 1351 he held the rectory of Pulham, Norfolk, which in the latter year he exchanged for Ledbury, Herefordshire. He also held at one time the prebend of Lyme, Salisbury. Like Roger de Northburgh, he entered the royal service, and on 23 Feb. 1345, being then canon of Lichfield and Hereford, was of sufficient importance to be joined with Sir Nigel Loryng [q. v.] on a mission to the pope touching the dispensation for a marriage between the Prince of Wales and a daughter of the Duke of Brabant, and to excuse the proposed embassy of Henry of Lancaster (Fœdera, iii. 32; Hemingburgh, ii. 412). In July 1346, when he is described as ‘a worthy clerk and one of the king's counsellors,’ he accompanied Edward III on his French expedition. During the campaign he wrote two letters home describing the march from La Hogue to Caen, and from Poissy to Calais. On 28 Oct. 1346 he was one of the commissioners appointed to negotiate alliances with foreign powers (Fœdera, iii. 92). On 11 Oct. 1348 he was a commissioner to treat with the Count of Flanders; and on 28 Oct. 1349 he had power, with others, to prorogue the truce with France, and on 3 Sept. 1350 to confirm the articles with the count lately considered at Dunkirk. By this time he had risen to be the king's secretary. On 4 Sept. 1351 Northburgh had power to receive security from Charles de Blois for his release, and on 26 March 1352, when he was keeper of the privy seal, to receive Charles's ransom. On 19 Feb. 1353 he was appointed one of three to treat for a truce with France, and again on various occasions up to 30 March 1354 (ib. iii. 175, 188, 202, 230, 241, 253–4, 260–1, 275). On 3 Nov. 1353 he had received a pension of 60s. from Christ Church, Canterbury, for his services as counsel to the convent (Lit. Cant. iii. 317). On 23 April 1354 Northburgh was elected bishop of London. His election was confirmed next day; but, though he received the temporalities on 23 June, he was not consecrated till 12 July 1355 by William Edendon, bishop of Winchester, at St. Mary's, Southwark (Stubbs, Reg. Sacr. Angl.) After his election as bishop, Northburgh was again commissioned to conduct the negotiations for peace with France at the papal court on 28 Aug. and 30 Oct. 1354. With this purpose he was at Avignon shortly before Christmas; but the French envoys repudiated the proposed terms, and, after the death of the Bishop of Norwich, the other English envoys returned home without having effected their purpose (Fœdera, iii. 283, 289; Avesbury, p. 421). In the following July Northburgh was once more employed in negotiations with the French at Guisnes (Fœdera, iii. 303, 308). On 27 Sept. 1360 he was present at the consecration of Robert Stretton as bishop of Lichfield. Northburgh died of the plague at Copford, Essex, on 9 Sept. 1361, and, in accordance with the directions of his will, was buried near the west door of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Northburgh's will is dated 23 May 1361. By it he left 100l. for the maintenance of poor scholars of the civil and canon law at Oxford, with 20l. for their master. Various other bequests were made to religious houses, but the chief was of 2,000l. for the Carthusian house at Newchurchhaw, which place and patronage he had acquired from Sir Walter de Manny. He is probably entitled to share with Manny the credit of being the founder of the London Charterhouse [see more fully under Manny, Sir Walter de]. Northburgh also left a thousand marks for a chest for loans at St. Paul's. He bequeathed his books on civil and canon law, and also his own magnum opus, called a ‘Concordance of Law and Canons,’ to Michael Fre. Nothing more is known of this ‘Concordance.’ Northburgh's two letters descriptive of the campaign of 1346 are preserved in the original French in Robert de Avesbury's ‘Chronicle,’ pp. 358–60, 367–9. A Latin version of the first is given by Murimuth, pp. 212–14; the second is printed in Champollion-Figeac's ‘Lettres des Rois, Reines,’ &c., ii. 79–81. These letters are a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the campaign. Their importance is illustrated by M. S. Luce in the notes to the third volume of his edition of Froissart.
[Chronica A. Murimuth et R. de Avesbury; Walsingham's Historia Anglicana, i. 296 (both in Rolls Ser.); Rymer's Fœdera, Record ed.; Le Neve's Fasti Eccl. Angl. i. 566, 579, 591, 613, 628, ii. 104, 291, 339, 407, 487, iii. 181, 215; Wharton's De Episc. Lond. pp. 131–3, and Anglia Sacra, ii. 44; Sharpe's Calendar of Wills in the Court of Husting, ii. 61; Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archæological Society, iii. 311–15; Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. App. pt. i. p. 47.]