20 Facts About John Crakehall

John Crakehall was an English clergyman and Treasurer of England from 1258 to 1260.

Possibly the younger son of a minor noble family in Yorkshire, Crakehall served two successive bishops of Lincoln from around 1231 to the 1250s.

John Crakehall then became an archdeacon in the diocese of Lincoln before being named as treasurer, where he served until his death in 1260.

John Crakehall owed his appointment to the treasurership to a number of factors, including his reputation for administrative ability and his relationship with the leader of the baronial effort to reform royal government.

John Crakehall's birthdate is unknown, although it was likely before 1210.

John Crakehall had an elder brother, Peter, and at least one sister who reached adulthood.

From later career and letters, John Crakehall must have been educated in at least theology, and his activities as an administrator indicate that he was literate.

John Crakehall is never accorded the title of magister, which indicates that if he did attend a university, he did not complete his studies.

John Crakehall first appears in records when he was the attorney at Westminster for Hugh of Wells, the Bishop of Lincoln, over Easter in 1231.

In 1241 John Crakehall was Grosseteste's agent in negotiations with King Henry III of England over the prebend of Thame.

In 1250 John Crakehall went with Grosseteste to Lyons to meet with Pope Innocent IV.

John Crakehall had resigned as steward at some point before the trip to Lyons, but the exact date is unknown.

When Grossteste died in late 1253 John Crakehall was present at the deathbed and his account of the event was the basis for Matthew Paris' account in the Chronica majora.

John Crakehall served as Grosseteste's executor, a fact that is known only from John Crakehall's actions as Grossteste's will has not survived.

Besides his service to the bishops of Lincoln, John Crakehall corresponded with Adam Marsh and was one of Marsh's close friends.

John Crakehall owed his appointment to the baronial council that was formed under Simon de Montfort, which had recently taken power from the king's hands.

The fact that Montfort's longstanding appeal to the treasury for payment of a debt was partially granted just two days after John Crakehall's appointment is a clue pointing to Montfort's role in John Crakehall's appointment.

John Crakehall's appointment had originally been just for one year, but the council of barons extended it another year in 1259.

John Crakehall was ousted from the Rugmere prebend when the papacy appointed another clergyman to the prebendary.

Rumours circulated that John Crakehall had been implicated somehow in the murders but the rumours were unfounded.