Late medieval kings were considered to be the fount of justice and accepted, indeed welcomed complaints and requests from people of all social backgrounds seeking grace and remedy either for specific problems requiring royal attention or in matters that arose in relation to the interests of the crown. Research on petitioning has concentrated largely on the parliamentary petitions addressed to the king and the role of the king and his council in responding to them. The king, however, was not the sole recipient of petitions. Some were addressed to the chancellor and accordingly have received a significant amount of interest from legal historians owing to the corresponding development of Chancery as a ‘court of conscience’. Others, less widely studied, were addressed to the treasurer concerning Exchequer matters. This study looks deeper into the phenomenon and process of petitioning, highlighting the small, but significant series of petitions located in the TNA series ‘Ancient Petitions’ (SC 8) that were directed to, emanated from or otherwise involved administrative input from the queen, royal princes and members of the nobility.

The survival of petitions directed to persons other than the king (or his chief officers) and their location in this series may partly be a reflection of the muddled archival practice affecting these documents, but may also illustrate a lack of contemporary distinction (as well as archival discrimination) between formal parliamentary petitions, letters of supplication submitted outside Parliament and what effectively amount to formalised transcriptions of oral requests. Whatever the fortuitous route by which petitions have been preserved, this research indicates that petitioning the crown had more complexity to it than might at first appear. The evidence from the Ancient Petitions (and other surviving documents) demonstrates that recourse to leading figures other than the king was to a large extent a reflection on the capacity of the sovereign to provide suitable remedy (which he could not do if he was absent from the realm, or was not sane enough, old enough, or considered competent enough to govern) as it was also of perceptions of his presumed willingness to exercise discretion, show mercy, offer charity or provide equity. Furthermore, the research provides an insight into the contribution of the queen and members of the nobility to the administration of royal business and how they managed the expectations of their retainers, supporters and others.