The Gatehouse website record of a licence to crenellate for Baynard Castle, Cottingham granted on 1327 March 6

Licence for Thomas Wake, the king's kinsman, to strengthen his dwelling-house of Cotingham, co. York, with a wall, and to crenellate the same. By p.s. (CPR)

Thomas Wake, dilectus consanguineus et fidelis noster ... manerium ... Cotingham, Ebor. (Turner and Parker)

Granted at Westminster. Grant by privy seal.

Comments

Castle licensed 1201 and 1327.

Nearby Kingston upon Hull had had its licence to crenellate confirmed the previous day. Part of this licence may be about mollifying the concerns of the townsmen.

Original source is;

Lyte, H.C. Maxwell (ed), 1891, Calendar of Patent Rolls (1327-30) p. 31 online copy

(In fact, the original source given is usually a transcription/translation of what are precious medieval documents not readily availably. It should be noted that these transcription/translations often date to the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries and that unwitting bias of transcribers may affect the translation. Care should also be taken to avoid giving modern meaning to the medieval use of certain stock words and terms. Licentia is best translated as 'freedom to' not 'permission'.)

Significant later sources are;

Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses Vol. 1 (Cambridge) p. 421
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 536n24
Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 part 2 p. 408 online copy

Wake, Thomas, second Lord Wake (1298–1349)

A fairly distant cousin of the king.

Wake clearly supported the invasion of England by Queen Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer, in September 1326. He joined Isabella and Mortimer at Gloucester and was one of the barons who agreed on 25 October at Bristol that the king's eldest son should be made keeper of the realm. The benefits of office soon followed. Wake was justice of the forests south of the Trent from 10 November 1326 to May 1328 and keeper of the Tower of London from 9 December 1326 to April 1328; he was also appointed keeper of Hertford Castle on 9 December 1326. In the parliament that met at Westminster in January 1327 he was appointed as one of the members of a council set up under the presidency of his father-in-law to guide the administration of the realm during the youth of the new king, Edward III. It is possible that he also held the office of king's chamberlain for a short period during the early stages of the new reign. (Ormrod)

Biographical source include;

W. M. Ormrod, 2004, ‘Wake, Thomas, second Lord Wake (1298–1349)’ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press) online copy (subscription may be needed)

More information about licences to crenellate can be found here.

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