Editing Robert Burnell (section)

==Chancellor and bishop==
On 23 January 1275 Burnell was elected to the [[Bishop of Bath and Wells|see of Bath and Wells]]. He received the [[property|temporalities]] of the see on 19 March 1275 and was consecrated on 7 April 1275.<ref name=Handbook85/> Three years later Edward once more tried to secure the [[Archbishop of Canterbury|see of Canterbury]] for his favourite. Burnell was elected to the archbishopric in June or July 1278, but the election was quashed by Pope [[Pope Nicholas III|Nicholas III]] in January 1279.<ref name=Handbook233>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 233</ref> King Edward sent a deputation,<ref name=Harding243/> including the eventual appointee, [[John Peckham]], to secure Nicholas' confirmation of the election.<ref name=Jordan74>Jordan "English Holy Men" ''Cistercian Studies Quarterly'' p. 74</ref> The pope named three cardinals as investigators, and then appointed Peckham instead.<ref name=Harding243>Harding ''England in the Thirteenth Century'' p. 243</ref> The bishop's second failure to obtain the archbishopric was probably a consequence of his lifestyle, which included keeping a mistress.<ref name=DNB/> Edward made one final attempt to promote his friend to a wealthier see in early 1280, when Burnell was nominated to become [[Bishop of Winchester]],<ref name=Handbook276>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 276</ref> but Pope Nicholas III quashed the election<ref name=BHOWinch>Greenway "Winchester: Bishops" ''Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300'': Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces)</ref> on 28 June 1280.<ref name=Handbook276/>

Burnell was the chief and most influential of Edward I's advisers during the first half of his reign.<ref name=Edward138>Prestwich ''Edward I'' p. 138</ref> As part of his duties Burnell spent most of his time in attendance on the king. He heard many requests and petitions from those who desired patronage or other advancements, and was diligent and active in dealing with routine business.<ref name=Edward233>Prestwich ''Edward I'' p. 233</ref> Burnell played a leading role in the legislation introduced by King Edward. The king's major legislative acts mainly date to Burnell's tenure of the office of chancellor, from 21 September 1274 until Burnell's death in 1292.<ref name=DNB/><ref name=Handbook228>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 228</ref> Burnell was instrumental in the enforcement of royal writs and enactments, including the Statutes of Westminster, enacted in [[Statute of Westminster 1275|1275]], [[Statute of Westminster 1285|1285]], and [[Quia Emptores|1290]]. Those of 1275 attempted to deal with the usurpation of royal rights.<ref name=Plantagenet124>Prestwich ''Plantagenet England'' pp. 124–126</ref> Keeping the peace in the realm and the extension of royal jurisdiction to cover rape was dealt with in the statutes from 1285, along with a number of other issues.<ref name=Three20>Prestwich ''Three Edwards'' pp. 20–21</ref> The last statute, from 1290, regulated land law, the result of pressure from the magnates, the leading laymen of England.<ref name=Plantagenet124/>

During Burnell's time in office Edward and his royal officials made great efforts to reassert royal rights that were felt to have been usurped by the king's subjects. These efforts were made under writs of ''Quo warranto'',{{efn|Latin for "by what warrant?"}} which asked the recipient what royal grant or warrant gives the recipient the authority to exercise a right or a power. They were first issued in 1278, after earlier attempts to recover royal rights through parliament unintentionally resulted in too much work for that body.<ref name=Plantagenet124/> Through these writs, attempts were made to enforce the rule that the only correct way to receive a privilege or grant of land was through a written charter, which might have deprived most of the magnates of England of their lands and rights. Most lands at that time were held not by documentary grants, but by the force of custom. By the 1290s the government was forced to back down and permit rights as they had been allowed from "time out of mind".<ref name=Clanchy3>Clanchy ''From Memory to Written Record'' p. 3</ref>

The distinction between the king's personal household department of the [[Wardrobe (government)|Wardrobe]] and the governmental department of the Chancery, which was headed by the chancellor, disappeared almost entirely during Burnell's period of office.<ref name=Chrimes140/> The Wardrobe had developed as a less formal department for the collection and distribution of money, but under Edward had effectively become a treasury for warfare.<ref name=Saul115>Saul "Government" ''Companion to Medieval England'' pp. 115–118</ref> There was no rivalry between the holders of the [[Great Seal of the Realm|Great Seal]],<ref name=Chrimes140/> the official seal of government and used for formal documents,<ref name=Dict143>Coredon ''Dictionary'' p. 143</ref> and the [[Privy Seal of England|Privy Seal]],<ref name=Chrimes140>Chrimes ''Introduction'' p. 140</ref> used to authenticate the king's less formal letters.<ref name=Dict227>Coredon ''Dictionary'' p. 227</ref> During Burnell's time in office the king only used a Privy Seal warrant, or an informal set of instructions for the chancellor to issue a letter from the Chancery under the Great Seal, when the king and Burnell were apart; after Burnell's death the number of Privy Seal warrants increased greatly.<ref name=Edward233/>{{efn|The Privy Seal at this time was held by the controller of the Wardrobe, who was Philip Willoughby from the accession until 18 October 1274 then [[Thomas Bek (Bishop of St David's)|Thomas Bek]], (later Bishop St David's) until 20 November 1280, then [[William of Louth|William Louth]] (later Bishop of Ely) until 12 May 1290, then [[Walter Langton]], acting controller from 12 May 1290, and then appointed to office on 20 November 1290 until 1295.<ref name=Handbook79>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 79</ref>}}

Edward had such trust in his chancellor and the chancellor's clerks that Burnell and the clerks were allowed to dispense with the [[hanaper]] system,<ref name=Lyon362/><ref name=Chrimes145/> which required fees for sealing charters to be paid into the hanaper department of the Chancery for disbursal.<ref name=Dict148>Coredon ''Dictionary'' p. 148</ref> Robert and his clerks were permitted to enjoy the profits from the fees of their office.<ref name=Lyon362>Lyon '' Constitutional and Legal History'' pp. 362–363</ref><ref name=Chrimes145>Chrimes ''Introduction'' p. 145</ref> Burnell was also responsible for the decision to force the [[Court of Chancery]] to settle in London, rather than following the king and his court around the country. A Chancery memorandum of 1280 records that the chancellor, along with the other ministers, now had the duty of sorting the many petitions that came into the government and only passing on the most urgent to the king.<ref name=DNB/>

As bishop, Burnell had a wall built around the cathedral at Wells, which helped to improve the security of the cathedral and its outlying buildings. He left the court each year at [[Lent]], when he returned to his diocese and attended to its affairs. Peckham appointed Burnell to be his deputy when the archbishop went to Wales in 1282. It was probably Burnell who suggested a compromise in 1285 over the jurisdictions of the royal and ecclesiastical courts, which allowed royal officials to return cases involving only religious matters to the church courts.<ref name=DNB/>