Michael Northburgh

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Michael Northburgh, otherwise Michael de Northburgh (Northborough), was Bishop of London between 1354 and his death in 1361. His most lasting achievement as Bishop was in helping to found the Charterhouse. He bought land from Sir Walter de Manny and by his will left £2000 'for the foundation of a House according to the ritual of the Carthusian order in a place commonly called "Newchirchehawe", where there is a church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.' (Ct. H.W. II. 61, and Anc. Deeds, B. 2315.)

Earlier he was Rector of Pulham St. Mary (1341) and Archdeacon of Suffolk. It may be the same Michael Northburgh who accompanied King Edward III of England on the English expedition to France which included the Battle of Crécy (1346) and who acted as royal clerk, writing an eyewitness account in a newsletter from the English camp, and giving the French casualties as 1,542 "without reckoning the commons and foot-soldiers".