This is a chancery warrant of Edward III, issued under the privy seal ordering the chancellor to issue letters and writs under the great seal, granting a petition from the bishop of Bath and Wells. It was formerly attached to Ancient Petition 12255/246, a request for the king's ratification of the foundation of a chantry. Naturally the king didn't write it himself. Possibly he didn't even see it. The script is a cursive chancery hand, a not too formal but pretty clear version of cursiva anglicana, as is appropriate for an internal document sent between secretariats of the chancery rather than one destined for the outside world. The language is French, but the spelling may be unfamiliar in places. It is dated 1349.
The photograph on this page and that on the text page have been updated from scans taken from old photocopies to colour pictures obtained from National Archives downloads. I have not updated the Flash pages, but you can at least get a better idea of what the real thing looks like.
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