John Maunsell

Sir John Maunsell (c. 1190/1195 – 1265), also Sir John Mansel, Provost of Beverley Minster, was a king's clerk, and a judge. He served as chancellor to King Henry III and was England's first secretary of state.

His grandfather, Robert Mansel, was a Templar under Baron Gilbert de Lacy in Palestine. Robert led a small force of Welsh and Aquitanians by night to put to rout a much larger force of Turks under Sultan Nur ad-Din Zangi, at his camp outside Damascus during the reign of King Henry II. His father, Walter, a deacon, was Napkin Bearer to the King. John Maunsell is first heard of when he was sent from Scotland as orator from Alexander, King of Scotland in 1215 to the court of John. As the son of a deacon under orders, his birth status periodically came into question eventually resulting in a letter from Pope Innocent IV ratified by Pope Alexander IV in 1259 stating "Approbation, addressed to John Mansel, Chancellor of London, the King's Clerk, of the dispensation given to him, at the King's request, by Pope Innocent, to be ordained and promoted, notwithstanding that his mother married his father, a man of noble birth, not knowing that he was a deacon, and was accounted for the time being his lawful wife; his father, after some time, repenting, resumed his orders, a divorce having been declared by their diocesan. The dispensation is approved, even if his mother's plea of ignorance and the reputation of a lawful marriage cannot be sustained."

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