William Ayermin
[3] In 1319 Ayermin joined the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Ely, and other ecclesiastics, who with a force of 8,000 men attempted to resist an invasion of the Scots in the North during the First War of Scottish Independence.[5] In July 1325 Ayermin is said by some authorities to have been staying at Rome, to have there received the news of the death of Salmon, bishop of Norwich, and to have straight away obtained Pope John XXII's nomination to the vacant see, regardless of the known intention of Edward II to bestow the bishopric on his chancellor, Robert Baldock.His conduct of this business appears to have displeased Edward II, who had instructed him to offer certain concessions to France, which he failed to do.[1][6] In the course of 1326 year Ayermin returned to England, after frequent refusals to answer the king's summons to explain his recent conduct, he appears to have been reconciled to Edward II ( in spite of the suspicions with which the Despencers and Baldock viewed him)[2] and was acting Keeper of the Great Seal, usually known as the Lord Chancellor of England, from 1326 to 1327.[2] In the opinion of Sidney Lee writing in the Dictionary of National Biography the old verdict on his career, which stigmatised him as "crafty covetous, and treasonable", seems substantially just.