preferment Near the beginning of his political and ecclesiastical career, Northburgh is found in 1308 as a subdeacon, the lowest of the major orders of the Church, but already a rector in the Diocese of Carlisle, and securing papal permission to take a further benefice, valued at 50 marks This was perhaps the rectory in the Diocese of Exeter that he was holding in 1313, when he next received leave to hold benefices in plurality. The number extra was two, and Kingsford reports three possible candidates, all royal grants, including two in the Diocese of Lincoln. For some years from 1315 the king made persistent efforts to equip his faithful servant Northburgh with further ecclesiastical benefices to provide a steady income in keeping with his status. Initially he tried to place Northburgh in canonries with lucrative prebends at various cathedrals. On 11 June 1315 the king granted him the prebend of Wistow in the Archdiocese of York. This was already the subject of a succession battle that had gone on for two years. The king was forced to make the grant again on 10 December, allowing Northburgh to ease out John Nassington, the victor of the earlier struggle, in the following year. On 26 July 1315 the king granted Northburgh the prebend of Farndon-cum-Balderton in the Diocese of Lincoln. This attempt proved unsuccessful as the prebend was already occupied by an absentee Italian cleric. However the grant of the prebend of Stoke, also in Lincoln Diocese, on 1 November 1315 proved more fruitful. The incumbent, possibly the same Italian cleric, proved vulnerable here, as the prebend had been declared vacant during the reign of Edward I, and he was canonically removed by the bishop on 29 July 1316. In March 1316 papal approval was given, at the king's request, for Northburgh to be provided to a canonry at Wells Cathedral and a long list is given of the benefices he already occupies, including two not already noted: a parish church in the Diocese of Bath and Wells and a prebend of Beverley Minster. However, the provision seems never have happened: this was a period of interregnum for the papacy and there is no subsequent mention of Northburgh among the canons of Wells. Also 1316 the king attempted to present Northburgh to the prebend of Blewbury in the Diocese of Salisbury However, the right of presentation was contested here and the