barons were determined to separate control of the privy seal from the court, which they saw as the source of the nation's ills, and Northburgh seemed ready to work with them. Under the terms imposed on the king by parliament, Northburgh was compelled to work in London with his staff, separately from the rest of the Court, which kept its distance from the barons. He was in London with three clerks during the autumn of 1312 and again, with his staff enlarged to four, for the early part of 1313, and yet again, with two assistants, from February to May. During these absences, John of Reading, a clerk in the royal household forged the privy seal and a major scandal broke, tainting for a time senior members of the royal household whom he tried to implicate in his crime. However, his trial in February 1313 concluded that he was acting alone and he was hanged, despite benefit of clergy. In the summer of 1313 Northburgh was reunited with the king for a time, accompanying him on a journey to France, but was away again in the early part of 1314. Northburgh rejoined the king for the campaign of summer 1314 in Scotland, which was hampered from the outset by lack of resources. He and the two clerks accompanying him were captured at the Battle of Bannockburn in June, along with the seal itself, and his accounts of the administration of the wardrobe were lost. Some of the king's debts were not paid for more than twenty years, as the records were missing. The king was forced to write from Berwick-upon-Tweed to every English sheriff to warn them that the seal was no longer under his control and not to act solely on its authority. The logical problem of validating the letter itself was solved by using the seal of Queen Isabella, and this continued in use until mid-July, when a new privy seal came into use. Northburgh was probably soon at liberty again and acts issued on his initiative recommenced on 22 November. He retained the seal and was with the court intermittently in the first half of 1315, but he was given leave of absence from July to October. He became Keeper of the wardrobe from 1 February 1316, after the previous keeper, William Melton, was elected Archbishop of York. He was to hold the post until 1322. Ecclesiastical