Sir John Maunsell ( 1190/1195 – 1265), 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. Life 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." Maunsell became a favorite of the young King Henry III and was appointed to the vacant prebend of Thame by Henry, but Robert Grosseteste, a reforming bishop with strong feelings about ecclesiastical rights and privileges, refused to admit him. Reportedly, Maunsell took the Thame church by force before giving up his claim to the prebend (a specific type of benefice). Grosseteste, having thus vindicated his right, bestowed upon Maunsell the more lucrative benefice of Maidstone. Despite the loss of the Thame benefice, Maunsell probably obtained more benefices than any other contemporary clergyman as he amassed his plurality. Maunsell's benefices included the livings of Haughley, Howden and Bawburgh and prebends of Tottenhall, South Malling and Chichester. He was also Provost of Beverley (1247), Chancellor of St. Paul's, London, Dean of Wimborn, Rector of Wigan, Papal chaplain, and King's chaplain. He fought with a contingent of English under Henry de Turbeville