202 THE MANOR COURT
no freeholder is bound to suit at his lord's court unless this was
imposed on him by the terms of his charter, or was done before
King Henry went to Brittany in the year I23O.1 It is for this
reason that monastic cartularies such as that of Glastonbury or of
Gloucester or of Ramsey contain so many entries exacting suit of
court of various degrees of severity from the free man. Thus at
Glastonbury in the thirteenth century one free man owes suit at
all the courts; another comes but twice a year and otherwise is
quit; others come to strengthen the court should there be thieves
to be tried, or any difficult business to be transacted, while others
owe no service, and so forth.2
The necessary notice was given in a variety of ways. Some-
times an announcement was made in church,3 while on some
manors notice was given at the tenant's houses by a beadle or
bailiff, or sergeant, or even by a peasant whose property was
charged with this obligation.4 On a Sussex manor of the Bishop
of Chichester two cottagers are responsible for summoning a
larger holder, and he in turn has to summon the whole of the
lord's tenants when a court is to be held.5 In general, no doubt,
if there were any uncertainty it was the bailiff or reeve who
warned the peasants when he received his orders from the lord
or his steward. Thus we have entries of payments to men
carrying messages summoning the court, as well as letters sent
to the local bailiff giving him such orders.6 One of these runs
thus:
A. of C. the steward of Sir P. to all the bailiffs throughout the
honour of Clare. For that we purpose to begin our general circuit on
Thursday next, we command you that each of you do cause his court
to be summoned for the days named below to meet us. Thou bailiff of
A. on Thursday after the feast of S. Hilary. Thou bailiff of B. on the
1 52 Hen. Ill, c. 9.
2 Glas. Rent. 56, 115, 128, 134, 144, 152, 159, 190, 191, 225; and cf. the
instances from Gloucester and Ramsey given by Maitland in Selden Soc. n,
li. Any other cartulary will show a similar state of affairs, and see below, p. 211.
8 Anc. Deeds, A. 13162; Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, No. 823.
^ * York Inquis. I. 51; Gower Surveys, 184; Anc. Deeds, A. 13162. A late-
sixteenth-century guide to the keeping of a manor states (p. 18) that "reason-
able warning ought to be given to the tenants, not to the person or house of
every one of them, but at the church or such other accustomed place", Harl.
MS. 6714, published by the Manorial Society in 1909.
& Sussex Rec. Soc. xxxi, 120 (Stretham, 1374).
6 Davenport, op. cit. xli, Ixv; Camb. Univ. Lib. MSS. Ee. i. i, f.