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THE
PUBLICATIONS
OP THE
^efben ^ocie^g
iripl wavTos rrjv tKevffiptav
VOLUME XVI
FOB THE YEAR 1902
m
• \ N I OKI) r N I \ 1 i: ^ I r V I. I }•. K \ R I I n
THE
PUBLICATIONS
OP THE
^efben ^ocie^g
wipl wavTos Ttjv tKevffiptav
VOLUME XVI
FOB THE YEAR 1902
S
^ef^en ^ocUt^
FouNrsD 1887
TO ENCOURAGE THE STUDY AND ADVANCE THE KNOWLEDGE
OP THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH LAW.
pattond :
HIS MAJESTY THE KINO.
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES.
ptedident:
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD MACNAGHTEN.
V>ice«pte0identd :
THE HON. MR. JUSTICE WILLS.
MR. W. C. UENSHAW, K.C.
Council :
Mr. J. T. Atkinson. The Hon. Mr. Justice Joyce.
Mu. Henry Attlee.
The Hon. Mr. Justice Bruce.
The Hon. Mr. Justice Byrne.
Mr. A. T. Carter.
The Hon. Mr. Justice Channell.
Mr. Chadwyck Healey, K.C.
Mr. F. A. Inderwick, E.C.
Sir H. C. M. Lyte, K.C.B.
The Biqht Hon. the Master of
THE Bolls.
Mr. A. Stuart Moore.
Mr. B. Pennington.
Sir F. Pollock, Bart.
Mr. T. Cyprl^n Williams.
Xitetan? S)frectot :
Professor F. W. Maitland (Downing College, Cambridge).
l)onorari? Budftotd :
Mr. J. W. Clark. Mr. Hubert Hall.
Donorati? Sectetati^ :
Mr. B. Fossktt Lock (11 New Square, Lincoln's Inn, London).
Donotati^ tCreaauter :
Mr. Francis K. Munton (Montpelier House, Twickenham).
Don* Secretati? and tTreasurer tor tbe Tllntted States :
Mr. Bichard W. Hale (10 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass.).
Before t^ TXinc^e £ouncif in i1^ ^tax C^amBer
OOMMONLY GALLED
€it Coutt of ^iat Ci^amitx
A.D. 1477-1609
PBIXTED BT
BFOmaWOODK AHD CO. LTD., KlW-frTRKET SQl'ARK
LONDON
SELECT CASES BEFORE THE KING'S COUNCIL IN
THE STAR CHAMBER
COMMONLY CALLED
"THE- COURT OF STAR CHAMBER
A.D. 1477-1509
EDITED
FOR THE SELDEN SOCIETY
BT
I. S. LEADAM
LONDON
BERNARD QUARITCH, 15 PICCADILLY
1903
All rights reserved
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Page X
SELECT PLEAS FROM THE RECORDS OP THE COURT
OF STAR CHAMBER.
Parties.
Mayor &o. of Exeter v. Stoden and
Others
Tayllour v, Att Well
Parker v, Duke of Suffolk
Attomey-Qeneral v, Parre and
Others
Prior of Bath v. Abbot of St. Augus-
tine's, Canterbury
Couper V, Gervaux and Others
Vale V. Broke ]
Donyngton v. Broke [
Smyth v. Broke j
Culford V, Wotton
Idele V, Abbot of St. Bennet's Holme
Tapton V, Colsyll
Madeley v. Fitzherbert
Lead Miners of Yorkshire v. Mer-
chants of York
Hewyt and Others and Mayor of
Exeter v. Mayor &c. of London
Gk)ryng v. Earl of Northumberland
Joyfull V. Warcoppe
Pynson and Others v. Squyer and
Others
Carter v. Abbot of Malmesbury
Mayne and Others v. Gibbes and
Another
Eebell v. Vernon
Abbot of Eynesham v. Hareoourt
and Others
Treherne and Another v. Hareoourt
Walterkyn v. Letioe
Halle 17. Essexe
Date.
Subject.
Rige.
1477'
Conflict between Gild of
Tailors and Corporation
1
1482 <
Conspiracy and forgery of
Exchequer process
6
1485-1489
Forcible disseisin
15
1486-1607
Attaint of jury
18
1489
Detinue and malversation
20
1493
Illegal toll and violence
36
1493
Slander
38
1493
Slander
40
1493
Slander
41
1494
Forcible eviction
45
1495
Contempt of court and
threats
50
1495
Assault and false imprison-
ment
51
1496
Wrongful impounding
54
1499
Illegal weights
69
1500
Illegal toUs
71
1500?
Wrongful detention
95
1500
Riot and assault
106
1500
Riot and assault
114
1500
False imprisonment
118
1501
Wrongful eviction and tres-
pass
129
1502
Forcible abduction
130
1503
Riot and assault
187
1503
Contempt of court
162
1503
Assault
164
1503
Forcible Disseisin
168
Before the King in Council.
VIU
Parties.
The Abbot v. the Bailiffs of
Shrewsbury
The Abbot v. the Bailiffs of
Shrewsbarj
Petition of Mayor Ac. of Gloucester
Petition of the Bailiffs and Citizens
of Worcester
Whyte t;. the Mayor and Bur-
gesses of Gloucester
Powe and Another v, Newman
Bishop of Worcester V. Thomas and
Others
Certificate of Sir Bichard Dalabere
and Justices of the Peace for
Herefordshire
Principal of Fumivall*s Inn v,
Johnson and Others
Colthurst V. Gentlemen of Fumi-
vall's Inn
Furburv. Principal ±c. of Fumi-
vall's Inn
Abbott of Byland v. Warooppe
Butlond and Others v. Ansten and
Others
Master Ao. of All Saints, Maidstone,
t;. Kempe
Lady Straunge v, Kenaston
Jones V. Lychleld
CONTENTS
Date.
Subject.
Pmre
1604
1609
Municipal and abbatial
franchises
Municipal and abbatial
franchises
178
189
1604
1504
1605
ToUs
ToUs
Tolls
209
218
226
1604-1518
1506
1606
False imprisonment and
detinue
Riotous interference with
election of constables
Biot
227
230
234
1507
Cutting and wounding
237
1507
Cutting and wounding
245
1507
Detinue and breach of the
247
1507
peace
Trespass and wounding
263
1507
GUd's iUegal by.Uws
262
1508
1608
1509
Wrongful presentation
Trespass
False imprisonment
271
274
275
APPENDIX
INFORMATION IN THE EXCHEQUER AGAINST THE FOUNDERS'
COMPANY, 1606 279
INDEX OF AUTHORITIES CITED 286
INDEX OF SUBJECTS 299
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES 307
INTEODUGTION
PART I
1. The Statute * Pro Camera Stellata.'
2. The Condition of the Records.
8. Process of the Court of Star Chamber.
a. Bill, Address, and Prayer.
b. Indorsement of Bill.
c. Writs of Summons &c.
d. Appearance, Answer, Demurrer.
e. Replication and Rejoinder.
/. Examination of Witnesses.
g. Judgement.
4. Composition of the Court of Star Chamber.
5. Jurisdiction of the Court of Star Chamber.
1. Much of the ensuing discussion turns upon the wording of the
Act of 8 Hen. 7, c. 1 (1487), intituled in the copy from the Rolls of
Parliament printed in the Statutes of the Realm 'Pro Camera
Stellata.' As the Statutes of the Realm are not always accessible, and
are printed in somewhat unwieldy volumes, it has been thought
desirable to reprint this statute here as a text upon which the intro-
duction is founded. The statute runs as follows : —
Fro Camera Stellata.
* An Acte geving the Court of Starchamber Authority to punnysshe
dyvers Mydemeanors.^
' The Kyng cure Sovereygn Lord remembreth howe by onlawfuU
mayntenaunces gevyng of lyveres signes and tokyns and reteyndres
by endentur promyses othes writyng or otherwise, embraciaries of his
subgettes, ontrue demeanynges of Shrevys in makyng of panelles and
other ontrewe retournes, by takyng of money by jurryes, by greate
' Sic.
X COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
riotts and anlawfall assemblez, the polacye and good rule of this
reahne is ahnost subdued, and for the nowne punyshement of this
inconvenience and by occasion of the premyssis nothyng or lityll may
be founde by enquerry, wherby the Lawes of the lond in execucion
may take litell effecte to the encres of murdres roberies perjuries
and unsuerties of all men lyvyng and losses of their londes and
goodes, to the greate displeasure of Allmyghty God Be yt therfor
ordyned for reformacion of the premysses by thauctorite of this
parliament, That the Chaunceller and Tresorer of Englond for the
tyme beyng and Eeper of the Kyngs pryvye Seall or too of theym
calling to hym a Bisshopp and a temporall Lord of the Eynges most
Honorable Ciouncell and the too chyeff Justices of the Eynges Benche
and Gomyn Place for the tyme beyng, or other too Justices in ther
absence, uppon bill or informacion put to the seid Chaunceller, for
the Eyng or any other, ageyn eny persone for eny mysbehavyng
afore rehersed, have auctorite to call before theym by Wrytte or
Pryvye seall the seid mysdoers and theym and other by ther discres-
sions to whome the trouthe may be knowen to examyn, and such as they
fynd therin defectiff to punyssh theym after their demerites after the
forme and effecte of Statutes therof made in like maner and forme as
they shuld and ought to be punysshed if they were therof convycte
after the due ordre of the lawe. And over that be yt also ordygned
by thauctorite aforseid that the Justices of the Peas of every Shire of
this Bealme for the tyme beyng may do take by ther discressions an
enquest, whereof every man shall have lands and tenementes to the
yerly value of xl. s. at the leest, to enquere of the concelementes of
other enquests taken afore theym and afore other, of such maters and
offences as ar to be enquered and presented afore Justices of the Peas
wheroff complaynt shall be made by bill or billes aswell within
fraunches as without ; and yff eny such concelement be found of any
enquest as is afore rehersed had or made within the yere afore the
same concelement, every persone of the same enquest to be amercied
for the same concelementes by discression of the same Justicez of the
Peas ; the seid amerciaments to be cessed in playn Sessions.'
2. Among the objections to the claim of the Star Chamber to be
recognised as ' a settled ordinary court of justice ' was one pointing
to the carelessness with which it kept its records. The inference
drawn by its detractors in the age of James 1 and Charles 1 was,
according to its historian, apologist, and official representative,
William Hudson, that it was * only an assembly for a consultation, at
INTRODUCTION xi
the King's command, apon some argent occasions/ whose precedents
were therefore of no binding import, either upon itself or upon any
ordinary Court. To this argument Hudson replies that ' this negli-
gence hath crept into the Court of very late time, either in Mr. Mills's
age, or since the office hath been executed by many deputies, one
being thrust out by that time he understandeth the duties of the
place, and another put in altogether unexperienced ; yet in former
times the judgments before the King and his Council were kept in
such care and remain in such order, as no records of the kingdom are
of more use than those remaining in the Tower of London.' ^
It is not necessary at this point to discuss the assumption, which
Hudson maintains throughout his treatise, that the King's Council
and the Court of the Star Chamber are two names for the same
tribunal enjoying a continuous vitality from the earliest period of
English history. It is unfortunately the case, if Hudson's eulogy was
once justified, that the carelessness of later ages introduced confusion
where order formerly reigned. Of this fact the present volume is
witness. Although of recent years some effort has been expended
upon the reintroduction of order into chaos, some of the case^
here printed belong to other reigns, some are pieced together, isolated
papers belonging to suits of the period of Henry 7 being found
sorted and indexed as parts of suits belonging to that of Henry 8.
Examples of this occur in Hewyt and others v. the Mayor and Cor-
poration of London (p. 89) ; Kebell v. Vernon (p. 180), where the
whole case is wrongly sorted ; the Abbot v. the Bailiffs of Shrewsbury
(p. 182) ; and the same case (p. 202), where a petition of the reign of
Henry 8 is sorted among the papers of Henry 7 ; Colthurst v. the
Gentlemen of Furnivall's Inn and others (p. 245) ; Furbur v. the
Principal of Furnivall's Inn and others (p. 247); Colthurst and
Furbur v. the Principal &c. of Furnivall's Inn (p. 248) ; Butlond and
others v. Austen and others (p. 262) ; and Straunge v. Kenaston (p.
274). It is by no means improbable that portions of cases which are
here incomplete may hereafter be found among the numerous bundles
of documents which have of late years been sorted together as
belonging to the reign of Henry 8. But confusion is by no means
the most deplorable incident in the history of these records. A
Committee of the House of Lords in 1719 reported the disappear-
ance of the whole of the Star Chamber decrees.^ We are reduced,
* ' Treatise of the Court of Star Cham. < S. B. Soargill-Bird, * Guide to Prin-
ber,* p. 6, printed in * Collectanea Joridica * oipal Classes of Doouments at Beoord
(1792), vol. ii. pp. 1-240. OfSoe * (1896), p. 198.
Xii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
therefore, to an occasional glimpse into the subsequent history of
some matter of dispute upon which to found an inference as to the
issue of a suit.
There are a hundred and twenty cases calendared as belonging to
the reign of Henry 7, and I have noted among the bundles sorted as
of the reign of Henry 8 about seventeen more. On the other hand, the
first two cases here printed, of which the first is calendared as of
the reign of Henry 8 and the second as of the reign of Henry 7,
belong demonstrably to that of Edward 4, and must therefore
have been heard before the Council. The third, Parker v. the
Duke of Sufiblk (p. 15), while it cannot be of later date than 1489,
may be as early as 1486, and may therefore belong to the reign of
Bichard 8, and be likewise a case before the Council. The fifth, the
suit of the Prior of Bath against the Abbot of St. Augustine's,
Canterbury (p. 20), shews signs of having been originally begun before
the Council in the reign of Bichard 8, one of its principal documents
being dated as of the first year of that king. I have printed what
remains of another suit, sorted among those of Henry 8, which
belongs to the reign of Henry 7, viz. the Lead Miners of Torkshire
V. the Merchants of Tork (p. 69). These facts are not stated by way
of attack upon the diligence or accuracy of officers of the Becord
Office. It will be seen, in the cases where the real dates of the
documents are established, that this has been effected by a scrutiny
of the internal evidence incumbent upon the editor of a selection, but
not to be looked for from officials who, in the absence of identifying
dates, are obliged to rely upon primu facte impressions if their work
is to progress with reasonable rapidity.
The circumstance that cases obviously heard before the Council
prior to the date of the statute ' Pro Camera Stellata,* in 1487, are
here sorted furnishes no argument in the controversy as to the origin
of the Court known to later times as the Court of the Star Chamber.
It is indisputable that the clerk of the Council was the clerk of the
Star Chamber, and that the proceedings of the Star Chamber ran in
the name of the Council. In the course of the long disputes between
the abbot and bailiffs of Shrewsbury, which were throughout carried
on before the Star Chamber, eo nomine, we meet with the signatures
of Bobert Bydon (p. 198) and of John Mewtis (p. 208), both succes-
sively clerks of the Council.
The proportion to the whole of the number of suits in which
ecclesiastics figure in these pages is very sUghtly in excess of the
proportion to the whole number distributed among the entire range
INTRODUCTION XlU
of cases of the reign of Henry 7. Of the total number of 187 suits
calendared in the list of cases heard in the Star Chamber in the
reign of Henry 7 ecclesiastics figure in 86, that is, in 26*2 per cent.
They are plaintiffs in 16, defendants in 17, and both plaintiffs and
defendants in 8. Of the total number of 89 cases here published,
including the magistrates' certificate on p. 284 and excluding the
petitions of the municipalities of Gloucester and Worcester, ecclesi-
astics figure in 12, that is, in 80-7 per cent. In 7 of these they are
plaintiffs, in 8 they are defendants, in 2 they are both plaintiffs and
defendants. I have not read all the 86 cases above mentioned, the
printed calendar giving sufficient indication of their contents. Many
of them concern tithes, a subject in general of no more than local
interest. The large proportion in the selected cases of bills in which
ecclesiastics were the plaintiffs is enough to shew that there has been
no unfair selection in their disfavour. The proportional excess, slight
though it is, of suits in which ecclesiastics were parties is due to the
sense that there is much need of light upon the state of the Church
immediately prior to the Reformation. The justification of the
dissolution of the monasteries has of late been so ably impugned that
I selected suits which promised to illustrate these points in preference
to those between ordinary laymen. One of these, at least. Garter v.
the Abbot of Malmesbury (pp. 118-129), in addition to these matters
of ecclesiastical interest, reveals interesting features of bondage and
enfranchisement at the close of the fifteenth century. It is sufficient
to say here that this case, that of Culford v. Wotton (pp. 45-49),
involving the same monastery, and that of the Prior of Bath v. the
Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury (pp. 20-86), by no means
present us with the idyllic picture of monastic sanctity so skilfully
painted by the apologetic talent of Dr. Gasquet.
The documents have been arranged in order of date. Where the
date is only assignable within limits, the principle followed, for want
of a better, has been to print the case in the order in which it would
have been placed had it indubitably belonged to the earliest date
assignable. The widest margin is in the case of the attaint of a jury
by Sir James Hobart, A.6. (p. 18). This might have been in any year
between Michaelmas Term, 1486, and 1507, during which long period
Hobart held that office. The only other instance in which it has
been necessary to allow a conjectural latitude of dates is that of
Parker v. the Duke of Suffolk (p. 15), which must have been between
1485 and 1489. In the rest of the cases either the express evidence
of an indorsement or the incidental mention of some date or fact has
xiv COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
enabled the identification of the year to which the suit belongs. In
the snit of the Abbot v. the Bailiffs of Shrewsbury (pp. 178-208)
there is a slight departure from the order. This case is really com-
pounded of two suits, the first brought in 1504, the second in 1609.
As the parties, the matters in dispute, and the evidence are sub-
stantially the same in both, so that they form in reality one protracted
litigation, I have judged it better to arrange them accordingly.
Where several cases belong to the same year the order in which
they are printed is the order of the law terms in which the earliest
proceedings were taken.
It is currently said that the spelling of names runs by no rule at
this period, and there is much to justify the assertion. On the other
hand, those who are conversant with the Patent Bolls, especially in
the case of pardons, and with pleadings in which the identification of
an individual is a capital point, know that upon occasion medieval
lawyers could be as exact as any modern, and to prevent mistake
would introduce a variety of spellings with the prefix ' alias.' In the
case of Burde v. the Earl of Bath before the Court of Bequests in
1640 ^ the defendant's plea twice runs * Bychard Burd named indede
Beard.' I have therefore assumed, in assigning titles to the cases,
that the parties to a suit respectively knew how to spell their own
names, at least constructively through their counsel, and have neither
adopted the spelling of the other side nor that of indorsing clerks.
a. Great variety exhibits itself in the form of address with
which the plaintiff prefaces his bill. In the first two cases, which
were undoubtedly filed for hearing of Edward 4 in Council, this
variation already discloses itself. The Mayor of Exeter addresses (p. 1)
' To the Kyng oure Soueraigne lord ' : John Tayllour (p. 6) * To the
kyng our Souereyne lorde and to the lordys of his most noble Coun-
cell.' These and in this order are the most numerous forms of address
prior to the year 1600. After that year the common form is to the
Chancellor or Lord Keeper, his ecclesiastical titles being given prece-
dence. In two cases (pp. 209, 268) we have addresses to the Archbishop
of Canterbury, presumably as Chancellor, and the Lords of the Council.
In three, beginning with Parker v. the Duke of Suffolk (p. 15, cp.
p. 162), the Lords of the Council only are addressed, the words ' in the
Sterre Chamber ' being added in the petition of the Mayor and Cor-
poration of Gloucester in the year 1606 (p. 209). While the body of
the petition, ending with the prayer for the summons of the defendant,
> Seleot Cases in the Ck)urt of Bequests, Selden Society, 1898, p. 52.
INTRODUCTION XV
is frequently consistent with the address, it is not always so. In
Idele V. the Abbot of St. Bennettes Holme (p. 50), addressed to the
King and Council, the complaint is throughout to the King alone.
On the other hand, we have cases like Goryng v. the Earl of Northum-
berland (p. 94) and Pynson and others v. Squyer and others (p. 114),
where the address is respectively to the King and the Chancellor. In
the first case the prayer is that the defendant may be called in
examination of the King in Council ; in the second that he may be
summoned to appear before them.
A reference to the wording of the Statute * Pro Camera Stellata '
shews that the bill or information of the complaint is to be ' put to
the seid Chaunceller.' No alternative form is contemplated. Upon
this point Coke (4 Inst. c. 5, f. 62) remarks that * where that Act
(8 Hen. 7, c. 1) directeth that the bill of information should be put
to the Lord Chancellor &c., all bills and informations in that
Court (the Star Chamber) are continually directed to the King's
Majesty, as they were before the said Act.' This has been seen to
be literally true of the first case here published, that of the Mayor &c.
of Exeter t\ Stoden and others (p. 1), and constructively true of the
second case, Tayllour v. Att Well (p. G), * the lordys of his most noble
Councell * being added to the address to the Sovereign. Both of
these cases were unquestionably prior to the Act of 1487. But the
second of the Abbot of Shrewsbury's cases, heard in 1509, in which
the Court of the Star Chamber is mentioned eo nomine as the
tribunal by which it was tried (p. 189), is addressed, conformably
to the Act, to the Archbishop of Canterbury as Chancellor (ib.).
Similarly the bill of complaint of Hewyt and others against the
Mayor &c. of London in 1500 is addressed to the Bishop of Salisbury,
Lord Keeper (p. 71). The plaintiff in Treherne r. Harecourt in 1503
appears to address himself to the * Kynges most honorable Councell
in his Starre Chamber * (p. 162). The petitions of the Mayors Jkc.
of Gloucester and the Bailiffs &c. of Worcester (pp. 209, 213) stand
on a different footing from the others. By the Act 19 Henry 7, c. 18,
§ 3 (* De Fluvio Sabrini'), corporations &c. desirous of proving their
title to tolls on the Severn are specifically directed to appear * before
the Lordis of the Kynges honorable Counseill in the Sterre Cham))er
at Westminster,' and Whyte, the opponent of the claims of the Corpo-
ration of Gloucester, naturally followed this direction (p. 225).
The other instances in which the Star Chamber is mentioned eo
nomine as the tribunal of hearing are the Abbot of Eynesham v.
Harecourt and others (p. 187), where the address follows the form
XVI COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
prescribed by Coke ; and the Master (William Grocyn) and Brethren
of All Saints College, Maidstone, v. Kempe (p. 271), which does the
same. Excluding the three instances having reference to the Severn
tolls for the reasons given, we have five cases, in which there is no
possible doubt that the Court of Star Chamber was the adjudicating
tribunal, tried after the Act of 1487 ; yet in only two of these five
is the petition addressed to the Chancellor, in conformity with the
explicit direction of that Act. Neither, on the other hand, is the
form prescribed by Coke, an address to the King, followed in more
than two cases. Coke, in short, infers the practice of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries from that of his own day. This is the more
surprising in that the Act 81 Hen. 6, c. 2, temporarily legalising
writs of Privy Seal against rioters, recites that they have been
customarily issued with a summons * to appear before him (the King)
in his Chancery or before him and his Council.'
b. It is noteworthy that in the three consolidated cases in which one
Broke was defendant (pp. 38-45), heard in 1494, the indorsement of the
writ to be issued is * coram domino rege.' This indorsement is, however,
remarkable in another point. It runs, as originally written, * coram
domino Rege vbicunque fuerit infra x dies post visum literarum * (p. 42).
Interlined, apparently in substitution for the first four words, are these :
* apud Westmonasterium crastino purificacionis.' It is with the original
form that we are concerned. It carries us back at least to the age of
John,^ when the King was holding Court with a body of attendant
judges as he made his progresses through the kingdom. The rolls of
that part of the Curia Regis, which subsequently became known as the
King's Bench, were styled the * Coram Rege rolls,' and summoned the
litigant to appear * before us wheresoever we shall be in England.' ^
That part of the Curia Regis which eventually became the judicial
body known as * The King in Council ' necessarily retained the formula
* ubicunque &c.' after the Curia Regis in its more limited sense was
stationary at Westminster. Of the twin prerogative Courts, the
Court of Requests and the Court of the Star Chamber, the Court of
Requests continued during the reign of Henry 7 to issue writs
with the clause * ubicunque &c.' ^ though without the words * coram
Rege.' After its settlement by Wolsey in the White Hall of the palace
of Westminster, it frequently added to * coram consilio domini Regis '
* For references to the discussion of * P. and M. 'Hist. Eng. Law,' i. 177.
the antiquity of this formula see Professor E. Coke, 4 Inst. 76.
F. W. Maitland's preface to ' Select Pleas of ' See ' Select Cases in the Court of
the Crown ' (Selden Soc. 1887), p. xiii, n. 3. Requests,' pp. 2, 8, Seldon Soc. 1898.
INTRODUCTION XVll
the words ' apud Westmonasterium ' ^ and occasionally made its writs
returnable * coram consilio domini Eegis in le Whight halle.' ^ The more
important Court, that known as the Star Chamber, did not issue writs of
summons * ubicunque/ but frequently retained the words * Coram Rege
et Concilio suo,' as we see in the cases of Carter v. the Abbot of Malmes-
bury (p. 121), the Abbot v. the Bailiffs of Shrewsbury (p. 208), Powe
V. Newman (p. 229), Butlond and others v. Austen (p. 265), and Jones
V. Lychfeld (p. 276). The words * Coram Eege et Concilio suo * are in
the first, second, and last of the above cases followed by the words
* apud Westmonasterium.' These words are absent from the indorse-
ments of Butlond and others v. Austen (p. 265), and Powe v. Newman
(p. 229) . But that from their absence it must not be inferred that they
were cases heard before the Council and not before the Star Chamber
appears from the fact that we have express evidence to the contrary in
the case of Butlond ifec. v. Austen (p. 264, n. 10).^ Other writs and
indorsements are simply * apud Westmonasterium * in the cases of
Couper r. Gervaux (p. 88), and Halle r. Essexe (p. 174); 'Coram
dominis de consilio nostro in Camera Stellata,' in the writ issued on
the petition of the Bailiffs of Worcester (p. 217) ; * Coram Consilio
Regis apud Westmonasterium ' in Straunge t\ Kenaston (p. 275) ;
* coram Domino Rege et Consilio suo apud Westmonasterium ' in Jones
V. Lychfeld (p. 276). In the time of James 1 the writ was returnable
* Coram Domino Rege in Camera Stellata coram consilio ibidem.' ^
But Hudson gives one of the same reign returnable * coram Nobis et
dicto Concilio nostro apud Westmonasterium.' "^ These facts seem to
point to the significance of the indorsement in Smyth r. Broke as being
that the cause was originally brought in the King's Court of Requests
and thence remitted to the Star Chamber. This would account for the
clause * ubicunque.' That it was not a petition presented to Henry 7
on a progress is probable from his Itinerary as shewn by his Privy
Purse expenses. It thence appears that on January 26, anno 9 (1494),
he was at Thistel worth (Isle worth), having arrived at Windsor on the
preceding day from Minster Level in Oxfordshire, and at Thistelworth
he remained until January 31, when he travelled to Westminster.'*
' * Select CaBesin the Court of Requests,' Chamber case). The form on p. 218 repre-
pp. 40, 41, 46, 198. Selden Soc. 1898. sents a later stage in the evolution of the
^ lb. p. 176. Or * coram consilio Star Chamber as a tribunal distinguish -
domini Begis (in) le Whyte halle apud able from the Council.
Westmonasterium,' ib. p. 190. * Apparently per Ellesmere, C, in 1606.
" In the case of Carter v. the Abbot of See J. Hawarde, ' Les lieports ' <&c., p. 302.
Malmesburj a ' Dedimus Potestatem 'for * ' Treatise of the Court of Star Cham-
the examination of. a witness was issued ber,' p. 145.
with the clause ' ubicunque ' (see p. 122, ' ' Excerpta Uistorioa ' (1831), p. 26.
n. 7, where reasons are given for the con- Privy Purse expenses of Henry 7.
elusion that this was nevertheless a Star
a 2
xvili COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
The litigants in that case were inhabitants of Castle Bromwich,
Warwickshire.
There is, however, one case here printed in which a writ in the
form of ' ubicunque fuerit * would have appropriately responded to the
prayer of the bill. That is the case of Goryng r. the Earl of Northum-
berland, in which the plaintiff petitions the King *to do calle in
examinacion before you and your most honourable counseill at suche
day and place as it shal please your grace to appoincte in this your
progi-esse and journey the said matier' (p. 98). Very unfortunately,
the indorsement^ which is on the replication, is illegible. But the
form of the prayer points to the exercise of the old judicial authority
of the King in Council at a period certainly posterior to the Act
' Pro Camera Stellata.'
c. Hudson raises the question whether the filing of the Bill or the
issue of the Writ should be the first step. He justly observes that the
words of the Subpoena * import the Bill to be filed before the Writ
granted ; for it is " quibusdam certis de causis coram nobis et concilio
nostro expositis," which is matter contained in the Bill.' The history
of procedure given by him is, briefly, as follows : that at a later date
it became the practice * to have the process before the Bill ' ; that this
having given rise to the issue of subpoenas by solicitors in distant
parts of the kingdom, by way of blackmail, Lord Chancellor Ellesmere
* did enjoin Bills to be filed before any process were awarded,' and
after his death (1617) the practice suppressed by him was revived.*
So far as can be inferred from the few indorsements here printed,
Hudson's argument from the words of the Subpoena is sustained. The
issue of * breuia sub privato sigillo ' in the case of Couper r. Gervaux
is * prout petitur * (p. 38). The indorsement in the Bishop of Worcester
against Thomas and others (p. 231) is not clear, but from that of
Straunge v. Kenaston (p. 275) it is apparent that the Writ was issued
upon the filing of the Bill. Indeed, the prayers throughout assume
that the appearance is to be made to answer the case already stated.
* To answer to the premisses ' is the common form, and conformably
* Hudson, p. 143. It would seem that Cancellarie frequentancium recipint et in
the idea of issuing process before bill filed filum cancellarie imponat.' G. W. Sanders,
was, so far as the Court of Chancery was Chancery Orders (1846), 7 d. Similarly in
concerned, at least as old as the reign of Chancery ' in ancient times the Subpoena
Henry 5. An Order in Chancery of that was not issued unless the case stated in the
reign lays down : • Quod nullus scribens ad bill was considered to warrant it, and the
sigillum primum processum (videlicet) breve Chancellor sometimes took the advice of
de subpena ad comparandum {sic) conficiat the judges on the subject.' G. Sponco,
et ad sigillum producat priusquam billam * Equitable Jurisdiction ' (1846), i. 3()9.
cum manu unius Consiliariorum barram
INTRODUCTION xix
to this the indorsements convey the impression, where they do not
actually so state, that they are subsequent to the Bill.
The titles of the plaintiffs statement of his case are ' Bill ' and
' Bill of complaint/ generally the latter. In one instance, the state-
ment of defence in Smyth v. Broke, it is called a ' bill of peticipn '
(p. 48).
Hudson's chapter (Part III. § vii.), * Of the process whereby appear-
ance is required,' discloses that in his time the original significance of
the different forms of Process was lost. ' In antient times, when com-
plaint was made either of some notable outrage or fraud to the King,
the Lord Chancellor, or Council (sometimes the King) by letters
missive commanded the delinquent to answer in the Star Chamber.
Sometimes any of the Council to whom the complaint was made sent
for the offender and took him by recognizance to appear in the Star
Chamber ; which course is yet usual. Sometimes the Lord Chancellor
sent a serjeant-at-arms to admonish them to appear ; sometimes a
messenger of the King's chamber served the Privy Seal ; sometimes
a Subpoena was awarded to be served by the party and his servant ;
and all these kinds of summons or original process I find in the
records of Hen. 7 and Hen. 8.' He also shews that though in the time
of Charles 1, the period at which he writes, peers demanded as a pri-
vilege a summons by Letters Missive, the other forms enumerated were
in use in their case during the first half of the sixteenth century.
The distinction between Letters Missive and a Privy Seal was that
Letters Missive were under the King's signet, while letters of Privy
Seal issued from the office of the Keeper of the Privy Seal. Letters
Missive had, therefore, a more personal and private character.^
Hudson tells us that * the great peers of the realm do deny to appear
upon the ordinary service,' which appears to be Subpoena, * but require
letters of summons, like Letters Missive, from the Lord Chancellor or
Lord Keeper, which certainly, for all latter times, have been yielded
unto for their dignities. And yet I find in Hen. 7's time a privy seal
was served upon the Earl of Kent to appear in this court ; and in
3 Hen. 8 the Lord of Abergavenny warned by the serjeant-at-arms to
appear ; and in 11 Hen. 8 the Lord Ogle was committed for a con-
tempt in breaking a privy seal directed unto him, and divers lords
bound over to appear by recognizance ; so that I doubt the antiquity
of this grace (if it be so esteemed) ; the King's broad seal being as
honourable as the Lord Chancellor's letter, but only that the other is
' See Sir H. Nicolas, Preface to Proceedings Ac. of Privy Council (1837), vi. p. cxlvii
(&c., and £. Coko, 2 Inst. 554-6.
XX COUKT OF THE STAR CHAMHER
a more singular course, differing from the common sort of people.
His next sentence incidentally indicates in what, in his time, the
essential distinction lay. ' The privy seal, or subpoena for appearance
which I take to be all one), is of one and the same form for all '
(p. 144). It may, perhaps, be inferred therefore that what was
particularly objected to on the part of the peers was a summons to
appear with a penalty expressed upon default.
It will be observed that in this passage Hudson speaks of the
process of the Court of Star Chamber as issuing under the Broad or
Great Seal, whereas elsewhere he, as well as Mill and Cotton, who
were also both clerks of the Court, habitually speaks of it as issuing
under Privy Seal. Coke, on the other hand, says: * All the writs
and processe of the court are under the great seal ' ; ^ and again,
more specifically : ' The processe in this court is suppoena, attachment,
processe of rebellion, &c., all under the great seal.* "
The explanation of this seeming contradiction is that, while the
statements of all the writers are true, the three clerks speak as
officials of the Court and Coke as a lawyer. In the * Articuli super
Chartas,' c. Q,^ the sixth chapter laid down that ' there shall no writ
from henceforth, that toucheth the common law, go forth under the
petty seal ' (desouth le petit seale). This was the seal which, as Coke
tells us, was 'after this time called the privie seale.' Coke notes
upon the above chapter : * This act saith not that all writs which
concerne the common law shall passe under the great seale ; but no
writs shall pass under the privie seale which touch the common law.' *
Accordingly, the Council, in the exercise of its indeterminate juris-
diction, continued to issue writs and letters of Privy Seal com-
manding appearance with a penalty expressed. In reply to a petition
of the Commons in 1401 complaining of this Henry 4 replied that
such writs should not thenceforth be issued, except at discretion of the
Chancellor or of the King's Council.' -' This reply conceded nothing, and
the preamble to 31 Hen. 6, c. 2 (1453), reads as if the former practice
continued. It recites that, for the suppression of the riots and
crimes there set forth, the King ' ad done en commaundement auxibien
par ses briefs desoubz son grande seall come par sez lettres de prive
seall dapparoer devaunt luy en sa Chauncerie ou devaunt luy & son
dit Counsaill.' This suggests that at this time the Council issued
letters of Privy Seal without the Chancellor's consent. Nevertheless,
this interpretation is doubtful, especially in view of what we know to
' 4 Inst. c. 5 ; ' The Court of Star Chamber,' f. 04. '' lb. f. 66.
» Anno 28 Ed. 1 (1300). See Coke, 2 Inst. c. 6, f. 555.
* lb. * Rot. Pari. iii. 471, b.
INTRODUCTION XXI
have been the later practice of the Star Chamber.^ It is suggested,
therefore, that the discretion of the Chancellor was signified in the
afl&rmative after 1401 by passing writs &c. of Privy Seal under the
Great Seal, and that in this, as in other matters of procedure, the
Court of Star Chamber followed the precedent of the Council. Upon
this practice in the Court of Star Chamber in the reign of Charles 1
Hudson is as explicit as Coke. * The duty,' he writes,^ * of the
process maker or clerk of the process ... is to write all process of
Subpoena ^ for appearances, costs, or damages, all attachments, com-
missions of rebellion and commissions for examination of defendants
or witnesses, habeas corpus, certiorari, writs of extent, and all other
writs whatsoever which are returnable in this court or issue from
thence ; all which he bringeth to the Great Seal to be sealed ; and for
all these he receiveth his warrant from the clerk of the Court.' This
sufficiently explains Coke's statements and Hudson's phrase.
Although, doubtless, in Hudson's time, a Subpcena was attached
to every writ of Privy Seal, the two forms of process were not neces-
sarily united, a summons for appearance under Privy Seal, whether
it took the more mandatory form of a writ (breve), or that of a letter
(litere),* at first expressed no penalty. The writ ran in the form called
by the Commons in a petition of 1389 * brief Quibusdam certis de
causis ' (Eot. Pari. iii. 267). An example is printed by Palgrave in
the appendix to his Essay upon the Original Authority of the King's
Council (p. 132) from Eot. Claus. 20 Ed. 3, p. 2, m. 4, d, as
follows : ' De essendo coram consilio Regis. Bex, Eicardo capellano
uxoris Johannis de Grymmestede chivaler, salutem. Quibusdam
certis de causis coram consilio nostro propositis, tibi prsecipimus firmi-
ter injungentes quod omnibus aliis prsetermissis, sis in propria persona
tua coram dicto consilio nostro in cancellaria nostra, et ad faciendum
ulterius et recipiendum quod curia nostra consideraverit in hac parte.
Et habeas ibi hoc breve. Teste custode &c. apud Eltham xxvi die
Decembris. Per consilium.' ^ The history of the Subpoena is told in
> See p. xxiii and n. 1, infra. in tone of these two forms of process is
^ ' Of the Court of Star Chamber,' p. 47. suggested by a resolution passed in Parlia-
i » There appear to have been six Sub- ment in 1387, that a letter of Privy Seal
I poenas — Ad eomparendum. Ad faciendum be sent to the Master of Prussia (al mestre
I meliorem responsionem. Ad rejungendum, de Pruys) asking redress (Kot. Pari. iii.
Ad audiendum judicium, Ad solvendum i 254, a) ; while in 1389 the Commons prayed
custag(ia), Ad solvendum damnum (W. Mill | for the issue of a writ (Brief du Prive
in B. M. Hargr. MS. 21G, f. 177). Each of ; Seal du Boy) against the Constable and
these cost a fee of 25. and the writ one of . Marshal of England, whose Courts they
28. 6d. (ib.) This was in 1598. There is ' charged with encroachment on the com-
also a list of fees in * Camera Stellata,* i mon law. Ib. 265, a.
Heame's ' Curious Discourses * (1771), p. * Other writs of summons issued from
305. the Chancery may be seen in SoVct Cases
* A curious example of the difference in Chancery (Seld. i:30c 1896).
XXll COURT OF TILE STAR CHAMBER
a petition of the Commons in 1416. It sets forth that * as divers of
your realm feel themselves greatly grieved, because of your writs
called writs sub poena and certis de causis, made and sued out of your
Chancery and Exchequer concerning matters determinable by your
common law/ which never were granted nor used before the time of
the late King Richard ; that John Waltham, late bishop of Salisbury,
of his subtlety caused such novelty to be found and commenced
against the form of the common law of your realm.* After .dwelling
on the loss to the Exchequer arising from the new process, the fee for
the issue of a writ of subpoena being no more than 6d., the Commons
prayed that the issue of such process might in future avoid the pro-
ceedings in respect of which such issue took place, as well as the
process itself. The petition was refused (Rot. Pari. iv. 84). The in-
vention of the writ dates back to the end of the reign of Edward 8,
when John de Waltham, who in 5 Richard 2 (Sept. 8, 1381) became
Master of the Rolls, held an inferior place in the Chancery (Palgrave,
'Essay,' p. 41). 2
A comparison of one of the earliest writs of Subpoena, belonging
to the year 1368, with the ancient writ ' Quibusdam certis de causis '
discloses in addition to the sub poena clause the insertion of three
words * ex parte nostra ' which may be taken to have formed the
foundation upon which a large part of the pretensions of the Court
were subsequently reared, whether by the servility of the lawyers of
the Jacobean age or of their predecessors under the Tudors is as yet
uncertain. Hudson is never weary of insisting that in the Court of
the Star Chamber the suitor is the King, though this doctrine is not
easily reconcilable with his admission that the King may also be
defendant (p. 139). Accordingly, in defining the jurisdiction of the
Court, he says : * The causes there handled are either public or private,
and they are respectively either civil or criminal. . . . Civil causes
are here properly determinable civilly, which are of two sorts, ordi-
nary or extraordinary ; ordinarily the suits of the King's almoner ;
* The objections to the writ of Subpoena for as moche as it is not so, it is a writ
are set forth in the Tract of the time of abused in my mynde contrarie to the
Henry 8. * Concerning suits in Chancery by common la we of the real me and contrary
Subpoena, Part 1.' (F. Hargrave, Collec- to reason and all good conscience, and yet
tion of Law Tracts [1787], p. 327.) ' If a is coloured by the pretence of conscience.'
subpoena had bin a writ ordained by the '^ The main dates in the life of John de
lawe of the realme to reforme a wronge, as Waltham, the year of his birth being un-
other writs in the saide booke (Natura known, are -Master of the Rolls Sept. 8,
Brcvium) be, he shold have bin set in the 1381-()ct. 24, 1380 ; Keeper of the Privy
booke of Natura Brevium and the nature Seal, Oct. 24, 1380 ; Bishop of Salisbury,
of him declared there, and for the reforma- April 3, 1388 ; died Sept. 17, 1395. ' Diet,
tion of what wronge it layeth, as it is in the Nat. Biog.'
writs contayned in the saide booke: and
INTRODUCTION XXIII
and extraordinarily, other great matters of interest betwixt the King
and his subject, which are accompanied with conveniency to tte state,
as well as meum and tuum * (p. 49). Hudson, however, as will pre-
sently be seen, derives this conclusion from the indorsement in use
upon the writs of his own day. As that indorsement does not appear
on those of the age of Henry 7, it follows that its origin must be
looked for elsewhere, and it is easily discernible in the writ itself as
presumably altered by John de Waltham. Such a writ, belonging to
the year 1363, and issuing upon a bill or petition addressed to the
King and Council, runs as follows : —
* Edwardus &c. dilecto sibi Kicardo Spynk de Norwyco, salutem.
Quibusdam certis de causis, tibi prascipimus firmiter injungentes
quod sis coram consilio nostro apud Westmonasterium die Mercurii
proximo post quindenam nativitatis Sancti Johannis BaptistsB
proximo futuraB ad respondendum super hiis que tibi objicientur
ex parte nostra, et ad faciendum et recipiendum quod curia nostra
consideraverit in hac parte. Et hoc sub poena centum librarum
nuUatenus omittas. Teste meipso apud Westmonasterium tercio die
Julii anno regni nostri tricesimo septimo &c.' Bot. Fat. 38 Ed. 3,'
p. 1, m. 15 ; Palgrave, p. 41, n.
In the reign of Henry 4 a significant change was introduced
testifying to the increasing importance of the House of Commons.
Having failed in their repeated endeavours to abolish the authority
of the Council in matters litigious, they sought to accomplish the
same end by insisting on an indorsement expressing the assent and
request of the Commons as indispensable to any bill preferred by a
litigant (Rot. Pari. iv. 127, 8 Hen. 5). It appears from this peti-
tion that bills before the Council were then indorsed * by authority
of Parliament.' Palgrave (p. 75) prints a Subpoena of November
24, Hen. 4 (1402), which expresses this on the face by the addition
after * consilio nostro ' of the words * in presenti parliamento.'
It is also to be observed that the words * ex parte nostra ' are
omitted and * coram nobis ' inserted. This writ runs as follows :
* Henricus Dei gratia Rex Angliae et Pranciae et Dominus HiberniaB
Ancelmo Gyse salutem. Quibusdam certis de causis coram nobis
et consilio nostro in presenti parliamento propositis, tibi praB-
cipimus firmiter injungentes quod omnibus aliis praeter missis et
excusacione quacumque cessante in propria persona tua sis coram
nobis et consilio nostro apud Westmonasterium in octabis Sancti
Hillarii proximo futuri ad respondendum super hiis qu8B tibi
* This woald be under the Great Seal. Cp. p. xx, supra.
XXIV COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
objicientar tunc ibidem, et ad faciendum ulterius et recipiendum
quod per nos et dictum consilium nostrum super prsemissis conti-
gerit ordinari. Et hoc sub pcena trecentarum librarum nuUatenus
omittas. Teste me ipso apud Westmonasterium xxiiij. die Novembris
anno regni nostri quarto. Per petitionem in parliamento. Rome.' ^
Without prejudging the question of the relation of the Court of
the Star Chamber to the statute of 1487 (3 Hen. 7, c. 1), it is
undeniable, as Hudson insists, that its forms followed those of the
Council^ as a body exercising judicial functions, and ran in the
Council's name. When the words * in parliamento nostro ' were
omitted in the case of petitions which had been filed during the
sitting of Parliament does not appear. The change in the next
summons of * et ' into * in * (* coram nobis in concilio ' &c.) was perhaps
made in exaltation of the prerogative, and the ' per nos et dictum
consilium ' of the writ of 1402, which involves the notion of the
King as a judge, supports the claim which James 1 advanced and
exercised, as Hudson tells us, to sit and act as judge in the court.
The writ in that king's day ran as follows : * Jacobus Dei gratia &c.
Quibusdam certis de causis coram nobis in concilio nostro propositib
&c. tibi prsBcipimus, firmiter injungentes, quod omnibus aliis pr©-
termissis et excusatione quacunque cessante, in propria persona tua
sis coram nobis et conciUo nostro apud Westmonasterium in Octabis
Michaelis proxime futuri ad respondendum ulterius quod per nos et
dictum concilium nostrum consideratum fuerit in hac parte ; et hoc
sub poena centum librarum; et habeas ibi hoc breve. Teste &c.'
This writ, he goes on to tell us, was indorsed with the plaintiffs
name as follows : * J. D. sequitur hoc breve,' * by which it appeareth
that the suit is the King's and the grieved party but the prosecutor,
for otherwise his name and cause should be specified in the writ as in
all writs at the common law, viz. Praecipe A. B. quod reddat C. D.
£20 quas ei debet et injuste detinet, &c.' (Hudson, p. 145).
In the cases contained in this volume we have very little evidence
to show what were the relations between the form of process and the
rank of the delinquent. There are five in which the defendant was a
lord of Parliament. They are the Duke of Suffolk (p. 15), the Abbot
of St. Augustine's, Canterbury (p. 20), the Abbot of St. Bennettes
Holme (p. 60), the Earl of Northumberland (p. 96), and the Abbot of
' John Borne, clerk of the Paxliamert, as the Court of the Star Chamber from the
the indorsement tells us. Palgrave, p. 75. Council, the chief judicial person. See
'^ And, as might be expected, of the O. Spence, ' Equitable Jurisdiction of the
Chancery also, the Lord Chancellor being Court of Chancery ' (1846), ch. vi.
in all three Courts, if we may distinguish
INTRODUCTION XXV
Malmesbury (p. 118), who was also treated by the Court as a
defendant, although not nominally such, in the case of Culford v.
Wotton (p. 47). In the instances of the Duke and the Abbot of St.
Bennettes Holme the petitioners do not venture to specify the
precise form of process which they desire should be issued. The
answer of the Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, seems to indicate
that he had been served with the document known as a * Privy Seal '
(p. 20). In Carter v. the Abbot of Malmesbury, the plaintiff, Carter,
asks for the issue of a Subpoena (p. 121). There is no indorsement
recording that he got it ; but in the case of Culford v. Wotton the
Court proprio motu ordered the issue of * litere sub poena ' to the same
Abbot, as head of the house of which the defendant was a brother
(p. 47). Since the prayer of the complainant in Carter v. the Abbot of
Malmesbury cannot be taken as conclusive of the practice of the
Court, we are reduced for our knowledge of the form of process issued
against lords of Parliament to this last example. We have also the
indorsement in Culford v. Wotton (p. 47), where the word * litere'
may be interpreted ' Letters of Privy Seal.'
If, therefore, the form of process was not in the early Tudor period
determined by the rank of the defendant, did it depend upon the
quaUty of the act which brought him before the Court? To this
question the cases before us scarcely afford an answer. In a large
proportion the plaintiffs pay for redress in general terms without
specifying the process they desire to issue. Assuming the judicial
power of the King in Council to have originated from the patriarchal
dispensation of justice by the King in person sitting, after the manner
of St. Louis, under a tree, or like our own Henry 4 and Henry 5
resting upon a cushion after dinner,' arrest by a Serjeant of arms
would probably be the original form of process, especially in the case
of flagrantia delicta, such as riot. Now riot appears in most of these
pleadings, frequently as common form, there being, as more than one
case shows, an impression that where no riot was alleged a demurrer
might lie. In some of the cases, on tbe other hand, riot in a popular
sense and without the minimum connotation legally attachable to the
term is a substantial ground of complaint. How greatly the form of
process prayed for varied in these latter cases will best be seen by
presenting them in parallel columns.
Name of Case. Process prayed for.
1. Mayor &c. of Exeter r. Stoden Seriant of Armes (p. 2).
and others.
2. Joyfull V. Warcoppe. * Lettres of priue Seal ' (p. 106).
' ' Stow^B Annals/ 342 ; Palgrave, p. 79, n.
XXVI
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Name of Case.
3. Pynson and others
others.
4. Abbot of Eynesham
and others.
5. Walterkyn v. Letice.
6.
Squyer and
r. Harecourte
Bishop of Worcester v. Thomas and
others.
Principal of Furnivall's Inn v. John-
son and others.
Colthurst v. Gentlemen of Furni-
vall's Inn.
9. Furbur r. Principal of Furnivall's
Inn and others.
10. Abbot of Byland v. Warcoppe.
Prooess prayed for.
Unspecified (p. 116).
* Writtes of Sub pena *
(p. 151).
Seriaunt of Armes (p.
166).
* Letters of pryue seale '
(p. 281).
Unspecified (p. 240).
8.
11. Straunge v. Eenaston.
* Sergeant of Armes ' (p.
247).
* Sergeant of armes ' (p.
248).
* Writ of sub pena ' (p.
258).
'Letturs of privey seale'
(p. 275).
The only other case in which the dispatch of a Serjeant of arms
is prayed is in that of Hewyt and others v. the Mayor and Corpora-
tion of London, where the plaintiff desires a prompt surrender of his
unjustly confiscated goods (p. 72). If Letters of Privy Seal and
Writs of Subpoena may be identified, this review suggests that
although generally ousted by the more pacific process, the ghost of
the Serjeant of arms still lingered,^ to be invoked where the summary
' In the fourteenth century the Serjeant
of arms was a very formidable personage
whose abuse of authority was the subject
of repeated remonstrances by the Commons.
This points to his being regarded as the
peculiar instnmient for enforcing the dis-
puted powers of the Council. In 1368 John
de la Lee was impeached because being
steward of the King's household he caused
divers persons to be bodily arrested, some
by Serjeants of arms and some by another
way (par autre voie) and to be brought
before liimself as before the King's Coimcil '
(Rot. Pari. ii. 297, 22; 42 E. 3 [1368]).
In 1386 the Commons protested against
the insupportable number of serjeants of
arms, 'qui font grant oppression et ex-
torsions par colour de lour oftices a la
poeple,' and petitioned that their number
might be reduced to its former limits (Hot.
Pari. iii. 223, a ; 10 Rio. 2 [1386]). Nothing
appears to have been done, and in 1389
the Commons prescribe twenty-four as the
number of ancient custom. They further
demanded that they should be paid regular
wages, to prevent the commission by them
of * grantz extorsions ct oppressions iil
poeple.' The King replied that they should
be reduced to thirty and forbidden ex-
tortion Ac (ib. 265; 13 Ric. 2 [1389J).
In 1394 he was requested to carry his
promise into effect (ib. 318, b). Like com-
plaints were repeated in 1397 (ib. 354, a ;
21 Ric. 2). That the process changed
or the number really had been superfluous
appears probable from the fact that after
this date such complaints cease. The ' ser-
jeant-at-arms ' still survives on paper as an
officer of the Court of Chancer/ whose func-
tion it is to attach a defend.. at upon the
return by a sheriff of ' non est inventus.'
But this is practically obsolete. See Dunicll's
* Chancery Practice ' (7th ed. 1901), i. 713 ;
H. W. Seton, 'Judgments and Orders ' (6th
ed. 1901), i. 448.
INTRODUCTION XXVll
suppression of rioters or speedy restitation was thought to be
demanded by the circumstances. That the serjeant of arms was not
merely a bearer of Writs or Letters of Privy Seal appears from the
prayer in Walterkyn v. Letice (p. 166), which requests the grant of
* your gracioux lettres of priue Seale to be directed ' to the defendants
* or a seriaunt of Armes or sum other commaundement them and
euery of them straitly commaunding by the same to appere ' &c.
This inference is confirmed by the passage above quoted from Hudson,
stating that * the Privy Seal 'was served by messengers of the King's
chamber.*
The indorsements, which are not numerous, tend in favour of the
identification of the other forms of process at this date. In Couper v.
Gervaux (p. 88) we read of the issue of * breuia sub priuato sigillo
. . . sub poena,' xl. li. In Smyth v. Broke, * litere ' have been
issued * sub poena,' Ix. li. (p. 42). The defendant in this case was
of no such social standing as to be entitled to the issue of * litere ' in
lieu of * brevia.' The issue of * litere sub poena ' against the Abbot of
Malmesbury in Culford v. Wotton (p. 47) has already been noticed.
* Decretum est Privatum Sigillum ' and * retornabile . . . sub poena
. . . c. marcarum ' are .two notes in Mayne and others v. Gibbes and
others (p. 130), the first an indorsement, the second on the face of
the document. They indicate, though they do not prove, that ' a
Privy Seal * implied a Subpoena. Lastly, the prayer in Straunge v.
Kenaston (p. 275) for * letturs of privey seale ' and the indorsed notifi-
cation of the issue of a Subpoena under Privy Seal seem to complete
the identification. What Hudson stated to be true of his time may
be taken as true of that of Henry 7. They, the Privy Seal and
Subpoena, were *all one,'^ and apparently issued without respect
either to the persons of the parties or the substance of the matter
charged.
' This is supported to some extent by a adonqes illeoqes esteant.' But this was a
passage in Rot. Pari. iii. 439, b (1 Hen. 4 case in which forcible resistance might
[1399]), where the Commons petition for have been anticipated. So a bill filed in
an inquiry ' combien les pourtours des Chancery, temp. Hen. 6, complaining of
Lettres le Boy & Clercs & Sergeantz violent outrage on the part of the de-
d 'Armes pur arrester Niefs pur viage le fendant, prays the Chancellor ' to comound
Roy, ount pris en brocage & en douns.' a sergeant of armez to bryng hym before
This seems to imply that the King's the kynge in his chauncerie ' ' Cal. of
messengers were a class distinct from the Proc. in Chanc. Bee. Comm.' (1827), p.
Serjeants of arms. On the other hand, in xlviii. Izaacke Cotton, a clerk of the Court,
the impeachment of Thomas Mortymer writing in 1622 says, • The messengers of
in 21 Ric. 2 (Rot. Pari iii. 380, b [1397]), this Court are the Marshalls men or a
it is mentioned that the King * avoit en- Sorieant at Arms.' B. M. Lansd. MSS. 639,
voiez ses maundements par Edward Dee f. 144.
un de ses Serjeantz d'Armes en sa Terre '^ ' Of the Star Chamber,' p. 144.
d'Irland, directz a dit Thomas Mortymer
XXVlll COURT OF THE STAR CHAM HER
d. After the service of the Subpcena or other Bummons the defen-
dant made appearance conformably to the prayer of the bill and to
the terms of the process. In the time of Henry 7 appearance was,
according to Hudson, in person before the Court. * Then must he
(the defendant) enter into a bond not to depart without licenpe of the
Court which, in antient times, was done upon every appearance, and
in those days most commonly with sureties to appear a die in diem,
which was long time used, but now never used but upon great cause '
(ibid. p. 159). There are no records of this proceeding among these
documents, probably because of the loss of the Order Books of the
Court.* But the Order Books of the sister Court, the Court of
Requests, are preserved, and an example will illustrate the procedure.
In the case of the Mayor and Citizens of Exeter against John Bony-
fant, heard in 1499, the indorsement on the petition shows that it
was filed on November 18, 1498. From the Order Book we learn that
the defendant appeared on February 10, 1499, which, remarkable to
say, was a Sunday, and was ordered to appear and put in his answer
by the following Monday. These being the days of the week, we may
perhaps conjecture that having been, in the previous November,
ordered by inadvertence to appear upon February 10, probably so
many days after the Feast of the Purification of Our Lady (February 2),
he appeared on the first Court day after, the 10th being a holyday,
and was granted a week within which to file his answer, his appear-
ance being dated as conformably to order to save the penalty. This
agrees with Hudson*s statement that ' the defendants have eight days
to frame and bring in their answer into the Court' (p. 161), i.e. into
the Court of Star Chamber. The order runs that the defendant has
appeared under the Subpcena of 1002., has till the Monday following
to file an answer and to appear * et sic de die in diem quousque &c.
sub eadem poena.* ^
The next step was to file the answer. On this the defendant
was sworn. In this there seems to have been a change in the practice
of the Court between the time of Henry 7 and that of James 1. * The
defendant,' says Hudson, * must either put in a plea, demurrer, or an
answer, or (as Serjeant Hale did) an answer having all those titles.'
This proceeding on the part of Serjeant Hale,^ which Hudson notes
' In Goryng v. the Earl of Northumber- * Qu. was this Robert Hale (d. c. I(il4)
land (p. 97) the plaintiff upon the analogy the father of the celebrated Sir Matthew
of this procedure offers to be 'forth com- i Hale, G.J., who is recorded to have aban-
myng vpon suffisaunt suretie to be made doned his profession owing to his dislike of
vnto the said Erl of Northumberland ' the use of legal fictions in pleading ' which,
* Select Cases in the Court of Bequests, as he thought, was to tell a Lye ' (Gilbert
Selden Soc. 1898, p. 6. Burnett, ' Life of Sir Matthew Hale ' [1682J,
INTRODUCTION XXIX
as exceptional, Beems to have been the rule in the time of Henry 7,
when the art of multiplying costs was presumably in its infancy.
The defences in this volume do not confine themselves to one of these
three courses. The case put forward by the Abbot of St. Augustine's,
Canterbury, against the Prior of Bath is, as has been noted, some-
what anomalous. In form it is a bill of complaint ; in substance, an
answer to a bill previously filed by the Prior. It opens with a
demurrer to the bill for insufliciency and uncertainty, and concludes
with a plea to the jurisdiction of the Court (pp. 20-21). The answer
of John Fitzherbert (pp. 61-64) opens with what Hudson describes as
* a plea to the matter of charge (which) sometimes admitteth the
matter and yet alledgeth foreign matter of record that he ought not
to answer it' (Hudson, p. 163). It concludes, Uke the Abbot of St.
Augustine's answer, with a plea to the jurisdiction of the Court. In
the answer of Sir Bobert Letice, clerk, and others, the defendants
first demur for insufficiency &c., next plead to the jurisdiction of the
Court, and then introduce the substantial defence with the formula,
' And thauauntage therof to them savid for declaracion of trouth and
answer seyen that ' &c. (p. 166). The same course is followed by the
defendant in Smyth v. Broke (p. 48) ; by the Abbot of Malmesbury at
the suit of Robert Carter (p. 122) ; by William Essexe at the suit of
William Halle (p. 175) ; by John Newman at the suit of Thomas Powe
and another (p. 229) ; by Eobert Warcoppe at the suit of the Abbot
of Byland (p. 261) ; and by Randolf Austen and others at the suit of
John Butlond and others (p. 266). Other defendants, as Squyer and
others at the suit of Pynson (p. 116), and the Principal and Fellowship
of Furnivall's Inn at the suit of Colthurst and Furbur (p. 248), content
themselves with a demurrer to the * insuflBciency ' of the bill, set out
their account of the facts, and traverse the allegations of the plaintiffs.
The defendant in Jones v. Lychfeld appears to have drafted his
own answer (p. 276), informally contesting the several allegations of
the bill. John Stoden and another simply tell their tale (p. 3).
The significance of the demurrer of * insufficiency ' is not very
clear. Hudson says, * Insufficiency of matter is alledged, sometimes
that the matter in charge tendeth to accuse the defendant of some
crime which may be capital ; in which case nemo tenetur prodere
seipsum ; or upon a penal law, where he is to forfeit his goods ;
sometimes that the matter is proper for ecclesiastical cognizance, as
p. 3) ? But I find no serjeant of the name serjeant-at-law 1594, Queen's serjeant 1602,
in Foss's lists of Serjeants made between King's serjeant 1603. E. Foss, * Lives of
1558 and 1624, only John Heale called the Judges ' (1857), v. 414, 415, vi. 30.
XXX COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
defamation, or such-like ; sometimes that it is petty or trivial, and so
not worthy the dignity of the Court. These and such-like are causes
of demurrer for insufl&ciency of matter/ ^ The cases here seem to shew
that insufficiency imphes a plea to jurisdiction in favour of the
Common Law Courts generally, and not, as Hudson seems to limit it,
of the Ecclesiastical Courts only. It appears to mean, ' This bill is
insufficient to put the defendant to answer here ' ; or it stands for
' trivial,' expressed in the answer of John Att Well as * not materiall
nor mater of substance' (p. 12). It is thus that the predication of
* insufficiency ' of a bill involves the connotation, implied by Hudson,
that the jurisdiction of the Court is * insufficient ' to take cognisance
of it.
* Insufficiency * is constantly coupled with * uncertainty.' ' De-
murrer,' says Hudson (p. 164), *is in all cases where there wanteth
certainty, or legal words of charge in the bill.' The complaint of the
Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, alleges * insufficiente and un-
certeynte ' against that of the Prior of Bath (p. 20), and the form,
borrowed, like many of the other pleadings, from Common Law proce-
dure, commonly appears in the statements of defence, replications,
and rejoinders throughout this volume. In Hudson's time the Court
frequently referred the demurrers to the judges. We have no direct
evidence that this was the procedure under Henry 7. * Upon the
judges' certificate,' says Hudson, ' if the same determine the matter
which is referred that the defendant ought to make a better answer,
thereupon doth the clerk of the Court make a warrant to the process-
maker to make a subpoena ad faciendum meliorem responsionem,
which is only in the form of the first subpoena, but that the same is
indorsed with these words, " ad faciendum meliorem responsionem " '
(p. 166). No such indorsement is to be found in the documents
before us, and it is to be noticed that Hudson (p. 87) represents the
process-maker's office as of recent creation, his duties having been
formerly performed by the clerk of the Court. Nevertheless the form
of indorsement was probably of old standing. However this may be,
we have instances of the filing of second answers which were in effect
' meliores responsiones.' John Fitzherbert puts in a second answer
indorsed * Nouum responsum ' (p. 59) in the same term as he put in
the first. As the practice of referring demurrers to the judges was
neither obligatory nor invariable, for they were sometimes decided
* by the judgment of the Court upon public motion or the lord keeper's
private opinion' (Hudson, p. 165), this celerity makes for the infer-
' * Of the Court of Star Chamber,' p. 1G4.
INTllODUCTION XXXI
ence that judgment upon the demurrer was delivered by the Court
of the Star Chamber then and there, since the judges could scarcely
have put aside other business in order without delay to hear argu-
ments upon points remitted to them. Two answers are filed in
Joyfull V. Warcoppe, the defendants being added to and in some cases
changed, presumably by order or with leave of the Court (pp. 107,
109). Two bills of complaint were filed by the Abbot of Shrewsbury
in 1509, of which only the second survives (p. 189). Presumably this
must have been filed after a judgement against the plaintiff on
demurrer. Hudson says that if the defendant's plea or demurrer be
held good * then is he absolutely dismissed with his costs ' (Hudson,
p. 166).
An endeavour was made by lords of parliament in the reign of
Elizabeth to raise a privilege of answering before this Court on their
honour and not being sworn thereto. * Henry, earl of Lincoln, stood
upon this in Queen Elizabeth's time, but in vain, for he was over-
ruled in it and did answer upon his oath ' (Hudson, p. 167). Hudson
cites three cases in the reign of Henry 8, two of temporal and one
of a spiritual peer, to prove that the claim was an encroachment.
The replication of the Prior of Bath that the form of the bill put in
by the Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, was, * by cause the
said Abbot wold not be sworne vppon eny answer by hym to be made
directly to the bille of the seide Prior ' (p. 25), confirms Hudson's
contention. No inference can be drawn from any other answers here
put in by lords of parliament.
*An answer,' adds Hudson (p. 168), *is not perfect without
examination ; and it is part of the oath taken, to make true answer
to the interrogatories, which in antient times was called "examinatus
super responsionem suam." ' In the time of Henry 8, he tells us,
* the examinations were taken by the Lord Chancellor in the Court,
where the interrogatories were never above six or seven, and those
every one a short question.' This was also the procedure in
Chancery. An example is to be seen in the cape of Katherine Danyell
r. Richard Belyngburgh, teiup. Hen. 6,^ where the bill is indorsed,
* Infrascriptus Eicardus in Cancellaria Regis personaliter comparens
& i])idem super sancta Dei evangelia juratus & examinatas ad
veritatem dicendam de materia in hac billa contenta dicit quod ' t"tc.
This was one of the points in connexion with the jurisdiction of
Chancery and the Council to which the Commons had in the previous
reign taken special exception. * Les queux plees ne purront prendre
' ' Cal. of Proc. in Chancery,' I. xxxi.
I)
t
XXXll (X)URT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
fyn, synoun par Examination & serement des parties, solonc la
fourme de ley cyvyle & ley de Seinte Esglise, en subvercion de
vostre commune ley.* * That in the time of Henry 7 defendants
continued to be sworn to their answers appears from the case of the
Prior of Bath against the Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury. The
Abbot's answer is drawn in the form of a bill of complaint. This is
perhaps an instance of Hudson's statement that a defendant may
appear * without process when any person of worth or honesty hath a
scandalous bill filed against him; having notice thereof, he may
appear gratis to purge his reputation ' (p. 158). The Prior of Bath,
however, alleges that the form of the Abbot of St. Augustine's answer
was * only of eubtiltie and craft by cause the same abbot wold not be
sworne vppon eny answer by hym to be made directly to the bille of
the same Prior ne yef eny answer direct therunto, which is a right
ieopardous president to be begon of newe ' (p. 25). * John Fitzherbert
sworn saith that this his answere is treu in euery point and he saith,'
&c. (p. 67). So *Herry Squyer sworne vpon this his answer ' (p. 117).
* Dan John Wotton sworn upon the bill of complaint and this his
answer deposith ' (p. 48). * To the v* ' vi^^ and vii^ ' (interrogatories) it
is answered to the bill ' (p. 186), i.e. the statement of defence of the
Bailiffs of Shrewsbury has already made answer. Only the indorse-
ment of the bill in Treherne and another v. Harecourt suggests, though
it does not prove, that Sir Robert Harecourt appeared to answer inter-
rogatories viva voce brfore he filed his deft nee (p. 163). In the above
cases, it will be observed, the interrogatories constituted the examina-
tion of the defendant. This was a proceeding distinct from and prior
to the examination of witnesses, as may be seen in the case of Madeley
V. Fitzherbert (p. 68). As has been stated, the examinations of the
parties * were taken by the lord Chancellor in the Court ' in the
time of Henry 8.^ We have in Kebell r. Vernon a note that the
deposition of the plaintiff was handed to the defendant's attorney by
the Lord Chancellor in the Star Chamber (p. 134).
This examination of defendants on oath is admitted by the writers
who do not regard the statute of 1487 as the origin of the Court to
have been introduced by that Act into the practice before the Council.
It was a change of great importance. The Court was authorised by
the Act * to call before theym by Wrytte or Pryvye seall the seid
mysdoers and theym and other by ther discressions to whome the
trouthff may be knowen, to examyn and such as they fynd therin
' Rot. Pari. 3 Hen. 5. vol. iv. p. 84, a ■' Hudson, • Of the Court of Star Cbam-
(1415). See further p. Ivi, infra. ber,* p. 168.
INTRODUCTION XXXIU
defectiflf to punyssh ' &c. Upon this Coke glosses * to examine the
defendant, which being understood after his answer made to be upon
oath upon interrogatories, which this ancient Court proceeding in
criminal! causes had not, nor could have but by Act of Parliament
or prescription.*
e. It is curious that we have among these cases only twelve
instances of replications. It cannot be because replications were not
invented, for the two cases of the Mayor &c. of Exeter against Stoden
(p. 1), and Tayllour against Att Well (p. 6), heard before the King in
Comicil temp. Edward 4, both contain them. Their rarity seems to
support Hudson's view that since no new charge could be brought in
the replication it was a mere formality, * by reason whereof there is so
little regard of the replication as that they are only drawn by clerks,
without any regard whether there be any issue joined in the case or
not, no counsel being made privy or acquainted therewith ; insomuch
as if many causes were well looked into when they came to hearing,
the parties would be found not to have joined any issue ' (Hudson,
p. 191). The pleadings subsequent to the answer stem thus to
have degenerated into a question of fees, for Hudson tells us that
the rejoinder of the defendant was preceded by a warrant issued
by the clerk of the Court to the process-maker to make a sub-
poena for the defendant to rejoin, *for which warrant he receiveth
only two shillings ' (ib.). This last subpoena was indorsed * ad
rejungendum replicationi, J. S.' In is not surprising, if this was the
course followed in the time of Henry 7, that we only find among
these documents five rejoinders of that reign (pp. 61, 67, 79, 118, 234),
in addition to the one in Att Well ats Tayllour (p. 14) in the reign
of Edward 4. There is no sign of the surrejoinder and rebutter, of
which Hudson says that * of latter times those are wholly out of use
by reason the clerks only direct all these pleadings without the advice
or subscription of any counsel ' (Hudson, p. 192).
/. The pleadings closed, there followed the examination of wit-
nesses. They were taken by commission in the country ; but in
London it would appear from the case of the Abbot against the
Bailiffs of Shrewsbury (p. 193) by the clerk of the Court. When
commissioners were nominated, they were * men of great worldt in the
county where the fact ariseth and were antiently appointed by
the Court' (Hudson, p. 202). At a later date they were agreed
upon between the parties (ib.). These documents show that eminent
b2
XXxiv COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
lawyers were sometimes commissioned, as in the case of Hewyt and
the Mayor &c. of Exeter against the Mayor &c. of London (p. 80).
But the * Dcdimus Potestatem,* the name given to this commission
(ib.) in Carter against the Abbot of Malmesbury (p. 121), is an illus-
tration of Hudson's statement. Among these cases we have a con-
siderable number of interrogatories and depositions of witnesses. These
were read to the Court, a proceeding recited in the judgement of the
Court of July 8, 1508, in the case of the Abbot r. the Bailiflfs of
Shrewsbury : * perlecte fuerunt deposiciones & dicta testium produc-
torum tam ex parte abbatis Salopiensis pro parte sua quam ex parte
balUuorum burgensium ville Salopie predicte ' (p. 187). The words
' & dicta ' illustrate Hudson's statement that as witnesses ' may
be examined in Court before any comAission be awarded for that
purpose, so may they * also after the commission has concluded '
(Hudson, p. 200).' The examination of Richard Dicher on February 6,
1604 (p. 184), certainly took place in London, as his answer to the
sixth Interrogatory clearly implies, and possibly before the Court.
Where evidence was taken by commission, in Hudson's time, at any
rate, the accredited, if not the universal, practice seems to have been
to take the evidence of each witness apart. * The place where they
(the commissioners) examine ought to be private for that purpose,
that parties and witnesses may not hear the several examinations of
every witness ' (id. p. 204).
g. In his account of the manner in which the Court of Star
Chamber deUvered its judgements Hudson slurs over a question which
in his day was one of acute controversy. His words are : * The lords
proceed to their sentence, which is always delivered in great silence
and without any interruption, the inferior beginning, and so in order
every man, and the archbishop last before the lord chancellor or the
lord keeper, if the treasurer be not the supreme judge at the time '
(id. p. 228). Who were the 'lords' ? Did they include the King's
Justices ? Coke (4 Inst. 62) argues that * it is clear that the two
justices in the Star Chamber are judges and have voices, as it hath
been resolved^ and daily experience teacheth.' It were much to be
' Cp. the exemplification of the decree of to this Court, as the Lord St. Alban hath
the Star Chamber on November 19, 1508, of late published, but contrary to the resolu-
in favour of the Warden and Canons of St. tion of the three principal judges given in
Mary's, Oterey, Pat. Rolls, 1 Hen. 8, pt. 2, his presence in Proctor's case . . . where
m. 9, ' testium deposicionibus visis auditis it was resolved that that statute enabled
lectis & intellcctis.' that court no more than it did any other
^ One of these resolutions is thus de- court in Westminster hall, but these lords
scribed by Hudson : ' I should speak some might determine those matters in any place
thing concerning the question before of England, neither did that statute make
touched, whether the statute of 3 Hen. 7 those lords sole judges of that court and
gave any power, strength, or confirmation yet compelled them to call assistants, other-
INTRODUCTION XXXV
wished that these resolutions and the grounds of them were in print.
There is, however, a case in print which makes directly to the contrary,
argued within five years of the statute of 1487. This judgement,
after reciting that Act, lays down that it appoints * nul juge sinon
I Chancelier, Treasurer ou Privy-Seel ou deux de eux & les autres sont
assistants & aidants & nemy Juges. Et issint accord' Touts les Jus-
tices ' (Y. B. E. T. 8 Hen. 7, f. 13, pi. 7). This was in 1498.
Let us see what light the judgement in the Abbot of Shrewsbury's
case here printed throws upon this issue.
4. The pertinent words of the Act ' Pro Camera Stellata ' (8 Hen. 7,
c. 1 (] 487), are * That the Chaunceller and Tresorer of Englond for the
tyme beyng and Keper of the Kynges pryvye Seall, or too of theym,
callyng to hym a Bisshopp and a temporall Lord of the Kynges most
Honorable Councell, and the too chyeflf Justices of the Kynges Benche
and Comyn Place for the tyme beyng or other too Justices in ther
absence, upon bill or informacion put to the seid Chaunceller ' &c.
shall summon the misdoers * by Writte or Pryvye Seall ' and so forth.
According to the exemplification of the decree of the Star Chamber
dated July 8, 23 Hen. 7 (1508), an exhibit in the Abbot of Shrews-
bury's case, which exemplification is printed as document D (p. 187),
the Chancellor, William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, presided.
There also sat Sir Robert (here by mistake called Francis) Rede, who
had been Chief Justice of the Common Pleas since October 1606 ;
Thomas Tremale,* who was a justice of the King's Bench; Robert
Britnell, or Brudenell, who became a judge of the King's Bench on
April 28, 1607; the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Sir William
Hody, who had been appointed in 1486 ; John Kyngsmell, a justice
of the Common Pleas since July 2, 1603 ; John Fyssher, a justice
of the same Court since November 8, 1601 ; and John Buttler, or
wise their proceedings were erroneous, as whether he ought, upon this divided opinion,
it is held in (Y. B.) 8 Hen. 7, 7 ; but the to be acquitted or condemned was referred
court subsisteth by ancient prescription ' &c. to the two Chief Justices, who held that
(p. 50). This does not follow the report of ' the Star Chamber was only bound by its
Proctor's case in Coke, * Reports,' pt. xii. | own precedents. These being examined to
f. 118, though it is not inconsistent there- I the number of two, temp. Eliz., seemed to
¥rith. In that case, upon an information shew that the Lord Chancellor's voice was
preferred in the Star Chamber against Sir deteiminant. But in 4 Inst. f. 64 Coke
Stephen Proctor ' for scandal and con- tells us that * sentence was never given
spiracy of the Earl of Northampton and against Sir Stephen Proctor agreeable to
the Lord Wootton,' the eight members of the generall rule in other courts.' See
the Court were equaUy divided. The Chief further Hudson, p. 31.
Baron, the two Chief Justices, and a tem- ' It may be added of Tremale that Foss
poral Baron condemned the defendant to had not been able to trace him as acting in
fine and imprisonment. The Lord Chan- a judicial capacity at a later date than
cellor, two Bishops, and the Chancellor of Hilary Term, 1507. ' Lives,' v. 77.
the Exchequer acquitted him. The questipn
►>;
XXXVl
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
» i
1 f
i ; :
-: »
Boteler, a justice of the same Court since April 26, 1508. There
was also the Prior of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Sir Thomas
Docwra, who had been elected to that distinguished office in 1502.
According to the exemplification, these formed the Court. It will be
noticed, however, that the exemplification appears to rank together as
* capitales Judices * the Chancellor Archbishop and the Chief Justice
of the Common Pleas. No authority for the assignment to these two
of any such joint priority is derivable from the words of the statute
*Pro Camera Stellata.' The mystery is fortunately solved by a
reference to the original decree of the Star Chamber, given in English,
of which the exemplification D is a Latin rendering (see p. 188,
n. 12). Thence it appears that Sir John Fyneux, at the time that
the decree was pronounced Chief Justice of the King's Bench, was
present, and it is to him and the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
that the designation ' capitales Judices,' ' chief justices,* really
referred. The omission of his name from the exemplification issued
on July 10, 1509 (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 289) must have been purely
accidental, for Fyneux was then still Chief Justice, and the words
' capitales judices ' were doubtless intended to include him. But the
inclusion of the Chief Justice of the King's Bench does not satisfy the
requirements of the statute. We note the absence both of the Trea-
surer of England, Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, appointed in 1501,
and of the Keeper of the Privy Seal, Richard Foxe, Bishop of Win-
chester, who had held his office of Keeper since February 24, 1487
(W. Campbell, * Mat.* ii. 158). Of these one at least should have been
present. The following columns shew the variations from the statu-
tory court : —
statutory Court.
Abp. William Warham, Chancellor
Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey,
Lord Treasurer
Bp. Richard Foxe, Lord Privy Seal
A Bishop
Sir Thomas Doowra, Prior of St.
John
Sir John Fyneux, C.J. of the K.B.
Sir Robert Rede, C.J. of the C.P.
Actual Court.
Abp. William Warham, C.
or
Thomas Tremale, J. ]
Robert BritneU, J. j
Total number of Court six or seven.
Sir Thos. Docwra, Prior of
St. John.
Sir John Fyneux, C.J. of K.B.
Sir Robert Rede, C.J. of C.P.
Thomas Tremale, J. of K.B.
Robert BritneU, J. of K.B.
Sir William Hody, C.B.
John Kyngsmell, J. of C.P.
John Fyssher, J. of C.P.
Total number of Court nine.
i I
INTRODUCTION • XXXVll
The Court comprised all the judges except the puisne Barons of
Exchequer (see pp. 188, n. 12, and 199, n. 2). Of the judges we
know by the lists of judges who sat in the Court of Bequests ^ that
Bede and Eyngesmell were members of the Council. It is possible
that they all were, though this was not a statutory necessity. The
journals of the House of Lords shew that the Prior of St. John sat
as a temporal peer. He had been therefore summoned according
to the statute. The decree and the subsequent references to it all
agree in distinguishing the judges from the councillors, and repre-
senting them merely as ' advisers.* For example, in the Abbot's
letter of 1509 (J, p. 198) it is set forth that the case had been
decided * by your good lordschip (the Chancellor) & oder lordes of
the seid late kinges moost honorabill councell with & by the advises
of all the Jugges then beyng of Englond and the cheflF baron.* The
same statement is made in the Abbot's bill of the same date (p. 190).
These statements are of importance. The exemplification printed on
p. 187 recites the presence only of the Chancellor, the Prior of St.
John's of Jerusalem, and the judges. But ' dominus cancellarius &
ceteri consiliarii * are represented by it as giving the judgement on the
advice of the judges. Except for the Abbot's letter it might have been
supposed that the * ceteri consiliarii ' was merely common form ; but the
letter, as also the bill of 1509, is confirmed by the original judgement of
which the exemplification is a translation.* It might, of course, have
been that the * ceteri consiliarii ' were the Treasurer and the Lord
Keeper ; but apart from the presumption that their names would not
have been omitted even if a cursory form of recital had been used,
we actually have the composition of the Court set out. The original
judgement runs : * it is ordened and decreid by the same counsell by
suche aduyse and consent of all the Kynges jugges' &c. (p. 188,
n. 12). The Star Chamber is not there mentioned. The inference
is that, in the opinion of the Chancellor and of the Court of Star
Chamber of 1508, the judgement of 1498 was not law, but, as Coke
phrases it, ' a sudden opinion,' so far as regards the proposition that
no other members of the Council were judges but the Chancellor,
the Treasurer, and the Privy Seal. What, then, of the King's Justices
summoned under that Act ? It is quite clear from the wording both
' Selden Soc. 1898, p. cii, fol. tioo runs : * habitaque super inde matura &
* In Pat. Rolls, 1 Hen. 8, pt. 2, m. 9, is diligent! deliberacione per Reuerendis-
an exemplification of a judgement delivered simum in Christo patrem Willelmum Can-
on November 19, 1508, * in Camera Stellata ' tuariensem Archiepiscopum Cancellariuni
in favour of the Warden and Canons of Anglie & dictum Consilium.'
St. Mary, Oterey, Devon. The exemplifies-
XXXVlll COURT OF THK STAR CHAMIlER
of the judgement and of the exemplification, as well as in the opinion
of the draughtsman of the Abbot's second bill (p. 189), and of the
Abbot himself, who was a lord of Parliament (p. 183), that they were
advisers and not judges of the Court, and that in this respect the
decision of 1498 was accepted as sound. ^
Who were the * ceteri consiliarii ' who, according to its common
form, sat in the Court of Star Chamber? There is room for two of
them, * a Bisshopp and a temporall Lord of the Kynges most Honorable
CounceU/ in the statute of 1487. Miss Scofield has collected instances
from the MSS. in the British Museum shewing that the administra-
tive Council was in the habit of using the Star Chamber for its deli-
berations upon political affairs. In those instances the attendance
was numerous, and they undoubtedly entered the minutes of their
proceedings in the * Liber Intrationum ' used by the judicial body.
But the examples collected by Miss Scofield do not establish that the
attendance was large when the Court was sitting on purely legal busi-
ness. Even the three orders passed on June 17 8 Hen. 8 (1616),
Oct. 14 9 Hen. 8 (1517), and Oct. 19 21 Hen. 8 (1529), at which
fourteen, thirty-four, and thirty persons were present respectively,
may very well have been orders made by the Council sitting in
the Star Chamber and not by the judicial body at all,^ though in
the time of Elizabeth they were designated Orders of the Court of
Star Chamber. As a matter of fact, this was justified by the common
use by both bodies, if they may be distinguished, of the style * the
King's Council in the Star Chamber.* ^
Nevertheless we have some contemporary evidence that the * ceteri
consiliarii ' of the King's Council in the Star Chamber, assembled for
judicial purposes only, at times exceeded the whole number of the Court
as defined by the Act of 1487. The Elizabethan compiler of the notes
of the judges in the Court during the reign of Henry 8 says, speaking
of 1527, two years before Wolsey's fall : * In these times the Cardinall
of York was Chancellor and legate, and the presence was alwayes grete
that sate with him in the Star Chamber.' * The mention of the fact
' In the case mentioned in the preceding indicates that the public appreciated the
note the recital of the Inspeximus is that difference between the Council sitting in
the judgement was delivered auctoritate the Sta*- Chamber as a Council of State and
eiusdem Consilii cum assensu legis peri- as a judicial body under the same designa-
torum utri-jsque partis, which looks as if, in tion. Sir T. Tyng writes to Sir .John Paston :
the case of a judgement by consent, the * Sir, ther hath be so gret eownsell fer the
King's Justices took no part. Kynges maters that my Lord chawnsler
■-' Lansd. MS. 1, art. 44. See C. L. kept not the Star Chamber thys viii. days,
Scotield, • Study of the Court of Star but one day at London, on Sunt Lenardes
Chamber ' (Chicago, 1900), p. 30. Day.' Paston Letters, iii. 3H.5 ; Scof. p. 27.
'■* Miss Scofield points out a passage in ' Lansd. M.S. 160, art. 112 ; Scotield, p.
the Paston Letters, of the date 1494, which iil.
INTRODUCTION XXXIX
that the Cardinal was Chancellor suggests strongly that the sources
from which the writer drew pointed to judicial sittings. Hudson, who
searched the original records, writing in the reign of Charles 1, says :
* The number in the reigns of Hen. 7 and Hen. 8 have been well
near to forty ; at some one time thirty.' Undoubtedly he must be
taken as speaking of the judicial court, for he adds : ' In the reign of
queen Elizabeth oftentimes (as many), but now much lessened since
the barons and earls, not being privy councillors, have forborne their
attendance.' ^
Who, then, were the * ceteri consiliarii ' who thronged the judge-
ment-seat of this tribunal, and what were their quaUfications ? Upon
this we have one witness of the sixteenth and four of the seventeenth
century. It may be premised that, according to Fortescue, peers were
* consiliarii nati.' ^ It was probably with this doctrine in his mind
that Sir Thomas Smith, writing in 1565, says : * The judges of this
Court are the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Treasurer, all of the Queen's
Majesty's Counsell, the Barons of this land.' These last he elsewhere
designates as * other Lords and Barons which be not of the privy
Counsell and be in the town.' ^ This statement Cowel, writing about
half a century later, glosses as follows : — * It appeareth both by Sir
Thomas Smith .... and by experience also that at this day the
whole number of the Prince's most honourable Privy Councell and
such other Barons spiritual or temporal as be called thither by the
Prince shall have place in this Court.' ^ This version introduces a
summons as an antecedent condition, as to which Smith is silent.*
But Wolsey's love of pomp and the thronged attendance in his chan-
cellorship ^ point to the practice of the issue of summons in his day.
Next to Sir Thomas Smith in order of date comes William Mill,
clerk of the Court in the reign of Elizabeth and a searcher of the
original records. He writes : * There is a fee appointed to the clerke
of the Councell to bee taken of every one admitted according to their
severall degrees, vizt. for the admittance of euery Arch Bishop and
Duke to the Councell xx s. of euery Bisshop and Earle xvij s. iiij d. of
euery viscount and Lord x s. of euery knight and other persons vi s.
viij d. And from hence doe I gather that to bee true which my father
being a man of longe service in that place hath oflften told mee that
* *0f the Court of Star Chamber,' p. chamber.'
30. "^ A specimen summons to the Bishop
* ' Governance of England ' (ed. C. of Winchester in 1593 is given by W. Mill
Plummer, 1885), p. 147. in B. M. Hargr. MS. 216, f. 176, d.
' * Commonwealth of England,' iii. 5. * Q. Cavendish, * Life of Wolsey ' (ed.
* Interpreter (ed. 1637), sub * Starre- 1825), i. 42.
xl COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
noe man should sitt in the Courte but if hee were swome of the
Couneell And that the Gierke of the Councell should goe vnto him
and declare vnto him that hee ought not to sitt there but if hee were
swome For to that end as I eoniecture both the entrie and the Fee
^ were appointed that the Clerkes might take notice of the person soe
\ * admitted and sworne/ ^
The third witness is Coke, who, after enumerating among the
judges of the Court the great oflScers of State, the privy councillors,
'■ , and the judges, adds : ' and such other Lords of Parliament as the
King shall name.' ^ Elsewhere he adds : * The Lords of Parliament
are properly De Magno Concilio regis, but neither these, being not of
the King's Privy Councell, nor any of the rest of the Judges and
Barons of the Exchequer, are standing judges of this Court.' ^ This
. statement seems to shew that the persons summoned were summoned
; and sworn ad hoc, where they were not members of the Privy Council,
being, as Sir Thomas Smith phrases it, * in the town.' According to
Coke, * every privy counsellor hath a voice and place in the Court of
Star Chamber.' *
So far the evidence seems to be consistent and probable as to the
methods by which the attendance of * ceteri consiliarii ' was at times
secured. But the laborious Hudson, first a practitioner in and after-
wards clerk of the Court, writing in the time of Charles I., is clearly
of opinion that this practice was a usurpation on the part of the
prerogative and unconstitutional. From him we learn (p. 36) that Lord
Chancellor Ellesmere, after the example of Wolsey, was in the habit
of taking his seat in the Star Chamber attended by a number of the
nobility. * The Court,' he tells us, * is not alone replenished with
noble dukes, marquises, earls, and barons, which surely ought to be
frequented with great presence of them, but also with reverend arch-
bishops and prelates, grave counsellors of state, just and learned
judges,' &c. ... * And the Court was in the reigns of Hen. 7 and
Hen. 8 most commonly frequented by seven or eight bishops and pre-
lates every sitting day ; in which times let me without o£fence observe
that the fines touched not to the destruction of the offender's estate
*
' I B. M. Hargr. MS. 216, art. 18, f. 103, a Bisshopp or a temporall Lord of the
dors. Kynges most Honorable Councell,' &c.
' * 4 Inst. c. 6. This Coke reproduces as * of the King's
* 4 Inst. c. 5, f. 66. In 4 Inst. f. 62 most honourable Privy Councell.' Now
Coke sets out the Act of 1487 with an in- we know from Hudson that a bill prajing
I terpolation of some legal moment, which process for the defendant to appear before
i shows how little he is to be trusted as the Privy Council was held demurrable in
1 ' an authority for facts anterior to his the Court of Star Chamber. 'Of the
own experience. The Act runs that one of Court of Star Chamber,* p. 24.
the three ofiiciuls named ' callyng to hym * 4 Inst. c. 2, f. 54.
INTRODUCTION xli
and utter ruin of him and his posterity, as now they do, but to his
correction, the Clergy's song being of mercy.' ^ This sarcasm, not
improbably levelled at the cruelties of Laud, discloses that the
attendant peers took part in the decisions of the Court either as
advisers or judges. In Hudson's opinion it is clear that they were
judges before the 30 Eliz., and the passage which states this is suffi-
ciently important to merit transcription. * Now that every peer of
the realm which is a lord of the parliament is de magno concilio, it
appeareth partly by the writ by which they are called to the dignity,
wherein is contained that the king desireth their conference circa
ardua negotia regni concilium suum impensare, but especially for
that they have used to sit and give their judgments in this high court
as judges in the same, and that most usually and commonly until
about the 30 Eliz. and myself have heard a great lord, yet living,
claim his right of sitting there in open court; to whom the lord
chancellor Ellesmere gave this answer — that he knew not whether it
were his master's pleasure that that question should be determined
that day ; but some other of the presence maintained stifly the
baron's right ; which seemeth to be agreeable with justice ; for it is
undoubted that Henry earl of Lincoln and the lord Grey, and divers
others which were not of the council of state were present and sat
and gave judgment when Mr. Davison was sentenced. And how they
were competent judges unsworn; if not by their native right, I
cannot understand ; for surely the calling of them in that case was not
made legitimate by any act of parliament ; neither without their
right were they more apt to be judges than any other inferior person
in the kingdom.' *
The variety of meanings attached to the word ' concilium ' and
the obscurity attendant upon the evolution of the Court would not
unnaturally give rise to such claims as Hudson affirms that he wit-
nessed. His own account shews us that they were disallowed. His
remarks upon the Davison case are inconclusive. Since about 1588,
as he himself tells us, the practice had changed, and in his day none
but privy councillors sat. It is to be presumed that in Davison's case
the practice of the Court as stated by Mill was observed, and that
the lords in question, though * not of the council of state,' were duly
summoned and sworn.
But the members of the Court of the Star Chamber by no means
consisted exclusively of spiritual and temporal peers. The volume of
' Select Cases in the Court of Bequests,' published by the Selden
' * Of the Court of Star Chamber,' pp. 25, 28, 35, 36. "< lb. p. 24.
xlii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Society in 1898, contains a list in Sir Julius CaBsar's handwriting
verified by a transcript of a certificate which he aflSrms to have been
received by him from William Mill. The list is intituled * The
names of such as have sat in the Star Chamber since the 9 yere of
K. H. the 7. & vntill the 4 and 5 of P. & Mary/ » Under 9 Hen. 7
(Aug. 22, 149d-Aug. 21, 1494) appear the names of Sir Reginald
Bray, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Sir Richard Guilford,
Sir Thomas Lovel, Treasurer of the Household, who were probably
all privy councillors, and also of David Williams, Master of the Rolls,
Dr. Aynsworth, Prebendary of Lincoln, and Geoffrey Simeon, Dean of
the Chapel Eoyal. Under 10 Hen. 7 are four names, Dr. Mayo,
President of Magdalen College, Oxford, a clerk in Orders, Dr. Hatton,
Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and LL.D., John Morgan,
LL.D., Dean of St. George's, Windsor, and Richard Fitzjames, Warden
of Merton College, Oxford.^ The names given are not the names of all
the members of the Court, but presumably of those who first sat in
the years under which they are respectively ranged, which confirms
Mill's statement as to the practice of swearing in the members of the
Court. It would appear from a passage of Mill that, though not of
the Privy Council, * they were at the least sworne to bee Councellors
of that place or at large as it was there termed, which use Continued
alsoe in King Henry the viij. tyme.' ^
So far, then, the conclusion appears to favour the view that
down to 30 Eliz. the judges of the Court of Star Chamber were
the members of the King's Council, i.e. the Concilium Ordinarium,^
those who were not also privy councillors being, as we learn from
Mill, Cowel, and Coke, summoned and sworn. But Coke argues
from the wording of the Act of 1487 that *if the justices should
be but assistants and no judges in the Star Chamber, for that
they are to be called &c., then and for the same reason should
neither lord spirituall nor temporall nor other of the privy councell
be judges nor have voices in the Star Chamber.' ^ This alternative
was accepted by some of the controversialists of the day, and
is, of course, the judgement of 1493. That judgement was cited
arguendo in the case of the Earl of Leicester r. Sir Christopher
» • Select Cases in the Court of Re- 33, n. 2.
quests,' p. cviii, taken from £. M. Lans^d. * Lord Burghley, Lord Treasurer, is re-
MS. 126, fo. 3. I ported by W. Mill, clerk of the Court, as
- The last two aie entered as *armigeri ' saying on Nov. 7, 31 Eliz. (1589), that the
by the blunder of a transcriber, who has | Court of Star Chamber * is the greate Coun-
misread * cler.' cell of the Einge.' B. M. MS. Hargr. 216,
» Hargr. MS. 216, p. 326 ; Scofield, p. p. 173, d. » 4 Inst. 62.
INTRODUCTION xliii
Heydon, heard in the Queen's Bench in E. T. 13 Eliz. -1571).^ In
1594 John Hawarde, the reporter of cases in the Star Chamber,^
mentions a legal discussion at ' dinner at Bilbye's, the Sub-Chancellor
of the Exchequer. By Blunt ^ it is apparent that the Lord Keeper
can give sentence by himself, notwithstanding it be against the whole
Court, for the Lord Keeper,^ the Lord Treasurer, and the Lord Privy
Seal are the sole judges in this Court, and the other barons and lords
I are but assistants/ Upon this Hawarde comments 'which is not
the law, as I believe, for it proceeds by the majority of voices, not by
experience.' That Hawarde's statement of the practice is correct we
I have Hudson's testimony. * The greater part of the judgments of
the presence maketh the sentence, but if they be equal, the voice of
the supreme judge maketh the sentence, as I have before related
to be judged in the Earl of Northampton's case,' &c.'* But both
Hawarde and his interlocutor appear to have forgotten the tail of the
judgement of 1493, that the three there declared to be judges were
bound by the advice of the King's justices. Eichard Crompton,
whose book intituled * L'Authoritie et Jurisdiction des Courts de la
Maiestie de la Roygne ' was published in 1594, accepts the judgement
of 1493.^
Nevertheless, the contention that the three officials named in the
Act of 1487 were the sole judges seems to prove too much, for Hudson,
who as clerk of the Court had access to records now lost or destroyed,
tells us that * about the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth years of that
king (Eenry 7) these cases were more often heard before the
President of the Council than before the Chancellor, Treasurer, or
Privy Seal ; whereby it is most manifest, by the subsequent as by
the precedent practice, that the Court then sat not by virtue of that
statute, but sat as they antiently had done, and by as antient, if
not more antient authority than any Court in Westminster hall.' ^
Inasmuch as the President of the Council was not added till 1529,**
* £. Plowdeo, Reports (ed. 1779), p. See p. xxxiv, n. 2, supra.
393. " Ed. 1637, p. 29. This is reproduced
'^ * Les Keportes del Cases in Camera without question or comment in the Eughsh
Stellata,' ed. by W. P. Baildon (privately versions of this part of his work, • Star
printed), 1894, p. 4. Chamber Cases,' ed. 1630, p. 13, and ed.
^ This name does not occur in Foss's 1C41, p. 13.
Lists of Counsel between 1558 and 1603. ' * Of the Court of Star Chamber,' p. 16.
' Lives ' Ac, v. 621 ; vi. 35. " The President of the King's Council
* The statute 5 Eliz. c. 18 (1563), * An was not added till the 21 Hen. 8, c. 20
Acte declaring the auctoritee of the Lord (1529), 'An Acte that the presidente of
Keeper of the Great Seale of England and the Kynges Counsaile shalbe associate with
the Lord Chancellour to bee one,' affirms the Chauncellor and Treasourer of Eng-
itself to be declaratory of the common londe and the Keper of the Kinges Privie
law. '. Seale.' This statute, after reciting the
* ♦ Of tne Court of Star Chamber,' p. 223. ' statute 3 Hen. 7, c. 1 (1487), to which it
xliv
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
it is an inevitable conclusion from these premises that the Court sat
without a judge at all. Further, if the inference from the terms of
the judgement and exemplification in the Abbot of Shrewsbury's case
be justified, that the only one of the three officials mentioned in the
statute of 1487 then sitting and delivering judgement was the
Chancellor, the judgement could not have run, as it did, in the name
of that judge * and other the lordes of the Kyngys moost honorable
counseill.' Hudson carries the case a step further. * Sometimes, when
neither the Treasurer, President, Chancellor nor Privy Seal were
present, other lords of the Council sat for the determining of causes,
which proveth that they are all judges of this court ' (p. 23).
If it be permissible to infer from the practice of the Star Chamber
in the reigns of Henry 7 and Henry 8 the theory held by it as to the
does not give any title, enacts * that from
hensforth the Chaunceller Tresorer of Eng-
land and the prescdent of the Kynges moost
honourable Councell attendyng upon his
mooste honorable person for the tyme
beyng, and the keper of the Kynges Pryve
Seale or two of them, callynge unto them
one Bysshop and one Temporall Lorde of
the Kynges moost honorable Councell and
the two Chefe Justices of the Kynges
Benehe and the Comon Place for the
tyme beyng, or other two of the Kynges
Justices in their absence, upon any Bill or
Informacyon hereafter to be put in (to)
the Chaunceller of England, Treasorer,
Presydent of the Kynges seyd moost honor-
able Councell or Keper of the Kynges Pryye
Seale* for the tyme beyng, for any mis-
behavyng before rehersed, from hensforth
have full power and auctorite to call before
them by Wrytt of Pryve Scale suche mys-
doers and them and other by their dis-
cression by whome the truthe may be
knowen to examyn and suche as they shall
fynde defectyve to punysshe them after
their demerytes after the forme and effecte
of the said former Estatute and of all
other Estatutes therof tofore made and nat
* The author of the article ' Camera Stel-
lata' is named by Heame as (Francis Tate,
but Miss Scofield in the Appendix to her book
adduces reasons for identifying him with
Lambard (p. 81 ), and the treatise as represeu-
tative of views afterwards discarded in the
' Archeion.' This aathor reads into the later
statute an exclusive appointment as judges of
the four officials named, a gloss which a com-
parison of the texts does not appear to me to
sustain. He also draws another distinction
between the two statutes as follows : ' Whereas
the former statute willeth to have the said
offenders punished after the form of the
statute hereof to be made, this other statute
^21 Hen. 8, c. 20) refcrreth the punishment to
repelled nor expyred, in lyke maner and
forme as they shulde and ought to be
punysshed yf they were therof convycted
after the due ordre in the Kynges Laws.'
The points in which this Act differs from
that of 1487 are as follows : in the first
place, its principal object, as its title shows,
was to add the Lord President to the
officials named as judges. Secondly, by
the earlier Act, the information was to be
put to the Chancellor; by the later Act
there is no specific instruction on the
point. The papers here published show
that in the time of Henry 7 the usage
was undetermined. With the tendency to
exalt the prerogative the practice crystal-
lised into the laying of informations to
the King, which, as has been seen. Coke
mentions as in his time the regular course.
Thirdly, in the Act of 1629, the officials
named are authorised to call offenders
before them * by Wrytt of Pryve Scale.* »»
The words of the Act of 1487 are *by
Wrytte or Pry vye seall.* If the word * of '
in the later Act is correct, it suggests the
disuse of Letters Missive under the Privy
Seal for the more summary form of a
Writ.
the form of tliat and of all statutes before
that time made and being in force.' But this
argument depends upon a misreading of the
Act. The words of the Act 'Pro Camera
Stellata ' in the Statutes of the Realm are * to
punyssh theym after their demerites after the
forme and effecte of Statutes therof made,' or
in the contemporary French version, * joust la
fourme & effecte dez statuitz ent faitz.'
b The text of 21 Hen. 8, c. 20, in the ' Statutes
of the Realm ' is printed * by Wrytt (of) Pryve
Scale,' and the note 8 ('or' printed copies)
attached to the bracketed word. I interpret
this to mean that the MS. text gives the word
* of,' and that the bracket is merely added to
call attention to the word.
INTRODUCTION xlv
relations to its composition as a tribunal of the statute * Pro Camera
Stellata,' it would seem that its interpretation of that Act was some-
what as follows, that the Act gave a statutory legality to the issue of
writs of Privy Seal by the Chancellor, Treasurer, and Privy Seal, or
two of them, though it did not confer upon them, except in the
matter of interrogatories, any judicial power which they did not
already enjoy in virtue of their oflSce of members of the King's
Council. That in other respects the former practice of calling in
the King's justices as legal advisers was maintained, but that the Act,
while giving its sanction to and otherwise directing this course, did not
invest any person not being a member of the Council with the right
of pronouncing judgement in the name of the Court of the King's
Council sitting in the Star Chamber, while such persons as were
members of the Council enjoye^ that right by prescription indepen-
dently of the Act.^
The difficulty still remains of the contradiction between Coke's
assertion that it had been resolved that the King*s justices were
judges of the Court and the form of the Court's judgements. Here it
may be permissible to hazard a preliminary hypothesis which subse-
quent investigation may correct. It is agreed on all hands that,
as the forms in use shew, the Court of the Star Chamber was, in
some way or other, affiliated to the King's Council. This fact
naturally suggests that the procedure of the Council before the statute
of 1487 may throw light on these obscurities. A case is printed in
Sir H. Nicolas's * Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of
England,' iii. 313, under the date Nov. 4, 7 Hen. 6 (1428). The record
sets forth that * on the fourth day of November in the seventh year
Cheny, Babyngton, Juyn and all the rest of the justices were sepa-
rately questioned before the King's Council in the Star Chamber
concerning the giving of advice ' as to the manner in which a certain
oflFender against the shipping laws should be dealt with. * They said '
that for reasons which they gave it was desirable to pursue a certain
course, viz. to allow the delinquent, who had acknowledged his
offence, to pay a fine. * To which advice the lords yielded and ordered
[mandarunt] the Treasurer ' accordingly. The three justices here
mentioned were respectively Chief Justice of the King's Bench, Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas, and Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
Here it is clear, as in the Abbot of Shrewsbury's case, that while the
advice to the lords was given by the justices upon request, the man-
damus issued from the lords of the Council. The same form was
' This seems to be the view of Lambard. ♦ Archeion ' (1635), pp. 16G-7.
xlvi COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
followed in the case of petitions addressed by the Commons to the
King. In 1437 the Commons complained that no action had been
taken upon them and no redress granted. They pray, therefore,
* that the said petitions shall be delivered to the lords of your most
wise Council the which, there being called to them the justices and other
persons learned in your law, if need be, may have power by authority
of the said Parliament ... to hear and determine the said petitions ;
and that these thus determined, with the advice and assent aforesaid,
shall be enacted, enrolled and put on record in the roll of your said
Parliament.' ^ Here the function of the justices is less clearly set out.
In the fifth year of Henry 6 (Sept. 1, 1426-August 81, 1427) a
series of articles was drawn up for the conduct of the business of the
Council.* Of these the fourteenth runs as follows : * Item ; for asmuch
as it is lykly that many matieres shalle be treted afore the Counsaille,
the which toucheth the Kynges Prerogatyve and Freehold on that oo(n)
par tie, and other of his Subgittes on that other ; in the which matiers
the Counsaill is not lerned to kepe the Kynges right and the parties
both withouten th'advis of the Kinges Justices, which been lerned
both in his Prerogatives and in his Common Lawe; that in all
suche matieres, his juges be called thereto, and their advis, with their
names also, to be entred of Recorde, what and howe thei determyne
and advyse therynne.'^ In the sense that the advice of the
King's justices did not bind the King's Council, sitting as a Court of
Judicature, it might be said that they were not judges of the Court,
and, as has been seen, its judgement was not delivered as theirs. But,
assuming these ordinances to have been regarded as authoritative, the
proviso that the advice of the justices should be * entred of Recorde '
made, it would seem, that advice indispensable to the validity of the
judgements. It is true that the ordinance only contemplates the case
where the King and his subjects appear to be involved in a conflict
of rights. It may be that the doctrine affirmed by Hudson (p.
130), that * every suit in this Court is the King's suit,' was invented
by the King's justices in order to bring them within this ordi-
nance and elevate their advice, in all cases, into matter of record.
Upon this basis it is easy to see how the argument of Eliza-
bethan controversialists may have been constructed. *A record'
is defined by Coke as a monument or act judicial before a judge or
judges in a court of record entred in parchment in the right roll.' ^
A judgement of the King's Council might be contended to be such a
' Rot. Pari. iv. 606. » Rot. Pari. v. 408, b.
- Rot. Pari. V. 407, b. * 3 Inst. 71.
INTRODUCTION xlvii
record,^ and the King's justices before whom the act judicial was done
and entered judges of the Court so doing and entering it.^
What, then, is the meaning of the provision in the statute of
1487 for ' calling to hym a Bisshopp and a temporall Lord of the
Eynges most Honorable Councell ' ? If we divest our minds of the
hyperbole of the Jacobean writers to whom the Star Chamber, in the
plenitude of its arrogated powers, appeared * the most honourable
court (our parliament excepted) there is in the Christian world,' ^ it
will be apparent that the privilege of trying cases of misdemeanour,
without a salary for so doing, was onerous and uninviting. If this be
so, the statutory * call ' imposed a duty which members of the Council
were not solicitous to assume. It was perhaps not until the Star
Chamber became the weapon of a political party that desire was felt to
take active part in its proceedings. The composition of the Court as
contemplated by the Act of 1487 was not a novelty. In the Close Roll
of 29 Ed. 4, m. 26, d, is a record of the Council sitting in the Star
Chamber for the transaction of legal business on March 7, 1355.
The members present are the Archbishop of York, Chancellor, the
Lord Treasurer, who was the Bishop of Winchester, the King's Cham-
berlain, the Keeper of the Privy Seal, John Beauchamp, a baron, and
others of the Council. In 1867 the Chancellor, the Treasurer, the
* By the decision of 1493 it was held entry of the foregoing proviso that the
that the three officials who * called ' the judgements of the Coonoil shoold be
Court of the Star Chamber were bound to entered of record had as a legal basis
so summon the judges and to give judge- for this argument. The maxim of Qlan-
ment according to their advice. * Mes les ville was ' Nulla curia recordum habet
Justices ten(aient) in le premier cas [i.e. generaliter praster curiam domini Regis*
the case of the Act * Pro Camera Stellata '] (viii. 9, ed. 1604) ; but he adds : ' Item
qe 11 fuit erreur si le Chancelier, Treasurer recordum potest habere quelibet curia ex
<Src. nappelle les autres A firent par lour beneficio principis/ although he then seems
avisement par cause qe le Statut issint ceo to limit the grant to an entry on the roll of
limite ' &c, Y. £. £. T. 8 Hen. 7, pi. 7, the King's Court. According to Britton,
f . 13. See as to this Plowden, * Reports ' the sheriff when sitting by virtue of the
(1779), p. 393, and Coke, 4 Inst. f. 62, and King's writ had the power of record as a
cp. p. xxxiv, n. 2, supra. In the case of King's justiciary (Britton, i. xx. viii. 2.
Daniel O'Connell's appeal to the House of Ed. F. M. Nichols, 1865, i. 136). Qu.
Lords, in which judgement was given on whether the direction of the King in
Sept. 4, 1844, the opinion of the judges Council, above quoted, constituted the
was asked for, but not followed. Lord Council as a court of justice a court of
Brougham in his judgement said : * We do record. Coke's test of a court of record
not refer the question to their decision. is that a writ of error lies against it, on
. . . Wf^ take their answers not as our rule, which account he denies that the Court of
or even as our guide, perhaps, but certainly Chancery in the exercise of its equitable
as entitled to our greatest attention '(' State jurisdiction is a court of record (3 Inst.
Trials,' N.S., V. 846 [1893]). Yet Brougham 71). Hudson seems disposed to contest
was in the minority which concurred with the denial of the Star Chamber to be a
the majority of the judges. The position court of record, though he rather evades
of the judges in the House of Lords and in the question. ' Of the Court of Star Cham-
the Star Chamber is, as the above shews, ber,' pp. 5-7.
by no meana the same. * £. Coke, 4 Inst. 65.
' It is doubtful what authority the
xlviii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Justices, and other discreet (sages) personages hear a suit in the Star
Chamber.^ In the case of Straonge v. Eynaston, heard by the Council
in 1467, the members present were the Chancellor, who was Bobert
Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Lord Treasurer (Earl
Ryvers), Thomas Rotherham, Keeper of the Privy Seal, the Prior of
St. John of Jerusalem, a temporal peer, the Lords Dudley and Wenlok,
Thomas Kent, LL.D., a former clerk of the Council, three knights
and two other commoners, besides Richard Langport, the clerk.^
The contention of Hallam is that the statute 21 Hen. 8, c. 20,
which added the President of the Council to the judges of the
Court, is * a decisive proof that it (the statutory Court of the Star
Chamber) still existed as a tribunal perfectly distinct from the Coun-
cil itself.' ^ But the recorded constitution of the Court in the Abbot
of Shrewsbury's case, which effects a breach in this conclusion, does
not stand alone. In the * Liber Intrationum,' or Minute-book of
the King's Council, among other entries of business assigned by the
Act * Pro Camera Stellata ' to the statutory Court of the Star Chamber
is one as follows : —
' Anno nono h. 7, secundo Junii.
* Coram Cane. Domino Dynham Thes. Husie & Brian prmcipal.
Judices ^ et principal. Baro. Aylmer Hunter et Picroste bound to the
peace and enioyned that they were noe mans Liuerie neither serue
anie man but the Kinge and my Lord prince upon paine of xl. li.* ^
The wearing of liveries is not, it is true, an offence under the
statute of 1487,^ which was not aimed at minor offenders ; but the
giving of liveries was such. Among the mischiefs struck at, it played
so large a part in the public eye that, as the latest historian of the
Court has pointed out, the title prefixed by Caxton, its first printer,
to the statute subsequently intituled in the Rolls of Parliament ' Pro
Camera Stellata,' was * Yeuynge of lyuerey &c.' In the absence of
illustrative evidence one way or the other, it might be inferred that
Close BoU, 41 Ed. 3, m. 13, ib. 40«. on the taker, and 8 Ed. 4, o. 2 (1468),
' F. Palgrave, ' Essay * Ac, p. 142. As oonfirming and amplifying the earlier sta-
to Langport see further, p. 12, n. 29, infra. tote. But the Courts prescribed in both
* * Const. Hist.' (1872), i. 52. statutes in which the penalties were to be
* Sic. sued were the Common Law Courts and
* B. M. Add. MS. 4521, art. 9, f. 113 ; certain local Courts, not the Council.
Hargr.MS.216. C. L. Scofield, * The Court It may be added that the case is ten
of Star Chamber * (Chicago, 1900), p. 5, n. 5. years before the 19 Hen. 7, o. 14, * De
* Upon this point Miss Scofield is in- Betentionibus illicitis ' (1504), made the
accurate. There were, however, two sta- I taking of a livery a statutory offence triable
totes against the receiving of liveries, viz. 7 i by the Star Chamber — again an example
Hen. 4, c. 14 (1406), which inflicted a fine of ' of legalising existing practice.
INTRODUCTION xlix
the offence of wearing liveries not being within the jurisdiction of the
statutory Court, the defendants had been summoned to appear before
a committee of the Council acting, not under the statute, but in
reliance upon its traditional jurisdiction over offences likely to disturb
the public peace. But the fact that the giving of liveries was an
offence assigned to the statutory Court and the great liberality of inter-
pretation, upon whatever hypothesis it may have been based, un-
doubtedly placed upon its jurisdiction as conferred by the Act,
compels the belief that the Court issuing this injunction in the year
1494 conceived itself to be acting imder the statute of 1487. Never-
theless, the composition of the Court, by its omission of * a Bisshopp
and a temporall Lord of the Kynges most Honorable CounceU,"
neglects to satisfy the statute. It is less conclusive than the Abbot
of Shrewsbury's case because of the legal difficulty as to the jurisdic-
tion of the Court with regard to this particular offence. But it points
in the same direction, and the united forces of the two, fortified by
Hudson's statements, shatter the position taken up by Hallam that
during the reign of Henry 7 and, at least, a portion of that of
Henry 8 there existed, distinct from the Council, a Court of a uniform
statutory composition. It may be added that there is other authority
for stating that in the latter part of the reign of Henry 8 * one
Privy Councillor sate in the Court alone ; sometimes there were two,
and very seldom more.' ^ It may be that this is only true of sittings
for the purpose of dealing, after the manner of a judge in chambers,
with interlocutory applications. Yet the language of Hudson, who,
both as a lawyer and clerk of the Court, was presumably precise,
seems to exclude this solution. ' It is fit that I leave it charged that
the Court, after the making of that statute ' (i.e. the Act ' Pro Camera
Stellata '), ' did usually determine causes when neither treasurer,
chancellor nor privy seal were present ; but sometimes the president
of the council alone, and sometimes assisted by others of the council,
above forty times in the 12 and 13 of Hen. 7. And sometimes,
when neither the treasurer, president, chancellor, nor privy seal were
present, other lords of the Council sat for the determining causes.' ^
The conclusion is that the Act of 1529 recognised the Act of
1487, so far as regards the composition of the Court, as a
counsel of perfection rather than as realised by actual practice,
and desiderated rather than enforced it. The inference from its
* Laned. MS. No. 160, p. 305, oited by Bat in Coke's day eight was regarded as
J. Brace, * History of the Court of Star the necessary quorum. 4 Inst. f. 65.
Chamber,* in • Archaolog.* xxv. 877 (1834). » * Of the Court of Star Chamber,* p. 28.
c 2
1 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
language upon which Hallam insists as ' a decisive proof ' of the
existence of ' the Court of Star Chamber ' as a tribunal perfectly
distinct from the Council itself breaks down upon an examination of
its records and practice. It will be objected that it is not the function
of statutes to adumbrate counsels of perfection, and Coke himself was
conscious of the difficulty. After descanting upon the first conclusion
to be drawn from the two statutes of 1487 and 1529— that this was
not a new Court — ^he continues : * The second conclusion is that the
Act of 3 Hen. 7 being in the affirmative is not in some things pursued
. . . and it is a good rule, that where the Act of Hen. 7 is not pursued,
there (if there be manyjudiciall presidents in another sort) they must
have warrant from the ancient Court ; and yet it is good (as much as
may be) to pursue the Act, there being no greater assurance of juris-
diction than an Act of parliament.' ^
The explanation of Coke that the non-observance of the Act of
Hen. 7 was to be justified on the ground that it was * in the affirmative '
is not easy to follow. If it means that its tenour was not prohibitory,
the observation is lacking in point, for it might be predicated of
enabling Acts generally. It would seem rather to signify that the
Act, being but an affirmation of existing practice, impUcitly sanc-
tioned the continuance of those variations from that practice which
had from time to time occurred. Yet this is hardly a legal justi-
fication for the infraction of what appears to be, on the face of it, a
positive and indeed exclusive constitution of the Court. Nevertheless,
no trace appears throughout these papers of any plea to the jurisdiction
of the Court on the ground that its composition did not conform to the
statute. Hudson's researches into the Order books and decrees led
him to single out the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth years of Henry 7
as those in which the statute of 1487 was in this respect con-
spicuously disregarded. In this volume are six answers belonging to
this period, viz. between Michaelmas Term, 1494, and the end of
Trinity Term, 1497. Upon this particular point the jurisdiction of
the Court was unquestioned.
There are among the documents comprised in this volume a few
examples which disclose the minds of contemporary lawyers upon the
nature of the Court, and incidentally help towards a solution of this
1 4 Inst. 62. He adds as a case in as was doubtless the practice in Elizabeth's
point that * Sir Christopher Wray, Chief time, the Lord Privy Seal always sat,
Justice of England for a time was made which we know not to have been the case
lord privy seal to sit in the Star Chamber earlier, though the writs were under Privy
ne curia deficeret in justitia exhibenda.' Seal.
This was evidently on the assumption that,
INTRODUCTION ll
problem. If we may assume that the papers collected together in the
Record Office as belonging to the Court of Star Chamber are what
they are represented to be, and were originally collected through the
dUigence of successive clerks of the Court, as Hudson states, the
certificate of Sir Bichard Dalabere and other justices of the peace for
the county of Hereford, printed on p. 234, supports the theory of the
identity of the Court of Star Chamber with the Council sitting judicially.
The justices of the peace cite as the ground of their proceeding the
Act 18 Hen. 4, c. 7 (1411). They give a substantially correct version
of the French text, which is to the effect that if the justices of the
peace fail to ascertain the circumstances of any riot that has taken
place within their county and to punish the offenders, ' adonqes deinz
un moys lors proschein ensuiant certifient les ditz Justices, trois ou
deux de eux, & le Yiscont ou Southviscont suisditz devaunt le Boy
& son Counseil tout le fait & les circumstances dicell, quell cer-
tificat soit dautiel force come le presentement de xii. : sur quel
certificat soient les ditz trespassours & meffaisours mys a responce
& ceux qi seront trovez coupables soient puniz solonc la discrecion
du Boy & de son dit Consail.' In accordance with these instruc-
tions, three justices of the peace for Herefordshire and the sheriff of
the county in 1506 returned a formal certificate of a riot in the city
of Hereford upon which they had charged a jury who refused to
make a presentment. The indorsement of the certificate shews that
it was delivered to the Chancellor, who was the presiding judge of the
Court of the Star Chamber. It is addressed : ' To the Eynge and his
Councelle,' a style, as we know, used by and of the Star Chamber.
But the Chancellor is not mentioned in the Act of 1411. Presumably,
therefore, the official to take cognisance of the affair in the absence of
the King would be the President of the Council. In 1499-1500 this
was Bichard Fitzjames, Bishop of Bochester,^ and perhaps also in
1506, in which year (August 2) he was promoted from Chichester to
London, having been in 1503 translated from Bochester to Chichester.*
That Abp. Warham, the Chancellor, should have dealt with the cer-
tificate is some indication of the attribution to the Court of Star
Chamber of the jurisdiction of the Council under the statute of
Henry 4. But it is by no means conclusive, for at a period when a
President of the Council does not appear to have existed by that
title the Chancellor probably discharged the office.^ In 1363 the
1 ' Select Oases in the Ooort of Beqoests/ ii. 569 ; i. 248 ; ii. 299.
Selden Society, 1898, p. cviii. ' See an enumeration of the five great
* J. Le Neve, * Fasti Eocl. Angl.' (1854), officers of State in Bot. Pari. iii. 72, a.
lii COURT OP THE STAR CHAMBER
Chancellor and the Treasurer are represented by the Commons as
receiving * false suggestions ' contrary to the Great Charter.^
A similar assumption in the minds of men at the end of the
fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century of the identity of
the Court of the Star Chamber with the King's Council sitting as a
judicial body appears in the pleadings of the Earl of Northumberland,
defendant in a suit brought by John Goryng. The Earl charges John
Goryng with having been guilty in his petition of the offence known
as Scandalum Magnatum. ' Wherfor and in consideration that the
seid Erie is oone of the Nobyll Perys of this realme he besechith
your good lordshippis that the seid Complaynaunt for his seid
Bclawnderous bill may be punysshed in example of other according to
the moste honorabill lawes and statutes in like cases ordeyned and
prouyded ' (p. 101). The principal statute in point thus invoked was
12 Bic. 2, c. 11, passed in 1388, which provided that the inventor and
spreader of ' false news, lies, or such other false things ' should be
' punished by the Advice of the Council.' It is to be observed that
upon this matter it is to 'your good lordshippis' that the Earl
appeals, though the address of the plaintiff is ' To the kyng oure
soueraigne lorde.' ^
Again, the Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, puts in a re-
markable plea (p. 20), apparently constructed upon the ordinances of
Council of 1426,' the Act of 31 Hen. 6, c. 2, legalising for seven years
the issue of writs of privy seal summoning offenders before the King
or his Council in case of ' great riots, extortions, oppressions, and
grievous offences,' and the Act of 1487 * Pro Camera SteUata.* In
the absence of riot, which is not alleged against him, he pleads to the
jurisdiction of the Court. He further pleads the Act 42 Ed. 3, c. 3,
against the practice of citing persons by false accusation before the
Council. This part of his answer may therefore be resolved into
four constituent elements. Of these three are based upon the
assumption that the Court is the old Council. The fourth part, a
confused reference to the Act of 1487, which the draughtsman can
scarcely have read, and which was perhaps not then yet printed, tells
us nothing one way or the other. Another plea of no riot is set up
by the defendant in Halle r. Essexe, heard in 1503. * There is no
matiere of Biott surmysed in the said bill wherby he shuld be compellid
to make answere in this Court ' (p. 176). Upon this plea it may be
contended that, in the opinion of the defendant's counsel, the Court
> Bot. Pari. ii. 280, a. » See H. Nicolas, * Proceedings Ac. of
« P. 96. See further p. 102, n. 17. Privy Council* (1834), iir. 214, 217.
INTRODUCTION liii
was the creation of the statute of 1487, and its jurisdiction strictly
limited thereby. But, assuming the limitation of jurisdiction, the
statutory origin of the Court is not a necessary inference. Indeed, it
is arguable that the plea of no riot descended to the lawyers from
the days before the Act of 1487, and was a plea to the jurisdiction of
the Council as regularised and limited by the Act of 1458 (81 Hen. 6,
c. 2).^ Undoubtedly the * misbehavyng before rehersed,' to which the
Act of 1487 was applicable, covered more oflfences than that of riot,
while the Act of 1463 enumerates * great Riots, Extortions, Oppres-
sions, and grievous offences against his [the King's] Peace and Laws,'
which seem to be ejusdem generis as riot. But it is also true that in
common estimation ' that which was principally aimed at in the Act
[of 1487] was Force, and the two cheife supports of Force, Combina-
tion of multitudes, and Maintenance or Headship of great Persons.' ^
• Nevertheless Bacon says, ' The authoritie of the Star Chamber, which
before subsisted by the ancient Common-Lawes of the Bealme, was
confirmed in certain cases by Act of ParUament.' A plea of no riot,
therefore, would not, in his opinion, imply that the Star Chamber
was of statutory origin.
There is evidence to shew that, after the Star Chamber had
become a vigorous Court, constantly exercised in the punishment of
riots, the Council retained an independent seisin of the offence of
riot, so that the plea of ' no riot ' might be made either to the Council
or to the Star Chamber indifferently. It is further to be remembered
that the pleadings of the Abbot of St. Augustine's point rather to pro-
ceedings before the Council than before the Star Chamber, while no
mention of the Star Chamber occurs in Halle v. Essexe. However
this may be, the evidence that the Council still concerned itself with
riot belongs to the year 1500 and is as follows: *16 Hen. 7,
16 Novembris apud Woodstocke causa inter Nicholaum Leeche &
Joannam uxorem eius contra Nicholaum Galon, Joannem Moore &
cseteros quoad titulum terrarum & tenementorum in controversia inter
partes predictas & fractionem pacis superpositam in biUis querelaB
remittitur Consilio Domini Regis in Camera stellata apud Westminster
ubi eadem causa pendet indecisa, ibidem determinanda, & quoad
riotam suppositam in billa, partes predicts habent diem crastinum
' Gp. Bot. Pari. v. 266. It mast not be | apparently a principle that a formal repeal
( aBsomed that, because an Act was tem- was necessary even of a temporary Act.
! porary, as was that of 1453, it was in- \ See farther pp. Ixi and Ixiv, infra.
Tariably treated as expired. I have come * F. Bacon, Viscoant St. Alban, * The
V<\ across jadicial proeeedmgs in the sixteenth Historic of the Baigne of King Henry the
i oentary taken on expired statutes, it being Seaenth (ed. 1622), p. 64.
hv COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
purificationis beataB Marise proxime futurum ad probandum per eos
allegata concernentia dictam riotam ubicunque & hoc sub poena
eorum cuiuelibet 110 librarum.' ^ Woodstock was a royal manor, and
this may possibly have been the reason for bringing the suit before the
King in Council, though there is no indication of this in the entry as
printed by GsBsar. Doubtless the question of title was remitted to the
Star Chamber as involving legal questions on which the expert opinion
there available would be important ; but it is curious that the matter
of the riot should have been separately dealt with by the Council
itself, and unless the reason of this was that it was a manorial offence —
which there is nothing to shew — the conclusion is that both tribunals
exercised concurrent jurisdiction in these cases. On the other hand,
from the same source comes the record that a cause was remitted ' in
cameram stellatam pro eo quod concernit riotam.' ^
It is uncertain, therefore, whether the plea of ' no riot ' was to the
jurisdiction of the Council or to that of the statutory court. Yet these
were probably not two mutually exclusive conceptions. It has been
observed that in the Elizabethan age, when these legal positions were
subjected to analysis, the justification of the extension of the Star
Chamber's jurisdiction beyond the articles of * misbehavyng * enume-
rated in the statute of 1487 was based upon the contention that the
Court of the Star Chamber was, as its forms ran, the King's Council
with the indeterminate authority exercised by it before that statute
was passed. This proposition was not uncontroverted. Hudson, after
laying down that ' the Court subsisteth by antient prescription, and
hath neither essence nor subsistence by that act of parliament '
(8 Hen. 7, c. 1), continues : * And it is most sure that it is a received
opinion that the court should meddle with no other causes than are
expressed in the statute 3 Hen. 7, c. 1 ; and I well remember that the
Lord Chancellor Egerton would often tell that in his time, when he was
a student, Mr. Serjeant Lovelace put his hand to a demurrer in this
Court, for that the matter of the bill contained other matters than
were mentioned in the statute of 8 Hen. 7, and Mr. Plowden, that
great lawyer, put his hand thereto first, whereupon Mr. Lovelace
easily followed. But the cause being moved in Court Mr. Lovelace,
being a young man, was called to answer the error of his antient Mr.
Plowden, who very discreetly made his excuse at the bar that Mr.
i Plowden's hand was first unto it and that he supposed he might in
* Sir J. CffiBar, 'Acts, Orders, and Proo6ediiigsoftheCk)art of Bequests' (1697),
Decrees made by the King and his Council ' p. 26. Printed by Miss Boofield, p. 28.
in * The Ancient State, Authoritie and ' Gassar, p. 62 ; Scofield, p. 28.
INTRODUCTION Iv
1 any thing follow St. Augustine. And although it were then over-
ruled, yet Mr. Serjeant Bichardson, thirty years after, fell upon the
same rock and was sharply rebuked for the same ; for the causes
mentioned in that statute are but seven in number : 1, Maintenances.
2, Giving of liveries. 3, Having retainers. 4, Imbracery. 5, Jurors
receiving money. 6, Untrue demeanors of sheriffs in false returns
and pannels. 7, Bouts and riots. A small theme to exercise that
Court ; where, indeed, all the principal offences here examined are not
once touched, as forgery and perjury, frauds, contempts of proclama-
tions, duels, and a multitude of others which I shall hereafter recite.
But I will not dwell upon this point, seeing all that have written of this,
as Mr. Lambert and Mr. Crompton, have made this no question.' ^
In this connexion the indorsement in Smyth v. Broke (p. 42),
already mentioned,^ deserves special attention. It is an action for
defamation, a fact that is commented upon elsewhere.^ The original
indorsement appears to have ordered the appearance of the defendant
' coram domino Bege ubicunque fuerit.' This was the form in use for
summons before the Council attendant upon the person of the King,
as distinguished from the Star Chamber at Westminster. An example
of this has just been seen in the Woodstock case. Another occurs in
the * Acts Orders and Decrees made by the King and his Council ' col-
lected by Sir Julius CsBsar.* * 15 Augusti 9 Hen. 7, apud Windsor.
Memorandum quod eodem die in Camera ad hoc assignata comparuit
Tho. Cresset armiger super quadam recognitione, ut ibidem Thom
asseruit, facta coram domino Cancellario in Camera Stellata, ad per-
sonaliter comparendum coram domino Bege in Consilio suo ubicumque
dicto 15 die Augusti : Et habet ad personaliter comparendum de die
in diem quousque aliter per dictum dominum regem & Consilium
suum in hac materia decretum fuerit &c. et hoc sub periculo incum-
benti.' In Smyth v. Broke the indorsement is varied, and appear-
ance at Westminster, i.e. presumably in the Star Chamber, there
substituted for the form * vbicunque.' This is the only distinct indi-
cation in these papers subsequent to 1487 of the fact that the Council
1 * Of the Coart of Star Chamber/ p. ' Ployden had set there handes to a demurror
51. The inoident narrated by Hudson is for snohe a bill of periurye, & were con-
oonfirmed by Hawarde, who adds the dates. uented & bitterlye reprehended in this
, * 81 Oct. 1606. ... It was resolaed by all Courte, to whioh Lovelace made his ex-
the Coorte that this Goorte may determyne case c&c' Les Beportes del Gases in Gamera
all penuries at the Gommon lawe, A that Stellata, pp. 301-2. Sir Thomas Bromley
it was an aunciente Courte longe before was Lord Chancellor 1579-87.
. H[enry] 7 & determyned Causes, <fe B[ioh- * P. xxvii, supra. » P. oxxxii, infra,
aid] 3 sate judiciallye in this Courte : & * 'The Ancient State, Authoritie and
,' the Lo. Chauncellor sayde that in Chan- Proceedings of the Court of Bequests,
i ceUor Bromlie's time, Serg** Lovelace & Anno 1597,' p. 2 ; Scofield, p. 27.
Ivi COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
continued to exercise an indeterminate legal jurisdiction side by side
with the Star Chamber. The capital distinction between the two was
[ that the Council heard causes in private ; the Star Chamber was, as
! Bacon phrased it, * an open Council ' or public court.^ Archbishop
' Grindal was informed that ' her Majesty findeth it expedient to have
the world understand her actions in this matter ; and also to have
the Archbishop's misdemeanors declared and to call him to answer to
the same : therefore he is to answer thereto in that open place/ i.e. the
Star Chamber.' Sir John Smythe complained to Burghley that in-
stead of being called before the Council Table, he had been brought
* into a public audience in the Star Chamber.* ' In another instance
the Council expresses resentment at the transfer by a complainant of
his case to the Star Chamber.^ The other differences were that after
the statute of 1487 the judges and others do not appear to have been
summoned to the Council Table for the hearing of cases, but only to the
Court of the Star Chamber,^ and that, according to Coke,^ the Star
Chamber then received the power of administering interrogatories to
be answered on oath by the statute. This practice had been surren-
dered by the Council in deference to the protest of the Commons in
1851, except in certain ill-defined cases, and had not been afterwards
resumed.^
Notwithstanding, therefore, the existence in the Council of a con-
current judicial power, subject to certain restrictions, a continuous
legal tradition, not uncontested in Ehzabeth's time, has been seen to
imply the continuity of the Court of the Star Chamber with the
King's Council sitting as a court of judicature, and to deny it a statu-
tory origin. From the same impUcation the lawyers of the reigns of
Henry 7 and Henry 8 appear to have inferred that the composi-
tion of the Court was not necessarily that prescribed by the statute,
and this doctrine was extended from its composition to its juris-
diction. It is strange that upon the former question we have no
indication, beyond Coke's vague doctrine of affirmation, of the legal
reasoning by which the statutory composition came to be considered
non-essential. Nevertheless it is perhaps possible to fill the gap
conjecturally.
It was laid down by the Court in 1606 that the full description of
> Soofield, p. 59. • E. Coke, 4 Inst. 68.
* J. Stiype, * Life of Grindal/ p. 348 ; ' Bot. ParL ii. 228, a. * Mes de ohose
Soofield, p. 68, n. 4. qae toaohe vie on membre, contemptz on
* S. P. Dom. 1595-97, pp. 422-423, ib. excesse, soit fait oome ad este ase cea [qa.
* Acts of Priv. Ck). vii. 405 (21 Deo. oeo] en arere,' a rather elastic excepting
1570) ; Soofield, p. 56. clause.
» B. M. Lansd. MS. 59, art. 64, ib. p. 43.
INTRODUCTION Ivii
its process was 'Coram Domino Bege in Camera stellata coram
Consilio ibidem.' ^ This legal fiction, translated occasionally into
reality by Henry 7 and James 1,* tacitly undermined, I conceive,
the imperativeness of the statutory composition. It was admitted on
all hands that the sovereign was the fountain of justice, and the chan-
cellor and the judges his delegates. Where the source was, the
derivative streams were superfluous. The Court was always supposed
to be held before the Eong, for whom a seat was reserved empty,^ and
whether the officials nominated by the Act were sitting or not, was, in
the presence, real or constructive, of him from whom its jurisdiction
flowed, a matter of no legal import.
It is easy to believe that, whatever the legal justification for
neglect of the statute of 1487 as to the composition of the Court,
some was demanded by circumstances unless the whole system of
prerogatival justice was to fall into disuse. Henry 7 was perhaps
less migratory than his successor, but the Patent Rolls and the Privy
Purse expenses indicate the frequency of his progresses. These were
probably accompanied by the Lord Privy Seal, who was at this time
President of the migratory Court of Requests. The Lord Privy Seal at
the time of the passing of the Act of 1487 was Richard Foxe, Bishop
of Winchester.* Foxe, however, was habitually employed by Henry 7
in diplomatic missions. At the time of the passing of the Act of 1487
he was at Edinburgh, negotiating a treaty with James 3 of Scotland.^
He accompanied Henry 7 to Boulogne in October 1492, and after-
wards negotiated the peace of Staples (November 3),^ and the ' Inter-
cursus Magnus ' with Pliilip, Archduke of Austria, in 1496.^ Upon
' J. Hawarde, ' Les Beportes ' &o.j his subjects in such their necessities may
p. 302. provoke, as to his owne Boyall person ; and
* ' But to omit that of Rich. 3 and r wherein there is place left for him to sit,
sundry other Records of other times, con- the which our Bangs in person have often-
curring in the same teetimonie, those twelve ' times frequented and were [qu. where]
I severall stately Sessions, honoured with the assisted with such men of NobUitie, Wise-
\ Boyall presence of King Henry 7, and some- . dome and Learning as he shall ohuse, he
times with almost forty of his Councell in ' may in Boyall presence use his judiciall
the 1 and 2 yeeres of his Beigne, and authoritie, or otherwise for the time being
' sundry others performed by his Chancellors abstaine to be present there, and leave the
and Councell in the same place, doe proceedings to those selected men.' These
assuredly teach that it was the ordinarie men, he says, * we doe commonly call the
Councell-Chamber of the King, whensoever King's Councell,' which he proceeds to
he and his Court did lye and sojoume at identify, in this its judicial capacity, with
his Palace in Westminster, frequented no the King's Council sitting in the Star
lesse for deliberation on matters of estate Chamber.
than for decreeing eztraordinarie suits and * He had been appointed on Feb. 24,
Causes of Complaint.' W. Lambard, 1487. W. Campbell, ' Materials ' &c., ii. 150.
• Archeion,' p. 163. * Bymer, * Foedera,' xii. 329-331.
• W. Lambard, 'Archeion' (ed. 1635), • lb. 499.
p. 101. * 1 doe affirme that the King hath ' lb. 579.
a supreme Court of Prerogative whereunto
Iviii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
the occasion of James 4's invasion of England, in the summer of
1497, Bacon represents Foxe as himself attending to the defence of
the frontier.^ Such are but samples of his preoccupations, so that
Bacon, in mentioning the part he took in the marriage of Arthur,
Prince of Wales, to Katharine of Aragon, remarks of him that he
' was not only a graue Counsellor for Warre or Peace, but also a good
Surueyour of Workes and a good Master of Ceremonies, and any
thing else that was fit for the Actiue part belonging to the seruice of
Court or State of a great king.' * He remained in oflSce as Lord Privy
Seal and constantly occupied with diplomatic and other employments
till the beginning of 1516. In June 1501 Thomas Howard, Earl
of Surrey, was appointed Lord Treasurer. To his occupation as a
diplomatist, in which business he was sometimes employed together
with the Lord Privy Seal,' he added that of a soldier. It is scarcely
possible that the meetings of the Court of the Star Chamber could
have been regular had they awaited the statutory quorum of two out
of the three great officials named. In that case the Court would have
afforded little resort for private suits, a consequence more to be depre-
cated in the eyes of the first two Tudors, who cherished it as an
instrument of prerogative, than was a departure from the wording of a
statute. The historians of the Court tell us, on the contrary, that it
had ' a continued session in term time ^ and day given over from time
to time. So you shall find it in the reign of Hen. 7 and Hen. 8 as well
as now and then more continual without days of intermission, whereas
now the court sitteth ordinarily but two days in the week, the same
then sitting, for the most part, every day of the week.' *
If it be asked why Henry 7 gave a statutory composition to a Court
which, as he must have foreseen, could only at occasional intervals
fulfil the conditions of its statutory existence, it is difficult to find any
answer other than that given by Smith, Mill, Cowel, and Hudson.^
If the judges of 1498 were right, the so-called Court of Star
Chamber during the exercise of much of its activity in the reigns
of Henry 7 and Henry 8 was no Court. It was trying the offences
committed to it by the Act of 1487 in the absence of the quorum
> 'Historieof the Baigne of King Henry Star Chamber before 1487. See farther,
the Seuenth/ p. 173. p. Ixviii, infra.
' * Historie,' p. 204. * But the accounts of the dinners of the
* E.g. in 1507 and 1508. Bymer, Ck)art and the Book of Entries (* Liber
* Feed.' xiii. 201. Intrationom *), temp. Hen. 7 and Hen. 8,
* Hudson, p. 5. It is to be observed rather indicate that the Court did not sit
that in this, as in the rest, the Court of the more than three days a week. Seofield,
Star Chamber sitting after 1487 followed p. 68, n. 3.
the practice of the Council sitting in the * See pp. xxxix-xli, supra.
TNTRODUOTION lix
of two of the three officials designated by that Act as the sole judges
of the Court. But this could not have been intended by Henry 7-
He, at any rate, contemplated the organisation of a practical and
efficient tribunal. The judgement of 1498 looks, therefore, like an
attempt prompted by the secular jealousy entertained by the Common
Law judges against the prerogative to impair the activity of the Star
Chamber. That in this they were absolutely unsuccessful is clear.
Neither Henry 7 nor Henry 8 accepted their doctrine as binding, and
the construction put upon the Act by the sovereigns was finally ratified,
as Hudson tells us, * in Proctor's case,' in which it was resolved by
' the three principal judges ' that ' neither did that statute (the Act of
1487) make those lords sole judges of that Court, and yet compelled
them to call assistants, otherwise their proceedings were erroneous, as
it is held in 8 Hen. 7, c. 13.' ^
5. If, then, the essential importance of the Act of 1487 in the eyes
of its framers lay neither in the imposition of judicial duties upon
functionaries long before accustomed to exercise them, nor in the
assignment of an exclusive statutory composition to an existing Court,
nor yet in the creation of a Court de novo, it seems to follow that we
must look for it in the sphere of jurisdiction. What was the position
of the King's Council sitting as a judicial body in the Star Chamber
prior to and after the Act ? Sir F. Falgrave^ has long since shewn
from the Bolls of Parliament the continuous struggles of the Commons
against the assumption by the Council of the functions of the Common
Law Courts, whether in civil or criminal cases. It is not necessary
to recapitulate here the incidents of that contention. So far as private
suits were concerned, the Council, of which, at any rate, the Court of
the Star Chamber affected to be the successor, had for some time
prior to 1458 settled its principles and practice. In 1890 it had
passed an ordinance ' que les busoignes touchantes la comune ley
soient envoiez pur estre determinez devant les justices.* ^ This was an
unqualified concession to the demands of the Commons. In 1428 the
disposition of the Council was less yielding. They passed a series of
resolutions under the title, ' Thise ben certein Provisions for the good
of the gouvernance of this Land that the Lordes which ben of the King's
Counsaill desireth.' Of these the third was ' that all the Billes that
comprehende materes terminable atte the Commune Lawe, that
* * Of the Goart of Star Chamber, published by the Record Gommissionerg,
p. 50. 1834. See also Scofield, Introd.
' Sir F. Palgrare, ' Essay upon the ' H. Nicolas, ' Proceedings * <&c., i. 18, a.
Original Authority of the King^s Ck>uncil,'
Ix COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
semeth noght fenyd, be remitted there to be determined ; bat if so be
that the discrecion of the Goansaill feele to greet myght on that oo
syde and unmyght oo that othir.' ^ Three years later (1426) they
amplified their powers by an additional proviso. ' Item, that all the
billes that comprehende matiers terminable at the commune lawe be
remitted there to be determined but if it so be that the discrecion of
the counsaile feele to great myght on that oo syde and unmyght on
that other orellus other cause resonable that shal moeve him.' ^ This
last ordinance, endowing them with a power absolutely discretionary,
received the assent of Parliament in 1429, either because of a general
sense that more prompt and effective justice was needed or because
the experience of three years had justified the Council's practice.^
Eight years later FarUament again interfered to check the power
of the Council. Writs of subpoena, it complained, had been pur-
chased for matters determinable by the common law of the land.
It devised a restraint therefore upon vexatious prosecutions by pro-
hibiting the issue of a Writ of Subpoena * until surety be found to
satisfy the Party so grieved and vexed for bis damages and
expences, if so be that the Matter cannot be made good which is
contained in the Bill.' ^ Of this statute Lambard has noted that it
provides a safeguard which forms no part of the Act of 1487.* It was
evidently for the benefit of the defendant. Its exclusion by the later
Act had the effect, according to him, of strengthening the power of the
Court.
But the principal Act, regulating the procedure of the Council
in dealing with flagrant breaches of the public peace, was the
81 Hen. 6, c. 2, passed in 1458. This Act has the further importance
that it was the first which gave a statutory authority to the initia-
tion by the Council of proceedings founded upon the jurisdiction
which the Council had wielded from time immemorial over this class
of offence. The Act recites the endeavours made by the Council to
grapple with the mischief and the ineffectiveness of the machinery at
its disposal. ' Forasmuch as the Eong our Sovereign Lord before
this Time, upon certain Suggestions and Complaints made as well to
him as to the Lords of his Council upon divers Persons of this his
Realm for great Riots, Extortions, Oppressions and grievous Offences
by them done against his Peace and Laws to divers of his liege People,
hath given in Commandment, as well by his Writs under his Great
» Rot. Pari. iv. 201, b. Ac, p. 81.
* H. Nioolas, * Proceedings/ <&c., iii. 214. * 15 Hen. 6, c. 4 (1437).
» Rot. Pari. iv. 343 ; Palgrave, ' Essay ' » * Archeion ' (1G36), p. 167.
INTRODUCTION bd
Seal, as by his Letters of Privy Seal, to appear before him in his
Chancery, or before him and his Council at certain Days in the same
Writs or Letters contained, to answer to the Premises ; which Com-
mandments be and many Times have been disobeyed, in Contempt of
the King our said Sovereign Lord and to the great Hindrance,
Damage and Delay of his said Complaints in this Behalf/ By way of
remedy Parliament, alarmed at Cade's rebellion, abandoned its time-
honoured resistance to the issue of Writs of Privy Seal/ It was now
enacted that disobedience to writs under the Great Seal or Letters
under the Privy Seal should be followed by the issue by the Chancellor
of a Writ of Proclamation to the sheriff of the county. Under this
writ the sheriff was bound to make three proclamations on successive
days in the county town, ordering the person summoned to appear
before the King's Council, or before the Chancellor, within a month
after the date of the last proclamation. On default of the appearance
of the person so summoned the procedure varied according to his
rank. A peer enjoyed the benefit of a respite by means of a second
writ of proclamation, neglect to comply with which involved forfeiture
of his place in Parliament, of any fees, offices, &c. enjoyed by him
through grant from the Crown, and failing these of all his lands.
For commoners the procedure was more summary. The offender not
surrendering at the first proclamations became liable to be fined by
the chief justices of the King's Bench and Common Pleas. If
indigent, he was put out of the King*s protection. A proviso was
interposed that matters determinable by law should not thereby be
withdrawn from the King's Courts. This was nugatory, seeing that
the Council had for twenty-seven years professed to act upon that
principle.
The Act of 1458 was limited to seven years. But it was
L^ frequently the practice at this period for governments to treat as in
force statutes which had never been formally repealed. At any rate,
we know from a bill put in by Lord Straunge before the King and
Council on November 12, 1467, that fourteen years later this pro-
cedure was observed. The occasion was an instance of private
warfare carried on in the wild country of the Marches of Wales, and
from the case published in this volume of Straunge v. Kenaston
(p. 274) this particular feud may be seen to have survived down to
the eve of the accession of Henry 8. It is of importance in
* See Bot. Pari. ii. 168, a (1847) ; 280, a 510, b (1402) ; 586, a (1406) ; 587, b (1406);
(1363) ; 282, b (1363) ; iii. 21, a, b (1377) ; 588, b (1406) ; iv. 156, a (1421) ; v. 407, b
266, a (1389) ; 267, b (1389) ; 471, b (1401) ; (1427) ; 409, a (1427).
Ixii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
connexion with the question of the significance of the Star Chamber
Act of Henry 7 to see how it was dealt with * in the Sterre Chamber
at Westminster, the xyj daye of November, the vij yere of the regne
of oure soueraigne Lord the King Edwarde the Fourthe ... by
thavise of his Counsail.' ^ It is unnecessary to enter into the details
of the dispute further than to say that an award having been ordered
by the Council and given unfavourably to a part of the claim of the
defendant, Boger Eynaston, he refused obedience and asserted his
right by violence. Upon the complaint of the petitioner, John Lord
Straunge, ' your said highnesse hath directed your lettrez under your
signet unto the said Boger, to appire afiEbre your highnesse and the
lords of your most notable Counsil to answare to the premisses. And
he havyng no regard to your said commaundment . . . that to do,
but utterly refusith, whereupon your said highnesse, by thavice of the
lordes of your Counseill, directed your moost gracious lettrez of priue
seale, directed unto the said Boger commaunding him straytely by
the same upon gret paynes to appear affore your highnesse in your
Counseille, tansware to such thyngs as there shuld be layde agenst
him.' Here we have the first step authorised by the Act of 1463.
Eynaston treated the King's ' messenger ' contumeliously, took away
the letters from him, and threatened him ' that if he wold nat retourne
agayne and say he coude nat mete with the said Boger that he shuld
dey.' The Council behaved with singular forbearance, doubtless
because Kynaston was a zealous Yorkist. He had fought on the side
of the Duke of York, the King's father, against Henry 6 at Ludford on
October 12, 1459.* For this he had been heavily fined by the victorious
Lancastrians.^ After the accession of Edward 4 in March 1461 he
became sheriff of Salop,^ and was active in suppressing Lancastrian
disaffection.* Down to 1465 he had been a justice of the peace for
the county.® These eminent services suflSciently account for the
departure in his favour from the more peremptory procedure of the
Act of 1453.' The Council, therefore, as though dealing with a peer,
' See F. Palgrave, ' Essay/ p. 185, foil. commission of the peace on Deo. 1, 1468
* Rot. Pari. V. 368. (Pat. Rolls, Ed. 4, 1462-77, p. 627), and
" lb. sheriflf from 1469 to 1471, though in the
* P.R.O. List of Sheriffs, p. 118. interval (Nov. 6, 1470, to April 11, 1471) he
» Pat. Rolls, Ed. 4, 1461-67 (Aug. 12, was ejected for a Lancastrian during the
1461), p. 98. restoration of Henry 6 (Oct. 9 to April 14,
* lb. 670. 1471) (P.R.O. List of Sheriffs, p. 118).
' He appears to have established his In the course of 1471, between April 11
claim to the lands in dispute (see Pat. and Sept. 29, he was knighted, and was
Rolls, 20 Ed. 4, pt. ii. p. 218), and how probably the Sir Boger Eingeston stated to
trivial his misconduct was deemed, or how have been knighted by Edward 4 on the
great his influence was at Court, is apparent field of Grafton beside Tewkesbury (May ^,
from the fact that he was again on the 1471) (W. C. Metcalfe, * Book of Knights,*
INTRODUCTION Ixiii
issued fresh letters of summons with which he was duly served, but
which he treated with contempt, ' contynuing stille in his said murdres,
manslaughter, roberies, extorcions, oppressions & raunsons, en-
prisonementz there of your liegemen, servauntez, & tenauntez of
your said suppliant, worse and in more orrible wise than it were in
land of war.' This, being the plaintiff's version of his conduct, is
perhaps somewhat highly coloured, but it moved the Council to take
the step which the Act of 1453 authorised after a first contempt. A
writ of proclamation was duly issued to the sheriff of Salop * to make
open proclamacion withynne the said counte that the said Roger
shuld appere affore your highnesse and the lordes of your Counseille
at the quinzisme of Michaelmas last past, on his allegeaunce (and to
kepe the pease in themeane time upon his ligeance).' The proclama-
tions are stated to have been duly made throughout the county. The
date of the issue of the writ of proclamation does not appear, but it
would seem that it was before Long Vacation ; for the Council in the
Star Chamber kept, as has been seen, the legal terms. This probably
explains the reason why the defendant was not called upon, in
accordance with the provisions of the Act of 1453, to appear before
the Council or the Chancellor within a month of the last proclamation.
In the meanwhile Kynaston, so far from keeping the peace, ' con-
tynued . . . wors than before,' and on August 28, 1467, a commis-
sion issued to John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, Sir William Herbert
and the Sheriff of Salop * to arrest Roger Kynaston, late of Walford,
CO. Salop, Esquire, alias of Knokyn in the Marches of Wales, and
bring him before the King in Council.' ' Kynaston thereupon fled
to * the high parties of Wales called Powys land and there kept hym
in mounteynes, mareys and wodes, as an outlawe, associate with mony
other of mysruled people like outlawes, and yit dothe.' This was a
proceeding for which the Act did not expressly provide, it being
p. 3), in which battle he doubtless fought, a commissioner of subsidy for Salop in
for his name appears on the commission the same year (ib. p. 396), a commissioner
of array issued by Edward 4 on the previous of array on May 1, 1484, to make prepara-
April 26 (Pat. Bolls, 11 Ed. 4, pt. i. tions for repelling invasion by Henry, Earl
p. 284). On Feb. 8, 1473, he petitioned of Richmond (Henry 7) (ib. p. 401), and
Edward 4 for the confirmation of the grants his fidelity was rewarded by a fresh grant
of the constableship and captainship of of the constableship of Hardlagh (Dec. 15,
the Castle of Hardlaugh (Harlech) and the 1483, ib. p. 408), of an annuity of 40 marks,
Sheriffwick of Merionethshire, pleading his and the renewal of the offices of sheriff and
true and faithful service to the King and his escheator of Merionethshire (March 5 and 8,
father. His petition was granted (Bot. 1484, ib. p. 441). He was also nominated
Pari. vi. 46, b). He was trusted by by Bic. 3 upon the commission of the peaee
Bichard 3, being commissioned by him on for Salop (June 26 and Dec. 5, 1483, ib.
Dec. 10, 1483, to inquire into the circum- p. 570). He died in 1496 (Harl. Soc. xxviii. ii.
stances of the rising of the previous October p. 295) (Visitation of Shjropshire).
(Pat. Bolls, 1 Bic. 3, pt. ii. p. 392). He was ' Pat. Boll, 7 Ed. 4, pt. i. m. 13, d.
d
Ixiv COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
assumed by it that an offender would, in case he had shown contempt
for the Writ of Proclamation, submit to a fine by the two chief jus-
tices. The petitioner, therefore, asked the King to issue a privy seal
to the commissioners * commaundyng them most straightly to execute
the said commission,' which suggests that they sympathised with the
offender. But as their authority would be confined to the county of
Salop, he asks the issue of writs of proclamation to the justices of the
peace and other officers as well of Salop as of the counties of Flint,
Hereford, and Chester, ordering them to arrest the defendant. These
writs were on Nov. 12, 1467, ordered by the Council sitting in the
Star Chamber to issue. The conclusion is that the Act of 1458
established, and perhaps followed, precedents for the action of the
Council towards notable disturbers of the peace which were main-
tained after the Act itself had expired.
Henry 7 ascended the throne anxious to maintain the Lancas-
trian tradition of parliamentary government. A scrutiny of the
statutes passed by him will shew that for the most part they were
not novel in kind, but an endeavour to enforce existing laws. His
predilection for an adherence to constitutional forms was doubtless
due to the teaching of Fortescue, the author of two text-books for
Lancastrian statesmen, and the influence of Archbishop Morton,
during whose lifetime he summoned frequent parliaments. Accord-
ingly, in the statute ' Pro Camera Stellata,' the main thought was
to legalise a jurisdiction which, under Edward 4, was irregularly
exercised, but which had a statutory pedigree derived from the Act of
1453.^ That Act had expired on May 1, 1461, two months after Edward
had ascended the throne. The new measure was an improvement upon
it in two ways. In the first place, it largely increased the number
of offences with which the Court was thenceforth by consent of Parlia-
ment competent to deal. In the second place, by giving a statutory
sanction to the issue of Writs of Subpoena or Privy Seal, it put an
end, for a long while to come, to those continual bickerings between
the Sovereign and the House of Commons which marked the meet-
ings of so many Parliaments under Bichard 2 and his two successors.
Thirdly, it extended to all cases covered, at least, by the statutory
jurisdiction, the ancient but controverted and in part abandoned
» * Truely I could rather, if I knew not of addressing Proces and sheweth our
the Star Chamber to haue been ever a verey Courte in all Congruence and Cometh
Court, haue thought it to haue beene erected verey neare a verey Court in forme of
by this statute of 31 Hen. 6 A it con- Lawe.' W. Mill in B. M. Hargr. MS. 216,
cureth soe even with our jurisdiccion now f. 118, d.
both in the Nature of offences and nractice
INTRODUCTION Ixv
practice of the Council of examining defendants upon oath. So far as
the statesmen of the day appear to have intended, they were obtain-
ing fresh parliamentary powers to deal with the disorders which were
then rendering the task of government diflScult. The tacit enlargement
of the powers of the Court undoubtedly arose from the accredited
belief that it inherited the undefined powers of the Council to deal
with new emergencies. To this may be added the natural tendency
to the extension of jurisdiction common to all courts and the political
advantages which the control of a powerful judicial tribunal was
eventually seen to confer upon the Sovereign.
By way of illustration of the conservative character of the Act and
of the advantage gained through it to the executive government, we
may take the offences specified by it as appertaining to the jurisdic-
tion of the Court. Unlawful maintenance was no offence then first
. arbitrarily created. Coke, indeed, declares that 'maintenance is
malum in se,' and against the common law,^ and the cc. xxv-xxviii.^
of the statute of Westminster the First were enacted against specific
forms of it as early as 1275. During the reigns of Edward 8 and
Bichard 2 statute followed statute for its suppression. A principal
difficulty in enforcing these was, as we learn from a statute of 1330,'
that where great men were concerned jurors of inquests dared not
give their verdicts. It is evident that the assignment by that Act
and an Act of 1346^ of cases of maintenance to the Justices of Assize
did little to correct the practice. Similarly with the giving of liveries,
a statutory offence closely connected with maintenance. The first
Act against these, passed in 1377,* recites that liveries are given with
the * covenant and assurance that every of them shall maintain other
in all quarrels, be they reasonable or unreasonable, to the great
mischief and oppression of the people.' The Act then provides that
'henceforth no such livery be given to any man for maintenance
of quarrels or other confederacies upon pain of imprisonment and
grievous forfeiture to the King, and the Justices of Assize shall
diligently inquire of all them that gather them together in fraternities
by such livery to do maintenance.' Supplementary statutes against
liveries passed in 1392,^ 1396,^ 1406,^ and 1468® prove how little
effective the law was. Could it be otherwise when the offence
was tried before a country jury in sympathy with the practice, from
which they derived the advantage of the protection of a powerful
> 2 Inst. 212. * 20 Ed. 3, o. 6 (1346). ' 20 Bio. 2, c. 2.
« 8 Ed. 1 (1275) » 1 Rio. 2, c. 7. * 7 Hen. 4, c. 14.
» 4 Ed. 3, 0. 11 (1330). • 16 Rio. 2, c. 4. • 8 Ed. 4, o. 2.
d2
Ixvi COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
lord,^ and with the oflfender their patron and neighbour ? How
difficult it was to uproot the system is evident from the fact that the
year of the Act * Pro Camera Stellata ' saw passed * an Acte agaynst
retayning any of the Kynge's tennantes/*^ and in 1504 an Act pre-
scribing new penalties was passed *De Retentionibus illicitis.'^
Akin to maintenance, with which it was sometimes coupled/ was
* embraciaries of his subgettes,* by which is generally understood the
corruption of jurors by promises, entreaties, money, entertainments,
and the like.'* With this offence the Act of 1487 joins *ontrue
demeanyges of Shrevys in makyng of panelles and other ontrew
retournes ' and * takyng of money by jurryes.' It is obvious that
practices which corrupted the jury system at the very root could only
i be effectually dealt with by the executive, which the Star Chamber
at this time practically was,*^ and the numerous statutes which had
failed to repress these malpractices confirm this presumption.
As the following cases shew, even in the days of Henry 7 the
Court did not confine itself within the offences enumerated by the
statute of 1487. The first case undoubtedly heard after that Act,
though begim before, the case of the Prior of Bath against the Abbot
of St. Augustine's, Canterbury (pp. 20-34), might be called an action
of detinue and an action for an account ; the three cases of Vale r.
Broke, Donyngton r. Broke, and Smyth r. Broke (pp. 38-45) are
actions for defamation; Madeley v. Fitzherbert (pp. 54-69) is an
action for a wrongful impounding, an essentially common law action ;
the Lead Miners of Yorkshire v. the Merchants of York (pp. 69-71),
which was very likely remitted to the common law courts, was an
allegation of a statutory offence ; Hewyt and others and the Mayor &c.
of Exeter against the Mayor &c. of London (pp. 71-95) complain of
a violation of royal charters ; Goryng v. the Earl of Northumberland
(pp. 95-105) is a case of alleged illegal detention or false imprison-
ment ; so is Jones v. Lychfeld (pp. 275-278) and Carter v. the Abbot
* That the immediate dependants of the * 19 Hen. 7, c. 13, De Biotis reprimendis
Court were foremost in these practices (1504). ' And if the seid riotte route or
appears from the number of statutes unlawefuU assemble be not found by the
specifically directed against them, as 1 Ed. seid Jurry, by reason of any mayntenauncez
8, St. 2, 0. 14 (1327) ; 20 Ed. 3, c. 4 (1346) ; or embracery of the seid Jurrours ' Ac.
1 Rio. 2, c. 4 (1377); and 7 Ric. 2, c. 15 » Blackstone,' Commentaries '(ed. 1709),
(1383). Similarly, champerty, a form of bk. iv. c. 10, § 18. See also W. Lambard,
maintenance, was expressly forbidden to * Archeion ' (1635), 200, and T. Heame,
the King's officers by the statute of West- ' Curious Discourses * (ed. 1771), ii. 289.
minster the First, c. 25 (1275). ' Camera Stellata.*
« 3 Hen. 7, c. 12 (1487). • For a further discussion of this class
• 19 Hen. 7, c. 14. See further on this of offence see re The Attorney-General v.
subject re the Abbot of Eynesham v. Hare- Parre and others, pp. cxxzii-cxxxiv, infra,
court, p. 139 n. 7, infra.
INTRODUCTION Ixvii
of Malmesbury (pp. 118-129), though here, as in other instances,
rout, or riot, is alleged ; Kebell v. Vernon (pp. 130-137) is forcible
abduction, a statutory offence, in which, however, riot or rout was
also involved ; Halle r. Essexe (pp. 168-178) is a case of disseisin,
involving also the offence which Hudson calls 'embezzling of evi-
dences.'^ The case of Whyte v. the Mayor &c. of Gloucester
(pp. 225-226) is a complaint of illegal tolls, contrary to an Act of
Parliament. Here, however, there was some statutory colour for the
Court's interference, though it was doubtless founded, in the minds
of the judges themselves, upon the ancient prerogative over highways
and waterways. Hence Hudson remarks : * The opening of passages
and maintenance of bridges hath been here enjoined ; so was it in the
town of Kingston-upon-Hull, 21 Eliz.' ^ Butlond and others r. Austen
and others (pp. 262-271) was a complaint of a statutory offence.
The case of the Master and Brethren of All Saints, Maidstone, v.
Kempe (pp. 271-274) is an action of wrongful presentation and
. trespass. The only possible inference seems to be that in these cases
the Court conceived itself as armed with the indeterminate jurisdiction
! of the Council.
There is one procedure in use in the Star Chamber animadverted
upon by both Mill and Hudson, of which no example occurs among
these documents. It was known by the name of * the proceeding by
Ore tenus.' ^ Its first step was the apprehension of the defendant by
a pursuivant, or messenger, without any information laid against him.
This was certainly not to be justified by the Act *Pro Camera
Stellata,* which only authorised the issue of process * uppon bill or
informacion put to the seid Chancellor, for the Kyng or any other,
ageyn eny person for eny misbehavyng afore rehersed.' It was
possibly on this account that the rule was ' strictly held that they
must proceed upon confession,' ^ whereas, as has been seen, the Act,
which gave power to examine, was interpreted to authorise examination
by interrogatories upon oath. In 'ore tenus' he was examined
* without oath or any compulsory means concerning the fact. If he
shall deny the accusation, then cannot the court proceed against
him ore tenus.' This is the kind of power that would naturally be,
and was in fact, exercised by the executive. Both Mill and Hudson
declare that in the seventeenth century it was employed to 'a
* * The embezzling of evidences by slight 34 Eliz.' * Of the Court of Star Chamber/
or covin is here punishable ; so was it p. 109.
adjadged in Katcliff's case against Tudor, ^ * Of the Court of Star Chamber/ p. 109.
and taking away of a bond of :£1,000, ' lb. p. 126.
sentenced between Stephen and Spencer, * lb. p. 127.
Ixviii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
dangerous excess.' ^ But the use of it, clearly independent of the
Act, points to its survival in the Court of the Star Chamber from the
ancient practice of the Council.
Until the number and character of the cases heard before the
Council prior to the Act of 1487 have been definitely ascertained, it
would be premature to assert that the pubUc up to that time generally
had recourse to the Common Law Courts, which they thenceforth
deserted in favour of a tribunal less costly, less hazardous, and more
expeditious. One thing is quite clear, that the Act of 1487 did not
overtly provide for cases of private litigation. It may also be that
these cases of which we have no more than the plaint were remitted to
the Common Law Courts. Wolsey, we are told by Hudson, sent causes
arising within the Marches ^ to those courts.' ^ On the other hand
it is doubtful whether where it had compelled the defendant to swear
to his answer the Star Chamber would relax its seisin, for if the Eliza-
bethan Coimcil was occasionally jealous of the Star Chamber,^ still more
acute was the rivalry, as the history of the Court of Bequests has shewn,
between the Prerogative Courts and the Courts of Common Law.'*
The Court of the Star Chamber, following the established practice
of the Council in the exercise of its judicial functions, sat in term
time. Among the Acts of the Privy Council of 5 Hen. 6 (1426) is
one * That out of terme tyme no thing be spedd in the counsail but
suche thing as for the goode of the kyng and of his lande asketh
necessarie and hastye spede and may not goodeley be abiden unto
the terme tyme.' ^ The prayer in Culford v. Wotton is for the issue
of letters of privy seal * charging him [the defendant] straithe by the
same that he be and personally aper before your grace and your noble
counsell at your palace of Westminster at a certain day this terme '
(p. 46). Observant, as always, of the procedure of the Council, the
Court of Star Chamber, though habitually sitting in term time,
occasionally departed from its rule. Hudson gives one example from
the reign of Elizabeth and one from that of James 1, and remarks
that * the Chancellor of England may determine cases in the court of
Chancery in the vacation time as well as in the term.' ^ The practice
had passed into controversy, it being alleged that sitting out of term
time implied sitting at the King's pleasure, which ' manifesteth it
to subsist rather by extraordinary sovereignty than ordinary course.' ^
There are some indications that in the reign of Henry 7 the
' Hudson, p. 127. ^ Nicolas, * Proceedings and Ordinances '
* lb. p. 116. ^c, iii. 216.
" See p. Ivi, supra. * * Of the Court of Star Chamber,' p. 5.
* Selden Society (1898), pp. xzxvi-xlvi. lb.
INTRODUCTION Ixix
proceedings of the Court of Star Chamber were expeditious. In
Culf ord V. Wotton (p. 47) the writ was made returnable on Feb. 9, and
the hearing apparently fixed for the last day of the same month (1494).
In Hewyt and others and the Mayor &c. of Exeter against the Mayor
&c. of London, heard in 1500, the plaintiff asks for the dispatch of a
serjeant-at-arms to enforce the immediate restitution of the goods
detained from him ' orels to appere before your seid lordship to
morowe yn the sterre chambre' (p. 72). That case, however, which
involved a searching of records, dragged on for at least eighteen
months. In Walterkyn r. Letice the riotous conduct complained of
took place * vppon Tewsdaie last passed the xxiij^'* daie of this present
moneth of Maii,' i.e. 1503 (p. 165). The indorsement is for hearing
* die Martis proxime futuri,' i.e. within a week of the offence (p. 166).
In the case of the Abbot and Bailiffs of Shrewsbury two privy
seals were issued on or after April 22, 1509, and served on the
parties on May 26, 1509 (p. 190). Some time after Jime 24,
1509, a document praying for an exemplification of a Star Chamber
decree was sent up to London. The exemplification arrived and was
read at Shrewsbury in public on July 21 following. On that same
day a riot took place, on account of which one of the bailiffs of the
town was served with a privy seal on July 24 (p. 204), but the
second of the two cases between the abbot and bailiffs, which began
in the second quarter of 1509, dragged on till the last quarter of
1510, so far as the documents here published shew, though this delay
may have been partly due to the illness and death of Robert Bydon,
the clerk of the Council (see p. 196, n. 2). In the case of the Fur-
nivall's Inn rioters the later riot complained of occurred on May 6,
1507, and the witnesses were interrogated, as the indorsements (p.
245 and p. 250) shew, on May 16. Only in the case of Kebell
V. Vernon the indorsements run from June 17, 1502 (p. 134), to
Nov. 8, 1504 (p. 137), and in this case the delay perhaps arose from a
suspense of the proceedings pending the trial of an action at law
which we know from other sources to have taken place.
The earliest mention of the Star Chamber eo nmnine to be found
in these documents is in the case of Hewyt and others v. the
Mayor &c. of London. The bill, filed in 1500, petitions that the
defendant may be ordered to appear before the Lord Keeper * yn the
sterre chambre ' (p. 72). This is about four years earlier than the
first statutory mention of the Court as ' the Lordis of the Kynges
honorable Counceill in the Sterre Chamber at Westminster ' (19 Hen. 7,
c. 18). The curious statement called a * bill ' (p. 184), apparently
Ixx COURT OF TIIE STAR CHAMBER
drawn up by Margaret Kebell herself, was delivered to the defendant's
attorney * in the sterre chambre ' by the Lord Chancellor (p. 184).
This was in 1502. That the defendant may be summoned to appear
* before your highnes and your most honorable Counseill in the Sterre
Ghambre at Westmenster ' is the prayer of the Abbot of Eynesham
(p. 151). This was in 1508, and to the same year belongs the phrase
*the Kynges most honorable Councell in his Starre Chamber,' to
which the writs of subpoena issued against William Tytte and others
were returnable (p. 162). These phrases recur in the petition of the
Mayor &c. of Gloucester in 1504 (p. 209), and in that of Whyte
against the same corporation in 1505 (p. 225). The writ of Dedimus
Potestatem of Dec. 4, 1504, recites * coram dominis de consiUo nostro
in camera stellata apud Westmonasterium ' (p. 217). ' In the Kynges
Starr Chamber ' is the phrase in 1509 in the Abbot of Shrewsbury's
case (p. 189), and in the same case in 1510 ' in the Sterre Chambre '
simply (p. 200). In Grocjm and others r. Kempe the plaintiff prays
for the appearance of the defendant 'before your good grace and
other of your most honarable Councell in the Stere Chaumbre at
Westminster* (p. 278). From first to last of these instances it
will be seen that Hudson's phrase, which was in common use in his
day, * the Court of Star Chamber,' never appears. That phrase
encouraged the idea that the Court was of statutory origin, if, indeed,
it did not suggest it. But in the time of Henry 7 it is evident that
in the eyes of the litigants and their legal advisers this was a Court
of the King and Council sitting in their accustomed place of meeting.
The conclusions derived from this review of the history and prac-
tice of the Court of Star Chamber may be briefly summarised as
follows : —
1. The Court did not conceive itself as of statutory origin, nor its
practice as limited by the statute * Fro Camera Stellata,' either in
respect to its (a) composition or (b) jurisdiction.
2. The forms used by the Court prove that it conceived itself as a
Court of the King's Council.
8. The sitting of the King's justices as assessors was not a novelty
introduced by the statute * Pro Camera Stellata,' but was a continu-
ance of the practice of the King's Council sitting judicially in the Star
Chamber.
4. The Court of Star Chamber was further reinforced in legal
competence by the swearing in as judges of the Court of experts who
thenceforth ranked as Consiliarii, though not members of the Privy
Council.
INTRODUCTION Ixxi
5. The Privy Council still affected and occasionally exercised a
concurrent jurisdiction.
6. This concurrent jurisdiction differed from the jurisdiction of the
King's Council in the Star Chamber (a) in the absence of the King's
justices and other legal experts (Jurisconsulti) as assessors and judges
respectively, (b) In the relinquishment of the ancient practice of
examining defendants and witnesses upon oath, which, having been
long a grievance of the Commons, was disused by the Council, except
in certain cases, in 1351 and after the statute ' Pro Camera Stellata '
taken to be confined to the Star Chamber, but to be coextensive with
its jurisdiction, express or constructive. Further, this concurrent
jurisdiction seems not to have been generally exercised in private
suits, and to have passed into increasing desuetude as the Privy
Council became absorbed in pohtics.
7. In the reign of Henry 7, so far as appears from the documents
here pubUshed, the litigants accepted the Star Chamber's view of its
origin, assumed it to be the King's Council, and, notwithstanding the
Act 'Pro Camera Stellata,' to be invested with the indeterminate
jurisdiction traditionally possessed by that body, generally conceived
of as supplementary to the common and statute law.
8. The primary object of the Act * Pro Camera Stellata ' was to
obtain a statutory sanction for these powers. Henry 7 had before
him the Lancastrian precedent of the expired Act of 1453. The
enumeration of offences by the Act of 1487 was not by way of Umita-
tion, but in order to give a statutory expansion to the powers conceded
by Parliament in the earUer Act.
9. This construction of the Act * Pro Camera Stellata,' while it
does not altogether clear up some of its obscurities, furnishes an
explanation of the variations from its provisions practised both by the
litigants before it and by the Court itself.
Ixxii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
PART n
Notes on the Gases
1. Mayor &c. of Exeter v, Stoden and others. — 2. Tayllour v. Att Well. —
8. Prior of Bath v. Ahbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury.— 4. Powe v.
Newman. — 5. Straunge v. Eenaston.— 6. Abbot of Eynesham v. Sir Robert
Hareoourt.— 7. Abbot of Byland v. Warooppe. — 8. Principal &c. of Fumivall's
Inn V. Johnson and others. — 9. Kebell v. Vernon. — 10. Goryng r. Earl of
Northumberland. — 11. Madeley v. Fitzherbert. — 12. Grocyn v. Kempe. —
18. Carter r. Abbot of Malmesbury.— 14. Culford y.Wotton.— 16. Walterkyn
V. Letioe. — 16. Vale v. Broke, Donyngton v. Broke, Smyth v. Broke.— 17.
Hobart, A. G., v. Parre and others. — 18. Tapton v, Colsyll. — 19. Pynson
and others v. Squyer and others. — 20. The Abbot t\ the Bailiffs of Shrews-
bury.— 21. Hewyt and others and Mayor &c. of Exeter v. Mayor &o. of
London. — 22. Couper v. Gervaux. — 28. Whyte v. Mayor &c. of Gloucester. —
24. Lead Miners of Yorkshire v. Merchants of York. — 26. Butlond and
others v. Austen and others.
The first two cases printed here undoubtedly never came before the
statutory Court of the Star Chamber, among the records of which
other*. ^j^^y j^^^^ ^^^^ preserved. The case of the Mayor &c. of Exeter
against Stoden (pp. 1-6) is clearly a case heard by King Edward 4
in Council in 1477, although it has been mixed up with the papers
belonging to the reign of Henry 8. The address is to the King, and
the concluding prayer of the plaint to the King and the lords of his
Council. The complaint alleges a riot, which was not a mere form of
pleading, but which we know to have actually occurred. The history
of this quarrel between the gild and the corporation of Exeter is to
be found in Toulmin Smith's * Early English Gilds,' ^ where the judge-
ment in this case is set out. The judgement was in the nature of
a compromise. The scrutiny which the master and wardens of the gild
claimed to exercise over the whole city, and which the complainants
allege infringed certain ecclesiastical liberties, was limited, but in
somewhat ambiguous language. This probably gave rise to the sub-
sequent disputes. The judgement upon this point ran : * The saide
Master, Wardens, and theire successors shall make no suche ordy-
1 Early English Text Society, xii. (1S70), pp. 302-312.
Mayor &o.
of Exeter *.
Stoden and
INTRODUCTION Ixxiii
naunces, by force of the saide wordes, that shalbe prejudicial! or dero-
gatyve to the lyberties, franchasies, right and laufull customes of the
bisshop, Deane and chapter, Mayer, bayliffs and communalte, nor to
any of their successors' (ib. p. 805). Searches were similarly limited
(ib. p. 307). The disputes continued imtil in 1482 the charter of 1466
was annulled (ib. p. 311 ; see Rot. Pari. vi. 219, 220). The gild, never-
theless, continued until 1826 (ib. p. 299 ; Freeman, * Exeter,' p. 231).
The companion case of Tayllour v. Att Well (pp. 6-15) is sorted Tayuour i
among the Star Chamber Records of Henry 7, but internal evidence
proves it to belong to the reign of Edward 4, and to be, in fact, also
a case before the King's Council. The grounds for arriving at this
conclusion are (1) that a bill purporting to be foimd * before William
Huddesfeld your attorney' is the subject of the plaint. Huddes-
feld was Attorney-General to Edward 4, and was displaced by
Richard 3 on Aug. 1, 1483, while the Attorney-General nominated
by Henry 7 on his accession was William Hody.^ The year of the
indorsement, * xxviij Nov. anno regni regis xxij,' is, therefore, 1482.
(2) The gravamen of the forged bill was concealment of a seizure
of contraband on * the x*^ day of Auguste the yer of your most noble
reyne xxj.' Now if the King had been Henry 7, this would be
1506, whereas Huddesfeld, before whom the alleged bill was supposed
to have been found, had died in 1499. Colshill, one of the jury, who
had on that hypothesis found it after 1506, had died in 1495, and
John Kelly, another of them, in 1486. (3) The signature * Lang-
port' is that of Richard Langport, clerk of the Council, whose will
was proved in 1490.
The case throws a sidelight upon the struggle of political parties
at Exeter during the reign of Edward 4. In my introduction to
* Select Cases in the Court of Requests,'^ I have sketched the conflict
between the democratic and the oligarchical parties for the control
of the City gilds and of the City government. John Att Well, who
figures as a defendant in this case, being a member of the oli-
garchical party, was elected mayor for the fifth time in 1496. Robert
Bonyfaunt, a deputy of the plaintiff Tayllour, and his brother, John
Bonyfaunt, who does not figure in the Star Chamber case, belonged
to the popular party.^ Tayllour probably belonged to the same party,
for it appears that Tayllour was a trade name ; * and, as we see in this
' E. Fobs, ' Judges of England,' v. 14. quests (Selden Soc. 1898), pp. 4, 6.
* Selden Soc. (1898), pp. Ixxiii. * Campbell, * Materials for Hist, of
' See Petition of the Mayor and Citizens Henry 7,' ii. 454.
of Exeter, Select Pleas in the Court of Be-
Ixxiv COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
volume, the tailors' gild long defied the control of the corporation.
Moreover, it is certain that Tayllour was a Yorkist, the party supported
by men of democratic sympathies.
The starting-point of this case is perhaps to be found in the Rolls
of Parliament for 1478. In that year the Commons preferred a
complaint that ' oon John Tayllour, callyng hym Merchaunt of the
said Cite of Exetur, by vertue of vrij dyvers fegned enformations made
in your Escheker, hath condempned the said John Atwyll, duryng this
present Parlement, by the defaute of aunswere of the said John, in
eightscore li., the same John dayly attendyng uppon the same Parlia-
ment and not havyng knowelege of the said condempnations.' ^ Atwyll
was at this time representing Exeter in Parliament, and the Commons
prayed arrest of process by issue of Supersedeas on the ground that
the proceedings against him were a breach of privilege. Their request
was granted, the suspension of proceedings to continue till the end of
that Parliament, i.e. some time in the first six months of 1478. What
happened to John Att Well, or Atwyll, after that date we do not precisely
know ; but since he was afterwards frequently Mayor of Exeter, it may
be inferred that the proceedings were more or Ifess ineffective. The
manoeuvres imputed to him and his brother Philip, which led to the case
before the Council here published, were probably by way of retaliation.
It appears that on November 12, 1481, a commission had issued
out of the Exchequer to * William Huddesfeld (Edward 4's Attorney-
General), John Speke, esquire, John Hays, gentleman, John Atwyll,
merchant, and John Benet, gentleman,' to inquire into concealments of
customs and subsidies (see p. 8, n. 8, infra). According to the plaintiff,
two brothers, John and Philip Att Well, forged a * bill' alleged to have
been found by a jury of the citizens of Exeter against John Tayllour,
customer of the ports of Exeter and Dartmouth. The gravamen of
the bill was that Tayllour's clerk and deputy, Robert Bonyfaunt,
having on August 10, 1481, seized certain canvas and sailcloth to the
value of £146 13«. 4d. at Topsham, Devon, Tayllour concealed the
seizure and appropriated the goods, half of which, as we know from
the conditions of the grant of his oflSce (p. 6, n. 2), should have gone
to the Crown. This * bill ' was then delivered by John Att WeU, the
commissioner, to the Attorney-General, with a view to a prosecution
of the alleged fraud in the Exchequer. The plaintiff appears to have
received early notice of the trick he alleges to have been played, and
to have obtained a copy of the ' bill * from the Exchequer with the
* Bot Pari. vi. 191, b, where the year is * Parliaments and Councils of England '
called 1477, i.e. O.S. The Parliament met (1839), p. 193.
January 16. 1478 (N.S.). See C. H. Parry,
INTRODUCTION Ixxv
names of the panel. Armed with this document he visited each
juryman, and one and all denied that they had ever found such a
bill. At the plaintiffs instance they drew up a * lettre testimonyall '
with their seals, the identity of which was vouched for by the seals of
Bishop Courtney and of the mayor of Exeter, repudiating the pretended
* bill.* The * lettre testimonyall ' was laid before the King, no doubt
sitting in Council in exercise of his judicial prerogative. The King
(Edward 4) remitted the * lettre testimonyall' to the Mayor and
Bailiffs of Exeter for their verification, with orders that, in the event
of its proving genuine, John and Philip Att Well should be arrested
and imprisoned. Huddesfeld, the Attorney- General, happening to
be at the time in Exeter, the King's orders were communicated to
him, and with his sanction John Att Well was arrested and confined
in the castle. Phihp escaped search. The plaintiff, in his petition,
states that John * came out of prison ' and went home, which suggests
that he was powerfully befriended in Exeter. In his replication he
alleges that John * breke oute of warde.' But it is evident, from the
assurance with which the gaoler endeavoured to pacify the mayor
when, at the instance of the plaintiff, he became concerned as to the
prisoner's safety, that his escape was connived at. However this
may be, both the defendants deny the charge that they either forged
or altered a bill against the plaintiff, and both maintain the genuine-
ness of the bill impeached. John denies that he broke gaol, a plea
which seems to have had some substance to support it ; and Philip
asserts that, so far from keeping out of the way, he rode off to the
King and obtained a discharge for both himself and his brother. It
is difl&cult to know where the truth lies, but we know from the
Patent Eolls that Tayllour retained his post till the overthrow of the
Yorkist party at Bosworth Field in 1485. On the other hand John
Att Well became Mayor of Exeter in 1483, and twice at later dates.
This is perhaps not altogether inconsistent with the truth of the
plaintiff's statement ; for forgery, though a misdemeanour at common
law, was not regarded as an offence of high gravity,^ and political faction
may have stifled public conscience.
The subsequent fortunes of John Tayllour are partly disclosed by
an Act of Attainder passed in 1491.^ This Act recites at length the
contents of a treasonable letter received by one * John Hayes, late
of Tiberton in the Countie of Devonshire, gentilman.' It was * writen
at Eoan in Normandy, by your old accoyntaunce John Taillour the
* J. F. Stephen, * Hist, of Criminal ^ 7 Hen. 7, c. 22. Convictio Johannis
Law/ iii. 180. Hayes, Rot. Pari. vi. 454.
Ixxvi COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
elder.' The letter was received by Hayes at Winchester on Novem-
ber 26, 1490, at the hands of one * William Warde of Topisham.'
Hayes was arrested on suspicion and brought before the Council. He
then revealed the letter. His name and style and his association with
* John Atte Will ' and with the village of Topsham suflSciently identify
him with the commissioner of 1481. He had been a servant of George,
Duke of Clarence,^ who had been put to death on February 18, 1478.
John Tayllour had also been a servant of Clarence, and had been
mentioned in the Act of Attainder passed against Clarence in 1478 as
having been entrusted by his master with the duty of conveying
Edward, Earl of Warwick, the duke's eldest son, into Ireland beyond
the reach of Edward 4. Notwithstanding this, he was taken into
the King's service and employed in oflSces of trust in connexion with
the administration of the estates of Clarence's youthful heir. This
and a number of other grants ^ sufficiently identify him with John
Tayllour * the elder ' of 1491, who in 1482 had been known as John
Tayllour the younger, merchant of Exeter,^ the Christian name of
' John ' being presumably handed on from father to son, as in the case
of the three John Goryngs.^ It is not surprising to find that John
Tayllour, having been evicted from his offices after Bosworth,* was
become 'a rebell & traitour, being in Normandy in the service of
your [Henry 7*s] auncien enemye of Fraunce.' ^ He was organising
a conspiracy in favour of Warwick, then a close prisoner in the Tower
of London. His correspondent John Hayes had been treated by
Edward 4 in the same generous spirit as had Tayllour himself.
Hayes had received on November 21, 1478, a grant for life of the office
of receiver of the lordship and manor of Tyverton and all other lord-
ships, manors, and lands in the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset;,
Dorset, Wilts, and Southampton forfeited by the duke, and of the
office of the custody of the castle or manor of Tyverton &c.* On
February 11, 1480, he obtained further similar grants during the
minority of the Earl of Warwick.® Of these grants the most impor-
tant were confirmed by Richard 3.^ He was, therefore, naturally well
affected to the cause of Warwick. So much confidence was reposed in
him by Tayllour that he was asked in the letter to concert with others
the place of landing for a French army of invasion promised in support
' 7 Hen. 7, c. 22. Convictio Johannis 18 Ed. 4, pt. ii. m. 19, p. 128 ; ib. 18 Ed. 4,
Hayes, Kot. Pari. vi. 454. January 20, 1479, p. 134.
- See p. 6, n. 2, infra. • ib. 19 Ed. 4, m. 7, p. 176. Cp. February
> Oal. of Pat. Rolls, 21 Edw. 4, pt. i. Fe- 13, 1482, 21 Ed. 4, m. 3, p. 261 ; February
bruary 10, 1482, p. 262. 15, 1483, 22 Ed. 4, m. 16, p. 336.
* See p. 95, n. 2, infra. ' Cal. of Pat. Rolls, February 80 (sic),
• November 21, 1478, Cal. of Pat. Rolls. 1484. 1 Ric. 3, pt. iv. p. 433.
INTRODUCTION Ixxvii
of Warwick's claim. To do this the better, he was invited to go to
France, * or elUs send Maister John Atte Will whom ye well trust and y
also if ys (? ye) aunswere for him/ This expression seems to indicate
that Att Well was at this time trimming to the Yorkists, as his nomi-
nation by Eichard 3 on July 15, 1484, upon a commission to inquire
into treasons &c. committed by James Newenham and others perhaps
indicates/ However this may be, Tayllour evidently harboured dis-
trust of his ancient enemy, whose interest in the house of Clarence is
not apparent. Hayes was Ukewise exhorted to bring Isabel, Duchess
of Clarence, Warwick's mother, into communication with the King of
France for the furtherance of the plot. The intermediary between
Tayllour and Hayes was one * William Warde of Topisham,' perhaps
the ' yeoman of the counting-house of the household ' and custodian of
the gatehouse of Westminster Palace under Edward 4.* Why Hayes
should have taken part in the plot, except from the sentiment of
party loyalty, it is not easy to explain, since he had hastened to make
his peace with Henry 7. Within a month of Bosworth he had
obtained from him a confirmation of the grants of Edward 4 and
Eichard 3,' followed by fresh grants on December 6 and 10, 1485,^
and February 17, 1486,^^ May 31, 1486.^ From this it may be
inferred that he was one of those who had deserted the cause of
Eichard. The published materials of the reign of Henry 7 do not
shew whether he was subsequently dispossessed of these grants ; but
as the Act of Attainder describes him as * late of Tiverton,' it would
seem that he was so. This would account for the trust reposed in
him by the conspirators. Who revealed the compUcity of Hayes does
not appear, possibly John Att Well, who became mayor of Exeter for
the fourth time in 1492. The conspiracy never came to a head. Hayes
was confined for misprision until he had made fine and ransom to
the King, which, since most of his property was confiscated by the
Act, was presumably for life.' John Tayllour disappears from history.
Of three other cases which may be linked with a time anterior to ^^^j^ p^j^,.
1487, one, the Prior of Bath against the Abbot of St. Augustine's, Ai^^ne's,
Canterbury (p. 20), was originally brought before Eichard 3 in S^boto?.'^*
■ He was mayor of Exeter at the time. * lb. 198, 211.
Gal. of Pat. RoUs, 2 Bio. 3, pt. i. m. 11, d, ^ lb. 296. See also p. 309.
p. 493. • lb. p. 445.
« See p. 1, ib. January 15, 1476, 16 Ed. ' The proviso limiting his forfeitures to
4, pt. ii. m. 26. grants by Henry 7, his mother, and Courtney,
» W. Campbell, ' Materials,* Ac. i. 20, bishop of Exeter perhaps preserved to him
189 ; September 20, 1485 ; November 30, the means for procuring his disoharce from
1485. custody. ^
Ixxviii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Council ; a second, Parker v, the Duke of Suffolk (p. 15), perhaps
came before Henry 7 in Council prior to the Act * Pro Camera
Stellata' of 1487 ; a third, Straunge v. Kenaston (p. 274), can trace a
sort of pedigree to the Council of Edward 4J
The litigation between the prior of Bath and the mitred Abbot of
St. Augustine's, Canterbury, appears to have been protracted during
some five years, in the course of which the statutory organisation of
the Star Chamber took place. It was begun in the reign of Richard 3,
before the King's Council, some time prior to February 14, 1 Ric. 3
(1484), which is the only date given throughout the case. But
here a difficulty arises. According to the answer of the abbot,
which took the form of a petition, in order, the prior suggests, to
avoid the necessity of filing an affidavit, * of late a grevous sclaun-
derouse vntrue fayned and surmysed bill of compleynt' had been
brought before the Council by John Cauntlowe, Prior of Bath.
According to Dugdale (* Monast.' ii. 260), * John Dunster occurs as prior
in 1406. He died on February 6, 1412.' This is clearly not the
prior who became Abbot of St. Augustine's, and who is represented in
these documents as being the immediate predecessor of Prior Caunt-
lowe. Dunster was a place-name, probably assumed on profession,
as we have grounds in these papers for inferring to have been the
case with Abbot John Dunster. Ail that Dugdale knows of John
Cauntlowe's predecessor is that * Richard, prior of Bath, is stated to
have been present at the baptism of Richard, son to George, duke of
Clarence, at Tewkesbury, October 7, 1476.' He continues : * John
Cantlowe was made prior in 1489.' It is obvious that there is time
between 1476 and 1484, when the list of Abbot John Dunster's depre-
dations was drawn up, for the tenure of the priory by him. On the
authority of these documents, therefore, we may insert him after Prior
' Richard.' Dugdale appears to have been ignorant as to the precise
date at which John Dunster was elected Abbot of St. Augustine's, but
as Abbot William Sellyng « died in 1480 (Dugd. i. 123), and the list of
depredations is dated February 14, 1484, at which date Dunster is
already abbot, it is probable that it was in 1480 or 1481. But the
last bill against Abbot Dunster is expressly stated in his petition to have
been filed by Prior Cauntlowe, and the document dated February 14,
1484, cannot possibly have preceded it, being in the nature of
' See pp. Izi-lziv, supra. Monuments ' (1631), p. 237. This is an
* This is not William Selling, the Greek example of the confusion likely to arise
scholar, twenty-two years Prior of Christ from the practice of adopting place-names
Church, Canterbury, whose epitaph is on ordination and profession. This W. S.
given by J. Weever, ' Ajicient Funerall died in 1494.
INTRODUCTION Lxxix
particulars. It follows, therefore, that Dugdale, who gives no
authority for his statement, must be wrong in his date of 1489 as the
year of Prior Cauntlowe's election, and that it must have been before
1484, and probably on the resignation of Dunster in 1480 or 1481.
The date, 1484, shows that the allegation of Abbot Dunster that
Prior Cauntlowe's original petition, which has been lost, was addressed
to the Council, is not to be taken as meaning the Council in the statutory
Court of Star Chamber as formed by Henry 7. The case is, indeed,
a link between the court of prerogative and the court of statute.
In strict chronological order the document lettered * D ' should
perhaps be placed first. It is obviously a fragment, being, so far as it
goes, a translation into English of the curious Latin document * C
' D ' is undated. The date of ' C ' is 1484. Probably ' D ' was written
at the same time. Neither document is the original bill preferred
before the Council by the prior. But it is not unlikely that * D * was
an exhibit filed with the original and lost bill. Its Latin equivalent
* C with its form of exordium, of which similar examples may be seen
in Gibson's * Codex,' looks as though it were intended for the bishop,^
though, on the other hand, it was a common form of clerical deed-poll.
As both are subsidiary documents I have printed them after the
replication of the prior to which they refer. That document * A,' an
answer in the form of a petition, is later than 1487 appears from its
reference to the statutory constitution of the Star Chamber, since there
is no other statute to which its contentions relate.
A curious constitutional question, already adverted to, is raised in
the pleadings. The first document of the suit recites that a * bill and
compleynt hath bene and yet is pursuyd ayenst youre saide oratour
before the lordes of youre moost honourable counsell ' by the Prior of
Bath. On this the statute of 1368, 42 Ed. 3, c. 3, is cited, which
expressly provided that accusers shall not be at liberty to summon
persons before the Council by writ, but * that no man be put to answer
without presentment before justices or matter of record or by due
process and writ original according to the old law of the land.* The
statute is recited to have been passed at the express instance of the
Commons. It was not the first of its kind. A petition was addressed
by the Commons to the Crown in 1347 that henceforth no persons * par
suggestion ou certification d'ascunes Acusours volentrimement ' should
be brought by writ (par Brief) before the King's Council and fined.
' The cathedral priories were subject quet, * Henry 8 and the English Monas-
to episcopal jurisdiction unless in enjoy- ieries ' (2nd ed. 1888), i. 36, n.
ment of papal exemption. See F. A. Gas-
IXXX COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
The King's answer was equivocal. Such things should not hence-
forth be done against reason (contre reson).^ In 1351 the Commons
strengthened their petition by an allusion to the 39th clause of
Magna Carta, * que nul franc homme ne soit mys a respon(Jre de son
franc tenement/ nor of any matter which touched life or limb, nor be
fined or ransomed * par apposailles ' * before the King's Council or
before his Ministers, but only by the accustomed law of the land
(Bot. Pari. ii. 228, a). The objection urged was the practice, also
used in ecclesiastical courts, of proving a case against a defendant by
means of fishing interrogatories viva voce. The King's response
granted the petition as to civil procedure, but reserved the prerogative
in cases of crime &c. (see p. Ivi, supra). This reservation being
unsatisfactory, the Commons in 1352 expressly founded their petition
on the Great Charter,^ by which it was ordained * that no one shall be
imprisoned, nor put out of his freehold, nor of his franchises, nor free
customs unless it be by the law of the land.' The statute which
followed, therefore, enacted that 'from henceforth none should be
taken by petition or suggestion made to our lord the king or to his
Council, unless it be by indictment or presentment of good and lawful
people of the same neighbourhood where such deeds were done in due
manner or by process made by writ original at the common law ; nor
that none be ousted by his franchises, nor of his freeholds, unless he
be duly brought into answer and forejudged of the same by the course
of the law' (25 Ed. 3, st. 5, c. 4). But it is apparent that the
King's Council could not resist the temptation to assert its authority
whenever complainants came before it. The Commons, therefore,
next endeavoured to discourage prosecutions by enjoining the exaction
of surety ' to pursue their informations (a poursuire lours suggestions)
(37 Ed. 3, c. 18, 1363). In the following year (1364) they added
the condition that failure to prove his case should be visited on the
prosecutor by damages to the accused and by fine and ransom to the
King (38 Ed. 3, st. 1, c. 9). Nevertheless the mischief continued
so rife that in 1368 the Commons complain that many are ruined and
destroyed (anientiz & destruitz) by false accusers. The outcome
of this was the statute to which the defendant in the Star Chamber
now appealed. * It is assented and accorded, for the good govern-
' This protest is not noticed by Pal- the English equivalent * apposal * means
grave. It is Rot. Pari. ii. 168, a. • vivA voce examination.' See J. A. H.
* Palgrave translates this (p. 36) ' in- Murray, • Eng. Diet.' s.v.
formations.' But the word in use for ' Item, Gome y soit contenu en la Grande
' information ' was ' suggestion.' The word Ghartre des Fraunchises d'Engleterre &o,
does not appear in Kelham nor Littr^, but Rot. Pari. ii. 239, b.
INTRODUCTION Ixxxi
ance of the Commons, that no man be pat to answer without
presentment before justices &c.' (42 Ed. 8, c. 3).
' Palgrave ^ has sketched, and the Rolls of Parliament give in detail,
the incessant attempts of the Commons during the reigns of Richard 2,
; Henry 5, and Henry 6 to enforce statutory restraints upon the
I judicial authority of the Council. It will be sufficient here to call
attention to a petition put forward by them in 1421.^ It begins by
reciting that divers statutes are in existence forbidding that any of
the lieges * should be summoned to answer unless by writ original
and due process according to the law of the land ; yet so it is that
divers of the lieges of our sovereign lord are made to come before his
Council and his Chancellor by letters of Privy Seal and writs sub pena
against the provisions and ordinances aforesaid.' The Commons
therefore prayed * that no such letters nor writs be granted thence-
forth, and if any such letters or writs be granted and it may appear
by the declaration of the plaintiff that his action is at the common
law, that the defendant be admitted to take exception to the jurisdic-
tion of the court and to say that the plaintiff has remedy sufficient
for him at the common law in his case and that this exception be
allowed to him and he be on this dismissed out of court.* The King
returned an evasive answer and no statute followed. In 1426 the
lords of the Council themselves passed an ordinance ' that all the Billes
that comprehend matiers terminable atte the Common Lawe be re-
mitted there to be determined.' ^ This ordinance was incorporated in
a statute passed in 1463, chiefly to repress the excesses of the nobles,
for putting down contempts to the King's writs. Where such con-
tempt had taken place the Chancellor was empowered to summon the
offenders before the Council ; but a proviso was added, * That no
matter determinable by the law of this realm shall be by this Act
determined in any other form than after the course of the same law
in the King's Courts having the determination of the same law.' *
In the second place, the abbot pleads in demurrer to the bill, that
the statutory jurisdiction of the Court of Star Chamber, which he does
not mention by name, founded upon riot and unlawful assembly,
or was intended to be invoked in cases of * great and grevouse
pouertee.' The first part of this demurrer we are destined to meet
elsewhere in the case of Halle v. Essexe. If it relates to the statutory
Court it is difficult to know upon what ground it rested except on a
' Sir F. Palgrave» • Essay upon the * Rot. Pari. v. 407, b.
Original Authority of the King's Council.' * 31 Hen. 6, c. 2. The Act was limited
* Bot Pari. iv. 156, a. to Be?en years.
e'4
Ixxxii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
general impression that, as a matter of fact, the statutory Court was
specially destined for the repression of acts of violence. The abbot
uses the word * present ' parliament, as though the Houses were yet
sitting, in which case his counsel may not have seen a copy of the
Act. Coke (4 Inst. p. 63) summarises the objects of the statutory
jurisdiction of the Star Chamber as including cases of * oppression
and other exorbitant offences of great men, bribery, extortion, main-
tenance, champerty, imbracery, forgery, perjury, disperses of false
and dangerous rumours, news, and scandalous libelling, false and
partial misdemeanours of sherifs and bailifs of liberties, frauds, deceits,
great and horrible riots, routs and unlawfull assemblies, single
combats, challenges, duels and other hainous and extraordinary
offences and misdemeanours.' It maybe said that this catalogue was
largely composed of later deductions from the Act of Henry 7, but
' embraceries ' and * untrue demeanings of sheriffs ' are undoubtedly
included nomination as within that statute, and are not necessarily
accompanied by riots. It seems to follow that the demurrer was bad,
and this the subsequent practice of the Star Chamber indicates was
the judgement of the Court.
The other half of this portion of the demurrer appears similarly
to have been drawn upon a general impression formed upon an Act of
which no copy had yet appeared. It recalls certain ordinances of
Coimcil of the time of Henry 6 (see A, p. 21, n. 9) and also the
* Acte to admytt such persons as are poore to sue in forma pauperis '
(11 Hen. 7, c. 12). This Act, however, passed in 1495, is un-
doubtedly later. The Parliament which passed the Act for the Star
Chamber met on November 9, 1487.* From the number and im-
portance of the Acts passed by it, we may infer that it sat afteir
Christmas. There is no record of the date of its dissolution. The
next Parliament met on January 13, 1489.^ We may therefore infer
that the date of the abbot's plea A is the early part of 1488, before
the statutes of 1487 had appeared in print.
The list of the acts of waste committed by the outgoing prior raises
interesting points as to the agricultural economy of the religious
houses at this period. I have been at the pains to transcribe in the
notes the computus of 1540 in respect of each of the manors men-
tioned as having been subjected to waste by the prior. Besides these
there are some eleven other manors belonging to the house of which
no mention in this connexion is made. It might be unsafe to con-
> Campbell, ' Mat.' ii. 189.
' Q. H. Parry, * Parliaments and (Councils of England * (1889), p. 196.
INTRODUCTION Ixxxiii
elude that these last were farmed by yearly tenants or lessees for
terms. But the list of acts of waste, which in all cases represent a
diminution of the number of live stock in the several manors, points
to one of two things. Either the manors on which the waste occurred
were actually farmed by the monks themselves, or the abbey let these
estates on the antiquated land and stock lease system. Thorold
Bogers states ^ that this system was ' generally ' abandoned about
the beginning of the fifteenth century ; but that New College, Oxford,
did ' not get out of the land and stock leasing till a considerable time
beyond the middle of that century.' The *Firma Gregis' in the
instance of the manor of North Stoke (p. 31, n. 39) and, presumably,
the * Redditus Mobilium ' of South Stoke, Combe, Preston, and
Corston (p. 30, nn. 85, 6, 7, 8), coupled with the allegations of this
document, seem to indicate that the land and stock lease survived on the
estates of Bath Abbey at this time and down to the Dissolution. If so,
it follows either that the leases of stock were for short terms only, so
that the prior was able to sell off some portion of it before entering
into a new agreement, or that a number of leases chanced to fall in
during his tenure of oflSce. Had the abbey been farming its own
land, there would have been no occasion to distinguish between that
part of the revenue which was derived from stock and that derived
otherwise.
Another interesting feature of monastic economy appears in the
abbot's financial administration. The religious houses were the banks
of the middle ages. It was forbidden by the canon law, alike to
ecclesiastics and laymen, to lend money upon usury, that is, upon
interest. The successive refinements of casuistry by which this pro-
hibition, at first absolute, became gradually whittled away may be
regarded either as indicative of the capacity of the Church to adapt
itself to change of its environment, or as an instructive commentary
on the doctrine of Papal infallibility. A way was found out of the
diflSculty, even during the time, prior to the twelfth century, when the
veto of the Church was most uncompromising. This was by the
creation of rent charges, so commonly in use by ecclesiastical corpora-
tions as to receive the name of census ecclesidsticus. The practice,
indeed, at first conformed itself to the authorised doctrine. The
most ancient type of rent charge and the ideal type in the view of
the canonists was that by which the purchaser of the rent charge
received the right to take the produce of a specified area of land.
From this type were deduced certain characteristics essential to the
' * Hist. Ag. and Prices/ i. 25.
Ixxxiv COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
canonical legitimacy of transactions of this nature. A rent charge
should arise out of realty, and not out of other productive objects,
and the realty charged must be really productive. It inevitably
followed that as soon as a money economy prevailed rent charges in
kind disappeared before rent charges in cash. Both parties to the
contract found their account. The lender in effect obtained an interest
on his capital, the landowner the means for improving his cultivation.
The link between the new method and the old was the census
reservativus, by which the land was actually handed over to the owner
of the charge. Externally this resembled a mortgage, the canonists'
distinction being that in a mortgage the mortgagee was bound to reckon
the produce against the capital advanced by him, if he were to avoid
the guilt of usury. The Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, whose
transactions while Prior of Bath are impeached, not on account of
their canonical invalidity, but for alleged malversation, appears,
doubtless at the solicitation of the lay mortgagee, to have transgressed
the canonical limitations already laid down by the Summists of the
thirteenth century. He is charged (p. 27) with having mortgaged the
manor of Chelworth in Somerset, the property of the house, to one
John Chaneys, and in addition to the produce to which, ex vi termini,
the mortgagee was entitled, he covenanted, in the name of the priory,
to pay to him and his son 26s, 8cL (two marks) during their lives.
Where a lender did not desire to farm himself the land remained in
the possession of the obligor, subject to the rent charge agreed upon.
This received the name of census constitutivus. It followed naturally
that the lender began to stipulate for the wider security of the whole
of the lands of the obligor. This extension of the system obviously
assimilated it to the lending of money upon interest, provoking the
hostility of the severer canonists, and, at a later date, evoking the
condemnation of Luther. Plainly, where, as in the case of religious
corporations, the security was first-rate, the right to receive the rent
charge was easily convertible into money. The return to the invest-
ment would then vary, not according to the produce of an imaginary
piece of land, but according to the amount of the capital expended on
its purchase.
The greater number of the rent charges created by the Prior of
Bath were in the nature of a census constitutivus. But of this there
were two classes. There was the rent charge in perpetuity and the
rent charge payable for lives. Of these the first resembles the type
imiversally approved by the canonists, that of a right to receive the
produce of a specified piece of land ; the second comes perilously near
INTRODUCTION Ixxxv
lending money upon interest. Before this date, however, it had
received the approval of Laurentius de Budolfis, a canonist of authority
who wrote in the opening years of the fifteenth century.
In creating three of these, as well as three of the former class,
the prior therefore was not liable to ecclesiastical censure. Naturally
the price of a perpetual rent charge was higher, though the
diflFerence in the terms between the first of these, which was fifty
years' purchase, and the third at 26§ years' purchase, was so
great as to suggest that these transactions were not frequent
and were settled rather by bargaining than by custom.* From the
point of view of the forbidden thing, interest, the perpetual rent
charges paid the investors 2Z. per cent., 31. per cent., and between
SI. and 41. per cent. In the case of the only rent charge of the
terminable class, of which the conditions are free from incalculable
complications, the annuity of ten marks purchased for 210 marks,
or twenty-one years' purchase, yielded a return of nearly five per cent.*
Among other receipts alleged to have been appropriated by the
former prior to his own use were 183i. 6«. 6d. for the grants of
corodies. It is remarkable that while grants of corodies by religious
houses seem to have been a universal custom, they nevertheless lay
under ecclesiastical prohibition. In 1268 Cardinal Ottoboni, Papal
legate, and the General Council of Lambeth passed a constitution
(xlviii.) ' quod nuUi religiosi vendant vel assignent aliis liberationes '
(corodies) . The ground of the prohibition certainly touched the present
case. The constitution sets out that the income of the religious houses
was thereby diminished, while the purchase money was appropriated
by their superiors. ^
Another case, which had its inception elsewhere than before the powo r.
Newman.
statutory court of the Star Chamber, is the case of Fowe and another
r. Newman (p. 227), interesting as illustrating the history of the
ancient archiepiscopal Court of Audience. This Court was the
ecclesiastical counterpart of the King's Court of Requests. Archbishop
Parker ^ describes it as ' domestica pene et familiaris Archiepiscopi
curia.' He expressly tells us that its two judges, each of whom
* Qu. how far these terms were open to problems associated with these forms of
ecclesiastical ceDsare, as being in contra- rent charge see id. ii. 137, foil,
vention of an Extravagant of Martin 6, in * D. Wilkins, * CJoncilia ' (1737), ii. 17.
1425, limiting the price of perpetual rent An example of a corody is printed in F. A.
charges to ten to fourteen years' purchase ? Oasquet, ' Henry 8 and the English Mo-
See W. Endemann, ♦ Studien in der ro- nasteries ' (1889), ii. App. ii. p. 631.
manisch-kanonistischen Wirthschafts- and * * De Aiitiquitate Britannics Ecdesis *
Rechtslehre ' (Berlin, 1883), u. Ill, 112. (1672), p. 46.
' P. 27. For a number of casuistical
Ixxxvi COUIiT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
enjoyed the title of 'Curke Audientiae Gantuariensis causarum et
negotiorum Auditor/ accompanied the Archbishop in his Visitations
(' eum ubique sequuti sunt '), as Masters of Requests did the
sovereign. But, like the Court of Bequests, it would seem that at
some time prior to the archiepiscopate of Warham, the Court was
fixed at Lambeth. The title ' causarum Auditor ' and the regula-
tions issued by Warham show that at that date (1507) the Court
took cognisance of litigation ; a fact further attested by this case.
Warham's regulations are printed in Wilkins's * Concilia ' (1737),
iii. 660, as ' Statuta et Ordinationes domini Willielmi Warham
archiepiscopi Cantuaricnsis in curia audientiae apud Lambeth
edita et publicata tertio die mensis Februarii, anno Domini MDVII.
et ejusdem translationis anno quinto de consensu omnium advoca-
torum et procuratorum ejusdem curiae.' In these statutes Warham
made provision for the gratuitous and speedy hearing of poor men's
causes and their representation by advocates of the Court. Two of
the clauses are described as ' pro communi litigantium utilitate,'
and limitations of time are prescribed for the delivery of the
litigants' pleadings.
According to Lyndwood, the Court of Audience was not a juris-
diction belonging to the Primate as archbishop, but as 'legatus
natus,' there being no mention of an archiepiscopal Court of Audience
in the canon law.^ After the renunciation of Papal supremacy in
1536 by the * Acte extynguysshing the auctoryte of the Busshop of
Rome' (28 Hen. 8, c. 10) exception was taken upon this ground
to the continuance of the Court under Cranmer. According to Strype,
this was a vexatious manoeuvre of the conservative clergy directed by
Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester. Besides the technical objection to
Cranmer*8 jurisdiction, they urged the more substantial ground that
* every man must, by virtue of that court, be forced up to London
from the farthest part of the land, for a slanderous word, or a trifle.' *
Cranmer replied that he held the Court by authority of Parliament
under the proviso of the seventeenth section of the Act 25 Hen. 8,
c. 19 (*An Acte for the submission of the Clergie to the Kynges
Majestic '). The section in question provides that * this acte or any
thynge therein conteyned shall not hereafter be taken nor expounded
to the derogacion or takyng away of any grauntes or confirmacions
of any liberties privy leges or jurisdiccion of any Monasteries,
Abbeys Prioryes or other Houses or places exempte whiche here to
* See E. Gibson, ' Ck>dex Juris Eccle- - J. Strype, ' Memorials of Cranmer *
siastici ' (Oxford, 1761), ii. 1005, n.l. (Oxford. 1840), i. 66.
INTRODUCTION Ixxxvii
fore the makyng of this acta hath byn obteyned at the See of Rome
or by auctoritie therof.* The weakness of this defence did not
escape the acute controversiahsts on the other side. They also
renewed the utilitarian argument. * Consideryng,' they urged,
' that the Bishop of Canterbery besyde all the Courts within hys own
Diocesse, kepith in London a Courte at the Arches, suflScyently
aucthorized to hier and to determine all causes and complayntes ap-
perteynyng to a Metropolitane ; why should he require this other
Court of his Audience, to kepe yt in London, within the Churche
and jurisdiction of an other Bisshop except he mynded to call other
Bishops obedientiary out of their jurisdiction, contrarie to the Act ?
Or else at the lest, forasmuch as this Courte is kept within the
Church and jurisdiction of London, and th Arches Courte within
the city, but not within the jurisdiction, if he may not vexe the
Citezens and Diocesanes of London at thArches without an Appele
first from hys Ordinary ymmediately, because of the Canon Lawes,
yet he might pull them to hys Audience at Pauls, as he dyd hereto-
fore by hys Legacie, and yet ofifende not that Act made anno xxiij^
that no man shalbe called out of his own Dioces.' ^
This argument discloses the change already mentioned in the
history of the Court of Audience. It had ceased to be ambulatory,
and it was no longer held in the archbishop's palace, but in St. Paul's
Cathedral. Notwithstanding the force of the objections, both on
technical and utilitarian grounds, the King stood by Cranmer, and
the Court continued. Nevertheless, it is clear that a change took
place, probably associated with its removal to St. Paul's. Archbishop
Parker, writing before 1572, states that the Court had jurisdiction
over 'omnes Provincialium querelas, causas et appellationes.' But
he goes on to say that the functions of the Auditors and of the Chancellor,
to which last ofiScial non-contentious business was originally deputed,
had long since (' diu ') been merged, and that the judgements of the
Court were pronounced by the Chancellor in St. Paul's Cathedral. As
to the disappearance of Utigation, Parker, perhaps out of concern for
archiepiscopal prerogative, says nothing ; and the change is also un-
noticed by Coke, who, writing a generation later, says of the Court of
Audience that it ' medleth not with any matter between party and
party of contentious jurisdiction, but dealeth with matters pro forma,
as confirmations of bishops, elections, consecrations and the like, and
with matters of voluntary jurisdiction, as the granting of the guardian-
ship of the spiritualities sede vacante of bishops, admissions and
' J. Strype, ' Mem. Cranmer,' ii. 716, Append, xvii.
Ixxxviii COURT OF THE STAK CHAMBER
institutions to benefices, dispensing with banes of matrimony, and
such like.'^ That the complaints against the abuses of the Court were
not without ground appears from a letter of Archbishop Parker, dated
November 20, 1560, addressed to * Dr. Gale, my Chancellor and Judge
of my Court of Audience.' In this letter the Archbishop condemns the
conduct of the officials of his Court in encouraging appeals from and
issuing inhibitions to the bishops and other ordinaries.*-* Burn, following
Johnson's * Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws,' mentions the absorption
of the Court of Audience by the Court of Arches without assigning any
date.^ * The three great offices of official principal of the archbishop,
dean or judge of the peculiars and official of the Audience are and have
been for a long time past united in one person, under the general name of
dean of the arches, who keepeth his Court in Doctors' Commons Hall.'
The fact that, as Parker mentions, the law and practice as well as the
advocates and proctors of the Court of Audience and the Court of
Arches were the same rendered the amalgamation of the two Courts
inevitable. The preamble of a statute to which reference has ahready
been made, passed in 1582 and intituled ' An Acte that no persone
shalbe cited oute of the Diocese where he or she dwelleth excepte in
certayne cases' (23 Hen. 8, c. 9), illustrates the kind of grievance
of which this case of * Powe and another v. Newman ' is probably an
example. The Archbishops' Courts of Audience and the Court of
Arches were exploited by malevolent persons for the annoyance of
their neighbours- Men, their wives and servants, the Act complains,
were cited to appear before these Courts ' many tymes to aunswere to
surmysed and feyned causes and suites of defamacion, witholding of
tithes and such other like causes and matters which have byn sued
more for malice and for vexacion than for any juste cause of suite.'
The officer serving the citation was styled the Somoner or Apparitor,
the last appearing to be the general designation, while * Summonitor '
was that used in the diocese of Canterbury (Cowel, Interp. sub
Summoner). He is contemptuously described by the Act as a * light
litteratt person.' Having served the citation he returned a certificate
to that effect into the Court. In default of appearance the person
cited * hath ben excommunicated or at the least suspended from all
dyvyne service,' this last being a penalty usually inflicted on lay
persons. An indispensable preliminary to the removal of these
spiritual disabilities was payment of the Court fees * amountyng to
the somme of ij s. or xx d. at the leest.' In addition to this the Apparitor
» 4 Inst. c. 74, p. 336. Archbishop Edmund Grindal,' p. 303.
* J. Strype, ' Life of Matthew Parker' * ' Ecclesiastical Law,' 9th ed., edited by
(Oxford, 1821), i. 161. See also id. * Life of B. Phillimore (1842), i. [106].
INTRODUCTION Ixxxix
or Summoner exacted twopence a mile for his expenses in travelling
from the Court to the place of service. The charges must have been
in some cases crushing. The Act, therefore, forbade the practice of
citing persons to appear out of the diocese in which they dwelt
except for spiritual oflFences in case of appeal, where the judge showed
interest or negligence or where the inferior Court specially requested a
determination by the archbishop.
But for the indorsement it might have been supposed that the
documents had fallen out of Archbishop Warham's pocket ; for the
case discloses a contempt of a spiritual Court by the assault and
imprisonment of the bearer of its letters of citation. This person
was, by the constitutions of the Papal legate, Cardinal Otho (Ottoboni)
in 1287, an ofiScer dispatched by the judge of the Ecclesiastical Court,
and not, as theretofore, a servant of the adverse litigant.^ Abuse
of his person was clearly a case of contempt of Court, and the
draughtsman in pointing out that one of the persons aggrieved was
a ' mandatory ' of the Court perhaps had in his mind the statutes
*de consistorio de arcubus Londoniarum' of Archbishop Robert
Winchelsey (1295). The forms of contempt therein enumerated are
' in non parendo mandatis, in impediendo quo minus ad mandatarium
tempore competenti perveniant, in vituperiis factis partibus vel nunciis
mandatoris et in faciendo contra mandata.' The procedure was a
summons for the contempt, and on conviction the reimbursement to
the party complaining of his expenses and a fine to the Court.
Contumacy was punished by excommunication.* The excommunica-
tion being notified to the King, the writ de excommunicato capiendo,
commonly called a ' significavit,* issued as follows : * Rex Vicecomiti
Lincoln' salutem. Significavit nobis venerabilis pater H. Lincoln '
Episcopus per literas suas patentes quod B. suus parochianus vel suae
diocesis propter suam manifestam contumaciam authoritate ipsius
Episcopi ordinaria excommunicatus est, nee se vult per censuram
ecclesiasticam justiciari. Quia vero potestas regia sacrosanctse
ecclesisB in querelis suis deesse non debet, tibi prsBcipimus quod
praedictum B. per corpus suum secundum consuetudinem Angli®
justicies donee sanctsB ecclesise tam de contemptu quam de injuria
ei illata ab eo fuerit satisfactum. Teste &c.' ^ The provision for
deaUng with contempts being thus complete, it is diflBcult to under-
stand upon what principle the Council, whether or not sitting in the
' D. Wilkins, * Concilia ' (1737), i. 656. » E. Gibson, Codex Juris, Ac. (1761), ii.
Constitutlones Otbonis Cardinalis. Const. 1055, where the subsequent prooeedings in
xxvi. De Citationibus faciendis. default of a return by the sheriff are set
« lb. p. 209. forth.
XC COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Star Chamber, took cognisance of the matter. It is conceivable that,
the practice being for the King to summon the sheriflF * coram nobis
ubicunque &c.' to shew cause in case of default, the Council stretched
its jurisdiction by dealing with the oflFender directly. It may be, of
course, that the Council or the Court refused to interfere, but in the
absence of the judgements of the Star Chamber this must remain
doubtful. Certainly the claims put forward by its panegyrist Hudson,
more than a hundred years later, would justify the intervention of
the Star Chamber in this case ; for he arrogates to it a * superlative
power ... to take causes from other Courts and punish them here.' ^
He also mentions a case of his own day in which 'the grave
archbishops and bishops ' removed an ecclesiastical cause to the Star
Chamber,* and he lays down the proposition that * for misdemeanors
committed in any court the judges of that court may punish it ; so
may the court of Star Chamber also.' ^
KraSSSn"* ^^^ lawlessness of the country gentry at this period is well
exemplified in the case of Straimge v. Kenaston, the sequel of an
hereditary feud, of which mention has already been made. The de-
fendant, Humfrey Kenaston, or Kynaston, of Stokkes, Stokes, or Stockes,
has been identified by Mr. H. Hudson, author of the romance * Wild
Humfrey Kynaston,' with the celebrated gentleman-highwayman, the
Robin Hood of Shropshire, whose memory yet survives in the neigh-
bourhood of his fastness, the cavern of Nescliffe. 'Wild Humfrey
Kynaston,' according to the Harleian Society's pedigree,^ was son and
heir of Sir Roger Kynaston of Hordley, three miles south-west of
Ellesmere, and Morton, three miles south of Oswestry. He is stated
by Lloyd * to have been the second son of Sir Roger Kynaston. The
documents collected by Mr. Hudson state him to have been the
youngest son by a second marriage.^ A pedigree is in the possession
of the Rev. Walter Kynaston of Hardwick, Salop, to whose kindness in
permitting the inspection of his family papers I am anxious to record
my obligations. This pedigree, drawn up about the end of the
eighteenth century, makes him the second of three sons of Sir Roger
Kynaston '^ by his second wife Elizabeth, sister of Richard Grey,
Lord Powis. Sir Roger had no issue by his first wife, Elizabeth
Cobham, Lady Straunge,^ but by his second wife three sons and six
daughters. According to this pedigree the eldest son of Sir Roger was
' * Of the Court of Star Chamber,' p. 115. • » Wild Humfrey Kynaston/ p. 343.
* lb. p. 19. * lb. p. 117. ' For the exploits of Sir Roger Kynaston
* Vol. xvii. p. 37. see pp. Ixi-lxiv supra.
* 'History of the Princes of Powys* " Harl. Soo. xxix. ii. 296. O. E. C,
(18S2), iii. 7. * Complete Peerage,* vii. 274.
INTRODUCTION xci
Sir Thomas Kynaston of Hordley, knight, Sheriff of Salop in 1507
and 1508, who died leaving no legitimate issue. In this way * Wild
Humfrey ' Kynaston became, as the Harleian Society pedigree states,
heir to Sir Roger Kynaston. This Humfrey Kynaston is described in
Mr. Kynaston's pedigree as of Morton, in* the lordship of Knockin,
CO. Salop. He lived with his mother in Myddle Castle, Salop, and a
joint bond in the possession of the Corporation of Shrewsbury given
by mother and son for a loan of 20Z. indicates that they were at one
time in pecuniary difficulties (Hudson, p. 346). At some time prior
to 1491, in which year he is described in a coroner's indictment as
' late of Nescliffe,' Humfrey, being outlawed for debt, took refuge
* in the cliff that overhangs Great Nesse, to which he ascended by
twenty-four ill-guarded steps with his horse, who stabled in an
apartment adjoining his master.' ^ While in this fastness he became
a terror to the countryside, indulging in acts of depredation upon
the rich and whimsical generosity to the poor, which led to. the
association of his name with Robin Hood. In 1491 he was indicted
for the wilful murder of one John Heughes in the course of an
affray in which he was accompanied by his elder brother Thomas and
a number of others of all classes — gentry, tradesmen, and labourers —
in all about forty persons. The indictment describes him as * late of
Nesscliffe . . . otherwise late of Pole . . . otherwise late of Knockyn,'
which shows that he had had no fixed abode or was in hiding. For
this crime he received a pardon under the Broad Seal, still preserved
at Hardwick, addressed, ' Humfrido Kynaston Armigero seu quo-
cumque alio nomine censeatur.' The pardon is in very wide terms,
embracing all possible crimes of violence, but reserving their legal
rights to private persons who have cause against him. It is dated
May 20, 8 Henry 7 (1493), and countersigned * Clerk.' « In the
* List of Monies received by Edmund Dudley for the King, 20-23
Hen. 7' is an entry dated January 25, 20 Henry 7 (1505), 'For
pardon of Humfrey Kynaston 200 markes * (i.e. 133Z. 6«. 6d.).^ The
preceding entries appear to show that it was a payment ' for his
offence in his shrevaltie.' But at this date no Kynaston had been
sheriff since Sir Roger Kynaston in 1471. The payment must have
been of some other account; but it remains doubtful whether the
payer was the outlaw or a namesake, who, for reasons to be presently
given, may be identified with the defendant before the Star Chamber
in 1508.
* W. Camden, ' Britannia/ ed. B. Qough to have graduated BA. at Cambridge in
(1806), iii. 35. 1499. See * Diet. Nat. Biog.'
"* This can scarcely be John Clerk, Master '^ J. S. Bum, 'The Star Chamber' (1870),
the Bolls in 1528, since he only appears p. 36, from B. M. Lansd. MSS. 160, f. 320.
XCll COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
According to Gough/ who wrote in 1700, * wild Humfrey's ' first
wife was a person of an obscure Welsh family. Mr. J. Y. W.
Lloyd, the author of the ' Princes of Powis,' gives her name as Jane,
daughter of Oliver Lloyd of Llai.^ * I have not heard,' says Gough, * of
any children which wild Humphrey had, but I have heard of much
debt that he contracted.' Upon the death of Jane he is stated to have
married Elizabeth Meredith.^ The Kynaston pedigree, however, gives
the name of his first wife as Mariana, daughter of William ap Griffith
ap Kobyn, by whom * wild Humphrey ' is there stated to have had
a daughter and a son Edward, who died without issue. The same
pedigree gives as his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Meredith ap
Howell ap Morrice of Oswestrie, by whom he is said to have left two
sons, of whom one, Edward Kynaston of Hordley (1584), married
(1) Margaret, daughter of Edward Lloyd of Lwyr-y-mane, and
(2; Margaret, daughter of Humphrey Kynaston of Stokes, the
defendant before the Star Chamber. This line, according to the
Kynaston pedigree, were the ancestors of the Kynastons of Hardwick.
But if * wild Humfrey Kynaston * were the same person as Humfrey
Kynaston of Stockes, this would have been a marriage between
brother and sister ! The defendant before the Star Chamber, Humphrey
Kenaston of Stockes, or Stokes, was really the first cousin once removed
and contemporary of ' wild Humfrey Kynaston.' The Kynaston pedigree
shews him to have been one of a branch of the family settled at
Stockes, Stokes, or Stock for some generations, he being the son of
Piers Kynaston of Stokes by Margaret, daughter of Edward ap Morgan
of Atreley and grandson of John Kynaston of Stockes, brother
of Sir Koger Kynaston of Hordley and father of 'wild Humfrey.'
It was probably this * Humfrey Kynaston ' (of Stockes) who entered
France on June 16, 1518, as one of the two captains of the
Shropshire contingent.* An Inquisition post mortem taken at Shrews-
bury May 28, 35 Hen. 8 (1543), upon the death of his son George,
presents *that Humfrey Kynaston, father of the said George, was
seised of lands in Stock, Elston, Grennyleth and Northwod and other
places on 17 Jany. 23 Hen. 7 ' (1508). Qu. whether he, and not
* wild Humfrey Kynaston,' is not the Humfrey Kynaston whose will
dated May 1, 1534, is set out by Hudson (p. 335), and is in possession
of the Eev. Walter Kynaston of Hardwick. That testator seems to
have been a man of considerable landed estate, and the names of his
* * Antiquities and Memoirs of the Parish ' Hudson, p. 346.
of Myddle, Co. Salop/ published in 1834. * S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, 1. 4253.
« Vol. iii. p. 7.
INTOODUCTION XClll
first and second wives, as recited in the will, are Marian ^ and Ysabella
respectively. Moreover, Humfrey Kynaston of Stockes, as being of a
younger generation, is more likely to have survived till 1534. It may
be added that tradition has it that * wild Humfrey Kynaston ' died in
his cave ; a corroboration, or possibly the origin, of Gough's sarcastic
comment about his debts. Myddle Castle was described by Leland as
* very ruinous.' ^ According to the plaintiff, her reason for invoking
the aid of the Star Chamber was that the outrage alleged against
Kenaston had been committed within the jurisdiction of her Court of the
March of EUesmere, and that to try it there would neither be * semyng
nor convenient.' It is probable that her Court would not have been
able to execute its sentence. Wales was at this time in a state
of rampant anarchy fostered in no small degree by the conflict of
jurisdictions. The general scheme of government during the early
years of Henry 7's reign was that of his predecessors.^ There
was a Council, estabhshed in 1478, of Lords Marchers. The admini-
stration of justice was entrusted to military men nominated chief
justices of North and South Wales respectively. Sir Wilham Stanley,
who had received a grant of the former oflBce for life from Richard 3
(November 12, 1483, Pat. Rolls, 1 Ric. 3, i. p. 368), was continued as
Justice of North Wales (Pat. Roll, Feb. 2, 1 Hen. 7) and Jasper
Tudor, Duke of Bedford, was created Justice of South Wales
(ib. Dec. 13, 1 Hen. 7). In 1504 the government was reconstituted
under a council of ten, of whom the head, styled Lord President
of Wales or of the Council of the Marches of Wales, was William
Smyth, Bishop of Lincoln. But side by side with the jurisdiction
of this council and in constant rivalry with it ran that of the
Lords Marchers. It was the more difficult to restrain in that it
was substantially the jurisdiction of the English garrison, founded
upon military exigencies and therefore indeterminate. * There is noe
record to be found in the Tower or elsewhere in England of any graunt
made to any to be a Lorde Marcher in Wales, or any libertie graunted
to any of them as they themselves then and long time after vsed. . . .
These lords themselves were forced of necessitye to execute lawes of
soueraigne governours over their tenants and people in those straunge
countreys and lordships subdued by them, which the kings of England
did for policie per mitt for a tyme.' ^ The Lords Marchers were
* It is, of oourse, possible that both the - ' Itin.* vii. 32 ed. Hearne, 1745.
namesakes married a wife Marian ; but I * See Lord Baoon * On the Jurisdiction
incline to think that the Kynaston pedigree of the Marches ' (' Works,' ed. Ellis and
borrowed this name from the will, and that Spedding, 1859), vii. 588.
the will is wrongly ascribed to ' wild * Harl. MS. 141, quoted by J. Y. W.
Humfrey.' Lloyd, • History of Powys ' (1882), ii. 14.
XCIV COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
constantly in dispute with each other and with the central government
at Ludlow. The consequences are set forth in the 11th section of the
Act 26 Hen. 8, c. 6 (1534) intituled *An Acte that murders and
felonies done or committed within any Lordshippe Marcher in
Wales shalbe enquired of at the Sessions holden within the
Shore groundes next adioyninge, with many good orders for
ministracion of Justice there to be had.' The section runs as
follows : * And where heretofore upon dyvers murders robberyes
and felonyes perpetratyd and doone, as well within the Lorde-
shippes marchers of Wales as yn other places of Wales withoute the
same Lordshippes, the OflFenders dyverse tymes flee and escape from
the same Lordeshippe or other place where suche oflFence was com-
mytted, and have repayred and resorted ynto a nother Lordshippe
marcher, and there by the ayde, comfort and favour of the saide
Lord of the same Lordshippe or his oflScer or oflfycers have bene
abydynge and resiaunte, ynto whiche Lordeshippes the same Lordes
marchers have and doo pretende a custome and privylege that none of
the Kynges Mynistres or subjectes may entre to pursue, apprehende
and attache any suche offender thereunto repayred as aforesaid, by
reason wherof the same Oflfendours wente unpunyshed to the
anymacyon and encouragynge of other yll dysposed people ' ^ &c.
Similarly in the Act 27 Hen. 8, c. 26 (1536), * An Acte for Lawes
and Justice to be ministered in Wales in like fourme as it is in this
Realme ' after an enumeration of the crimes perpetrated in Wales, it is
added that ' the said offenders, making their refuge from Lordeshippe to
Lordeshippe, were and contynued without punyshement or correccion.'
It will be seen from these recitals that the Lords Marchers claimed the
widest powers. In 1599 (M. T. 42 Eliz.) in the hearing of an informa-
tion laid by Edward Coke, esquire, A — G, against Thomas Cornewall,
of Burford, Salop, esquire, the defendant pleaded that prior to the
above Act of 1536 * diverse seperales persone fuerunt seisiti de diuersis
seperalibus dominiis Marchiarum Anglice Lordships Marchers in
Wallia, ac similiter tenuerunt in eisdem regales leges et jurisdictionem
tarn de vita et membro quam de terris et tenemcntis et aliis rebus
quibuscunque ac potuerunt pardonare ac liberam et plenam potestatem
habuerunt per totum predictum tempus cuius contrarii memoria
hominum cunc non extitit pardonandi omnes proditiones felonia et
alia offensa quecunque infra seperalia dominia sua predicta adeo libere
et in tam amplis modo et forma prout dominus Bex potuit facere^in
dominiis suis predictis.' These persons further claimed, according to
' The statute proceeds to enact provisions for extradition.
INTRODUCTION XCV
the same docament, that ' breve Begis huius Begni Anglie pro
tempore existentis non corrat in aliquo modo in predicto dominio
territorio sine patria Wallie nee in aliquo predictorum dominiorum
• eiasdem.' * There were evident reasons, therefore, besides that of
seemUness, why the plaintiff should not endeavour to try the defendant
in her own Oourt.^ The case, on the other hand, exhibits the need
for the Star Chamber as a tribunal for the enforcement of order
by the central power where redress was not to be had from local
authority.^
A good example of the persistence of the social disorganisation left Abbot of
by the Wars of the Roses, which it was the special function of the mSecoi^**
Star Chamber to remedy, is to be found in the case of Miles Salley,
Abbot of Eynesham, against his great neighbour, Sir Robert Harecourt
of Stanton Harcourt. Even before the outbreak of civil war, the
administration of justice had become ineffective. The nobility and
rural magnates kept retainers, whose energies found vent in private
war, riot, and oppression. To insure their immunity their employers
intimidated witnesses, brought ' routs in the presence of the justices,' ^
corrupted officials, and conspired with the royal representatives in the
counties, the sheriffs, to pack juries and defeat justice. The charges
made against Sir Robert Harecourt comprised most of those denounced
by the statute book as subversive of public order. He was alleged to
maintain retainers, to incite to riot, to pervert the process of justice.
These were not offences unprovided against by statute before the reign
of Henry 7. On the contrary, as has been seen, the character of
Henry 7*s legislation is not the creation of new offences nor the
framing of new prohibitory Acts. It was rather the revival of
moribund legality and the construction of an efficient machinery for
its enforcement.
In a warlike age and in a society founded upon the relations of
* Sir E. Coke, *A Boke of Entries,' the membres of the same shalbe united
London, 1614, p. 549. Bacon, in his joynedandknyte to the Hundred of Pymhill
argument * On the Jurisdiction of the as the inhabitauntes of the same Hundred
Marches,' says : ' By that statute (27 nowe do and use acoordinge to the Lawes
Hen. 8, c. 26) all the lordships of this Bealme of England.'
marchers are made shire ground, being * An interesting monograph, * The Con-
either annexed to the ancient counties of dition of Wides,' forms Appendix U. of
Walesorto the ancient counties of England, Mr. Sidney Lee's edition of the*Autobio-
or erected into new counties and made graphy of Lord Herbert of Cherbury'( 1886).
parcel of the dominion of Wales, and so no ^18 Ed. 3, at. 1, c. 1 (1344). Cf. 20
more marches after the statute of 27.' Ed. 3, c. 5 (1346), both being statutes
' Works,' vii. 588. against the practice of ' maintenance ' of
' By the above Act it was provided more or less fictitious lawsuits brought by
(§ 9) ' that the Lordshippe of EUesmere with retainers.
f
XCvi COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
protection and dependence, the enlistment of retainers was a natural
object of ambition. The country gentleman aped the peer, and in
1377 the Commons, petitioning the Crown for a check to the practice,
sarcastically remark that ' diverses gentz de petitz garisons de terre
ou de rent facent graunde mayntenance de quereles et retenues des
gentz ' (Rot. Pari. iii. 23, a). The impoverishment left by the wars of
Edward 3 compelled even esquires to wear the liveries of their
wealthier neighbours. The King's response was that there were
statutes for dealing with the mischief; but, as though doubtful of
this, he adds that there is also the common law. Nevertheless, in
accordance with the petition, an Act was passed denouncing the
giving of hats or suits as a livery. The language of the Act suggests
that the giving of hats was practised by these pretenders, and it is
cited in 7 Hen. 4, c. 14, as ' the statute of the livery of hats.' The
justices of assize were ordered to inquire into offences of this class, as
well as into the assumption of liveries by fraternities (1 Ric. 2, c. 7).
The truth is, as the King's response discloses, that the statutes, which
were chiefly directed against ' maintenance,' did not hit the mischief ;
nor is it easy to see how the common law could be invoked where
there was no actual breach of the peace. The commons, emboldened
by this success, presently renewed their attack on the nobles. The
so-called Act ^ 13 Ric. 2, st. 3, c. 1, sets forth that ' grievous com-
plaint and great clamour hath been made unto Us, as well by the
lords spiritual and temporal as by the commons of our realm of great
and outrageous oppressions and maintenances made to the damage
of Us and of our people in divers parts of the same realm by divers
maintainours, instigators, barretors, procurours and embraceours
of quarrels and inquests in the country, whereof many are the more
encouraged and bold in their maintenance and evil deeds aforesaid
because that they be of the retinue of lords and others of our said
realm with fees, robes and other liveries called liveries of company.'
Accordingly the giving and wearing of liveries was prohibited, except
in the case of lay peers, who were allowed to give them to household
dependents or to knights and esquires who should engage by indenture
to serve them for life. Retainers were to be dismissed. Offenders
were punishable at the discretion of the Council. It is clear from a
' As it appears in the Statutes of the expression of it ' le Boy et les Seigneurs du
Realm, 11. 74, it is not an Act but a writ to Parlement ont ordelnez tlel remede ' (Bot.
the Sheriff of Kent, a petition of the Pari. iii. 266, b), and another petition of
Commons in 1389, complaining of its in- 1393 (ib. 807, a) distinctly afi&rms that it
effectiveness, treating it rather as an ordi- was so.
nance of the Council, though it uses the
INTRODUCTION XCVII
petition of the Commons in 1889 ^ that this measure was ineffective,
possibly because it lacked full statutory authority. In the same
session of 1889 the Commons complained again ' that cloth liveries
were being given, as though these had taken the place of liveries of
hats. An attempt was made to suppress the practice by the issue of
letters of Privy Seal to lords and of Writs to the sheriffs.* The result
was that people took to wearing the liveries, not of great lords or
country gentlemen, but of fraternities.^ These must have been equally
serviceable in civil discords, since the members were associated by
common interests and common political sympathies. Famous among
them was the Fellowship of the White Hart, a body of royal retainers
utilised by Richard 2 in his attempt at despotism. In 1897 the
Commons again remonstrated with the King for neglecting to enforce
the law against the nobles.^ It was perhaps a symptom of the growing
weakness of the Crown that the Act which followed this petition
prohibited all of the degree of yeomen from taking the livery of a
lord, though apparently leaving it open to esquires to do so.^ That
the practice begot oppressions grievous to the Commons is evident
from the complaints and pertinacity of the petitions. One of the
earliest Acts of the reign of Henry 4, who was anxious at the
same time to conciliate the Commons and to curb the power of the
great lords, was a drastic measure of prohibition. Temporal lords
were forbidden to give any liveries save to their households. Even
the King himself was not allowed to give his livery to a yeoman, nor
might a yeoman wear it. Liveries of honour given by the King to
noble or gentle men might only be worn at Court.^ These restrictions
on the King's liveries were relaxed in the session of 1401, so far as
that peers and bannerets were permitted to wear the King's livery
elsewhere than at Court.^ But this relaxation was due to the King
and not to the Commons, who, mindful of the mischievous activity of
*the White Hart,* had proposed a list of heavy penalties upon
infractions of the previous statute.^
The rising of Archbishop Scrope in 1405 evidently suggested the
statute of the next session ^^ which begins by reciting and confirming
' See preceding note. The date 1389- * Rot. Pari. iii. 266, a.
1390, assigned by the Statutes of theBeahn ^ Bot. Pari. ib. 339, a.
to the King's writ to the Sheriff of Kent, * 20 Bio. 2, c. 2 (1397).
most be wrong, or the ordinance on which ' 1 Hen. 4, o. 7 ; Bot. Pari. iii. 428, b.
it was based must be of earlier date, for the (1399).
petition of the Commons in 1389 (Bot. Pari. ** 2 Hen. 4, o. 21.
iii. 265, b) distinctly refers to it. * Bot. Pari. iii. 478, a.
* Bot. Pari. iu. 266, a. "7 Hen. 4, o. 14.
• Ib. 307, a.
f3
XCviii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
the prohibition to prelates as well as to laymen to give liveries passed
by the Act of 1899. That the disordered state of the country had
caused a recrudescence of the mischief is evident from the language
of the Commons' petition. They do not complain of peers, nor of the
infraction of * the Statute of the Livery of Hats * ; but they say that,
notwithstanding the Act of 1399, knights bannerets, knights and
esquires jointly (an important point) and severally give cloth liveries,
some to as many as 300, some to 200 followers, some to less and some
to more, and that the consequences are homicides, larcenies, murders,
felonies, rapes, extortions, oppressions, &c., and that the confederacies
of these wrongdoers render enforcement of the law impossible. They
recommend that ecclesiastics be punishable for the giving of liveries
contrary to law by a fine of lOOZ. and that the receivers of such
liveries be fined 40^. The King added a fine of 1008. to meet the case
of knights and esquires, re-enacted the Statute of Hats, and forbade
any company other than the town gilds to provide liveries for its
members.^
By a consolidating Act of 1411 the two statutes of 1399 and
1406 were re-enacted and confirmed.^ The simplification of the law
was presumably attended by an increased vigilance in its enforcement,
for shortly after his accession Henry 5 granted a general pardon for
all offences against it committed prior to December 8, 1414,^ and the
indulgence was extended in 1416.* During the minority of Henry 6
the practice of giving liveries and hats revived, and the Commons com-
plained in 1427 that it was becoming prevalent among knights and
persons of less degree. The law, they said, was not enforced because
the offenders conspired to prevent their indictment by the grand
juries. They urged, therefore, that the justices of assize and the
justices of the peace should be authorised either at the suit of the
King or of a private person, without indictment found, to issue writs
of attachment and distress against the offenders, directed to the
sheriffs of their counties, and that in the event of their non-appear-
ance Capias^ and Exigent® should issue as though they had failed to
answer to an indictment. Against those who appeared the penalties
of the existing statutes were to be enforced. But these proposals for
^ 7 Hen. 4, o. 14. ' * A writ that lyeth where the defendant
' 13 Hen. 4, c. 3. in an action personal cannot be found, nor
* Bot. Pari. iv. 40, b. anything in the county whereby he may be
* lb. 96, a. attached or distrained ; and is directed to
* Capias ad respondendum, * where the the sheriff, to proclaim and call five county-
sheriff upon the first writ of distress re- days one after another, charging him to
turns. Nihil habet in balliva sua.* Gowel, appearunder the pain of outlawry.* 'Termes
* Interp.' s.v. Capias. de la Ley ' ; Cowel, ' Interp.' s.v. Exigent.
i\
INTRODUCTION XCIX
tightening the reins of the central government did not commend
themselves to the nobles who were for the time its administrators,
and the royal answer confined itself to an empty recommendation of
the enforcement of the existing laws.^ Nevertheless the Commons had
their way in the next Parliament (8 Hen. 6, c. 4) (1429), and in
1483 the lords of the Council agreed upon a form of obligation
binding themselves not to ' receyve, cherisshe, hold in household ne
maynteyne' felons and other criminals.^ This oath was in 1483, at
the instance of the Commons, imposed on all the lords of Parliament
(Hot. Pari. V. 434, b). Upon the accession of Edward 4 in 1461 this
obligation took the form of a charge from the King following a preamble
to the effect that recent disorders had been much enhanced ' by yevyng
of Lyverees and Signes.' ^ Seven years later a comprehensive statute
was passed for the suppression of the practice. Edward's government
had taken the hints of the Commons' petition of 1427, setting forth
the reasons of the ineffectiveness of the law. It was not satisfied with
re-enacting all the previous statutes and increasing the pecuniary
penalty of the receiver of a livery from 40«. to 100«. during * every
month that any such person is so retained.' The Act of 1468 * also
struck at the more insidious practice of retaining by oaths, indentures,
&c., whereby the object of the laws against liveries was frustrated with-
out exposing the parties to statutory penalties. Such engagements
were now brought within the prohibitions against liveries. The Act
also opened to the common informer as well the King's Courts of Becord
as the Courts of the Justices at Quarter Sessions. The King was to be
an eX'Officio party to the suit, and the statutory forfeitures were made
divisible between him and the informer.* The co-operation of the
commonalty was further assured by granting the power of trying
these cases to municipal authorities, not only where offences against
the statutes had been committed by the inhabitants, but also where
they had been sufferers in consequence of them. In the case of the
towns, too, the informer's half was to be equally shared by the cor-
poration for the benefit of the inhabitants. But in 1472 the Speaker,
in the name of the Commons, protested against the non-execution of
* Bot. Pari. iv. 330, a. of the common informer and the action of
' Bot. Pari. iy. 344, a ; lb. 422, a. the Justices thereupon as *revolutionargegen
* lb. 487. die Grundlagen der englischen Gerichts-
* 8 Ed. 4, c. 2 Q468). yerfassung,' and ascribes it to Henry 7's
' Dr. Busoh, tne learned historian of familiarity with French procedure. Whether
Henry 7, in his account of the statute borrowed from France or not, this method
of 1495, intituled ' An Aote agaynst un- of dispensing with the jury of indictment
lawfull Assemblyes and other offences long preceded Henry 7, as the above refer-
contrary to former Statutes' (11 Hen. 7, ences prove. See W. BuBoh, * England unter
0. 8), insists on the introduction in that Act den Tudors * (Stuttgart, 1892), i. 284.
C COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
the statute.^ It was presumably out of respect for this protest that
Edward in the same session passed a special Act enabling his eldest
son, Edward, Prince of Wales, to give his livery and sign, the statutes
to the contrary notwithstanding.^ Again in 1482 the Commons
requested enforcement of the Statute of Liveries.^ It is plain that the
common informer was too fearful of the retainer's vengeance to be
tempted by the prospect of sharing forfeitures.
On the accession of Henry 7 recourse was had to the former
device of pledging the offenders to observe the statutes against liveries
and maintenance and the harbouring of felons. The oath was first
administered to the members of the House of Commons and to the
knights and others of the King's household. After their retirement
from the hall the lords spiritual and temporal were solemnly sworn
to its observance.* But oaths, as before, were only taken to be
broken, and the whole machinery of law for dealing with this class of
offence had been brought to a standstill. It was clear that no private
person could be protected against the consequences of enforcing the
statutes. Informations, when laid before justices of the peace, were
burked by the justices themselves. The Star Chamber Act of 1487,
therefore, reciting among the mischiefs to be dealt with, * onlawfull
mayntenaunces gevyng of lyveres signes and tokyns and reteyndres by
endentur promyses other writyng or otherwise, embraciaries of his
[the King's] subgettes' &c., provided that upon bill or information
laid before the Court of the Star Chamber * for the kyng or any other '
the Court should summon the offender and deal with the case.
Another Act of the same session deprived the rural gentry who held
offices of profit under the Crown of the luxury of disobeying the laws
against liveries in their character of royal officers (3 Hen. 7, c. 12.
See p. 189, n. 7, infra). That the offence continued is apparent from
the statute of 1495, *De Retentionibus illicitis' (19 Hen. 7, c. 14),
passed after the date of the case with which we are now concerned.
Sir Bobert Harecourt, the defendant in this case, was also alleged
by the complainant to have been the inciter of the riot therein de-
scribed. Riot, or the breach of the King's peace, was always a
misdemeanour at common law. The provocation to it by going armed
was forbidden in 1328 by the statute of Northampton (2 Ed. 3, c. 3).
The prohibition was probably but little regarded, and the preamble of
the statute of Gloucester in 1378 (2 Bic. 2, st. 1, c. 6) gives a graphic
account of the excesses of private war throughout the country. The
> Rot. Pari. vi. 8. » Rot. Pari. vi. 198. b.
« 12 Ed. 4, c. 4. * Rot. ParL vi. 288, a.
INTRODUCTION ci
King was empowered to suppress these practices through the agency of
special commissions. Possibly these powers were, in turn, abused, or
were distasteful to the magnates, for the Parliament of 1379 revoked
them on the express ground that the statute of Northampton was in
force (2 Bic. 2, st. 2, c. 2). It was natural that during the disturbed
reign of Henry 4 Parliament should make some eflfort to strengthen
the law. In 1411 the duty was laid upon the justices of the peace
and sheriffs to come with the power of the county and arrest and
summarily convict offenders taken in the act. In cases where the
riot was over they were to inquire and try the case within a month,
and in the event of their failing to arrive at a conclusion as to the
facts were to remit a certificate setting forth * tout le fait et les
circumstances dicelle ' to the King's Council. If the accused traversed
the matter of the certificate the case was to be tried before the King's
Bench. Accused failing to appear were to stand convicted (18
Hen. 4, c. 7). The persecution of the Lollards and their resistance
led to fresh riots, which were made a subject of complaint upon the
opening of Parliament at Leicester on April 30, 1414 (Bot. Pari. iv.
15, b). Possibly through sympathy with the persecuted, the justices
had been slow to exercise their powers. Power was, therefore, given
by statute (2 Hen. 5, st. 1, c. 8) to * the party grieved to apply for a
royal commission of inquiry, both into the original riot and into the
default of the justices or sheriff, the inquiry to be conducted by a jury
impanelled, in cases where the sheriff was in default, by the coroners.'
A year's imprisonment was fixed as the minimum penalty for those
involved in serious riots, and the fines upon rioters were to be in-
creased. Another statute of the same session (2 Hen. 5, st. 1, c. 9)
provided for the attaint of such rioters as failed to surrender to
justice. These measures were made perpetual by an Act of 1429
(8 Hen. 6, c. 14). The declaration to be taken by lords of the
Council &c. against maintenance, liveries, &c. was expressly stated
to be for * eschuyng of riotes, excesses, misgovernance and dis-
obeisance ' (1429, Bot. Pari. iv. 344, a. Also in 1433, ib. 421 b, v.
48, 4, b). In 1485 members of Parliament were sworn not to make
* any maintenance, imbracerie, riotts or unlawfull assemblie ' (ib. vi.
287, b). But in 1495 it was found necessary, at the instance of the
Commons, to pass an elaborate ' Acte agaynst ryotts and unlawfull
assemblyes' (11 Hen. 7, c. 7). The preamble recited that, not-
withstanding the preventive statutes already existing, ' some persones
not dreding God their sovereign lorde ne the punysshment of the
lawes made and had in this behalfe ofte tymes aswell, by colour of
cii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
suche offices as they have obteyned as Beceyvoors Stuardes and
Bailiffis of Lordships and other offices as by prevy reteyndoors by
othe promysse covenaunt and otherwise and claymyng also dutie of
ther tenauntes and servauntes where none suche duties is, to goe with
theym when such assemble rioute or route shalbe ' &c. The rioters
subsequently conceal themselves, being screened from justice by their
masters, the principal offenders. It was therefore provided that
upon complaint to the justices of the peace, or an indictment of
riotous assemblies, the justices of the peace should make proclamation
against the principals or leaders to appear at the next general sessions.
Defaulters were to stand convicted. The justices of the peace were to
try those appearing, and to punish the convicted by imprisonment and
fine, besides binding them over to keep the peace. Where the riot
was committed by more than forty persons, or * by the discrecion of
the seid justices be thought haynous,' the justices to certify accord-
ingly, and the principal offenders to appear before the King and
Council for punishment (see p. 286, n. 7, infra). A statute of the
same session intituled 'An Acte agaynst unlawfull Assemblyes and
other offences contrary to former Statutes * (11 Hen. 7, c. 8), meets
the difficulty of the unwillingness of jurors, whether caused by
intimidation or corruption, to find indictments by empowering justices
of assize or of the peace to act 'uppon informacion for the king
tofore them to be made.' The statute ' De Betentionibus illicitis '
(19 Hen. 7, c. 14) was not passed until 1504, a year after Sir Bobert
Harecourt's case had come before the Star Chamber.
Among the vexations alleged to have been inflicted by the defen-
dant upon the abbot and monks was one which the statutes shew to
have been common in the middle ages when neighbours fell out one
with another. This was the bringing of malicious indictments, a
weapon still ready to the hand of litigious persons, but seldom re-
sorted to. As the late Mr. Justice Stephen has remarked, ' In this
country any one and every one may accuse any one else, behind his
back and without giving him notice of his intention to do so, of
almost any crime whatever.' ^ In the thirteenth century the subject
had been better protected,' for presentments of ' fama publica ' were
made by a jury of twelve hundredors confirmed by a jury of repre-
sentatives of the four vills before the defamed man was sent to the
ordeal.^ This is perhaps what Stephen means when he says, somewhat
* * Hist, of the Criminal Law ' (1883), i. and Maitland, * Hist, of Eng. Law/ ii. 537.
293. ' Pollock and Maitland, * Hist, of Eng.
' For the earlier history of remedies Law,' ii. 641.
against wrongful prosecution see Pollock
INTRODUCTION ClU
loosely, that ' the indictment was originally an accusation presented
by the grand jury upon their own knowledge/ * He adds : * This,
however, has long ceased to be the case.' ^ We may, perhaps, fix the
period at which the change had been accomplished, which change, as
Messrs. Pollock and Maitland observe, can only be known in its details
'when large piles of records have been systematically perused''
by noting the growing abuses of the new system and the eflforts
of the legislature to suppress them. Malicious indictment was sub-
stantially, though not technically, the offence known in the thirteenth
century as malicious ' appeal^' i.e. accusation of felony.^ Even
though this implied, as a rule, that the appellor must offer battle
in person, the maUcious appeal became a favourite weapon of legal
offence, presumably in the hands of men of superior physical strength.
The malicious appellor was the man who had comparatively little or
nothing to lose, and who could by this means inflict damage and
annoyance, so that in 1285, by the Statute of Westminster the Second
(c. 12), malicious appeal was made punishable by a year's imprisonment.
This penalty had no terrors for those already in custody and who were
induced or compelled, * for the saving of their lives and by means of
divers oppressions and pains which sheriffs and gaolers, in whose custody
they are, do cause to them, to approve (appeler) the most rich persons
of the county,' the object being by arrest and incarceration of the
appellees to extort money from them.^ The remedy devised was that
the appellee should be admitted to mainprise without fees. But the
mischief continued, and in 1826 an action agtdnst the sheriffs and
gaolers was granted, to be tried in the King's Courts.^ This being
found ineffective as a deterrent, the offence of the coercive manu-
facture of appeals was in 1340 made capital against gaolers so acting/
The Crown now reUed on the sheriffs to check these abuses of legal
procedure for the gratification of private animosities. In 1410
an Act was passed which perhaps discloses the sequel of the Earl of
Northumberland's unsuccessful rising in the North in February 1408.
It has already been mentioned that inquests originating presentments
of ' fama publica ' were intended to be by the freeholders and
villains of the neighbourhood. These presentments, in the case
of felonies, were returned by the sheriffs to the justices in
» * Hist. Crim. Law/ i. 273. • 1 Ed. 8. st. 1, o. 7.
^ lb. * I omit the Acts against indictments of
* * Hist. Eng. Law,* ii. 646. judges of Spiritual Courts, these referring
* Braoton, f. 141 : * Item nullum appel- to the conflicts of jurisdiction between
lum, nisi fiat mentio de felonia facta.^ Church and Crown. See 18 Ed. 3, st 3,
' ' " Ordinances of 1811, * Statutes of the c. 6 (1844) ; 1 Bio. 2, o. 18.
Realm,* i. 165.
CIV COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
eyre.^ Political animosity apparently suggested the abuse of the inquest
for the ruin of opponents.^ Packed juries were impanelled without
any return of them by the sheriffs. These juries made at Westminster
presentments upon information laid against a considerable number of
persons. The judicial process which followed the indictment does not
appear. But the statute passed to suppress the practice uses language
wluch suggests that the justices treated the indictment as equivalent
to a conviction.^ Of the accused, ' ascuns f urent utlagez devant les
ditz justices de record & ascuns fuez al Seintwarie pour treson & ascuns
pour felonie.' The indictments were annulled by Act of Parliament,^
and it was forbidden to the sheriffs to accept lists of panels from
persons other than their own officers. They were also commanded
to return all panels of inquests to the justices as a guarantee of
their bona fide character. All irregular indictments were declared
null and void.
But the pertinacity of the malicious prosecutor was not easily
baulked. The next device was to procure the indictment of persons
in conformity with legal process for felonies supposed to have been
committed at a non-existent place. It is clear that at this date (1419),
and perhaps in 1410, though it is rash to draw an inference where
even the form of law was disregarded for the satisfaction of political
vengeance, the presenting jury had ceased to represent personal
knowledge of the facts. At first this new form of malicious indictment
appeared in Lancashire, a straggling county in which, the northern
being cut off from the southern portion by the bay of Morecambe, a
jury at either end might well be ignorant of the topography of the
other. The object, as recited by the statute passed in 1419 for its
suppression,^ was not only to cause annoyance and expense, but to
obtain an opportunity of waylaying the defendants on their road to
answer the charge. The defendants, being thereby terrified, entered
no appearance to the indictment, upon which a writ of Exigent was
directed to the county court, that is, they were summoned at five
successive county courts to * come in to the king's peace ' or in
default to be outlawed. It does not appear from the Act nor from
the petition of the Commons on which it is founded ^ why a non-
existent place should be the venue laid by the offenders. The
^ See P. and M. • Hist, of Eng. Law/ See P. and M. * Hist. Eng. Law/ ii. 649.
i. 546. It may, however, be that the flight to
' Li 1397 the Despensers had been im- sanctuary was ' on indictment found and
peached for procuring false indictments, before triaL
Bot Pari. iii. 364. ' 11 Hen. 4, c. 9.
' This was the practice in the case of * 7 Hen. 5, o. 1.
minor offences in &e thirteenth century. ' Rot. Pari. iy. 120.
INTRODUCTION cv
solution of this may perhaps be sought in the procedure upon the
writ of Exigent. The county court had no jurisdiction outside
the county. An Exigent would therefore only issue in respect
of a case arising in the county, which place it was necessary to
specify. But if an existing place in the county were designated,
it would become the duty of the sheriff to summon the inquest,
that is, the men of the neighbourhood. There being no such place
discoverable in the county as that designated, it was presumably
open to the sheriff to summon an inquest in any part of the county
and to proceed by Exigent in the county court upon the non-
appearance of the defendant. Had the place been one in existence
in the county, ' fama publica,' as affirmed by the hundredors &c.,
would have caused the indictment to fail. The offenders were made
punishable by imprisonment, fine, and ransom at the discretion of the
justices.
In order to check this practice in Lancashire it was provided by
the statute of 1419 ' that before award of Exigent there should be an
inquest held by a jury of twelve freeholders to determine whether the
place in which the venue was laid had, in fact, any existence.' That
the statute was intended to repress the rancour of the Yorkists may
be inferred from two complementary Acts passed in 1421 (9 Hen. 5,
st. 1, cc. 1, 2). By the first of these the Act of 1419 was extended to
all England, and the persons maliciously indicted were granted writs
of conspiracy and a right to damages. By the second it was provided
that the defendants' outlawries, even though good in Lancashire,
should not be operative in other counties whereby to forfeit their
lands and goods elsewhere. An appearance of impartiality is main-
tained by the provision that this benefit should inure as well to
defendants in a suit by the King as in a suit of a party in the county
of Lancaster. But there is one significant exception. The county of
Chester was a centre of disaffection to the Lancastrian dynasty.^ In
1899 Henry 4 had passed a penal statute against it, enablmg the
officers of other counties in which offences had been committed by its
inhabitants to follow the offender into Cheshire. For such offences
committed elsewhere, even when of no greater gravity 'than battery or
other trespass,' the goods and chattels of the offender in Cheshire
were forfeited as well as those in the counties in which the offence
was committed and elsewhere. Wherfe the offence was a felony
forfeiture of lands in all counties was also incurred (1 Hen. 4, c. 18).
■ Sir J. H. Bamsay, * Lancaster and York ' (1892), i. 59.
CVl COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
This exceptional severity was expressly confirmed by 9 Hen. 5, c. 2
(1421). The confirmatory Act was, however, provisional, being limited
to ' the Parliament which shall be first holden after the king's return
into England from beyond the sea.' This limitation became a vexata
quaatio among the lawyers. Henry 5 left England on June 10,
1421, never to return alive, and died on August 31, 1422. His body
was, indeed, conveyed to England in the following November ; but it
was argued that the statute contemplated that the King would return
alive, and that the limitation, being based upon a condition which
could not be fulfilled, was null and the Act therefore perpetual. That
this opinion prevailed may be inferred from the fact that it was not
until 1439 that the Act was made perpetual,^ the preamble reciting
that it ' by opinion of some is expired and by the opinion of some
not expired ' (18 Hen. 6, c. 13).
It has been seen that in 1410 the ingenuity of the malicious
indicter had contrived to dispense with the sheriff, the royal official
whose duty it was to preserve legal process from the taint of cor-
ruption and partiaUty. The Act of that year had made the return
of the jury of inquest by the sheriff indispensable to the legality of
indictments. But the packing of juries for the presentment of
malicious indictments before the King's Bench still flourished in 1489,
when another statute was directed against it. The practice was for
a capias ad respondendum to issue to the sheriff of Middlesex,
returnable within two or four days. The person indicted, being
presumably at a distance, failing to appear, an Exigent was awarded
by which his goods and chattels were forfeited. To prevent this
travesty of justice it was enacted in 1427 that ' writs of capias shall
be directed, as well to the sheriff or sheriffs of the county wherein
they be indicted as to the sheriff or sheriffs of the county whereof
they be named in the indictment.' An interval of six weeks was then
allowed before the return of the writ within which the person indicted
could appear (6 Hen. 6, c. 1). Curiously enough, though the
preamble of the Act complains of ' suspect jurors, hired and procured
to the same by confederacy and covin,' it makes no direct attempt to
purge the panel. The interval, being found too short, was extended
in 1429 to a minimum of three months after the issue of the Capias
to the sheriff of the county in which the defendant dwelt. An action
* Subject to aD obscure qualification which it shall seem to the king and the
* to endure till the next parliament and so lords of the parliament at this (y. 1. saidc
forth for ever ; if so be that betwixt this now) time that it shall not be expedient
and the same next parliament no such in- this ordinance to endure longer after the
oonvenienoe happen in this behfjf, for the same next Parliament.'
INTRODUCTION CVll
on the case, with treble damages against the procurer of the malicious
indictment, was given to the person aggrieved (8 Hen. 6, c. 10).
The paralysis of sovereign authority during the Wars of the Boses
once more disclosed itself in the lawless proceedings of the sheriffs.
Indictments were * aflSrmed by jurors having no conscience, nor any
freehold and little goods,' as well as by the servants and bailiffs of
the sheriffs themselves, in the Sheriffs' Tourns. These indictments
found, the defendants were arrested and imprisoned by the sheriffs
for purposes of extortion. * After which fines, ransoms, and amercia-
ments so rated and revised by the said sheriffs, under sheriffs, clerks,
bailiffs and their ministers, the people aforesaid be inlarged out of
prison and the said indictments and presentments be imbeziled and
withdrawn.' ^ By the Act passed in 1461, immediately after the re-
storation of peace by the accession of Edward 4, sheriffs were
ordered to deliver to justices of the peace in sessions indictments
taken in their tourn. The justices then awarded process, levied
fines, &c. A sheriff arresting or fining persons without process from
the sessions was punishable by a fine of lOOZ.* The other branch of
the evil complained of in the last statute was assailed by an Act passed
by Bichard 3 in 1484, a qualification of freehold of the annual value
of 20s., a copyhold of the annual value of 26^. 8d. ' over all charges at
the leste ' being fixed for jurors in sheriffs' tourns.' The raising of the
independence of jurors must have done something to check the perse-
cution of political opponents, as well as to limit the powers for mischief
of the rural magnates. The want of success which attended the alleged
malicious indictments of Sir Bobert Harecourt was therefore in some
degree attributable to the care with which successive statutes had
hampered the employment of this formidable weapon.
The riotous disposition of the country gentry is further illustrated Abbot &o. of
by the case of the Abbot and Convent of Byland, Yorkshire, against Warooppi.
Warcoppe (p. 253), which also contains a curious instance of the
grasping policy of Henry 7, and of the manner in which the
religious houses were exploited by influential laymen. It appears
from the petition that at some time between November 1, 1494, when
Prince Henry, afterwards Henry 8, was created Duke of York,
and February 18, 1503, when he was created Prince of Wales,
Henry 7 wrote, presumably on the occasion of a vacancy, request-
ing the abbot to nominate Prince Henry steward of the abbey lands
in Yorkshire. It was not uncommon for stewards to be persons of
> 1 Ed. 4, c. 2 (1461). « lb. » 1 Rio. 3, c. 4.
CVIU COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
position. Sir Richard Sutton, a member of the King's Council at
this time, and a ' governor ' of the Inner Temple, was steward of the
monastery of Sion.^ Even peers held the office, as Thomas West,
ninth Baron de La Warr, who was steward of the house of Bruton,
Somerset (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, vii. 1513). But de La Warr had
been a member of Gray's Lin, and was therefore qualified for a post
the holder of which was constantly called upon to adjudicate points
of law and custom. That a prince of the blood should enjoy the
office and its revenues was obviously an abuse, since he could only
perform the duty by deputy. This deputy. Sir Richard Cholmeley,
was also nominated by the King, probably on payment of a fine. The
abbot and brethren, of course, capitulated. The result was this suit,
the King having nominated Sir Richard Cholmeley and the Prince
Robert Warcoppe of Warcoppe as deputy. It appears from the plaint
that the Prince had only been appointed steward of the lands of the
monastery in Yorkshire. Warcoppe's proceedings were all confined to
Westmoreland, and there does not seem to have been any collision
between him and Cholmeley. If the plaint were correct clearly
Warcoppe could have had no locus standi. Warcoppe pleads that he
was deputed both by the King and the Prince.
Warcoppe had already appeared before the Star Chamber in 1500
to answer in proceedings arising out of a fray between himself
and the servants of his neighbour, Sir Edward Musgrave.^ In this
case he also assumed the part of representative of the Abbey of
Byland, being, as he asserted, lessee to the abbey of the lordship and
manor of Blatarne for life. To that case the abbot was not a party ;
but he presumably contested the claim, for in Trinity Term, that
is, between June 9 and 80, 1507, an injunction was granted him
by the Star Chamber against Warcoppe, who was prohibited from
occupying the abbey lands in Blatarne.' Warcoppe disobeyed the
injunction, but does not appear to have been punished for the
contempt. He was only indicted for forcible entry in the King's Bench,
and the land restored to the possession of the abbey. His retainers
killed the plaintiff in the case heard before the Star Chamber
in 1600, and he himself was indicted as accessory to the murder.
These proceedings were apparently fruitless. The Court of Chancery
then interfered, and Warcoppe was laid by the heels for refusing to
find surety to keep the peace. After imprisonment * for a long space '
he was released, still obstinately refusing to find surety, and, according
» See * Diet Nat. Biog.* sub Sutton, Sir Biohard.
« See p. 106, infra. ■ P. 268, infra.
INTRODUCTION CIX
to the abbot, recommenced his depredations upon the monastic
tenants. On this occasion he set up the plea of a delegated steward-
ship of the abbey land and demanded trial by one of those jories of the
county which seem already to have proved complaisant.
Even among those bred to studious callings the disposition to prinoiMi
violence is apparent. The case of the Principal and Fellows of Wtinn^.'
_ - JohnaoD and
Furnival's Inn against Johnson and others (p. 287) of the household othen.
of the Bishop of Ely illustrates the practice as contrasted with the
law respecting the bearing of arms. The general law was laid down
by the Statute of Northampton (2 Ed. 8, c. 8) in 1828, which is in
the first instance a prohibition to appear in arms before the King's
justices. The Act continues : * Ne force mesner en aflfrai de la pees,
ne de chivaucher ne daler arme, ne de nuit ne de jour, en faires,
marchees, nen presence des justices* ne dautres Ministres ne nule part
aillours, sur peine de perdre lour armures au Boi & de lour corps a la
prisone a la volunte le Boi.' It is certain that the general prohibition
was not observed. But that the prohibition to carry arms in the
presence of the justices was very severely enforced we know from Sir
Thomas Figett's case in 24 Ed. 8, where a knight, having been
menaced with assassination, wore defensive armour under his
clothes.^ The statutes against carrying arms having fallen into
desuetude, a confirmatory Act was passed in 1897 (20 Bic. 2, c. 1)
ordering their enforcement and enacting ' que null seigneur Ghivaler
nautre petit ne graunt aile ne chivache par noet ne jours armez/
except the King's officers. Nevertheless the judges adopted a liberal
interpretation of the statute, holding that ' in some case a man may
not only use force and arms, but assemble company also ; as any
may assemble his friends and neighbours to keep his house against
those that come to rob or kill him or to o£fer him violence in it and
is by construction excepted out of this Act.' ' Coke also quotes with
approval a line ' Armaque in armatos sumere jura sinunt.' Obviously
these interpretations left the door open for exploits like those of the
gentlemen of Furnival's Inn and their neighbours of the Bishop of
Ely's household. The City of London therefore, in 1868, sought to
strengthen the statutory prohibition by ordinances of its own. No
one was to wander about the city or the suburbs after curfew. But
as there were exceptions in favour of ' a man known to be of good
repute or his servant for some good cause,' the prohibition could not
* Tear Book, 24 Ed. 8, fo. 33 ; £. Coke, 2 Inst. (ed. 1797), p. 161.
> 8£d. 8,303, 305; Coke, l.c.
ex COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
have been very stringently enforced. * Item, that no one, of whatever
condition he be, go armed in the said city or in the suburbs, or carry
arms day or night,' and that * no person draw sword or knife or other
arm ' under penalty of forfeiture of the arms J Possibly it is with this
ordinance in view that the bishop's servants pleaded that at the time
of the aflEray they were within his franchise.^ A proviso to the
ordinance against going armed in favour of ' the vadlets of the great
lords of the land, carrying the swords of their masters in their
presence,* of the serjeants-at-arms in attendance on royalty, and of
' the officers of the city and such persons as shall come in their
company ' &c., shews that at this time swords were not allowed as
articles of apparel.^
Affrays by the young gentlemen of the Inns were not uncommon.
' The thirteenth day of Aprill 36 Henry 6 (1458) there was a great
fray in Fletestreete, betweene men of court and the inhabitants of the
same streete, in which fray the Queenes atturney was slaine. For
this feate, the king committed che principall governors of Furnivals,
Cliffords and Barnardes Inne to prison in the Castle of Hertford, and
William Tailor, alderman of that ward, with many other, were sent
to Windsor Castle the seventh of May.' ^ In one of the Lansd. MSS.
(MS. 689) containing Star Chamber cases, temp. Henry 8, is an entry
' 5 May 8 H. 8 (1517). The Ancients of the Inns of Court being
present. It was advised that they should not suffer the gentlemen
students to be out of their houses after six o'clock at night without
very great and necessary causes, nor to wear any manner of weapon.' ^
' Hudson tells us that in the times of Henry 7 and Henry 8 ' sometimes
men were bound (by the Star Chamber) to wear no weapons.' ^
' The Star Chamber was wont to keep an eye on the Inns of Court,' ^
to which may be added and of Chancery.
Kebeuv. The Spirit of lawless violence was not content with the satisfaction
^°°' derivable from affrays. Abduction or 'ravishment of women,' as
distinct from the ravishment of wards,^ was an offence known from
early times. It was peculiarly an aristocratic offence, since its object
was wealth and its accomplishment required a force sufficient to
overawe constables and other local authorities. When, therefore, in
» H. T. Riley, • Liber Albus ' (1861), p. 46.
pp. 384, 835. • • Of the Court of Star Chamber,' p.
> See p. 241, n. 5, infra. 193.
> See farther H. T. Biley, * London and ' Scofield, p. 56, n. 3.
London Life,' 1276-1419, p. 268. "See Pollock and Maitland, 'Hist.
* J. Stow, * Chronicle ' (ed. 1631), p. 404. Eng. Law,' ii. 363 Ac.
* J. S. Bum. ♦ The Star Chamber ' (1870).
INTRODUCTION CXI
1847 the GommonB complained to Edward 3 of its frequency, and of
the pardons granted to the perpetrators, they only received the vague
assurance that such should not issue otherwise than conformably to
the honour and profit of the King and his people.^ Where a woman
being a tenant of a manor held of the Crown was abducted and
married by force, the Crown seized the lands which by virtue of the
marriage would have become the husband's.^ This custom probably
suggested the stringent provisions for the suppression of the practice
enacted by Parliament in 1882. The petition of the Commons com-
plained that the victims were the daughters of noblemen and gentle-
men,^ and that the law was ineffective because after the consummation
of the offence the injured women refused to prosecute. Under these
circumstances this easy way of procuring wealth was unchecked by any
deterrent. The Act 6 Eic. 2, st. 1, c. 6 therefore provided that where
after rape the woman consented both parties should be disabled to take
by inheritance dower or jointure. There was, however, a proviso
which in this case made the Act inapplicable. It was necessary first to
prosecute the ravisher to conviction. The proceedings taken against
him in Eebell v. Vernon (p. 130), as we shall see, proved abortive.
Further, the Act only applied where the woman consented, which was
not, except by construction, the case here. Lastly, there was a
saving to lords of ' all their escheats of the said ravishers * arising
from the custom already mentioned. It is possible that in this case
the escheats, if any there were, fell to the father of the ravisher.
Nevertheless the Act proved to some degree effective, so that after
two years' experience the Commons in 1384 successfully petitioned
that it might remain in force.^ The offence was excepted from the
general pardon of 1387,'* and in reply to a petition of the Commons
was in 1889 declared excepted from aU general pardons.^ In 1429,
during the minority of Henry 6, the Lords of the Council of Regency
drew up a series of articles which they solemnly swore to observe.
Among these was an undertaking neither to 'wittyngly receive,
cheryssh, hold in houshold, ne mayntene pillours, robbours, oppres-
Bours of the poeple, mansleers, felons, outelawes, ravyshours of
wymen ayens the lawe, unlaweful hunters of foreste, parks or warennes
or any other opyn Mysdoers, or any opynly named or famed for
swyche, til his Innocence be declared.* ' A few years later, in 1436,
» Bot. Pari. ii. 172, a. * Rot. Pari. iu. 174, b.
» lb. 176, b ; 208, a. * lb. 248, a.
' In Cheshire, Herefordshire, and the * lb. 268, a ; cp. 544, a, b (1404).
Marohes of Wales the offence was espe- ' lb. iv. 344, a.
eially prevalent. 2 Bic. 2, st. 1, c. 6,
cxii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Parliament, in a private Act, took a step which looks like an infiinge-
ment of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction over matters matrimonial. A
widow named Isabel Botiller, living at Burton Wood, in Lancashire,
was forcibly abducted by one William Pulle, very much in the fashion
of the present case. She was dragged into a church, and a priest
said the marriage service over her, though she refused to make the
responses. The abductor consummated the alleged marriage. It
does not appear that the Ecclesiastical Court intervened to set it aside.
Nevertheless Parliament, in derogation of the accepted doctrine that
man and wife are one flesh, passed a special Act allowing the injured
woman an appeal of felony against her husband.^ A like Act was
passed in a like case three years later (1489).^ These Acts and the
penalties of that of 1882 appear to have led to some change in the
methods of these offenders. An Act of 1468 (81 Hen. 6, c. 9) com-
plains of the new inventions ('novelx invencions') devised for
effecting the main purpose of the crime, viz. the enjojrment of the goods
of the ravished women. The method was to get possession by force
or fraud of their persons and ' not suffer them to go at large and be
at their liberty until they will bind themselves to the said offenders or
other person or persons to their use in great sums by obligations ' of
various kinds. As a remedy for this, power was given to the injured
person to sue a writ out of Chancery, and to the Chancellor to
nullify obligations so extorted. The ingenuity of these malefactors
being thus baffled, resort was again had to the more primitive
method of forcible marriage or extortion by abduction, duress, and
violence.
The difficulties obviously incident to the enforcement of the
statute of 1882 were swept aside by the extensive range of the Act for
the repression of this crime passed by Parliament in 1487. Its title
is * An Acte agaynst taking awaye of Women agaynst theire Willes '
(8 Hen. 7, c. 2). The Act was confined to cases of women with
lands, tenements, or personalty, the possession of which was the
object of the crime. Not only the takers of the woman, but the
procurers and abetters of the felony and the receivers of the woman
were ' all adjudged as principal felons ; the hke whereof we finde not
in any other statute that we remember.' ^ Receivers of the misdoers
only, but not of the woman, were by construction of the Act held to be
accessaries.
Under this statute the defendant, William Vernon, as well as Roger
Vernon, was capitally liable. As appears from a report of subsequent
proceedings, mentioned below, they were put on their trial at the
» Rot. Pari. iv. 498, a. ^ n,^ ^ 14^ j,, 16, a, b. » E. Coke, 3 Inst. 61.
INTRODTJCTION CXIU
assizes at Derby, presumably in the summer of 1502. In Derbyshire,
as may be imagined, it was hopeless to expect a successful prosecution
of a Vernon on a charge of this nature. The defendants were ac-
quitted. The plaintiff, Margaret Kebell, then brought her wrongs
before the Star Chamber, a Court which claimed no jurisdiction
empowering it to inflict death.^ It is to be observed that the proceed-
ings in the Star Chamber appear to be taken, not against the chief
culprit, Roger Vernon, but against his uncle, William Vernon. They
began in the summer of 1502, and the latest date indorsed upon these
papers is November 4, 1504. In Trinity Term of that year the case
came into the Common Law Courts. Margaret sued her husband in
the Common Pleas in trespass for damages. From this it may be
inferred that the Parliamentary precedents already cited had been
judicially extended to this class of cases. The case is reported in
B. Eeilwey, ' Beports d'ascuns cases ' &c., ed. 1688, p. 62, d. The
case for the plaintiff was that the defendant at the church of D(erby)
within the same county took the plaintiff to wife, and that the
plaintiff was forced into the marriage by menaces and duress of
imprisonment, against the will of the plaintiff, in another county.
Among the questions discussed was whether the marriage was void-
able for duress or not. Frowike, J., was of opinion that it was.
Demurrer was entered to the declaration that it did not allege menace
in the county where the marriage took place, 'en quel case les
espousels serra prise de bon conge & assent del feme al temps del
espousels.' The point was argued at length and eventually decided in
favour of the defendant. As he had not been convicted of ravishment,
the Act of 1882 did not apply to his case. The defendant retorted by
bringing an action for conspiracy against £. Eeble and various
other persons. From the report of this case, heard in Michaelmas
Term, 20 Hen. 7 (1505), and Hilary Term, 21 Hen. 7 (1506), in the
King's Bench, we glean further particulars.* It appears that no fewer
than a hundred armed men escorted Margaret Eebell to Derby,
presumably from Leicestershire (* a tiel ville en auter county '). They
were pursued by E. Keble with forty persons ' modo guerrino arraiati
chivauchants.' As has been seen, these were unable to effect a rescue.
£. Eeble and the other defendants then procured an indictment of
the plaintiffs, who, though unnamed, must be taken to be the Vernons,
at the assizes at Derby, where they were tried and acquitted. The
Vernons, however, failed in their action for conspiracy, the judges
■ E. Coke, 3 Inst. 66. o. 21. Conspiracy : Keilwey's ' Beport,
« Y. B. M. T. 20 Hen. 7 (ed. 1679), f. 11, p. 81, d.
g2
fk»r
Karl
CXIV COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
holding that the appearance of the plaintififs riding in armour was a
just cause for suspicion and justified their procurement of the indict-
ment.^ It is abundantly clear, therefore, that Margaret Kebell
remained irreconcilable.
What the decree of the Star Chamber against William Vernon
was remains unknown, but a record exists which indicates the penalty
paid by Sir Henry Vernon for his part in the aflfair. There is printed
in J. S. Burn, ' Notices of the Court of Star Chamber ' (1870), pp.'82-
86, ' A list of monies received by Edmund Dudley for the king from
the 20th to the 23rd Hen. 7.' Among these occurs at the date
July 14 22 Hen. 7 (1507), ' For the pardon of Sir Henry Vernon
900 lib.'
Jlf^ An instance of legalised duress is the case of Goryng v. the Earl
^liidT" of Northumberland (pp. 95-105), which also illustrates the rights
attaching to guardianship in chivalry. At some time between 1499
and 1502, probably in 1500, one John Goryng, then approaching the
age of twenty-one years, was legal owner by the death of his grand-
father, also John Goryng, of considerable estates in the county of Sussex.
Henry Algernon Percy, the fifth Earl of Northumberland, having been
born on January 13, 1498, had recently come of age.^ He claimed
guardianship of Goryng in respect of certain lands within the honour
of Petworth alleged to be held of the earl in chivalry. John Goryng,
the grandfather, appears to have died in 1495, having outlived his son,
who also bore the same name. In the interval it may be presumed
that John Gorjng, the grandson, was living with his relations. The
young earl, doubtless ambitious to exercise his power, began by seizing
John Goryng, the minor, and practically imprisoning him in his
London house in St. Martin's-le-Grand. His excuse was that there
were other claimants to the guardianship, who doubtless began to
assert their claims upon hearing of the earl's action. Assuming the
earl to have had the right to the guardianship he seems to have
unquestionably been entitled to take possession of the body of the
ward, for with it went the right of giving or, in effect, selling the
ward in marriage -a valuable property the prospective loss of which
had probably stirred the other claimants to assert themselves.^ Such
a competition was familiar enough to have brought into existence a
general rule of law, laid down by Bracton and aflBrmed by statute,
' For a further decision to this effect ^ De Fonblanque, ' Annals of the House
in a parallel case see Coke's Bep. XII. of Percy ' (1887), i. 310.
23. » Bracton, f. 87.
INTRODUCTION CXV
that, where a number of persons claimed guardianship and marriage,
the marriage belonged to the lord from whom was derived the most
ancient of the titles by which the ward held any of his lands.* So
far as the lands were concerned the guardianship of them belonged
to the respective lords.'* The earl, therefore, was insuring himself
against the loss of his property. His right is not seriously questioned
by the petitioner. The very definition of guardianship in chivalry,
given by Littleton (§ 116), is seisin of the wardship and of the lands
and of the heir. Indeed, there is ground for suspicion that the right
was curtailed of some of its ancient amplitude, for Bracton asserts
that * the lords may take into their own hands the land together with
the heir (of full age) in possession,' apparently till the fulness of age
be proved. Naturally the exercise of this right provoked violent
resistance, which Glanvill appears to condone if the heirs are willing
to render their feudal dues.^ It is noticeable that Bracton in the
corresponding passage * omits consideration of these forcible proceed-
ings altogether.
The right of marriage was originally confined to the marriage of
female wards, on the ground that a lord ought not to be compelled to
admit an enemy as tenant.^ But a strained interpretation of c. vi.
of Magna Carta, ' hsBredes maritentur absque disparagatione,' by
which * hsBredes ' was intended female, was applied to male wards.
This claim was made statute law by the Statute of Merton (c. 6) in
1236.
The earl, the petitioner alleged, confined him without access of his
friends unless in presence of the earl's servants. In an age when the
powers of parents and masters were indefinite it was not to be
expected that the duties of guardians in chivalry should be very
clearly stated. But it was implied in the nature of the relation
that the ward should be brought up to perform the duties of his
station, and the application of the Great Charter's proviso * absque
disparagatione ' by the Statute of Merton indicates the drift of
public opinion. On the other hand, the earl by the Statute of West-
minster the Second (1285) might reclaim a ward who had escaped to
the custody of others, and he could therefore presumably secure himself
against the escape. A more tenable count of the complaint is that
the earl has entered into the petitioner's lands, ' takyn the Rentes of
his Farmours and hathe seased and takyn parte of his goodes to his
' Bracton, ib. ; also Statute of Westminster ^ Glanvill, vii., o. iz.
the Second, c. xvi. * F. 86, a.
' Bracton, ib. * Glanvill, vii. 12.
Cxvi COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
grete enpouerysshement.' ^ The petitioner suggests rather than alleges
' waste/ Entry upon the lands was undoubtedly legal. The receipt
of rents was legal. ' Plenam itaque custodiam habent domini filiorum
et hsBredum hominum suorum et feodorum suorum, ita quod plenam
inde habent dispositionem.' ^ The guardian was bound to restore to
the heir his inheritance in good condition and freed from debts ; ^ but
he could take the profits of the estates and provide suitable main-
tenance thereout for the ward.* In the case of waste actually com-
mitted by a guardian there were two processes. There was an action
for waste and an action for account of waste. Coke asserts ^ that by
the Common Law an action of waste lay as well against a guardian in
socage as against a guardian in chivalry, and this appears to agree
with Glanvill.^ By Magna Carta, c. 4, forfeiture of the guardianship
was the penalty inflicted. Coke founds his proposition that an action
of waste lies against the guardian in socage upon the fact that ' the
action of waste is generall ; fecit vastum de terris &c. quas habet vel
habuit in custodia de hsereditate predicta, which writ doth extend as
well to the gardein in socage as in chivalry.' ^ Fitzherbert also says
' Iheire deinz age auera bref de Wast vers le gardein en socage.^ '
But Sir Matthew Hale, C.J., commenting on another passage of
Fitzherbert, that * Iheire auera accompt de Wast vers le gardein
cybien al pleine age come deins age,* ® says : ' Waste does not lie
against guardian in socage, but only account or trespass, according
to the nature of the waste,' citing Y. B. 16 Ed. 3, Waste, 100.
In this case the defendant, a woman, held as guardian in socage
'by reason of nurture' (*pur resoun de nurture'), and after long
argument it was decided that a writ of Waste did not lie. This
was in 1342. Clearly, then, a change in the law had taken place
between 1342 and 1534, when the first edition of the ^ Novel Natura
Brevium ' appeared.
The defeated defendant guardian in chivalry in an action for
waste suffered three punishments. 1. He lost the custody of the heir
and his lands. 2. He incurred damages to the amount of the
waste. 3. He made fine to the King. This was the concurrent
effect of the Statute of Gloucester (1278), c. 5, and Magna Carta, c. 4.^"
Perhaps the third penalty contains the key to the exclusion of the
» P. 97, infra. » Coke, 1.8.o.
« GlanviU, vii. 9. • * Nat. Brev.' (ed. 1616), p. 69, d.
' Glanvill, ib. * 'New Natura Brevium,' with comnien-
* GlanvOl, ib. ; Bracton, f. 87. tary by L. C. J. Hale (1794), i. 59.
* 2 Inst 305. >o See Coke, 2 Inst. 300.
* vu. 9, 10.
INTRODUCTION cxvii
heir in socage from the action, that the King was only prejudiced
where the waste was committed on land held by knight service. The
Provisions of Westminster (1259), by which an account was granted
to an heir in socage where the land was held ' in custodia parentum
heredis/ ^ are apparently an extension to him of a right which brought
him effective redress without involving the guardian in socage in
the penalties attaching to corresponding misfeasance on the part of a
guardian in chivalry. The language is repeated in the seventeenth
section of the conlBrmatory Statute of Marlborough (1267). It is not
at once apparent why kinsfolk (parentes) were specified. The form of
the Provision shews that they were not necessarily guardians. The rule
was, in the case of tenants in socage, that the mother's kinsfolk were
the guardians where the inheritance came from the father, and the
father's where it was derived from the mother.^ But Pollock and
Maitland ^ give examples in which guardianship over socage tenants
was claimed by lords, especially by ecclesiastical lords. Was the con-
cession to socage tenants of a right to an account against their
kinsfolk guardians confined to such guardians in the interest of the
magnates, at that time in the plenitude of their power, but con-
senting to yield so much to a growing public opinion ? Coke in his
Commentary on the Statute of Marlborough (2 Inst. 185) takes no
notice of the point.
The petitioner, John Goryng, had, therefore, a legal ground of com-
plaint so far as the seizure of his goods was, as alleged, an ' impover-
ishment.' At the close of his replication (p. 105) he alleges that
two of his tenants had, in consequence of the earl's high-handed
usage of them, abandoned their farms. This is a further allegation
of waste, specifically known as * exilium,' the * exile of men to the
disherison of him in the reversion or remainder.' *
According to the aggrieved petitioner he had offered to find bail
for his surrender in case the three persons nominated by the earl to
inquire into the conflict of claims should decide in the earl's favour.
To this the earl replied that his counsel assured him they had never
read or heard of a precedent. Indeed, if the theory of guardianship
in chivalry, that it was the training of the ward under the eye of the
' § 12 ; see Stubbs, * Select Charters.' ward * because he hath no lands by descent
' Bracton, f. 87, b ; Littleton, § 123. holden by knight service, but only by
Queen Elizabeth, widow of Edward 4, in socage.' Life of Edward 5, by Sir Thomas
resisting the removal of the two princes, More, in * Complete History of England '
her sons, from sanctuary, is stated by Sir (2nd ed. 1719), p. 490.
Thomas More to have advanced the in- ' * Hist Eng. Law,' i. 301-2.
genious argument that Edward 6 was her * See Coke upon Littleton, 58, a, b.
CXVIU COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
gaardian for certain public duties, be considered, the earl's refusal to
entertain the proposal seems not unreasonable. In this case, in view
of the existence of so many aspirants to the guardianship and the
fact that the heir was unmarried, concession on the earl's part would
have imperilled a valuable right. Kavishment of heirs was an offence
sufficiently frequent in the thirteenth century to have provoked two
statutes against it, the Statute of Merton, c. 6, and the Statute of
Westminster the Second, c. 85 ; and the case of abduction last dis-
cussed suggests that this class of proceeding had perhaps not altogether
fallen out of date. It was the more probable here, as the conflicting
claims were probably not advanced without some foundation in law.
The petitioner, however, alleged that the earl's object in refusing his
enlargement was to keep him in confinement until he came of age in
the Michaelmas following the date of the petition, or until he had
extorted a fine. Upon the attainment of the age of twenty-one by
the tenant in chivalry he would, in the ordinary course, sue out his
livery or ouster le main,^ that is, the restitution of his lands. But
where he had been in wardship, he would not be liable to relief.^
The alleged demand was, therefore, presumably illegal. The alternative
offence imputed by Goryng as designed by the earl, that of continuing
in possession of his lands and himself, was not unknown to the law,
and was provided against by the Statute of Marlborough, c. 16, on
which Coke notes, * When a gardian in chivalrie holdeth over, he is
an abator.' ^ The earl's justification for seizure of the goods,
which appear to have been six oxen and a horse belonging to the
plaintiff, was that they were due to him on the death of the grand-
father as ' a mownter and a heryott ' in respect of eight portions of
land held of him, presumably upon another and copyhold tenure (see
p. 101, n. 14). That the earl believed his right to the guardianship to be
valid may be inferred from the fact that he took the initiative in laying
the case before two of the judges as arbitrators, with Sir Beginald
Bray as umpire. Bray, soldier, statesman, judge, and architect, was
the Admirable Crichton of his day. He was especially qualified for
this task, being experienced in judicial work, both as a judge in the
Court of Eequests and as High Steward of the University of Oxford.
He was acquainted with the neighbourhood, being lord of the manor
of Broadwater in West Sussex, which he had purchased from Sir
WiUiam Radmyld, the petitioner's grandmother's brother.'* Further,
■ Coke on Littleton, 77, a. * See Coke upon Littleton, 277, a.
- lb. 83, b, where the exceptions to the * See Elwes and Bobinson, pp. 50, 266,
general rule are set out. Goring pedigree.
INTRODUCTION CXIX
he enjoyed the reputation of being * a fervent lover of justice.' ^ The
two judges, Wood and Tremaile, appear to have had no local con-
nexion (see p. 99, nn. 7, 8). Facilities were given to the captive
ward to employ counsel, but the petitioner's complaitit suggests
that even at legal consultations the earl's servants intruded them-
selves. Each party alleged against the other obstructive delays : the
petitioner that the earl was deferring the hearing by the judges
* tille the saide Sir Beynolde Bray be departed ' ; the earl, that the
plaintiff had petitioned the King when he perceived that the two
judges, after repeated hearings, were about to report to Bray in
favour of the earl, with the intent to delay justice. The confidence
evidently entertained in Bray by both parties is a testimony to the
truth of Polydore Vergil's eulogy. The earl's answer to the insinua-
tions of the plaintiff betrays much exasperation. There is, unfortu-
nately, no record of the issue of the proceedings. But that the earl
may have had substantial grounds for his claim is suggested by the
inquisition post mortem of Sir William Goryng, the petitioner's son, in
1554. The inquisition, as abbreviated by Dallaway, runs as follows :
' Maner' de Burton una cum uno capitali messuagio cum advocatione
de Burton et maner' de Cotes in Barlavington, Petworth, Sutton,
Duncton, Woollavington & Bignor.' The manor of Burton came to
John Goryng, the petitioner, by his marriage with Constance Dyke,
heiress of the Dawtrey and St. John families.^ She also brought
him the manor of Cotes in Barlavington.' Petworth was both an
honour and a manor. Both were held by the Earl of Northumberland,^
and the honour included more than forty manors.'^ The earl held
also the manors of Sutton and Duncton (ib.) and Woollavington.*
Bignor was a park appendant to the Castle of Arundel, then held by
the Fitzalans, but leased by the Goryngs from the Earls of North-
umberland.^ Besides these John Goryng afterwards became lord of
the manor of South Lancing through the death of his cousin, Sir
William Badmyld, without issue in 1508.^ He was at the time of
this suit, therefore, heir presumptive to that manor. South Lancing
' Hall, * Chron.' ed. 1648, f . 56 b. Poly- to bring a criminal to justice (De Fon-
dore Vergil speaks of him in the same blanqne, i. 319).
way, and was perhaps the source from * J. Dallaway. 'Bape of Arundel' (ed.
which Hall borrowed his delineation. E. Cartwright, 1832), 280.
' Vere pater patriaB, homo severus, ac ita * Ib. 286, 286.
recti amator ut si quid interdum peccatum * Ib. 301, n. e.
esset, illud acriter in Henrico reprehen- ^ Ib.
deret' ('Hist.' ed. A. Thysius, 1661, p. '^ Elwes and Bobinson, p. 32, n.
> 774). At a later date, in 1607, we find the ' Ib.
earl writing to solicit his influence in order ' Elwes, p. 138.
CX^ COURT OF Tftt; STAtl CHAMfifiR
was held of the lord of Bramber.^ This was probably the founda-
tion of the claim to the guardianship advanced by Thomas, Earl of
Surrey, as well as of that of Thomas West, Lord de La Warr,
who had sold the castle and lordship to the earl on September 4,
1494. Whether the guardianship passed would probably depend
upon the terms of the conveyance. As John Goryng the father was
at that date alive, the point was probably not considered, but semble
that a conveyance of a lordship in fee would carry guardianship with
it without special words. Littleton says (§ 116) : ' Gardian in right in
chivalrie is where the lord by reason of his seigniory is seised of the
wardshippe of the lands and of the heyre.'
J{^|^ Among the forms of oppression occasionally practised by land-
owners from early times were those connected with the levying of
distress. In the case of Madeley v. Fitzherbert (pp. 54-69), as in that
of the Abbot of Eynesham v. Harecourt, it was alleged that cattle, in
the latter case sheep, had been injured or destroyed by being driven
to distant pounds and there impounded. The defendant Fitzherbert,
the alleged wrongdoer, justified his distress byafiSrming that the cattle
were taken damage feasant. Even if the distress were legal, and the
law allowed distress in such a case,^ the stock so distrained was not
to be injured ; it was merely held as a pledge. But the possession
of the power invited abuse. Against the particular abuse of which
the defendant Fitzherbert was alleged to be guilty the law had
endeavoured to give protection from early times. The Statute of
Marlborough, c. 4 (1267), forbade cattle taken in distress to be driven
out of the county.^ Great lords had extorted concessions by seizing
cattle and impounding them in their own castles. By the Statute of
Westminster the First, c. 17 (1275), power was given to the sheriff in
such cases to compel restitution. In 1447 the Commons petitioned
against diverse oppressions and extortions done * within the shires
of Notyngham, Derby, Warwik, Stafford, Salop, Chester, Lancastre,
Westmerland, Cumberland, Northumberland, and Yorkshyre by colour
of taking of mennes catell under the name of distresse.' The cattle
so taken were driven away, sold, or slaughtered, ' so that the owners
of the seide catell may never come to have replevyn of them.' The
^ Elwes, p. 138. ' * NnlluB de cetero duoere faciat dis-
* * Dicere enim poterit captor quod iuste tricciones quas fecerit extra Comitatum in
oepit aueria sua quia ilia invenit in damno quo fuerint. Et si vicinus hoc fecerit supra
suo et seoundum legem et consuetudinem vicinum per voluntatem suam et sine judicio
regni imparcauit iU& donee damnum ei puniatur . . . veluti de re contra paoem.'
esset emendatum.* Bracton, f. 158. 52 Hen. 8, c. 4.
rNTRODtJCTlON CXXl
Commons asked therefore that the owners in such cases might have
an action of trespass with triple damages and costs against both the
takers and the receivers of cattle so taken. Although the proposed
Act was to last during four years only, it was refused the royal assent.*
The Parliament of 1450, elate with the overthrow of Suffolk, renewed
this petition in part, confining their complaints to the ' shires & lord-
shippes Eoialx in Walys and of the Duchie of Lancastre in the said
parties.^ The offence was now declared to be felony, and an Act
passed to that effect was to last for five years (28 Hen. 6, c. 4).
Although the prohibition of the Statute of Marlborough against im-
pounding distrained cattle out of the county was enforced, full advan-
tage was taken of the opportunities of vexation allowed within the
statute by driving such cattle to the extreme limits allowed by law.^
The other point of legal interest in the case is the statement that
the defendant Fitzherbert had treated with contempt the injunction
served upon him under the Privy Seal. The defendant is at pains to
deny this and to explain his subsequent action. It is to be observed
that these allegations of contempt of Court are not infrequent. It is
the gravamen against the defendant in Idele v. the Abbot of St. £en-
nettes Holme (p. 50). In the case of the Abbot of By land v, Warcoppe
(p. 258) the defendant is silent as to this charge. In Treherne v.
Harecourt, William Tytte, a yeoman who probably could not read,
' dyd cast the seid writt (of sub poena) into the Strete ' and assaulted
the messengers (p. 162). Even a decree of the Star Chamber was
\ ridiculed by one of the bailiffs of Shrewsbury as * but a Skrewe of
• paper and not to be obeyed ' (p. 191, cp. p. 205). In Burn's notes
' from the Star Chamber MSS. in the British Museum is one dated
May 29, 10 Hen. 7 (1495), * A subpoena issued for contempt in letting
a Privy Seal to fall in the dirt.' ^
The pleadings in which the offence of contempt of Court is im-
puted to Fitzherbert are so obscure that it is difficult to elicit from
them an altogether satisfactory interpretation. Fitzherbert is charged
with a contempt in proceeding against the plaintiff, John Madeley
(who, he alleged, had disseised him), in an Assize of Novel Disseisin,
after having been served with an injunction under the Privy Seal.
Apparently Fitzherbert defends himself from the imputation of
> * Bot Pari.* V. 189, b. the preamble reoiting that the statute was
' lb. 200, a, b. passed ' for thavoidiiig of grievoQs veza-
' The *Act touching thimpounding of tions, exaccions, troubles and disorder in
Distresses * (1 & 2 P. and M. c. 12) was taking of Distresses and impoundyng of
afterwards (1555) passed, prohibiting the cattle/
driving of such cattle beyond the limits of * J. S. Burn, ' The Star Chamber ' (1870),
the hundred <&c. in which they were taken, p. 28.
CXXU COUJRT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
contempt by saying that all he did after the service of the injunction
was to suffer a recognitor to be sworn by way of afl&rming the array.
This would be a waiver of the right to challenge the entire jury as having
been unfairly impanelled, though not of the right of challenge to the
polls. What the purpose of this proceeding may have been is not
clear. To this defence Madeley replies that it is untrue, for that there
was pleading before one of the assize was sworn. Fitzherbert rejoins
that the reason was that the justices would not allow the array to be
aflSrmed until there had been pleading to issue. There this contro-
versy ends.
orooyn «. The law touching advowsons and rights of presentation largely
"°^ occupies the attention of Glanvill and Bracton. The wrongful pre-
sentation of a clerk by a stranger, followed by admission and insti-
tution, a frequent abuse in times when communication was slow and
patrons were often engaged in warfare, not only deprived the patron
of his presentation pro hac vice, but also, at common law, of
the inheritance of the advowson altogether. The only remedy the
patron then had was to bring a writ of right of advowson, analogous
to the writ of right for a freehold, which was tried by battle or the
grand assize.^ But by the Statute of Westminster the Second, c. 5
(1286), six months' grace was allowed in such a case within which the
patron might bring the possessory action of 'darrein presentment
(ultimsB presentationis),' if he based his title on descent, or ' quare
impedit,' if upon descent as well as if upon purchase. Failing his
action within the six months, the true owner was left without remedy,
it being conceived contrary to public policy to disturb the peace of the
Church. The law so stood from 1285 till the time of Anne, when a
statute (7 Anne, c. 18) was passed enacting that no usurpation should
displace the estate or interest of the patron, but that upon the next
avoidance the patron might present or maintain a ' quare impedit.' '
In the case of William Grocyn, the Master and the Brethren of the
Collegiate Church of All Saints, Maidstone, against Sir Thomas
Kempe (pp. 271-274), the plaintiffs allege, inter alia, an usurpation
on the part of the defendant. Nothing is said in their petition as to
the six months' grace allowed by statute, and they justify their pro-
ceeding in the Star Chamber by the allegation that the influence
* Olanvill, ii. 13 . * Ipse qui verus est ii. c. 5.
patronus per nollum aliud breve reouperare ^ Blackstone, ' Comm.' bk. v., ch. viii.
poterit advocationem suam quam per breve See also Coke on the Statute of Westminster
de reoto quod habet terminare per duellum the Seoond, o. v., 2 Inst. 360, 861.
vel per magnam assisam.' Stat. Westm.
INTRODUCTION CXXlll
exercised by the defendant will prevent them from obtaining a verdict
in an action at Common Law. Upon the doctrine that the function of
the Star Chamber was to render the law effective or to supply its
omissions this was a proper and is a frequent plea.^ The Star Cham-
ber would not have entertained a petition to set aside a statutory
limitation. Its relation to the statute law is well expressed in Hud-
son's phrase that 'jurisdiction seemeth to come to this court de incre-
mento by (these) Acts of ParUament.' ^
A picture of the condition of the reUgious houses upon the eve carter v.
ICslinosbiiry*
of the Reformation is furnished by the case of Carter v. the Abbot Abbot of,
and others
of Malmesbury (pp. 118-129). The case has an additional interest in
that it brings before us the legal and social incidents attached to a
bondman's status. Malmesbury was a mitred Benedictine monastery
of which the head enjoyed a seat among the spiritual peers. Of the
twenty-seven mitred abbeys enumerated by Puller ' it ranked twenty-
first in point of wealth, but its revenues were estimated at the
handsome total of 808Z. a year. The house was evidently in the
latter half of the fifteenth century, Uke that of Bath, a scene of waste,
dissoluteness, and incapacity. From the fact that Abbot Aylie, as
we see in the case of Culford v. Wotton, had provided for his natural
son on the abbey estates, the morals of the rest of the community
may be inferred. Despite its large income it was encumbered with
debts, and appears to have failed to discharge its pecuniary obliga-
, tions in the nature of annuities, corodies, and the like. ' So notorious
was its anarchy that on November 27, 1476, the Crown interfered.
It took possession of the abbey, its cells, manors, lands, and rents, and
committed them to the custody of the Prior of Bath to be adminis-
tered by him for five years. We have already had a glimpse into the
methods of administration of the priors of Bath. Possibly the Crown
was made acquainted with the injudiciousness of its selection ; more
probably it became aware that by interfering with an exempt house *
it was trenching upon Papal prerogative ; at any rate on Decem-
ber 28 following a precept was issued to the Prior of Bath to stay
* * I come to express the great and high p. 107.
jarisdlction of this Court which, by &e ^ lb. p. 115.
arm of sovereignty, punisheth errors creep- * ' Church History ' (1655), p. 295.
ing into the Commonwealth which other- * It should be mentioned that by a ball
wise might prove dangerous and infectious of Innocent 4 in 1248 it was exempt from
diseases, or giveth life to the execution of episcopal jurisdiction (Dugd. * Monast.* i.
laws, or the performance of such things as 260). On the other hand. Dr. Gasquet says :
are necessary in the Commonwealth, yea, * There is no reason whatever to suppose
although no positive law or continued that the condition of the exempt religions
custom of common law giveth warrant to it.' was in any way worse than the rest.'
Hudson, ' Of the Court of Star Chamber,' * Henry 8 and the English Monasteries,' i. 86.
CXXIV COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
execution of his commission.^ Apparently the blind abbot, John
Ayly, or Aylie, continued in possession of his office.* He died in the
following year, and on April 24, 1480, licence was given to the prior
and convent * to elect an abbot in the place of John Ayly, deceased.' ^
The case arose out of the alleged enfranchisement by Abbot Robert
or Boger Persore of the grandfather of the plaintiff, a serf. Something
perhaps turned on the terms of the deed of manumission. Sometimes
the form ran ' cum sequela sua,' sometimes it added ' procreata et
procreanda,' or equivalent words.^ The plaintiff was born after the
grandfather's manumission, and horn his petition it would seem that
legal chicane contended that, in the absence of terms comprising
future offspring, he was excluded from its benefits. At this date
such a contention was untenable. There was no question, so far as
we know, of the legitimacy of the grandson, and even if there had
been, the Courts had held, since the time of Edward 2,'^ that a
bastard, as nullius filius, must be presumed free-bom. It is true that
the deed of manumission, so far as its operative part is set forth in
the plaint, does not expressly include the wife. But, whatever may
have been the doubts prevalent when Glanvill and Bracton wrote as
to the effect upon the status of a child of the bondage of one of its
parents, these had long since been resolved. The status of the child
was at this time held to depend upon the condition of the father.^
The plaintiff was born of a father, if we are to believe his statement
and the evidence, free though enfranchised.
There seem to have been in Fitzherbert*s time, a generation later,
still cases of the reduction of freemen to serfdom.^ A corrupt
ecclesiastical society burdened with debts, as Malmesbury was, might
be not indisposed to a profitable abuse of power,^ and the precautions
taken by the manumitted bondman, Thomas Carter, to make the fact
of his enfranchisement as public as possible suggest that he was not
without apprehension.^ The plaintiff in his petition marshals the
' Pat. Bolls, 16 Ed. 4, p. 12. allegations of the plaintiff Thomas Paon-
^ lb. p. 131, December 22, 1478. feld, of Chesterton, Cambs., occurred in the
■ lb. 190. See p. 118, n. 3, infra. reign of Henry 5, when the prior and
* An example of a manumission by the canons of Barnwell claimed the free tenants
Prior and Convent of Belvoir, * cum tota holding in villainage as their bondmen,
sequela sua,* on June 9, 6 Hen. 5 (1418), is imprisoned the complainant for seven years,
in Madox, ' Formulare Anglicanum ' (1702), and after his release by judicial authority
p. 420. again imprisoned him for more than a
» Y. B. 19 Ed. 2, f. 651-2. PoUock and year. Rot. Pari. iv. 566-616.
Maitland, * Hist. Engl. Law,' i. 406, n. 2. " The Leges Henrici Primi made careful
* * Lex Angliffi nunquam matris sed provision for the publicity of enfranchise-
semper patris conditionem comitari justum ment, which must be * in ecclesia, vel
judicat.' Fortescue, ' De Laudibus,' c. 42 mercato, vel comitatu, vel hundreto coram
(ed. 1616). testibus et palam.' 78, § 1. R. Schmid,
' ' Surveyenge,' oh. 13, p. 31 (ed. 1539). ' Die Gesetze der Angelsaohsen ' (2nd ed.,
* A gross case, if we are to credit the 1858).
INTRODUCTION CXXV
evidences of his freedom. Abbot Aylie had retained him in his
service for wages. The incident is not conclusive, since even in
Bracton's time a bondman could enter into a contract with bis lord
which would be protected by the Courts * quia semel voluit (dominus)
conventionem et quamvis damnum sentiat, non tamen fit ei injuria
et ex quo prudenter et scienter contraxit cum servo suo, tacite
renunciavit exceptionem villenagii ' (Bracton, f. 246). A more cogent
proof was that Abbot Aylie had demised him two houses with the
appurtenances for term of life, receiving a fine of a hundred shillings.
The fine suggests a copyhold, and the plaintiff in effect sets forth that
he has, to borrow a phrase from Blackstone,* ' an interest equivalent
to a freehold.' Such an interest in a copyhold could now be
maintained at common law against the lord.^ Indeed, so far had the
Courts gone in their presumptions of implied enfranchisement that
it had been laid down in 1496 : ' Si le seignior a luy [the bondman]
fait leas pur terme dans, ceo est enfranchisement, pur ceo que il
prist interest en le terre vers le seignior.' Per Huse, C. J., Y. B. H. T.
11 Hen. 7, pi. 6, f. 13. Notwithstanding the absolute powers over
the property of a bondman in blood and tenure, and the all but
absolute power over his person theoretically possessed by the lord,
there is evidence that by the fifteenth century public opinion exer-
cised, as a rule, some check upon oppression. More than a hundred
years before this case, in the homily of the Persone's Tale, Chaucer
condemned those who ' taken of here bondmen amerciments, whiche
mighte more resonably ben cleped extorcions than amerciments.
Of whiche amerciments and raunsoninge of bondemen some lordes
stywardes seyn that it is rightful, for as muche as a cherl hath no
1 temporel thing that it ne is his lordes, as they seyn. But certes, thise
lordeshipes doon wrong that bireven hir bondefolk thinges that they
never yave hem. . . . And forther-over, ther-as the lawe seith that
temporel godes of bonde-folk been the godes of hir lordshipes, ye, that
is for to understonde, the godes of the emperour, to deffenden hem
in hir right but nat for to robben hem ne reven hem.' ^ Fitzherbert,
writing a generation later than this case, condemns the practice as
' extorcion or bribery.' *
' ' Commentaries ' (ed. 1766), it. 100. Courts of Common Law, as weU as the
^ This was the point of a celebrated case Court of Chancery, would protect a tenant
tried in 1482 (Y. £. 21 Ed. 4, case 56, f. 70). in villainage with aheritable interest, though
It was an action of trespass by the lord he had no freehold tenure. See ' iSrans. B.
for houses and close broken. The defence Hist. Soc.' (1892), N.S., yi. pp. 288-245.
was that the two houses and the close * ' Works of G. Chaucer,' ed. by W. W.
were customary land, leased to defendant Skeat (1894). ' Canterbury Tales,' p. 618.
for term of life, * par force de quel il fut The mention of the emperor shews the
seisi Ao, come de frank tenement solonque mind of the writer to be addressed to the
le custome de mesme le manoir.' It was Roman law, though he mitigates it with
declared by Brian, C.J., following a pre English custom. See p. cxxvii, infra,
cedent of Danby, C.J., in 1467, that the * Bobbery. See p. 228, n. 10, infra.
CXXvi COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
The two cases of bondage in the volume of Select Gases in the
Court of Requests, published by the Selden Society in 1898, exhibit
the enforcement of an extreme degree of extortion by a lay peer ^ and
a case of minor gravity on the part of a knight.^ In the second
case the plaintiff declared his apprehension 'that the seyd Sir
Edward (Gorge) wolde take or imprison hym for a bondman.' Some
such threat appears to have been made, but not to have been carried
into effect. But Olveston, Abbot of Malmesbury, had fewer scruples.
If we are to believe the plaintiff, he not only robbed but tortured.
Imprisoning his alleged bondman in the monastery, he * put hym
both handes and fete in strayte stockes and ponderous irrons and tied
hym to a great new cheyn to a great stocke and so yet kepyth hym in
that intollerable durese.' ' The conservative instincts of the clergy * had
in this case apparently maintained methods of oppression familiar, it
may be, to the thirteenth century, but repugnant to the lay conscience
and practice of that age.^ That the abbey maintained its grip upon
its bondmen till the Dissolution appears from a letter to Cromwell
in 1587 of Sir John Bryggys and Giles Pole, commissioners appointed
to inquire into a claim by Abbot Frampton, the last abbot of Malmes-
bury, to one William Lane, as his bondman. ' We hear the abbot,*
they write, ' claims Lane as his bondman, and if he be not so the
abbot does the man great wrong.* ® The reason for this tenacity on
the part of the Abbots is disclosed in a chance sentence of a letter
to Cromwell from Dr. William Petre on January 17, 1539. ' The
demesnes [are] all in their [the monks of Malmesbury] own hands.' ^
Demesne lands in the hands of the lord were cultivated by bondmen,
> The Earl of Bath. Barde and another practised by the clergy is adduced by Stu-
V, the Earl of Bath, ' Select Cases in the dent in Christopher St. (German's ' Doctor
Court of Bequests,' pp. 48-59. and Student ' — written about this time— as
* lb. Ne&eway v. Gorge, pp. 42-46. presumptive evidence of its morality. Dia-
' As to the legality of this, even in the logue, ii. ch. xviii.
case of convicted prisoners, see pp. oxzxv- * In the Duchess of Buckingham's case,
oxxxvi, infra. A monstrous instance occurred printed by Dr. Furnivall in his Introduction
about 1439, when Humphrey, Duke of to Ballads from MSS. i. 12, it appears that
Gloucester, seized a Wiltshire gentleman, the officer of the duke ' did sese the goodes
John Whithome, as his bondman, confis- of the plentifFe is blood, that is to say (of
cated his property, consisting of sixty four persons) for knowlige of ther bond-
houses, 686 acres of land, <feo., and confined shipe, And take an Invytory therof.' The
him for more than seven years a prisoner, taking of the inventory suggests that the
* sub tam diris carceribus in ergastulo tam goods were not confiscated, but estimated
obscuro et tenebroso, in adeo grandibus for tallage. Nothing is said as to the
fame, vite miseria, victus et vestimentorum imprisonment of the bondmen, though they
abstraocione, imprisonamenti duricie ' <&c., claimed to be free, and Edward Stafford,
that he lost his eyesight. Duke Humphrey Duke of Buckingham, was exceptionally
was murdered in 1446, and Whithome arbitrary and rapacious, even for that age.
restored to his estates and freedom by a See I. S. Leadam, Inquisition of 1517,
grant of July 16, 25 Hen. 6 (1448). Bot. * Trans. B. Hist. Soc' (1892), N.S., vi. 189.
Pari. V. 448. • S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, XH. ii. 1323.
* The fact that this confiscation was ' lb. xiv. i. 78.
mXRODUCTTON CXXVll
tenants at will at common law.^ It is clear that the monks of
Malmesbury exercised a practical supervision of the cultivation of
their estates, and for this purpose used their bondmen as their
labourers.
In his answer to the plaintifiTs petition the abbot for the most
part contents himself with a formal traverse of the counts. But on
the point of the seizure of the chattels he states that * he lafte with
the wyff and children of the said Robert goodes and catall to the
value of XX marcs (13Z. 6«. 6d.) whiche be suflBcient for there susten-
tacion as yet and the same abbot ofiferd to delyuer to them suche
mylche kyen as he hadde from them toward there sustentacion.' The
plea recalls the passage in Bracton upon the amercement of villains.
Bracton is considering the rights of the serf (sen^ against his lord.
1 He slavishly follows the Bolognese jurist Azo,^ adopting ' the Roman
' dilemma/ * omnes homines aut liberi sunt aut servi/ after which he
feels constrained to identify the viUanus with the servus. This
j identification, which had more influence upon text-books than upon
practice, I have elsewhere considered.^ Its nonconformity with the
common or customary law of his day is disclosed by the clause which
follows the observation that masters could not, as in Roman times,
inflict capital punishment on their serfs. Nay, more, he goes on to
say, *in hoc legem habent contra dominos, quod stare possunt in
judicio contra eos de vita et membris propter seuitiam dominorum
vel propter intollerabilem injuriam, vt si eos destruant, quia salvum
non possit eis waynagium suum' (f. 6).^ This recalls the clause
^ of Magna Carta ' villanus eodem modo amercietur salvo wainnagio
V suo si inciderit in misericordiam nostram ' * ( c. 20). If Bracton be
right — and the fact that the exception he admits to the rights of the
lord mars the symmetry of his theory argues strongly in support
of his statement— it is contrary to all we know of the trend of
opinion and practice to suppose that the reservation in favour of
the serf had been withdrawn in the fifteenth century. It is accepted
' See * Trans. R. Hist. Soc.' (1892), N.S., of the villain from the serf . The 'Mirror Ms
vi. pp. 198, 220. a strenuous upholder of the rights of the
* F. W. Maitland, 'Bracton and Azo' villain, none of which it accords to the
(Selden Soo. 1895), pp. 44, 49. serf. ' Mirror of Justices ' (Selden Soc.
» * Trans. R. Hist. Soc.» (1892), N.S., vi. 1893), p. 80. See I. S. Leadam, * Trans. R.
p. 193, foU. Hist. Soc' (1892), N.S., vi. pp. 196, 201.
* The subsequent passage limiting this Also id. The Authorship of the * Mirror of
to serfs in ancient demesne has been shewn Justices,' ' Law Quarterly Review ' (1897),
to be a later gloss by P. Vinogradofif, xiii. 85. Cf. the customary of King's Brom-
* Villainage in England,' pp. 74, 75. ley in Shaw's ' Staffordshire,' i. 147. ' Con-
* It is remarkable that the 'Mirror,' a later suetudinescustumar[i]orum deKings-Brom-
compilation than Bracton, insists upon the ley villani [sic] dicuntur a villa et non a
right to waynage as a differentiating mark villenage.'
h
CXXVIU COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
that waynage means the plough and plough team. Perhaps the
abstention from unprisonment of the bondman, which we have seen
reason to believe customary, was an inference from the reservation of
waynage, since the plough and the plough team would be useless
without the ploughman. The abbot, however, does not plead that he
has exempted his bondman's waynage. He says nothing of the
plough or the plough team. He does not appear to allude to the
law of Magna Carta or of Bracton. He pleads that he has left the
family suflScient sustenance. The plea reminds us of the Mirror's
exposition of the law rather than of that of Bracton. ' It is an abuse
that one can claim as a bondman him for whom one has never found
sustenance, whereas a serf is only a serf so long as he is in ward
(serms a servanda), and whereas no one ought to claim as a serf even
one who is in his ward unless he finds sustenance for this serf, or an
equivalent, namely, house and land in his fee whence the serf may
gain his sustenance ' &c. (p. 165). It is difficult to resist the con-
clusion that the plea of the abbot and the statement of the ' Mirror *
point to some common authority. A legal justification of the duty to
the villain so imposed by custom upon the lord is supplied by an
argument of Serjeant Keble in a case probably belonging to the end
of the fifteenth century, which turns upon the question whether a
villain had appeal of mayhem against his lord. It must be premised
that by the statute of 23 Edw. 3, c. 1 (1349), confirmed by 12 Eic. 2,
c. 3 (1388) and 2 Hen. 5, st. 1, c. 4 (1414), any person of the labour-
ing class, whether free or bond, might be summoned to serve any
employer for wages if not wanted by his lord. On this Keble argued,
* quant il [the villain] est maime il ne poit doner service anul, & auxy
si le seigneur ne poit doner a luy manger & boier il nest able pur
travel pur son viver.' ^ The villain would naturally represent his wife
and family.
Another curious feature of this case is that the deed which was
the evidence of manumission had passed out of the possession of the
plaintiflf's father as a pledge for eleven shillings, and was alleged to
have been assigned by the bailee to the abbot. Obviously the impli-
cation involved in the utihsation as a pledge of a deed of manu-
mission is the existence of a certain amount of risk of a reclamation
to bondage.
Philosophic historians sometimes suggest that medieval bondage
was, after all, not a more degraded condition than that of the modern
free labourer tied by necessity to an employment which he dares not
' R. Keilwey^B • Reports ' (1688), sub * Casus incerti temporis,' c. 116, p. 134.
INTRODUCTION CXxix
abandon. To the sentiment there is all the difference between
economic compulsion, apparently the outcome of inevitable conditions,
and a legal dependence upon personal caprice. Even comfortable
circumstances, which he apparently enjoyed, created in the Malmes-
bury bondman no satisfaction with his lot. There is a pathetic ring
in the words which, in his old age, he is recorded to have used that
* if he might bring that [his freedom] aboute it wold be more joifuU
to him then any worlelie goode.*
It has been seen that in theory the serfs chattels were his lord's.
Thomas Garter, who is alleged to have been enfranchised, was a man
of some substance. He was charged forty marks for his enfranchise-
ment, which contrasts with the sixteen marks charged for the enfran-
chisement of a bondman by the Prior of Bath (p. 33). He kept a man
' servant ' ; he rode on horseback ; he gave a feast to celebrate his
freedom ; he was even on friendly terms with the gentlemen of the
abbot's household. These last were the intermediaries for a nego-
tiation with the abbot as to ^ what som the same Thomas shold pay
for his manumission ' (p. 127). But in order to evade the legal diffi-
culty that a serf could not redeem himself with money which was
not his, but his lord's, a friend named Thomas White appeared in
the court of the manor of Newnton, to which Thomas Carter was
bondman regardant, and there paid down 10/., part of the price of
his freedom. The MS. subsequently becomes indecipherable, but it
seems to say that on the following day Thomas Garter himself handed
over the forty marks {261. ISs. 4td.) to the abbot at Malmesbury and
then received the deed of enfranchisement from him. Part, at least,
of the money in Garter's hands was, however, still the property of
Thomas White's father, as whose agent the son acted, and the legal
fiction that he was the purchaser and manumitter was so far main-
tained that it was not to be repaid by Garter until a day following
the delivery of the deed of manumission. This method of enfranchise-
ment was as old as Glanvill and Bracton.^
The other case in which the Abbey of Malmesbury is concerned ooiiord i
(Gulford V. Wotton, pp. 45-49) corroborates the evidences of misrule.
The quartering of Abbot Aylie's natural son on the lands of the
house has already been mentioned. His conduct suggests either that
he continued under his father's successor a course of presumption
and contempt which had been tolerated by his father or that he
» Gl. V. 5, Br. f. 194, b. See Vinogradoflf, • Villainage,* pp. 86, 87 ; Pollock and Mait-
land, * Hist. Eng. Law,' i. 41(M11.
h2
CXXX COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
represented the opposition of the copyholders to a recent assertion on
the part of the abbot as lord of his claim to the wastes of the manor. ^
The case brings before us the mode of remunerating the officers
or ' obedientiaries ' of the Benedictine houses. Instead of receiving
payment out of the common fund, they were quartered on particular
estates. This was certainly the system at Malmesbury in the time of
Abbot Colern (1260-1296) and probably long before.^ The ' Accounts
of the Obedientiaries of Abingdon Abbey '^ shew that it prevailed
there. In 1275 Abbot Wenlock of Shrewsbury, also a Benedictine
house, settled a mill at Baschurch, four houses in Shrewsbury
and a house in London on the kitchen of the Abbey of Shrewsbury.*
Until recent times it was the practice in the Colleges of the Uni-
versities to keep separate the accounts of the various foundations,
the revenues being allotted to their respective beneficiaries. The
peculiarity of this case is that, upon default by the tenant of the
holding assigned for the remuneration of the kitchener, the kitchener
himself and not the abbot and convent took action. To leave the
officials of the abbey to enforce their claims against their tenants
was like a recognition by the Crown of a right of private war, and was
likely to lead to scenes, such as that described by the plaintiff,
injurious to the abbey's repute.
^Leuc?" ^ glimpse into a forgotten side of medieval life is revealed by the
case of Walterkyn v. Letice (pp. 164-168), in which the hermit of
Highgate sues the Vicar of St. Pancras for trespass, assault, and loss
of goods. The occasion was a solemn procession, customary in
Bogation Week, and the circumstances suggest that the vicar and
parish officers were ' beating the bounds.' The complainant was a
hermit, the successor of a long line of hermits, to whom in 1864 had
been entrusted the repair of the highway between Highgate and
Smithfield, with the right to take toll. It would appear from a com-
parison of the King's grant of 1864, as set forth in Lloyd's ' History
of Highgate' (p. 113), with the bishop's grant of 1531, as given in
Newcourt (see p. 167, n. 2, infra), that the profits of the place were
derived from two sources : the first the right granted by the King to
exact ' pavage ' for the repair of the road ; the second the right
» Cp. Fitzherbert, ' Surveyenge ' (in * ' Registrum Malmesburiense,' ed. J. S.
Ancient Tracts concerning the management Brewer (1880), ii. 371.
of landed property [1767]), 7, p. 19. * And » Camden Soc. 1892.
also the lordes haue enclosed a grete parte * A. Owen and J. 6. Blakeway, * Hist, of
of theyr waste groundes and streytened Shrewsbury/ ii. 114.
theyr tenauntes of theyr commyns therein.'
INTRODUCTION CXXXl
granted by the bishop to receive the tithes and other offerings made to
the chapel. We find similarly that licences to hermits to ask alms,
whether for maintenance during the execution of a public work or for
maintenance simply, were granted by the King's letters patent to
I reputable hermits, who were thereby exempt from statutes against
* vagabonds. Sometimes such were provided with letters testimonial
from their bishops (12 Eic. 2, c. 7 [1888]).
As an example of a licence to a hermit engaged on public works,
the following will suflSce : * 1335, Jan. 26. — Protection for two years
for brother John Le Mareschal, a hermit, staying at the chapel of
St. Michael by Blythe, about the making of a causey between Blythe
and Mardersey and a bridge for the town of Mardersey, who is
dependent on charity for the sustenance of himself and the men
working at the causey and bridge and is going to divers parts of the
realm to collect alms.' ^ For a case of a licence granted where no
pretence of public service was advanced, see Pat. Rolls, 1339, July 18,
p. 302. * Protection for one year for Robert de Notyngham, hermit,
who depends upon charity for his subsistence.' The statute of 1388
shews that the character of a hermit was constantly assumed by
mendicants. This we know from other sources, as the Vision of Piers
Plowman, Skeat's edit., text G, passus x., 1. 188:
' As eremites that en-babiten by the beye weyes
And in borwes a-mong brewesters ^ and beggen in churches.'
The first hermit of Highgate, it is suggested by Lloyd (p. 112),
may have been the gatekeeper to the bishop's park, and his hermitage
the gatehouse at its entrance. The plaintiff hermit in this case
enjoyed a garden, which he and his predecessors had paled and diked,
and an orchard. He maintained a servant. The quarrel between
the parish of St. Pancras and the hermitage was one of some standing,
for his predecessors had set up the palings and dug the dikes, with
the express object of stopping the processions— at least so the vicar
alleged.
The vicar's statement suggests that the plaintiff had not long
been in possession, and that it was uncertain how he would act. The
reason why the parish should wish to pass through the hermitage
grounds is not explicitly stated, but may be inferred from Newcourt's
statement that Highgate was partly in the parish of Hornsey, and
* Calendar of Pat. Rolls of Edw. 3, 1895, ' and was reckoned among the callings of low
p. 72. . repute.' H. T. Riley, • Liber Albus ' (1861),
! ' The point of this satire is that brewing p. 307, n. 2.
'was confined almost wholly to females
CXXXU COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
partly in that of St. Pancras, though the chapel was in the parish of
Homsey. The procession, attempting to force its way through the
garden, was resisted by the plaintiff and two men armed with clubs.
Blows were exchanged ; numbers gained the day ; and the hermit
sought redress in the Star Chamber.
Vale P. Actions for defamation were maintained in civil courts both
Donyngum bcfore and after the Conquest.^ They were frequent in local courts.
Smyth V. Numerous examples are to be seen in 'Select Pleas in Manorial
Broke.
Courts ' ^ and * The Court Baron,' ^ but * no royal writ was devised for
. the relief of the slandered.* The cause of this was doubtless the
claim of the Ecclesiastical Courts to take cognisance of such cases.
Of the enforcement of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in this matter there
are frequent examples, dating from 1490 (c. Ixxix.), in W. H. Hale,
* Proceedings in Criminal Causes ' from the Act Books of Ecclesiastical
Courts (1847).
In taking cognisance, therefore, of an action for slander involving
no Scandalum Magnatum the Star Chamber appears to have been
extending lay at the expense of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Slanders
of persons of distinction were by 12 Eic. 2, c. 11, punishable by the
advice of the Council. But W. Hudson, in his * Treatise of the Court
of Star Chamber,* cites no example of a private action for words
heard by this Court, though there seem to have been actions for
libel. He observes, however, that *in all ages libels have been
severely punished in this court ; but most especially they began to be
frequent about 42 & 43 Ehz. when Sir Edward Coke was her
Attorney-General.' This refers to libels between private persons. It
is conceived that the justification of the Court's jurisdiction in cases
of slander of this sort was based upon the theory that the Court
supplemented the defects of common and statutory law. Of this
form of extension the cases of Vale v. Broke, Donyngton v. Broke, and
Smyth 17. Broke (pp. 88-45) are the earliest examples I have met.'*
Attorney- The casc of Attomey- General Hobert v. Parre and Others
pmand (pp. 18, 19) is a fragment of the proceedings upon an information
iiled in the Star Chamber against a panel for perjury.
The punishment of jurors for a false verdict is described by
' Bee r. and M. * Hist, of Eng. Law,' ii. * Several irials for slander are to be
585, foil. found in J. Hawarde's Beports, but they are
- Selden Soc. (18H8). chiefly for the slander of persons occupying
» lb. 1890. official positions.
otheri.
INTRODUCTION CXXXlll
Forsyth and Stephen, followed by Pollock and Maitland, ^as an
incidental result of the process called attaint.^ It is true that the
writ as given in Bracton (L 291) orders the second jury to be
summoned to try the original question of disseisin. But the chapter
of Bracton (f. 288, b) under the rubric * De conuictione sine attincta
iuratorum qui male iurauerint ' shews that the punishment was in
his time regarded as an end in itself. It may be admitted, how-
ever, that in laying down the proposition that an attaint of perjury
could only lie against jurors in an assize, because where litigants
had put themselves upon the jury they had elected to take their
verdict, Bracton appears to regard the perjury of jurors otherwise
than as an offence in itself. The reason for this was that perjury
was a matter for the Ecclesiastical Courts, and was only taken
cognisance of by the Eoyal Courts when it touched the King. The
assizes being a royal ordinance, the offence against their procedure
committed by perjury was an offence against the King. This point
of view was carried into jury trials ' si fiat jurata de aliquo quod
tangat dominum regem ' (id. f. 290, b). In that case an attaint of
a perjured jury would lie. The process of attaint was a trial of
the original jury of twelve by another jury of at least twenty-four.
The justification of the imputation of criminality to the attainted
jury was that they were in theory of the law supposed to return a
verdict as to facts known to them, Bracton expressly stating that the
jury were excusable if there were dilKculties in arriving at the facts
(f. 290, b). If the verdict of the twenty-four were opposed to that of
the twelve, the guilt of the twelve was ipso facto demonstrated, and
they were arrested and imprisoned. Their lands and goods were
forfeited to the King.^ The consequences being so serious, the King
granted writs of attaint sparingly, until by the Statute of Westminster
the First, c. 88 (1275), it was provided that the King should hence-
forth grant them * quant il semblera que besoigne soit,' which still left
a large margin to his discretion. This was swept away by an Act of
1361 (84 Ed. 3, c. 7), giving a right of attaint to all, both in pleas
real and personal ^ (cp. 1 Edw. 8, st. 1, c. 6 ; 5 Edw. 3, cc. 6, 7 ;
* W. Forsyth, * Hist, of Trial by Jury,' procedure was confined at common law to
1852, p. 181 ; Stephen, * Hist. Grim. Law/ real actions (Beeves, * Hist, of English
iU. 241 ; P. and M. u. 541. Law ' [1869], iii. 147, n.). The statutes of
' Coke enumerates eight punishments Edward 3 and the language of the Act of
attaching to the o£fence. Coke upon Little- 1 495 shew that, whatever the abstract doc-
ton* 294, b. trine of common law might be, the practice
* Finlason maintains, citing Y. B. 14 had been to bring actions of attaint in pleas
Hen. 7, fo. 14, that in consequence of personal as well as real. See also Coke,
the highly penaJ character of attaint the 2 Inst. 130.
CXXxiv C50URT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
28 Edw. 3, c. 8) . Another Act (c. 8) of the same session of 1361 gave the
party aggrieved an action for damages against jurymen who accepted
bribes from the other side. These damages were assessed by an Act
of 1364 (38 Edw. 3, st. 1, c. 12) as ten times the amount corruptly
received, half to go to the King and half to the party grieved. But the
venality of juries continued, and the law's delays threw obstacles in
the way of checking it. A statute of 1433 sets forth the methods
adopted by corrupt jurymen to protect themselves against the attaint.
* In times past in writs of attaints, when the Grand Jury had
appeared in court and were ready to pass their verdict (" fuist prest
de passer "), one of the tenants or defendants or of the petty jurors
named in such writs sometime have pleaded false and feigned pleas
(" ount pledez faintes et faux plees ") which were not triable by the
grand jury of the attaint and by that means delayed the taking of
such grand juries until such pleas were tried; and after such pleas
tried and found for the plaintiff, another of the jurors tenants or
defendants might plead another such false and feigned plea after the
last continuance in the same attaints {** puis Ja darrein continuance
en mesmez les atteintes '') ; and so every of the defendants jurors or
tenants, after other, might plead such false and feigned plea and delay
the grand jury when it was ready to pass its verdict, and though that
all such false and feigned pleas were found against them which pleaded,
no pain was given them by the common law * &c. (11 Hen. 6, c. 4).
It was sought to check these dilatory tactics by the provision that the
plaintiflfs should be allowed to recover their damages and costs against
those availing themselves of them. But this did not put an end to
the delays. The other litigant and each individual of the twelve
jurymen against whom the writ of attaint had issued was free to put
in his own plea of defence * triable in whatsoever county that him
pleaseth.' These were not feigned pleas, but pleas substantial to the
issue. Accordingly damages did not Ue under the Act of 1433. It
appears, too, that after these pleas had been entered and tried, the
grand jury had yet to be summoned to give a verdict on the whole
case. The result was that plaintiffs in actions of attaint were baulked
of justice * by ten years or more in common estimation.' A new Act
in 1437 therefore fixed the extraordinarily high sum of 20Z. per annum
in land as the qualification of jurors in attaint. The object of this
was presumably to secure against corruption. In order to grapple
with the device of dilatory pleas entered in counties outside the venue
C foreign pleas ') judgement on such pleas was to be taken as a final
judgement in attaint against the juror raising them (15 Hen. 6, c. 5).
INTRODUCTION CXXXV
An elaborate *Act agaynst perjurye ' (11 Hen. 7, c. 21), passed for
the city of London in 1495, recites that perjury 'is muche and
customably used ' there among jurors. The Act endeavoured to
suppress it by the same method of raising their qualifications, which
were to be as much as * of substance of c. li.' The Court of Husting
was given a jurisdiction to try attaints, and the grand jury increased
in number to forty-eight (11 Hen. 7, c. 21). For the rest of the
country another Act was passed in the same session intituled ' An
Acte for Writtes of Attaynt to be brought agaynst jurors for untrue
verdictes ' (11 Hen. 7, c. 24). Besides fixing the qualification of the
grand jury of twenty-four at the yearly income of twenty marks
(13Z. 68. Sd.) arising from freehold, the Act improved the chances of
conviction by lowering the penalties. Where the verdict was for above
the value of 40Z., the penalty on the attainted jurors was fixed at 20Z.
each ; where below, at 51. each. The grand jury in these smaller
cases was qualified by freehold of the value of five marks {SI. 6«. 8d.)
a year, or ' a c marc of godes and catalles.' In addition to the fixed
minimum penalties of 20Z. and 51., the justices received power to
impose fines at their discretion. The Act, originally temporary, was
continued by successive Acts (12 Hen. 7, c. 2; 19 Hen. 7, c. 3)
to the end of the reign. ^ The mitigation of penalties confirms the
, statement of Coke (3 Inst. 163) that * the punishment of perjury in
jurors for a false verdict was so severe by the common law as few or
no juries were upon first cause convicted.' The Act * Pro Camera
. Stellata ' did not expressly ^ confer on the Statutory Court an express
power to punish perjuries. It would seem, therefore, that it derived
its jurisdiction from another source, and we know, as a matter of
fact, that the Council took cognisance of perjury in jurors.' The
extension of jurisdiction from this to perjury in general naturally
followed.'*
A glimpse into the administration of public gaols is given ^SSh "'
* After its expiration it was re-enacted a witness (Miles, a common informer), * it
in 1532 by 23 Hen. 8, c. 3 ('An Acte * was resolved by all the Goarte, that this
concernyng perjurie & punysshement of Courte maye determyne all penuries at the
untreue verdictes '). Gonmion Law and that it was an aunoiente
' Sir J. F. Stephen thinks that in this Courte longe before Henry 7, & determyned
matter the Act did constructively sanction causes and Bichard 3 sate judiciallye in this
the practice of the Ck)uncil to try perjuries. Courte and the Lo. Chaunoellour sayde
' Hist, of the Criminal Law,* iii. 244. that in Chauncellor £romlie*s time, Serg'
* Sir F. Palgrave, * Essay * &c. (1834), p. Lovelace & Ployden had set there handes
55. See also Coke, 3 Inst. 174. to a demurrer for such a bill of periurye &
* Cf. Hudson, *0f the Court of Star were convented & bitterlye reprehended
Chamber,* p. 51. As to perjury in general, by the Courte.' J. Hawarde, * Les Beports '
on October 31, 1616, upon a demurrer to » &o. (1894) ed. by W. P. Baildon, pp. 301-2.
the jurisdiction of the Court for perjury of
OchyU.
CXXXVl COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
both in Tayllour v. Att Well, already discussed, and in Tapton v.
Colsyll (pp. 61-54). In this case, heard in 1495, the Mayor of
Exeter, the defendant, had ordered his officials to arrest a widow
living at Thorverton, or Thoverton. According to the plaintiff the
order had been executed with brutality and personal injuries had
been inflicted on her. She had been dragged off to gaol, presumably
the city gaol at South Gate, where, even in John Howard's time,
there was * no chimney ; no court ; no water ; no sewer.' ^ Here
she was fettered with leg-irons, weighing, according to her story,
more than SO lb., and a chain besides, to await her trial on a charge
of felony. As a justice of the peace had power by 34 Ed. 8, c. 1,
to imprison certain persons therein set out, and the charge against
the plaintiff seems to have been one of felony, her incarceration
was presumably legal. Whether the infliction of irons was so is
more doubtful. Bracton lays down the general principle that
condemnation to fetters was illegal ' quia career ad continendos, non ad
puniendos haberi debeat.' * Whether or not this proposition was
borrowed from Ulpian,' it was the principle which gradually won its
way into English law.* If this was the rule to be observed in the case
of convicted prisoners, though Bracton admits that it was not univer-
sally recognised by the judges of his day, still more was it binding in
that of the untried. * It is forbidden, says the " Mirror of Justices,'' *
some twenty years after Bracton wrote, that any one be tormented
before judgement.* But the author agrees with Bracton that * it is
lawful for gaolers to put fetters upon those whom they suspect (of trying
to escape),* ^ though he limits the weight to twelve ounces. Britton,
who was possibly contemporary with the author of the * Mirror,*
mentions other exceptions. ' As to prisoners, we will that none may
be put in irons, but such as have been apprehended for felony, or are
imprisoned in parks or vi varies, or detained for arrears of accounts,' '
the last of these being by Statute Westminster II. c. 11. Felony being
capital, it may be that a suspicion of intended escape was an easily
justified presumption, upon which the plaintiff in this case was dealt
with. But the excessive weight was clearly incompatible with the
spirit of Bracton as with the limitations expressed by the ' Mirror.'
It speaks well for the promptitude of the criminal administration at
this date that the prisoner was, in the course of the twenty-four weeks
• J. Howard, ' State of the Prisons * * It is quoted with approval by Coke, 3
(2nd ed. 1780), p. 348. Inst. 34.
« Bracton, 106, a. * Seld. Soc. 1893, p. 52.
> Bee Pollock and Maitland, ' Hist. Engl. ** Ibid. Bracton, f. 137.
Law,' u. 515. ' Britton, ed. F. M. Nichols (1866), 1. 44.
INTRODUCTION CXXXVU
during which she was in gaol, thrice brought before commissioners of
gaol delivery. It does not clearly appear why she was not either put
on her trial or released. Possibly, as in modern usage, a removal was
ordered on the first occasion pending the collection of evidence. If
this were so, her subsequent imprisonment after the prosecution had
had a reasonably sulKcient time was undoubtedly oppressive. Coke ^
cites 5 Hen. 4, c. 10 (1404) as authority for the proposition * that
none be imprisoned by any justice of the peace, but in the common
gaole, to the end they might have their triall at the next gaole de-
Uvery, or sessions of the peace.' The Act does not go so far, being
designed to put down arbitrary imprisonment in private castles. But
Coke's gloss states the practice in the case of imprisonment in common
gaols based on c. 29 of Magna Carta, ' nulli differemus justitiam vel
rectum.* ^
Having been released after the third assize, the prisoner was re-
arrested in default of finding sureties to keep the peace. Fitzherbert,
in his * Loffice de Justices de Peace,' tells us that the justices can at
discretion call upon any person to find surety of the peace and can
imprison him in default until surety found. It was competent for
such a person to sue out a writ of Supersedeas in Chancery, which,
perhaps as a matter of common form, recited that sufficient security
had been lodged in Chancery and ordered the immediate enlargement
of the prisoner.^ Possibly the amount of the security was relaxed by
the Chancellor ' in favorem libertatis.* It was by the humanity of
some of the citzens of Exeter that the plaintiff thus obtained release
and was able to petition the Star Chamber for redress of her wrongs.
A group of six cases brings before us the principal matters engag-
ing the attention of the town populations. Of these the first, in which
the celebrated printer Pynson was plaintiff (pp. 114-118), illustrates
the jealousy with which, from time immemorial, the citizens of Lon-
don had viewed the influx of ahens to compete with themselves in
commerce or industry. The second, the Abbot v. the Bailiff of Shrews-
bury (pp. 178-208), i&an example of the friction which seems very
generally to have existed between growing towns and the great ecclesi-
astical corporations in their midst. Of this state of things the secular
animosities which mark the history of St. Alban*s and Bury St.
Edmund's are the best known. Another subject of lively interest to
* 2 Inst. 43. of gaol delivery, for which he refers to
* See Coke, 2 Inst. 315, on the Statute of cc. 26 and 29 of Magna Carta.
Glouce8ter,c. 9 (1278), where it is expressly * The writ is set out in Fitzherbert,
enacted that a homicide be tried at the next ' Loffice de Justices de Peace * (ed. 1617),
coming of the justices in eyre or the justices p. 145, b.
CXXXVm COURT OF THE STAB CHAMBER
the towns was the taking of toll, which does not fail to shew itself in
the Shrewsbury case, but which is a main grievance in the dispute
between the cities of Exeter and London (pp. 71-96), in Couper v.
Gervaux (pp. 86-38), which involves a similar controversy between
the cities of Salisbury and London, and in Whyte v. the Mayor &c. of
Gloucester (pp. 225, 226). Two other cases bring before us the efforts
made by Henry 7 to suppress notorious evils affecting the pro-
sperity of the towns. Of these the first was the use of illegal and dis-
honest weights and measures, as set forth in the petition of the Lead
Miners of Yorkshire (pp. 69-71) ; the other the throttling of trade
and industry by the exactions of the gilds, as in the case of Butlond
and others v. Austen (pp. 262-271).
pynaonand The aliens affected the suburbs,^ where they were free from the
others ». ' **
sqayer. cxactions of the municipal officers, who with the connivance of the
corporation employed malicious chicane of all sorts with the object of
driving them out of the country.' But in the suburbs they were
liable to the unrestrained outbreaks of the mob. Such was the
experience of Richard Pynson, himself a Norman, who petitioned the
Star Chamber for redress against the violence of his neighbours of
the parish of St. Clement Danes. His servants were probably like
himself foreigners, the art of printing in England being less advanced
than on the Continent.' More than thirty years later, the University
of Cambridge obtained a licence to appoint three stationers and
printers or booksellers, either aliens or natives.* Normans ^ were
specially employed in the printing of law books. There were also a
large number of foreign letter-casters for printers.^ London at all
times attracted a considerable number of resident aliens.
La 1464 a general petition was presented to Edward 4 from the
* handcrafty men and women ' of London and * other good citees,
tounes, boroughs and villages.' ^ The petitioners complained of the
* grete nombre & multitude of aliens and straungers of dy vers nations,
beyng artificers, housholders & dwellers in dyvers citees, tounes,
' The brotherhood of the Ck)nception of ' See examples in H. N. Humphreys,
the Virgin Mary, incorporated in 1632, was • Hist, of the Art of Printing,* 1867.
for foreign artificers and handicraftsmen ♦ S. P. Dom. Hon. 8, vii. 1026(27).
dwelling in London and the suburbs. ^ In 1536 John le Rowsse of Normandy,
S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, v. 766(7). Commis- printer, gave evidence upon an inquiry into
sioners were appointed on December 3, assaults upon Frenchmen in London. Sec
1528, to inquire into the number of resident the life of B. Pynson in ' Diet. Nat. Biog.'
aliens in London and a compass of two ' T. Page, 'Historicallntrod. to Calendar
miles from the suburbs. lb. iv. 4997. of Denizations ' &c, (1893), p. xlix.
* See the petition of the Joiners Strangers ' Bot. Pari. v. 606.
to Wolsey in 1621. S. P. Dom. Hen. 8,
ui. 1680 ; cf . ib. 2736.
INTRODUCTION CXXXIX
boroughs & villages . . . usyng such Hand craftes & havyng &
settyng a werke grete nombre of people in their houses of their own
nations & none other ' &c. That this grievance was not exaggerated
may be inferred from the report of Marillac, the French ambassador,
to Francis 1 on May 22, 1541. ' Les Anglois . . . sont si ignorans
en toutes sortes d'oeuvres mecaniques qui sont contraintz passer par
les mains des etrangers, combien qu'ilz ne les ayment point.' ^ The
uprising against foreigners in 1517, called Evil May Day, originated
i out of a conversation of one Lyncoln, a broker, with Dr. Bele,
a canon of * the Spital/ on the subject of the ' artificers straungers
that tooke awaye all the lyuynge.' ^
It is perhaps not to be wondered at that with the growth in Abbot ».
importance of the trading community and the enlargement of their Shrewsbury,
franchises by royal favour contests frequently arose against the
proprietors of manorial rights. The clash of local rights was incessant
throughout the Middle Ages. Especially was this the case where
the landowners were wealthy monastic establishments, deriving their
revenues, for the most part, from agriculture, and comparatively
indifferent to the progress of trade. As corporations naturally dis-
posed to be conservative, they were tenacious of their traditions and
indisposed to slacken restraints which the mercantile community felt
to be galling and tyrannical. As at St. Alban's and Bury St.
Edmund's, so it was at Shrewsbury. Since the thirteenth century
the town, increasing in numbers and consequence, had been seeking to
extend the area of its jurisdiction, while the abbots, who if not lords of
the manor held sundry manorial rights, such as the mills and a manor
of increasing importance in the eastern suburb, had been resisting
what they regarded as invasions of their privileges. But royal grants,
themselves an encroachment on the jurisdictions of manorial lords,
were to be had on payment of sufficient fees, and were constantly
maintained by the exercise of royal authority. From such grants the
townsmen of Shrewsbury conceived of their bailiflfs, as they express
it, as ' the King's lieutenantz ' and their quarrel one in which they
might invoke royal support.
The Abbey of Shrewsbury lay on the east bank of the Severn,
separated from the town by the river, which was crossed by the Stone,
now known as the English bridge. Between the abbey walls and the
bridge there was a tract of ground with a few houses built upon it
which retains to this day its name of the Abbey Foregate. There
• MS. R. C, Basohet's Transcr. « Hall»s ♦ Chron.' pp. 586-7.
Cxl COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
was evidence to shew that although this had belonged to the abbey,
and had once been occupied with houses which had been destroyed by
the Welsh, a compact had been entered into between the abbey and
the town to leave it unbuilt upon in order that, in the event of war,
a fortification might be erected on it for the protection of the bridge
and the town. Whatever documents may have been put in as
evidence before the Star Chamber, we know enough at the present
day to assure us that the abbot's claim to manorial jurisdiction
over this land was justified by precedent. The town, however, perhaps
because sensible that upon the burgesses would fall the burden of the
fortification contingently contemplated, had for many years asserted
the right of jurisdiction over it, and had obstructed the taking of toll
by the abbot's oflScers. The abbey had for some time been in an
impoverished condition, and the toll was perhaps more rigorous than
theretofore. There followed a series of squabbles and riots, and the
appearance of the abbot in 1604 as plaintiff in the Star Chamber. It
is clear from the documents that the town was fairly unanimous in
its resistance. The names of those charged with disorder include its
most substantial burgesses. Foremost among the champions of the
town were the parishioners of St. Chad's, the parish nearest to the
Stone bridge. Of nine names which it has been possible to trace,
owing to the circumstance that their owners left wills, eight ^ are
parishioners of St. Chad's.
The chief value of the case from the point of view of the history
of law is in the light it throws on the constitution and early working
of the Star Chamber already discussed.
This case consists of no fewer than twelve documents, of which
very few are dated. Some diflSculty has therefore been experienced
in settling their order, for the quarrel between the town and the abbey
raged during many years and defied the efforts of the Court to con-
clude it. The first document in order, lettered * A' by me, is without
date. It is an answer on the part of the town to a complaint by the
abbot to the Star Chamber. Its date is approximately determined
first by a reference in document * B ' to the fact that the baihffs have
brought up Eichard Dicher, bailiff in 1502-3 for examination, which
examination follows, lettered * C,' and is dated February 6, anno xix.
i.e. Henrici 7, i. (1504) ; secondly, a paper drawn up in 1509, when
the quarrel broke out afresh, headed ' Summary of the Controversies '
&c., states that the original complaint was filed in Hilary Term,
> Edward Knyght, David Ireland, Roger Richard Lyster, Nicholas Waryng, Richard
Later, Richard Dioher, Richard Pope, Purser.
INTRODUCTION Cxll
19 Henry 7 ; i.e. presumably in January 1504 ; thirdly, the bailiflfs in
' A ' attack the abbot for being in London, to which he replies in ' B '
that he is there attending Parliament. This must have been early
in 1504. It is to be noted that the answers to interrogatories in
document ' C,' the interrogatories being lost, are answers to eleven
interrogatories, which are therefore evidently distinct from the undated
seven interrogatories of document *G/ Document *D' is dated, being
an exemplification of a decree of the Star Chamber of July 8, 1508.
This exemplification has been inserted here at the date of the decree,
though we know, as a matter of fact, that it was issued by Robert
Eydon, clerk of the Council, on July 10, 1509 (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8,
i. 289). Document *E* is another complaint by the abbot. It
speaks of Henry 7 as ' our late sovereign lord,' and petitions for an
exemplification of the decree of July 8, 1508. It is therefore between
April 22 and July 8, 1509. Document * F ' is * The summary of the
controversies ' to which the abbot refers in document * J ' as a * breviat '
drawn up by him or on his behalf upon a former request by the Lord
Chancellor. It refers to the decree of the Star Chamber of July 8,
1508, and is, therefore, later than that date.
Document * G ' contains seven interrogatories on behalf of the abbot,
and document * H ' the answers. This last document has a very signifi-
cant date and signature. It is signed by Robert Rydon on the last
day of February. There is no date of the year. Reason has already
been given for believing it not to belong to the earlier proceedings, the
answers to the interrogatories in which are in document * C It there-
fore belongs to the later proceedings, and is the sequel of a plaint and
an answer, both of which have been lost. But it cannot be later than
1509 because Robert Rydon died between July 10 and October 19 of
that year, when Mewtis succeeded to his place. It must, therefore, be
dated February 28, 1509. The next document, ' I,' is dated October 14.
It is a continuation of the examination of the witnesses upon the
abbot's interrogatories * G.' The interval which had elapsed since the
previous examination may perhaps have been due to the illness and
death of Robert Rydon. Perhaps document * J,' the letter of the abbot
to the Chancellor, intervened, for it refers to the issue of the exempli-
fication on July 10, 1509. As, however, this is uncertain, I have
thought it best to continue the answers to the interrogatories. The
letter appears to have been written before the case came on in the
Star Chamber, for it deprecates a petition by the bailiffs, which was
perhaps included in the lost answer, for the case to be sent to the
common law. Document * K ' is dated April 12, 1 Hen. 8 (1510),
Cxlii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
and complains of language ased by the abbot at the hearing in the
Star Chamber, which, therefore, must have recently taken place.
Document * L,' which is a complaint or petition by the abbot, gives
a continuous history of the riotous proceedings at Shrewsbury from
July 21, 1509, when the exemplification of July 10 was publicly read,
to St. David's Day following, that is, March 1, 1510. Curiously
enough, it is indorsed * xxij day of October anno primo Henrici Octavi.'
That this is a blunder for * anno secundo ' is conclusively proved, first
from the contents of the document already mentioned, and secondly
by the fact that John Mewtis, who signs as clerk of the Council, was
not clerk until October 19, 1510.
Hewytand Amoug the obstacles to trade introduced by the avarice or necessity
Bx^,"* of the towns was the exaction of excessive tolls from merchants,
whether of English or of alien blood, who were not free of their
privileges. An instance of this, belonging to the year 1533, the
offenders being the Mayor and Corporation of Hull, was published in
the Select Cases in the Court of Requests, p. 39. In that case, as in
the case of Hewyt and the Mayor and Corporation of Exeter ?;. the
Mayor and Corporation of London (pp. 71-95), exemption from toll was
claimed on the ground that complainants were tenants in ancient de-
mesne. In the case of Exeter their privilege was fortified by express
grants which the evidence shewed to have been respected by .the
Londoners until within a few years after the accession of Henry 7.
As the poverty of the towns increased the mischief spread. Two years
after this case came before the Star Chamber the legislature interfered.
A Bill introduced into the House of Commons set forth in its pre-
amble that the towns throughout the kingdom * lately more and
oderwyse than in tymes passed have distreyned levyed and taken of
theym (Marchauntes Denysyns) a certeyn Costome called Skavage,
oderwyse called Shewage, to ther gret charge and trouble, which
Skavage was never used to be taken nor levyed but only of Mar-
chauntes Straungers.' The penalty upon the offending oflScial was
the heavy fine of 201. It is probable that this Bill, which passed
into an Act intituled * De Scavagio non recipiendo de Subditis '
(19 Hen. 7, c. 8), was intended to include the City of London. It
appears, however, in the statute-book with a concluding proviso
originally written upon a separate schedule annexed to the Act. By
this proviso the Corporation of London were exempted from the
prohibition of the Act, subject to the fixing of their rates of scavage
by the King in Council. Thus London gained at the expense of the
INTRODUCTION cxliii
rest of the kingdom, obtaining a statutory recognition of a right
which it had hitherto only ventured fitfully to assert.
The same disposition to increase tolls is shewn in the case of Couper oouper «.
Chnvaax.
V. Gervaux (pp. 86-38), where a goldsmith of London complains of the
dues demanded from him at Salisbury Fair. In this as in other dis-
putes the violence exhibited by the parties at variance seems dispro-
portionate to the importance of the issue. It must, however, be
remembered that the officials of a town had an immediate personal
interest in keeping up the municipal revenues, seeing that they were
the source of the payment of the fee-farm, often highly onerous, de-
ficiency in which they were compelled to make up at their own expense.
A striking instance of this is to be found among the records of the Cor-
poration of Gloucester, a town whose exactions are the cause of a com-
plaint printed in this volume. In 1487-88 they petitioned the King,
on the ground of the decay of the town, for a remission of their ' grevis
fee firme of Ixv. li.' They stated that the then bailiffs and those for
several preceding years had been compelled to contribute 30Z. of that
sum out of their own goods, ' by reason whereof very many of the
burgesses who seemed able from their good manners & means to
fill the office of bailiff have left the town with their goods when they
thought the time was coming for them to be elected bailiffs &
others intend following their example, so that in a short time there
will be no men left in the town with sufficient means to fill the said
office.' '
It is noteworthy that in the case of Couper v. Gervaux no claim is
set up by the plaintiff as a London citizen or by the City of London
itself to try the case by the City's representatives upon the spot.^
Either this claim was not stirred because there were no wardens of
the City at the fair of Salisbury, though that was one of the great
fairs of the kingdom, or because the City's privilege was in desuetude,
presumably as being found to conflict with the local franchises. The
17 Edward 4, c. 2, recites that to every fair * est de droit apper-
teignant un Court de Peepowdrez a ministrer en ceo due Jus-
tice en cell partie ; enquele Court il y ad toutz jours este accustume
que chacune persone venaunt as tielx feirrez arroit loial remedie '
* Beoords of Corporation of Gloaoester, granted by charter that the same citizens
Hist. MSS. Gomm. xii. Bep. pt. ix. p. 406. shall have their wardens of their citizens
' * Because the citizens of London in all for the holding of such pleas as of ancient
good & great fairs of England were wont times they have had, excepting pleas of the
to have wardens of themselves to hold land & of the Grown.' 'Lib. Alb.' 40,
pleas, concerning such citizens as shall 1 Ed. 1 ;Colthrop, * Liberties d^c. of London,'
have conference to the said fairs : it is 1642, p. 13.
Cxliv COUKT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
&c. Here is no mention of the privilege claimed by the City
of London, notwithstanding that this Act regulated the Courts
of Piepowder throughout the kingdom. In 1484 it was made per-
petual by ' An Act for tryall of matters in Courtes of Pypowder held
in fayres ' (1 Bichard 3, c. 6), again without any exception.
whyte V. The great waterways of the country afforded an opportunity for
Mayor of. * the exactiou of tolls which was not lost sight of by the municipalities
of the riparian towns. In the Parliament of 1401 a petition had
been addressed to the Crown by the counties of Salop, Hereford, and
Stafford, complaining that whereas victuals had always been allowed
to pass through Gloucester and Worcester duty free, so long as they
were not offered for sale in these towns, extortionate tolls were being
then demanded by their bailiffs.* The King returned the equivocal
answer that there should be no departure from the customs hitherto
observed, and that no extortion should be suffered. Possibly this
; favourable attitude towards the two towns was prompted by the
antipathy to the Welsh which marks the statutes of that parliament.
In 1411 the burgesses of Gloucester themselves, supported by those
of Bristol, petitioned the Crown against the inhabitants of Beaudely,
of the county of Salop generally, and of Wales.^ These persons,
according to their petition, combined together to force violently upon
the merchants trafficking on the river the hiring of ' grosses bateux
appellez Trowes ' in place of rafts called * flotes,' on which such goods
as timber and fuel had been hitherto laden. The only answer vouch-
safed was * soit fait come ad este usez devant ces heures,' and no
statute was passed. But the three counties which had been peti-
tioners in 1401 joined, by way of reprisal, in a cross-petition of the
same session (1411) against the men of Gloucester and Worcester,
adding on this occasion those of the town of Bridgnorth.' The
Council therefore ordered the evidence for these exactions to be pro-
duced, alleging that it had obtained the authority of Parliament to
effect a final settlement of the disputes. Apparently the claims of
the towns to tolls were settled, but the old quarrel about the * flotes '
and ' trows * revived. A petition was presented to Parliament in
1427 complaining of the conduct of Welshmen and other dwellers in
privileged places * where the king's writ runneth not,' "^ and asking
* for a statute enforcing the undisturbed user of the river. But the
* Rot. Pari. iii. 476, b. * The Marches of Wales. See Straunge
» Jh. 666, b. V, Kenaston, p. 274.
• lb. iu. 668, a.
INTRODUCTION cxlv
Lords Marchers were valuable supports of the English Grown, and
the King, or rather his Council, refused the prayer.^ Two years later
the men of Tewkesbury presented to Parliament a long petition in
English.^ They set forth that the inhabitants of the Forest of Dene
and the neighbourhood 'have come (being a) grete multitude of
peple and routes of the Gommones of the same forest and of the
Hundredes of Bledislowe and Wesebury with greete ryot and strengthe
in maner of Werre, as Enemys of a straunge land,' and have de-
stroyed their Trows and robbed them of their merchandise. A
proclamation having been issued for their suppression served but to
add to the number and violence of the rioters. Eight trows were
despoiled and some of their crews drowned. The rioters * maneshud
the owners of the saide goodes and the said trowmen that they sholde
not be so tardy to carye no maner of vitaille by the seide streme for
Lorde ne Lady.' The inhabitants of Tewkesbury petitioned, there-
fore, that the Sheriff of Gloucestershire or the Bailiffs of Gloucester
should be ordered to make proclamation for the restitution of the
stolen goods ' with resonable amendes.' In default of restitution and
of the arrest and imprisonment of the offenders in Gloucester Gastle,
the Statute of Winchester should be enforced against the Hundred in
which the robbery was committed.
By this statute, the great Police Act of Edward 1 passed in 1285,
it was provided that the Hundred which failed to arrest felons guilty
of offences within its borders should be answerable for any robberies
they might have committed as well as for damages (18 Ed. 1, c. 2).
The statute had been repeatedly confirmed, and by an Act of 1388
was ordered to be proclaimed four times a year in every hundred and
market town.' It is evident, nevertheless, that in 1429, the year of
this petition, it was again in desuetude. The petition was granted,
and became the statute 8 Henry 6, c. 27. From the petition which fol-
lowed two years later it appears that if the Act of 1429 had exercised
some effect in England, it had been a failure in Wales. Doubtless
this was due to the chaos involved in the jurisdiction of the Lords
Marchers.* The petitioners, who seem to have been the inhabitants
of Bristol, Gloucester, and Worcester, preferred a prayer revolutionary
to the medieval sense of the importance of rights of jurisdiction. This
was that the neighbouring counties might be made responsible. Par-
' Bot. Pari. iv. 338, a. in 1328 (2 Ed. 8, Stat, of Northampton,
* lb. 345, a. 0. 6), in 1331 (5 Ed. 3, o. U). in 1354
' Complaint being made that the Statute (28 Ed. 3, c. 11), and in 1383 (7 Bioh. 2,
of Winchester was neglected, its enforce- o. 6).
ment was ordered in 1300 (28 Ed. 1, c. 17), * See pp. xciii-xov, supra.
Cxlvi COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
liament was satisfied to proclaim the empty principle that the passage
of the river was free to all, and to refer the complainants to their
nugatory remedy by action * according to the course of the Common
Law.' ^ The Government of Edward 4 may be inferred to have
been successful in enforcing some degree of order from the change in
the complaints as to impediments in the way of the free navigation of
the Severn. That the previous outrages had caused a decline of its
trade is evident from the statement of the next petition ^ (1464) that
the banks of the tow-path, * called a lyne weye,' were overgrown with
wood, timber, and bushes. Apparently the petitioners looked to the
riparian owners to maintain a clear road, but they neglected the duty
and contented themselves with the exaction of tolls. Their interests
must be presumed to have been too powerful to meddle with. The
petition was rejected. It was not till forty years later that the strong
administration of Henry 7 ventured to deal with this old-standing
grievance. In 1504 was passed the Act intituled *De Fluvio
Sabrini.' ^ It set forth the previous complaints, the legislature's attempts
to find a remedy, and, finally, the declaration of principle of the Act of
1431 that the river was free. Notwithstanding this, the oflScers of the
town of Gloucester and the city of Worcester had lately exacted impo-
sitions from trows and boats passing through. A penalty of 201. was
accordingly laid upon any person demanding such tolls, of which two-
thirds should go to the King and the remainder to the party grieved
or to the common informer. The only exceptions admitted were where
riparian owners could shew damage done which justified a claim to
compensation, and where any person or corporation could satisfy the
Star Chamber before Ascension Day, 1505, of their right to take toll.
The case of Whyte against the municipalities of Gloucester and
Worcester, which arose out of these circumstances, differs from the
other cases in this volume in that it is not a litigation. It is rather
in the nature of an opposition to a Bill, since, under the Act of 1504,
proof of right to take toll allowed by the Star Chamber would give it
a parliamentary sanction. The case illustrates the incessant conflict
of jurisdictions which furnished so much material for litigation in the
Middle Ages ; the nature of the inland trade passing by the Severn ;
the value to towns of the exemptions granted by their charters ; and
the jealous conservation of the privileges of the City, whose allegiance
so often determined the succession to the Crown, the City of London.
* 9 Hen. 6, o. 6. mentioned. D. Barrington, * Observations
' Rot. Pari. V. 569, b. on Ancient Statutes,' ed. 1796, p. 438,
• 19 Hen. 7, c. 18. This is the earliest note w.
statute in which the Star Chamber is
INTRODUCTION cxlvii
The concluding section of this Act gave rise to the proceed-
ings before the Star Chamber, here printed under the titles of
* The Petition of the Mayor &c. of Gloucestre,' ' The Petition of the
Baillys & Citesyns of Worcestre,' and * Whyte against the Mayor &
Burgesses of Gloucestre ' (pp. 209-226). The Act provided that any
person or body corporate who could before Ascension Day (May 1),
1505, ' make eny sufficiant profe and laufull title ' to any duty or
imposition for vessels or goods passing on the Severn should receive a
decree in their favour legalising the right claimed. The two petition-
ing towns in these proceedings claimed dues by prescription and
produced evidence in their favour. Just as at this present day a
petitioner is heard against a private Bill, Thomas Whyte, a merchant,
filed a Bill before the Star Chamber denying the prescription. That
he was successful may be inferred from the Act 23 Hen. 8, c. 12 (1532),
intituled * An Acte for takinge exaccions upon the pathes of Severne.'
In the Act of 1504 nothing was said about paths. The petition,
which is incorporated in the Act, forbids the taking of impositions
&c. for vessels laden with goods or merchandise * caried or conveyed
in and uppon the seid Byver and Water of Severn.' It is unfortunate
that the decree of the Star Chamber is lost, but it is probable that»
after the fashion of the statute, it embodied the petition or was per-
haps restricted to a declaration that the towns of Gloucester and
Worcester had shown no sufficient cause for exemption from the
prohibition. From the Act of 1582 it appears that the dispute had
been revived by the demand of a toll, not for passing on the water,
but for the use of the towing-path. This demand that Act declared
illegal, reserving a free towing-path, which it affirms to have been
used of right from time immemorial, of a foot and a half broad on
each side of the river, for the use of hauling vessels.
Since the days before the Conquest the kings had endeavoured to i^Mincw
secure uniformity of coinage and of weights and measures. A law of Jj^^^*^"^"
Edgar ordered one currency for the kingdom and the use of the
weights and measures customary at London and Winchester.^ They
were to be tested by public authority.* The laws of William the
Conqueror ' de mensuris et ponderibus ' (iii. 7) enacted ' quod habeant
(civitates et burgi &c.) per universum regnum mensuras fidelissimas
et signatas et pondera fidelissima et signata, sicut boni prsedecessores
statuerunt.' ^ Richard I's Assize of Measures in 1197, therefore, only
* 'Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen * (Leip- * Cnut*B 'Gesetze/ii. 9. Dejustopon-
zig, 1858), p. 193. dere. lb. p. 274.
» lb. p. 365.
cxlviii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
added to the existing law the machinery for its enforcement, viz. the
appointment of four or six men in each city, boroagh, and county to
supervise its execution, with the forfeiture of chattels as a punishment
for selling by unauthorised weights and measures.^ He also devised
the maintenance of a standard at London, and, according to the
citizens of London in 14 Ed. 2, ' omnes mensurse Anglise exami-
natse fuerunt et factse Concordes et in Londoniis standarda regia
posita.' ^ Even the itinerant justices, to whom in 1194 and 1196 the
duty was entrusted of exacting the penalties, were reluctant to inter-
fere with local usage. On the other hand, the Church strove to
promote honest dealing in this as in other transactions,' though it
left legislation and the execution of the laws to the secular authorities.^
An effort was made by Magna Carta "^ to check the confusion.^
The execution of this clause was vigorously taken up by Henry 8
on his progresses. In 1228 he himself superintended the destruction
of false weights and measures.^ His example was followed by
Edward 1, who in 1303 ^ issued an ' Assisa de Ponderibus et
Mensuris,' a complete statement of all the authorised weights and
measures and their mutual relations. Under Edward 3 Parlia-
ment took up the question with vigour. Standard weights and
measures were to be sent into every county and two surveyors
appointed in each to enforce the law.^ To this was added in 1367
the provision of standard balances. ^^ In 1361 the King was em-
powered to appoint justices in every county to inquire as to the
enforcement of the statutes.^^ But every town felt the interference
of the King to be an invasion of its liberties. The centre of trade,
^ B. Hoveden, ' Cronica/ ed. W. Stubbs the Committee to enquire into the original
(1868-71), iv. 33, 34. standards of weights and measures in this
' * Liber Castumarom ' (Bolls Series, kingdom, and to consider the laws relating
1860, ed. H. T. Biley), p. 883. thereto with the proceedings of the Hoase
' ' Sententia exconmianicacionis. At the thereupon.' This report gives a list of
begynnyng God and halekirk corses . . . statutes upon the subject, with remarks
al tha that byes or selles with fals mesours upon some of them. See also a memorandimi
or fals weghtes that es to say, bies with ane on the history of the Law of Weights and
and selles with another. Also al tha that Measures, by Sir J. Popham, A-G (1581-
falses the kings standard thaim wyting.' 1592) in S. P. Dom. Eliz. vol. 158. 66, 67
MS. temp. 14th cent. Hist. MSS. Comm., (MS. B. O.).
5th Beport, Append. (1876), p. 306. ' M. Paris, ' Hist. Min.' ii. 299 (ed. Sir F.
* S. Thomas Aquinas, Summa seounda Madden, 1866).
secundfB, qu. Ixxvii, Art. 2. See W. J. Ash- " This is the date assigned by G. Sohanz,
ley, ' Economic Histoiy * (2nd ed. 1892), L i. * Englische Handelspolitik ' (1881, i. 573),
178 <fec. upon whose sketch 1 have mainly relied ;
* C. 35. Una mensura vini sit pei but in the Statutes of the Beahn it is
totum regnum nostrum, et una mensura entered as * incerti temporis.'
cervisiie, et una mensura bladi, scilicet ' 14 Ed. 3, st. 1, c. 12 (1340). See also
quarterium Londoniense, et una latitude 25 Ed. 3, st. 5, c. 9 ; 27 Ed. 3, st. 2, c. 10 ;
pannonmi tinctorum et russetorum et hal- 84 Ed. 3, c. 5 ; and 13 Bio. 2, st. 1, c. 9.
bergettorum, . . . de ponderibus autem sit '" 31 Ed. 3, st. 1, o. 2.
at de mensuris.' ^i 84 Ed. 8, c 6.
* In 1758 was published * A Beport from
INTRODUCTION cxlix
the City of London, notwithstanding the formal adoption of its
standards, was notoriously inclined to sharp practices. In 1284
complaint was made that the citizens sold by one weight and bought
by another,^ content to pass nagatory ordinances that weights and
measures should conform to those of the King.^ Edward 2*s
treasurer, Walter de Stapledon, distributed brazen standards of
measures throughout England in 1820.' In 1844 the complaints
of the exactions of the Boyal Commissioners in their execution of
these laws compelled Edward 8 to withdraw their powers.'* Their
place was taken in 1361 by the justices of the peace, who would
naturally be more tender to local feeling.*^ The result was that in
1889 the Commons again petitioned for the enforcement of the law.
What slender hopes the Government entertained of arriving at
uniformity is shewn by the statute which followed. While the heavy
penalty was imposed of six months' imprisonment and twofold
restitution to the complainant^ an exception was made in favour
of Lancashire ' acause qen le dit Counte ad este de tout temps plus
graunt mesure qe en ascun autre partie du roialme.'^ Even the
law of Edgar, accepted as the law of the land during more than four
centuries, failed to overcome the persistent vitality of local corn
measures.® By an Act of 1429 * every city borough or town ' was
ordered to provide itself with balances and weights at its own cost
sealed and according to the common standard of the Exchequer,^
while the provisions of Magna Carta and of the Acts of Edward 1
and Edward 8 and Richard 2 were confirmed. But four years later
Government was again deploring the inefficacy of these measures, to
remedy which it again resorted to improving the machinery for
putting them into execution. Every mayor and justice of the peace
was to be sworn to enforce the Acts.^^ Immediately after his acces-
sion Henry 7 distributed standard weights and measures to every
county ^^ and set up * King's Beams ' in a number of ports.^^ Neverthe-
lesSy in 1491 Parliament declared again that these enactments had not
" * Liber Albus * (ed. H. T. RUey, 1859), with the general economic policy of the
p. 286. Middle Ages in favour of the consumer.
« Jh, pp. 273, 278. • 15 Ric. 2, c. 4 (1391). It was thought
' *Lib. Cust.' p. 382. necessary to mention that the mayor and
* Bot. Pari. ii. 156, 166, although the sheritfs of London would be equally liable
Commons had petitioned for the enforce- with the officials of other municipalities for
ment of the law in 1343. lb. p. 141, a. the non-observance of the law.
» 34 Ed. 8, c. 6. » 8 Hen. 6, c. 6 (1429).
* The reason of this doubtless was that '<* 11 Hen. 6, c. 8 (1483).
in the previous session the Conmions had " Dec. 30, 1485. Campbell, * Materials,'
express^ the opinion that the existing fines i. 226 ; ii. 102.
had proved useless. Bot. Pari. iii. 267, b. " Feb. 20, 1486. lb. i. 302 ; July 9, 1486
' 18 Bic. 2, St. 1, c. 9 (1890). Bot. lb. 674.
ParL iii 270, a. This was in accordance
Cl COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
been duly executed. Apparently among other causes of their neglect
was the omission of the towns to provide themselves with the
standard weights and measures. * An Acte for Waightes & Mea-
sures ' was therefore passed by which the duty was imposed upon
the Crown of providing the chief officers of every city or borough
with 'weightes and mesuris of brasse according to the very true
standard.' ^ Possibly Henry 7's penuriousness indisposed him to
bear the cost of carriage, for another Act with the same title, passed
in 1496, recited that the former statutes had not been observed or
kept, and ordered that the standard weights and measures should be
delivered to the members of Parliament for conveyance. Weights
of tin in Cornwall and Devonshire were exempted from the Act.
Forty-three cities and boroughs were named in which the authorised
standards were to be preserved. Penalties were inflicted for buying
or selling by other weights and measures : 6«. 8rf. for the first offence,
double penalty for the second, for the third 208. and the pillory.*'^
The standards were issued. They were speedily found to be defective,
and by an Act of 1497 ' were ordered to be returned at the expense
of the towns and new ones substituted. This measure appears to
have proved so far effective that it was followed by a long period of
legislative inactivity.** The secret of this success probably was that
the statute imposed upon the municipal authorities the duty of
examining, testing, and weighing the weights and measures twice a
year and of destroying those that were faulty, coupling with it the
privilege of receiving the pecuniary penalties inflicted. The Lon-
doners continued unreformed,*^ for by charters of 1819, 1400, 1509,
and 1518 the duty of regulating their weights and beams was formally
granted to the mayors &c., and they retained the practice of using
double weights, ' cest assaver un plus grande pur achater et un autre
meindre pur vendre,' denounced by the statute of 1840 (14 Ed. 8,
St. 1, c. 12). This is precisely the complaint made by the lead miners
of Yorkshire in their case against the merchants of York. Where
the classes whose interests were involved controlled the execution oi
the statutes it was easier to pass Acts of Parliament than to enforce
them. Even as late as the reign of Elizabeth the merchants of the
' 7 Hen. 7, c. 3 : * An Aote for Waightes ounee than the old English pound, and a
and Measures.' bushel one-sixth part larger than the old
* 11 Hen. 7, c. 4 : * An Acte for Wayghtes English bushel measure,
and Measures.* * The towns themselves replaced their
' 12 Hen. 7, c. 5. According to a paper, worn-out standards. See S. P. Doni. Hen.
in * Philosophical Transactions,' vol. Izv. 8, i. 18 (1509).
pt. i. Paper III. (London, 1776), Henry 7, * For their fraudulent dealings in liquid
at this time introduced the Troy pound, mawures see S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, v. 1716.
which was heavier by three-quarters of an
INTRODUCTION cli
Low Countries were still complaining that they lost ' 12 in the
hundred by diversetye of waightis, being bound to sell by the Quenes
waightis and to bye by the waightis of London.' * Elsewhere the
Crown appointed commissioners from time to time to make inquisition
into false weights and measures.^
Before the accession of Henry 7 the growing power of the Butiond.
gilds had been assailed by the legislature. In 1437 an Act was ^°"*®°"
passed (15 Hen. 6, c. 6) reciting that ' the Masters, Wardens &
people of divers Gilds, Fraternities & other Companies Licorporate,
dwelling in divers parts of the realm, oftentimes by colour of rule &
governance and other terms in general words to them granted &
confirmed by charters & letters patents of the King's progenitours,
make among themselves divers unlawful & unreasonable ordinances
as well of such things whereof the cognisance, punishment &
correction only pertain to the King, Lords of franchises & other
persons & whereby our sovereign lord the King & others be dis-
herited of their franchises & profits, as of things which sound in
confederacy for their singular profit & common damage to the
people.' It was therefore provided that all such gilds should bring
their letters patents and charters ' to be registered of record before
the Justices of the Peace in the counties or before the chief governors
of the cities, boroughs & towns' to which they belonged. This
statute was to stand during pleasure, and presumably expired with
the deposition of Henry 6, since the preamble of the Act of 1504
alleges that it had already done so. The Act of Henry 6 respected
municipal privilege by retaining to the municipal corporations the
right of approval of amendments introduced into their statutes by the
gilds within their jurisdiction. But as these corporations would
themselves be composed of members of such gilds, they were likely
to be favourable to changes proposed by them. At any rate the
preamble of the Act intituled * De privatis & illicitis statutis non
faciendis,' passed in 1504 (19 Hen. 7, c. 7), recites that since the
expiration of the Act of 1487 * divers & meny ordinaunces have ben
made be meny & divers private Bodys Corporate within Citie
Townes & Boroughes contrarie to the Kinges prerogatyfe his Lawes
& the Comon weyll of his Subgiectes.' The particulars of the
ordinances which the Parliament of 1487 considered 'unlawful &
unreasonable ' are not precisely specified by the Act of that year.
' * A briefe deolaracion of such thingiB as c. vii. fo. 98. G. Schanz, ' Engligche Han-
the marchauntis of the Lowe Gountrye delspolitik ' (1881), ii. 879.
fynde them selves greved with their using ' E.g. in 1621, S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, iii.
in Englande.' Brit. Mus. Cotton MS. Vesp. 1262.
clii COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
But the omission is curiously filled up in the preamble of the statute
of 1504, which, professing to recite the tenour of the former Act, inter-
polates the words ' as well in pricis of weyres as other thinges.* The
second clause of the Act of 1504 discloses the opinion of the Govern-
ment of Henry 7 as to the cause of the innovations it deplored.
' It is enacted that none of the same bodies Corporate take uppon
theym to make eny actes or ordinaunces to restreyne eny person or
persones to sue to the Kynges Highnesse or to eny of his Courtes for
due remedy to be had in their causes, ne putte ne execute eny penaltie
or punishment uppon eny of them for eny suche sute to be made,
uppon peyn of forfeiture of xl li. for every tyme that they doo the
contrarie.' Of the alternative modes of redress offered to the
aggrieved complainant the former evidently indicates the King's
Council, whether sitting in the Star Chamber or elsewhere.
Not satisfied to enforce penalties upon infractions of the law, the
Act of 1504 sought to bring the gilds, and incidentally the munici-
palities, under the control of the Central Government. They were
prohibited from making any ordinances, or even acting upon those
already in force, until * the same actes or ordinaunces be examyned
& approved by the Chaunceller Tresorer of Englonde & cheffe
Justices of ether Benche or thre of them, or before both the Justices
of Assises in ther cyrcuyte or progresse in that Shyre wher suche
actes or ordinaunces be made ' upon pain of a like forfeiture of 401.
This statute, both by its encroachment upon the customary right
of the municipalities to fix prices and by the transfer to the royal
judges of so important a part of their traditional powers, marks an
important step in the increasing centralisation of the Government.
No doubt it served the ancillary purpose of bringing in fees to the
Exchequer. It has even been maintained that this was its real object.
The historian of the Leathersellers* Company of London tells us that
the Company * soon felt itself exposed to heavy penalties, under this
statute, for acting on the old ordinances.' ^ Agreeable as such a
design would be to the general fiscal policy of Henry 7, it scarcely
furnishes an adequate explanation of the Act of Henry 6. Nor, in
the case of the Leathersellers, does it appear that the Company was
actually fined, though probably a fee was charged upon the presenta-
tion for approval of its new ordinances in February 1509. The fact
is that as the exactions of the gilds were a chief cause of the decay
of the towns which had been for some time in progress, they grew in
proportion as that decay contracted the area of their resources. The
' Blackf ' History of the Leathersellers* Company * (1871 p. 45.
INTRODUCTION cliii
Act of 1581, intituled the ' Acte concernyng the avoydyng of Exac-
cyons levyed upon Prentyses ' (22 Hen. 8, c. 4) regards these
exactions as an evasion of the Act of 1604. The language of Bacon,
in speaking of this statute of 1504, is scarcely too strong, that the
gilds were * fraternities in evil.' ^ That Government, in clipping
their wings, had the sympathy of the poorer artisans is apparent
from another statute of the session of 1504. The 19 Hen. 7, c. 17,
* De Worsted Sherers,' repeals the privileges granted to the worsted
shearers of Norwich by 11 Hen. 7, c. 11, on the ground, inter alia,
' that they will nott admitte eny man to the sheryng of Worstedes
though he have suflBcient connyng therin wythowte he wyll compoune
wyth them & make grett & importable fynes, by force wherof divers
& meny of the Shore men lately inhabitauntes of the seid Citie be
departed owt of the same Citie into the Contre and so divers and meny
howeses wythin the seid Citie be now unoccupyed & decayed & dayly
more ar lyke to be, to the grete desolacion of the seid Citie ' &c.
The statute ' For Apprentices ' of 1536 (28 Hen. 8, c. 5) and the case
of Butlond and others v. Austen and others (pp. 262-271), brought
before the Star Chamber in 1508, furnish evidence to the same effect.
According to the complainants in this case, the defendant when an
oflScial of the Founders' Company in 1505 compelled the members of
the Company to sell their wares to him at a price fixed by himself,
afterwards reselling them to the public at an enhanced rate. As this
proceeding was based upon ' an acte ' of the governing body, it fell
within the statute of 1504. In accordance with the provisions of that
Act, informations were laid in the Court of Exchequer by aggrieved
founders, and notwithstanding the fact that, in conformity with the
privilege of the City of London, the case was tried before a City jury,
the defendants to one information were fined 401. and costs. To
meet these expenses they, with the assent of the governing oligarchy,
sold the plate and jewels of the Company. These it was the prayer
of the petitioners to the Star Chamber that they should be compelled
to restore. In this case we know from the annals of the Founders'
Company that the plaintiifs were successful.
There are a few interesting sidelights upon the period cast by
these cases. Among these is one derived from the investigation of
the lives of those persons of consequence who have not found a place
in the pages of the ' Dictionary of National Biography.' The fall of
Bichard 8 may be inferred from these to have been due to a great
uprising of public opinion, provoked by the general belief that he was
' Histoiy of King Henry 7 * (ed. Spedding and Heath, 1870), p. 228.
cliv COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
the murderer of his nephews. In no fewer than ten instances there
appears ground for belief that he was deserted by his political par-
tisans, some of them the representatives of influential Yorkist families
who had long fought for their party in the field. These instances are
those of Sir Nicholas Mountgomery (p. 58, n. 8) ; Sir James Blount
(p. 64, n. 2) ; Sir William Martyn (p. 81, n. 13) ; Thomas Kebell
(p. 131, n. 4) ; Edmund Hampden (p. 155, n. 8) ; Sir John Hare-
court (ib.) ; Thomas Lygon (p. 216, n. 3) ; Sir Richard Dalabere
(p. 234, n. 2) ; and Sir John Lyngen, father and son (p. 235, n. 5).
Of the state into which the religious houses had fallen we get a
glimpse in the two cases of the Abbey of Bath and the Abbey of
Malmesbury. In the case of the Abbey of Eynesham the defences of
the house and the weapons at the disposal of the monks illustrate
the lawlessness of the times. The servants here, as elsewhere, in
attendance upon the monks seem to have been disproportionate in
number to the community. Even the College of Stratford-on-Avon was
able to furnish a contingent upon occasion to put down a riot (p. 233).
This was doubtless one of the means whereby the monasteries wasted
their substance in imitation of the feudal lords. The Prior of Bath,
who pleaded poverty, was accustomed, as we learn from the Abbot of
St. Augustine's, Canterbury, to ride * with xviij horses or theraboute
and his seruantes all in one lyvery or clothing' (p. 34). In the
instances of Bath, St. Augustine's, Canterbury, Malmesbury, and
Eynesham the names indicate that the religious houses recruited the
ranks of their members from dwellers in the neighbourhood.
Although riots were of every-day occurrence and weapons were
drawn on slight provocation, drunkenness by no means played the
part in the fifteenth century that it does in affrays of to-day. There
is only one case in which it is mentioned. That is in the case of the
Abbot of Eynesham against Sir Robert Harecourt, in which an assault
is said to have been provoked by abusive language on the part of a
drunken servant of the monastery (p. 161).
In conclusion I desire to express my thanks to Professor F. W.
Maitland, of Cambridge, both for kindly reading my proofs and for
valuable information and suggestions, as well as to Mr. E. Salisbury,
of the Public Record OflBce, for his patience and skill in deciphering
portions of documents obliterated by time and ill-usage, and other-
wise aiding my researches.
I. S. LEADAM.
Tbmplx : August 1908.
SELECT OASES
BEFORE THE
KING'S COUNCIL IN THE STAR CHAMBER
COMMONLY CALLED
THE COUET OF STAE CHAMBEE
EXCESTBE, MAYOR &c. OP, v. STODEN AND OTHERS.^
^ To the kyng oiire Soueraigne lord *
1477 Shewyth vnto your highnesse your trew liegemen and Subgettes
the May re Baillifs and comynaltie of your Cite of Excestre in the
Counte of Deuons ' greuously eompleynynge, that where oone John
Stoddon Richard Tumour * Thomas Penhall Water Kent Symon Davy
Robert Crisshaue William Seyngyll ^ John Martyn Thomas Blakschawe
and John Tylham of the seid Cite Tayllours confedered and accom-
paigned with dyuers other mysdoers and riotous persones beyng of
the mystere of Tayllours withyn the seid Cite and brokers of your
peas, in manor of werre arrayed with force, that ys to say jakkes,^
doublettes of defence, Swerdes, Bokelers, Gley ves ® and Staves and
other weapons defensible, the Saturday nexte after the fest of Seynt
Marke last passed ^ at Excestre aforesaid in riotous wyse made assaute
vppon oone Thomas Davy of the seid Cite and hym bete wounded and
> Wrongly sorted as S.C.P. Hen. 8, Smith, » Early English Gilds' (E.E.T.S.
Bundle 26, No. 393. vol. xl. 1870, p. 805).
' See Introd., p. xiv, sapra. * * Jack, a kind of sleeveless tanic or
■ Apparently a late use of the A.-S. jacket formerly worn by foot soldiers and
genitive. No such instance appears in others, usually of leather quilted, and in
Maetzner's English Grammar (transl. by later times often plated with iron.' J. A. H.
C. J. Grece, 1874), iii. 306. Murray, Eng. Diet. 8.v.
* This name and that of William Seyn- ' Glaive, gleyve, &q. A name given at
gyU afford the clue to the date of this case, different periods to three distinct kinds of
which, as will be seen from tiie reference, weapons, viz. lance, bill,and sword. Ibid.s.v.
has been sorted among the papers of In this context it would probably be a biU
Henry 8. The case was heard at West- or halbert, a common meaning of the word
minster before the King (Edward 4^ in in the fifteenth century.
Council, and the judgement delivered on ' St. Mark's Day is April 25. This was
February 22, 1477, 16 Ed. 4, at the prayer Saturday, April 29, 1475. See B. and S.
of Bichard Toumour and William Sengill, Izacke, 'Antiquities of Exeter' (1724),
proctors and attorneys of the Master and p. 89.
Wardens of the Taylors. See Toulmin
2 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
evill entretid, that he was in dispayre and jupardie of his lyfe and so
manassed and put hym in suche fere that he dar not dwell withyn the
seid Cite And also the seid mysdoers and riotours contynuyng their
vnlaufuU confederacy and mysdoyng, assembled theym the Fryday
next after " the seid fest of Seynt Marke in the seid Cite with grete
force and in riotous wyse came to the house of oone Bichard Longe
and there made assaute vppon hym beyng in his house manassyng to
sle hym without he wold be of their confederacy or els departe oute
of the seid Cite and dwell not withyn it, and this the seid mysdoers by
coloure of youre lettres patentes for theym and other of the seid
mystere opteigned contrarie to the old libertees customes and laufuU
vsages of the seid Cite had and vsed, accompaigneth theym with many
evyll disposed and nasty persones and makyth dayly dyuers con-
uenticles confederacions and vnlaufull assembles contrarie to your
lawes, disobbeying the seid Maire and other officers of the seid Cite
and woll not be correcte by theym to the grete disturbance of youre
liege people and of youre peas withyn the seid Cite and in sub-
uersion of the old libertees customes and rules vsed and had for the
welle peas and good gouernell ^ of the same Cite, not oonly to evill and
perillous example, but also fynally to the distruccion of the seid Cite,
without youre good grace beshewyd in this behalfe, it Please therefor
your highnesse of youre most habundant grace to considre the
premysses and theruppon forasmoche as the seid John Stoddon
Richerd Turnour and John Tylham be here *^ withyn youre Cite of
London to commaunde theym by a seriant of Armes ** to appere afore
youre highnesse and the lordes of youre most honourable Councell to
Aunswere to the premysses. And ouer this it please youre good
grace to graunte seuerall lettres of privie seall directe to the other of
the seid mysdoers commaundyng theym by the same to appere afore
youre highnesse and the lordes of youre seid Councell at a certeyn
day to Aunswere to the premysses, And ouer that such correccion to
be had in thus *^ behalf as it may be an example to other so mys-
doynge, And thus for the loue of God.
Indorsed. The maire and bailiffes of the Citee
of Excestre versus John Stoddon
Bichard Tumour and other of the same.
' The context seems to indicate that the city, temp. Elizabeth, states that two years
Friday next after the Saturday following elapsed between the riots and the judgment.
St. Mark's Day is intended— i.e. May 5. Toulmin Smith, p. 302. Large expenses
* More commonly governail, government. were incurred by the Corporation in getting
^^ It would seem from this that the evidence and making journeys to London,
plaintiffs had promise of an immediate * pro materia Cissorum ' (id. p. 304).
hearing. The historian of Exeter, John " See p. 247, n. 9. Also Introd., p. xxvi.
Vowell (alias Hoker), Chamberlain of the *^ Sic.
EXCESTRE, MAYOR &c. OF, V. STODEN AND ANOTHER 3
B. This is the Aunswere of John Stoden and Richard Tour-
nour to the bill of compleint of the Maire Bailliffes and
Gominaltie of the Cite of Exceter.
The seid John Stoden and Richard Tonrnour seyen that as for
eny thyng snrmitted to be doone by them or eny of theym with force
and armes riotously or a geynest the kynges peace they be therof not
gyltye And that they be redy to prove by all snche meanes and weyes
as your wysedomes and good lordeshippes shall assigne And as for
eny thyng surmitted to be doone by them to the seid Thomas Davy
and Richard Longe they seye that the kyng oure soueraign lorde of his
grace especiall and for othere diuerse consideracions hym movyng by
his lettres patentes ^ redi to be shewed among othere thynges graunted
to his liege men of the mistere of taillours within the Cite of Exceter
that they of theym self and othere myght make and stablisshe for euer
A Gylde or a Fratemite in the worshipp of Seint John the Baptist *
And that Gylde or Fratemite soo vnyed ' founded create erecte and
stablisshed have hold and the same enyoye to theym and theire suc-
cessours for euer to endure And that they the same Gylde or Frater-
nite may encresse and augment as often shall please or shalbe nedefull
to theym for the gouernaunce kepyng and regiment of the seid Gylde or
Fratemite imperpetuyte as it shall best please theym And ouer that
oure seid soueraign lord of his habundaunt grace by his seid lettres
patentes hath graunted to the seid maister and wardens and here ^ suc-
cessours that they the foreseid Gylde Fratemite or Craft within the
seid Cite and in the suburbies of the same may ordeign and rule and
the defaictes of the same and of here seruauntes by the menyng of the
worthiest and most sufficient men of that Craft to correcte and amend
And also that the seid maister and wardens and theire successours
maisters and wardens of the foreseid Fratemite for the tyme beyng
for euer haue and make full serche in and of the seid Craft And all
othere persones wheche bene or shalbe priuilegied with the seid Craft
within the seid Cite of Excetour and the Suburbies of the same and
of suche Craftes as they or eny of theym vsen or vseth or before tymes
haue vsed And all defautes amonge theym founden after theire dis-
cression by the surveieu of the mayre of the seid Cite for the tyme
beyng thei may correcte and reforme, After whech graimtes so made
* These are dated November 17, 1466 Thomas White, founded St. John Baptist's
Cal. of Patent KoUs, Ed. 4, 1461-67, CoUege, Oxford,
p. 643). The tenour of the patent is cor- ' Unyed, united.
rectly set forth by the defendants. * Obsolete form of the possessive
' A patron saint of Tailors, e.g. of the pronoun, 3rd pi. See J. A. H. Murray,
Merohant Taylors' Company of London, Eng. Diet. s.v. * Her.'
a former master of which company, Sir
b2
4 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
and notwithstondyng the same the maire and the Bailliffes of the
same Citee nowe beyng will not sufifre the seid maister and wardens
to plede or implede eny persone within the Courte of the same Citee
nor in anny Accion to Appere by the name of there corporacion con-
trarie to the la we and all maner justice And for asmuche as the seid
Thomas Dauy and Bichard Longe occupieden and excersised the
mistere and craft of Tayllours within the said Cite And that it was
enformed the seid John Stoden than beyng maister of the said
mistere And Richard Tournour than beyng oone of the wardens of
the same mistere that the seid Thomas and Richard Longe occupied
the seid mistere and were not of connyng nor able to vse the seid
mistere and also mysse vsed the same to the gret hurte of the kynges
Liege peple Thei for the welt of the same peple accordyng to the
seid lettres patentes come to the dwellyng houses of the seid Thomas
Dauy and Richard Longe within the seid Citee in pesible wyse to
serche and see howe and in what maner of wyse they occupied and
excersised the seid mistere And than and there willed And on the
kynge oure soueraign Lorde is behalve chargied theym that thei shuld
occupie and excersise trulie the seid mistere soo that the kynges Liege
people were not by them desceyved And theruppon the maire of the
seid Citee and Baillififes of the same by the sturryng of the seid
Thomas Davy and Richard Longe with gret multitude of people
assembled with gret force and in riotouse wyse assauted the seid John
and Richard Tournour soo that they were in gret fere of their lyves
And yitt dailie contynue in theire malice soo that the seid John and
Richard Tournour dare not abide and dwell in the seid Citee for fere
of their lyves ^ All wheche matiers the seid John Stoden and Richard
Tournour be redy to proue as youre gret wisdames and Lordeshippes
will a ward And prayeth that they maye be dismissed fro this Courte
as all good feith and trought require And that your Lordeshippes
wold cause the seid maire and Bailliffes to content vnto the seid John
and Richard Tournour theire costes and exspences that they have
wrongfully susteyned in this behalve And also to comaund the seid
maire Bailliffes and Cominaltie and eueryche of theym to kepe the
kyngis peace ayenst the seid John and Richard Tournor vppon suche
a peyne as shalbe thought by your gret wysdomes most requisite and
behofull in that be halve And this for the love of Jhesu and in the
wey of Charitee.
* Retaliatory violence was inflicted by daced by the Ciorporation to renounce the
the Gild on those membere who were in- Gild. See Toolmin Smith, p. 823.
EXCESTHE, MAYOR &c. OF, V. STODEN AND ANOTHER 5
0. This ys the Beplicacion of the Maire Baillifes and
Gominalte of the Cite of Excestre to the Aunswere of
John Stoddon & Richard Turnour.
The seid Maire Baillifes and Gominalte sayen that the seid
Aunswere is insufficient to put theym to Aunswere vnto, Wherfor
they pray that for the nonsufficiente therof, that the said John and
Bichard may be punysshed accordyng to their deserte &c. And ouer
this the said Maire BaiUifes and Gominalte sayen that the seid John
Stoddon and Bichard Turnour bene gylte of the riottes brekyng and
disturbaunce of the Eynges peas in maner and forme as ys allegged in
their said bille, and that the said Gite is an old Gite and of tyme that
no mynde ys hath bene corporat of Maire Baillifes and Gominalte/
And that the Maire and BaiUifes of the same Gite for the tyme
beyng by all the said tyme haue vsed and had all serches correccion
and punysshement of all maner offences and defaltes by any persone as-
well artificers as other done withyn the liberie of the said Gite, and
in like wyse the Beuerend Fader in God the Bysshoppe of Excestre
and his predecessours withyn their fee called Seynt Stevynes fee
withyn the same Gite, and also the Dene and Ghapiter of Excestre
and their predecessours withyn their fee callid Seynt Sydwellis fee in
the Suburbes of the said Gite by their officers by all the said tyme
haue vsed and held serches correccion and punysshement of all
defautes and offences done by any persons artificers or other withyn
the same fees, so forasmoche as the said John Stoddon and Bichard
Turnour claymeth in their seid Aunswere suche serches correccion
and punycion withyn the seid Gite and fees by colour of the Kynges
lettres patentes,^ it apperith that it is contrarie to the Gustomes
libertees and vsages of the seid Gite and fees and grete derogacion of
the seid Bysshoppe Dene and Ghapiter and of the seid Maire Ballifes
and Gominaltie and likely moche more hereafter to be if due remedy
theryn be not had. Wherefor forasmoche as the said John and
Bichard confessith and withsaith not the mater comprised in the
seid bille of compleynt nor aunswerith to the riot manassyng and
evyll entretyng of the said Thomas Davy and Bichard Longe namyd
in the said bille, the said Maire Baillifes and Gominalte prayen that
they may be punysshed accordyng as Bight requyrith. And ouer this
^ This is not strictly true. The first The time of legal memory refers to 1 B. 1
Mayor of Exeter appears in 1206, and no (1189), 'Coke upon Littleton,' 115a; Black-
charter survives to explain how the cor- stone, * Commentaries,' Introd. § iii.
porate * Major, Ballivi, et Conmiunitas ' ' * And they shall have full scrutiny of
came to succeed the Propositus (E. A. the mistery within the city and suburbs,*
Freeman, * Exeter ' [4th ed. 1895], p. 59). Lett. Pat. November 17, 1466.
h-^^
6 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
the said Maire Baillifes and Gominalte sayen in all thyngs as they
haae allegged in their said bille. Without that they made any
assaute or manassed the said John Stoddon and Richard Turnour in
maner and forme as is supposed in the seid Aunswere. All whiche
maters the said Maire BailUfes and Gominalte bene redy to proue as
shall to youre good Lordshippes and gret Wysedomys bethought
resonable.
TAYLLOUR v. ATT WELL.
A»
To the kyng our Souereyne lorde and to the
lordys of his most noble Councell
1482 Mekely besechith your highnesse John Tayllour^ one of the
yomen of your most honorable Chamber to reduce vnto your gracyous
remembrance that, Wher the sayde John your seruaunt of late
compleyned and shewed vnto your goode grace being at your palace
of Westminster that he beinge in your Counte of Deuonshir makyng
» S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 18. Wrongly
sorted. A case before the King and
(Council, temp. Ed. 4. This MS. is much
faded in parts.
« John Tayllour or Taillour, * the
younger,* merchant of Exeter (Cal. of Pat.
Bolls, Ed. 4, 1476-85, p. 262). From a
pardon of June 22, 1489 (Campbell,
* Materials,* ii. 454) we know that he was a
yeoman of the chamber to Edward 4 and
Ricliard 8. He may perhaps, therefore, be
identified with John Taillour, * the king's
servant,* who was appointed on DecembKBr
3, 1478, forester of Charlewode and bailiff
of Upton-on-Sevem, Worcestershire, during
the minority of Edward, son of George, late
duke of Clarence (Pat. Bolls, Ed. 4, p. 129).
Clarence had been executed in the pre-
vious February, when his son Edward,
earl of Warwick was only three years of
age. Taillour, again described as *the
king's servant,* made good use of his oppor-
tunities at Court. He was probably a
valuable supporter of the dynasty, for Exeter
was a notoriously Lancastrian town (see
E. A. Freeman, * Exeter * [1895] in the * His-
toric Towns * series, p. 91). On March 3,
1481, he was granted the lucrative office of
surveyor of the customs and subsidies and
of the customers and controllers in the
ports of Pole, Exeter, Dertmouth, Plym-
mouth, Fowy, and Briggewater, and ports
and places annexed to them, with a salary
of 202. yearly, and a moiety of the for-
feitures seized by him (Cal. Pat. Bolls,
1476-85, p. 236. Enrolled in Exch. K. B.
Mem. Boll, 21 Ed. 4, E. T. m. vi.). In the
following year * as John Tuillour, of Exeter,
the younger, merchant,* surveyor of cus-
toms, (fee., as above set out, he received a
general pardon, except in respect of dues
from the customs to the Exchequer. He
then appears as also holding another office,
that of keeper of the seal for the subsidy
and ulnage of cloths in the county of Devon
(Cal. Pat. Bolls, p. 262, February 10, 1482).
On February 19, 1482, he received licence,
notwithstanding the Act 20 Hen. 6, c. 5, to
trade in tin, lead, and other merchandise
(Exch. K. B. Mem. 191, 22 Ed. 4, Inter
Brevia, m. xi. dors.). This licence was again
enrolled in M. T. 22 Ed. 4, m. xiii. dors.
(1482), the term in which this petition was
filed, which shows that he had retained the
king*s favour. See also ibid. m. xxxiii.
October 26 ; ibid. dors. (November 30) ; ibid,
m. XXXV. (November 16). He rendered his
accounts as usual in Hil. term, 22 Ed. 4
(1488), ibid. Inter Communia M. T. and
Inter Brevia E. T. 22 Ed. 4. He served
the office of bailiff of Exeter in 1475,
but it is perhaps a symptom of the un-
popularity of his politics that he was never
mayor (B. Izacke, * Antiquities of Exeter *
[1724], p. 89). Within a few months
(December 7, 1485) of the accession of
Henry 7, his place of surveyor of customs
was taken from him and granted to James
Boneython ' for services done to the king,
as well in the parts beyond the sea as
within this realm,* clearly a political ap-
pointment (Campbell, * Materials,* i. 201).
The charge here brought against Tayllour
is in respect of a transaction by his deputy
during his occupancy of the survcyorsliip
(see lutrod., p. Ixxiv). From the general
TAYLLOUR V. ATT WELL
hym self redy towardys the See accordyng to your commaundment ^
was arrestid and put in troble by the Shirf of your sayde Shir * by
virtue of a wrytt to hym directed oute of your Escheker apon a bylle
vntruly made by one John Atwill ^ and Philipp Atwill ® surmysyng
the sayd bille to be f ounde before William Huddesfeld your attourney "^
and other by virtu of a Commyssyon oute of your sayd Escheker to
pardon granted to him on June 22, 1489, it
is evident that on the death of Richard 3
he lost his place of yeoman of the king's
chamber (Campbell, 'Mat.' ii. 454). In
this pardon he is styled * alias John Wals-
hall, late of Sele, Devon, taylloor.' He
was probably a * merohant-taylor,' a gild
incorporated at Exeter in 1466 (Izacke,
p. 63), and the name Taillour a trade
name. See further Introd., pp. Ixxiii-lxxvii.
' The date of the arrest was after Au-
gust 26, 21 Ed. 4 (1481), and before Novem-
ber 28, 22 Ed. 4 (1482). Possibly the
plaintiff was repairing to the coast to take
part in the expedition against Scotland in
June, 1482.
* Giles Daubney, esquire. Sheriff of
Devon, 1482 (Izacke, Append. Catalogue
of Sheriffs).
* John Atwill, celebrated in the history
of Exeter as having lived under five and
been a magistrate under four kings (E. A.
Freeman, * Hist. Exeter,' p. 90). His earliest
appearance in office is in 1472 as one of the
four bailiffs and steward of the city (Izacke,
p. 88). In 1474 he was senior bailiff and
receiver of the city's rents and revenues
(ib.), and represented the Corporation in
London during its controversy with the
Tailors in that and the following year
(' Early English Gilds ' in Early English
Text Soc, vol. 40, p. 308 [1870]). He
was mayor in 1476 (ib. p. 89), 1479
(ib. p. 90), 1483 (ib. p. 91), 1492 (ib. p. 96)
and 1496 (ib. p. 97). For the political
discords attending this last election see
Mrs. A. S. Green, *Town Life in the
Fifteenth Century* (1894), ii. 173-181. He
was probably a member of a family of
gentry settled at Kenton, three miles S.S.W.
of Topsham, in which family the Christian
name of John was frequent (Harl. Soc. vi.
12 ; T. Westoote, * View of Devonshire* [ed.
Exeter], 1845, p. 612 ; J. Prince, * Worthies
of Devon/ p. 15). In a general pardon
dated July 4, 1482, he is styled * marchant '
of Exeter (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1477-85, p.
323). He was the leader of the oligarchical
party in the city, and was apparently of
Lancastrian politics. See Freeman, pp.
93, 96, 147. But see 7 H. 7, c. 22 ; also
pp. Ixxiii-lxzvii, supra.
* Philip Atwill, one of the four bailiffs
and steward of the city of Exeter in 1485
(Izacke, p. 93). A merchant of Exeter
(Cal. Pat. KoUs, 1476-85, p. 207). In the
Exch. K. R. Mem. Roll, M. T. 21 Ed. 4,
' Adhuc fines,' <&c., P. A. frequently appears
as suing for half forfeitures arising out of
the delinquencies of certain customs officers
in Exeter and Dartmouth.
' Sir William Huddesfeld, Hoddisfeild,
Huttesfold, Hudysfeld, Hudisfeld, Hudders-
field, &c., bom at Honiton (J. Prince,
• Worthies of Devon ' [1701], p. 376), ad-
mitted a member of Lincoln's Inn 1456
(Line. Inn Admission Register, p. 13). In
that and the following year he was Master
of the Revels at the Inn (Black Books of
Lincoln's Inn, i. 28), and was a Gover-
nor of the Inn in 1461 (ib. p. 86). He was
elected Reader of the Inn in Lent Term
1464 (ib. p. 38), and again in 1469 (ib. p. 48)
and 1476 (ib. p. 60), and allowed the privi-
lege of two clerks with commons at fourteen
pence a week each in 1464 (ib. p. 39). He
was nominated on July 6, 1465, one of four
commissioners to inquire into the lands
and tenements held in Dorset by an at-
tainted Lancastrian, Sir Thomas Fyndeme
(Pat. RoUs, Ed. 4, 1461-67, p. 489). In
1470 (October 18) he was nominated on a
commission of Oyer and Terminer for
Devonshire (Pat. Roll, p. 246). He was,
after the restoration of Edward 4, again
employed on commissions, generally in con-
nexion with Devonshire (ib. pp. 288, 403,
408). He was upon a commission in 1473
(August 18) to inquire into the royal
revenues from that county and from
Somerset (ib. pp. 406, 407). He was ap-
parently in favour with George, duke of
Clarence, being nominated one of his
feoffees to uses on his departure from Eng-
land on May 2, 1475 (ib. p. 530), and he
was continuously on the commission of the
peace for Devonshire throughout the reign
of Edward 4 (ib. p. 612). In return for his
services he received on May 22, 1477, a
grant of the reversion of the office of
attorney-general (Pat. Rolls, 1477-85, p. 37).
According to Prince (p. 376) he had al-
ready been appointed solicitor-general. The
evidence for this is an inscription stated by
Prince to have been ' under his arms at his
house at Shillingford.* On Clarence's at-
tainder he was nominated a commissioner
to inquire into his lands &c. in Devon-
shire (ib. p. 110). He is first styled *the
king's attorney ' in a patent dated Novem-
ber 15, 1478 (ib. p. 137), and as such was
* admitted to repasts ' at Lincoln's Inn on
ssessss
mm
HK5SSK
8
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
them directed to enquer of concelmentes towechyng your Gustumes
and Subsidies, as more playnly hit apperyth in the sayde Com-
myssyon,® and by the othes of John Kelly ® John Betty ^^ Richard
Runwell" William Obley »* Thomas Hayly^' Roger Werth^* Robert
February 1, 1479 (Black Books of Lincoln's
Inn, i. 66). He was Recorder of Exeter
1479-82 (Izacke, p. 60). On April 27,
1483, he was appointed, Edward 5 being
nominal king, a commissioner of sub-
sidy for Devonshire (Pat. Rolls, 1477-85,
p. 353). He was, however, deprived of the
office of Attorney-General by the Protector
Bichard, Duke of Gloucester, on May
28 following (ib. p. 349). Nevertheless,
Richard 3, after his accession, on August 1,
in the same year (ib. p. 395), and on May 1,
1484 ^ib. p. 447), nominated him again a
commissioner of subsidy. That to some
extent he was trusted by Bichard at this
time may be inferred from the fact that on
May 1, 1484, he was appointed a commis-
sioner of array for Devonshire (ib. p. 397),
and again on December 8, 1484 (ib. p. 490).
This was in anticipation of the invasion of
Henry, earl of Bichmond (Henry 7), which
actually took place at the beginning of the
following August. But he was evidently
among those who transferred their allegiance
to Bichard's successor, for soon after
Henry 7*s accession he received a grant of
. exemption for life, free from any fine or
: ransom (&c., from being compelled to take
I the office of serjeant at law (March 28,
i 1486, Campbell, 'Mat.* i. 398), and his
' epitaph states that he was a member of
Henry 7'8 council (Prince, p. 376). Fur-
ther, in August 1492, we first find him
styled knight (Black Books of Line. Inn,
i. 94). He vacated his chamber in the
Inn in 1497 (ib. p. 110), doubtless on ac-
count of advancing years. He died March
20, 1499, in which year his will was proved,
he being then resident at Dyttysham,
Devonshire (J. C. C. Smith, * Index to
Wills,» i. 287), but Westcote (1. c.) de-
scribes him as of Shillingford, where he
was buried, and where his brass is still to
be seen in the church. He also held the
manor of Mewshaue, land at Wythrygge,
Devon (Inq. p. m. Henry 7, i. 173, 318),
as well as at Widecombe-in-the-Moor and
Farrindon (Prince, p. 376). According to
Westcote, he married first Elizabeth,
daughter and heiress of John Bozom, and
relict of Sir Baldwin Fulford, Ent., by
whom he had issue Katharine, wife to
Edmund lord Carew. His second wife,
whom he married before October 1479 (see
Pat. Bolls, 1476-85, p. 169), was Katharine,
daughter of Sir Philip Courtney, of Pow-
derham, Knt, and widow of Thomas
Bogers, serjeant at law, by whom he had
issue Elizabeth, married to Sir Anthony
Poyntz, of Acton, Gloucestershire. See
also B. Polwhele, * Hist, of Devon * (1797),
i. 265 n. His second wife's brass, as well
as his own, is in heraldic dress (H. Haines,
* Monumental Brasses * [1861], p. 48). She
died in 1514 (J. C. C. Smith, * Index to
Wills,' p. 287).
" Such a Commission was in fact ap-
pointed by letters patent under the seal of
the Exchequer on November 12, 1481, to
W. Huddesfeld, John Speke, esquire, John
Hays, gentleman, John Atwyll, merchant,
and John Benet, gentleman, to inquire of
concealments, <&c., since the beginning of
the reign, and there was a presentment by
a jury before these commissioners that
Bichard Taillour of Topsham, owner of a
carvel (carvele) called * le Anne,* of Tops-
ham, had in 20 Ed. 4 imported twenty
pieces of * chamles ' of the value of 40
marks without paying customs or subsidy.
Defendant produced the king's Letters
Patent dated February 10, 22 Ed. 4 (1482),
pardoning him for all such ofifences.
MS. B. 0. Exch. K. B. Memoranda Boll,
22 Ed. 4, E.T. m. xxi. Possibly this case
suggested the fraud here complained of.
* John Kelly, steward and one of the
bailiffs of Exeter in 1437 (Izacke, p. 77),
mayor 1457 (id. p. 84), died 1486. By his
will, proved January 16, 1487, he left a
tenement to the mayor, bailiffs, and com-
monalty of Exeter, *ad subsidium salarii
sacerdotis sive capellani divina celebrantis
in oapella noviter edificata in fronte Gilde
Aule' (G. Oliver, *Hist. of the City of
Exeter ' [1861], p. 206).
*• John Betty, senior bailiff and receiver
of the rents &c. of the city of Exeter, 1454
{Izacke, p. 82) ; mayor, 1459 (id. p. 85).
" Bichard Bunwell or Bumwell, bailiff
and steward of the city of Exeter, 1459
(id. p. 85) ; senior bailiff and receiver of the
rents &c. 1464 (id. p. 86) ; mayor of
Exeter, 1473 (id. p. 88).
" William Obley or Obleigh, bailiff of
Exeter, 1466 (id. p. 86) ; senior bailiff and
receiver of the city, 1473 (id. p. 88) ; mayor,
1478 (id. p. 90) and 1494 (id. p. 97).
" Thomas Hayly or Hayle, bailiff and
steward of the city of Exeter, 1460 and
1461 (id. p. 85) ; bailiff and receiver of the
city, 1466 (id. p. 86).
" Boger Werth or Worth, receiver of
the city, 1475 (id. p. 89) ; senior bailiff and
TAYLLOUR V, ATT WELL
9
Symond ^' John Sterre ^« Richard Wagett ^^ John Colshill »^ Mathew
Alyngton *® Rychard Hamelyn ^^ John Symond ^^ and other Burges
of your sayde cite of Excester Burmysyng the sayde vntrue bille by
them to be affermyd that one Bobert Bonyfamit'^ as one of the
clerkes and deputies of your sayde seruaunt in the Superuysershipp
of your Custumes and SubsicQes in your portes of Excester and
Dertmouth shold sease and arreste the x*** day of Auguste the yer of
your most noble reyne xxj ^^ to your vse at Topsam ^^ in your sayde
Counte of Deuonshir a hundreth peces of crescloth ^ and x boltes of
canuas callid poldavys^ to the valew of ccxx'* marke^' of lafuli
money of Englond as hit apperyth more playnly in the sayde bille
and also rehersyth in the sayde bille that the xxvj'*" day of Auguste
then next folowyng your sayde seruaunt shuld come to Topsam in forme
afor sayde and found the same seasur as ys in forme afor rehersid
and ratified the same seasur ^ and ther apon shuld kepe and concele
hit to his own propur vse in the contempte of your goode grace wher
steward, 1477 (id. ib.); mayor, 1482 (id.
p. 91).
** Robert Symond or Symons, bailiff and
steward of the city, 1465 (id. p. 86) ; senior
bailiff and receiver, 1480 (id. p. 90).
** John Sterre or Starr, bailifif and
steward of the city, 1474 (id. p. 88), 1477
(id. p. 89), 1484 (id. p. 98).
" Bichard Wagett or Waggot, bailiff and
steward of the city, 1476 (id. p. 89).
"* John Colshill, bailifif and steward of
the city, 1478 (id. p. 90) and 1509 (id.p. 106) ;
mayor, 1493 (id. p. 96). His will was proved
in 1495 (J. C. C. Smith, * Index,' i. 135).
See Tapton v. Golsyll, p. 51, and also p. 86,
n. 46, infra.
" Mathew Alyngton or AUington, bailiff
and receiver of the city, 1485 (id. p. 93).
" Two members of the family of Hamlyn
or Hamelyn were mayors in 1468 and 1499
respectively, but no person of this name
with the Christian name of Richard at-
tained civic honours.
'* John Symond or Symons, bailifif and
steward of the city, 1483 (id. p. 91), bailifif
and receiver, 1499 (id. p. 103) ; mayor,
1523 ; d. 1523 (id. p. 113).
" Robert Bonyfaunt, a member of a
family which played a considerable part in
the politics of the city and were apparently
leaders of the popular or anti-oligarchical
party. This person had been bailifif and
steward in 1473, 1489, 1491, and 1499
(id. pp. 88, 95, 96, 103), but never mayor.
In 1498 he bad been accused by the oli-
garchs of having been wrongfully nomi-
nated a constable of the Staple at Exeter by
his brother, John Bonyfaunt, who claimed
by an irregular election to have been made
mayor of the Staple. The Bonyfaunts were
defeated, and made submission to an ad-
verse award of the Council. See * Select
Cases in the Court of Requests ' (Selden
Soc, 1898), pp. Ixxiii-lxxvi and 3-7. See
also Hewyt and others v. London, Mayor
&c. of, F, p. 81, n. 12, infra.
" This shows that this case belongs to
the reign of Edward 4, for August 10, 21
Henry 7 was 1506, and Huddisfield had
been dead since 1499, and Colshill, one of
the jury, since 1495, and John Kelly, an-
other of them, since 1486. See n. 8,
supra. The date, therefore, is August 10,
1481.
" Topsam or Topsham, on the Exe, four
miles S.E. of Exeter.
^ * Crestes panni linei vocati crestecloth '
(Will of Lyghtfote, 1459, quoted by J. A.H.
Murray, * Engl. Diet.* s. v.). See also p. 90,
infra.
'* * Poldavies, the bolte, containing xxx
yards* (Customs Duties, 1600, ib. s. v.).
* Poldavies * were sail-cloth. The Act
1 Jac. 1, 0. 24 (1604) recites that 'Powle
Davies* were imported from France and
other parts beyond the sea until the thirty-
second year of Elizabeth (1590). See Acts
of the Privy Council, i. 342.
« 146Z. 135. id,
" This is further evidence that the case
belongs to the reign of Edward 4, since the
plaint was ousted from his ofiSce on
December 7, 1485 (Campbell,* Mat.' i.
201).
10 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
the sayde bille was neuer found nor affermed by the sayde jury, but
the sayde John Atwill being a commyssyoner by virtu of the sayde
Commyssyon the same John and Philipp Atwyil of their grete malice
which they owed vnto your sayde seruaunt made and imagyned the
sayde bylle of their owne mynde and the sayde John Atwill as a
Commyssyoner hit delyuered vnto the sayde William Huddesfeld
saying it was foundyn and afifermyd by the sayde jury of which
mateir your sayde seruaunt had a copy out of theEscheker in wrytyng
and shewed hit to the forsayde John Kelly and other his felowes afore
rehersed that wer sworne and the forsayde John Kelly and other his
felowes redde the sayde bylle and they denyed that euer any such
bille shuld be afifermyd by them ayenste your sayde seruaunt and
ayenste the sayde Eobert Bonyfaunt nor no suche bille nor mater was
euer shewed or mynystryd vnto them, wher apon your sayde seruaunt
desirid a lettre testimonyall of the sayde jury undre theire sealles
to testifie the same sayinges and so your sayde seruaunt had a lettre
testimonyall vndre the Sealles of the seyde jury testifying that they
neuer afifermyd any suche bille ayenste your sayde seruaunt and the
sayd Robert Bonyfaunt and forasmoche as the sealles of the sayde
jury were not to aUe men knowen the sealle of the ryght reuerent
Fader in god the Bysshopp of Excester '® and the sealle of the mair
of your sayde Cite of Excester ^^ to the sayde testimonyall be sette
which testimonyall your sayd seruaunt shewed vnto your good grace
wher vpon your goode grace concydering the grete wronges and
dyfifamacyon done vnto your sayde seruaunt directed your gracyous
lettres myssyve vnto the mair and Baillis of your sayde Cite of
Excester with the same testimonyall in the sayde lettres closid com-
maundyng the sayde mair and Baillis by the same if so wer that the
sayde testimonyall wer so sealled in the manere and forme afor
rehersed to be then they to take the sayde John Atwyil and Philip
Atwille and put them in to your Gaiolle of Excester ther to remayne
vnto suche tyme hit pleasid your goode grace to send other wyse in
commaundement wher vpon the sayde mair and Baillis ^^ after the
sight of your lettres and testimonyall they knowing the same testi-
monyall to be goode and trew and by them to be sealled as to
for is rehersyd and for the more suerte the sayd mair and Baillis
** Peter (Courtney, bishop of Exeter ** See n. 14, supra. This gives the
1478-1487 ; 8rd son of Sir Philip Courtney date.
of Powderham, and brother of Katharine, " Neither the mayor nor any of the four
2nd wife of Sir Wm. Huddesficld. See bailiffs of 1482 was on the jury,
further * Diot. Nat. Biog.'
TAYLLOUR V. ATT WELL 11
shewed your sayde lettres myssive with the lettre testimonyall vnto
your Attourney then being in your sayde shir, and after that so
shewed accordyng to your commaundement arrested the sayde John
Atwyll and commytted hym vnto your GaioUe ^^ at your sayde Cite of
Excester, and the sayde PhiUp hering of your wrytyng dredyng to be
punysshed for his vntrew delyng esloigned hym self and avoyded so
that he myght nat be takyn and the sayde John Atwill dredyng to be
ponysshid for his offence came out of your Gaiolle and prison home
to his owne house and ther secretely kept hym self entendyng to
have avoyded into other places and he so being oute of your Gaiolle
contrare to your commaundement your sayde seruaunt causid the mair
and Bayllis to questyon the GaioUer that had hym in kepyng wher he
had John your prisoner and he answered them Aye that he was in
your Gaiqll and desired the mair to send one of his Baillis with hym
and he would shew hym the sayde John Atwell in your Gaiolle and
when the GaioUer and Baielliff came to your Gaiolle the sayde John
Attwyll was gone and so the sayde GaioUer could not shew the same
John AtwUl your prisoner there and ther apon serche was made for
the same John AtwUl which was founde and takyn in a manteU dis-
guysed and brought to the mair and delyucred to hym as is afore ....
sayd seruaunt [which] ^^ he shalbe redy to prove as it shall please your
grace to '* Whereupon in the moste humble wyse your sayde seruaunt
besechyth your goode grace and the lordes of your most noble CounceU
to take in your direccion the ponysshemeant of the sayde John AtwyU
and Philipp AtwiU so as other evyll disposed persons may take
exsample hereafter nat to offend in case like And that your seruaunt be
recompenced of his costages and charges of his wrongfuU vexacion and
defamacion and be recompenced of his sute in your Escheker ^^ And
your sayde seruaunt shaU pray god for the preseruacion of your
[most ^'] roiaU astate.
Indorsed. John TayUour ayenst John At weU.
Fiat dedimus potestatem ^ domino Episcopo Exoniensi & Willelmo
'^ Specified in B, p. 13, and D, p. 15, as ** I have searched the Ezch. E. B.
the Castle, i.e. Rougemont, governed by a Memoranda Bolls for 21 and 22 Ed. 4, but
sheriff nominated by the king. Freeman, failed to find any record of these pro-
p. 99. ceedings.
*' MS. indecipherable. ** * *' Dedimus Potestatem.*' See p. 121,
*' MS. torn. n. 4.
12 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Huddesfelde attornato in quindena Pasche proxime futuri" apud
Westmonasterium xxviij" Novembris Anno regni regis xxij^".^^
Langpobt.'*
In modem hand. Tayllour r. Atwelle.
B. This is thaunswere of John att Well & Philipp att Well to
the byll of complaynt of John Tayllour.
The seid John att Well & Philipp sayen that the said byll is not
materiall nor mater of substance to aunswere vnto but mater of
sclaunder & feyned by the said John Tayllour of his oolde rotyd
malice which he hath ayenst the said John att Well & Philipp to
trouble & vex theym. And ferthermore the said John att Well &
Philipp for their declaracion of trouth sayen that as for any byll sup-
posed to be made or alterit by theym or eyther of theym contrary to
that the Jure found & presented for their trew veredite afore Wil-
liam Huddesfeld the kynges attourney & other the Commissioners
namyd in the said byll of complaynt of the said John Tayllour the said
John att Well & Phylipp sayen that they ben therof in noo wyse gilty
in maner & fourme as the said John Tayllour hath supposed by his
*' Aooording to Bond, while the quin- Braddewell, Essex, with a livery of vesture
dene of a feast generally meant fourteen with linings and furs for summer and winter
days after a feast, the quindene of Easter at the Great Wardrobe (Cal. Pat. Bolls,
was within the eight days preceding and p. 126). On March 24, 1462, he was made
the eight days following Easter, Easter Day a prebendary of York (J. Le Neve, ' Fasti
included— i.e. March 23 to April 7, 1483. Ecol. Anglic* [1854], iii. 193), and on
* Handy-book of Dates * (4th ed., 1889), June 2 of the same year prebendary of
p 162. Lincoln, which place he resigned in 1465
*" 1482. (ib. ii. 192). He received a grant for life to
** This signature conclusively esta- himself solely of the office of Clerk of the
blishes the date as of the reign of Edward 4, Council on July 23, 1462. (The printed
for Bichard Langport, clerk. Clerk of the Calendar, p. 92, dates this grant 1461, sed
Council, died in 1490, in which year his qu.) On July 16, 1462, under the style of
will was proved f J. C. C. Smith, * Index,* » the king's servant Kchard Langport,
ii. 324). Bichard Langport, who received clerk,' he received a grant of the manor of
his first ecclesiastical promotion from Somersbury in the parish of Ewhurst,
Henry 6 (Bot. Pari. v. 471b), is mentioned in Surrey, * so long as it remains in the king's
a patent dated November 27, 1461, as rector hands without rendering anything for the
of Bradwell, Essex, and prebendary of the same * (Cal. Pat. Bolls, 1461-77, p. 179).
collegiate church of St. Mary Otrye (Ottery), He resigned or was dispossessed from the
Devonshire (Pat. Bolls, 1461-77, p. 80). Clerkship of the Council on the accession
He received, on July 23, 1461, jointly with of Henry 7 (Burn, 1. s. c). He became
Thomas Kent, LL.D. (see J. S. Bum, The archdeacon of Taunton on May 14, 1487.
Star Chamber [1870.], p. 21, and Bot. Pari. As his successor there was installed on July
V. 216), a grant for life of the office of Clerk 12, 1490 (Le Neve, i. 167), in which year
of the Council, with the salary of forty marks Langport's will was proved, it is evident
(26^ 13«. id,) yearly from the previous that he died during the first six months of
March 4 out of the issues of the manor of that year.
TAYLLOUR V, ATT WELL IS
said byll of complaynt and the said John att Well & Phylipp sayen
that the byll and presentment which is put in to theschequer by the
said William Huddesfeld & the said other commyssioners is the same
byll & presentment that was taken afore the same William Huddes-
feld & other the said Commyssioners which byll & presentment is
good & trew & euery parte therof. Without that the same John
att well & Phelipp or eyther of theym made or ymagyned the same
byll or any worde chaunged in the same after the Jure hadd affermyd
& geve their veredit therof, and yet this not withstandyng the said
John Tayllour caused and procurid the said John att welle to be
arrestyd & put in prisone in the kynges Gayle of the Castell of Exceter
& ther was kept without any Bayle or mayne prise.* All which maters
& euerych of them the said John att well & Philipp ben & shalbe redy
to prove trew as shalbe thought resonable. And forasmoch as the
said byll & presentment ayenst the said John Tayllour is put into
theschequer & theruppon processe made for the kyng ther the mater
to be determyned the said John att Well & PhiUpp prayen that the
said John Tayllour may be remytted to aunswere ther to the said byll
& presentment so that the kyng may be aunswerd of his interesse ^
for such concellement & seasure as is comprised in the same present-
ment which drawith aboute the summe of do. marcs,^ and that the
same John att well & Philepp may be dismyssed out of this Gort
with their resonable costes & exspens by theym susteyned in this
behalf.
c. This is the replicacion of John Tayler vnto the answere of
John atwill and Phillipp Atwyll.
The seid John Tayler seyeth that the seid bill is goode sufficient
& the mater therein trewe and not fayned and furthermore for
asmoche as the seid John Atwyll and Phillipp wythseyeth not but that
* ' Every bail is a mainprise (for those appear &c. And yet he never was in prison
that are bail take the person bailed into or under custody. And sometime these
their hands and custody), but every mainprise mainpernors are called pledges. . . . And
is not a bail, because no man is bailed but for as much as every bail is a mainprise (as
he that is arrested or in prison ; for he hath been said) bail is oftentimes tearmed
that is not in custody or prison cannot be in our books by the name of mainprise.' —
delivered out. . . . But a man may be E. Coke, 4 Inst. p. 180.
mainpemed which never was in prison, and ' By the grant of March 3, 1481, half
therefore mainprise is more large than the seizures went to the king and half to
bail. As in an appeal of felony, the de- Tayllour as surveyor of customs. See A,
fendant wage battell <to. A a day appointed p. 6, n. 2, supra.
Ac. the plaintife shall finde mainprise <tc.to ' Six hundred marks are £400.
14 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
the seid bill of complaynte before the mayer and the Bayllyfes of the
seid Citie of Exceter by virtue of your lettres to them directed was
proved to be made and feined by the seid John Atwill & Phillipp and by
the seid Jure never afifermed as in the bill of the seid John Tayler is
supposed, and by the seid John Atwill nor Phillipp nat denyed and
the seid John Atwill therefor commytted vnto warde accordyng to your
commaundement by the seid lettres which John Atwill soo beyng in
warde breke oute of warde ^ and aftir was taken and by the seid
mayer and Baylyflfes commytted ayen to warde which by the seid
John and Phillipp is not denyed nor the esloynyng and avoydyng of
the seid Philhpp for fere to be punysshed for the ontrewe dealyng of
the same Phillipp and the seid John attwill his brothir, the seid John
Taylour prayeth that they may be therrof atteyned,^ And further-
more prayeth as he dyd in his seid bill of complaynt.
D. This is the reioyner of John Attwyll and Philippe Attwyll
to the replicacion of John Tayllour.
The seid John Attwyll and Philippe by protestacion * that the seid
John Tayllour by his replicacion denyeth not the byll of veredite and
presentement affermyd by the seid Jure and laide yn to the escheccour
agence hym and Boberte Bonyfaunt by wiliam Huddesfeld and oder
commissioners wher by they be bounden to answer the kyng of do.
marc as mor playnely appereth yn the awnsuer of the said John
Attwyll and Philippe but3 confesseth hit and withsayeth it not and
all the mater conteyned yn the same, The said John Attwyll and
Philippe saine yn all thyngs as they hafe said yn theire said aunswere
' * It appeareth by oar ancient authors was imprisoned for and convicted of
of the law that if a prisoner, whatsoever the felony.
cause was for which he was committed, had * * Hereby (Statute of Marlborough, c,
broken the king's prison and escaped out, 14) appeareth that the writ of attaint,
it was felony; because interest reipublicsB which by our old books and auncient records
ut caroeres sint in tuto ; but yet it must is called breve de convictione, was given by
have been an actuall breaking of the prison ; the conunon law, and the forme of the writ
for if the doors had been open and he had is set downe in our auncient authors at the
gone out, or if others without his privity had suite of the party grieved ; and it appeareth
broken open the prison doore &c. 6l he goeth by the Register that no writ of attaint
out & escapeth, or if the gaoler himself e reciteth any statute and the judgement in
had let him out; in these cases it had been the writ of attaint is fearfuU and penall,
no felony, because the prisoners did not and given by no statute, and this is proved
actually breake the prison.' — E. Cokb, 2 by this act, which nameth attaints, and is
Inst. 589. But by the statute of * de before any act of parliament in print made
frangentibus prisonam ' of 1 Ed. 2 (1307), concerning attaints.' — Coks, ib. p. 130.
no man could be punished for prison- ' See Goryng v. Northumberland, earl
breaking as for a felony, unless he of, 0, p. 108, n. 1, infra.
PARKER V. SUFFOLK, DUKE OF 15
and that the said aunswere ys good and trewe tochyng their defence
yn rnaner and forme as ys alleggid yn the same without that the
said maire and Bailifes toke ony provis ^ or examinacion be for them
by vertu of the kynges lettres vppon ony bill or testimoniell, or that
the seid John Attwyll Brake oute of ward or wis ^ takyn a geyne by
the said maire and Baylifife or committed a geyne to ward or any
eschape shold or yn ony wyse myght befall yn suche castell* yn
maner and forme as the said John Taillour hath declared yn his said
replicacion, neyder the said Philippe esloyned hym selfe for ony fere
but} ^ rode onto the kynges god grace and fette a discharge aswell for
hym selfe as for the said John Attwyll. All which materres the said
John Attwyll and Philippe be redy to prove as this courte shall award,
and prayen to be dismissed with their resonable costes by tham
Susteyned yn this behalfe, and the said John Tayllour to be remitted
yn to the escheccour as ys conteyned yn the said aunswere, ther to
be punysshed for the vntrew concelement done a gence the kyng &c
and to aunswere the kyng of the said dg. marc
^PARKER' V. SUFFOLK, DUKE 0F.»
To the right noble sadde and discrete lordes of
the kyng oure soueraigne lordis eoiinsaill.
1485-89 This is the grevous complaynt of William Parker knyght ayenst
the right high and myghty prince John Duke of Suffolk.
First the seid sir william Parker complaynet ayenst the seid
duk for asmoche as he by the most famous and Cristen Prince Edward
the fourth late kyng of Englond was laufully possessid and seasid of
the maners of Hongham and Buxston with the hundred of Fairehoo
« Proofs, evidence. Patent Rolla, Ed. 4, 1461-67, p. 463). At
' * Wis.* An uncommon variant of the some time before 1472 he was enfeoffed by
Old English form *we8.' Maetzner, English John Stanley, esquire, of lands ut Batersey
Grammar (1874), translated by C. J. Grece, and Wannesworth Ac, co. Surrey, to the use
i. 376. of the abbey of Westminster, which feoffment
* See A, p. 11, n. 32, supra. * was in that year forfeited to the king as
' Query transposed, for bu3t. See being in violation of the statute of mortmain
Maetzner, pp. 156, 157. (Patent Rolls, Ed. 4, 1467-77, p. 808, cp.
> S.CP. Hen. 7, No. 87. b. p. 385 ; also Close Rolls, 13 Ed. 4, m.
* Sir William Parker of London, knight, 5). In 1482 he accompanied Richard, duke
warden of the Merchant Taylors' Company of Gloucester, in his expedition against
at the time of the grant to the company of Scotland, and on July 24 of that year was
a charter by Edward 4 on August 28, knighted by the duke (W. C. Metcalfe,* Book
1465 (C. M. Clode, » Memorials of the of Knights' [1885], p. 7). Probably in this
Merchant Taylors' Company '[1875], p. 194. or the following year he made a brilliant
16
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
in the Counte of Norffolk and so contynued his laafoll possession and
peasibly receyued and perceyaed the issuez and profites of the same
vnto now late that the seid dak by myght and strength contrarie to
all right lawe and conscience entred into the same maners and
hundred and therof hath pat out the seid sir william and hath taken
and perceyued the issues and profites of the same this xij moneth and
half yere and more which maneres and hundred be of the yerely
value of vj** li. xiij s. iiij d. which amounteth in all for the seid yere
and an half — viij** xvij li.
For the which maners of Hongham and Buxston with other
maners londes and tenementes the seid sir William is bounden to the
feoffes of the seid landes in m^m^ marcs ^ to purchace londes and tene-
mentez to the yerely value of c marcs for the ioyntoure of Alice wif of
the seyd sir William doughter to sir William late lorde morley ^ and
Alianore his wif * ouur and beside viij marcs ^ for thexibucion of a
marriage with Alice Lovel, sister and heir
of Henry Lovel, lord Morley, who, on her
brother's death in 1489, became sao jure
baroness Morley. The marriage may be
approximately dated from the recital in the
text that he held the manors by grant
from Edward 4, who died on 9 April,
1483. As they had long been in the
Lovel family, the inference is that they
were held by him in right of his wife, who
was after the death of her father in 1476 a
ward of the Crown. She was twenty-two
years of age at the date of her brother's death
in 1489 (Inquisitions post Mortem, Hen. 7,
i. 212). Through her Parker became a large
landowner in the Eastern Counties (see G.
A. Cartbew, ' Hundred of Launditch,' i. 69.
Calendar of Inquisitions post Mortem, Henry
7, i. 213; F. Blomfield, *Hist. of Norfolk*
(1805), ii. 441. Henry Lovel, lord Morley,
lady Parker's brother, had married Eliza-
beth, daughter of John de la Pole, duke of
Suffolk, by Elizabeth, daughter of Bichard
Plantagenet, duke of York and sister of
Edward 4 and Bichard 3. Suffolk's violent
proceedings were therefore probably based
upon a claim on the part of his daughter to
dower.
Parker was in attendance as a represen-
tative knight at the funeral of Edward 4
(J. Gairdner, ' Letters and Papers of Bichard
3 and Henry 7,* i. 8). After Bichard 3's
accession to the throne he was nominated
a Privy Councillor and Standard-bearer
to the king (G.E.C., Complete Peerage, v.
372). It is probable that he did not
fight at Bosworth, for his name is not in
the lists either of the combatants or of the
attainted. On the other hand, he never
gained Henry 7*8 favour sufficiently to
be summoned to Parliament in right of his
wife's estates. He was evidently successful
in this suit, since the manors continued in
his descendants. He died in 1510 (G.E.C.,
Complete Peerage, v. 372). His son Henry
Parker was summoned to Parliament as lord
Morley in 1523, d. 1555. His widow Alice
after his death married Sir Edward Howard,
K.G., admiral of England (second son of
Thomas, earl of Surrey, afterwards duke
of Norfolk), killed in battle before Brest,
April 25, 1513 (Blomfield, I.e.).
* John de la Pole, second duke of
Suffolk, b. September 27, 1442 ; only son of
William de la Pole, first duke of Suffolk,
(d. 1450). He married (before October,
1460) Elizabeth, second daughter of Bichard,
duke of York. He died in 1491. See
»Dict. Nat. Biog.»
« £1,333 65. 8d.
* Sir William Lovel, second son of
William lord Lovel of Titohmarch or
Tiohmarsh, Northants, married Alianore or
Eleanor, only daughter and heir of Bobert
lord Morley (d. 1442) ; was sunmioned to
Parliament as lord Morley, jure uxoris, in
1469, died July 23, 1476. His wife died
August 20, 1475 or 1476 (G. A. Carthew,
* Hundred of Launditch,' i. 68. Nicolas,
'Historic Peerage,' 1857, sub Morley).
From this recital the date of the death of
Eleanor, lady Morley, is more probably 1476,
though Blomfield gives the year of the
death of both husband and wife as 1475,
at which time, he says, their son and heir
was eleven years old. His nonage there-
fore lasted till 1485.
* £6 6s. Qd.
PARKER V. SUFFOLK, DUKE OF 17
prest, and to pay all the dettis that the seid Alianore late lady morley
ought the tyme of her decesse duely provid and also to content and pay
all annuytes graunted by the seid late lord and lady out of the seid
maners and confermed by the seid feoffes And ouur xx" which the feoffes
of the seid Maners were bounden to pay to the seid Alice duryng the
noun age of the now lord morley ^ for all other charges for her ex-
penses, which feofifes have charged the seid William parker to the
payeme[nt] * [of the] ® seid xx" and discharged theym self by reason
of a lesse made thereof to hym And also the seid duk hath by his seid
mych strength discharged all maner of olde officers the which have
contynued there this xxx yere and more to his grete hurt.
Item the seid sir WilHam complayneth hym ayenst the seid duk
for asmoche as he had purchased a tenement in Hengham af9reseid
callid the hare and for the edificacion of the same hath had a frame
of tymber there a makyng the space of iij yeres & more ^ which Frame
of tymber the seruauntes of the seid duk and by his commaundement
haue caried and take awey the frame of tymber to such places as it
hath pleasid hym contrary to all right which frame of tymber and the
werkmanshipp therof hath cost the seid sir William cc li. and more
ouur and beside the beryng of the tymber.
Item the seid sir WiUiam complayneth hym ayenst the seid duk
for asmoche as he had bilded vpon the seid grounde a tenement
and a new berne which cost hym xl li. and more the seid duk by his
grete myght entred in to the same tenement and berne the seid berne
beyng full of Corne and there toke and thresshed alle the Cornes than
and there beyng and theym led caried awey and sold at his pleasure
to the grete losse of the seid sir William and by that vnlefull dealyng
the grounde of the seid sir William bath stand vacand and vnoccupied
and yet doth for the seid sir William ne noone of the seruauntes do
come thider to lete and occupie the same for fere and jupardie of their
lyves, Wherupon the seid sir William shewed to the kyngis goode
grace the disposicion of the seid duk And therupon had a commyssion
from hym directid to the tenauntes there comm^undyng theym to
paye their fermes to the seid sir William and to his deputes and to
' This fixes the date of this suit as being Addy, * The Evolution of the English
prior to 14S9, the year of lord Morley's death. House* [189S], p. 108). By the *Acte
* Manuscript torn. against burning of frames ' (37 Hen. 8,
* * The rearing of a house, described in c. 6), passed in 1646, ' the secret bumynge
medieeval Latin as levatio, was the lifting of frames of tymber prepared and made by
or setting up of the timber work or skeleton the owners therof redy to be sett up and
structure which supported the whole build- edified for houses ' was made felony
ing. The timber work was prepared and without benefit of clergy.
made ready before it was set up * (S. O.
18 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
noone other which commyssion was opynly rede afore the seid ten-
auntes and while the seid Commyssion was in redyng the seruaantes
[of] ^ the seid dukes came vpon hym with billes and bowes and there
put hym in suche fere that he was fayne to tak the parsonage and the
parson there in noo wise durst kepe hym but conveyed hym on the
bak side to the chirche for the saufgarde of his lif and so conveied by
night or elles he had be sleyn.
Please it youre noble wisdomes and sadde discrecions the pre-
misses aboue seid tenderly considered and theruppon by your seid
noble discrecions to see and ordeyn that the seid sir William may be
restored ayene to the possession of the seid manors and hundred And
also truly content and paide of the seid viij " xvij li. so by the seid
duk receyued and that the seid sir William his seruauntes and officers
there may peasibly occapie theire seid offices as they of olde tyme
haue done without any bodily harme to hym or theym here after to
be done. ^"
ATTORNEY-GENERAL v. PARRE AND OTHERS.
This is thaunsure * of William Parre Richard Vndrell John
Vndrell Thomas Bedell Herry Savage John Nores James
Savill Robert Woman Robert Chapell Nicholas Walter
John Chamlet & Thomas Shoo tp the informacion* put
agenst theym by Mr. Hobert the kinges attourne.'
The seid William Parre Richard Vndrell John Vndrell Thomas
Bedell Herry Savage John Nores James Savell Robert Woman Robert
Chapell Nicholas Walter John Chamlet and Thomas Shoo Seyn that
thohthe * it is that they were inpanelled vppon thacquittell of the seid
John Wod and William Frank for the mater in the seid informacion
specified be fore the kinges juges and at the tyme and place in the
»• There are no other papers in this hy way of information had become common
case. during the reigns of Henry 6 and Edward 4,
« S.CP. Hen. 7, No. 52. This is the • Hist. Engl. Law,' iii. 168.
only document of the case. * Sir Jjunca Hoberd, Hobart or Hubbard,
* Perhaps in accordance with the terms of Lincoln's Inn. Attorney General, No-
of the Star Chamber Act (3 Hen. 7, c. 1) vember 1, 1486 ; knighted February 18,
which gave jurisdiction ' uppon bill or in- 1603; died 1507 (* Diet. Nat. Biog.').
formacion put to the seid Chancellor for the The style * Mr.* affords no trustworthy
kyng or any other, ageyn any persone for indication of the date of the case. Cf.
eny mysbehavyng afore rehersed,' included Gtoryng v. Northumberland, earl of, c,
in which is ' takyng of money by jurryes.' p. 103 : ' Mr. Bray, knyght for the kinges
Presumably this case would come within the moste honorabill body.' Also ' Mr. Cheyneye '
recited mischief of ' other ontrewe retournes * and *8ir John Cheyney' alternatively on
or the * takyng of money by juryea.* Or it p. 49.
may be a proceeding under 11 Hen. 7, c. 26 * By mistake for • trohthe,* i.e. troth.
(1495). Beeves remarks that prosecutions
ATTORNEY-GENERAL r, PARRE AND OTHERS 19
seid informacion specified how be it they had soche Euydences Geuyn
theym at that tyme for the proflfe that the seid John and William
wer not Geltie of that Eschape wherof be fore that tyme they were
indited That in their Conciensis they thought playnly they Cowd no
noder wise doo with owt they shold haue bene forsworne but to doo as
they did in the acquitell of the seid John and William of the seid
Eschape for they sey one * ^ the wiflf of John Edmundes the
vnder keper of the kinges benche Testified to the seid William Parre
Richard Vndrell John Vndrell Thomas Bedell Herry Savage John
Nores James Savell Robert Woman Robert Chapell Nicholas Walter
John Chamlet and Thomas Shoo the seid John and William after tha
seid John Day was arested for the folony *"' in the said informacion
specified delyuered the seid John Day to the kepyng of the kinges
benche and ther as a prisoner was resceyued and ther he Contined
by the space of iij day vn to the tym he Eschaped thens after that
the seid John Wode and William Erank ware lawfully dischargid of
hym, with owt that the seid William Parre Richard Vndrell John
Vndrell Thomas Bedell Herry Savage John Nores James Savell Robert
Woman Robert Chapell Nicholas Walter John Chamlet and Thomas
Shoo acquited the seid John and William of the seid felony by ony
Corupt meane or that the seid William Parre Richard Vndrell John
Vndrell Thomas Bedell Herry Savage John Nores James Savell Robert
Woman Robert Chapell Nicholas Walter John Chamlet and Thomas
Shoo Euer hadd ony suche Euydens or informacion Geuyn theym
which shold haue discharged their Conciens to atteynted^ the seid
John and William of the seid Eschape and with owt that the seid
William Parre Richard Vndrell John Vndrell Thomas Bedell Herry
Savage John Nores James Savell Robert Woman Robert Chapell
Nicholas Walter John Chamlet and Thomas Shoo wer periured ^ in
Gevyng the seid verdit, to their knowlege, all which maters the
seid William Parre Richard Vndrell John Vndrell Thomas Bedell
Herry Savage John Nores James Savell Robert Woman Robert Chapell
Nicholas Walter John Chamlet and Thomas Shoo at all tymes ar
redy to proue as this Courte will award theym & prayeth to be
dismissid owt of that same with ther resonable Costes & damages for
ther wronge vexacion and trobill in that behalfe.
"^ Blank in MS. " On the claim of the Star Chamber to
• Sic, for felony. try cases of perjury. See Introd., pp.
^ Sic, * have ' omitted. cxxxiii-cxxxv.
c 2
20 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
BATHE, PRIOR OF v. ST. AUGUSTYN'S, CAUNTERBURY, ABBOT OF.'
A. To the king cure souereign lord
1489 Shewith vnto youre Highnes and the lordes of youre moost honour-
able counsell youre contynuall Oratour Thabbot of the monastery of
Seynt Austyn in the Countie of Kent * that where of late a grevous
Bclaunderouse vntrue fayned and surmysed bill of compleynt hath
bene and yit is pursuyd ayenst youre saide Oratour before the lordes
of youre moost honourable counsell by one John Cauntlowe prior of
the Cathedrall Churche of Bathe ' to the greate grevouse and Impor-
tunable charge costes and lossis of youre saide Oratour And for the
insufficiente * and vncerteynte of the whiche bill youre saide Oratour
ought not to be put to Aunswere Neuertheles youre saide Oratour
saith that by a Statut made in the tyme of king Edward the thurde
the xlij yere of his Reigne ® It was Actid and ordeynyd by the same
Statut that no maner of person shulde be put to Aunswere without it
were apon a due presentment afore his Justices or ellys by mater of
Record Or ellys by a Originall writ * Accordyng to the Auncien la we
of the land As more playnly apperith by the same estatut And for-
asmuch as the saide bill of compleynt of the saide prior of Bathe
imply eth no presentment takyn afore noone of the kinges justices nor
is mater of Record ner due ' Originall writ youre saide Oratour askyth
1 S.CP. Hen. 8, Handle 24, No. 396. ^ This statute, the 42 Ed. 3, c. 3, is
Wrongly sorted. expressed to be based upon a petition of
^ St. Augustine's Benedictine Monas- the Commons against the practice of
tery said to have been founded by king citing persons by false accusation before
Ethelbert and St. Augustine in 605. John the Council. The operative part is here
Dunster appears in Dugdale as successor to but slightly abridged. The Commons peti-
William Sellyng, who died in 1480. The tioned in 1421 for the observance of this
next name in Dugdale's list, which gives statute (Kot. Pari. iv. 156). See further
no dates for Dunster, is John Dygon, Introd., p. Ixxix, supra.
1497-1509 (' Monast.* i. 123). Dunster • * Writs are diversely divided in divers
was probably the name of the place of the respects, some in respect of their order
Abbot's birth in N.W. Somerset, and not his or manner of granting are termed Original,
family name, which was presumably Slugge and some Judicial. Original writs are
or Slougge (see C, p. 28, and D, p. 32, infra). these that are sent out for the summoning
At Dunster was a cell to Bath priory. of the defendant in a personal or the
J. Collinson, * Hist, of Somerset,' ii. 16. tenant in a real action, before the suit
' Prior 1489-1499. He rebuilt the begins, or rather to begin the suit. Those
chapel of St. Mary Magdalen at Holloway, are Judicial which are sent out by order
near Bristol, together with a small hospital of the court where the suit depends, upon
for lunatics adjoining (J. Collinson, ' Hist. occasion after the suit begun.' Old Nat.
of Somerset,' i. 172). Bath was also a Brev. fol. 51 and 147. J. Cowel, * Interp.'
Benedictine house (Dugd. ii. 256). Its s.v. Writ.
revenues at the Dissolution were 695L 6s. li<2. ' There is an omission. The text of
J. Speed, * Hist, of Great Britain ' (1660), * the statute Anglic^ runs ' or by due process
p. 821. and writ original.'
^ Sio. The same form appears on p. 5.
BATHE, PRIOR OF, V. ST. AUGUSTYN'S, CAUNTERBURY, ABBOT OF 21
iugement if he ought to be put to Aunswere contrarie to the fourme
of the saide estatut And ouer this saith that in youre last parliament
holden at Westminster It was agreed concludyd and Affermyd by
youre grace And the lordes of youre moost honourable counsell in the
same present parliament Assemblyd That fromthensforth no maner
a ® persone nor persons shulde not be grevid nor vexid apon any privy
Seale to be suyd by reason of any compleynt theruppon made without
so were the mater therin conteyned concernyd a great cause of Byot
forcible entre vnlaufuU & riotouse Assemblees Or ellys great and
grevouse pouertee concernyng eyther of the parties that soo suyth or
complayneth ® Wherfor your seid Oratour praieth that forasmuche
as the saide bill of compleyns comprehendyth no Ryot nor vnlaufull
Assemble And youre said Oratour & the saide prior be persons
ablee & sufficient to suye for theire remedy by the lawes of youre
Land for all Iniuries & wrong to theym commytted & doone that youre
saide Oratour may be dismyssid oute of this Court with his resonable
costes and damages for his wrongfull vexacion susteyned in this behalf.
Indorsed. Besponsio abbatis sancti Augustini Gantuariensis &c.
ad billam Prioris Bathoniensis.
B. The declaration (of the) ^ matere in variaunce betweyne the
abbot of the monastere of seynt Augustyn of Gaunterbury
And the prior ' of Bath.
The * ' * ' sayith that his bille is gode true sufficient
& certain to put the seid Abbot * ' * ^ * ' Wheras
the seid Abbot alleygeth that the same prior owght (to ^) sue in the
* A worn-down form from * of.* Cf. Lord feele to grete myght on that oo syde, and
Bemers^s Froissart (1523), i. xxxviii. 52 : unmyght on that other, or ellus other
* well fumysshed of men a warr.* J. A. H. cause resonable that shalle moeve hem,'
Murray, * Eng. Diet.' s.v. A. the xvth ordinance provides * that the
' The demurrer as to riots &q. can clero of the Gounsaille be swome that
only refer to the Act *Pro Camera Stel- every day that the Gounsaille sitteth oq
lata ' (3 Hen. 7, c. 1 [1487]). But its eny Billes betwix partie and partie, that he
sub-title *An Acte geving the court of shall, as ferre as he can, aspie which is
Starchamber authority to punnyshe the porest Suteurs Bille, and that furst to
dyvers my(8)demeanour8 ' indicates that be radd and answered ' (H. Nicolas, * Pro-
the negative form of this recital is an ex- ceedings &q, of Privy Council ' (1834), iii.
tremely elastic paraphrase. The petition 214, 217. Cf. 31 Hen. 6, o. 2). The Star
would appear to have been drawn by a Chamber Act contains no such clause re-
draughtsman without the Act before him, garding ' great and grevouse pouertee ' as
and the recital seems a hazy mixture of is recited here. See further Introd., p. Ixxxi,
the Act and of the ordinance of Council of supra.
1426, * that all the Billes that comprehend * Parchment illegible, being much in-
matiers terminable at the common la we jured by damp and decay,
be remitted there to be determined. But if ' Reading doubtful.
80 be that the discretion of the Counsaille * Illegible.
22 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
* 3 ♦ ^ cf the mater and charges ^ comprysyd in his seid bill the
same Prior is * ^ * ^ * ^ said * priorie beth * in grete
pouertye for * ^ * ^ * * * ^ manye * causes Whe * ^
* ^ * ^ soden * ruyn of the most * of the church of the seid Priorye ^
the charges and costes of repare * * ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ seid
* ' * ^ * ^ * ^ place And othere greate vrgent & in-
evitable cause of the same pouertye is the grete vnreasonable &
gruggfull ^ * ^ * 3 wilf ull damage done * by * ^ * ^ of
* 3 #3 hereditamentes juelles goodes & catalles of the same
pryorye done & commytted vnfatherly to the same place by the seid
• ' * ' * ^ the grete offence in conscience * ' * ^ therof
as appereth by the articles & matere ensuynge redy tobe proved
emonges dyuers othere grete inconveyent A *' *^ *' to
the hurt & ympouerysshyng of * ^ * ^ Fyrst the same Abbot
beynge then Prior of the seid Priorye causyd a yerely rent of ix marcs ^
parcell of the heritaunce of the seid Pryorye due therto by the
maire «fc com(monalty) ^ of the towne of Plymmouth ^ tobe relessyd
& dischargyd forever to the grete hurt & disheritaunce of the same
howse & the same abbot resceyued therfore c & viij li.^ Whiche
(he^) (t)^"oke with hym & conuertyd to his proper vse & to the vse
of the seid abbathie Wherof he is nowe abbot Also the seid abbot
then beyng Pryor of the said Pryorye caused the (sa)^®me Pryorye
& thenheritmentes therof tobe chargyd perpetuelly with one yerely
* Obsolete form. A.S. beK See J. A. H. St. German's were commuted for a fee
Murray, ' Kng. Diet.' s.v. Be, p. 716. farm rent of 41/. payable by the corpora-
^ In his account of William Bird, tion of Plymouth, and those of the priory
Caantlow's successor, CoUinson says : * The of Bath for a fee farm rent of ten marks
old conventual church being in his time (62. Ids. 4d.). In consequence of the
(1499-152f'>) become ruinous, the bishop, at * pouertee and dekaye ' of the town the first
the instance and with the assistance of the of these rents was reduced in 1464 to
prior, set about rebuilding it in a more 29i. 6s. Sd. It may be inferred that the
sumptuous manner * (' Hist, of Somerset ' rent paid to the priory of Bath was at the
[1791J, i. 56). The bishop was Oliver King same time reduced to nine marks. See R. N.
(1495-1504), of whom CoUinson says that Worth, * History of Plymouth ' (1890),
he * began the reparation of the ruinated p. 190.
church of Bath' (ib. iii. 386). From this * Eighteen years' purchase. Cktnsidenng
pleading it would appear that the ruin was that the suppression of religious houses
due to mischiince and not to neglect. But had taken place for the foundations of
there is in existence a letter of bishop King, Wykeham and Waynilete, and on a larger
dated October 9, 1500, which tells a very scale in the case of the alien priories under
dififcrent tale, and describes the church as Henry 5, this was a very fair bargain.
* per incuriam multorum priorum non repa- Land was customarily sold in the middle of
ratam aut refectam, imo f unditus dirutam the fifteenth century and down to a hundred
ipsisque in voluptatibus evanuisse.' This, years later at twenty years' purchase of the
notwithstanding that the revenues of the rental. J. E. T. Rogers, ' Hist. Ag.' iv.
house amounted to 480Z. 16s. 6Jd., . nd that 738 ; W. Denton, ' England in the Fifteenth
the monks only numbered sixteen. The Century ' (1888), p. 233. Cf. S. P. Dom.
letter is printed in J. Britten, ' Hist, of Bath Hen. 8, xiii. 1, 1453, and ibid. ii. 671
Abbey Church ' (1825), App. iv. p. 140. (1538) ; also Acts of the Privy Council, ii.
« Rancorous. ' 6L 382 (1550) ; iv. 194 (1662). See also p.
" In 1440 the rights of the priory of 176, infra. '" Parchment torn.
BATHE, PRIOR OF, V, ST. AUGUSTYN'S, CAUNTERBURY, ABBOT OF 23
rent of xl s. grauntyd in his tyme to one Johane at Welle & to her
heires & assignes & ressayvid (the)rfore '^ of her c li. ^^ which he
toke to his propre vse & to the vse of his abbathie & also causyd
the same pryory to be chargyd perpetuelly with an other annuell rent
of (vj li.) ^* to Thomas more of Cheldre ^' in fee symple ^* & resceyved
therefore (ccc) ^* marcs ^® which he toke & conuertyd to his propre
vse & to the vse of his seid abbathye. Also he causyd the same
priorye to be charged in his tyme perpetuelly with an other annuell
rent of x li. grauntyd to John Twyneo in fee symple & reseyved
therefore of hym cccc marcs ^^ (which) * he in lyke wyse appUed to his
propre vse & to the vse of his seid abbathye Moreouer the seid
abbot beynge pryor of the seid priorie resceyved of diuers other per-
sons for • ^® of yerely rentes Corodyes ^* pensyons & Fees &
morgages of londes to theym made in his tyme for terme of their
lyves & for discharges & releesses of the rightes & possessions & sale
of ymplementes of the same priorie & for manumyssions & Fynes
in his tyme made & grauntyd as appereth by a scedule thervnto
annexyd amountynge to the some of yj*^ Ixvij" xij* & iiij** to the
extreme ympouerysshynge of the same Priorye And ferthermore the
seid abbot beynge Pryor of the seid Priorye gretly mynysshed the
Store of the mansion & possession of the same Pryorye to the grete
disperses ^^ damage & ympouerysshynge therof And also in his tyme
& at the tyme of his departynge the same Priorye was indettyd in
" Fifty years' purchase, an extraordi- actions presumably proved highly profit-
narily good bargain, the usual rate of interest able to the abbot. Cf . n. 13, supra, and p.
for money lent on good security being ten 26, nn. 5, 6, infra.
to twelve per cent. (Denton, p. 260. See "^ Here * corody * is apparently used of a
the references there given in n. 2). By bargain by the monastery with a private
37 Hen. 8, c. 9, § 4 (1545), ' An Acte against person. Cowel (Interp. s. v.) associates it
Usurye,' ten per cent, per annum was the with a grant to the king in favour of his
limit of interest allowed to mortgagees. nominee. The example in the text is the
" Illegible. Restored from the prior's more common use. H. Spelman defines it
account, G (p. 26, infra). ' as ' alimenti modus qui in aliquo monas-
'* Thomas More of Cheddar, Somerset. terio alicui conceditur, vel ad terminum
Will proved 1493. J. C. C. Smith, ' Index,' vitae, vel pro certo tempore, vel hereditarie.'
ii. 376. Glossarium Archaiologioum (1687) s.v.
'* I.e. heritable. CSonformably with this Corrodium al. Corredium. See Introd.,
terminology an Assize of Novel Disseisin p. Ixxxv. An example of a corody is printed
lay for a corody in arrear. Stat. West- in F. A. Gasquet, ' Henry 8 and the English
minster the second, c. 25 (1285). See Monasteries ' (2nd ed. 1889), ii. 531, App. ii.,
Introd., p. Ixxxv. from which it appears that it was daily re-
'^ Parchment torn; restored from the ceivable in kind in a house within the
prior's account, C (p. 26, infra). monastic precincts, occupation of which
*• 200/., i.e. thirty-three and one-third constituted part of the benefit received,
years' purchase. The abbey held no land Cf. Cowel (Interp. s.v.). A pension did not
at Cheddar, and the annuity was presum- connote residence. Ibid. See further as to
ably charged on the whole of its lands, Corody, p. 148, nn. 47, 61.
whence, perhaps, the high price paid. *" I.e. dispersals, a form not noticed in
" 266/. 135. 4d., or more than twenty- J. A. H. Murray's ' Eng. Diet.'
Biz years' purchase. These three trans-
24 COURT OF THE STAR CIlAxMBER
viij'^'^ & xj li. & the same abbot toke & conueyed*^ with hyin the
juels plate siluer vessels goodes & catalles specified in the bille of
the seid Prior with dyuers other goodes & ymplementes of the goodes
of the same Priorye which beth ** not conuenyent tobe expressyd in
this high court levyng in the same place no some of money ne other
stufif necessarye to the sustenaunce & mayntenaunce therof as in
mete & drynke to fynd theym by the space of a fourtnyght *^ but of
his gredy couetous ^^ havynge special mynde to depart therefro toke all
that he myght of the same place to the vttur ympouerysshynge thereof
And moreouer the seid abbot the day of his departynge irom the seid
Priorye havynge in his possession the juels plate siluer vessell k
goodes of the same Pryorie specified in the same bille the couent " of
the same Priorye beynge bifore hym made to hym request to haue
delyuery to theym of the same juels plate siluer vessell & goodes
the same abbot then & theire esspecially desyred & requyred the
same couent by verrey subtile & crafty meanes that he myght haue
the occupacion of the same juels plate siluer vessell & goodes for a
certen season to be in his rewle & tobe brought with hym to the seid
abbey of seynt Augustyns & therby he shuld haue the grettere love
of the couent of the same place of seynt Augustynes & it were grete
reproch to the same Priorye he to departe so pore from thens not
havynge eny substaunce with hym & therevppon he leynge his hand
vppon his brest made there a solempne oth & promyse vppon his
presthode to the same Couent to restore ayeyn to theym the seid juels
plate siluer vessell & goodes in as goode & better value & condicion
then he resceyued theym. Moreouer the seid Prior seith that the
seid abbot hath by his writynge made with his owne hand grauntyd
to restore ayen the seid siluer vessell Chalesse pax ^* & half cruettes ^^
of siluer in more & bettere value then he hadde theym Neuerthe-
lesse the same abbot to thentent to coloure therby more couertly his
seid grete wronges hath made a bille to the kynge oure soueraign lord
'-^ With the implication of theft. Cf. round, having been kissed by the priest,
Cranmer, ' Cateoli.' 99 b, ' I may convey after the '' Agnus Dei " in the Mass, to
from hym an Oxe, Asse or an Horse,' and communicate the Kiss of Peace.' A. Welby
Shaks. ' Merry Wives,' i. 3. 31 : * Convey, Pugin, * Glossary of Ecclesiastical Orna-
the wise it call,' J. A. H. Murray, *Eng. ment, <&c.' (1840), p. 192, where is an en-
Diot.,' s.v. graving of a pax. It is called in C ' le
** Evidently a minimum. paxbred,' i.e. * brede or lytylle borde,' it
'^ A form of covetise, covetousness. being anciently of wood. Prompt. Parv.
J. A. H. Murray, ' £ng. Diet.' s.v. Covetise. (Camd. Soc. 1843).
Cf. Butlond and others v. Austen and others, " At Durham Abbey 'there was per-
p. 263, infra. - taining to the altar two great crewetts of
" See p. 138, n. 5. silver, containing a quart apiece, parcel gilt
*' *A small plate of gold, or silver, or and engraven all over; and two lesser
copper gilt, enamelled, or piece of carved cruets for every day, all of silver.' ' Antiqui-
ivory, or wood overlaid with metal, carried tics of Durham Abbey,' p. 12. Pugin, p.
BA.THE, PIUOR OF, V. ST. AUGUSTYN'S, CAUNTERBURY, ABBOT OF 25
& rehersynge therin in a generaltye the compleynt of the seid Prior
praynge for so moch as there is no matere by presentement ne mater
of record due origynall by the cours of the lawe riot riotous assemble
ne forcibly entree comprysed in the bille of the seid Prior that there-
fore the same abbot myght be dysmyssyd out of this Court accordynge
to the ordynaunces of certen statutes in that behalf ordeynyd *^ the
which bille of the same abbot is made in fourme of peticon & not
by eny fourme of answar to the bille of the seid Prior only of subtiltie
& craft by cause the same abbot wold not be sworne vppon eny
answer by hym tobe made directly to the bille of the same Prior "' ne
yef eny answer direct therunto, which is a right ieopardous president
tobe begon of newe And by the causes & consideracons alleggyd
herin it may be by the consideracion of this high Court pleynly
acceptyd & adiugyd grete pouertie tobe in the seid howse of Bath
All which maters the seid Prior is redy to prove as this Court wille
awarde And for asmoch as the seid abbot in his bille & answer
hath not denyed the hauynge of the seid juels plate siluer vessell &
goodes specified in the seid bille of the seid Prior & other iniuries
conteynyd in the same bille therefore the same Prior praeth that by
iugement of this high Court the same abbot may be adiugged othere
to yeld to the same Prior the juelles plate siluer vessell & godes
specified in his seid bille & to make such ferthere restitucion &
recompense to the same Prior & his howse of Bath of the premysses
as accordeth with right & goode conscience orelles to make ferthere
pleyn & direct answer aswelle to the matere comprysed in the seid
bille of the seid Prior as to the mater specified in this repUcacon &
therevppon to be examyned by his othe as he shuld haue be vppon a
pleyn answare ^^ made to the matere of the bille of the same Prior.
Indorsed. Prior Bathoniensis contra abbatem sancti Augustini
Cantuariensis.
c.
UNIUEBSIS sancte matris ecclesie filiis ad quos presentes Utere
peruenerint.
JOBLANNES Cantelowe Prior prioratus ecclesie C(athedralis)
(Bathoniensis) ^ et eiusdem loci Capitulum in omni salutari Salutem
88. Cruets appear to have been anciently amined upon oath.' Sir J. F. Stephen,
of the larger size. ' Hist, of the Criminal Law ' (1883), i. 176.
'" See A, p. 21, n. 9, supra, and Introd., Cf. Pynson & others v. Squyer & others,
pp. Ixxix-lxxxii. p. 117, infra. See also Introd., pp. Wi, Ixxi,
" * The Star Chamber proceeded by bill supra,
and answer, and administered interroga- ' Paper torn. The restorations are
tories to the aocused party, whom they ex- from documents B and D.
26 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
perpetuam. Ad Vniuersitatis Vestre noticiam deducimus per pre-
sentes quod qu(idam) ^ pater dompnus Johannes dunster Abbas mon-
est^ii ^ Sancti Augustini iuxta Gantuauiam ^ nuper prior prioratus
h(ui)us* ecclesie Bathoniensis in Tempore Prioratus sui dampnum
intulit commorauit ^ subtraxit dilapidauit ac deuas(t)auit ^ Bedditus
prouentus Alia que bona dicti prioratus alienauit necnon quamplurima
in peius transtulit * ymmo dictum prioratum in debitis pensionibus
Gorro(diis)^ seruiciorum concessionibus que ofiSciorum onerauit et aliis
prout sequitur.
IN PRIMIS fecit relaxari Redditum nouem marcarum de Com-
munitate Ville de plimmoth in comitatu deuon priori & Conuentui dicte
ecc(leBie) ^ Cathedralis Bathoniensis Annuatim persoluendum pro
qua relaxacione Idem venerabilis pater dompnus Johannes dunster
nuper prior Ante dictus recepit c (viij li.).
ITEM fecit onerari dictum prioratum concedendo Johanne At Well
de Glaston ^ in Comitatu Somerset vidue heredibus executori & As-
(Big)nati(s)^ imperpetuum Annuam pensionem quadraginta Solidorum
et recepit pro eadem pensione c li. quas secum asportauit.
ITEM fecit onerari dictum prioratum concedendo ^ Thome More
de cheddre in Comitatu Somerset heredibus executori & Assignatis
su(i8)* imperpetuum Annuam pensionem Sex librarum Et accepit pro
eadem pensione ccc marcas quas secum asportauit.
ITEM onerari fecit dictum prioratum concedendo Johanni
Thweneho de Cicestria ^ in Comitatu Gloucester heredibus executori et
Assignatis suis imperpetuum pensionem Annuam decem librarum.
Et accepit pro eandem ^ pensione eccc marcas quas secum asportauit.
Summa pensionum concessarum quibus oneratur) . ,. ^
XIX ll
dictus Prioratus deterioratur que imperpetuum )
Summa pecuniarum pro predictis pensionibus receptarum &
per dictum yenerabilem Patrem dompnum Johannem dunster
subtractatarum seu ereptarum viij^ 1 marce.**
ITEM dictus venerabilis pater dompnus Johannes dunster a dicto
prioratu secum Asportauit ij magnas pelues Argenti & interiore parte
dea(uratas).^
« Sic. ii. 587.
' Detained, an ante- and post-classical ' The total of the annual charges set
ase. out is ISL
* In peius transtulit, deteriorated. " The total comes to 1,012 marks =
^ The will of Joan Atwell of Glaston- 674/. 13s. 4^. ; hut if the sum received for
bury was proved in 1486, J. C. C. Smith, commutation of the fee farm rent of Ply-
* Index,' i. 24. mouth be deducted the total is as stated,
« The will of John Twynyho of Ciren- viz. 850 marks or 5662. 1^, 4d.
cester, Gloucester, was proved in 1485, id.
BATttE, PRIOR OF, V. ST. AUGUSTYN*S, CAUNTERBURY, ABBOT OF 27
ITEM dictus venerabilis pater secum asportauit j le garnysh de
syluer vessell Completum videlicet xij le platters xij 1 * * ® et xij le sau-
cerie vnacum ij le Chargers et vt dicitur j aliud le Charger Argenti
pretium le j le platter iij li. pretium j 1 * ^
Summa Ixxxiiij li.
ITEM dictus venerabilis pater secum asportauit ij phiolas ^ argenti
in parte deaurati & j le paxbred Argenti & intoto deauratum.
ITEM secum asportauit j Calicem Argenti in parte deaurati & j
oUam Argenti in tota deaurati pondus dicte olle xiij vncie.
ITEM Alienauit Vnum par vestimentorum quondam ex dono
recolende memorie domini Thome Bekynden nuper Bathoniensis &
Wellensis Episcopi ^^ valoris iiij***^ marcarum cum j Salerio Argenti ^^
et cum cratera argenti ^^ Befectorio ibidem pertinent e.
ITEM aUenauit j implementum Antiquum de pandoxatorio ^^ vide-
Ucet vnum le fumeys euen * . . . . Ix li. vj s. viij d.
Becepta per dictum venerabilem patrem dompnum Johan-
nem dunster nuper priorem Antedictum in tempore con-
struccionis Befectorii.
ITEM In primis Becepit dictus venerabilis pater de domina Est-
mounde vidua pro quadam pensione decern marcarum pro quibus
dictus prioratus hue usque oneratur . . . vij^'' (li.).^^
ITEM Becepit de Johanne chaneys^^ de Wyllemyndon ^*^ in
' Apparently le . . ., bat the upper
part of the letter foUowmg 1 is torn off, and
the word may perhaps have been ' lances,'
dishes.
" Thomas Bekynden, Bekynton or
Beckington, bishop of Bath and Wells,
1443-1465, ' Diet. Nat. Biog.'
"-" Interlined.
'* In *Catholicon Ajiglicum,' compiled
in 1483, ' brewhouse, pandoxatoriam.'
E. E. T. S. 1881.
" Paper torn, but restored from the
fragment following, marked d. The bargain
is 6/. 135. id. a year rent charge for 140^.,
or 10 marks for 210 marks, i.e. twenty-one
years* purchase.
'^ Champneys in fragment, d, p. 32, infra.
But this reading is probably correct, as the
family of Champneys appears to have
come into Somerset at a later date (J.
CoUinson, ii. 223, <fec.). The family of
Ghaneys, Cheney or De Canieto were land-
owners temp. Ed. 1 (id. i. xxviii). This
John Cheney was possibly Sir John Cheyney
of Sheppey, Kent, who married Alianor,
daughter and heir of Sir liobert Shottes-
broke. He died 1467 (' Collect. Topogr. &c:
[1834], i. 313. E. Hasted, ' Hist, of Kent '
[1782], ii. 661). Their eldest son was John
Cheyney, knighted by the Earl of Richmond
on his landing at Milford Haven in 1485,
elected Knight of the Garter before April
22, 1486, and summoned to Parliament as
a baron in 1487 ; died 1495 (' Diet. Nat.
Biog.' Supplement, i. 421). The second son
was William Cheyney, mentioned below,
who married the daughter of Sir Oeoffrey
Boleyn, lord mayor of London in 1457,
great-grandfather of Queen Anne Boleyn
(• Collect. Topogr.' i. 314). He was sheriff
of Kent in 1477 and 1485 (Hasted, I.e.) and
received several grants from Hen. 7
(W. Campbell, » Mat.' i. 157, 175, Ac). A
branch of the family was settled at Spazton
or Pakton, Somerset (* Collect. Topogr.' i.
313. Inq. p. m. Henry 7, i. 248, 371, Ac).
See also Culford v. Wotton, C, p. 48, n. 8.
There was, however, another contem-
porary John Cheney with a son William.
This was Sir John Cheney of Fen Ditton,
Cambs, and of Thenford, Northants ; died
July 14, 1489, whose only son was after-
wards Sir William Cheney. G. Baker,
•Hist, of Northants' (1822-30), i. 714.
28
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Comitatu Somerset Centum marcas pro quibusmaneriumdechel worth ^^
im(pigneratur) ^ et ponitur in morgagium eidem Johanni vsque ad
plenam solucionem earundem vltra quam solucionem plenariam dictus
prioratus oneratur (eidem) ^ Johamii ac Willelmo filio suo in pensione
Annua viginti sex solidorum & octo denariorum durante vita eorum
vtriusque.
ITEM Recepit de Johanne Chauunceler de Keynisham ^' in Comi-
tatu Somercet Centum marcas pro solucione quarum dictus prioratus
oner (at ur) et propter hoc concessit filio dicti Johannis Chauunceler
pensionem Annuam quatuor marcarum vsque ad tempus quo pro-
moueret (eum)^ ad beneficium viginti marcarum.
ITEM Recepit de Ricardo Canynges de hampton iuxta bathoniam ^®
pro Corodio sibi & vxore ' sue & filio suo ad terminum vite eorundem
(et) ^ eorum alterius diucius viuentis . . . xl marcas.
ITEM Recepit de Johanne Broke de lye abbatis ^® iuxta bristoll
pro Corodio sibi & vxore * sue ad terminum vite . . . Ivij m (areas). ^'
ITEM Recepit de Johanne Baboure de Tweuerton *" iuxta Batho-
niam pro Corodio sibi et vxore * sue ad terminum vite
xlviij (marcas). ^^
ITEM Recepit de Alicia Slougge matre sua & Agnete Exsten
mater tera sua pro Corodio eis ad terminum vite concesso xl (li.).^^
ITEM Recepit de Willelmo Castell de bathonia pro fine tene-
menti sui xx (li.).^^
As the entry in the text is probably an
extract from the original dooament, which
may have been drawn up before John
Cheney received knighthood, the omission
of any title proves nothing.
'* Wyllemyndon, Wilmington, a hamlet
of Priaton, about five miles S.W. of Bath.
Priston had been granted to Bath Abbey
by Athelstan. J. CoUinson, * Hist, of Somer-
set/ i. 430. See n. 37, infra.
•• Chelworth or Chelwood, W.N.W. of
Priston, and nine miles S.W. of Bath. In
the Computus of Bath Abbey at the Dis-
solution is the following entry :
Mancrium de Chelworth /. s. d,
Bedditus Assise . . .328
Finna Manerii . . .400
Dugd. * Monast.* ii. 223.
" Will proved in 1489, J. C. C. Smith,
• Index of Wills,' i. 114.
•" Probably connected with the great
Bristol family. There was a Richard Can-
ninge of Foxcote, Warwickshire, son of
Thomas Canynges, lord mayor of London
in 1456, who had married Agnes Salmon,
the heiress of Foxcote. Thomas Canynges
was son of John Canynges and grandson of
William Canynges, the elder, of Bristol,
and therefore (elder) brother of William
Canynges the younger. I can find no other
mention of K. C. Hampton belonged to
the bishops of Bath and Wells. O. Pryce,
* Memorials of the Canynges Family * (1864),
Pedigree, i. p. 55, ii. p. 146. J. Collinson,
* Hist. Somerset,' lit. 394.
** Broke was the name of a family of
large landed possessions in Somerset, but
Collinson does not connect it with Abbot's
Leigh, nor have I otherwise been able to
identify this person. John Broke, second
lord Cobham, succeeded to the barony on
the death of his father in 1464, but does
not appear to have owned land in Abbot's
Leigh. See J. Collinson, * Hist, of Somer-
set,' iii. 152, 303.
^ Also the name of a landed family in
Somerset. Tweverton, Twiverton, or
Twerton is two miles S.S.W. of Bath. The
will of John Baber or Babyr, of Chewstoke,
Somerset, was proved in 1527 (J. C. C.
Smith, 'Index,' i. 28). Chew Stoke is
seven and a half miles S. of Bristol, and
about nine miles W. of Tweverton.
BATHE, PRIOR OF, V. ST. AUGUSTYN'S, CAUNTERBURY, ABBOT OF 29
ITEM Recepit de Willelmo Schote de hampton iuxta bathoniam
pro Reuercione vnius tenementi iiij (li.).^'
ITEM Recepit de domina de hungerford '^ pro Relaxacione tituli
in manerio de Crykoflf Thomas " in Comitatu Samercet ^ . xl (li.).^'
ITEM Recepit de quodam hibernico vocato parys *^ pro fine vnius
tenementi infra terram hibernie *^ situati . . . xx (li.)-^^
ITEM Recepit de magistro Johanni drouere pro vno corodio pro
termino vite eidem concesso xx (li.).^'
ITEM Recepit de domino Roberto Capellano suo pro Corodio ad
terminum vite concesso xx (li.).^'
ITEM Recepit de Willelmo Walley *^ de Bathonia pro fine molen-
dini vj (li.)-^^
ITEM Recepit de Johanne Cole de oldeston ^^ in Comitatu Somer-
cet pro sua manumissione " . . . x li.*® (xiij s. iiij d.).^^
** Probably Mary, lady Hungerford, as
she styled herself (Nicolas, ' Hist. Peerage '
[1867], p. 260), daughter and heir of Sir
Thomas Hungerford by Ann Percy, daughter
of Henry Percy, third earl of Northumber-
land (Collinson, * Hist, of Somerset,' iii.
366. See Nicolas, ' Test. Vet.' i. 319). She
married, before February 8, 1481, Edward
Hastings lord Hastings of Hastings
and Hungerford. She became in 1486 by
the reversal of her father's attainder of
1463 suo jure Baroness Hungerford. Lord
Hastings died November 8, 1506, and his
widow in 1511 married Sir Richard Sache-
verell of Batcliffe on Soar, Notts. She died
between 1528 and 1534. G. E. C, ' Com-
plete Peerage * (1892), iv. 186. Gf. also p.
69, n. 11, infra.
" Now Cricket St. Thomas. According
to Collinson (iii. 116) this manor and ad-
vowson passed to the Hungerfords by the
marriage of Margaret, daughter and heir of
William Botreaux, lord Botreaux, to Robert
second baron Hungerford, who died in 1459,
leaving Robert third baron Hungerford
(attainted and beheaded 1463) his son and
heir (Nicolas, * Hist. Peerage,' pp. 66, 260).
Neither manor nor advowson appears
among the estates of the abbey in the
computus made at the dissolution (1640),
Dugd. ' Monast.' ii. 273.
"^ Not an uncommon name in the Mid-
dle Ages. See sub Paris, Matthew, in
» Diet. Nat. Biog.'
** There were cells to the priory both at
Waterford and Cork (Dugd. ii. 263), but no
mention of land in Ireland occurs in the
computus (Dugd. ii. 273). T. Tanner
(* Notitia Monastica ' [1744], pp. 461, 462)
cites charters which show that the abbey
received grants of land in Ireland temp.
John, some of which it exchanged for lands
in England temp. Ed. 3. But in the reign
of Henry 4 it stUl maintained a connexion
with the hospital of St. John at Waterford,
and that the connexion lasted till the
Dissolution is suggested by the present of
Irish hawks which the prior made to
Cromwell. F. A. Gasquet, * Hen. 8 and the
EngUsh Monasteries' (2nd ed., 1888), i.
418.
" One of a family of citizens of Bath.
J. Collinson, i. 31.
^ In the computus of 1540 the entry
runs:
Olueston cum Reotoria I, 8, d.
Redditus liberorum Te-
nentium . . . . 2 16 10
Redditus Assise . . . 19 12 4
Redditus Terre et Tenementi
pertinentis Rectorie . 3 8 0
Firma Rectorie . . . 17 16 0
Perquisitiones Curie . . nihil.
The total revenue derived from this place
was therefore 43^ 135. lOd. It is reckoned
in the computus also as in Somerset, as is
Bristoll, which there follows next in order.
I identify it with Olveston, in Gloucester-
shire, nine miles N. of Bristol. In T.
Tanner, * Notitia Monastica,' p. 462, it is
given as Orleston (Glocestr.).
" I.e. of a nativus or bondman by blood.
On the continuance of bondage in England
see I. S. Leadam, ' Law Quarterly Review,'
ix. 348 : ' The last days of Bondage in
England.'
** The first of the two paper leaves on
which this account is written ends here.
30
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
ITEM Recepit de Johanne Gravell de Inglesbache *® iuxta Batho-
niam pro fine rectorie appropriate dicto prioratui posite ad firmam
(xlvij 8. viij d.).^'
ITEM Recepit de Johanne de bathweke '^ iuxta Bathoniam pro
Corodio eisdem ^ concessus * . . . . vj li. xiij s. iiij d.'^
Summa totalis dicte Recepte vj*^ Ix vij li. xij s. iiij d.'*
ITEM dictus venerabilis pater dompnus Johannes dunster nuper
prior Ante dictus devastauit staurum '^ Maneriorum dictum .^"^
IN PRIMIS de manerio de Sothstoke ^^ iiij Capita bourn cum j
Tauro.
ITEM de Manerio de Combe ^® iij Capita boum ij Capita vaccarum
iij Capita Bouiculorum et quinque .**
ITEM de Manerio de preston '^ j taurum xiij Capita boum viij
Capita vaccarum & quinque vitulorum.
ITEM de manerio Coston ^® x Capita boum viij Capita vaccarum
& xiij Capita bouiculorum cum j tauro.
» A hamlet in Inglishoombe, the church
of which still displays the arms of Bath
Abbey (J. GoUinson, iii. 340-S41). In the
oomputus of 1540 the *Firma Rectorie*
appears as 11. 10s.
"> This looks like a place name in
default of a surname.
" The sum, when compared with the
prices paid for double corodies above, looks
as though ' eisdem ' was a mistake for
* eidem.*
« The sum of receipts at the time of
the construction of the refectory, i.e. begin-
ning with lady Estmounde, is 5592. Is. The
inclusion of the two previous accounts of
602. 6s. Sd. and 84Z. brings up the total
to 7032. 6s. Sd.
* Staurum, store. From the examples
given by Du Cange it appears to be a wonl
exclusively of English use.
'* A word missing. Paper torn.
** In the computus of 1540 the following
entry occurs (Dugdale, ' Monast.' ii. 272) :
Manerium de Sowthstockc
Bedditus Assise
Firma Manerii
Bedditus Mobilium
Perquisitiones Curie
/. s. d.
9
12
0
2 ob
2
2 ob
1
The total revenue from this manor was
therefore 212. 17s. Bd. South Stoke is two
miles S.W. of Bath. See J. Collinson, i.
136.
" The computus of 1640 gives (Dugd.
I.8.C.) :
Manerium de Combe
2. s. d.
Bedditus Assise
. 7 19 10
Firma Manerii
. 13 14 4
Bedditus Mobilium .
.039
Perquisitiones Curie
. nihil
The total revenue from this manor was
therefore 212. 17s. lid. Combe Monkton or
Monkton Combe is three miles S. of Bath.
The manor was held by the abbey at the
time of Domesday. Collinson, i. 151.
■* The computus of 1640 gives (Dugd.
l.s.c.) :
Manerium de Preston
Bedditus Assise
Firma Manerii
Bedditus Mobilium .
Perquisitiones Curie
2. s.
17 19
11 8
0 4
0 13
The total revenue from this manor was
therefore 307. 5s. Od. It appears in Collin-
son as Priston. See n. 15 supra.
*• The computus of 1640 gives (Dugd.
I.8.C.) :
2. s. d.
ob
Manerium de Corston cum
Bectoria
Bedditus Assise . . 13 4
Firma Manerii . . 12 0 0
Firma Bectorie . .200
Bedditus Mobilium . .063
Perquisitiones Curie . 3 11 1 ob
The total revenue from this manor was
therefore 312. Is. 6e2.
The above extract corrects a mistake of
BATHE, PRIOR OF, V. ST. AUGUST YN'S, CAU]STP:RHURY, AHBOT OF 31
ITEM de manerio de Northstoke ^^ ij Capita bourn & vij Capita
vaccarum cum j tauro.
ITEM de Manerio de lymcombe *" xij Capita boum.
ITEM de Manerio de hainewell ^^ xxx Capita boum vaccarum et
bouiculorum.
Debita que debentur tempore dicti venerabilis prioris dompni
Johannis Dunster in quibus dictus prioratus Redditur
obnoxius certis creditoribus vt sequitur.
IN PKIMIS Fraternitati Sancti Georgii in Ecclesia Sancti Jacobi
Bathoniensis vj li. quas recepit.
ITEM Isabelle Browkedc Bathonia xxxix li. xiij s. iiij d. quas recepit
nomine mutui.
ITEM Johanni barbor de bathonia . . . iiij li
ITEM Andree Bedforth ^^ de bathonia . . . xj li.
ITEM Ricardo fluet ^^ de penford *^ . . . . Ixxxxij li.
ITEM de Johanni Gaynard de Brystoll marcatori . xx li.
Collinson, iii. 345, who cites ' Regist. Priorat.
Bathon/ for the statement that the abbey,
which held this manor in Domesday,
alienated it to the family of St. Lo in
exchange for other lands temp. Hen. 1. It
appears, however, from Collinson*s refer-
ences, that there was a lay manor here, and
it must be inferred from this document and
from Dugdale that a lay and an ecclesi-
astical manor co-existed.
Corston is four miles W.S.W. of Bath.
■• The computus of 1540 gives (Dugd.
1.8.0.) :
I. s. d.
Northstocke
Bedditus Assise
Firma Mancrii
Firma Grcgis .
Agistamenta .
Pcrquisitiones Curie
8 11
8 15
7 0
1 13
0 13
6 ob
4
0
4
4
The total revenue from the manor was
therefore 26/. IBs. G^J. The manor was
given to the abbey about 800 a.d. by Kcnulf.
king of Mercia. It lies about four miles
N.W. of Bath. Collinson, i. 134.
*" The computus of 1540 gives (Dugd.
I.8.C.) :
/. s. d.
combe et Wydcombe
Bedditus Uberonmi te-
nentium
0 15 7
Bedditus Assise
19 2 8
Manerium de Lyncombe.
Firma Manerii .
19 7 8
Gerti liedditus cum
operibus
0 15 10 ob
The total revenue from the manor was
therefore 40Z. Is. ^\d,
Wydcombe or Widcombe • is situate
on the y. side of the Avon, which divides
it from Bath ' (Collinson, i. 168). At the
time of the Domesday survey the two
manors were worth 12/. yearly (id. p. 171).
Lyncombe is contiguous to Wydcombe.
^* The computus of 1540 gives (Dugd.
(I.S.C.):
/. s. d.
Hameswell, (Tatwyke et Colde-
assheton
Firma Manerii. . . 24 0 0
Bedditus Assise . . 18 7 2
Bedditus Mobilium . .030
Pcrquisitiones Curie . 0 17 0
The total revenue was therefore 43/. 7s. 2d,
But this represents two manors, viz.
that of Cold Aston, in Gloucestershire, in
which Hameswell was situate (S. Budder,
'Hist, of Gloucestershire' [1779], p. 240).
and Swanswick or Swainswick, in which
Tatwyke was situate. Collinson, i. 154.
On the inferences derivable from the
accounts of these manors Hn<l of the waste
alleged to have been committed by the
abbot, see Introd., pp. Ixxii-lxxiii, supra.
" Beturned to Parliament for the City
of Bath in 1467. Collinson, i. 21.
" Probably the Hichard Fluett, of
St. James's parish, Hath, whose will was
proved in 1497. J. C. C. Smith, • Index,'
i. 205.
'* Pensford ; about eight miles W. of
Bath.
32 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
ITEM de Johanni payne de mellis . . . . vj li.
ITEM de Waltero lyncell de BrystoU Marcatori . iij li. vj s.^*
Summa debiti predict! . . . viij'''' xj li.**^
In quorum omnium et fidem & testimonium SigiUum nostrum
Commune presentibus apposuimus. Datum in D(omo) nostra
Capitulari quartodecimo die mensis Februarii Anno domini millesimo
ccccl(xxxiij) *^ Et Anno Regni Regis Bicardi tercii post conquestum
Anglie primo/'
(Fi)rst the said Abbot then prior ' of Bath ' ressauid of the lady
Esemund wydoe for a certen annuite of x marcs to her grauntyd
cxl li.
(Also) * the seid Abbot let at ' morgage * * J(ohn)
Champneys the manor of Chell worth for the wh(ich) * * seid
prior resseuyd of the same John c marcs.
(Also) * the seid Abbot resseyuyd of John * (Chauunc)eler **' * ^
* * for the repaiment to ^ the seid * * * * Hamdon &
ouer that grauntyd the same John & to John his son * *
Annuyte of iiij marcs wherwith the seid prior is chargyd vnto the
same John * * be promotyd to a benefyce of xx marcs.
(Also the sei)*d Abbot resceyued of Richard Canynges of Hampton
beside Bathon xl marcs.
(Also the) ^ same Abbot ressauyd of John Broke of lye abbatis
beside Bristoll for a corodye to hym & his wyf for terme (of
their ly)*ves Ivij marcs.
(Also the sei)d^ Abbot hath ressauyd of John Barbour of
Teyuerton beside Bath for a corodye to hym & to (his) ^ wyf for
terme of their lyves xlviij marcs.
Also the seid Abbot resseyved of Alice Slugge his moder & Agnes
Exston for a Corodye to theym for terme of their lyves . xl li.
Also the same Abbot resceyued of William Castell of Batheston
beside Bath for a fyne for a tenement . . . . xx li.
Also the same Abbot resceyued of William Shote de Hampton
beside Bath for the reuersion of a tenement . . . iiij li.
*^ The sum amounts to 1822. See Ap- much injured by damp and torn,
pendix : Summary of Accounts, vii. p. 35. * Parchment torn.
** The rest of the date torn off. Reckon- ' Beading doubtful, MS. very illegible,
ing the year as beginning March 25, the * Hlegible.
missing figures would be * xxxiij.' * Qu. Jane with some word preceding it
" 1484, N.S. interlined. MS. very illegible.
' This is a fragment of parchment ' Restored from the Latin version, p. 28.
BATHE, PRIOR OF, V. ST. AUGUSTYN'S, CAUNTERBURY, ABBOT OF 83
Also the same Abbot hath ressauyd of lady hungerford for a
relesse of a title in the manor of (CrykoOf' Thomas in comitatu
Somerset xl li.
(Als)o * the same Abbot ressayued of on hibernico callyd parys for
a Fyne of a tenement lette within the land (of) * Irelond xx li.
(Also) the same Abbot reseeuyid of master John Drover for a
Corodie to hym grauntyd for terme of lyf ... xx li.
(Also the) * same Abbot resceyved of sir Robert his Chapeleyn for
a Corodye to hym grauntyd for terme of his lif . . xx li.
(Also the sam)e* Abbot resceyved of William Walley of Bath for
a Fyne of a milne vj li.
(Also the) * same Abbot resceyvyd of John Cole of Oldeston in the
Countie of Somerset for his manumyssion . x li. xiij s. iij d.'
(Also t)^ he same Abbot resceyued of John Gravell of Inglisshcombe
beside Bath for a Fyne of a parsonage appropried (to the)* seid
Priorye & lett to ferme to the seid John . . . xlvij s. viij d.
(Al)so * the seid Abbot resceyued of John of Bathwyk for a corodye
to hym graunt for terme of his lyflf . . . vj li. xiij s. iiij d.
B. The shewyng off John thabbott off seynt Augustynez besides
Canterbury concernyng a matier bitwen hym and the priour
off Bath.
The seid Abbott seith that the matier off the byll off the seid
priour is insufficient and he owith nott to be putt to answere there
vnto nor to be called hider opon the seid matier for such consideracion
as haith ben shewed by the seid Abbott in a byll late putt in by hym
. as by the statute alleged by the seid Abbott and by the statute off
, magna carta in which the grete sentence off holy church is yeuen
I opon them that be brekers theroff ^ and by dyuerse other statutes it
haith bene laudably ordeyned enacted and establisshed. And wher
the seid priour surmitteth pouertye in hym and his monastery to
thentent to cause the seid Abbott to be putt to answere her, the seid
Abbott seith that that is no consideracion to cause hym to be putt to
' The price of manumission of Thomas tion against all those that by word, deed.
Carter by the Abbot of Malmesbury between or counsel do contrary to the foresaid
1424 and 14S4 was 40 marks (26L 13«. 4^2.). charters, or that in any point break or
See Carter V. Malmesbury, Abbot of, p. 118. undo them. And that the said curses be
* Bef erring to Edward I's confirmation twice a year denounced and published by
of the charters in 1297, art. 4. * And that the prelates aforesaid.* W. Stubbs, * Select
all archbishops and bishops shall pro- Charters ' (7th ed. 1890), p. 496.
nounce the sentence of great excommunica-
34
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
answer her and is butt feyned by the seid Priour to putt the seid
Abbott and his monastery to eoste troble and vexacion For the seid
priour nor his monastery is nott in any such pouertye as is by hym
surmitted. For the seid priour commonly rideth with xviij horses or
theraboute and his seruantes all in one lyverey or clothyng' And
vseth nott hym self lyke to a man beyng in pouertye nethyr in his
ridyng ner in his other dedes Wherfor the seid Abbott prayeth and
demaundeth as he haith prayed and demaunded in his other bill &c.
APPENDIX.
SUMMARY OF ACCOUNTS.
ACCOUNT I.
Pnid by
Sam paid down
No. of yeaw*
purchane.
Object
Corporation of Plimmoth
Marks
(162)
108
18
Commutation of fee farm '
rent of 9 marks.
II.
Paid by
Sum paid down
No. of years*
piiroba«c
Obioot
Joan Atwell
Thomas More .
John Thweneho
Marku
(150)
300
400
850
£ ». d.
100 0 0
(200 0 0)
266 13 4
566 13 4
50
33^
26i
Perpetual annuity of 21. i
6/. 1
10/. I
18/. "
Value of plate carried away
III.
84Z. Os. Od.
IV.
Value of plate, vestments, &c. .
. 60/. 6s. 8d.
' Bather a plea ad invidiam than a sug-
p,estion of an offence against the Statutes
of Liveries. By the act of 1468 (8 Edw. 4.
c. 2) no man might give livery or badge or
retain any person other than his menial
servant, &e. See Introd. p. Ixv,
BATHE, PRIOR OF, V. ST. AUGUSTYN'S, CAUNTERBURY, ABBOT OF 35
V.
Paid by
; Estmoande
I Ghaneys .
Chawnceler
Ganynges.
Broke
Baboure .
Slougge .
Gastell .
Sohote
Hongerford
Parys
Drover
Sir Robert
Walley .
Gole
Gravell .
Bathweke
Sum paid down
Marks
(210)
100
100
40
67
48
m
(30)
(6)
(60)
(30)
(30
(30
(9
(16)
(3J + 1S.)
£ s. fl.
140 0 0
(66 13 4)
(66 13 4)
(26 13 4)
(38 0 0)
(32
40
20
4
40
20
20
20
6
10 13
2 7
6 13
No. of years'
purchase
559 14 4
21
50
Annuityof 6/. 135.4<i.(10
marks).
Annuity of 11, 6s. Sd. for
2 lives.
Annuity of 21. 138. 4d.
conditional : interim
4 per cent.
Gorody, 3 lives.
Gorody, 1 life.
Gorody, 2 lives.
Gorody, 2 lives.
Fine.
Sale of reversion.
Surrender of title.
Fine.
Gorody, 1 life.
Gorody, 1 life.
Fine.
Manumission.
Fine.
Gorody, ? 1 life.
VI.
Acts of Waste.
—
Oxen
Cows
Calves •
Balls
Sheep ?
Sothstoke ....
4
_
_
1
Gombe
3
2
3
5
Preston
13
8
5
Goston
10
8
13
1
—
Northstoke
2
7
—
1
—
Lymcombe
12
—
—
—
—
Hainewell '
(10)
(10)
(10)
—
—
64
35
31
3
6
■ -
—
—
The average price of oxen in 1481-90 was I65. Oid. ; of calves 2s. l|d. ; ' oxen are
double the price of cows ' ; * as a rule 10a. is the maximum price for a bull. The average
price of muttons in 1481-90 is 25. 4d.' (J. E. T. Rogers, ' Hist. Agr. and Prices,' iv. 331-356).
Upon these data, assuming the * quinque ' at Gombe to refer to sheep, we have the following
approximate money value of the abbot's acts of waste : — oxen, 611. 5s. 4d. ; cows, 14Z. ;
calves, 3Z. 6s. lOJd. ; bulls, 11. 10s. ; sheep, 11a. 8d. ; total, 70/. 12s. lO^d.
* Oxen, cows, and calves together num-
bered thirty. The calves at Gombe were
* boviculi ' (steers) ; at Preston vituli ; at
Goston and Hainewell, boviculi.
p 2
36 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
vn.
£ j«. d
Received from Gild of St. George. Bath (> 0 0
Isabelle Browke 39 13 4 *
John Uarbor 4 0 0
Andrew Bedforth 1100
Richard Flnet 92 0 0
John Gaynard 20 0 0
John Payne 600
Walter Lyncell 3 6 (8) '
182*0 0
COUPER V, GERVAUX AND OTHERS.'
To the kyng cure soueraign lorde and the lordes
of his most honorable Counsell spirituell &
1498 temporell
Shewith and greuously complayneth vnto youre moost noble
grace youre true & feithfull Subget hugh Couper Citezein & draper of
youre Citie of london how that Where as he & many othre merchauntes
of your said Citie haue of long contynuaunee vsed to resorte euery yere
vnto the Feyre of Salesbury there holden & kept at oure lady day in
lent * in the Comen market place of that Citie and euery man to haue
his conuenient Rowme there to vttre in suche wares & goodes as he
bringith thydder to and for the same entent during the season that
the feire contynueth and at their departing to reward suche Officers as
be appoynted therfore by the same Citie euery man of his curtesy for
the standing at his pleassur and nothing of duetie, Trouth it is
gracious lord that at oure lady day was twelvemoneth ^ one John
Gervaux of the same Citie goldsmyth and John Chapman * of the
same Chapman came to ^ the bothe of youre said Oratoure and' of hym
asked iiij** for euery foote of grounde that he occupied bering hym in
- Nomimilly a loan. R. C. Hoare, * History of Mo<lem Wiltshire '
' Conjectural ; pai>cr tom ; pence (1843), vol. vi. (R. Benson and H. Hatcher),
missing. P- 741. The fair is mentioned in the
* The sum is given as in the text 171/. Act of 3 Hen. 7, c. 9 (' An Acte that the
Sec p. 32, n. 45, supra. Cytizens of London maye carry all manner
* S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 29. of Wares to forraync Markcttes ') as one
* Edward 2, during the episcopate of of the seven provincial fairs of the most
Roger de Mortival (1315-29), granted by importiince.
cliarter to the bishop of Salisbury and his ' March 25, 1491.
successors the perpetual right to hold a fair * Mentioned in 1469 as a collector of
yearly from the vigil of the Annunciation to the king's ale (cerevisia regalis), Hoare, ib.
the morrow of its octjive (March 24 to p. 246. The money collected appears to
April 2) v^ith all liberties and customs have been expended in the purchase of
thereunto belonging not prejudicial to the vestments, ib.
rights of fairs in the neighbonrhoo<l. See * Beading doubtful.
COUPER V. GERVAUX AND OTHERS 37
hande that it was theire duetie so for to haue the contrary wherof is
openly knowen to be true and so because he asked theym what auc-
toritie they had to shew for theym wh[ereby] * to clayme the seid
duetie they al to reviled hym & called hym knaue with other cruell
& dispiteing wordes & thretes and there made assaute vpon hym, and
finally by the supportacion & mayntenaunce of one Blakar® then
maire there toke from hym by force & playne extorcioun a distresse
[of his] ^ goodes and the same caried awey with theym at theire plea-
surs without his love or leve expressely ayenste youre lawes to his
grete hurt & wronges. And furthremore by the supportacion com-
forte and mayntenaunce of one Thomas Coke maire there the last
yere ^ your said Oratoure being ** at the said feire there
came to his stalle one William halle the Bisshopps vndre baillyf ^ there
and then & there made a grete assaute vpon hym and hym threte to
kill and slee out of hande without he wolde pay the seid money aftre
theire asking whervnto they haue no right which they nor none can
shewe as it is euidently knowen ^^ but onely of theire riall *^ powere by
myght & extorcioun, by meane of whiche trouble the same baillyff
caused youre said Oratoure clerely to lose his feire & feate of mer-
chaundise at that tyme to his grete hurt & losse fere and jeopardie of
his lyfe In somuche that lest he shuld haue ben murdred & slayne
there amonges theym he was fayne to gette hym out of the Citie as
hastely as he couth by possibilitie and yett as priuely as he departed
thens the said baillif vttrely set and disposed to haue slayne hym lay
in a waite ^^ vppon hym with iij hors & asmany men arayed in maner
of werre and in riottoux wise that is to sey with swordes & buklers
speres and othre defencible wapyns and on horsbak moflfeld euerychone
bicause they wold not be knowen & so pursued and folowed hym from
the seid Citie of Sarum to Andover ^^ bi theire «
above said wher your said Oratoure mette with men of london as his
** Thomas Blacker, mayor in 1489 and bishop, assigned to William (? Thonms)
1490. Blacker, the mayor, and the commonalty oi
' Thomas Coke, mayor in 1491 (Hoarc, Sarum the profits of the sUmdings in fairs,
vi. 696). markets and other places within the city.
■ Parchment torn. A committee of four persons was then
* * For a long series of years the bailiffs appointed in convocation to set out for the
of the Bishop took precedency of the mayor ensuing year all manner of booths, stalls
of the city.' Hoare, vi. 698. Apparently and standing places at such prices as they
this continued until a charter of James 1 should deem reasonable. For these profits
vested in the mayor and commonalty the they were to account to the mayor and
privilege of electing a bailiff and deputy- commonalty. Apparently then the charge
bailiff, ib. William Ilali was in dispute was a new one, as complainant avers,
with tiie mayor in 1491, ib. p. 208. " I.e. Absolute. The same use of the
'• The City Ledger B, fol. 174, B, cited word occurs on p. 46.
by Hoare (vi. 208), shows that in 1490 " Of. p. 115, n. 9.
John Becket, clerk of the market for the '■ Seventeen miles and three quarters.
38 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
grace ^* was ^* & to theym resorted for saufgard of his lyfe & rode
home with theym and so avoided theire malice at that tyme. Please
it your good grace in consideracion of the premissez considering this
youre said Oratoure [has] * noun power to sue your comen lawe for his
remedie in this partie ayeinst the said Citie by whom this matier is
borne out of wilfulnesse onely without eny laufuU grounde of your
grete bountie to graunte hervpon your gracious lettres of priue seale
directed to the seid Thomas Coke William Hall [John]** Gervaux
goldsmyth & John Chapman Chapman Charging theym streitly by
the same to be and appere personally before your grace and youre
said Counsell at youre palaice of Westminster vpon a reasonable peyne
in the Vtas ^® of the Purificacion of oure blessed lady next commyng
to a[n8wer] ** vnto the premisses and to suche thinges as then & there
shall be obiected & layd ayenst theym at the reuerence of God and
in wey of Charitee.
In another hand. Emanarunt inde breuia sub priuato sigillo
domini nostri Regis prout petitur primo die Februarii A[nno] ^ [regni
regis] ** Henrici vij"'* octauo ^' ad comparendum apud Westmonasterium
in octabis *^ Purificacionis beate marie virginis proximo future s[ub] ^
pena cuiuslibet eorum xl li.
Indorsed. Hugh Cooper contra Sarum.
VALE V. BROKE.^
A. To the Kyng our Soueraigu lorde and the dis-
ci-ete lordes of his moost noble Coiinseill
1498 Lamentablie compleynyng showith vnto youre highnesse youre
humble Subgiet and true ligeman Symon Vale * of Castell Bromwiche ^
in youre Countie of Warrewyk, That Where oone John Broke and
Alice his wiff of the same Towne of thaire grete malices and euyll
willcs beryng to youre saide besechei^ and to thentent vtterly to shame
hym and his foreuer, hath openly disclaundred hym amonges his
' * Henry 7 frequently hunted in the whose ohief seat had been at Ludington or
New Forest. Lodinton, near Stratford. W. Dugdale,
'^ Qu. * there ' omitted. ' Antiquities of Warwickshire ' (1765), pp.
i« The eighth day, i.e. the seventh day 491a, 442b.
after the feast, or February 9. See p. 231, ' About 5} miles N.E. of Birmingham.
n. 12. Apparently so caUed from a small castle of
" 1493. which only the tumulus remains visible
' S.G.P. Hen. 7, No. 48. commanding the ford over the Tame, held
* Vale or de Valle was the name of an in 1270 by Henricus del Chastel de
ancient knightly family in the county Bromwyz. W. Dugdale, ib. p. G20a.
:v3gut
VALE t\ BROKE 39
neighburs that he his wiff children and all his kynne shulde be stronge
theves and Comyn Bobbers where as his neyghburs and other inhabi-
tantes in his Gontrey will recorde he is a true man and all his house-
holde also, And ouer this the saide John Broke of his said malice
hath suf&red his bestes through his owne grounde to distroye the
greynes of youre saide besecher to thentent vtterly to distroy and
vndo him, Consederyng gracious Souereigtie lorde that the said John
Broke hath saide and done thies iniuries to youre saide besecher sith
an obligacion of xl. li sealed and deliuered by hym to youre saide
besecher was forfeyt, whiche obligacion is redy to be showed, In con-
sideracion of the premisses. And that youre saide Oratour ys not able
to sue the saide John Broke and his wif for his remedy at youre Comyn
lawe ^ And that also the saide John Broke of his grete power holdith
grete landes in the said parisshe of his lorde there and ys his Baillief,^
for the whiche he payeth noo taske ^ to youre grace ^ but compelleth
youre saide besecher and other his power neighburs aboute hym to
pay his taske and tallage ^ to youre saide grace for the lande he occu-
pieth and holdeth to thaire grete hurtes and impouerisshment. And also
by his said grete power the saide John and his wifif ar Comyn re-
cey vours of thy ves and vacaboundes for money to hym youen. And also
is a Comyn resettour^ and maynteners of Comyn queues pristes
lemans and kepith them for money in his house by vj or vij wekes
and wole nat suflfre them for his lucre to come to chirche to here
goddes seruice to the grete Oborce^^ of all his pouer neighburs
about hym and disclaundre to all the Contrey, So that for drede of
hym and of suche persones adherauntes to the saide theves and queues,
he for drede of his dethe dare nat contynue in his pouer hous, but of
necessitie must inhabite hym in other places. And for the true pruff
of the premisses, yf nede be, all the honest inhabitance of the saide
parisshe wole yf thay be comaunded by your grace be redy to come
* See Introd., pp. oxxxi-cxxxii. impositions or other burthens or charge put
^ The lord of the manor was John or set upon any man & so is expounded in
Devereux, lord Ferrers of Ghartley, b. our books.* Coke, 2 Inst. 533.
1463, d. 1501. Sir N. H. Nicolas, * Historic * I.e. receptor. To reset seems to have
Peerage ' (1857), p. 186. Dugdale, Ls.c. been used with this connotation.
Qi, * !^^. ^^'"^ ? V- ^f n qSJ? ^- ^- ' ' And ye hit make and that me greves
Sk^t * Etymolo^ca^ Diet.* (1882), 8.v. ^ ^^^ ^o reset inne theves.*
' I cannot nnd that any land was held
here either by the Crown or the Duchy of Cursor Mundi, MS. Coll. Trin. Cant. f. 91,
Lancaster. This, therefore, presumably quoted by J. O. Halliwell, * Diet, of Archaic
refers to the fifteenth and tenth granted by Words * (1860), 8.v. The receipt of stoleir
the Parliament which met on Oct. 17, 1491, goods knowing them to be stolen was a
the last instalment of which was payable by common law offence. Frequent cases of it
Nov. 11, 1492. See Statutes 7 Hen. 7, o. are to be found in • Select Pleas of the
11, * Concernens xv«.' Crown ' (Selden Soc. 1887), dating from the
' * Tallagium is a generall word & doth beginning of the thirteenth century,
include all subsidies, taxes, tenths, fifteens, '" Qu. abuse.
40 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
aflfore youre highnesse and youre saide Counseill at thaire propre costes
to reporte the same. Please it youre highnesse the premisses graci-
ously considred And that the said John Broke here now present for
his false defamacion ^^ and other hurtes to hym done And also for the
saide mysbehavyng m ly be punysshed, Aceordyng to his desert as
right requireth. This lor the loue of god and in the waye of charite
And he shall pray to god for the preseruacion of youre full noble and
Boyall estate.
Indorsed. Symon Vale contra Johannem Broke & Aliciam
vxorem suam.
DONYNGTON v. BROKE.*
B. To the kyng oure Souereigne lorde and the discrete lordes
of his moost noble Gounsell
Lamentablie compleynyng showith vnto youre grace your faithful!
Subgiet and true ligeman William Donyngton " of Castell Bromwiche
in youre Countie of Warrewyk, That where oone John Broke and alice
his wyflf of the same Towne, Of thaire prepensed malice and euyll wille
beryng vnto youre saide besecher and to thentente vtterly to destroye
hym his wiff and Children for euer hathe openly noysed and deffamed
hym amonges his neghburs that he shulde felounesly Stele ij Oxen
and them shulde ette in muresauce ^ at Castell Bromwiche forsaid,
And wille nat showe of whom he shuld stele the said Oxen,
where gracous souereigne lorde youre said besecher is a true man and
neuer mynded hym to doo suche thinges, as all his neyghburs in the
Contrey where he dwellyth and elles where in the saide Countie will
testefye and recorde the same, Wherfore please it youre Jiighnes the
premisses graciously considred, and the wrongefull defamacion and
shame * that they wolde put hym to in his Contrey and he nat giltie
'* See Introd., p. cxxxii. * This is a term of art. It is analo-
* 8.G.P. Hen. 7, No. 48. goas to the * moral ' damage of the Boman-
' A person of this name, presumably a Datch Law for which compensation was
gentleman of the county, was nominated a claimed after the raid into the Transvaal.
commissioner in 10 Hen. 6 (1481-32), to A thirteenth-centary example of it, among
seize into the King's hands the monastery of others, ocoars in * Select Civil Pleas'
Alcester. Dagdale,* Warwickshire,' p. 541b. (Selden Soc. 1889), pi. 183, in which case
' Brine. In Palsgrave's * Lesclarcisse- the abbot of St. Edmund's (Bury) brought
ment' Q530, ed. Ginin, Paris, 1852, p. an action against the bishop of Ely for
244b) : * Mere sauce for flesshe — savlmure ' trespass upon the abbot's liberty and other
(mod. French aaumure. See Littr^, s.v. prooieedings : *ita quod abbas non vellet
Saomure; also Halliwell, s.v. Meresauce). habere pudorem quern episcopus ei fecit
ette for name tense occurs in Hampole's pro o. libris neo dampnum pro c. marcis.
* Pricke of Conscience,' line 4675 (Northern Et episoopus defendit dampnum et pudorem
diaJect). eius,' &o.
DONYNGTON V. BKOKE 41
therof, So to provide for hym that the saide John Broke and Alice his
wiff here nowe present aflfore youre grace and the lorde ^ of your dis-
crete Counseill may be punysshed after thaire desertes, for the pure
declaracion of the trouthe of youre saide besecher and to compell the
saide John and Alice to shewe the names of the Aweners ® of the saide
ij Oxen of whom your saide besecher shulde stele them from. This
for the loue of god and in the waye of Charite, And your said besecher
shall dayly pray to god for the preseruacion of youre moost noble
and Boyall estate &c.
Indorsed. Willelmus Donyngton contra Johannem
Broke et Alitiam vxorem suam.
SMYTH V. BROKE.'
C.
' pituously sheweth vnto youre
highness *^ *^ *^ humble pouer subge[ts]^ [Eichard
Smyth and Elizabeth his wi]f ^ of Castelbromwiche in youre Countie
of Warwyke how that he went of late * ^ * ^ * ^
and bought of oon Thomas feldworth of the same Towne a ston
of wool/ which your said suppliant brought with hym home to his
owne hous, Therupon Alice the wif of John Broke of the said Castel
Bromwiche of pure malice withoute any iuste matier or lauful cause
came to the hous of youre said suppliant and said vnto his wif that
thay had stolne the same wole from hir out of hir husbondes hous.
And furthewith the same Alice went to a village called Orton ^ and
feched from a weyver there two Bothumys ^ of hir owne yern and
came ayen to the hous of youre said oratour and called hym stronge
thefe and his wife herlot and asked of thaym how thay wold answer
to hir husbond and hir of the same wool that youre said suppliant
and his wif had stolne from theym and youre said suppliantes said
thay bought the same wole truely and paied for it in the presence of
oone Thomas Jakson of the said Castelbromwiche, whiche wil testifie
the same matier. And furthwith the forsaid Alice Broke furiously
came to the hous of youre said suppliantes and with a naxe ^ in hir
* Sio. the stone of wool was fixed at fourteen
* Owners. pounds, which was probably its customary
* S.CP. Hen. 7, No. 48. weight.
' The two or three opening words are * Presumably Water Orton in Warwick-
indecipherable, the first three lines of this shire, N.E. of Castle Bromwich.
MS. having been much injured by damp. ' A bottom is * a clew or nucleus on
' MS. indecipherable, being much which to wind thread ; also a skein or ball
damaged by damp. of thread.* J. A. H. Murray, * Engl. Diet.*
* By an Act of the next year (11 Hen. 7, s.v.
c. 4, * An Acte for Wayghtes and Measures ') ^ Sic. Compare p. 56, where is * a nother.'
42 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
hand ayenst youre lawes and peas riottously brake open the door of
the same, and entred into it, entending to haue murdred and slayne
youre said suppliantes had nat oone of thair neighbours beene which
rescued thaym, natwithstanding that your said suppliant is hir
gossipp,^ And yet the said Alice seing that she cowde nat haue hir
intent of hir mishevous disposicion toke and threwe a great stone at
the said Elizabeth and smote hir greuously vpon the bailly being
great with ij children, wherthorough the same children were borne
and died, as it euidently appered vpon oone of thaym when it was
wonden in the crysum,® and she that won ^^ it wol recorde, and the
said EUzabeth put in great ieopardie of hir lif. And ouer this where
as the said Richard Smyth had send his doughter to Brymyngeham
for ij barelles of Ale,^^ the said John Broke accompanyed with ij
indisposed personnes mete your said suppliantes doughter in your
high way and ayenst youre said lawes and peas riottously toke from
hir the said ij barelles and a mare of the goodes and Gatailles of your
said suppliantes which the said John and Alice kepe and occupie to
thaire owne vse, besides other great iniuries that the said John and
Alice haue doone to youre said suppliantes, Beseching mekely youre
higbnesse benignely considering the premissis, To commaunde the
same John Broke and Alice his wif to comme and appere before youre
noble grace and the discrete lordes of your honourable counsaill to
answere to these great iniuries. And this at the reuerence of Jhesu
to whom youre said suppliantes shal specially pray ^^ for the pre-
seruacion of youre most noble and Roial Estate.
At foot, in another haiid.
Emanarunt inde litere xxvij die Januarii anno Begni
apud Westmonaste-
Begis Henrici vij ix° ^^ ad comparendum coram domino
rium orastino purifioaoionis >^
Rege vbicunque fuerit infra x dies post visum literarum
et hoc sub pena cuiuslibet eorum Ix li.^^
B Either meaning sponsor or sponsor to galons and that every barell for Ale shall
her child. See Murray, s.v. oonteyn xxxij galons.' This statute was
' ' Woand in the chrism-oloth/ a white later than the present case, but probably
robe put upon a child at baptism and used gave Parliamentary sanction to the gene-
for its shroud in the event of its dying ral customary measures. On the varia-
within a month after. See Murray, s.v. tion in the quantities of ale and beer
*® Wound. contained in vessels under the same name
" By 23 Hen. 8, c. 4 (1532) (' An Acte see J. £. T. Rogers, * Hist. Ag. and Prices '
that no Breuers of Bere or Ale shall make (1882), iv. 546-7.
their barrels kylderkyns nor firkyns within " * To God ' struck through,
them, and howmoche the same barrels &c, " 1494.
shaU conteyne ') it was provided * that ^* February 3.
every barreU for bere shall conteyne xxxvj '^ This order seems originaUy to have
SMYTH V. BROKE 43
The seid John Broke seith that the seid bill is insufficient and
vncerten to be answerd vnto and the mater surmitted therein false
* ^ * ^ [not] * determinable in this Court. Neuer-
theles for the declaracion of the trouth in the premisses and for
answere he seith that betwene the woUes of the Peak and the wolles
of the growyng of the County of Warwyk is grete diu[ersity]^
* ^ * ^ knowen in euery county * and he seith that
bothe wolle and yerne was embesselled from hym out of his house
and that * ^ * ^ unto the seid Alice his wif that parte of
the same * ^ * ^ and yerne ther was in the house of the
said Richard Smyth and therupon the seid Alice in pecible manor
comme vnto the house of the seid Richard and there founde parte
of * ^ * ^ wolle and chalenged it and also herde that ther
was parte of the yerne which was embeselled from the seid John
Broke in the house of a wever in Orton afiforeseid and in likewise
went theder and toke it as the propre goodes of her seid husbond
which the seid Elizabeth vtterly denyed and seid that her seid
husbond hadde bought the same wolle in the peke which was vntrue
For it was and is openly knowen that it was of the growyng of the
seid Countie of Warwyk and was the propre woU of the seid John
Broke. And he seith that this was doone aboute the Fest of All
Seyntes the viij^*' yere of your most noble reigne ^ and after that the
seid Richard and Elizabeth his wif entendyng by sinistre and vntrue
Suggestions to cause the seid John Broke and Alice his wif to speke
no more in that mater vntruly surmised that the seid Alice shulde
then distroye ij Children in the bely * of the seid Elizabeth which is
feyned and vntrue for he seith that it was the weke before midsomer
then next ensuyng ^ or the seid Elizabeth was delyuered howe be it
the seid Richard and Elizabeth before this time haue by a feyned bill
run as follows : ' Emanarant inde litere pp. 2, 18, 23). See further, Introd., pp. xvi,
xxvij die Januarii anno Regni Begis Hen- Iv, supra.
rici vij ix^ ad oomparendum coram domino ' MS. indecipherable, being much
Bege vbicunque fuerit infra x dies post damaged by damp.
visum literarum et hoc sub pena cuiusUbet ' Conjectural.
eorum Ix li.' This is intelligible. The ' In the assessment of the value of
same hand apparently underlined ' coram various sacks of wool, printed in the Bolls
domino Bege vbicunque fuerit ' without of Parliament for 32 Hen. 6 (1454) and in
striking the words through, and wrote J. E. T. Bogers's * Hist, of Ag. and Prices,*
above Qiem, * apud Westmonasterium eras- iii. 704, Warwickshire wool is assessed as
tino purifioacionis.' * Visum literarum * is worth 865. Bd. and Fetkk wool as worth
also underlined, but nothing written above. 695. id, a sack.
The form appears to have been that in use * November 1, 1492.
in the Privy Seal Office. Cf. Select Cases in ^ An erasure of about two inches fol-
the Court of Bequests (Selden Society. 1898, lows. * June 16-23, 1493.
44 COURT OK THE STAR CHAMBER
of peticion vntruly surmised that she shuld be delyuered within viij
dayes next after that the seid Alice comme vnto the seid house of the
seid Richard And where the seid Richard surmitteth that the seid
John Broke shulde rioutously take from his doughter ij barelles of ale
therto the seid John seith that the same day as is surmitted the same
ij barelles to be taken the same John Broke was and yet is baylly ^
of Castelbromwich afiforeseid and that a lawe day " was there holden
the same day and grete apparans of peple and the doughter of the
seid Richard the same day comme that wey with ij barelles of ale
, carying them to be solde which the seid John Broke forasmoche as
I the peple beyng at the seid Court hadde grete necessitee therof toke it
and aggreed to pay therfor as moche as the seid Richard or his wif
wolde resonably desire® and after that at the speciall labour and
desire of the seid Richard and his wif and ther Frendes all maters
and causes betwene hym and the seid John Broke were ended by
arbitours betwene them indifferently chosen So that it was awarded
that the seid Richard shulde restore vnto the seid John Broke a
Cheyne and a wegge of iron ^" which he hadde taken of the seid John
Broke before and that eyther of them that doone shulde be quite
ayenst other and that notwithstondyng the seid Richard of his wilfull
and maliciouse mynde withoute grounde or cause resonable suied
before this tyme a bill of Compleynt ayenst the seid John Broke
before your highnes at Colyweston ^^ and therby put the same John
to grete cost trouble and vexacion without grounde or cause resonable
and nowe entendyng also to put the same John Broke to more trouble
and vexacion to thentent that the same John shulde geve vnto hym a
Somme of money to eschewe suche trouble and vexacion hath brought
the same John before your highnes by auctorite of Pryve Seale
without grounde or cause resonable. Without that that the seid
Richard bought the seid woll in the peke, And without that that the
seid Alice called the seid Richard thefife or his wif harlot or that the
'' Bailiff ' seems to have been specially " In Domesday, Weston; in 1831
used of officers in charge of a castle. See Ck)lyn's Weston ; now CoUey Weston. It
Cowol, * Interp.' s.v. is in the N. of Northamptonshire, three
" 'Otherwise called View of Frank- and a half miles S.W. of Stamford.
Pledge or Cburt Leet.* Gowel, ' Interp.' Here Henry 7's mother had a palace,
s.v. Cf . p. 230. ' * Coly Weston for the most part is of a new
" * An average of forty entries of ale by building, by the Lady Margaret, mother to
the barrel, principally London purchases, Henry the VII. The Lord Cromwelle had
between 1405 and 1540 gives 3^. 4(2. These afore begunne a house ther.' J. Leland,
are prices of the best quality in the year.' ' Itin.' i. fo. 31 ; J. Bridges, * Hist, of
Rogers, * Hist. Ag. and Prices,' iv. 549. Northants ' (1791), ii. 433-5. There ap-
'• In 1501 the price of three iron wedges pears to be a reference to a suit in the
bought at Stamford was ninepence. Id. ib. ambulatory Court of Bequests.
561 iii.
SMYTH V. BROKE 45
seid John Broke or the same Alice is gylty of any suche riot trespas
or offence as is surmitted by the seid bill. All which maters the seid
John Broke is redy to proue as this Court will award and praieth to
be dismissed out of this Court with his resonable Costes and damages
for his wrongful! vexacion in this behalf &c.
CULFORD V. WOTTON.'
A. To the king our soiierain lord
c. 1494 Lamentably sbewith and greuosly complayneth vnto your highnesse
your pouer treue liegeman John Culford of Brynkworth* in your
Countie of Wiltes. That where as your said pouer Liegeman cam
into the Courte of thabby of Malmesbury holden at Brynkeworth
aforsaid the xij^^ day of Aprille in the xiij*'* yere of the Eeigne of your
noble progenitour ^ king Edward the iiij^^ ^ and then & ther becam
tenaunt to the. said Abbot '^ and Conuent of the same and toke by copie
of the said Courte like as Thomas Culford his fader ded and helde
before in his lif a Messuage & half a rode of lande with thappur-
tenaunces called Feldmannys and ij Furlonges called Oxhey and
Wodfurlonge with appurtenaunces for the which your said subgiet
gave for his fyne to the said Abbot and his Steward iiij li. vj s. viij d.^
As in the said Copie thervpon made to your said liegeman and his wyf
for terme of their lyves more playnly it doth apper Whiche Messuage
& landes with their appurtenaunces they haue peasibly kepte and
occupied euer sithen, according to their Coppie & as right requirith,
Till now of late that oon Dane ^ John Wootton Monk and kychener ®
of the said Abbey to whom the forsaid Messuage and landes with
thappurtenaunces ben limited for his parte to haue & receyue the
rentes of the same as is accustumed ^ of his great wilfulnesse and
extorte power Seing that your pouer liiegeman hath doon & made
grete byldinges and costes vpon & in the same Messuage and landes
in diuers weyes and hath implayed his said landes to his moost
' S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 99. an indication that a change was in pro-
- Five and three quarter miles E.S.E. gress in the mode of reckoning money.
of Malmesbnry. The manor was still held Many Ruch examples occur in the case of
by the abbey at the Dissolution. Dugd. the Prior of Bath v. the Abbot of St.
* Monast.' i. 264. Augustine's, Canterbury, pp. 34, 35.
* An inaccurate use of n common form. ' See p. 139, n. 8.
* 1478. ^ An important personage in a religious
* The abbot was John Aylee or Aylie, house. He sat at Abingdon on the left of
1462-79. See Introd., pp. cxxiii cxxiv. the prior at meals. For his position and
* Probably reckoned originally as C^ duties see T. D. Fosbroke, ' British Mona-
marks, or thirteen angels (see Idele v. chism ' (1843), p. 123.
Abbot of St. Benettes Holme, p. 50, n. 5), ^ See Introd., p. cxxx.
46 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
avauntage & profite more than it hath ben before by his grete
labour of husbondry to his grete coste & charge, The said Dane
John Wotton of his covetous disposicion and royall ^® power hath by
force & armes sent diners his seruantes and haue entred into the
said Messuage wher as your pouer subgied and his wif dwelled in &
them haue Biottously put ovte of their said possession bringing with
them Bowes arrows swerdes bokelers grete.Clubbes ^^ and other weapons
and brake vp the dores vpon your said suppliaunt and his wif and
ther wold haue slayne your said suppliaunt onlesse by godes grace he
priuely eschaped from theim and also the said personnes when they
wer in the said howse caste ovte al suche goodes as they myght fynd
into the strete, and also gracious souerain lord toke the Ghilde ligging
I in the Cradell and caste the said Childe into the fire so that it is in
perill of death or elles is dede alredy in evill example to other in that
' Con trey. Also gracious souerain lord the said Dane John Wotton
and his said seruantes not content with their vnlawfuU demeanynges
kepith and withholdith from your said suppliant ligging in the said
Messuage xl lode of hey, xv lode of diuers Gomes and more, withoute
any mater or cause rightfull and other diuers thinges and also
manashith ** and dayly thretenith your pouer subgiet to murde ^' &
sle so that he darnot comme home to his wyf and occupie his
husbondry as your true subgiet aught to doo whiche is contrary to
your lawes & peax right and conscience and to the vtter vndoyng of
him and all his withoute your noble grace to theim beshewed in this
partie for your pour subgiet is not of power to sewe the said John
Watton for his remedy by your commune lawe.^* Please it therfor I /
your highnesse of your blissid charite and pitee the premisses tenderly
considerid to graunte your gracioux lettres of priue seal to be directed
vnto the said Dane John Wotton charging him straitle by the same
that he be and personally aper befor your grace and your noble
counsell at your palace of Westminster at a certain day this terme *^
vndre a penaltie to answer vnto- the premisses bringing with him
Geflferey Parker compartiner of the said Riotte to obeye & abyde
suche direccion as shal be thought consonant by your said Counsell
to reason And that your said suppliant and his wyf may haue and
enioye their said possession, and to haue restytucion of their said
*« See p. 37, n. 11. ** Indicating that the Star Chamber
** See Walterkyn v. Letice, p. 167, n. 2. then kept the legal terms. Probably it
*' Menaces. always did so, seeing they were kept by the
'■ Sic. Privy Council in 1426. Sir N. H. Nicolas,
^* Presumably on account of the ex- * Proceedings,' do., iii. 216. See Introd.,
pense. On this plea see Introd., pp. pp. Iviii, Ixiii, Ixviii.
Ixxxi, Ixxxii.
CULFORD V. WOTTON 47
goodes with holden from theim by the said Dane John And Geflferey
Parker this at the reuerence of god and our lady. And your said
subgiet shal pray to god dayly for the preseruaciun of your moste
noble & Boyall estate.
In another hand. Emanarunt inde litere abbati ^^ dicti monasterii.
Eetornabiles Octabis Purificacionis ^^ proxime
sub pena c ii.
Indorsed. John Culford contra John Wotton Malmesbury
Die ultimo Februarij.*^
B. This is the Answere of dane John Wotton to the byll of
John Culford.
The saide dane John seith that the mater conteyned yn the saide
byll is mater feyned & ymagyned of malis by the saide John Culford
to the Intent to putt the saide dane John Wotton to vexacon and
trouble and also the saide byll is vncerten & insufficient to putt hym
to answere vnto wherof he prayeth allowans and for the declaracon of
the trougth of the matyr conteyned yn the saide byll the saide dane
John seith that as to any riott cummyng & entryng with fors & armys
in to the saide mese brekyng vp of the doores castyng ovt of the
goodys in to the strete and takyng of the Chylde lyying yn the Cradell
and castyng in to the fyre manassyng and thretenyng and all other
mysdemenyng surmytted ayenst hym yn the saide byll he is no wyse
gylte and as to the Entre in to the saide mese the saide dane John
seith that the saide John Culford helde the saide mese of his fadyr
the abbot of Malmesbury * at wyll ^ by copye of court roll as of his
maner of brynkwurth as in the rigth of his Chirche and that the
custome of the saide maner is & ovt of tyme of mynde hath bene that
all Copyeholders of the saide maner shall paye yerly rent for the
pannage ^ of ther swyne goyng vppon the wast * grownde of the saide
maner and the saide John Culford was often tymes required to paye
** The abbot in 1494 was Thomas ' * Lyndwood defines it thus : Pannagiom
Olveston (1479-1509). See Introd., p. cxxvi. est pastus pecorum in nemoribus et in
*' February 9. syhis utpote de glandibas et aliis fruoti-
*" Presumably the day fixed for the bus arborum sylvestrium quarum fruotus
hearing. aliter non solent colligi.' Tit. de Decimis.
* This refers to the original grantor, J. Ck)welf * Interp.* s.v.
abbot Aylie. See A, p. 45, n. 5. * On the rise of the claim of the lords
' In full, * at the will of the lord accord- of manors to property in the wastes see
ing to the custom of the manor.' On the * Trans. B. Hist. Soc.,' N.S. vi. pp. 254-
legal signification of this phrase see I. S. 257. These claims of the lonls were
Leadam, 'Trans. R. Hist. Soc.' (1892), fiercely resisted in the sixteenth century.
N.S. vi. pp. 209-220. See ibid.
48 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
his pannage rent for his swyne goyng within the wast grounde of the
saide maner and all weyes he refused to paye it and yet doyth and
for that cause at the court holden at the saide maner the xxiiij^^
day of Octobre the ix*** yere of oure souerayn lord the kyng that
nowis * ther wos founden by the homage ther a forfiture ^ of the saide
mese by the saide John Culford and theruppon a commaundement
geuyn by the steward to the bayly of the saide maner to sease the
saide mese in to the saide abbott is handis by fors wherof the bayly
of the saide maner seasid the saide mese & put ovt therof the saide
John Culford as wos lawfull for hym to doo. All which matters he
is redy to proue as this court wyll awarde & prayeth to be dysmyssed
with his resonable costes & exspenses for his wrongfull vexacon yn
that behalf.
Dan John Wotton sworn vpon the bill of complaint and this his
answer ^ deposith, that the customs by him alledged is treu and bi the
time also alledged vsed in the said manor. And he saith that the
complainant bi the space of xij or xiij yere hath occapied the within
wreten wast somtime with xx^^, somtime with xl^** and mo swyne, for
which euery tenaunt so occapyyng there hath ben vsed to pay for
euery swyne there fedyng of half yere old ob. of a hole yere old and
more j d. bi the yere, which euery of the said tenauntes haue treuly
paid without condiccion, the said complaynant onlye excepte which
hath ben yerlye of him required and he hath euer expresslye denyed
payment sayyng thies woordes — I will occapye the said wast in
despite of thabbottes and the Cofiners ^ and Kechiners beds wherfore
bi the homage* there and bi an ordre of the law he forfeatyd his
» 1493. * Indorsed on B.
• Coke*8 language of a century later was ^ See p. 26, n. 27.
true at this time. * But now copyholders ■ From * coffin,* in the sense of the
stand upon a sure ground, now they weigh * moulded crust of a pie.' Cf. ShakRp.
not their lords' displeasure ; they shake not * Tit. And.' v. ii. 189 : * Of the paste a coffen
at every sudden blast of wind ; they eat I will reare.' J. A. H. Murray, * P^ngl. Diet.'
drink and sleep securely ; onely having a s.v. This word * coffiner ' is not noticed
special care of the main chance, viz. : to by Murray. It evidently means ' pastry
perform carefully what duties and services cook.'
soever their tenure doth exact and custom * * The word " homage,'' habitually used
doth require ; then let lord frown, the copy- of the suitors of customary courts, rather
holder cares not, knowing himself safe and suggests that there was a time when cus-
not within any danger' (* Complete Copy- tomary courts had no existence, but only
holder ' [ed. 1673], § ix.). Refusal to pay those who paid homage, the freeholders,
rent was a withholding of services, for exercised the right of manorial tenants,
which rent was a commutation, and worked According to the jurists, the essence of
a forfeiture. See I. S. Leadam, *0n the a manor, viewed historically, consisted
Security of Copyholders in the 16th and not in the customary tenants, but in the
16th centuries,' * Engl. Hist. Rev.' viii. 684. freeholders.' I. S. Leadam in * Trnns. R.
CULFORD V. WOTTON
49
tenure, aswell for the nownpayment of his deutie as for thexpresse
denyyng of payment^ aforsaid so long continued, after which the
said GeoflEray at thinstance of Mr.^ Cheyneye high steward to the said
abbot bought the said hous and land and when the said GefiEray
shold entre into the said hous, for that the said complainant willd not
aduoyde the possession, as this deponent herde say,' the same Geffray
tooke the stuff of the said complainant and laide it oute of the hous,
how or in what fourme this deponent can not say as he saith for by
his oth he was neuer at the hous in all his lif, nether he sent any
person to the hous, but as oone of the monasterye geving his assent
at thinstance of Sir John Cheyney ® that the said Geffray shold haue
the said hous and land. Albe it this deponent saith that or any
graunte was made bi the abbot and Govent to the said Geffray, this
deponent sent to the said complaynaunt to wete whether he wold do
his dewtie as other tenauntes dyd or not and if he wold, he shold
notwithstanding the office fand ® of forfeating his tenure haue it agen
afore any man, the said complaynaunt gave euer ansuer obstinatlye
he wold not sew for it nether he wold any thing pay, but he wold kepe
his hold in despite as is aforsaid of thabbot and all his officiers. This
deponent denyeth by his oth almaner of Byott in his person or bi his
commaundment supposd to be doone or bi any other mannys com-
mawndment that euer he knew or herd of.
Hist. Soc./ N.S. vi. 231, 232, where see
further upon this point.
' This was long settled law. In a case
in the Year Book 42 Ed. 3, 25, a prior
brought an action for trespass after evic-
tion. The defendant pleaded that the land
was his freehold. The jury found 'que
le dit J. tient mesme le terre del Prior per
copy de court rolle a volunte le Prior, pur ce
que fut niefe terre, et pur ce que J. ne
Yoet faire sea services de le terre, le Prior
le seisist.'
« I.e. Sir John C. See p. 18, n. 3.
' Note here, as elsewhere, the accept-
ance of hearsay evidence.
■ This Sir John Cheyney was lord . of
the manor of Wansborough or Wanborough
in Wiltshire, which had been forfeited by
attainder of Lord Lovel in 1487 (J. Aubrey,
• WUtshire Collections ' [ed. 1862], 196). He
also held land of the abbey of Malmesbury
at Charleton, Wilts (Inq. p. m. Hen. 7,
154). He must be distinguished from a
contemporary Sir John Cheyney, who died
July 14, 4 Hen. 7 (1489), leaving large
estates in the Midlands. See also Prior of
Bath V. Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canter-
bury, C, p. 27, n. 14.
* * Office doth signlfie .... also an
Inquisition made to the King's use of any
thing by vertue of his office who enquireth.
■ And therefore we sometimes read of an
office found, which is nothing else but such
a thing found by Inquisition made ej,
• officio.' J. Cowel, * Interp.' s.v.
•^
^r
50 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
IDELE V. SAINT BENNETTES HOLME, ABBOT 0F.»
To the king oure soueraign lord & the lordes
of his mooste honorable Counsell spirituel &
temporell
1495 Sheweth & grevously complayneth vnto your moste noble grace
youre true & feithfull subget Thomas Idele, How that where as he
vppon saint petres even last past ^ rode to the house of Saint Bennettes
of hohne in Norflfolk to thentent to deliuer vnto the Abbot ^ of the
same house your gracioux lettres vnder your priue Seel which your
said Oratour had purchased before vppon certain grete Iniuries by the
said Abbot of his grete myght & power to the wife of the said Thomas
commytted & doone contrarie to al right reason & good conscience,
lakking power to sue his remedie therin after the course of youre
comen lawe, It is so gracioux lord, that at the deliueraunce of your
said lettres to the said Abbot in the presence of v or ^ of
j his brethren monkes of the same house he receiued it without reuerence
by putting oflf his bonet or otheifwise and whan he had it, threw it from
him into a wyndow in grete angre and or euer he opened it or red it,
' he entreated your said Oratour to haue taken it home with him agayn,
and oflfred him a Noble * so to haue doone ; Which to do your said
Oratour vtterly refused and for the bringing thidre of your said lettres
& for noon other cause, your said Oratour was right sore & ferefuUy
manasshed & thretened ^ by one of his Monkes ^ to bete kill & sle to
thentent to make other to be ware of bringing thidre eny priue Scales
^hereaftre^ saying that the best knight in the Shire durst nat haue
doone such a dede vnto them. And so youre said Oratour departed
thens in grete fere & jeopardie of his life, beseching your grace to
take such wey & direccion therin for the mysdemeanyng of the said
' S.C J^. Hen. 7, No. 69. the last figare being afterwards erased and
* St. Peter's Day is June 29. This oc- the viij redaoed by erasure to v. The
oorrence took place on Jane 28, 1494, for blank for the alternative figures was then
the indorsement shows that this Bill was left unfilled.
filed in Trinity Term, 1495, in which year ' By an indenture dated 1465 nobles or
Trinity Term began May 24 and ended rials were to be coined in gold of the value
June 15. J. J. Bond, ' Handybook of Bules of ten shillings. The old nobles of the
and Tables for verifying Dates ' (1866), p. 88. value of 6s. Sd. were then called angels.
" Bobert Gubyle or Cubitt occurs in This coinage was continued upon Henry 7's
1499. His predecessor, Thomas Pakefeld, accession in 1485. B. Ruding, ' Annals of
had died in 1492, and his successor, Wil- the Coinage ' (1840), i. 283, 293. Never-
Ham Forest, was elected in 1505. Dugdale, theless, in Eynesham, Abbot of, v. Hare-
* Monasticon ' (1846), iii. 65. court. A, pp. 146, 153, the noble is reckoned
* Blank of about an inch. It appears as 6#. Sd.
that viij or iz had been originally written, *'* Interlined.
IDELE V. ST. BENETTES HOLME, ABBOT OF 51
Abbot & of his said Monke as by your highenesse shalbe thought con-
sonaunt to reason & good conscience. At the reuerence of God & in
\f ey of charitie.
Indorsed. Termino Trinitatis anno x"'*.
ij'^^ billa.
Thomas Ydele contra Abbatem sancti benedicti de
Hohne/
Ifi modem hand. Idele v. Abbot of St. Benett de Holme.**
TAPTON v. COLSYLL.>
A. To the kyng oure souerayne lorde and the lordes
of hys moyst honorabuU Cowncell
1495 Lamentably in the moyst humble vise sheweth to youre hyghnes
youre dayly Oratryx Alice late the wyflfe of Wylliam Tapton late of
Thorverton ^ yn your Counte of Deuynshyre that the sonday after
corpus christi day the ix yere of youre moyst Eyoall reygne ^ one John
Colsyll than beyng meyre of youre Cetye of Excestre * in the seyd
Counte sent Rychard Ebbisworthy Thomas Hampton and one Clement
than hys seruantes Eyotuos persons in maner of werre Arrayed wyth
bowes arrowez byllez swerdes and daggares to Torverton A fore sayd
and by Commaundement of the same Colsell than and there the sayd
Rychard Thomas and Clement Eyotusly with force and armys entryd
with oute ony Ryght or title in to the howse of youre sayd bedvoman *
at A bake wyndowe in herr Chaumber and there here assautyd bete
' This mitred Benedictine abbey was 548). The Act, which annexed the barony
founded by Canute upon the relics of an of Hokne to the see, confirmed the King's
existing house about a.d. 1020. Its yearly nomination of the abbot WiUiam Bugge,
revenues at the Dissolution were, accord- Beppys, or Beppes to be bishop of Norwich,
ing to Dugdale, £583 175. Old., according Sir £. Coke, who had seen the house,
to Speed £677 9s, Sid. (Dugdale, iii. 66). By having been educated at the Norwich Free
an Act of Parliament of 1535 (27 Hen. 8, , School, says of it : * The monastery (was)
c. 45), the ancient barony and revenues of made of that strength as it seemed to be
the see of Norwich were severed from it, potius castrum quam claustrum.' 4th Inst.,
' and the barony and revenues of the abbey . p. 46, note. Cf . the description of the walls
of Holme substituted in lieu thereof, ' in of Eynesham Abbey, p. 142, infra,
right of which barony the bishop of * No other papers of this suit have been
Norwich now sits in the House of Lords found,
as abbot of Holme, the barony of the > S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 17.
bishoprick being in the King's hands and - Now Thoverton, six miles north of
the monastery never dissolved, only trans- Exeter,
ferred by the statute before the general ' June 22, 1494.
dissolution. The bishop of the see is the * Mayor 1498-94. See further Tayllocr
only abbot at this day in England * v. Att Well, A, p. 9, n. 18.
(F. Blomefield, * Hist, of Norfolk ' [1806], iii. ^ Bedewoman, i.e. petitioner. See p. 114,
n. 3.
52 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
and sore wondyd in herre head and drew herre owte of the hall by the
here of herre hede so that she was in dyspere of herre lyflfe and froo
Thens so beyng wondeyd and bledyng Caryed herre forth to youre
sayd Cetye of Excestre and there put herre in preson and fetheryd *
herre on beyth herre legges wyth fettyres xxx li. weyght and more and
be syd that causyd herre to be tyed with a Chejme and wold not suffre
herre by the space of x wekkys next folowyng to haue Cloythys nore
strawe to lye on but ley apon the bare bordys with the sayd fetthers
' and Cheynnys and wold not suffur herre to haue Eny surgeon to
dresse herre sayd wonde bot so youre sayd bedwoman leye there wyth
Ryght gret peyne by the space of xxiiij wekkys and more and youre
sayd oratryx so lyeng in preson The same John Colshyll leyd sus-
pecyon of felony on herre And Cawsed here iij tymes To be led wyth
the sayd fetturs and Cheyn A moyng felons to the barre by fore your
Commyssionerz ' ther and at the iij"^® tyme youre sayd bedwoman was
delyuerid by proclamacon ® and than the same Colsyll malysciously
dyssposyd in tendyng the dystruccion and fynally the deth of youre
sayd Oratryx Toke suertye of pesse there A yens youre oratryx Where
vppon she vas Eemyttyd A gayne to preson where she leye and con-
tenuyd vn to the Tyme that the sayd Colsyll was out of hys oflfys of
maryalte and vj wekkys aftere on to the tyme that one John Atwyll •
fore Almes and petye with othere worshypfull men had compassyon
on herre and lent to youre sayd bedwoman money to sew a super-
sedyas ^® at Westminster for herre where by she was delyuerid out of
pryson. Also gracyus lorde When youre sayd pouere oratryx Was
betten and Eyotuusly Caryed oute of herre sayd howsse to the sayd
pryson The same Colsell Wrongfully entred in to all Thehouses^^
landys leyng within the sayd Towne of Thoruerton where of youre
sayd bedwoman was possessyd & peysab(ly) ^^ had Contenuyd herre
possessyon by the space of xv yere & more beyng of the yerly valuy
of xij marke^^ A boue The Charges and the sayd Colsyll there
Wrongfully And Extortyusly toke Certeyn goodes & Catell from youre
* Fettered. writ is granted. For example, a man re-
' I.e. of assize or gaol delivery. gularly is to have surety of peace against
* Presumably a proclamation of a gene- him of whom he wiU swear ; he is afraid
ral pardon ; but I have failed to discover and the justice required hereunto cannot
any such at this date. deny him ; yet if the party be formerly
* See Tayllour v. Att Well, A, p. 7, bound to the peace, either in Chancery or
n. 5. elsewhere, this writ lies, to stay the justice
>o * Supersedeas is a writ in divers oases from doing that which otherwise he ought
and signifies a general command to stay or not to deny.' J. Gowel, ' Interpr.' s.v.
forbear the doing of that which ought not " ' And ' omitted,
to be done or in appearance of law were to " Parchment torn,
be done, were it not for that whereon the *' 82.
TAPTON V. COLSYLL 63
sayd oratryx os ^* the parcell & valuye aperyth in A CeduU ^^ to thys
byll Annexyd & oure all the forsayd Wronges in prysonment bettjmg ^*
wondyng the sayd Colsyll hath Cawsyd your sayd bedwoman to spend
by fanyd & sinistere Accons & by meyns in the lawe xl li. & more
money to herre vttere vndoyng so that youre sayd bedwoman now ys
of no powere ferthere to suye with oute youre good grace to herre be
shewyd in thys behalf nowe Gratyus lorde hyt ys so that the sayd
Colsell ys late dyssessyd ^® and youre sayd oratryx hayth syth the tyme
of hys deyth ben with hys wyflfe to haue rescyte of herre landes and
recompens of herre goodes & Catell the whech she denyeth to do where
for that yt wold pies youre hyghnes of youre moyst habundant grace
The premyssyes tenderly to Conseder to graunt your lettere of preuay
seall to be dyrecte to the sayd Issabell ^^ late the wyfe of the sayd
Colsyll *' & his execor trice *' that she may personally Apere A fore
youre hyghnes And the lordys of youre moyst honorabuU Cowncell
At A certeyn day & Apon A certeyn payn by youre hyghnez to herre
to be lymite and there Abyde and Abay all suche dyreccionz and
Jugementes as to herre shall be A iugeyd be youre hyghnes and the
sayd lordes of youre moyst honorabuU Cowncell. And your poure
oratryx shall euer pray to gode fore the preseruacyon of youre moyst
Eyall Estayt &c.
Indorsed. Termino michaelis Anno xj^'^
Tapton contra viduam Johannis Colshyll.
In modem liand, Tapton v. Colsytt.
B. Theys be the parselles folowyng that the sayd John Colsell
Wrongfully with holdyth from Alyce Tapton.
In primys vj keyne pryse iij li. Item x bullokes price 1 s. Item
ij geldynges price xx s. Item vj hogges price x s.^ Item xxj gesez
prys viij s. Item vj Capons ij Cockes xiiij hennez ^ prys viij d ^ xviij
' W(edders) xvj d the wedder xl Eues prys the Ewe x d. Item xv
lambes prys the lambe viij d. Item Whete in the berne prys xiij s
"As. '" Interlined.
" Schedule. >• Oct. 9, ; Nov. 28, 1495.
'• He died July 21, 1496. Inq. p.m. * Above this, apparently in another hand
Hen. 7, 1185. No land or tenements are and ink, are the words 'fatetur iiij<*porco8
returned as having been held by him at quos comparabat Colshill defunctus de
Thorverton. kirkham Item xiij vacas de eodem.'
" ' Elizabeth ' in the Inquisition. See '^ Interlined,
ib. Document B shows Elizabeth to be * Parchment torn,
correct.
54
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
•DlcitAJ-
Slinb«t
qnod gnnm
fennm atque
brasiom
destniantur.
iiij d. Item xx bussell of otyn malte prys viij s iiij d. Item in the
feldes ix acres of Whete prys iij li. Item iiij acres of Rye prys xx s.
Item xj acres of otes prys xliiij s. Item iiij brasen pottes prys xiij s
iiij d. Item yj pannez prys xx s. Item vj brewyng vesselles prys xx^ s.
Item vj small tubbys prys yj s. Item iiij barelles prys v s iiij d.
Item xxiiij pewter vessell prys xs. Item iiij sackes xld. Item ij
pockes ® prys xij d. Item ij Begez ^ prys xij. Item iij syvez prys xij d.
Item iij Goferz prys iij s iiij d. Item iij sadelles x s. Item ij mattakes
xxj d. Item j peyckes iiij d. Item ij Bvelles ^ viij d. Item ij hookes
viij d. Item ij hachettes viij d. Item ij sawez xl d. Item ij hang-
ynges for beddes prys xx s. Item ij matresses prys xij s. Item iiij
payre of setes prys xiij s iiij d. Item iiij Couerlettes prys xx s. Item
iij Candilstykes. Item other trasshez ^ xx s.
MADELEY v. FITZHERBERT.'
A.
To the kyng cure souerane lord and to all the
noble and discrete lordes of hys most honer-
able Counsell.
1496 Shewyth mekely vnto youre highnes noble and sadde discrecions
youre humble & true liegeman & oratour John madeley of Quykkes-
hull * in youre Countie of Stafford that where one John Fitzherbert '
of Norbury^ in the Countie of Derby Esquier the ix* day of the
monyth of feueryere in the ix*** yere of youre moost noble reigne *
* Marginal note, apparently in the same
hand.
^ Sic. The scribe had evidently begun
to write Alice, but had struck it through.
* Pokes, i.e. bags.
^ Qu. rakes.
* Qu. bule, the handle of a pan &c.
North. J. 0. Halliwell, ' Arch. Diet.* s.v.
" Perhaps not in the sense of ' trifles,'
but with the original etymological mean-
ing of broken objects. See W. W. Skeat,
*Btym. Diet.' (1882), S.V.
' S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 13.
' Now Quixhall or Quixhill, a hamlet in
the parish of Bowoester or Rooester, N.E.
Staffordshire. Quixhall is about a mile
S.W. of Norbury on the Staffordshire side
of the Dove.
' Eldest son of Balph Fitzherbert, of
Norbury, Derbyshire, by Elizabeth, only
daughter and heir of John Marshall, of
Upton, Leicestershire. Balph Fitzherbert
died March 2, 14S4. John Fitzherbert was
presented by the Inclosure Commissioners
of 1517 for having broken the Acts against
inclosure by inclosing to pasture some
thirteen acres of arable land at Upton,
Leicestershire, of which manor he was lord,
in 1489 (I. S. Leadam, Domesday of In-
cisures [1897], i. 227). He married Bene-
dicta, daughter of John Bradburn, of the
Hoo, or Hoghe, Derbyshire, and had issue
three daughters and one son Nicholas, who
married in 1501 Dorothy, daughter of Sir
Balph Longford, but died in the lifetime of
his father, s.p. John Fitzherbert died
July 24, 1531, when Norbury passed to his
only surviving brother. Sir Anthony Fitz-
herbert, Judge of the Common Pleas (Visi-
tation of Staffordshire [1583], Historical
Collections, Staffordshire [1883], in. ii.
73 ; Sir B. Burke, * Landed Gentry ' [1900],
p. 555). He has been supposed by some to
have been the author of the ' Boke of Hus-
bandrie ' (fee, but as to this claim see ' Diet.
Nat. Biog.,* Fitzherbert, Sir Anthony.
' Norbury was granted to William Fitz-
herbert by the Prior of Tutbury in 1125.
lb.
■^ 1494.
MADELEY r. FTTZHERBERT
55
come to Quykkyshull aforesaid wyth viij persons in hys company to
youre besecher vnknowen and then and there brake vp the dores of
youre said besecher and entred in to hys house and there toke oute
and draue a wey vj kyen and an horse and then draue to Glaxton *
and there ympouned ^ them by the space of v dais where thurgh the
horse died* wyth oute any offence or trespace by youre said besecher
to hym done & the kyne he kept youre said besecher compleynyd to
my lord precedent ^ who desyred hym to make delyuere ^® and where
also as the said John byfore that tyme toke frome your said besecher
asmoche Corne and heye as amountyd to the summe of x marcs "
& more wherevppon youre said besecher complejmyd a fore thys
tyme to youre said lordshyppys and had jugement that the said
John Fitzherbert schuld make delyuere of the said godes a yene *^ to
youre said besecher as in thys same Court it doth appere and as yet
no delyuere canne haue to the vtter vndoyng of youre said besecher
wyth oute youre most benygne grace to hym here in be shewyd, please
youre said highnes of youre most noble & habundaunt grace and youre
noble & sadd discrecions the premisses tenderly to consider and the
* This place does not appear on the
new Ordnance map, but it was apparently
adjacent to Quizhill. It is mentioned in a
settlement by Sir John Blount in 1382 of
' lands in Denston, Glaston, Wyshall and
Waterfall,' co. Stafford (Staffordshire His-
torical Collections, iv. ii. 77), and in the
Inq. p.m. on Sir J. Blount in 1424, * Lands
in Denston, Watershall and Glaston, co.
Stafford' (ib. 78). In a fine of M.T. 18
Ehz. (1676-76), the manor of Quyekesell,
Qwyekeshill, or Qwyxhill, <&c., and ten acres
of wood there and at Glaston, Prestwood,
and Denston passed. These last two places
are near Quixhill. Qu. whether in these
documents the mistake has been made of
reading Glaston for Elaston, a village near
Quixhill. The letter appears to be G in
the documents of this case, but might have
been wrongly transcribed by the lawyer's
clerk, or might possibly be intended for E.
' Impounded.
■ Where the cattle distrained were im-
pounded in a pound overt it lay upon the
owner to supply them with food (Coke
upon Littleton [ed. F. Hargrave and C.
Butler], 47 b). Where in a pound covert or
close, as in some part of the distrainer's
house, the onus lay on him (ib.). As to
the practice of driving the cattle to a dis-
tance, see Introd., pp. cxx, cxxi.
* I.e. the Lord President of the Council
of the Marches of Wales. This was
William Smyth, bishop of Coventry and
Liohiield in 1492. * Coventry and Lichfield
were never two different bishoprics, but
two different seats of the safne see, which
had sometimes a third at Chester ' (G. Bur-
net, ' Hist, of the Beformation ' [ed. N.
Pocock, 1866], i. 429, n.). The lord presi-
dent is in this case oaJled the bishop of
Chester, a common alternative designation
of the bishops of Coventry and Lichfield.
See Henry 7's letter to the University of
Oxford recommending Smyth as Chan-
cellor (B. Churton, * Life of Bishop Smyth '
[1800], I p. 143). His London palace, out-
side Temple Bar, was called Chester Place
(ib., p. 64).
'» By 34-36 Hen. 8, c. 26 (* An Acte
for certaine Ordinaunces in the Einges
Majesties Domynion and Principalitie of
W^ales'), § 3, it is provided *That there
shalbe and remaine a President and Coun-
saill in the saide Dominion and Princi-
palitie of Wales and the Marches of the same
. . . whiche President and Counsaill shall
have power and auctorytie to here and
determyne by theyre wisdoomes and dis-
creacions such causes and matiers as be or
hereafter shalbe assigned to them by the
Kinges Maieste as heretofore hath been
accustomed and used.' From this it
appears that, as Coke puts it, there was a
* court of equity before the president and
councell there ' (4 Inst. 242). Its jurisdic-
tion was evidently modelled on that of the
Council of England.
" 67. 135. id.
'- Again.
56 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
grete wrong & jniury that he dayly doth to youre said besecher and
no remedye can haue a yenst hym for the same of youre gracious &
blessyd disposion^^ by the aduice of your said discrete lordes to
graunte your gracious lettres of priue Seale to be dyrectyd vnto the
said John Fitzherbert straitly chargyng & commaundyng hym by the
same vpon his liegaunce to appere a fore youre said grace and the
said noble lordes of your Counsell to Aunswere to the premisses and
to soch other maters as at hys comyng schalbe allegyd a yenst hym
and thys fore the loue of god and jn the wey of charite.
Indorsed. Madeley contra Fitzherbert.
'* Termino pasche anno xj ^'^
Madeley contra Fitzharbard.
B. This is thanswere of John Fitzherbert Esquier
to the bill of Complaynt of John Madeley.
The same John saith that the said bill is insufficient & vncerten
to be answerd vnto and the mater conteyned theryn is mater deter-
minable at the comen lawe & not in thys court wherof he prayth
allowans.^^ And ouer that he saith that the said John madeley by fore
this tyme hath caused hym to appere before my lord president & the
kynges Councell by virtue of a nother priuy seale where the said John
madeley hath made the same compleynt agaynst hym yn euery point
as ho maketh now & nother more nor lesse wherunto he hath answerd
the which mater as yctt hangyth ther not discussed. All which
maters the said John Fitzherbert is redy to prove as your gracious
lordeship shall thynk resonable & prayth to be dismissed with his
resonable costes & charges for his wrongfuU vexaicon & trouble in this
behalf.
Indorsed. Termino p«sche Anno xj® ^^
Responsio Johannis Fitzherbert contra billam Johannis
Madeley.
» Sic. the Council (Bot. Pari. iv. 156 a). This
'* Across. concession was to continue till the then
'^ Wednesday, April 20-Monda)r, May next parliament, but the constant appear-
16, 1496. J. J. Bond, Handybook (4th ed. ance of the plea in these documents sug-
1889), p. 174. gests that it was regarded as a standing
*^ In 1421 Henry 4 conceded a petition order liable to be overruled. Gf. Bot.
of the Commons that the exception that Pari. v. 407 b (1427) and Stat. 31 Hen. 6,
sufficient remedy could be had at the com- c. 2 (1458).
mon law should discharge a suit before
MADELEY r. FITZHERBERT 57
0. This is thanswer of John Fitzherbert Esquier
to the bill of complaynt of John madeley.*
The same John saith that the said bill is insuflBcient & vncerten
to be answerd vnto and the mater conteyned in the same is mater
determinable at the comen lawe & not in this court Wherof he
prayth allowans And ouer that he saith that the said John madeley
byfore this tyme hath cavsed hym to appere byfore my lord president
and the kynges councell by virtue of a nother privy seale where the
said John madeley hath made the same complaynt agaynst hym
yn euery point as he hath made now & nother more nor lesse Wher-
unto he hath answerd, the which mater as yett hangyth there
not discussed, But for declaracion of the trouth he saith one Eater3me
hanley was seased in her demeane as of fee among other landes &
tenementes of the said house in QuiksuU & so seased of the same by
name of all her landes & tenementes in QuyksuU & prestwode^ by
a dede redy to be shewyd enfeoffed one Eauff Fitzherbert^ Fader to
the said John whos heyre he is' to haue to hym & to his heyres
en fee by force wherof he was therof seased accordyng & died, after
whos deth the said John Fitzherbert as son & heyre to the same
BaufiF entred and was seased in his demeane as of fee and after
the same John Fitzherbert the said day & yere at the tyme of
the trespasse supposed came to Quyksull aforesaid with iij of his
dayly seruantes as he most comenly vseth to walke & then & there
found a hors & yj bestez damage fesaunt in his owne Frehold by
force wherof the said John toke the said hors & bestes aforeseid
& theym lawfully empownded within the same countie^ by the space
of one day & one nyght and after that by request & desire of my lorde
of lincoln* then beyng bishopp of Chester they were delyuerd to
the said John madeley sauff & sownd. And as to the takyng of the
said comes he saith the said Eateryne hanley was seased of the said
landes and tenementes in Quiksull aforeseid wheruppon the said
cornes were groyng in her demeane as of fee & so seased by the
' A farther answer had evidently been * William Smyth, translated to Lincoln
ordered with pleas to the substance of the January 31, 1496. It is to be noted that
plaint, the former answer (B) being in- he is not styled *lord president,' which
sufficient. suggests that his interposition was in his
' A hamlet about a mile N.N.W. of capacity of a justice of the peace for
Quyksull, in Staffordshire. Stafifordshire, an office to which it was the
*'* Interlined. practice to nominate bishops. He fre-
* This seems to indicate that Glaxston quently resided at the manor of Pipe,
was not in Staffordshire, for the defendant Staffordshire, about fourteen miles south of
omits to mention the place of the pound. Quizhill (B. Churton, * Life of Bp. Smyth '
See Introd., p. cxx. [1880], p. 61). See also p. 55, n. 9, supra.
58
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
dede aforsaid therof enfeoffed the said Bauff Fitzherbert to haue &
to hold the said landes and tenementes to the said Bauff & to
his heyres by force wherof he was seased accordyng & so seased died
by force wherof the said John as son & heyr to the said Bauff entred
& so was therof seased till by the said John madeley disseised and
the said John madeley so beyng seased by disseyson sett* the said
landes & after the said John Fitzherbert entred agayne into the same
landes & found the said cornes groyng vppon the same ground <&
reped part of them and then thabbott of Crokkesdon' & sir Nicholas
mountgomery^ knyght send' to the said John Fitzherbert that the
said cornes myght be inned^® vppon the said ground by the said
abbott and yf the said John madeley byfore the fest of seint micholl
next after ^^ showyd not sufficient title to the said landes that then
the said John Fitzherbert schuld have the said cornes as his own, and
after at a metyng & communicacion at Boucester byfore the seid
fest the said John madeley cowde not shewe sufficient mater nor title
to the said landes wherfore after the said fest the said John Fitz-
* Let. See Halliwell, ' Arohaio Diet.' 8.t.
' It does not appear why the abbot of
Crokkesdon and Sir Nicholas Mountgomery
intervened unless it was a neighbourly
endeavour to oompose differences. The
abbot was subsequently appointed one of
the throe commissioners to take the depo-
sitions. Crokkesdon, Crokesdcn, or Crox-
den was a Cistercian abbey about three
miles west of Bocester in Staffordshire.
Its abbot at this time was presumably John
dc Ghekewalton (W. Dugdale, * Monast.' v.
660).
^ Born 1459, son of Nicholas Mont-
gomery, who died in his father's lifetime,
by Joan, daughter of Sir Nicholas Long-
ford, and grandson of Sir Nicholas Mont-
gomery of Leigh or Lcghe, Staffordshire,
and Cubley, Derbyshire (S. Glover, *Hist.
of Derbyshire ' [1829], ii. 335). Sir Nicholas
the grandfather was high sheriff of
Staffordshire in 3 Hen. 6 (1424-5) and
22 Hen. 6 (1443-4). (S. Shaw, * Hist, of
Staffordshire ' [1798], i. xxxv., xxxvi.)
Leigh is about nine miles west, and Cubley
about five miles south-east of Quixhill.
Cubley was the principal seat of the family
(Glover, ib.). The family of Montgomery
were Torkist in politics. On December
10, 1483, after Buckingham's abortive in-
surrection, Nicholas Montgomery, probably
the one here mentioned, was nominated
by Biohard 3 a commissioner to inquire
into accompUoes of the insurgents in
Staffordshire (Pat. Bolls 1 B. iii. pt. ii., m.
29 u, p. 393). He was a commissioner of
subsidy for the county in the same year
(ib. p. 396). On May 1, 1484, he was made
a commissioner of array for the county
to raise troops against the anticipated
invasion of Henry Tudor, Earl of Bich-
mond, afterwards Henry 7 (ib., m. 19 d,
p. 401), and again on December 8, 1484 (ib.
m. 20 d, p. 491). But his name does not
appear as having fought at Bosworth, and
it is probable that he deserted the cause of
Bichard 3, for in little more than a fort-
night after the battle he was nominated by
the new king sheriff of the counties of
Nottingham and Derby (Sept. 12, 1485,
W. Campbell, 'Materials,' i. 548), receiv-
ing a reward of 501. at Michaelmas, 1486
(ib. ii. 83). On November 29, 1489, he
was, together with Prince Arthur and a
number of others, dubbed K.B. (W. C. Met-
calfe, ' Book of Knights,' p. 21). He married
Joan, daughter of John Haddon, Esq.
The date of his death does not appear to
be known, though these papers show that
it must have been after Easter, 1496.
He left a son. Sir John Montgomery, who
died in 1513, leaving three daughters, co-
heiresses. Of these Helen, or Ellen, married
Sir John Vernon, and earned both Leigh
and Cubley into that family (Glover, I.e. ;
J. Pilkington, * View of Derbyshire ' [1789],
ii. 248 ; S. Erdeswick, ' Survey of Stafford-
shire ' [ed. T. Harwood, 1844], p. 255).
• Sent.
>® Gathered in (J. A. H. Murray, ' Eng.
Diet.' 8.V.
" Sept. 29, 1495.
MADELEY r. FITZHERBERT 59
herbert toke part of the same cornes as lawfull was for hym to doo
& accordyng to the agrement byfore had, the which cornes exceded
not the value of xlyj s.^^ viij d.^* & as to the heye he saith it was then
gresse groyng within the said landes & tenementes of the which he
was seased as is afore said & that he cutt downe the said gresse
& made it heye & caried it to a mease within the said landes &
tenementes and after the said John madeley toke the said heye to his
owne proper vse. Without that that the said cornes & haye was to
the value of x markes as he hath supposed and without that that he .
came to QuiksuU aforeseid with moo personz than iij as he hath
aforsaid and without that that ther is ony such jugement yn this
present court apperyng of record in the maner & forme as he hath
allegged and without that that the hors aforesaid died in his defaut
as he hath allegged. All which maters the said John Fitzherbert is
redy to prove as your gracious lordeshipp shall thynk resonable and
prayth to be dismissed with his resonable costs and charges for his
wrongfull vexacion & trouble in this behalf.
Indorsed. Termino pasche Anno ij° ^^
Nouum responsum per Johannem Fitzherbert
D. This is the replicacion of John Madeley
to the answer of John Fitzherbert.
The seid John Madeley seith that his seid bill is sufficient and
certen to be answerd vnto and more over he seith that on Watere
Verney ^ was seased of the landes and tenementes now in variance
amonge other landes and tenementes in his demeyne as of fee and
died of them seased aftur whose deth all the seid landes and tene-
mentes descended to one Elyzabeth hethcote ^ as to doughtere and
heyre to the same water whose estate in the seid landes and tenementes
the seid John Madeley nowe hath and his fadere by fore hym had and
peseable occupied the same by the space nye of Ixxx yeris.^ Without
that that the seid Kateryn euer had any thyng in the seid landes and
'**'* Interlined. fourteenth century (temp. Rich. 2). Erdes-
" See A, p. 66, n. 15, supra. wick, pp. 610-13. BramshaU is about
' No person of this name appears in seven miles south of QuixhiU, and Mar-
the pedigreed" of the Verneys of Bucking- chington about five miles S.E. of Brams-
hamshire and Worcestershire. A famUy hall.
of the name was settled at Bromshall, or * A family of this name held property in
Bromeshall, now BramshaU, Staffordshire, Chesterfield in the time of Edward 4,
from the end of the twelfth century (temp. and long after. See Glover, ii. 298.
Kioh. 1) to the early part of the fourteenth * This places the death of or sale by
oentury (temp. Ed. 2), and at Marchinton, Elizabeth Hethcote in 1416.
or Marchington. towards the close of the
60 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
tenementes and Without that that any complajmt is hangyng by fore
my lord precedent and the kynges Councell of the seid mater and
Without that that the seid John Madeley disseissed the seid Eauff
Fitzherbert of the seid landes and tenementes and Withoute that that
the seid horse was euere * delyuerid agayn to the seid John Madeley
and more ouer he seith that the seid abbott of Grokosdene and sir
Nicholas mountgomery seyng the ryotwouse and wylf uU dispocyon ^ of
the seid John Fitzherbert entreted hym that the seid Cornes myght
be jnned vppon the seid ground and there to a byde till ferther title
of the right of the seid landes myght be more perfitely knowen be
twene them and by fore the dey lemitte by the seid abbott and mount-
gomery and by fore any communicacion had bytwene them the seid
John Fitzherbert came to the howse of the seid John madeley and hit
dyd breke and caryed a wey the seid Comes in to derby shyre.
Without that that any agrement ware had that the seid John Fitz-
herbert shuld doo the same and also he seith that the seid John
Fitzherbert dyd sell the seid hey to Alexander Cotis ^ and Richard
sclater whech had and Caried a wey the seid hey Withoute that that
the seid John madeley had the same as by his seid answere he haith
supposed and forasmech as bifore this tyme the seid camplainte and
title hath be made and shewyd by fore youur gracyous lordesshippe ^
and the kynges moste honorable Councell here in this place and the
same answere then made that nowe is made in efifecte which title
and answer with all ther circumstances were duly examyned by
maister Tremele^ and maister vavisere® and^° proves brought*'^
byfore them vppon the same Whech made report here in this Courte
of the trewth that was proved aswell by euydence as by othere suflfu-
cyente proves for the title of the same John madeley Wheruppon
iugemente was here geven that the seid John Fitzherbert shuld noo
forther ^^ medyll ^" in the seid landes and tenementes and also make
amendes to the seid John madeley for the wronges that he had done
vnto hym and theruppon an Jniunccion of xl li. was geven vnto the seid
John Fitzherbert which here apperith pleynly by mater of record
which he hath broken of his owen knowlege wherfore the said John
madeley preyeth that the seid John Fitzherbert may be amitted ^^ to
* Interlined in substitution for * euure,' • See Goryng t. Earl of Northumber-
struck through. * Sic. land, p. 99, n. 8.
• A family of this name was settled at • Sir John Vavasour, Justice of the
Cotes, in Staffordshire, about twenty miles Conmion Pleas, Aug. 14, 1490, d. 1506.
W. of Quixhill. Erdeswick, pp. 121, 122. • Diet. Nat. Biog.'
^ This, fts also the defendant's answer *"'** Interlined,
(p. 56, supra), is presumably addressed to " This word, according to J. A. H.
the Chancellor, Cardinal Morton. Murray, ' £ng. Diet.,' is the earhest form of
MADELEY V. FITZHERBERT 61
Warde for disobeyinge of the iugement here geven byfore youre seid
lordesshipp and that he may be Compelled to fynd sufiBcient suerte to
suflfure your seid pore oratur to enioye his seid landes and tenementes
accordyng to the rule ordinance and jugement here geven byfore youre
seid lordesshippe in this same Gourte bifore this tyme.
B. This is the reiondre of John Fitzherbert
to the replicacion of John Madeley.
The same John Fitzherbert seyth that the seid replicacion is
jnsufficient and vncerteyn to be vnswerd vnto and Furthermore he
seyth that hys seid vnswere is good and true in euery poynte as in
hys seid answere he hath alleggyd Wythoute that, That the fadure of
the seid John madeley had euer ought in the seid londes and tene-
mentes but of the leesse of the seid kateryne hanley for terme of ly ve
of the seid katerine by a dede jndentyd wher oflf the on parte enseallyd
with the seall of the fader of the seid John madeley remeyneth in the
possession of the seid John Fitzherbert redy to be showed and Wyth
oute that That the seid John madeley hath the Estaite and Right of
the seid Elizabeth heythecotes in the maner and forme as he hath
supposed. All the whych materz the seid John Fitzherbert is redy
to prove as this courte wyll a warde and prais to be dismyssed of this
courte wyth hys resonable costes and chargez for hys wrongefull
vexacionz and Troublez in this behalfe, and also prays that the seid
John madeley mey fynde sufiBcient suertye to content and pey the
costes and chargez of the seid John Fitzherbert, The whych to hjon
by yowre gracious lordeshypez shall be thought resonable to be
awarded for hys wrongefull vexacionz and troublez in that behalfe.
Indorsed. Madlby.
p. This is thanswer of John Fitzherbert to the bill of John
madeley Wherby it is surmittyd that the said John Fitz-
herbert schold haue forfeited xl li. by reason of an
Jniunccion gyuen by your grace in this court and cc li.
by reson of a preuy seale to hym directed for procedyng in
a certen assise.
The seid John Fitzherbert seith as to the said Jniunccion of xl li.
that he by the lawe of the land ought not to forfait that penalte nor
admitf bat qu. whether here it does not tinct. The word occurs in the sense of
represent the Latin amittere, and mean * admitted ' in Whyte ▼. Glonoestre, Mayor
' sent away.* The writing is perfectly dis- <fec. of, A, p. 226.
62
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
yett to be condempned in the same But for the pleyne declaracion
of the trouth the said John Fitzherbert saith that where he was
Jnioyned that he schuld not medle with the possession of the said
John madeley of such landes as were yn debate bytwene them byfore
your gracious lordeshipp vnto the tyne ^ he shewyd to the Councell *
more sufficiently for his title Therunto he saith that it playnly
appereth by the same jniunccion that it was made & gyuen only for
the interest of the said John madeley by cavse of his possession & for
no cavse ellys which John madeley sith the tyme of the jniunccion by
reason of a communicacion hadd bytwene hym & the said John Fitz-
herbert Fully agreed & assented that if the said John Fitzherbert
cowde fynde such evidences as wold proue his title to the said landes
& tenementes and the said euidences shewyd or cavsed to be shewyd to
master litton ^ vndertresorer of Englond that then the said John
* Sic. ' See Introd., p. xxiv.
■ Sir Robert Litton, or Lytton, of Litton,
Derbyshire, a hamlet a mile S.E. of Tides-
well. A Sir Robert Litton, knight, sat in
the parliament of 1404 for the county of
Essex ('Members of Parliament' [1878],
i. 267). A certain Thomas Litton, ' the
King's servant,' was nominated by Ed-
ward 4 on June 22, 1471, keeper of the
gaol within the castle of York * for his good
service beyond the seas and in England ' —
that is, for assisting the return of Edward 4
or serving in the campaign of Barnet and
Tewkesbury (Cal. of Pat. Rolls, Ed. 4,
p. 260). Robert Lytton was commissioned
on June 23, 1475, as one of the officers in
command of a division of 2,000 archers
who embarked from Weymouth to Brittany
in co-operation with Edward 4's invasion
of France by way of Calais (ib. p. 662 ; Sir
J. Ramsay, ' Lancaster and Tork,' ii. 407).
He was a member of a commission of three
who were appointed about 1486 to borrow
money from private persons in Middlesex
(W. Campbell, ' Materials,' ii. 107 ; cf. W.
Busch, ' Konig Heinrich 7 ' [Stuttgart,
1892], p. 297). On May 26, 1487, we find
him already sub-treasurer. Lord Dynham
being treasurer of England (Campbell, I.e.).
He was a commissioner of array for Middle-
sex to raise archers for the relief of Brit-
tany in 1488 (December 23) (ib. p. 386).
For his services he, with two London
citizens, obtained licence * to export from
London, Southampton, and Plymouth, by
the Straits of Marrak, to foreign parts 170
sacks of wool ' (February 7, 1489), a profit-
able privilege, enabling him to tap the
Italian market (ib. p. 404). He also re-
ceived a gift of cloth and fur (ib. p. 600).
References to him occur in the Plumpton
Correspondence (Camd. Soc. 1839). He was
executor to the will, dated July 24, 1492, of
Sir James Blount (Nicolas, *Test. Vet.'
p. 415). In 1493 he bought the manor of
Knebworth, Herts (J. E. Cussans, ' Hist,
of Hertfordshire' [1877], Broadwater Hun-
dred, p. 112). He was dubbed EJ3. on
' the creation of Prince Henry Duke of York,
October 31, 1494 (W. C. Metcalfe, ' Book of
Knights,' p. 24). He was a commissioner
for raising the aid granted to Henry 7 in
1503 in the county of Middlesex (Rot.
Pari. vi. 540 b). He was also Remem-
brancer of the Exchequer, Keeper of the
Great Wardrobe, Treasurer at War, and
justice of the peace for Herts and Middle-
sex (MS. R. 0., Exch. K. R. Mem. RoU, 21
Hen. 7, inter brevia, iii. dors.). His chief,
Lord Dynham, nominated him executor of
his will dated January 7, 1606 (Nicolas, p.
496). Cussans (I.e.) is, therefore, probably
wrong in dating his death in 1504. His
will was proved in 1606, he being described
as of * Freers Prechours, St. Benet Powlys
Warfif, London ; Stan well, Middlesex ;
Knybworth, Herts; Bucks' (J. C. Smith,
'Index of Wills,' ii. 349). According to
Cussans he was twice married. His first
wife, Elizabeth, was daughter and co-
heir of John Andrews, of Bogleham, Suf-
folk, and widow of Thomas Wyndesore,
Esq. (d. 1485), father by her of Sir
Andrew Wyndesore. first Lord Windsor
(Burke's • Peerage '). Through her Litton
acquired the manor of Stanwell, Middlesex
(•Inq. post Mortem Hen. 7,' p. 16), the
manor of Peper Harowe, Surrey (ib. p. 497),
and the manor of Malshanger, Hants (ib.
p. 964). His second wife is said by Cus-
sans to have been Agnes, only daughter and
heir of Thomas Rede, citizen of London,
by whom he left two sons, William and
Thomas, the elder of whom succeeded to
MADELEY V. FITZIiERBERT 63
Fitzherbert ehuld doo theryn as his title & the lawe required wher-
uppon the said John Fitzherbert through such serche as he therfore
made fownd diuers euidences which clerely shall proue his title both
in lawe & consciens which euidences so fownd he sent by one Thomas
Babyngton * to the said master vndertresorer accordyng to the said
agrement nott knavyng ' as yett to the said John Fitzherbert oderwyse
but that the said master vnder ^ Tresorer was ^ att that tyme ^ hym
self one of the Kynges Councell.^ And ouer that he saith that long
tyme sith the said jniunccion gyuen to the said John Fitzherbert the
said John madeley hath sued the said John Fitzherbert by fore the
kynges Councell for thia same mater wherby he hath wayued * yn
maner his sute in this court and so the jniunccion is vtterly dissolued
by the same. Without that that euer the said John Fitzherbert sith
the said jniunccion dispossessed the said John madeley And as to the
said cc li. conteyned in the said priuy scale the said John Fitzherbert
saith that he by the lawe of Englond yn no weyse ought to forfeit the
same som of cc li. nor no parcell therof In so moche as it is ordeined
by auctorite of diuers parlamentes that none of the kynges liege
people schuld be putt to answer for ony such cause Wuthout he were
brought yn by due Originall accordyng to the lawe of the land and
that all other such processe & paynes shuld be taken for void & holden
for errour ^ Wherof he prayth allowans according to the lawes
Knebworth. The family became extinct in On May 1, 1484, he was a commissioner of
the reign of Queen Anne (J. E. Cussans, array for Derbyshire to muster troops to
1.8.0.). But a general pardon for any resist the apprehended invasion of Henry
ofiFenoes or omissions committed by Sir Earl of Bichmond (ib. p. 400) ; and again,
Bobert Litton in the numerous offices held on December 8, 1484 (ib. p. 490). But he
by him was granted on April 29, 21 Hen. 7 seems to have become reconciled to the
(1506) to his widow Elizabeth and his son new dynasty, for in 13 Henry 7 (1498) he
and neir William, being his executors, was nominated sheriff of Derbyshire and
which shows the accepted biography of him Notts (Sir B. Burke, ' Landed Gentry *
to be incorrect (see MS. B. C, Exch. [1900]). He married (1) Margery , by
K. B. Mem. Boll, 21 Hen. 7, inter brevia, iii. whom he had no issue ; (2) Edith, daughter
dors.). That he should have been selected of Balph Fitzherbert, of Norbury, and sister
by the two htigants as arbitrator in their to the defendant in this case, by whom he
dispute is probable evidence that they had nine sons and six daughters (ib.). His
were acquainted with him as a neighbour. will was proved in 1519 (J. C. G. Smith,
Litton is about twenty-five miles N.E. of Index, i. 29).
Quixhill. * Interlined.
* Of Dethick, co. Derby, and Kingston, •*• Interlined.
Notts, eldest son of Sir John Babyngton, ^ The construction and sense are some-
sheriff of Derbyshire and Notts temp. what enigmatical. The meaning, appa-
Edward 4 and Bichard 3. Thomas Babyng- rently, is that Fitzherbert was under the
ton was a zealous Yorkist, being appointed impression at the time that Litton was a
by Bichard 8, after the suppression of member of the Privy Council. In the list
Buckingham's rebellion, a commissioner to of the Privy Council formed by Pulydore
inquire as to disafifected persons in Derby- Vergil (Gandavi, 1557, pp. 1437-8) his name
shire and Notts (December 10, 1483) (Pat. is not included, though that of his chief.
Bolls B. 3, p. 393). He was also a com- Dynham, is.
miBsioner of subsidy for Derbyshire in the ** See In trod., p. Izxix, p. 20, n. 6 ; also
same year (August 1, 1483) (ib. p. 395). J, infra, p. 67.
64
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
therof made & purveid and yf the said John Fitzherbert be compelled
by this court further to answer he saith that it appereth playnly by
the Wordes of the said privy seale that the said payne of cc li. is only
for the apperans of the said John Fitzherbert byfore the lordes of the
kynges most honorable Councell & for no cavse ellys Which Com-
maundement he hath Well & playnly kept Without that that euer the
said John Fitzherbert refused or set at nought the said privy seale
but it humbly receyued accordyng to his duite in that behalf and
Without that the said John Fitzherbert after that the said privy
seale was delyuered vnto hym proceded in the said assise yn ony
other wyse than by the said John madeley for whose cause only * the
said priuy seale was directed vnto the said John Fitzherbert was
fully assentyd & agreed. All Which maters the said John Fitzherbert
is redy to prove as your gracious lordeshipp schall award & prayth to
be dismissed out of this court with his resonable costes and damages
for his wrongfull vexacion in this behalf.
Indorsed J Madley contra Fitzharbert.
a.
And overe hys furste ^ answere the seid John Fitzherbert seyth
that yowre gracious lordeshype gaff licence to the seid partiez to haue
a commynycacion of the materz dependyng in variance betwene
theym by force wher of the seid parties compromittyd theym selff and
were agred to abyde the Kule ordinaunce and jugement of sir Kobert
litton vnderthesurer of Englon and of sir Jamez blount knyght,' by
* This apparently, though not oertainly,
refers to F.
* Third son of Sir Walter Blount, Lord
High Treasurer of England and first Baron
Mountjoy, 1465 ; d. 1474 (see * Diet, of Nat.
Biog.*). Lord Mountjoy's principal seat
was at Elvaston, Derbyshire (J. Pilkington,
* View of Derbyshire,' ii. 102 ; see also
J. Nichols, * Hist, of Leicestershire,' iv. 524
and n.). The family were zealous Yorkists,
Sir James's elder brother Walter being
killed fighting for Edward 4 at the battle of
Bamet in 1471 (Pat. RoUs, Ed. 4, 1467-77,
p. 298). Early in Edward 4's reign he
received a grant of the keepership of the
manor of Stretton-in-the-field, in cos. Lei-
cester and Derby (see Rot. Pari. v. 602 b).
In 1478 he was on the commission of the
peace for Derbyshire (Pat. Rolls, 1467-77,
p. 611). He, together with John Fitz-
herbert, was one of four commissioners
appointed by Edward 4 on January 9, 1474,
to take seisin of the forfeited estates of
George Duke of Clarence (ib. p. 428). He
received as a reward a grant of the manor
of Apedale, or Apdale, and of rents &c. in
Uttekcestre, or Uttexhater, and Marchyng-
ton-under-Nedewode, co. Stafford, forfeited
by John Delvys, Esq., one of the Lan-
castrians who had fought at Tewkesbury
(see Rot. Pari. vi. 145 a and 218 b). He
was appointed lieutenant of the castle of
Hammes in 1476, and continued to hold it
after the accession of Richard 3 (J. Gaird-
ner, ♦ L. and P. R. 3 and Hen. 7,' i. 16 ;
Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, p. 499). Here he kept
prisoner John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who
in 1473 had been captured at the siege of
St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall, and ever
since confined at Hammes (Pol. Verg.,
Camd. Soc. p. 158). Oxford persuaded
Blount, about the end of 1484, to renounce
allegiance to Richard 3 and go over with his
garrison to the service of the Earl of Rich-
mond. This was the first important defec-
tion after the crushing of Buckingham's
MADELEY V. FITZHERBERT
65
force wheroff the eeid sir Robert and sir Jamez made awarde betwene
the seid partiez in the maner and forme as in the seid answere is
specified, the whych awarde the seid John Fitzherbert on hys partie
hath well and truely kepped and performyd.
Indorsed. Termino trinitatis anno xj™°.^
This aunswer was geuen in by John Fitzherbert the
xiiy^** day of Juyn Anno quo supra.
rebellion in the autumn of 1483. ' When
Henry saw therle be was ravisshyd with
joy ' (ib. p. 208). Blount having left the
castle, together with his wife Elizabeth,
to the care of the garrison during his
absence with Earl Henry in Paris, it was
besieged by the garrison of Calais under
orders from Richard 3. Being relieved by
the Earl of Oxford marching from Paris,
terms were made and the garrison marched
out free. Richard thought it wise to
grant a pardon to Mrs. Blount and the
garrison of seventy-four men whose names
are set out in Pat. Roll, 1476-85, p. 626
(January 27, 1485). Blount himself was
attainted, though the Act of attainder does
not appear on the Bolls of Parliament,
and the Act reversing the attainder, which
passed in 1485, on the opening of Henry 7's
first parliament, wrongly recites as the date
of the original attainder 1 Bic. 3 (1484)
(see Rot. Pari. vi. 274 a, and cf. ib. 246,
247). He was one of the commanders of
the forces which landed with Richmond at
Milford Haven, and was knighted by the
earl upon that occasion (W. C. Metcalfe,
* Book of Knights,' p. 9). No sooner was
Henry on the throne than Blount began to
reap the reward of his services. In 1485
he was made steward of the Honour of
Tutbury, in Staffordshire and Derbyshire,
constable of the castle there, and master-
forester of Nedewode and Duffeld Firth
(Rot. Pari. vi. 362 b; W. Campbell, * Mat.'
i. 551). On March 2, 1486, he was rein-
stated in the Ueutenancy of Hammes for
a tenure of twelve years (W. Campbell,
* Mat.' i. 868). He received from the duchy
of Lancaster, for seven years, a lease of the
water-mills of Uttoxather, the pasturage
called Uttoxather More and Monebede, co.
Stafford, and of the herbage and pannage
of the park of Shothill, co. Derby (Novem-
ber 8, 1487) (ib. ii. 202). On the death of
his brother John Lord Mountjoy he was
granted the wardship and marriage of the
son (January 24, 1488) (ib. p. 230). A few
days later (February 1, 1488) he received a
great grant of lands, comprising no fewer
than five manors, with other lands, in
Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and North-
ants, part of the forfeited estates of William
Catesby, Humfrey Stafford, Richard Revell,
and Roger Wake. This grant is expressed
to be * for services, rendered at great bodily
risk and expense, in favouring the king's
title to the crown ' (ib. p. 235, 236). Another
grant from the duchy of Lancaster (Fe-
bruary 26, 1488) was a lease to farm for
seven years the lordships of Hertyngton
and Shene, Derbyshire, and of the herbage
and pannage of nine parks in Staffordshire
and four in Derbyshire (ib. pp. 258, 259).
These grants indicate that he had taken to
sheep-farming on a large scale. He was
nominated by the duchy of Lancaster a
special commissioner to inquire into dis-
putes between its tenants and the abbot of
Burton on November 10, 1488 (ib. p. 361),
and, * by way of reward ' perhaps for these
services, was paid twenty-five marks (16^.
13s. 4d.) in Easter term 1489 (ib. p. 437).
He was also made chairman of a body of
commissioners to inquire into the manage-
ment of the lands of the duchy on July 10.
1489 (ib. pp. 462,<463). Upon the eve of
Henry's setting out for an expedition
against France in 1492 he was nominated
one of the feoffees for executing the king's
will (Rot. Pari. vi. 444). As lieutenant of
Hammes he would probably accompany
Henry to France, and his will, dated July
24, 1492, little more than two months
before the army sailed, was perhaps made
in view of the expedition. The army re-
turned in the following winter. Blount's
will was proved on May 24, 1493. He left
his wife Elizabeth surviving, and nomi-
nated her and Robert Lytton, Esq.,
under-treasurer of England, his executors
(Sir H. Nicolas, ' Test. Vet.' pp. 416). The
record of his life shews that he was a
qualified person to act as an arbitrator in
this case.
' Wednesday, June 8, to Wednesday,
June 22, 1496.
66 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
H. This is the replicacion of John madeley to the answer of
John Fitzharbert.
The seid John madeley seith as to the furst parte of his answer in
avoidynge of the forfetnre of the jniunccion of xl li. that the same
John Fitzharbert by his seid aunswer shewith no thyng in avoidynge
of the seid forfeiture though it were so that his seid answer were true
as it is nat for the seid John madeley seth that he neuur agreed nor
assented to any such communicacion as in his seid answer he hath
allegged wherfor he praieth that the seid John Fitzherbert may be
committed to ward vnto the tyme that he hath paied to our
soueraigne lorde the kyng the same forfeiture of xl li. And where he
surmiseth by his seid answer that the seid John madeley hath suyd
bifore the Kynges Councell for the same mater thereto he seith that
long tyme syth the seid jniunccion ^ the seid John Fitzherbert dyd
broke the howse and close of the seid John madeley and dyd take a
wey yj kyne and a good horse price of xiij s. iiij d.' and the same
bestes drove vnto Glaxston ^ and there them kept in pownde vnto the
tyme the seid horse was dede ^ wheruppon the seid John madeley
complayned to the kynges Councell of the seid wrongful takyng, and
as to the last article of his seid answer the seid John madeley seith
that at Stafford bifore that the Justice theire proceded to any assise
the seid John madeley delyuered to the seid John Fitzharbert the
kynges prive Seal as is afore reherced and he wold nat loke in it but
cruelly said that he wold haue his assise * to passe ^ at that tyme ^ and
theruppon the Councel of the seid John madeley ^ dyd plede diuerse
and many barrez and theruppon on the morowe the Councel of the
seid John Fitzharberd made ij titlez to al thous barrez and the
Councel of the defendant dyd byde in la we ® vppon one of them and
* Here follow the words * that is to witte aliennm non quod sibi usnrpet tenementom
on Shroffe Sonday last passed at Even- ?el iara, non faoit disseysinam sed trans-
song tyme ' struck through. gressionem. Sed quoniam inoertum est
^ The pence interlined. quo animo hoc faciat, ideo querens sibi
' See A, p. 55, n. 6, supra. perquirat per assisam et quo oasu queren-
* See Introduction, p. cxx. The horse dum erit a iudioe quo animo hoc fecerit,
was not a yaluable one — probably one used vtrum eo quod ius habeat in re vel non
for farm work. The price of saddle horses habeat ... si per errorem vel ignorantiam
was considerably higher. See J. E. T. (hoc fecerit) excusatur a disseysina quia
Rogers, * Hist. Ag. and Prices,' iv. 335-7. est potius transgressio quam disseysina
^ I.e. the Assise of Novel Disseisin, quam quidem si cognoverit emendet ; et si
Fitzherbert's complaint being that he had dedixerit, vertitur assisa in iuratam ad
been disseised by the plaintiff. See C, inquirendum de transgressione et per hoc
p. 57, supra. He had a right to the assise stet vel cadat.' Bracton, f. 216 b.
because the plaintiff in this case asserted a *^ Interlined,
title. *Omnis disseysina est transgressio, ' Interlined.
sed non omnis transgressio est disseysina. • * * A demurrer commeth of the Latine
Et si eo animo forte ingrediatur fundum word demorari, to abide ; and therefore he
MADELEY r. FITZHERBERT 67
then by the agrement of both the said parties an issue was taken and
one of the assise ^ sworen ^® and nat bifore as in his seid answer he
hath allegged. All which matters the seid John madeley is redy to
proue 4&C.
I. This is the reioinder of John Pitzhebert * to the replicacion
of John madeley.
The seid John Fitzherbert seyth that his seid answere is good &
true in euery poynt as in the seid answere is alegged. Without that
that the seid John Fitzherbert brake the house of the seid John
madeley. And without that that the seid John Fitzherbert toke any
horse from the seid John madeley which died in the pounde as the
seid John madeley hath surmitted by his seid replicacion, all which
maters he is redy to prove as this court will award and prayeth to be
dismyssed out of the same with his resonable costes & charges for his
wrongfull vexacion in that behalfe.
John Fitzherbert sworn saith that this his ansuere is treu in euery
point, and he saith that thagrement wherof in this within wreten
ansuere is made mencion was made in the hous ^ Sir Robert litton
vndertresorer sith the said Jniunccion geven and in the same terme
that it was geven. The said John Fitzherbet ^ saith farthre that he
after he had receyvid the priue seale as it is contaigned in the byll,
noone othrewis pleityd his assise to thyssew but this. So it was he
saith that after as he had receyvyd the priuy seale, his counsel and
the counsell of the said John madeley were agred that the Ray shold
be affermyd ^ and no more tobe doon at that time, and then Mr.
Tremayle * and the Chef Baron ^ then there jugges said it was ageinst
thordre of the Court without so were the matier were pleatyd to an
Issew. Wherupon this deponent causid his Counsell to pleate farthre
and or it was fullye pleatyd to an Issew the said John madeley was
agreed to the same pleatyng, Jnsomuch that after thaire agrement
which demurreth in law is said, he that ' On dorse of F.
abideth in law : Moratur or demoratur in ^ Sic.
lege.' CJoke upon Littleton, 71 b. 'I have not found any other instance
* Le. the jury. This document illus- of this phrase. It appears to mean that
trates the ambiguities of the word ' assise/ ' challenge to the array ' was waived,
on which see Littleton, * Tenures/ § 234 * See Goryng v. Northumberland, Earl
(Coke upon Littleton, 154 b, 155 a). of, p. 99, n. 8.
'* For the meaning of the plea, which * Sir William Hodie or Hody. Chief
is very obscure, see Introd., pp. cxzi, cxxii. Baron of the Exchequer 1486-1522 (?).
» Sic. See ' Diet. Nat. Biog.*
F 2
68 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
vpon the same, euery of thaim pleatyd to other oone pleagh. And he
saith that his mynd was not to go any fathre to the tryall of the said
jssew but there to haue restyd though noo agrement had been had
betwix thaim by cavse of the commaundment in the said priuy seale.
Kichard Gener of QuykkeshuU in the Counte of Stafford a blynde
man of the age of kxx yeres and more sworn & ex [amined] * * ^
* * * ^ June the xi^^ yere of the reigne of kyng henry the vij*^ '
byfore John Abbott of Dieulieucres ' John Abbott of Crokesden * &
[George Abbott of Rowcetur *] sayth that he was born vppon the same
Grounde in QuykkeshuU now in varians where as John madeley now
dwellyth and * ' it was on John Okers & Kateryn his wyflf in the
ryght of the said Kateryn and sayth his fader was tenaunt to John
Verney ^ hir fader & after to the said John Oker & Kateryn and then
the said John and Kateryn dwellyd vppon the same grownd by the
space of iij yeres & after they removed to mapulton ^ & ther the said
John Oker® died and the said Kateryn was weddyd to on Symon
hanley of hanley in Worcester shyr ® and then the fader of the said
Richard Gener was bayly to the said Symon & Kateryn & payd theym
yerely xx s. many yeres vnto the tyme that his said fader brought one
Thomas madeley to the said Symon & Kateryn to take it of them and
then the said Thomas madeley toke it paying xiij s. iiij d. yerely &
payd no more by cause he promysed her to geve her more la[nd] ^
* ^ * ^ on trust therof the said Symon & Kateryn
delyuerd theyr evidens to the said Thomas madeley and the said
Thomas madel[ey] ^ * ^ * ^ no more land butt he payd
his rent alway and then the said Thomas madeley died &' John
madeley his son occupied * * * ^ vnto the tyme that on
' Parchment torn. to Dagdale, * Monast.' vi. 410. It was one
' 1496. of the lesser houses, its net revenue being
" A Cistercian abbey founded in 1214 at lOOZ. a year (ib.). It held land in Quick-
Leek in Staffordshire by Randal de Blunde- wull.* Ib.
ville, Earl of Chester. Dugdale notes an ' See 1), p. 59, n. 1, supra,
abbot, John (surname unknown), here in * In Derbyshire, on the other side of the
1438, the next on his list being Thomas, in Dove, about six miles N.N.E. of Quixhill.
1499. It was one of the greater monasteries, ' A place name, appearing in the form
its income at the Dissolution being 227Z. 5s. of Ocoure, for Oakover, in a plea of 1257
(Dugdale, * Monast. Angl.* v. 626). It lies (Staffordshire Hist. Coll. [1883], iv. 135).
about twelve miles north-west of Quixhill. The seat of the family was at Oakover. See
* See C, p. 58, n. 7, supra. * Visitation of Staffordshire ' (1614), ib. v.
^ An abbey of Black Canons founded by ii. 302 &o,
Bichard Bacon in 1146 at Bowcester, Bou- * An ancient family at Upper Hanley.
cester, or Bocettur, Staffordshire, about a See T. B. Nash, * £list. of Worcestershire '
mUe and a half south of Quixhill. The (1781), i« 365.
name of this abbot is altogether unknown
MADELEY V. FITZHERBERT 69
Bauff Fitzherbert bowght it of the said Katerj'n and the said Bichard
Gener was present when possession was delyuerd to the said Bauff by
one henry Clerk her attourney by the same token that ther was
thyder brought a white Wodecok '^ the which was send to my lady
hastynges that now is.'^
Bichard John of thage of Ix yeres & more examined the said
day & yer byfore the said Abbottes saith that he dwellyd vppon
the grownd in Quykkeshull wher as John madeley now dwellyth
with on William his vncle & att that tyme the said William
John payd the rent therof to on Thomas Gener fader to the said
Bichard Gener that then was bayly to the said Kateryn. In Wittnesse
wherof and for the more credens to be hadd in the same the forsaid
John Abbott of Dieulieucres John Abbott of Crokesden & George Abbott
of Bowcetur to this present wrytyng haue sette theyr seales ^^ the day
& yer ab[ove written].
LEAD MINERS OF YORKSHIRE v. THE MERCHANTS OF YORK.»
To the kyng our souereyn lord
1499 Shewith humbly vnto your highnes your poer sugettes and con-
tinuall oratours all the myners and makers of lede within the countie
of York that where it was late ordynyd and enactyd in your most high
court of parlement holden at Westminster the [seventh] ^ yeare of your
most noble reigne by the Autorite of the same such weghtes and
mesures of brasse as your grace hadd then causid to be made accordyng
and agreable vnto certen old weghtes & mesurs of long tyme remaynyng
in your exchecquer shuld be oonly vsid and occupied and that noon other
weghtes ne mesures except such as were agreable and of lyk weght
and mesure with the same should be vsid within this your Bealme
'*• Not, apparently, by way of livery of S.P. Dom. Henry 8, i. 1372). The phrase
seism. The incident marks the occasion ' that now is ' in the mouth of an old man of
in witness's memory. Of woodcocks Morris 80 recalls that William Lord Hastings, the
says : * White individaals have been met father, had been beheaded by Richard 3 in
with, and cream-coloured ones.* The Rev. 1483. See G. E. C, 'Complete Peerage'
Gilbert White, of Selbome, mentions a (1892), iv. 186.
white woodcock &c. F. 0. Morris, ' Hist. '^ The seals, for which the three paroh-
of British Birds ' (1891), iv. 240. ment slips remain, have been removed.
'* Perhaps Mary, Lady Hastings and > S.G.P. Hen. 8, Bundle 18, No. 289.
Hungerford, wife of Sir Edward Hastings, Wrongly sorted : should be Hen. 7. A
Lord Hastings de Hastings, lord of the charred fragment. No other document in
manor of Dronfield, Derbyshire, about thirty the case found.
miles N.E. of Quixhill (Inq. p. m. Henry 7, ' Illegible in MS., should be * seventh '
424). Of. p. 29, n. 21, supra. Lady Hastings (1491). *An Acte for Waightes and
had numerous interests in Derbyshire (see Measures,' 7 Hen. 7, c. 3.
70 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
and by the same autorite it was enactyd that oon of euery of the said
weghtes and mesurs shuld be conveyd vnto euery shire town within this
your Bealme to thentent there to be vsid and occupyed & noon other
accordyng vnto the said ordynaunce by force where of oon of euery of
the said weghtes & mesure were conveyd vnto the citie of York ^ and
there remayneth in there Gyld hall Which notwithstandyng so it is now
good & gracious lord that the said march auntes will nott by of your said
oratours there said lead by your said weghtes but vsis at all tymes after
that your said oratours be agreid with the said marchauntes what
they shuld haue for A foder * your said oratours trustyng veryly to
be vsid with the same weghtes to wee the said leed after there pleasour
and for there synguler lucour Wee the said leed with certen weghtes
made by the said marchauntes withoute eny auctorite which excedith
your said weghtes in euery D*' weight xxx** or xl li. or more * and yit
the said marchauntes not therwith contented lyeth in the scale a by
weght of vij li. to euery gret peece of leed which they will in no wise
rakyn in part of the foder by which vntrue and feynyd weghtes and
dyuers misdemeanynges of the weyer & keper of the crayn your said
poor oratours er gretly inpouerysshed and almost vtterly undeyn.
And more ouer wher withoute tyme of mynd there was neuer payid
nor vsid to be payd more then ij d. ob. for weyng and drawyng vp of
a foder of leed at the said crayn So it is nowe good and gracious
lord that the yere now last past oone John Metkalff ^ beyng mayre of
the said cite the said mayre to geder with the comen Gouncell of the
same cite of there cuvetus myndes and without eny lawfull autorite
ordayned and enacted among theym selff that your said Oratours
shall pay for euery foder of leed by theym brought to the said cite and
weid at the said crane at all tymes thirafter xiiij d. whan the saide
* The evidence of this survives in R.O. Lord Mayor of York in 1498. F. Drake,
Misoell. of Exchequer ^, from which it ap- * Eboraoum ' (1786), p. 363. Apparently a
pears that the standara weights and mea- dealer in plate (see * Test. Ebor.' p. 800).
sures, including half a cwt. and its fractions, Some time before 1509 he seems to have
were delivered to Marmaduke Constable been conipelled, by financial embarrass-
and William Oascoyne, knights of the shire, ments, to pledge his gold ring, ' Test. Ebor.'
for the county»and city of York on Dec. 8, (1884) v. 5 n. He was, presumably, a man
1495. of literary tastes, for Brian Wensdaill,
* Or * fother,* generally 19^ cwt. See notary and procurator of the Ck)urt of York,
J. E. T. Rogers, ' Hist. Agr. and Prices/ bequeathed to him, in 1519, * a litill buyk,
i. 168. But G. Malynes, * Lex Mercatoria,' viz. dicisions of Root ' (ib. p. 100). He was
269 (Lond. 1622), speaks of * a f other of also a legatee of 40s. under the will of John
lead of twentie hundreth.' See J. A. H. Marshall, merchant, of York, dated Dec. 15,
Murray, * Eng. Diet.' s.v. 1524 (ib. 198). His will was proved Jan. 27,
^ See Introd., p. cl. 1530, as of the parish of St. Mich. Owse-
* John Metkalff , or Metcalf, sheriflf of bridgend, York, merchand. Index of Wills
York, 1494. An alderman of York in 1497. in the York Registry (Yorkshire Archaeol.
• Test. Ebor.* (Surtees Soc. 1869), iv. 121. Assoc. 1891), vol. xi. p. 119.
LEAD MINERS OF YORKSHIRE r. THE MERCHANTS OF YORK 71
mayre and bredren of the said cite hath euer after sett decre * ^ said
• ® levyd contrary Eight and good conciens wherevpon your
said peer Orators well seyng and perceyueng aswell the said onlawfoll
weghtes as the said onlawfuU decre indendyd and of ♦♦•♦♦*9
past downe your streme of ows forby the said cite with there said leed
vnto your town of Kyngeston upon Hull intendyng there to haue
vttered and sold the same ® which as soon as ^ the said mayre & his
brethren * perceived withoute eny lawfull autorite and to thentent to
compel your said sugettes to vtter *^ *^ *^ *^ weghte
* * • * ♦ • 7 ^ould not ® suflfre them to passe down
your seid streme to such tyme ^ as they had paid vnto the said mar-
chauntes * ^ the foder xiiij d. *^
HEWYT AND OTHERS & EXCITER, MAYOR &c. OF, v,
LONDON, MAYOR &c. OF.'
A. To the right reuerent father yn god the bisshop
of Sarisbiiry and the keper of the Kynges
brode Seaill ^
1500 Mekely besechith your gode and gracious lordship your daily
Oratours Richard Hewyt^ John Gumby* and John Skrevener
marchawntes of the Citie of Exciter, That where as your seid Oratours
came to The Citie of London this wike with there marchauntyes as
thei have vsed to doo yn tymes past, And as thei were comyng
towardes the seid Citie of London at Ludgate, iiij seruauntes of John
Hawis * and William Stede '' nowe beyng Shiryffes of the seid Citie of
' MS. torn. ' John Gumby, senior bailiff and re-
* MS. obliterated. ceiver of the city, 1504. Izacke, p. 105.
»-• MS. indecipherable. * Sheriffs in 1501. J. Stow, ' Survey/ ed.
'" MS. here much torn and injured by J. Strype, 6th ed. 1755, ii. p. 224. Neither
water. became mayor.
' S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 78. John Hawes, mercer, one of a number
^ Henry Deane, translated from Bangor who on May 4, 1480, received a general
to Salisbury, Dec. 7, 1499 (Le Neve ' Fasti,' pardon from Edward 4 ^for debts <bo.
ii. 604) ; Keeper of the Great Seal, October 13, due to him, apparently in connexion with
1500 ; Abp. of Canterbury, April 26, 1501 ; customs duties (* Pat. Bolls/ 20 Ed. 4,
d. 1503. * Diet. Nat. Biog.' p. 243). There appear to have been more
' Biohard Hewyt, bailiff and steward of persons than one of the name. The will
the city of Exeter, 1497. B. Izacke, ' An- of John Hawes, or Hawe, of St. Thomas of
tiquities of Exeter ' (2nd ed. 1724), p. 98 ; Aeon, London ; Sion, Chelchehith, Middle-
senior bailiff and receiver of the city, sex, and Thadyngton, Derby, was proved in
1502 (ib. p. 104) ; mayor, 1506 (ib. p. 105) 1517. J. C. G. Smith, Index, i. 261.
and 1513 (ib. p. 107). WiU proved (of St. " Grocer and alderman, probably dead
Lawrence, Exeter) 1519. J. C. C. Smith, in 1507. B. Heath, * Hist, of the Grocers*
Index, i. 271. Company ' (3rd ed.. 1869), p. 425). In 1486
72
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
London, and by there commaundement toke of your seid Oratours
XV 8. yn golde, and v pecee of lynyn clothe callid Doglas,^ claymyng
of theym to have the seid godea vnto the tyme that your seid Oratours
hadde agreed with the seid Shiriffes® for a wrongefulP Custom,
whiche thei clayme, called Skavage,^® Where that your seid Oratours
nor none of the seid Citie of Exciter neuer paied no such Gustomes,^^
Wherfore it may please your gode lordship the premyssys tenderly
consydered to commaunde your seriaunt of Armes^* to goe to the
seid Shiriffes, commaundyng theym to delyuer your seid Oratours
there seid godes, Orels to appere before your seid lordship to morowe
yn the sterre chambre, to aunswere to the premissys accordyng to
right and godd consciens. And thus for the love of god and yn the
way of cheritie.
B. To the kyng oure souereigne Lord &
his most honourable Counsell
In most humble wise besechith youre highnes youre daily Oratours
the maier Citezeyns & burgesis of youre Citie of Exiter, That where
he contributed four marks {21, 13s. id,) to
Henry 7*8 forced loan. W. Campbell,
* Materials/ ii. p. 95.
A person of the name of William Stede,
or Steed, at this time owned a mansion at
Harrietsham, Kent. E. Hasted, *HiBt. of
Kent,' ii. p. 457, n. 1.
^ Also * Dowlas ' <bo., so called from
Daoules, or Doalas, S.E. of Brest in
Brittany; a coarse kind of linen cloth.
J. A. H. Murray, • Eng. Diet.,' s.v. Dowlas.
* *De la qaelle custnme (Scavage) la
moite partient as Visoountz, et lautre moite
as hostes en les mesouns des queax les
marchauntz sount herbergez, qi amesnent
marchaundises dount Scawenge vient ; meis
nepurquant qe yceaux hostes soient de la
fraunchise de la citee ' (Liber Albas [Bolls
Series, 1859], edited by H. T. Biley), i. 228.
' The above quotation and the list of
articles on which scavage was leviable on
pp. 22^5 shew that it was intended as a
duty on foreign importers. See also C,
p. 74, n. 1, infra.
'" Scavage, schauage, or shewage. 'Fait
assavoir qe "Scawenge " est dit come " de-
monstiaunce *' pur ceo qe y covient qe
marchauntz demonstrent as Viscountz
marchandises des queux deit estre pris
custume * (Liber Albus, supra oit.). The
scavage on the load of canvas was 12(2.
(lb. 225). The scavage of the City of London
had been granted by Henry 7 inmiediately
after his accession (October 26, 1486) to
Humfrey Bayneford, gentleman, for life
( W. Campbell, * Mat.' i. p. 100). This person
died in 1497 (J. C. C. Smith, 'Index of
Wills,' ii. p. 489). This grant was probably
in derogation of the franchises of the city,
and the city had perhaps resumed the
appointment, the nomination to which it
appears to have previously enjoyed, since
in 1402 the sherifiFs farmed it out to a
private speculator. * Bot. Pari. iii. 491, a, b.
" Exeter was a daughter of the city of
London (C. Gross, *The Gild Merchant'
[1890], i. p. 247). The charter of Edward 1
recites that of Henry 2. *Et sciatis eos
(cives Exoniffi) habere consuetudines
Londoniarum; et ita testati sunt ipsi
Barones Londoniarum ' (Liber Custumarum
[Bolls Series], 1860, edited by H. T. Biley,
p. 667). The charter of John ran : ' Volu-
mus etiam et firmiter praecipimus, et hac
priBsenti Charta nostra confirmamus, quod
iidem cives nostri sint quieti de theolonio,
passagio et pontagio, tam in terris quam in
aquis, tam in feriis quam in mercatis, de
omni sa^culari servitio et consuetudine per
omnes terras nostras, citra mare et ultra,
et per omnem potestatem nostram, qun
Bex Bicardus frater noster eis concessit,
quantum ad Begem pertinet (ib. p. 668).
On October 12, 1486, Henry 7 granted a
general Inspeximus and Confirmation of
previous charters from Henry 2 to Edward 4
(G. OUver, * Hist, of Exeter ' [1861], p. 286.
See further Introd., p. cxlii.
" See p. 247, n. 9, and Introd., p.
xxvi.
HEWYT AND OTHERS V. LONDON, MAYOR ETC. OF 73
youre aeid Citie is and of the tyme that no mynde is to the contrarie
hath been an auncient Citie & burgh and is & of all the same tyme
hath been auncien demeane ^ And the maier & Citizens of the seid
Citie and the Burgesis of the same haue & by all the same tyme haue
had diners preuileges Frauncheses and liberties aswell by the graantes
of your noble progenitours Kynges of Englond as oderwise, And
amonges oder preuileges Frauncheses and liberties haue been & vsed
to be & goo quite free & discharged in your Citie of London & all oder
Cities & burghes within youre realme of Englond of all maner of toll
& Shewage oderwise called Skawage amonges oder thynges,* So it is
most gracious souereign lord that the maier Sheriifes & Cominaltie
of youre Citie of London nowe of late wrongfully & contrarie to the
previleges Frauncheses & liberties aforeseid of youre seid Citie of
Exceter haue claymed to haue Shewage odirwise called Skawage of
youre seid Oratours in youre seid Citie of London and as diuers of
youre seid Oratours that is to sey Bichard Hewyt John Gonby & John
Scryuener were lately commyng towardes youre seid Citie of London
at Ludgate iiij seruauntes of John Hawys and William Stede nowe
beyng Sheriflfes of the seid Citie of London & by there commaunde-
ment toke of youre seid Oratours xv s. in gold and v peces in lynyn
cloth called Doglas claymyng of them to haue the seid goodes vnto
the tyme that youre seid Oratours had aggreed with the seid Sheriffes
for a wrongful! custome whiche they clayme called Skawage where
that youre seid Oratours Citezeyns ne burgezes of youre seid Citie of
» * In the year 1086 the king had 285 * Township and Borough ' (1898), p. 72.
houses in Exeter paying custom ME. A. ^ Ancient demesne was the Terra Regis
Freeman, Exeter [1895], p. 43). But Edwardi of Domesday. The theory being
Domesday does not speak of Exeter as a that land in Ancient Demesne furnished
whole as Terra Regis. See Domesday the king's household with provisions, it
Book (ed H. Ellis, 1816), vol. iii. (Index was exempt from all payment of toll (E.
Locorum, 'Execestre,' p. 249). This is not Coke, 2 Inst. 542). Cf. the claims of the
conclusive proof that it was not Ancient inhabitants of Leystof t, Kyrkeley, and Pake-
Demesne. Cf. Y.B. 49 Ed. 3, pi. 8 (Fitz- fyld, Suffolk, 'by reson wherof * (i.e. being
herbert, Abr. Monstraverunt, 4). * Touts in ancient demesne) * they owe to be quytte
les demesnes qui fuerent en la maine Seint of all maner of Tollys Customes <b other
E. sent aunoiens demesne, mesque ils exacoions for the sale of all their seid wares
fuerent aliens a estraunge mains quant le & marchaundyses in all markettys & faiers
liver de Domesday se fist, come il avient within this Realme of Inglond ' (Jettonr
del manor de Totenham,' &c. (P. Vinogra- and others v, Hull, Mayor of. Select Cases
doff, * Villainage in England ' [1892], p. 90. from the Court of Requests, Selden Soc.
Cf. P. and M. Hist. Eng. Law, i. 382, n. 1). [1898], p. 37). A royal grant of 1488
The claim of Ancient Demesne was con- (November 20) to the town of Becston
Btantly being advanced. The Placitorimi recites. Whereas the men & tenants of the
Abbreviatio for the first twenty years of ancient demesne of the crown of England
Edward I's reign gives twenty cases. But are quit of toll, stallage, chiminage, <&o.,
in only two of these did the claimants get (&c.' (W. Campbell, * Mat.' ii. 365). See also
a judgement (P. and M., Hist. Eng. Law, i. Select Cases in the Court of Requests, p.
861, n. 2). Boroughs especially claimed to 39, n. 3, for the writ on behalf of Tenants
be the king's demesne. F. W. Maitland, in Ancient Demesne.
74 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Exceter neuer paid eny suche customes ne oder like contrarie to the
liberties & priuilege of the same youre Citie of Exceter to there gret
cost trouble vexacion & damages and to the grete wrong inpouerissh-
yng & vndoyng of youre seid Citie of Exceter if it shuld so contynewe
without due reformacion, Please it youre highnes the premisses
graciously considred to commaunde the same maire & SherifTes to
appere before youre highnes & youre Counsell to answer to the pre-
misses & to abide & obey suche order & direccion in the premysses as
shall accord with right & good consciens And youre seid besechers
shall contynuelly pray to God for the preseruacion of youre most
noble & roiall astate long prosperiously to endure.
Indorsed.^ Termino hillarii anno xyj° **
Secunda billa. Giuitas Exoniensis contra London.
Exon contra London.
Excestre contra London.
London et Exeter.
c. This is thanswer of the mayour and cominaltie of the Citie
of London to the byll of the mayour citizens and Burgeses
of the citie of excetter.
The maire and cominaltie of the sayd Citie of London for theire
aunswere to the said bel sayen That the sayd citie of london is the
maist auncyent citie of this realme of Englonde and that within the
same citie of london of auncyent tyme when the Shirefweke of the
said Citie of london was in thandes and possession of dyuerce auncient
and noble kinges of this Bealme of Englonde the same noble kynges
were than and before that tyme oute of mynde possessed by theyre
Offycers Shireffes of the same citie of london of the said custume
callid Scavage and haue vsed to haue and take the same custume
called Scavage by the same Shireffes perteynyng to the same
Shirefwek of london by all the same tyme as of oone of the mooste
pryncipall Custumes perteynyng of right to the said Shirefwyke of
london. The which custume called Scavage by all the same tyme
hauing been taken and vsed to be taken of al marchaundises brought
from by yonde the see vnder the fourme folowyng that is to say
Whansouer any marchaundyses brought from beyonde the see of any
marchauntes haue come by water or by lande ^ within the liberties of
' Apparently the first and second in- * January 23-Febraary 12, 1500.
dorsements in the same hand, the third * Cf. A, p. 72, nn. 8, 9, supra. In the
and fourth in another hand, and the fifth case of the merchants of Genoa, who peti-
in a seventeenth-century hand. tioned parliament against Scavage in 1402,
HEWYT AND OTHERS r. LONIX^N, MAYOR ETC. OF 75
the said Citie of london there to be solde that the said Shyreff or
Shyreffes of the said Citie for the tyme beyng or theyre deputyes
haue taken the said Gustume called Scavage that is to say vpon the
Shewyng of the said marchaundises byfore they be solde a certeyn
somme of money after the rate of the said marchaundises the certente
and quantiete of which sommes of money so vsed to be taken apperyth
asweli by old bokes remaynyng within the same Citie of london of
recorde as in the kynges Eschequrer and also for non payment of the
said Custume called Scavage the said Shyreff or Shyreffes or there
deputyes by all the same tyme haue vsed to sease the same mar-
chaundyses and theym to reteyne till they were sattysfyed of the same
custume ^ and afterward the ryght noble kyng John beyng possessed
of the said Shirefwyk of london and of the said Custume called
Scavage therto belongyng in like fourme as his noble progenitours
oute of tyme of mynde byfore that were by his chartre and lettre
patentes amonges other diuerce libertyes and Fraunchises graunted
to the said citezeins of the Citie of london the said Shyrefwyk of
london and of the countie of middlesex with almaner custumes and
liberties and other profytz to the same Shyrefwyk and euery of theym
in any wyse belongyng or perteynyng,^ whereof the same Custume
called Scavage in maner and fourme aforesayd taken and vsed to be
taken than and befor that from the tyme aforsayd than was and yet is
parcell * and that the same citezeins shuld chose yeerly two citezeins
of theym self to be shireffes of the said citie of london and Countie of
middilsex for an hoole yere To haue and to holde the same Shiref wikes
with all Custumes and profytz to theym or any of theym belongyng
to the forsaid citezeins of london and there successours for euermore
yeldyng and payng therfor yierly to the said noble kyng and his heires
kynges of Englonde ccc li. and also the ryght noble kyng Edward the
their complaint was that they had been duotion of letters testimonial from the
compelled to unlade their goods at South- Customers and officials of Southampton
ampton for examination by the Customers, showing that they had paid their dues
and having paid customs there they were there. Bot. Pari. iii. 491.
also mulcted in tolls by the town officers '^ This seizure actually took place in
for having discharged their merchandise on the above case, and was one of the grounds
land. When they reached London the of complaint. Ibid.
sheriffs' farmer in his turn demanded * la * This was the third charter of King
onstome appelle Schawage,' although it John, dated July 5, 1199, whereby he con-
was only due for merchandise directly im- firmed his grant to the citizens of London
ported into London from over sea. These of the sheriffwicks of London and Middle-
exactions, they urged, were driving mer- sex. W. de G. Birch, * Historical Charters
chants from England. The king in reply &c. of London ' (1887), p. 15.
observed that his charter confirming the * The next line, about ten inches in
privileges of the City of London made no length, is erased and the first four inches
mention of Scavage, and forbade its cxac- of the line following it.
tion from the petitioners upon their pro-
76 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
iij^® by his lettres patentes ^ graunted to the sayd citezeins of london
that they shuld be encorporat by the name of maire and cominaltie of
the eitie of london as by the same lettres patentes more pleynly it
apperyth.® The which graunteis liberties Custumes and Praunchises
be ratefied and confirmed by auctoryte of diners parliamentes by
reason wherof the mayre and cominaltie of the said Gitie of london
haue and ben seased yerely of the said Custume called Scavage and
haue vsed yerely and yet vse to take the same Custume by the
Shireflfes of the said Citie of london for the tyme beyng as well of the
said Citezeins of Exceiter bryngyng marchaundyses from beyonde the
see to the said Citie to be sold as of all other marchauntes as a
Custume dewe ^ and perteynyng to the same Shirefwyk of london in
maner & fourme afore reherced and also that the same Shireffes of
the said Citie of london for the tyme beyng oute of tyme of mynde
yerely haue vsed and yet vse if the same Custume called Scavage
were vnpayd to sease the said marchaundises of the said Citezens of
Exceter and all oders soe brought in to the said Citie of london there
to be soldo and the same marchaundyses to reteyne till they be
satisfied of the said somme as a custume due and perteynyng to the
same Shirefwyk of and in the maner and forme aforespecified and for
asmich as the said Richard Hewit John Gomby and John Scrj'uener
brought in to the said Gitie of london from beyonde the see there to
be sold [xiij]** pakkes of lynen cloth for the which xiij pakkes of
linen cloth the said custume called Scauage ought to be payde and
the which somme of the said custume called Scavage of and for the
said linnen cloth in the said pakkes extendyth after the Bate and old
custume in the said old bokes to the somme of xiij s. due whiche
somme of xiij s. of and for the said linen cloth in the said pakkes ^
John Hawes and William Stede than and yet beyng Shireffes of the
same Citie of london demaunded of the said Richard Hewet John
Gomby and John Scryvener as dew and perteynyng to theire said
office of Shyrefwek of london The which somme of xiij s. to the same
* A small + is in the margin against its incorporation on any charter hat pre-
the line beginning * patentes ' and ending scribed (HowelPs State Trials [1810], viii.
* citie of.* 1041). In the charter of Henry 8, dated
' This seems to refer to the first charter February 26, 1247, the style is * mayor and
of Edward 3, dated March 6, 1327, which commonalty.* The grant by John of the
* for the good and laudable service which sheriffwicks at 300/. a year is set out at
our beloved mayor, aldermen, and com- length in the charter of 1827. See Birch,
monalty of the said city heretofore have pp. 32, 58.
often done us ' confirms the city's liberties. ' MS. much faded ; reading doubtful.
This charter, however, does not formally " Indecipherable,
incorporate the citizens under the above * This charge is justified by Liber Albus,
title, and in the Great Quo Warranto case p. 225 : * La charge (pack) de lienge teile,
of 1681-83 the City did not venture to rest xij d.'
HEWYT AND OTHERS V. LONDON, MAYOR ETC. OF 77
John Hawes and William Stede to pay the said Kichard Hewit John *°
John Scryvener than vtterly refused and yet refuse and the said
which somme of xiij s. to the said John Hawes and WilUam Stede
they haue not yet payd, Wherfore the said John Hawes and William
Stede than as Shyreflfes of the said Citie of london seased the said
XV s. in gold and v peces of lynnyn cloth callid douglass and theym yet
reteyneth for non payment of the said somme of xiij s. of and for the
said custume called Scavage aforsaid as lefuU was to theym to doo
Withoute that that the said mayre citezeins and Burgeses of the said
Citie of Exceiter and theyre predecessours from the tyme of noe mynde
haue hadde vsed & enyoyed or ought to vse or to enjoye any such
libertie or fredome to convey theyre marchaundyses to the said Citie
of london there to be solde freely withoute paying of the said custume
called Scavage in manor and fourme as the said mayre Citezens and
burgesses by theyr said bil of compleynt haue surmy tted And withoute
that the said mayre Citezens and Burgesys haue or euer had or vsed
any pryvillage fraunchise or libertie or grauntes of the progenitours
of our soveraine lorde the kyng or otherwise to be or goo quite free or
discharged in the said Citie of london of all maner of Toll and
Scavayge as by the said bill is surmytteid all which maters and euery
of theym the said mayre and cominaltie of the said Citie of london
wilbe redy to verifie as shalbe thought by your highness or by the
lordes of your most honourable Counceill and prayen that theye maye
for theyre liberties and custumes aforsayd accordyng * ® their
predecessours the maire and cominaltie of the same Citie of london
before haue hadde and enyoyed * ® * ® haue ^^ been alowed
them ** by your noble progenitours in tyme past. And they shall
daylye pray to almighty God for the preseruacion of your most noble &
roiall astate.
Indorsed. The Mayour Burgesses &
Commonalty of Excestre
versus
Le Maiour & Sheriflfes
of London.
In another hand. Excestre.
*" * Oomby ' omitted. " Beading doabtfnl ; MS. much defaced.
78 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
D. The Beplicacion of the Maier Citizens and Burgences of the
Citie of Excester to the answer of the Maier & Cominaltie
of the Citie of London.
The seid Maier Citezens & Burgences of the seid Citie of Excester
seyn that the seid answer is vncerteyn & insufficient and no perfite
answer to the seid hill And they seyn as they haue seid in ther seid
bill, That the seid Citie of Excester is & of the tyme that no mynd is
the contrarie hath been an auncient Citie & burgh and auncion
demeyne And by reson therof if the maire citezens & burgences of the
seid Citie of Excester had non oder graunte libertie ne priuylage they
ought of right to be & goe quyte free & discharged in the seid Citie
of london & in all oder Citez & burgh ^ within the Bealme of Englond
of all maner toll skavage & oder like charges by reson that the seid
Citie of Excester is & out of tyme of mynd hath been auncien demeyne
whiche is not by the seid Maier & Cominaltie of the seid Citie of
london denyed And ouer that the seid Maier Citezens & Burgences
of the seid Citie of Excester seyn in euery thyng as they haue seid in
ther seid bill of Compleynt. Withoute that the seid Kyng John or the
kynges of Englond before tyme of mynd wer possessed by ther officers
Sheriffes of london or oderwise of eny suche custome called skavage
of the Maier Citezens or burgences of the seid Citie of Excester or
vsed to haue or take eny suche custome of the Citezens & burgences
of the seid Citie of Excester by the same Sheriffes or oder persones
perteynyng to the Sherifwike or oderwise, And withoute that that
the seid Custome called Skavage by all the same tyme hath been taken
& vsed to be taken of all merchaundises brought from beyond the
See by all merchauntes by water & by lond within the libertiez of the
seid Citie of London there to be sold as it is surmytted by the seid
answer, And withoute that that it apperith in the bokes remaynyng
in the seid Citie or the recordes in the kynges Escheker that the
kynges of Englond or the Sheriffes of the seid Citie of London or the
seid Maier & cominaltie of London haue vsed to take Skavage of all
merchaundisez brought by water & by lond to the seid Citie of
London ther to be sold, or that the certentie or quantite of the
sommes of money so vsed to be takyn appere in the seid bokes of
London or in the recordes of the seid Eschekyr, or that the
Sheriffes of the seid Citie of London or ther deputez by all the seid
tyme haue vsed to sease & reteyne eny suche marchaundisez till they
wer satisfied of the seid pretended custome or that they euer vsed to
' Sic.
HEWYT AND OTHERS V. LONDON, MAYOR ETC. OF 79
sease or reteyne eny merchaundisez of eny of the Citezens & burgences
of the seid Gitie of Excester for eny suche pretendid Gustome or vsed
to haue of them eny suche Gustome. And without that that the seid
Gustome called Skavage belongith or at eny tyme belonged to the seid
Sherifwik or is & hath been parcell of the seid Sherifwike oute of
tyme of mynde as is surmytted by the seid answer And without
that that the maier & Gominaltie of the seid Gitie of london haue
been seased yerely & vsed yerely to take the seid pretendid Gustome by
the Rheriflfes of the seid Gitie of london for the tyme beyng as well of
the Citezens of Excester as of oder marchauntes, or that the Sheriflfes
of the seid Gitie of london out of tyme of mynde haue vsed to haue the
marchaundices of the Gitezens or burgences of Excester or eny of
them ^ & to resceyue ^ them ^ till they were paid of the seid pretended
Gustome in maner & fourme as is surmytted by the seid answer,
And withoute that that the seid maier and Gominaltie of the seid
Gitie of london euer had or ought to haue or wer paid of eny suche
Gustome of the seid Gitezens & burgences of Excester but of late
whiche was by wrongful! compulsion, And withoute that that the
seid maier & Gominaltie of the seid Gitie of london by the Sheriflfes
of the seid Gitie for the tyme beyng ^ euer seased ^ or toke eny mar-
chaundisez of the seid Gitezens or burgensez of Excester for the seid
pretended Gustom vnto nowe of late that the seid maier & Gominaltie
by the Sheriflfes of the seid Gitie of london wrongfully & with force
toke & seased diuers merchaundisez of the seid Gitezens of Excester
and also the seid xv s. contrarie to the lawe right & good consciens.
All whiche maters the seid maier Gitezens & burgences of the seid
Gitie of Excester been redy to proue as this Gourte will award, and
prayen as they haue praied in ther seid bill.
E. The Eeioyndre of the maire Shirifes and Gominaltie of the
Gite of london to the Beplicacon of the maire Gitezins &
Burgesses of Excestre.
The saide maire Shirifes and Gominaltie sayen that theire
aunswer is certen and sufl&cient and the said Beplicacon insufl&cient
and vncerten to be reioyned vnto and sayen in all thinges as thei
haue saide in theire aunswere. Without that that the said Gite of
Excestre is or out of tyme of mynde hath been auncien demeane,
And without that that tenauntes of Auncien Demean aught to be dis-
charged of the said Gustume called Scavage in maner and fourme as
^'"^ Interlined. * Qu. for reteyne.
80
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
in the said Beplicacon is surmyttid. All which matiers the saide maire
Shirifes and Gominaltie been redy to prove as this Gourte wille awarde
and prayen as thei haue prayed by theire saide aunswer.
F. These ben the deposicions of diuers Gitezens and inhabitantz
of the Cite Excestre had and made beffore William Sylk ^
John Garell * and John Broke ' by vertue of the Kynges
Writt of dedimus potestatem ^ to them directed.
John Guscote ^ off the age of Ix yere one of the Gitezens and inha-
bitantes of the seid Cite of Excestre Sworne and examyned sayth and
deposith that he hath vsed to send lynnyn cloth to London by the
Carriours from the xij yere of the rayn of Kyng Edwarde the iiij*^
vnto the xxij yere of his Raigne ^ and in all that tyme he neuer paied
Skauage ne other Gustome ne none was asked hym saue onse a
seruaunt of one ^ Gotyn ® came to the Sturre • in Bredstre *° in
London and asked hym Scavage, and therupon one horwyll beyng of
' William Sylk, or Sylke, educated at
the University of Oxford, where he suppli-
cated for the degree of B.G.L. May 26,
1468 (C. W. Boase, • Register ' [1885], i.
86). Possibly a son of William Sylk, of
Bishop's Lynn, Norfolk (see Pat. Bolls,
Ed. 4, 1468, p. 78). Archdeacon of Cornwall
in 1491 (Le Neve, * Fasti ' [1854], i. 899) ;
prebendary of Exeter April 15, 1499 (ib.
411) ; will proved 1508. J. C. C. Smith,
* Index,* ii. 515.
' John Carell, or Caryll, serjeant-at-law,
eldest son and heir of John Caryll, of
Warnham, Sussex, by Griselda, daughter
of Henry Belknap, cousin and heir to Sir
BaJph Boteler, Lord Sudley, died July 11,
1488. John Caryll, the son, was a member
of the Inner Temple. He was made
serjeant-at-law in 1605, and king's serjeant
in 1514. He was a Bencher of the Inner
Temple in 1508 (' Inner Temple Records,'
ed. F. A. Inderwick (1896), i. 12). He
married (1) Margaret, daughter of ~ Ellen-
brigge, or Dalynbridge ; ^2) Jane, daughter
and co-heir of Sir Robert Read, Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas. Caryll died
in 1528, and by his will desired to be
buried by the side of his first wife in
Warnham Church. By his first wife he
left a son, Thomas, who inherited Warn-
ham ; by his second a son, John, who
became a member of the Inner Temple on
July 9, 1522 (ib. 70 ; D. G. C. Elwes and
C. J. Bobinson, 'Castles &c, of Western
Sossez' [1879], p. 253). His will was
proved in 1528 as of Warnham, Sussex,
Hants, Kent, and Surrey (J. C. C. Smith,
* Index,' i. 108). His estate in Surrey was
at Tangley. See O. Manning, and W. Bray,
' Hist, of Surrey ' (1809), ii. 109 ; Nicolas,
• Test. Vet.' u. 660.
' John Broke, perhaps the eldest son
and heir-apparent of Thomas Broke, of
Leighton, Cheshire, Esq., by Elizabeth,
daughter of Hugh Starkey, of Oulton, of
whom he was a feoffee in trust on October
8, 12 Henry 8 (1520). He died before 1522
(G. Ormerod^ *Hist. of Cheshire,' ed. T.
Helsby [1882], iii. 458-4). The fourth son
of Thomas Broke was Sir Richard Broke,
Chief Baron of the Exchequer (* Diet. Nat.
Biog.'). John Broke was a practising bar-
rister in the reign of Henry 7 (E. Foss,
' Lives of the Judges ' [1867], v. 20), and
possibly the * — Brooke ' called serjeant
in 1503. Ib. 15. .
* See p. 121, n. 4.
* Senior bailiff and receiver of Exeter
in 1508, in which year two mayors and
two bailiffs, of whom Guscott was one,
died of the plague. Izacke, p. 104.
' The twelfth year of Edward 4 began
March 4, 1472, and the twenty-second
ended March 3, 1488.
' Blank in MS.
' Keeper of Ludgate, where the tolls from
the West were taken. See pp. 71, 73, 84.
* Star Court still survives on the east
side of Bread Street, a few doors north of
Watling Street.
•• Sic.
HEWYT AND OTHERS V, LONDON, MAYOR ETC. OF 81
the Counter ^^ of London said that men of Excestre were free, and
ought to paye no thynge, and so the said John saith that in all the
said tyme he paiede no Scavage ne any other thynge.
John Bonyfent ^^ Citezen and inhabitant of the Cite of Excestre of
the age of Ix yere and more sworne and examyned saith and deposith
that in the Eynges daies that now is one martyn then beyng maier of
London ^' he had xvj peces of lynnyn cloth Caried from Excestre to
, " The Counter, or Compter, of Bread
Street was on the west side of the street,
and was a prison of the sheriffs, where also
they and their officers kept their courts.
It was a house belonging to the Gold-
smiths' Company, who let it on lease to
the person who farmed the prison. In the
fourteenth century each sheriff kept his
own compter. The consequence of this
I was a competition for prisoners, from whom
profit was extracted, which in 1378 resulted
in a dispute between the sheriffs and the
mayor and the expulsion of one of the
sheriffs from office for attempting to get
possession of a prisoner contrary to the
mayor's orders (H. T. Biley, 'Memorials
of London Ac' [1868], pp. 413, 417). In
the Compter were lodged women of bad
repute who transgressed the City's ordi-
nances (ib. 458). It was also a place of
detention for persons to be brought to trial
before the mayor for like offences, who
after condemnation were sent to Newgate
(ib. 522, 595-6. Down to 1413 committals
were specifically directed to one of the two
sheriffs' compters (ib. 595), but in 1418
the sheriffs seemed to have combined
to maintain one prison known as ' the
Compter ' (ib. 663, 676). It does not appear
where this was, but as this evidence refers*
back to the reign of Edward 4, it is not
improbable that it was established in Breal
Street between 1413 and 1418, where it
remained until 1555, when it was removed
to Wood Street. The curious story of its
removal, owing to the legal inability of the
Corporation to discharge its keeper, the
lessee of the house, is told at length in
J. Stow's ' Survey,' edited by J. Strype
(6th ed. 1754), i. p. 690.
'* John Bonyfent, Bonefant, or Bony-
faunt, bailiff of Exeter in 1486, bailiff and
receiver in 1495 and 1505 (K. Izacke, pp.
94, 97, 105). A representative of the demo-
cratic party in Exeter. For his usurpation
of the office of Mayor of the Staple in that
city and his deposition by the Privy Council,
gee ' Select Cases in the Court of Requests,'
Selden Soc. (1898), pp. Ixxv, Ixxvi, 3-6.
Those events had occurred in 1498. • In 1482
he is described as * Inholder ' of Exeter.
MS. R. O., Exch. K. R. Mem. Roll. M. T.
21 Ed. 4, m. XXXV. Cf. also p. 9, n. 22,
supra.
" Sir William Martin, Skinner, mayor
in 1492, son of Walter Martin 'of the
County of Hertford ' (J. Stow's ' Survey,'
ii. p. 223). This was perhaps the Walter
Martyn who in 4 Hen. 4 (1402-3) contri-
buted to the building of the Church of
Hexton, Herts (J. E. Cussans, ' Hist, of
Hertfordshire [1874-8], Hundred of Hitchin,
ii. 9). William Martyn was appointed by
Edward 4 Controller of the Subsidy in the
Poi-t of London and the ports and places
adjacent on August 6, 1470 (Pat. Rolls,
10 Ed. 4, p. 216). Presumably he was a
Yorkist in politics, for in the following
October, after the flight of Edward 4 to
the Continent, he was displaced. Pat. Roll,
Oct. 24, 49 Hen. 6 (1470). A month after
Tewkesbury he was reinstated by Edward 4
(June 12, 1471 ; Pat. Roll, 11 Ed. 4, p.
269). He had probably rendered Edward 4
active assistance, for on October 6, 1471,
he received a dispensation from the statute
against officers of the customs acting as
merchants on freighting ships (Rot. Pari.
V. 54 b; Statutes 20 Hen. 6, c. 5 [1442]).
A grant further allowed him to ship wools
or woolfells to the staple at Calais— i.e. for
the Netherlands or ' by the Straits of
Marroke — i.e. for the Italian market (Pat.
Roll, 15 Ed. 4, p. 546). He was one of the
sureties for Lord Hastynges, a prominent
Yorkist peer, on his appointment as Keeper
of the Royal Exchange in the Tower of
London, February 3, 1471 (ib. 16 Ed. 4, p.
20). He had ceased to be a controller, but
was a collector of the subsidy in 1481 (ib.
20 Ed. 4, p. 232). He was appointed one
of a committee of lunacy for John Husey
the elder, of Shapwike, Dorset, on December
20, 1480. That he had a previous con-
nexion with the county is evident from the
fact that since April 16, 1478, he had been
on its commission of the peace (ib. p. 558).
He was nominated a commissioner of the
subsidy from aliens in that county on
April 27, 1483 (Pat. Roll, Ed. 5, p.
353), a commission renewed after the ac-
cession of Richard 3 (Aug. 1, 1483, Pat.
Rolls, 1 Rich. 3, p. 398). He was sheriff
of London in the same year (J. Stow,
82
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
London by one William Najmow, Cariour of Excestre, the which cloth
was takyn from the said Carriour by a servaunt of the Sherofes of
London than be cause the said cloth was not broughten to Blakwel-
hall ^* and by cause the said Carriour denyed to paie Scavage and
Custome of hym asked for the same, and brought in to the Yelde hall ^^
of London and thare it rested vnto the tyme the said John came to
London and thare complayned hym to the maier and Sheroflfes of
London of his said Cloth so takyn and for the delyuerance of the same
* Survey/ ii. p. 223), and as such a oommis-
sioner to inquire into the estates and goods
of those implicated in the insurreotion of
the Duke of Buckingham in the previous
autumn (Pat. Bolls, 1 Rich. 8, p. 393,
December 10, 1483). He was part owner
of a ship called the Eateryne of Fowey
accused of an act of piracy upon the goods
of an English merchant to Bordeaux in
February of the same year. lb. 517. That
he was trusted by Richard 8 is evident
from his nomination as a commissioner
of array for Dorset on May 1, 1484,
in order to take measures against the ex-
pected invasion of Henry Tudor, Earl of
Richmond (Henry 7) (ib. 397), and again
on December 8, following (ib. 488). But
he probably deserted Richard, for ne was
selected by the citizens of London to
be one of the four aldermen to make
arrangements for the entry of Henry 7 after
Bosworth (August 31, 1485, W. Campbell,
* Mat.' i. p. 6). From a mutilated document
of January 2, 1486, it would appear that
he had in Yiis custody the plate of John
Howard, first Duke of Norfolk, kUled at
Bosworth, which he delivered up to Henry 7
(ib. p. 244). Perhaps as a reward for this
he obtained either for himself or for a
relative, William Martin, of the county of
Dorset, a licence for one year, dated March
9, 1486, to import 200 tons of foreign wine
^b. 381, cf. J. Ghiirdner, * Letters and
Pap.* R. 3 and Henry 7, i. p. 407, where
William Martyne is among the gentlemen
deputed to convey Katharine of Aragon
from Sherborne to Shaftesbury on her
journey to London in October 1501). But
he was apparently involved in some trouble
in 1488, for on March 10 he was compelled
to take out a pardon for o£fcnces against
the king's peace and to find security for
good behaviour (W. Campbell, * Mat.' ii. p.
273). He was master of the Skinners'
Company in the same year (R. E. C.
Waters, ' Genealogical Memoirs of the
Family of Chester of Chicheley ' [1878], i. 6)
He was Mayor of London in 1492-3, and
was knighted by Henry 7 on January 6,
1494 (W. C. Metcalfe, 'Book of Knights'
[1885], p. 24). His will was proved in
1504, he being then described as of * Pudel-
ton, Dorset.' It appears that a family
called St. Martin had held land here since
the thirteenth century, being probably re-
presented by Robert Martin in 5 Ed. 3
(1331-32), and by Thomas Martin in 16
Ed. 4 (1476-77) (J. Hutchins, *Hist. of
Dorset ' [1803], ii. pp. 201, 202, 204), from
which family we may perhaps infer his
father to have sprung. It was a family of
considerable distinction, and, as the quarter-
ings on the monuments in Piddleton
Church (engraved by Hutchins, p. 206)
shew, of influential connexions.
^* Blackwel Hall, an ancient house of
the family of Basing, originally called Basing
Hall. In the 36th Ed. 3 (1362-63) it be-
longed to one Thomas Bakewell, from whom
it was called Bakewell, afterwards corrupted
into Blackwell Hall. It was transferred, in
20 Rio. 2 (1396-97), to the mayor and cor-
poration * ad opus communitatis,' and was
constituted in the following year, in the
mayoralty of Richard Whittington, a
weekly market-place for woollen cloth.
Here, by decree of the corporation in 1398,
all cloth belonging to * foreigners,' that is,
persons not free of the city, was to be
brought under penalty of forfeiture (J. Stow,
* Survey,' i. p. 579). The cloth-market was
then fixed to be held from 11 a.m. on
Thursdays to 11 a.m. on Saturdays (H. T.
Riley, * Memorials of London (&c.,' p. 551),
but at a later dale (1548) it appears that
* strangers,' i.e. aliens, were restricted to
purchasing on Tuesdays, i.e. after the City
merchants had been served (A.cts of Privy
Council, ed. P. R. Dasent, ii. p. 563). The
pretext for this institution was to prevent
* deceitful bargains' (Riley, I.e.), but the
real reason was to prevent dealings between
'foreigners.' This endeavour to concen-
trate the trade in the hands of the London
drapers was resisted by Parliament, which
enacted in 1406 that drapers and cloth-
sellers should be free to sell their cloths in
gross as well to all the king's liege people
as to the citizens of London, notwithstand-
ing any franchise or liberty granted to the
contrary.' 7 Hen. 4, c. 9.
'^ GUd hall.
HEWYT AND OTHERS V. LONDON, MAYOR ETC. OF 83
shewed that the Gitezens and inhabitantes ofExcestre werreandbeas
free as London is aswell of Scavage as of all other Gustome as by
Ghartours thereof made and Gonfermyd from Kyng to Kynge as more
playnly it doith appere, and so praied the said maier and his brethern
and the Shereffes to haue his said cloth delyuered, or els he wolde
Gomplayne hym further, and tharuppon he had good chere, and his
cloth delyuered franke & free with owte any Scavage custome or other
Gharge.
Also the said John saith that in the xv yere of the Beigne of
Kyng Henry the vij ^^ or nygh thare abowte he frightid a shippe of
Gascoyn wyne vnto London and thare he made sale and delyuerance
of the same franke and free and paied no Gustom ne other Gharge for
the same oner to the seid Gite nor none was hym demaundid for the
same.
Robert Bonyfant ^^ Gitezen and inhabitant of the Gite of Excestre
of the age of liiij yere sworne and examyned saith and deposith that
he hath vsed to send lynnyn cloth and other ware from Excestre to
London by the Garriours of Excestre from the xiiij yere of Kyng
Edwarde the iiij*^ vnto the iiij*^ yere of the Kyng that nowe is,^* and
syn all that tyme he paied no Scavage ne eny other Gustome for his
said ware nor none was hym demaunded saue only by one Bichard
Ghester*® and Thomas Bretyn^® the which the ij^® yere of Kyng
Bicharde the iij'*'' ^^ than beyng Shereffes of London distreyned apece
of lynnyn cloth of the said Bobert for Scavage be cause he wold not
paie it when it was asked hym the which pece of cloth laie in the said
Shereffes warde vnto suche tyme as it was delyuered to hym franke
and free withowte any Scavage or other Gustome paied for the same
" August 22, 1499-August 21, 1500. married, the surnames of his wives being
" See Tayllour v. Att Well, A, p. 9 unknown. His will, dated May 25, 1483,
n. 22. is printed at length in B. E. 0. Waters,
" The fourteenth year of Edward 4 * (Genealogical Memoirs of the Family of
began March 4, 1473, and the fourth year Chester of Chioheley * (1878), i. 5, and that
of Henry 7 ended August 21, 1489. of his widow, Alice, a native of Stow. lb.
*• Bichard Chester was the younger son p. 7.
of Bobert Chester of Stow-on-the-Wold. *<> Thomas Bretyn also fell a victim to
He was a skinner and merchant of the the sweating sickness in 1485, a year of
Staple of Calais. His family was probably which it is recorded by Stow that there
Lancastrian, for in July 1472, a year were * three sheriffs and three mayors this
after the restoration of Edward 4, he and year (1484-85) by reason of the sweating
his brother William took out a general . sickness ' (* Survey,' ii. p. 223). He was a
pardon. In this he is described as of Stowe ironmonger and represented his company
St. Edward, co. Qlouoester, chapman, alias at the coronation banquet of Bichard 8 on
wolman, alias citizen and skinner of July 6, 1483 (J. Nicholl, 'Hist, of the
London rPat. Boll, 12 Ed. 4, p. 347). He Ironmongers' Company ' [1861], p. 46). His
became alderman and sheriff of London in will was proved in 1486, he being described
1484, and died of the sweating sickness as of St. Mary-at-Hille London. J. C. C.
early in 1485, his will being proved by his Smith, ' Index,* i. 78.
widow on March 15, 1485. He was twice " June 26, 1484, to June 25, 1486.
o 2
84
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
by virtue of a decree tharupon made by my Lorde Cardinall late
deceased than beyng Chaunceler of Englond *^ and my Lorde Priuy
Seall ^ the v*** yere of the raigne of oure soueraygne Lorde Kyng
Henry the vij***.** Also the said Eobert saith that in the xx" yere of
Kynge Edwarde the iiij^ ^"^ came * to London with a Shippe called the
Burnef of Darthmouth** wherof Thomas Greyston^® was owner
charged with oseys ^ and Caprikkes ^^ wherof the said Robert had for
his part xx" ton and by the freedom of Excestre he was discharged
frank and free and paied no custome ne other charge for the same to
the cite.
Also the same Robert saith that he in the same yere send to
London in the Anne of Fawy ij m* of Suger and ij barell of mete ^^ oyle
and sold it to one Harry Benys '^ in Buklersberg in London and paied
no thyng for Custom ne for none other Charge to the Cite Sauyng only
a peny for a bill and so entred it in to the kynges Custome with owte
any more charge Custome or demaund.^^
William Naynow Citezen and inhabitant of the Cite of Excestre of
the age of Ivj yere sworne and exaymyned saith and deposeth that he
vsed to cary Lynnyn cloth and other marchaundisez from Excestre to
London by the space of xxxv yere last past and there was no Scavage,
ne other Custom askid or demaundid of hym ne of any other that cam
with hym for the same onto suche tyme as the said *^ Cotyn keper of
Ludgate and his seruauntes demaunded and askid of the said William
for euery pak ij d. and by cause the same William refused to paie the
said ij d. for a pak the said Cotyn and his seruauntes ought ^ tymes
" Cardinal Morton, Ohaneellor from
March 6, 1487, to September 13, 1500.
Lord Campbell, ' Lives ' (3rd ed. 1848), i.
428.
** Richard Foxe, Lord Privy Seal 1487-
1516 ; bishop of Exeter, 1486 ; of Bath and
Wells, 1492 ; of Durham, 1494 ; of Win-
cheater, 1501-28. Le Neve, * Fasti * ; * Diet.
Nat. Biog.'
«« August 22, 1489-Augu8t 21, 1490.
» March 4, 1480-March 3, 1481.
*• Sic, • he ' omitted.
'^ Perhaps so called from the plant ' the
greate Pympinella or bumet' (Andrew
Brunswyke, * Distyll. Waters ' [1527], c. j).
There was also a dark brown cloth so
named. See J. A. H. Murray, ' Eng. Diet.,'
s.v.
«• The port of Exeter. The customs of
Exeter and Dartmouth were returned in
one account. See the detailed customs
accounts in G. Schanz, ' Englische Handels-
politik,' ii. pp. 38, 50.
^ There was a person of this name who
was groom of the chamber to Edward 4,
from whom he received a grant for life on
September 1, 1476, of land in Kenford by
Ken, CO. Devon, forfeited by attainder of
Thomas Courteney, Earl of Devon, by Act
of Parliament of November 4. 1 Ed. 4
(1461) ; Pat. Rolls, 16 Ed. 4, p. 505.
■• Osey, a kind of wine. J. O. Halliwell ,
* Arch. Diet.,* s.v.
" Caperikis, a kind of wine. lb.
« Sic for ' nete.* Neat-oil or neat-foot-
oil was oil or grease extracted from cows*
feet. Id.
" Or 'Beuys.'
" The first folio ends here. It is en-
dorsed * Excestre contra vice comites Lon-
donii pro scavagio.'
" Blank in MS.
»• A form of eight. See J. A. H. Mur-
ray, ' Eng. Diet..' and J. 0. Halliwell, ' Arch.
Diet.,* s.v. But it may be for 'oft.* Of.
conversely on p. 128 * brofte * for ' brought.'
HEWYT AND OTHERS V, LONDON, MAYOR ETC. OF 85
pullid and fillid a downe the pakkes and at summe tyme wold opyn
them and then amonge other founde monye the which the owners
therof in no wise wolde were knowen for fere of thevis, and for that
cause the said William saith he hath paied ij d. for a pak, And by
cause this Custom afterwardes grewe gretter and gretter to the owners
of the goodes, they caused the mater to be shewed vnto my Lorde
priuy Seall and theruppon was no Scavage, ne other Custome
demaundid hym for no maner of ware by the space of many yeres
after, or nowe by the space of a iiij or v yeres past.
Also the said William Naynowe saith furthermore that vppon a
tyme whan one W. purches ^^ & welbek ^* was Shereflf of London he
brought lynnyn cloth to the Starre in Bredd Strete in London whereof
iiij fardell^^ ware one John Bonyfantes Gitezen and inhabitant of
Excestre forsaid the which iiij fardelles the said William had solde to
the wif of the Ton *^ in Themys Strete and tharuppon cam a seruaunt
to the said Sherofes, and toke the said cloth from hym and Gomaundid
hym to come be fore the Ghamberlayn of London ^^ and so he dede
and the same Ghamberlayn askid hym why he solde any cloth or it
brought to Blakwilhall and the said William answered and said that
" William Purches, or Purohase, sheriff
in 1492, the year of William Martyn's
mayoralty, son of John Purchase of Gam-
lingay, Cambridgeshire (J. Stow, * Survey,*
ii. p. 223). He was a mercer. On October 7,
14G3, a commission was issued to the earl
of Warwick as warden of the Cinque Ports,
the mayors, bailiffs, customers, &c. of the
ports, one of the king's serjeants-at-arms,
William Purchace, and two other persons to
arrest certain merchants of Q^noa and bring
them before the king in Chancery (Pat.
Bolls, 3 Ed. 4, p. 303). He sold cloth of
arras to Edward 4 in payment for which and
for other debts, amounting in all to 465/.,
that king granted him on June 19, 1473,
certain remissions of customs and subsidies
for four years (lb. 13 Ed. 4, p. 389). He
also obtained a grant of wardship of one
Thomas Derham (December 13, 1473, ib.
p. 416). He was a trustee of the will of
llichard Sely (Cely), the younger, merchant
of the Staple of Calais, who died June 5,
1493, and whose letters have been published
by the Camden Society (the Cely Papers,
ed. by H. E. Maiden, 1900) (Inq. p.m.
Hen. 7, i. 886). He was mayor in 1497
(J. Stow, * Survey,' ii. p. 223). His will,
in which he is styled alderman, of St.
Laurence olde Jury, London, and Eltesley,
Cambridge, was proved in 1503 (J. C. C.
Smith, ' Index,' ii. p. 429).
*• William Welbek, or Welbeck, haber-
dasher, sheriff in the same year with W.
Purches, son of Bichard Welbeck, of Ash-
borne, Derbyshire (* Harl. Soc.,' xiv. 699).
He married Jane ; d. December 26,
1485 (inscription in Putney Church). O.
Manning and W. Bray, * Hist, of Surrey '
(1814), iii. p. 292. His will was proved in
1510 as of Allhallo^s, Barking, London,
and Puttenhith, Surrey. J. C. C. Smith,
* Index,' ii. p. 561.
*^ Dim. of old French * farde,' a burden.
* A bundle, a little pack, a parcel.' J. A.
H. Murray, ' Eng. Diet.,' s.v.
^ A method of nomenclature still
common in Welsh. The sign was the
barrel, called a ton or tun, containing 252
gallons (»Bot. Pari.,' v. 30 b ; Stats.
18 Hen. 6, c. 17 [1439]). Part of Thames
Street was in the ward of Vintry, where
was the hall of the Vintners' Company, in-
corporated by Edward 3 as the wine-tonners
or vintonners, and where the French wine
merchants transacted business (J. Stow,
* Survey ' [ed. 1633], p. 254). The coat
granted to the Vintners' Company on
June 17, 1447, was ' sable, a chevron be-
tween three tuns argent' (T. Milboum,
' The Vintners' Company ' [1888], p. 9). See
further for this sign J. Larwood and J. C.
Hotten, * Hist, of Signboards ' (3rd ed. 1866)
p. 474.
^' The chamberlain received the rents
and revenues of the City. He had a special
supervision of the sheriff's business. J.
Stow (ed. J. Btrype, 6th ed. 1755), u. 475-6
8G COUKT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
he had sold diuers tymes lynnyn cloth in his Inne and was neuer
chalyngid therfore till nowe and that he knew not that any lynnyn
cloth shuld be brought to the said hall and so the same Cloth rested
in the Sheref warde till that the said John Bonyfant came to London
for the delyuerance of the same. And when he came to London
and Gomynyd with the said Sherof for the same he shewed the said
Sherof suche mater for the discharge therof and so behaued hym that
he had his said Cloth delyuered franke and free, with owte any
Scavage Charge or other Custome to the said Sheroffes payed.
John Wilkyns ^' Citezen and inhabitant of the Cite of Excestre of
the age of Ix yere sworn and examyned saith and deposeth that he
send lynnyn cloth from Excestre to London dyuers tymys by the
Carrior of Excestre from the iiij''' yere of the raign of Kyng Henry
the vij*^ till the x^^ yere of his reign than next insuyng *' and in all
that tyme his ware was sold and delyuerd and no thyng askyd of hym
for Scavage ne for eny other Custom nor none he payde.
Mighell Sweteled Citezen and inhabitant of the Cite of Excestre of
the age of Ix yere sworn and examyned saith and deposeth that he
vsed to carry lynnyn cloth and other merchandisez from Excestre to
London from the ij'* yere of the raign of Kyng Edward the iiij^^ vnto
the iiij*** yere of the reign of Kyng Henry the vij*^ ** and in that tyme
he caried lynnyn cloth of one Robert Smyth *^ and John Coshyll ^^
than Citezens and inhabitantes of Excestre forsaid and of many other
from Excestre to London and thare sold and delyuerd moche of the
same and in all that tyme he neuer paide Scavage ne other Custom
nor none was of hym asked ne demaundid but only an halpeny for a
horse comyng in wardes in to London and so for a nother halpeny
goynge owte wardes from London.^^
John Butler ^^ Citezen and inhabitant of the Cite of Excestre of
the age of lyj yere sworn and examyned saith that he hath vsed to
send lynnyn cloth to London from Excestre by the Carriour of the
" John Wilkyns, or Wilkin, steward and Exeter 1456, steward and senior bailiff
bailiff of Exeter in 1495 (Izaoke, p. 97). 1458 (Izaoke, p. 84), ma^or of Exeter upon
He is styled * John Wilkyn, alias Wylkyns, the oooasion of the visit of Edward 4 in
of Exeter, marehaunt, alias shomaker, in a 1469. lb. 87.
general pardon issued on February 10, 1482, ** Probably the same as John Ck>lshill.
to a number of persons apparently con- See Tayllour v. Att Well, A, p. 9, n. 18. See
nected with the customs of Exeter. Pat. also p. 51.
Roll, 21 Ed. 4, p. 261. « The toll charged for horses entering
** The fourth year of Henry 7 began and leaving the City appears to have
August 22, 1488, and the tenth year ended varied according to the kind of merchandise
August 21, 1495. they carried. See ' Lib. Albus,' pp. 232-
" The second year of Edward 4 began 235.
March 4, 1462, and the fourth year of *^ Will of John Bntteler, of Holy Trinity.
Henry 7 ended August 21, 1489. Exeter, proved 1509. J. C. C. Smith,
^ Bobert Smyth, receiver and bailiff of ' Index,* i. 98.
HEWYT AND OTHERS V, LONDON, MAYOR ETC. OF 87
same from the iij''*' yere of the reign of Kyng Henry the vij^ vnto the
xiiijth jQj,Q Qf ijig raign ^^ than next insuyng, And in the first vij yere
of the same xiiij yere he neuer paide Scavage ne other Custome for
eny parcell of his ware ne none was hym demaundid vnto the xj or xij
yere of the same kyng *® a seruaunt of one of the Sherovys of London
distreyned hym some tymys by a pece of lynnyn cloth and some tymys
by a hole pak by cause he wold not pay theym Scavage when it was
askyd hym and by that menys he paide theym to haue his godes
I delyuerd and by cohercion of distresse and none other wise Also the
said John saith that in the xiiij*** yere of the reigne of Kyng Henry
the vij^^ " or nygh there abowte he and other frightid a Shipp to
London which was Ghargid with xvj ton of Swete wyne and l ton of
frute and vppon the discharge therof the Sherofes seruamites and
other distrayned there godes ^* and kept theym ^* vnto the tyme the
said John put a gage *^ in to master Ysak of London " ys hand and
he was suerte ouer to the Sheroffes for all suche Gustomys and dutes
as they cowde lafull aske and so he discharged and sold his said ware
and after that departid from London home and left ij m* lede ^ for a
gage in the handes of the said master Ysak and so it lay in hys hand
vnto the space of xij wekes and more that the said John came agayne
. to London and than and thare he paide to master Ysak or he mought
haue his saide gage v markes ^^ and more mony how moche he ys not
well remembrid And so by that menys he hath paide Scavage and
Custome &c.
John Nordon ^"^ Gitezen and inhabitant of the said Gite of Excestre
of the age of xxxj yere and more sworn and examyned saith that he
hath vsed to send to London from Excestre by the Garriour of the
** The third year of Henry 7 began infra, we learn that he was at first in the
August 22, 1487, and the fourteenth year service of Sir Ralph (Jeosslyn or Joceline,
ended August 21, 1499. mayor of London in 1476. His will was
** The eleventh year of Henry 7 began proved as of * St. Dunstone in thest,* London,
August 22, 1495, and the twelfth ended in 1619. J. C. C. Smith, ' Index,' i. 295.
August 21, 1497. ^^ In 1499 lead was exceptionally cheap,
»> August 22, 1498-Augnst 21, 1499. being 11. 195. the fother of 19^ owts. at Cam-
" " InterUned. bridge (J. E. T. Rogers, »Hist. Ag. and
^ Gkkge, vadium, signifies a pawn or Prices,' iv. p. 477). At this price the value of
pledge, and is derived from the French 2,000 lb. of lead would be 3Z. 58. 10^. The
gager, that is, pignori dare. J. Cowel, money paid for its redemption mdicates
' Interpr.,' s.v. that the price was approximately the same
^* William Ysak or Isaac, alderman of in London.
London, sheriff 1488, probably one of the *« 8Z. 6s. Qd.
family of Isaac or Isaack, of Westdown Ac, " John Nordon, steward and bailiff of
Devonshire, of which the pedigree from Exeter, 1503, in which year he and the
Simon Isaac, of Borriatt, in Atherington (d. former witness, John Guscote, his fellow-
1570), is given in ' The Genealogist ' (1880), bailiff, and two mayors died of the plague,
iv. 118 ; of. Harl. Soc., vi. 159. From the R. Izacke, p. 104.
evidence of ' Mr. Izak ' given in I, p. 91,
88 COURT OF THE ST.VR CHAMBER
same lynnyn cloth and other marchandisez from the vij^^' yere of the
raign of Kyng Henry the vij'*" vnto the xvj yere of his raign *® and in
all that tyme he paide for his said ware no Scavage ne other Custom
vnto the tyme that one Bradbury beyng Sherof of London ^^ which
hauyng knowlich of the said John ys ware desired hym to haue the
first sighte tharof and so they mought not accord of the prise and
departyd and tharupon while the said John went in to London for
other besynesse the said Bradbury fette ®" and toke away a pecc of
cloth from Blakwyll hall whare the cloth was brought to sell and so
kept the same by the space of a qarter of an yere and more and so
the said John sold the residue of his ware and came to Excestre and
after that whan he came to London agayne he asked the said pece of
cloth of the said Bradbury and he ansuerid that he shuld haue it pay-
ing his duty and than the said John askyd how moche it was and he
said ix s. and tharupon the said John said that he wold pay no ix s.
for he knew no suche duty and than in conclusion Bradbury bought
the said pece of Cloth for xxvij s. wharof he paide to the said John
xxiij s. and the residue he yet retayneth in his hand for Scavage and
so by that menys the said John paide Scauage &c. Also the said
John saith that he broughte more lynnyn Cloth to London with in
the Space of a yere then next insuyng and other ware and whan he
came to London the keper of the byllis ^^ wold not Suffer the Carriour
to passe vnto the tyme that the same John put an hundred of mader ^^
in gage in to the handes of the said keper for iiij pakes of ware wharof
iij were the said John Nordon and one was John Butlers and the
which hundred of mader yet restith in the said kepers hand and thus
by cohercion he hath been compellid to pay Scavage and Custome &c.
Will Sylke. Per me Johannem Caryll.
per me Johannem Brook.
^ The seventh year of Henry 7 began den (ib. ii. p. 619). See Harl. Soo. xiii.
August 22, 1491, and the sixteenth year pp. 28, 157.
ended August 21, 1501. *" See Eynesham, Abbot of, v. Harecourt
** Thomas Bradbury, mcrocr, sheriff and others. A, p. 141, n. 12.
of London 1498, mayor 1509, 'son to '* Perhaps the chamberlain's clerk. In
William Bradbury, of Braughin, in Hert- Liber Albus, i. 48 it is provided that this
fordshire * (J. Stow, * Survey,* ed. J. Strype, official shall have half of the sum arising
6th ed. 1755, ii. p. 224). He died January from the twelve pence taken for the entry
9, 1509, during his term of office (Inq. p.m. * des billes de fraunchises ' (of writs of fran-
2 Hen. 8, November 7 ; P. Morant, * Hist. chise). In 1, p. 02, infra, wc read of * the
of Essex ' [1768], ii. 619 n.). His will was bill-taker of Ludgate.'
proved in 1509 as of St. Stephen, Colman- •* The root of Rubia tiiictorum, much
strete, London ; Brawkhyng, Herts and cultivated in the Middle Ages both for the
Essex (J. C. C. Smith, * Index,' i. p. 74). dye extracted from it and for its supposed
In this last county he held the manor of medicinal virtues in stanching bleedings
Baads, or Bawds, in South Weald (Morant, (&c. (see J. Geraide, * The Herball ' [1G36J,
i. p. 121), and that of Manewden or Manu- p. 1121). Madder does not appear to be
HEWYT AND OTHERS V, LONDON, MAYOR ETC. OF 89
G The Interogatorys to be proved of the part
of the City of london.
Item. Fyrst, Whether they haue be peasabelly possessid & seasid
off Skavage off any off the Cytesaynys of the City off Exetter ^ oute of
tyme of mynd,* yee or no. And yff they have be seasid there off whoo
hytt was that ressevyd the seid skavage and of wham hytt was res-
sevyd yff any suche were payyd and what they toke for a pake.
Item. Another, Whether hytt was payyd by coarcyen & compul-
cion ye or noo. And who were ShyrflSs of london when hytt was
payd.
Item. Another, Whether seche persons as have resseved the seid
Skavage made any Bokkys off the ressevyng there off yee or no. And
yff they dyd where thosse bokys be now and yn whosse kepyng they
bee yff any seche bee.
Item. Another Whether Thosse persons that have ressevyd the
seid Skavage euer accountyd of the * * *^ * * * * [the]r *
off ye or nay. And to who ys vse hytt was takyn.
Memorandum that I marke John other wise callyd John Lumberd
Testiffe and afferme as I will Tacke a oithe be fore any Jugge where
as I shalbe callyd that I Gadered and receivid the Kynges ^ Custume
callyd skavaige within the Cite of london aswell for the maire as the
Vftcat. Shryves of the same Cite by the space of xj yeres, duryng all wich
tyme every citezyn and inhabitaunte of the Cite of Excester bryngyng
wares or merchaundises by water or by lande to the said Cite of
london paide to me for the same wares and merchaundises to thuse
and behoff of the saide mayre and Shryves the saide Custume callyd
Skavage from tyme to tyme after the Eate of their said wares and
merchaundises withoute interrupcion grugger ^ or denyer, And after
my rememberaunce the citezyns and Inhabitauntes of the saide Cite
of Excester vsually and yerly repairyng with wares and merchaundises
to the saide Cite of london and paiyng Skavaige for the same as is
mentioned in Rogers, * Hist. Agr. and Prioes ' loose paper belonging to this suit, sorted
for this perioil. Some was imported from by mistake into the bundles of the Star
Holland to Lynn (* Rot. Pari.' ii. 215 [1347]. Chamber docimients of Hen. 8.
A complaint was made by the Commons in '^ See the plea in C, p. 75, supra.
1415 that the dyers of Coventry monopolised * Complaint. Cf. * Paston Letters (1467),
it and raised the price of dyeing. lb. iv. ii. 300 : ' 1 trost . . . that he uothyr huth
75, a. ne shall have cause of grudger by my de-
»-^ Interlmed. '' MS. torn. fault.' J. A. H. Murray, » English Diet.,*
» S.C.P. Hen. 8, Bdle. 26, No. 66. A 8.v.
90 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
aforsaide duryng the yeres of my saide occupacion receyvyng and
gederyng of the saide Skavaige drwe to the nomber of xx*^* persones
and a boue. In witnes of the trouthe of all the premisses forasmuch
as I can not write I have put my marke and sign to thes presentes.
And of thees ^ persones folowyng I have speciall rememberaunce of
their names that is to say Richerd bedford * Nicholas Bedford mar-
gery bedforde Water Humfrey.
Indorsed. Deposicion John Lumbard.
I. Tercio die mensis Junii Anno so. xvij"°.^
Markes John, otherwis callid John Lumbard now of Suthhampton
^ where he hath dwelt vpon a iiij yeres past ^ and befor that dwelling in
London more then xxx^^ winters sworne and Examyned of and vppon
thinterrogatories ministred by the partie of the Citie of London ^ in
the mater depending in the counsell betwixt the Citie of Excestre and
thaim deposith and saith that he was Skavage gatherer in London,
both to the maire and Shreves there, by the space of xj yeres aftre the
begynnyng of the kinges Beigne ^ that now is, and he is wale remem-
bred that by all thos yeres he receyvyd of ' diuers of ^ the Citiezyns of
Excestre and there inhabiting, for frutes and wyned brought bi thaim
to the Citie of London by water, the dutye of Skavage according as
the Citie of London takith and haue takyn custumablie of othre
strangers repayring to the same Citie, and also he receyvyd of asmany
of the said Citie of Excestre as in thos xj yeres resorted to London
by Land with ^ Canvas or crestcloth ^ and ' any * other ^ wares in
likewis the dutie of Skavage, but howmich money he receyvid of euery
of the said inhabitantes or what the namys be of thos of the said Citie
of Excestre that he receyvid the said skavage of, he is not now
remembred ^ butt thay paid it without grugge or contradiccion ^ or
* This word has been struck through '"' Interlined.
in the MS., but is included in the text as ' These are missing,
required by the context. * August 22, 1485.
* There seem to have been several per- * See Tayllour v. Att Well, A, p. 9,
sons of this name. One of them had a n. 26.
wife Margaret described as * widow, of ' There follow, struck through with the
London,' in 1472. Pat. Bolls, 12 Ed. 4, pen, these words : * saving of Richard Bed-
320. ford, Nicholas Bedford, Thomas Bedford
' This mark is written not at the foot and Margerie Bedford, citizyns and inhabi-
of the document but in a space left for it in tantis of Excestre, he of whom for canvas
the last line but two, and with the lower & cloth and oUire lynnen with them
part of the left side crossing the end of the brought in the ix*^ yere of the kynges reign
word ' persones.' to BlakweU Hall he receyvid skavage and.*
> 1602.
HEWYT iVND OTHERS V. LONDON, MAYOR ETC. OF 91
clayme to be quyfce of payment therof * and so dyd all othre of the said
Gitie by the space of the said xj yeres in perell of this deponentes
othe but how much money thay paid this deponent can not tell as he
saith.
^ Edward Crosfeld of London mercer of thage of xxx yere as he
saith sworne and examyned vpon thinterrogatories ministred hi the
Gitie of London in the mater of skavage depending betwix thaim and
the Gitie of Excestre deposith and saith to the first of the said Inter-
rogatories that he thinketh verelye that the Fremen Inhabitantes
of the said Gitie of Excestre have paid the skavage for suche goodes
as they haue brought to the said Gitie of London, for as he saith at
suche time as he was deputid to gather the skavage in the Gitie of
London there come a booke to his handes that was belonging to oone
callid Leder, which long sithe died and whiles he lyved he was Skavage
gatherer in London, and made that booke of the same ^ skavage ^ in
whiche booke this deponent found oertaign parcelles of money takyn
of ij men of Excestre callid Slugge ^ and Golshill * for skavage of
certaigne thair goodes, Whether it were paid of their fre willes, or by
constraynt of distresse takyn or not ^ or houlong it is goone that thai
paid that skavage ^ this deponent can not tell as he saith.
Item this deponent saith that he gathered the skavage in London
in the daies of M"" Alwyn ^^ and M*" Bemyngton *^ maires there ; and
he saith that of oone Staplehill of Excestre ^^ there was takyn skavage
^ This is a separate folio from the pre- 625. He left three sons (ib.). I cannot
ceding, but in the same handwriting. I find any authority but that of Stow shewing
have therefore treated it as part of the that he was knighted, and Fabyan does not
same document, viz. the depositions on give him the title, though he does to other
behalf of the City of London. mayors and sheriffs. ' Chronicle,' p. 687.
" John Slugge, or Slugg, steward and '* Sir William Bemyngton, or Bisnning-
bailifF of Exeter 1482 (R. Izacke, p. 91), ton, fishmonger, mayor in 1500, 'son to
receiver and senior bailiff 1494. Id. p. 97. Robert Bennyngton of Boston in Lincoln-
* See F, p. 86, n. 46, supra. shire ' (J. Stow, l.s.c), also a fishmonger
'» Sir Nicholas Alvrin, mercer, mayor in by trade (P. Thompson, * History of Boston '
1499, ' son to Richard Alwin of Spalding in [1856], p. 390). He was sheriff of London
Lincolnshire * (J. Stow, ' Survey * [ed. 1755], in 1487, and, according to Stow, was made
ii. p. 223). On May 4, 1480, * Nicholas Alwyn knight in the field by King Henry 7. This
alias Halewyne alias Alewyne, merchant may have been at the battle of Stoke, fought
of the Staple of Calais,' received, together on June 9, 1487, or it may have been
with a number of other mercers and at Bosworth, where his colleague in the
staplers, a general pardon of debts and shrievalty. Sir John Fenkell, was dubbed
accounts due to the king (Pat. Bolls, (W. C. Metcalfe, ' Book of Knights,' p. 12).
20 Ed. 4, p. 243). He was made a co- He is styled knight in an inquisition of
feoffee, with Bishop Foxe, on April 1, March 17, 1488 (W. Campbell, ' Materials,'
6 Hen. 7 (1491), of lands of one Sdchard ii. p. 164), the name there appearing as
Cantelowe in Bedfordshire. He was sheriff Bemyngton. His will was proved in 1511
of London in 1494. By his will (proved as of St. Mary Hill, London, and Newing-
1518) he left benefactions to the parishes ton, Surrey (J. C. C. Smith, ' Index,' ii.
of Spalding and Cowbit, Lincolnshire. See p. 442).
Calendar of Wills in Court of Husting, >> Nicholas Staplehill, probably of the
London, ed. B. B. Sharpo (1890), ii. 611, family of John Stapelhill, a prominent
92 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
the Svm of iiij or v s. this deponent is not remembred whether ; but
this deponent saith that the said Staplehill was noo freman of
Excestre and therefor he paid the said skavage without any stoppage,
as the bill taker of Ludgate whos name this deponent is not now
remembrid of as he saith ^ shewd him.^ He saith also that he
bought ^ in the same yeres * of oone callid John ^^ Symons ^ of
Excestre ^ asmich lynnencloth as answered to the svm of xl li. and the
same John Sjinons desired this deponent to pay all suche duties ^^
and costes '^ as was due in the said Gitie of London for the said cloth ;
and this deponent as he saith at his request paid all the costes,^ that
is to sayHhe skavage^ and other costes;* how be it when^'^ this
deponent askid allowaunce of the said John of the same Skavage ^ by
him paid ' he refused to pay it and said that the fremen of Excestre
ought noone to pay, and for a trouth noo j^ cowde this deponent gete
of him for that vnto this day as he saith.
Item this deponent saith also that in the daies of M*" Haws and
stede Shreves of London ^® there was skavage askyd by oone James
skavage gatherer then of oone Skrevener ^^ Freman of Excestre for
cloth bi him brought to London by water, and he refusid to pay it, for
that he was fre of Excestre howbe it he was compellid ^ bi the Shreves *
to leve a pawn in there handes ^^ for the skavage if it were founde his
dutie and that pledge was aftre that deliuerd vpon suretie that if it
were found ^^ that fremen of excestre shold^' pay skavage that it shold
be paid this deponent can nomore depose as in this behalf.
M** Isak of London Alderman ^ sworne saith that vpon xxxyj*
yeres past he was seruaunt to sir Rauff Geosslyn then maire of
London ^^ and gatherd the skavage of London, and in that yere this
Yorkist who received large grants in Devon- two words are the words ' and if tbys
shire from Edward 4 soon after his acces- deponent,' struck through.
sion in 14(51 (Pat. Rolls, 1 Ed. 4, pp. 64, »• See A, p. 71, nn. 5, 6, supra.
227, 359). They were the estates of Sir »' See A, pp. 71, 73, supra.
Baldwin Fulford, an attainted Lancastrian, *" * Of Mr. Hawes,' struck through.
but were restored to his son. Sir Thomas "*** Interlined in substitution for 'due
Fulford, in 1468 (Rot. Pari. v. 584, vi. 231). to,* struck through.
Nicholas Staplehill was steward and bailiff *• See F, p. 87, n. 54, supra.
of Exeter in 1517, in December of which '* Sir Banff, Balph, or Bandolph Geoss-
year, and in the tenure of his office, he lyn, Jocelyn, or Joceline, draper, mayor of
died (H. Izacke, p. 109). It appears from London in 1464 and 1476, was the third
this document that he did not come of an son of Geoffrey Jocelyn, of Sawbridgeworth,
Exeter family, though he perhaps founded Herts (d. 1470), by Katharine, daughter
one, as the name occurs subsequently in and heir of Sir Thomas Bury. The family
the city records. lb. pp. 124, 194. of Jocelyn traced its pedigree from the
»• See Tayllour v. Att WeU, A, p. 8, Conquest (see R. Clutterbuck, ♦ Hist, of
n. 21. Hertfordshire * [1827], iii. 203-6). Ralph
•* Interlined in substitution for * for the Jocelyn was sheriff of London in 1468.
said cloth,* struck through. He was knighted by Edward 4 on the
*^ Interlined above this and the next expiration of his first term of office as
HEWYT AND OTHERS V. LONDON, MAYOR ETC. OF
93
deponent receyvid of ij men of Excestre that oone of thaim was called
Colshill,^^ that other Slugge,^^ for clothe that thay brought to London,
^ the skavage at the gates '^ and as this deponent saith thay paid it with
good will without any condiccion.
Item he saith that now of late in the daies of M"" Purchs when he
was maire of London,^^ there come into the port of London a Portun-
gale shipp lade with frute belonging to diuers men inhabitantes of
Excestre, and the said M** Purchas causid the said frute to be arestid
for the skavage and then a seruaunt of oone John Butlers of Excestre
calUd Cristofor ^^ which had the Rule of the said frute desired and
praied this deponent to be suretie for the said skavage, and so this
deponent was as he saith and after it was paid it amovnted to the
Sum of vij or viij li. for xviij c.^*^ peces of euery pece j'^ ^ Item in
like wis in the daies of M' Percevale ^^ there come a shipp lade with
mayor in 1464 (J. E. C. Cussans, 'Hist,
of Hertfordshire,' Hundred of Edwinstree
[1872], p. 93). He was made K.B. on May
2(5, 1465, the occasion of the coronation of
Queen Elizabeth Wydeville (* Chronicle,'
ed. by T. Hearne, reprinted in * Chronicles
of the White Rose ' [1843J, p. 16). He was
a Commissioner de Walliis et Fossatis,
May 28, 1465 (Pat. Rolls, 6 Ed. 4, p. 461).
On the following June 10 he was nomi-
nated, with the Duke of Clarence and
others, on a commission of oyer and ter-
miner for London and Middlesex (ib. p. 488).
He was appointed (March 16, 1466) justice
for the merchants of Almain (ib. p. 529) ;
that is, to try causes between them and the
citizens, in accordance with the ancient
privilege of the Hanse (see G. Schanz,
*Englische Handelspolitik ' [1881], i. 178
and n. 2). He was returned to Parliament
for the City on April 13, 1467 (' Members
of Pari.' i. p. 358). He was on the commis-
sion of the peace for Hertfordshire in 1471
and 1473 (Pat. Rolls, 11 and 13 Ed. 4, p.
616). In 1480 he is described as of Aspenden,
or Aspeden, Herts, * now of London, kt.,' in
a list of inhabitants of the county worth
more than 403. a year (Cussans, ' Hundred
of Braughing ' [1870], p. 24. This manor
he acquired in right of his second wife,
Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William
Barley, of Aldebury, Bucks, attainted in
1495 as a supporter of Perkin Warbeck
(Rot. Pari. vi. 504 a), but restored in 1503
(ib. p. 554 a), It is impossible to reconcile
the list of 1480, which represents him as
living, with the statement in Clutterbuck,
followed by Cussans, that he died on Octo-
ber 25, 1478. Sir Ralph also held the
manor of Bigghig, Essex, of the abbot of
Stratford (P. Morant, 'Hist, of Essex'
[1768], i. 281, citing Inq. 18 Hen. 4 [qu.
Ed. 4]). There was a Ralph Josselyn who
acquired the manor of Uphall, Braughing,
in 1484 (Cussans, ' Hundred of Braughing,'
p. 190). He had a great- nephew of the
same name, resident at Canfield Magna,
Essex (Clutterbuck, l.s.c. ; cf. S. P. Dom.
Hen. 8, i. 1788). His first wife was Phi-
lippa, daughter of Philip Malpas, by whom
he left a son, Richard Jocelyn, of Fidlers,
Essex (Clutterbuck, l.s.c.).
" See F, p. 86, n. 46, supra.
" Interlined in substitution for 'Ed-
ward,' struck through.
" See F, p. 85, n. 37, supra.
** Interlined in substitution for ' xij o.,'
struck through.
«« 7Z. 10s.
*' Sir John Perceval or Percival, mer-
chant taylor, sheriff of London 1486, mayor
1498, son to Roger Percival, of London,
knighted in the field by Henry 7 (Stow,
' Survey,' ii. 223), said to have been born
near Macclesfield, Cheshire (Q. Ormerod,
' Hist, of Cheshire ' [1882], iii. p. 742). Re-
ceived a licence on February 15, 1487, to
export 500 quarters of corn (W. Campbell,
' Mat.' ii. p. 121), and on November 13, 1488,
one to import 100 tons of wine from Gas-
cony or Aquitaine (ib. p. 362). By a deed
dated January 25, 1502, he founded the
Macclesfield Grammar School (Ormerod,
l.s.c). He presented the Merchant Tay-
lors' Company with silver gilt plate (0. M.
Clodo, 'Memorials of the Merchant Tay-
lors ' [1875], p. 89), and his name frequently
appears in their records (id.). By his wiU
dated February 21, 1502, he left twelve
houses in St. Mary Wolnoth and St. Mi-
chael, Comhill, the profits, after some
religious and charitable provisions, to go
94 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
reasons " of the goodes of the said John Butler, John Frost and John
Skryvaner of Excestre and other of the same, and the said Cristofor ^
had the Rule of the same,'® and thei were arestid for the skavage ; '•
eftsounes this deponent was required to be suretie for ^ it bi the
same Cristofor ^^ and so he was, and after it was paid. More can not
this deponent say to thes Interrogatories.
John Alayn of London haberdassher '' of thage of lij yere sworne
saith that in the daies of M*^ Purohas and M^ Percevale when thei
were maires of London he was deputid to gather the skavage in
London, and he was paid bi the handes of M*" Isak the skavage of ij
shippes that come to the port of London laden with Frute figges and
Baisons which were belonging to diuers men inhabitantes of the Citie
of Excestre of whos names he is not now remembrid as he saith but
he hath a booke wherin he wrote bothe the names of the owners and
his somes that he receyvid for the skavage. Moreouer he saith that
he that had the rule of the said frute at bothe times was oontentid to
pay the skavage with good will without any denyell and without any
arest made vpon the said goodes for the same.
Rowland Bird '^ Iremonger of the Gitie of London sworne saith
that he hath knowen that the skavage hath be takyn ^aswelP of
fremen of Excestre as of other places for suche goodes as thei have
brought to the Citie of London bi the space of xxvj* yere & more and
he hath knowen bi the bookes of Thomas Legge that was skavage
gatherer ij or iij yere to which booke this deponent was previe, and
also after that to a nother booke made bi oone Leder, in which
bookes he saw that diuers inhabitantes of Excestre had payd the
custome of skavage for suche thaire goodes as thai brought to London
but he is not remembred of any more of them.* This deponent
saith also that he hath ben skavage gatherer in London vpon v times
and he is wele remembred that upon xviij yeres past ther were
certaign peces of linnenclothes brought to London fro Excestre in the
to the company. His will was proved on an obstacle to this identification, especially
Jane 24, 1503 (Gal. of Wills, Ot. of Husting, as the former did not die till 1540 or
ii. 606). He married Thomasina, widow of 1541.
Gall and Bamaby, who also gave " Rowland Bird, or Birde, first appears
plate to the company (Clode, p. 89) and as servant of Henry Nevill, of London,
bequeathed money for religions ases ; will * iremonger,' who took oat a * safe conduct
proved October 6, 1512 (Gal. of Gt. of and special protection,' perhaps on account
Hasting, p. 618). of having been an adherent of Bichard 3,
» Raisins. on December 27, 1485 (W. Campbell, • Mat.'
** " Interlined in substitution for * in- i. 223), in which Rowland Birde was in-
Btansid.' eluded. His will, as of St. Dunstan's-in-the-
•* * Of ' struck through. East, London, and Godham, Kent, was
« The John Allen, sherifif in 1618, proved in 1608. J. G. G. Smith, * Index,' i.
mayor and a knight in 1525, is described 58.
as a mercer, and the age of this witness is
HEWYT AND OTHERS V. LONDON, MAYOR ETC. OF 95
name of John Atwell ^ and Philip atwell ^ of which he demawnded
the skavage and was wele and trulie paid of it without any agaign
sayyng vpon his othe and he hath knowen diuers other of Excestre
late distrayned for that thai refused to pay skavage for thaire goodes,
as Gumbie, John Symons and John Skryvaner ^ all ^ of Excestre and
thay lefte pledges in this deponentes own handes. What was doone
farther in it this deponent can not tell more &c.
Humfray Cornisshe of London sadler of thage of lij* yere sworne
saith that he as skavage gatherer in London tooke and receyvid of
the goodes of oone John Howell of Excestre for skavage of iiij hors
lode of lyncloth iiij* in the monethe of Nouembre last past. He was
paid with goode will of the said Howell or els of him that had the
Bule of the goode. Other diuers fremen of Excestre sithe that time
haue refusid to pay skavage wherfor thai haue be distrayned and left
pledges vntill the mater be decided. He saith ^^
GORYNG V. NORTHUMBERLAND, EARL OF.
A.* To the kyng oure soueraigne lorde
1500 ? In his moste humble and lamentable wyse she with vnto youre
Highnesse youre most Humble Subgiet and poure Oratoure John
Goryng.^ That where ^ Erie of Northumberland claymythe
and pretendythe to haue the warde and mariage of your saide Oratoure,
For the discharge wherof your saide Oratoure hathe dyuers sufficient
matirs to discharge hym ayenst the saide Erie, as the lerned Gounsell
of the same your Oratoure clerely thynckyth, that notwithstandyng the
** See Tayllour v. Att Well, A, p. 7, marriage of John (Joryng, the grandfather,
n. 6. with Margaret, daughter of Ralph Radmyld
** See ib. n. 6. and of Margaret, sister and co-heir of
** These two are written as catchwords, Hugh lord Camois (id. pp. 61, 267), who
and show that the deposition was not con- died in 1426 (id. p. 51). John Goryng of
clnded. The rest is lost. Burton, the father, also died in 1495, in
' S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 33. which year his will was proved (J. C. C.
' John Goryng of Burkton or Burton, Smith, ' Index,* I. p. 232). The family was
Sussex, son of John GK)ryng of Burton, by intimately associated with the earls of
Joan, relict of Humphrey Hewster of Lon- Northumberland, as may be seen from
don, and grandson of John Qoryng of numerous entries in the Inquisitions post
Lancing, who died in 1495 (pedigree in Mortem of Henry 7, vol. i. Like the
D. Q. 0. Elwes and 0. J. Bobinson, ' Castles Percies, they were probably Lancastrians.
&c. of Western Sussex * [1879], p. 267 ; but cf . John Goryng, the grandfather, who executed
pedigree in J. Dallaway, ' Rape of Arundel ' deeds in 1463 (ib. 468) and 1465 (ib.
[1832], ii. 282). The family took its name 1078), and was knight of the shire for
from Goring (Domesday, Goringes) in the Sussex in 1467 (' Members of Parliament,'
rape of Arundel (Elwes, p. 57), and i. 359), was alive on June 13, 1495
began to rise in importance in the reign of (Inq. p.m. Hen. 7, i. 1078). It was probably
Henry 6 (ib.). It had been enriched by the John Goryng, his eon, who was appointed
96
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
saide Erie bathe seased the body of your saide Oratoure ^ by reason
of his pretendid title and kepith hym as his warde at his place at
saynt Martyns yn london ^ and hym soo there bathe kepte more lyke
a prisonar than a warde from Thassencion evyn last passed vnto this
tyme Soo it is nowe gracious soueraigne lorde that yt bathe pleased
the saide Erie to commytte the saide matir to be yn examynacion of
ii of your Justices and the matir by them examyned and vnderstande
to make reporte therof to Sir Beynold Bray knyght for your body,^
and he to directe and ordre bitwene them as hym shalle seme good,
commissioner of musters for the expe-
dition to Brittany on December 23, 1488
(W. Campbell, * Materials,' ii. 387), and
was upon the commission of the peace
for the county in 1489 (ib. p. 478). The
petitioner in this suit, John Goryng, the
grandson, appears from his will to have
been a member of Gray's Inn, since he had
chambers there. His will is dated October
16, 1520, and is printed in Nicolas, * Testa-
menta Vetusta ' [1826], ii. 661. See also
J. C. C. Smith, * Index,' i. 232. He mar-
ried Constance, daughter and co-heir of
Henry Dyke, by Elizabeth St. John, heir
of the families of Dawtrey and St. John
(Elwes and Robinson, p. 266). By her he
left a son. Sir William Goryng, gentleman
of the Privy Chamber to Ed. 6, who died
March 18, 1553. He was the ancestor of the
earls of Norwich of this family. Elwes, I.e.
* Blank in MS. This was Henry Alger-
non Percy, fifth earl. The earl's answer
shows that at the time of this suit both
the grandfather and father of the peti-
tioner were dead. It must, therefore,
have been after June 1495. Another
retrospective limit of date is derived
from the age of the earl. He was bom
on January 14, 1478 (Inq. post Mortem,
Hen. 7, i. 468), and must have been of
age before he could claim a wardship, so
that the case cannot be anterior to 1499.
On the other hand, it must be earlier than
January 29, 1503, the date of the death of
Edward Storey, bishop of Chichester (1477-
1503), one of the claimants to the ward-
ship, and earlier than the summer of 1502,
the date of the death of Thomas Wood,
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (E. Foss,
* Lives of the Judges ' [1857], v. 81). For
the life of this earl see * Diet. Nat. Biog.'
and the Earl of Northumberland's House-
hold Book, 1770. In Mich, term, 21 Hen.
7 (1505), he pleaded guilty in the Common
Pleas to abducting Elizabeth, daughter
and heir of Sir John Hastyngs, and was
fined 10,000^. by the Court of Common
Pleas, which fine was afterwards remitted.
See MS. B. O., Exch. E. K. Mem. Boll,
M. T. 21 Hen. 7, f. ii. dors.
* See Introduction, pp. cxiv, cxv, supra.
^ This was not Northumberland House
in the parish of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields,
which was built by Henry Howard, earl of
Northampton, about 1605 (H. B. Wheatley,
* London' [1891], ii. 603). This was
Northumberland House in the parish of St.
Anne within the Liberty of St. Martin's-le-
Grand. Stow says : * It belonged to Henry
Percy. King Henry 4, in the 17th of his
reign, gave this house, with the tenements *
thereunto appertaining, to Queen Jane his
wife, and then it was called her Wardrobe.
It was afterwards a printing house, but now
a tavern ' (* Survey ' [ed. 1633], p. 330 b).
This Henry Percy was Hotspur, killed at
the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. This
fifth earl of Northumberland was Hotspur's
great-great-grandson. The house must
have passed into the hands of Henry 4 by
the attainder of Hotspur in January 1404
(Bolls of Parlt. vi. 252). That attainder
was reversed by Bichard 3 in 1483 (ib.), and
the house must have reverted to the posses-
sion of the Percys, a fact unknown to Stow.
* Sub-treasurer of England and Chan-
cellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1485
(Campbell, ' Materials,' p. 89) ; knighted at
the coronation of Henry 7 (October 30,
1486J (W. C. Metcalfe, »Book of Knights,'
p. 12). He is first mentioned as a knight for
the King's Body in a grant dated July 18,
1486 (Campbell, i. 506). He seems to
have been frequently employed in quasi-
judicial business (ib. 386), cf. * Paston
Letters' (ed. J. Gairdner, 1876), iii. 332.
He was High Steward of the University of
Oxford, and held the University Courts
(A. Wood, • Fasti Oxonienses ' [1790], being
the appendix to the histories of the col-
leges, <&c., pp. 71, 182). He sat, in his
capacity of Privy Councillor, as a judge in
the Court of Bequests in 1493-94 ('Se-
lect Cases in the Court of Bequests,'
Selden Society, 1898, pp. cii, civ, cvi, cviii).
For other incidents of his career see ' Diet.
Nat. Biog.'
GORYNG V. NORTHUMBERLAND, EARL OF 97
wherunto your saide Oratoure is agreed, and how be yt that youre
saide Oratonre hathe offred sufficient surete to the saide Erie for his
body to be forthe commyng boo that he may bryng evidences and proves
to prove such matirs alledged by hym and his Counsell afore the saide
Justices for his discharge of the premysses, the saide Erie woUe no
such surete take but kepith youre saide Oratoure yn his saide place at
his pleasure and delayeth and defarryth the saide matir and wolle not
apply hym to haue the trouthe therof knowen but entendyth to defarre
the matir tille the saide sir Beynolde Bray be departed ^ and than to
kepe your saide Oratoure stille yn warde tille the terme of seynt
michell next commyng or lengar, orelles by suche duresse to compelle
hym to make Fyne with the saide Erie at his pleasure not oonly that
but also hathe entred yn to the landes of youre saide Oratoure, and
takyn the Bentes of his Farmours, and hathe seased and takyn parte
of his goodes to his grete enpouerysshement,® And also Thomas Erie
of Surre,^ Thomas lorde laware,^^ the Beuerent Fadir yn god, Edward
Bisshopp of Chichester,^^ and dyuers other clayme yn lyke wise your
saide Oratoure to be warde to them, and the saide Thomas Erie of
Surre hathe takyn a suytte ayenst hym And forasmoche as your
saide Oratoure is yn suche a Warde and kepyng, howe be yt that he
be of sufficient age to answer and defende the saide suyttes ^^ and of
right ought to be discharged of them, he neyther can ne may defende
them accordyng to his right, by cause of the saide reteynyng yn
warde, and boo he is vtterly vndone remedylesse ^' onlesse that your
' This may possibly afford us some clue '" Thomas West, K.B., eighth baron de
to the date of the petition. Both Sir R. la Warr, d. 1525. See ' Diet. Nat. Biog.'
Bray and the King are about to leave " Edward Storey, bishop 1477-1503.
London, the King upon a ' progress and See * Diet. Nat. Biog.' The see had nume-
journey ' (p. 96). At the beginning of May rous manors and fifteen manor-houses or
1500 Henry 7, to avoid the plague in castles in Sussex, but it does not appear in
London, set out for Calais, where he respect of which of them the bishop ad-
remained until the end of June (Hall, vanced this claim. For a list of them see
* Chronicle ' [ed. 1809], p. 491, on which Elwes and Bobinson, p. 4 n.
alleged connexion between the plague ■'' The writ de custodia terrse et hseredis
(sweating sickness) and the journey see lieth where the tenant holdeth of his lord
W. Busch, Konig Heinrich 7 (1892), by knight's service and dieth in his
p. 370). The words 'and journey' may homage and a stranger entereth into the
be mere pleonasm, but they may also land and taketh the body of the heir * (Fitz-
indicate that something more than an herbert, * Nat. Brev.' [9th ed., 1794], ii. 139).
ordinary progress was in contemplation. * And it appeareth by the register that the
It is apparent from the language of the guardian in socage shall have the writ of
petitioner that the return of Bray, who, as right of ward of the heir alone, or of the
knight for the Body, would naturally ac- land alone, or of both.' Ibid,
company the King, was not expected to be " This allegation agrees with the plea
speedy. in the replication that John Goryng, the
" See Introd., pp. cxvi, cxvii. grandfather, did not hold by knight service.
* Thomas Howard, afterwards duke of If the petitioner were a tenant by knight
Norfolk, b. 1443, d. 1524. See * Diet, of service, his infancy would not cease till he
Nat. Biog.' was twenty-one years of age. Although in
98 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
gracious pite and comforte to hym be shewed yn this bihalve. Wherfor
that yt may please youre Highnesse of youre moste habundant grace,
thise premyssis considered,^* to do calle in examinacion before you and
your moost honnourable counseill at suche day and place as it shal
please your grace to appoincte in this your progresse and journey ^ the
said matier, And that your said Oratoure may be forth commyng
vpon suffisaunt suretie to be made vnto the said Erl of Northumber-
land to poursue his defens and discharge in the premisses and ther-
upon to abide suche furthre direccion as to youre said Hyghnesse and
your said counsaill shalbe thought most according to your lawes ryght
and good conscience. And he shal pray contynuelly for your most
noble and Boyal estate.
B. This is the Aunswere of Harry ^ Erie of Northumberland to
the bill of complaynt of John Goryng.
The seid Erie seyth that trew it is that he hath claymed and also
seased the seid John Goryng for his warde as lawfuU is for him for
that oone John Goryng Grauntfader to this Gomplaynaunt held of
the seid Erie as of his honour of Petworth within the Shere of Sussex
Braoton's day the law allowed infants to Hargrave and Butler's note to Coke * upon
sue and be sued (Bracton, 253 b ; of. P. Littleton,' 135 b. The punishment of the
and M. * Hist, of English Law,' ii. 438 offending guardian was loss of the wardship
fol.)t Fitzherbert lays it down that at and of the custody of the land aliened
common law infants could neither sue nor (Stat. cit. Gf. Coke, Inst. ii. 260). In this
defend, except by guardian (N. B. 27). The case, if the earl claimed plaintiff as his ward
plaintiff here asserts that he was of age to and prevented his taking legal action for
defend. He must, therefore, have claimed the possession of his land, semble he was
to be an heir in socage, who at fourteen was constructively within the Statute of West-
out of ward. Coke * upon Littleton,' 78 b, minster I. Sed qu.
cf. Bracton, f. 86 b. If the plaintiff was of legal age as a
In the thirteenth century the practice tenant in socage, he was not within the
of retaining the heir who was under age in protection of the Statute of Westminster I.
custody, and enfeofiSng others of his land, But he had a remedy in the action for false
was so common that the Statute of West- imprisonment, a form of action of trespass
minster I. (c. 48) was passed in 1275 to (Blackstone, ' Comment.* bk. v. ch. viii.).
suppress it. By that statute it was pro- 'Every confinement of the person is an
vided that where a guardian, or any chief imprisonment, whether it be in a common
lord, detained an infant in ward and alien- prison, or in a private house,' &c. See
ated his land, anyone might sue out an Fitzh., N. B. f. 86, 88, sub Writ of Trespass.
assize of novel disseisin as prochein amy. >* From this point to the end in an-
The Statute of Westminster the Second other ink, apparently written over an
extended this to actions in all cases where erasure.
infants were eloigned (si hujusmodi minores ' This being one of the rare cases of a
elongati sunt). A constructive eloign- double Christian name in the fifteenth
ment seems to have been inferred for the century, it is to be noted that only one is
benefit of infants, so that Fitzherbert and used in this formal pleading. For the sub-
Coke lay down the proposition that an infant ject of double Christian names in the
shall sue by prochein amy. A learned Middle Ages, see ' Notes and Queries,' 9th
discussion as to whether they intended to ser.vi. 217, and •Furnival'slnn, Principal of,
exclude suit by guardian may be found in v. Johnson,' p. 238, n. 9 ; also p. 206, n. 37.
GORYNG V. NORTHUMBERLAND, EARL OF
99
dyuers parcellis of grounde bi knyght seruice^ and died in his homage'
after whoos dethe alia the seid parcellis discendid to the said
complaynaunt as Cosyn * and haira to the seid John Goryng that is to
say son of John son of the seid John the Grauntfader. Withowt that
the said Complaynaunt hath any mater of trewth which will avoide
the seid wardship "^ And without that auer the said Erie sit he the
first seasour of the seid John Goryng kept him otherwise than bi the
lawe of the land a ward for his sauffe kepyng moght lawfully be
kept ^ And where the seid Complaynant seiyth that thexamynacion
of the seid mater was comytted to ij of the Kynges Justicez which
was m*" Wood ^ and M'" Tremaile " and thei to make Report to m*"
Bray Therunto the seid Erie seith That according therunto the
Councell of the seid Erie with all diligence to theym possible Attended
uppon the seid ij Justicez and before them had dyuers & meny
metinges and communications at all the which and euery of them the
seid Complaynaunt was there with his Councell personally him self
* * Tenure by homage, fealty, and escu-
age is to hold by knight's service (per ser-
vice de chivaler), and it draweth to it ward
(gard) manage and relief e,' Littleton, § 103.
A knight's fee consisted of at least twelve
ploughlands, a quantity so variable as to
amount to any area between 680 and 1440
acres. See Coke * upon Littleton,' 69 a. See
further id. Inst. ii. 697, where Coke dis-
cusses the values set upon a knight's fee at
various times. The smallest parcel of land
might be held by knight service.
' Homage did not necessarily imply
tenure by knight service. Littleton says of
it : ' Homage is the most honorable service
and most humble service of reverence that
a frank-tenant may do his lord' (§ 85).
Neither did the homage due to the earl
necessarily exclude the homage that might
be due to other lords for other lands.
Bracton (f. 79 b) says : ' Item poterit quis
de pluribus tencmentis plura facere homa-
gia, vni domino simul vel successive, vel
diuersis & pluribus, et sic poterunt plures
domini plura capere homagia ratione
plurium tenementorum dum tamen unus
ex pluribus dominus sit praecipuus &
legitimus quia feoffator primus & propter
primum feoffamentum & capitale. Et talis
semper habebit maritagium heredum,
propter primum feoffamentum.' But the
Leges Henrici Primi, c. 43, § 6, solve the
question on a different principle. *Ei
magis obnoxius est et ejus residens esse
debet cujus legiusest ' (Scbmid, ^Gesetze der
Angelsachsen '). Similarly the ' modus faci-
endi homagium ' in Statutes of the Bealm,
i. 227, of uncertain date, gives the uncon-
ditional form of homage as tlie due of the
lord, ' de qi il tient son chief mesuage.' It
is obvious that Bracton's rule belongs to
a date when written evidences were more
readily available to determine the primum
feoffamentum. The other lords only received
a conditioned homage * sauve le foi que jeo
doy a nostre seigneur le Koi & a mes auters
Seigneurages.' The principal messuage of
the Goryngs appears to have been at
Burton or Bodecton. See Introd., p. oxiz.
* * In legal language formerly often
applied to the next of kin or the person to
whom one is next of kin, including direct
ancestors and descendants more remote
than parents and children. Here taken as
= Latin consanguineus.' J. A. H. Murray,
Engl. Diet. s. v., where see examples.
^ See A, p. 97, n. 13, supra.
* See Introd., p. cxv, supra. Cf. Brao-
ton, f . 87 : ' Haeredes autem quamdiu
fuerint in oustodia pro quantitate heredi-
tatis honorifice exhibebunt ' (i.e. domini
capitales). Except on the score of deten-
tion, there is no distinct allegation to the
contrary made by the plaintifif against the
earl.
' Thomas Wood, appointed a judge of
the Court of Common Pleas, November 24,
1495 ; promoted to be Chief Justice of the
same court, October 28, 1500, * and presided
there till his death, which occurred within
two years, in the vacation between Trinity
and Michaelmas Terms, 1502.' See E. Foss,
* Judges of England ' (1867), i. 80.
" Thomas Tremaile or Tremayle. * His
promotion as a justice of the King's Bench
took place on July 16, 1488, and there is
evidence in Eeilwey's Reports of his acting
as late as Hilary Term, 1507,' id. ib. p. 77.
u 2
100 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
before which Justicez the whole matyr of both the parties Was
playnely declared And when the seid Complaynaunt perceived hi
the seid ij Justices that thei wold haue made report to m^ Bray of
the seid matyr what thei thought resonable in the same then he
labored the kinges grace to bring hit bifore him and his Counsell in so
moche that the seid Complaynaunt seid openly to diuers credibill
persones when the seid Justicez had the mater in examynacion that
he wold finde a prick® wherby the hondes of the seid Justices shuld
be closed as in that matir And not withstandyng that the seid Erie
is heneretabill ^^ to the Gomen law of the lond and this is matir which
is clerely determynabill hi the same ^* for eny thing that is conteyned
J within the seid bill of complaint yet the seid Erie is well aggreabill
that the seid matyr shall be examyned hi the kinges moste honorable
Councell so that it may be doone withouten delay For the seid
Complaynaunt as he seith him self shalbe at his full age at
Mighelmasse next comyng And as to that the seid Complaynaunt
desired to go vnder suerte the seid Erie seith as his lerned Councell
hath shewid him thei haue neither redde ne herd that a Ward shuld
go vnder suertie ^^ Wherfor as in that bihalfe the seid Erie trustith
he shal not be dealed with otherwise then other of the kinges subiectes
haue been in cases lyke in tyme past. And as to the entre in to the
londes of the seid complaynaunt and taking of the Rentes and his
goodes therunto the seid Erie saieth that after the deth of the seid
John Goryng the grauntfadre the seid Erie entred in to all the londes
which the seid John Goryng the Grauntfadre held of the seid Erie by
knyght seruice the tyme of his deth by cawse the said Complaynaunt
his next heire was then and yet is within thage of xxj yerys And at
the next daies of payment toke the Rentes of all the seid londes of such
persons as were aggreabill to hold the seid londes of the seid Erie ^^
* The word is written * prik ' with a writ de custodia terrsB et hasredis which
mark of abbreviation over it. In the ' lieth where the tenant holdith of his lord
replication it appears as ' prink,' ' priuk/ or by knight's service and dieth in his
* pruik,' probably the first ; bat I find no homage and a stranger entereth into the
authority for it. ' Prick ' means a skewer, land and taketh the body of the heir ; the
and I incline to think that is the meaning lord of whom he holdeth * the land shall
here, and that the plaintiff boasts that he have a writ of custodia terrte et hsredis,
would fasten up the justices' hands as a &o, (Fitzh. N. B. [ed. 1794], ii. 139). * It
skewer trusses a fowl. appeareth by the register that the guardian
'** Inheritable, i.e. entitled to enjoy as in socage shall have the writ of right of
his birthright ; cf. W. H. Turner, ' Select ward of the heir alone, or of the land alone,
Reo. Oxford ' (1880), 38 : * Put from the or of both.' lb.
benefite of the lawes of the Bealme where- " See Introd., p. cxv.
unto they be inheritable ' (1523). J. A. H. " In his replication the plaintiff sug-
Murray, * New Eng. Diet.' s.v. gests rather than states that some of the
>* That is, another of the claimants to tenants were evicted. See Introd., p. cxvii.
wardship in knight service could have a
GORYNG v. NORTHUMBERLAND, EARL OF 101
as londes beyng in his Warde And also the seid John Goryng the
Grauntfader tyme of his deth held of the seid Erie viij seuerell
porcions of lond For euerych of the which the seid Erie owght to
haue by deth of his tenaunt a mownter and a heryott ^'^ as it playnly
apperith by the Custumarys of the seid Honour which haue been shewid
to the seid ij Justices and are redy to be shewid to youre good
lordshippis when ye will comaund And so for part of the seid
heriottes and mownters the seid Erie toke yj Oxen and a hors all
which were the goodes and catellys of the seid John Goryng the
Grauntfader the tyme of his deth with owt that the seid Erie toke eny
Rentes or goodes of the seid Complaynauntes or entred in to eny of
his londes in any other maner then by the seid Erie is allegged And
where the seid complaynaunt alleggeth that he is claymed to be in
ward by dyuers other persons as by the Erie of Surrey the lord
lawarre and the buyshop of Chichester therto the seid Erie seith that
that is oone of the specyell cawses for the which he hath kept him in
his owen possession for that none of thoes rehercid lordes shuld be
possessid of hym ^-^ And put the seid Erie to his Accyon ^^ And
moreouer where it is alleggid by the seid Complaynaunt in his
seducyous ^^* & sclaunderous bill that the seid Erie did kepe hym in dures
to thentent he shuld be compellid to make fyne with the seid Erie at
his plesour Therto the seid Erie saith that he hath at all tymes
aunsured bothe by hymself and by his Councell when the seid
Complaynaunt offered the seid Erie at London xx" for a pleasour that
he wold not take oone peny of him Except his right were tryed good
Wherfore hit apperyth that the seid bill is vntrewe and made oonly to
the grettist disclaunder of the seid Erie Wherfor and in consideration
that the seid Erie is oone of the Nobyll Perys of this realme he
besechith your good lordshippis that the seid Complaynaunt for his
seid sclawnderous bill may be punysshed in example of other
according to the moste honorabill lawes and statutes in like cases
'* The word * mownter' appears to be ableby thegns(Schmid,*Gesetzeder Angel-
fixal Keydfifpoy, and suggests a corruption sachsen [2nd ed. 1858], p. 309). Bracton
of * mortuarium ' or * mortuary/ in associa- says : ' Heriettum . . . scilicet ubi tenens,
tion with which the heriot is found. ' De- liber vcl servus, in morte sua respicit do-
bentur domino (i.e. manerii) nominibus minum suum de quo tenuerit, respicit de
heriettas & niortuarii duae vaccae ' (W. Ken- meliori auerio sue vel de s«cundo meli-
nett, * Paroch. Ant.' ii. 101). The earl's ori secundum diversam looorum consuetu-
statement of defence shows that the heriot dinem.' He adds that it is a payment
claimed was not in respect of the land held ' magis de gratia quam de jure ' (f . 86). For
by knight service, but of other land. As a the dififerent meanings of heriot, see P.
matter of fact, heriots were generally paid and M. * Hist. Eng. Law,' i. 298.
by villeins rather than by free tenants, a '^ See Introd., p. cxiv.
point on which Britton (ii. 51) and Fleta "^ Seditious. Lat. seditiosus, quarrel-
(p. 212) insist. But the Laws of Canute some, see p. 140, n. 11.
(o. 71) show that originally heriot was pay-
102
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
ordeyned and prouyded.^^ All which maters the seid Erie is redy to
prove as youre moste honerabill Lordshippis shall thynk most
reasonabyll.
c. This is the Replicacion of John Goryng to thanswere of the
seid Erie of Northumberland.
The seid John saith in all thinges as he said in his firste bill of
Complaint, And where as the seid Erie saith in his seid Awnswere
that oone John Goryng grauntefadere to the seid John was seased
of certen londes at tyme of his deth holden of his honour of Fetworth
in the Countie of Sussex bi knyghtes seruice and died in his homage
*' The earl invokes the statutes
2 Bic. 2, St. 1, c. 5 (1378) and 12 Bio. 2,
0. 11 ri388). Of these the first was an Act
amenaing the Statute of Westminster I.
(1275) 0. 34, by which imprisonment was
made the penalty of the dissemination of
tales in slander of the great men of the realm
until the original inventor of the slanders
should be produced (* jesques a tant que il eit
trove en court celuy dont la parol serra
move *). This was re-enacted by the statute
of 1878. Neither of these statutes appoints
any punishment for the original deviser of
the tales. According to Coke, * he is left to
the common law to be punished by fine and
imprisonment,* 2 Inst. 228. The Act
of 1388 gave a statutory sanction to much
of the power exercised by the King's
Ck)uncil in the provision that the inventor
as well as the spreader of false news ' soit
punis par advys du conseill.' The offence
was known as Scandalum Magnatum. The
earl was therefore within his statutory
right, if this were a case before the Star
Chamber as a court of the King's Council,
in asking for punishment of the offender.
Sed quaere, if this were a case before the
Star Chamber, and the Star Chamber were
a Court originating with the statute * Pro
Camera Stellata.' The charge was, in
brief, false imprisonment with intent to ex-
tort money. Coke, after stating that a man
would be exempt from the penalties of the
statutes who charged felony, even though
falsely, against a peer in the courts of Com-
mon Law, on the ground that ' men should
not be deterred to take their remedy,' adds
* and so it is, if in the Star Chamber a
peere of the realme be charged with forgery,
perjury, or the like ; but if in the bill the
plaintiff chargeth him with felony, or any
other offence not examinable in that court,
that slander is within these statutes, for
that the plaintiff pursueth not his charge in
any judiciall course, seeing the court hath
no jurisdiction of the same, and so hath it
been adjudged,' Inst. ii. 228. Forgery was
only a misdemeanour at Common Law,
J. F. Stephen, * Hist, of the Criminal Law '
(1883), iii. 180. Perjury was merely a
spiritual offence (ib. p. 243), but was held to
be punishable by the Star Chamber under
the Act ' Pro Camera Stellata ' (3 Hen. 7,
c. 1), which incidenttUly mentions the in-
crease of perjuries (Stephen, iii. 244). The
Star Chamber Act recites the evils arising
from maintenance and other misde-
meanours, with none of which this case is
concerned, as being ' to the encres of mur-
dres roberies perjuries and unsuerties of
all men lyvyng and losses of their londes
and goodes.' Stephen considers that the
Star Chamber held this incidental mention
as authorising it to punish perjury, * though
the words seem not to bear that interpre-
tation.' He adds : * It certainly did not
authorise them (the Court) to punish mur-
ders or robberies.' Nor, I may add, forgeries.
I incline to the view that the Court of the
Star Chamber arrogated the power to punish
perjury, not as one belonging to it by the
statute, but in virtue of being a court of the
King's Council, which seemed to regard as
one of its principal functions the provision of
remedies in supplement of the common or
statute law, where those laws were defective.
I In the case of Devonport v. Sympson, Cro.
Eliz. 520, being an action for perjury,
Walmsley, Beaumond and Owen, J. J., were
of opinion that the action did not lie, ' for
at the common law there was not any course
in law to punish perjury ; but yet before the
statute of 3 Hen. 7, c. 1, the King's Council
used to assemble and punish such perjuries
at their discretion.' It is observable, too,
that the pleadings before the Star Chamber
frequently declare that the plaintiff has no
remedy provided by law. It must have
GOKYNG V. NORTHUMBERLAND, EARL OF 103
Ther unto the same John Goryng saith by protestacion ^ that he
knowit not that the seid John ^Goryng his^ Grauntfadre held anylondes
of the seid Erie within the seid Countie of Sussex bi knyghtes seruice
nor no lawfuU prove was made therof on the behalue of the seid Erie
before the kinges most honorable Counsell nor ellis where nor yet that
the seid John Goryng his grauntfadre died seased of any such londes
in the homage of the seid Erie like as the said Erie pretendith and
surmytteth in his said awnswere as the seid John now repliant
thinketh he haith suflBciently shewed and proved by clere evidences
aswell before the said Kinges Counsell as in other places where the matyr
hertofore hath been in examinacion. And forthermore where the seid
Erie saith that after the matyr was commytted to the examynation of m^
Tremayle and m*^ Woode ^ ij of the kinges Justicez his Counsell did
theire best diligence to have the matyr bifore thaim herd to thentent
the same Justicez shuld make Report to m*" Bray knyght for the
Kinges moste honorabill body And that the seid John perceyving
that the seid ij Justicez wold haue made Eeport to the seid m"" Bray
as thaym thought resonabill in the cause he labored the Matyr to be
removed before the king and his Councell The same John saith that
if the seid Erles Councell wold haue made no delayes but haue shewed
his title before the said Justicez so that thei myght haue made
Eeaport to m' Bray before his departure from London ^ he wold nevir
been as a court of the King's Oouncil that tried cases of forgery, e.g. Kendall's case,
it claimed, as Coke implies, to deal with 3 July, 10 Hen. 7 (1494) (id. p. 78). Itisdoubt-
Scandalum Magnatum. Among the mis- ful, therefore, whether the earl could allege
chiefs struck at by the Star Chamber Act, Scandalum Magnatum against the plaintiff,
false imprisonment with intent to extort though the replication indicates that the
money is not included. If, therefore, this plaintiff's counsel were uncertain of their
were a Star Chamber case, and the Star ground. Hudson notices the great increase
Chamber were confined strictly to its statu- in this class of suit in the Star Chamber in
tory jurisdiction, that Court could not, his day, and says :' All actions de scandalis
but the Council or the Common Law magnatum are as properly to be sued in the
Courts could, punish a Scandalum Mag- Star Chamber as in any other court * (' Of
natum alleging false imprisonment, for the Court of Star Chamber,' p. 104).
the imputation against the earl when ' ' Protestation is a defence of safeguard
made in such a court was a gratuitous to the party which maketh it from being
libel. But if Coke's language be interpret- concluded by the act he is about to do, that
able as meaning that the Star Chamber issue can not be joined by it.' Plowd. fol.
could take cognisance of misdemeanors 273, Cowel, * Interpreter,' a. v.
generally, as of forgery, then an accusa- *~' Interlined.
tion of false imprisonment brought before ' It is to be noted that in B the two
it was not punishable as Scandalum Mag- justices are mentioned in the reverse order,
natum, for it was a proper court in which to which suggested that Wood, who was the
seek redress. As a matter of fact the Star junior as a judge, had precedence given
Chamber did take cognisance of false im- to him because he was already Chief Justice
prisonment in Elizabeth's time. See Buttle of the Common Pleas, and this would date
V. Harcourt in 19 Eliz., where the defen- the case after October 28, 1500. The order
dant confined the plaintiff in stocks and in which their names appear here precludes
in a cage, for which he was conmiitted the probability of this,
to the Fleet and fined 200Z. (J. S. Burn, * See A, p. 97, n. 7, supra.
* The Star Chamber ' [1870], p. 73). It also
104 COURT OF THE STAK CHAMBER
haue labored the matir to be called before the Kinges Councell but
oonly to haue by den the seid m** Bray order and award Orellis if the seid
John Goryng myght haue beene suffred to haue goone at his libertie
uppon suiSicient suertie ' to haue awnswerd to the seid Erie at the
next terme which the said Justicez thought resonabill and according to
the lawe and good conscience he wold nevir haue sued other reamydy
And he saith that he nevir said nor thought to bring the said matir
out of the said Justices handes by pryukes ® like as in thawnswer of
the seid Erie it is surmytted but wold haue beene wele contentid to
haue biden any direction that the said m^ Bray uppon theire report
wold haue made And where the seid Erie Justifieth his entre in to the
londes of the seid John and taking and perceyving of the Rentes of the
same londes by reason that John Goryng grauntfadre to the said John
now repliaunt whoos heire he is held the seid londes of the said Erie by
knyghtes service and died in his homage the seid John being within
the age of xxj yeres the same John saith as he hath aforsaid that he
knowit not that the seid John his Grauntfadre held the seid Londes
of the seid Erie by knyghtes seruyce nor yet that he died in the
homage of the seid Erie And where the seid Erie saith that the said
John Goryng grauntfadre tyme of his deth held viij seuerell porcions
of londes of the seid Erie, of euery which parcelles the seid Erie ought
to haue a movnter of ' a heryot & so for part of the seid heriottes or
mownters the said Erie toke vj Oxen and a hors which was the goodes
& catallis of the said John Goryng grauntfadre tyme of his deth
The said John saith as is aforsaid that the said John Goryng
grauntfadre died not seased of no such viij porcions of londes nor noone
other holden of the seid Erie as the same John dyuers tymes hath
said and shewed in the presens of the seid Erles Councell aswel by
fynes recoueres and other dedes and munymentes prouyng the same
And as to that which is allegged and showed in the awnswer of the
seid Erie that the seid John shuld sedicyously and sclaunderously put
yn his bill of complaynt that the seid Erie did kepe him in dures to
thentent he shuld be compelled to make fyne with the seid Erie at his
plesure, The seid John saith that he nether put nor vsed no wordes
in his bill of no seducyous mynde nor never entended to disclaunder
the seid Erie but at al tymes hath endevored hym to opteyne the
good lordshipp of the seid Erie by al meanes to him possible his right
savid which wele apery th by that the seid John wold haue youen ^ the
* See Introd., p. cxv. Murray, *Eng.Diot.,* s.v. • give,' A, 8. The
* See B, p. 100, n. 9, supra. * y ' represents the sound of the Auglo-
^ Sic. Saxon 3. Gf. J. Gwilt, * Anglo-Saxon
* Archaic form of ' given.* See J. A. H. Grammar * (1829), p. 2.
GORYNG V. NORTHUMBERLAND, EARL OF 105
seid Erie xx'^ for noone other cause but oonly to haue had his good
Lordshipp. And the same John is and at all tymes shalbe ready to
Bubmytte hymselfe to the said Erie with as humble Bequestes as he
and his frendes kan or may make to haue his good lordshipp And
the cause why the seid John saied in his byll that the seid Erie kept
him in dures to thentent he shuld be compelled to fyne with the said
Erie was for that the seruantes of the seid Erie often tymes awnswerd
the seid John that he shuld not speke with such of his frendes as he
desired to speke with without hit were to fall to an ende with the
seid Erie, And also the seid John iij daies after that he was seased
bi the said Erie cowde not be suffered to speke with noone of his
frendes nor afterward by long tyme without that oone of the seid
Erles seruantes shuld stand by and here what shuld be said which
was not convenyent nor resonable whan that the Pryvite of the
evidences of the seid John shuld be shewed Which causes and other
caused the seid John and his Councell to thynk that so streight
kepyng was to thentent to make hym the rather to applye to the seid
Erie ^ mynde & also where the seid Erie saith that the tenauntes of
the seid John shuld pay rent to the seid Erie and were aggreable to
pay the seid Rent as for londes beyng within the Warde of the seid
Erie Therunto the seid John Goryng saith that the tenauntes that
he hath supposed in his awnswer that paid him the seid Bent were
compelled bi cohercion of distresse and by vncurteys & vnlaufull
demeniours of the officers of the seid Erie. Without that that thei paid
hit in any other fourme Which proveth wele in that as ij° '^ of the
tenauntes of the seid John si then the seasour of the seid Erie beene
departid from their fermys.^" Al which matiers the seid John haue
beene and yet is ready to proue as your most honorable lordshippis
shall think most resonable.
Indorsement illegible.
• Twain. '" See Introd., p. cxvii.
106 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
JOYFULL V. WARCOPPE.'
A.* To the king our soueraign lord
1500 In humble Wyse compleynen to youre most noble grace your
feithfull Subgiettes and true ligmen Eichard Joyfull John Mercer
of Warcoppe in your Countie of Westmerland yomen, Gabriell
Warcoppe, Thomas Mosse theldre Robert Gibson and Bobert Mosse
, of the same yomen. That where your said besechers were in godes
peas and yours, Gone Robert Warcoppe theldre of Warcoppe,^ Robert
Warcoppe the yonger,^ and other Riottours and mysruled people, to
the Numbre of Uij persons and moo, the xiiij^** day of the Moneth
of Octobre last past,* with force and Armys, That is to sey, With
Bowes, Arrowes, Bylles,* Swordes, and Bokelers At Warcoppe forsaid
in the Countie of Westmerland riottously assembled made Assault
vppon your said besechers, And there bett wounded and putt in
Jeopardie of theire lyves without occasion on theyre parte gevyng
to the great perill of your said besechers And to the worst exemple
of other lyke offendyng, Gnlesse due punysshment be had for
Beformacion of the premisses. In consideracion wherof. And that
youre said pover subgiettes myghte there lyve in godes peas and
yours, soueraigne lord, that it myghte please your moost noble grace
to graunt to your said besechers your gracious lettres of priue Seal
to be directed to the said mysdoers Commaundyng theym by the
same tappere before your highnesse and your honourable Counsail
At A day by youre grace to be lymytted And to bryng with theym
such other of the said oflendors As shal like youre grace to aunswere
to the premisses And therin ferther to doo and Beceyve aftre theyre
demerites As shal accord with Bight and good conscience And your
said besechers shal pray to god for the preseruacion of your moost
noble estate in yoy long te(ndure).®
' S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 63. See p. 253, it relates to the same events, is to a petition
infra. by two of the plaintiffs only.
'-' This is probably the original bill of * See By land, abbot of, v. Warcoppe,
complaint, while that to which B and C p. 256, n. 7.
are answers, and which alleged contempt, is ^ I.e. 1499. See F, p. 113, infra,
missing. It is plain that it is only a draft, * See Walterkyn v. Letice, p. 166,
being struck through in contemporary ink, n. 5.
and it will be seen that the answer B, though ^ MS. torn.
JOYFULL r. WAKCOPPE 107
B.^ Thaunswer of Robert Warcoppe thelder Robert Warcoppe
the younger Gabryell Warcoppe^ Thomas mosse thelder*^
Robert Gybson^ Robert mosse* yoman John Elwald and
Christofer Thompson to the byll of Compleynt of Richard
Joyful! & John merser.
The seid Robert Warcoppe thelder Gabryell Warcoppe & Robert
Gybson seyen and euery of theym seyith That as to any Riott
Assemble assaute woundyng betyng or any other vnlawfuU demenyng
supposed by the seid byll to be done they ar therof nothyng Gyltye
And prayen ther resonable Costys for ther wrongful! vexacion yn
this behalff And the seid Robert Warcoppe the younger John Elwald
& Cristofer Thompson seyen and euery of theym seyith That the
seid Richard Joyfull Bayly of Warcoppe^ John merser Gylberd
mossegraue Richard Richardson John Gollen Millys Waller Thomas
Merser Robert Sympson Robert Stedman William Stedman William
Drybeke Robert Lambert William Stoddart and John Stanton acom-
panyed with dyuers other Riottuse personys vnknowen lo the number
of xl arrayed in manor of werre That is to sey with Salettes^
Swordys Bucclers byllys*^ and Clobbys^ assembled to gyder the xiiij*''
day of October the yere of the Reyng of oure Soueraigne Lord
the kyng that now is the xv'^' ^ att Warcoppe aforeseyd withyn the
franches and lybertye of the abbott of Byland with greate violence in
manor of new Insurreccion ^ toke & drave awey xx^* oxen kyen and
Calues wherof ij of thejrm were belongyng to the seid Robert War-
coppe the younger and the r^sidew were belongyng to the tenauntes
v& Inhabitauntes of the seid lordshippe of Warcoppe without Cause
resonable or any sufficient auctoryte yn the lawe and by ther myght
strength and wilfuU powar dyd withold & kepe the same Bestys
and the seid Robert Warcoppe the younger John Elwald Christofer
Thomson & oone WilUam myrthwayte folowyng & pursuyng the seid
Riottuse personys to thentent to haue delyuere of the seid Bestys
' The bill of complaint is lost. See movable, and sometimes grates, but was
note 2 to A, supra. generally a steel cap greatly resembling
'^ Plaintiffs in draft A, supra. Appa- the morian ' (S. B. Meyrick, * Antient
rently Gabriell Warcoppe had gone over Armour,' iii. Glossary, s.v.). Representa-
to the side of his presumable kinsmen, tions are engraved in J. Skelton, ' Antient
followed by Bobert Gybson and the elder Arms and Armour ' (1830), ii. plates Ixxiv.,
and younger Mosse. Ixxvi.
* In the service of Bichard Nevill, Lord ^ See Walterkyn v. Letice, p. 165, n. 5.
Latimer, lord of the manor, as appears in * See ib. B, 167, n. 2, and Eynesham,
F, infra. See further Byland, Abbot of, v. Abbot of, v. Harecourt, G, p. 160, n. 26.
Warcoppe, p. 266, n. 7. ' 1499.
* 'In French "salade," a light head- ■ This appears to be a common form,
piece sometimes worn by the cavalry, but but I have not been able to discover the
generally by the infantry and archers. It precise legal significance of * new.'
had sometimes a visor, either fixed or
108
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
ther demaundyd why and for what Cause they hadde so taken the
seid distresse praying theym yn lawful! maner to make theym delyuere
of the same for asmoche as they cowde shew noo lawfull auctorytye
for the takyng of the same, Which aunswered and seyde that ther
master Edward musgraue^ hadd eommaunded theym so to doo whos
Commaundement they wold execute who soeuer wold sey nay and the
seid Bobert Warcoppe the younger & his Companye folowyng &cJ®
* Apparently as lord of the neighbour-
ing manor of Great Musgrave, about two
miles south of Warcop. Edward Musgrave
of Hertlay or Hartlay, Westmoreland, and
Edenhall, Oumbcrland, was bom in 1461,
eldest son and heir of Sir Bichard Mus-
grave (died 1491. Inq. p. m. Hen. 7, 693,
695. See also J. Nicolson and R. Bum,
* Hist, of Westmoreland and Cumberland '
[1777], i. 694). He was knighted some time
before December 10, 1505, for in a re-
cognisance of that date he is described as
Sir Edward Musgrave of Edenhall, Cum-
berland (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 296). He
was nominated a commissioner of array
for Westmoreland on June 20 and July 14,
1511 (ib. 1736, 1799), probably to raise
men for the body of archers sent in July
to aid Margaret of Savoy, Begent of the
Netherlands, against Gueldres. In 1511,
1612, and 1514 he was in the commission
of the peace for Westmoreland (ib. 2009,
3048, 3552, and 5506), and again a com-
missioner of array in 1512 (ib. 3368). On
March 14, 1515, he was nominated on the
commission of the peace for Northumber-
land (ib. ii. 249). He was pricked sheriff
of Cumberland in 1614 (P.B.O. List of
Sheriffs), 1619 (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, iii. 600)
and 1527 (ib. iv. 3581). In 1624 (February
10) and 1526 (August 11) (ib. iv. 137, 10,
and 1610, 11) he was nominated on the
commission of the peace for Westmoreland.
While sheriff of Cumberland, in March,
1528, a Scottish prisoner of some note,
named Biche Orahame of Esk, escaped
from his custody in the castle of Carlisle.
Sir Edward and his son Sir William were
accused of connivance and indicted. The
Grand Jury disagreed and the bill was lost
(ib. iv. 4134). He apparently vindicated
himself and his son to the satisfaction of
the Government, for on October 9, 1530,
his son. Sir William, obtained an annuity
of 20 marks (13L 6s. Sd.) out of the
Lordship of Penreth, Cumberland, during
his father's lifetime (ib. 6751, 3), and Sir
Edward was on March 6, 1531, nominated
on the commission of the peace for West-
moreland (ib. V. 166, 16). He was foreman
of the Grand Jury which found a true bill
against Lord Dacre of the North (June 15,
1534), notwithstanding the fact that a
principal charge against Lord Dacre was
one of conspiracy with the Scots to
kill his son. Sir William Musgrave,
Constable of Bow or Both Castle (Bew-
castle) [ib. vii. 962]. Lord Dacre was
afterwards acquitted by his peers, and Sir
William Musgrave, who had been his chief
accuser (ib. 829), fell into disfavour both
with his father and with the Duke of
Norfolk, who, as Earl Marshal, had pre-
sided at the trial (ib. 1647). These events
led to feuds and riots in the North, where
the great landowners, assured of Dacre*s
condemnation, had begun to despoil his
estates. Among them Sir Edward Mus-
grave was bound over by the Earl of West-
moreland, upon Cromwell's orders, to keep
the peace (July 13, 1535, ib. viii. 1030, cf.
ib. vii. 895), his servants having a chronic
feud with those of Sir Thomas Wharton
(ib. viii. 1030, 1046 ; xii. ii. 422). But he
remained on the commission of the peace
for Westmoreland (ib. viii. 149[82]). Upon
the outbreak of the Northern Bebellion in
October 1636, the insurgents marched to
Sir Edward Musgrave's house at Edenhall
and administered to him and his house-
hold an oath of adhesion to their cause
(ib. xii. i. p. 303). That Sir Edward was
not suspected of complicity is evident from
the fact that he reappears in the commis-
sion of the peace for Westmoreland in
March 1537 (ib. 795, 4, and ib. ii. 1311,
29), and he was ordered for the security of
the borders to lie in Harteley Castle (ib. ii.
2493, ii.) The commission for the inquisi-
tion post mortem was issued May 12,
1543, for Cumberland (ib. xviii. i. 56). He
married in 1484 Alice, daughter of Sir
Bichard Batcliff, of Ledbury (Marriage
Licences, Surtees Soc. 1864. Test. Ebor.
Ac, vol. xlv. p. 348), and in 1496 Joan,
daughter of Sir Christopher Ward (ib. p.
360).
^'^ Continues as C, except that * and
William Morthwayte' is omitted, as also
the clause beginning ' And the seid Thomas
mosse . . . f&ray,' for which is substituted
*And the seid Bobert mosse and Thomas
mosse came then only for the Byddyng
of/ &c.
JOYFULL V, WARCOPPE 109
c. Thaniswer of Eobert Warcoppe thelder Eobert Warcoppe
theyounger John Elwald Thomas Mosse thelder Robert
mosse John Patenson John Ranwicke Christofer Thompson
John Style William morthewayte John Wryghtson Richard
Soukeman Robert Haton Thomas mosse theyounger John
mosse & John Scott to the byll of Compleynt of Rychard
JoyfuU & John mercer.
They sey & euery of theym seyth that the seid byll is insufficient
it vntrew & of malice fayned to the sclaunder vexacion & troble of
theym & of euery of theym. Without that they or any of theym ar
gyltye of takyng or impoundyng of any Catall of the seid Complay-
nauntes att warcoppe aforeseid in maner & fourme as is supposid by
the seid bill of Compleynt and without that the seid Robert Warcoppe
thelder ys gyltye of any Riott or of any other vnlawfuU demeanyng as
is supposed by the seid bill. Neuertheles for the declaracion of the
trothe The seid Robert W^arcoppe the younger Robert Gybson John
Elwald & Christofer Thompson Seyn and euery of theym seyith That
one Thomas Abbott of Byland ^ predicessor of the Abbott that now is ^
was seasid of the maner & lordshippe of Blatarne ^ in his demesne as
of fee as yn the Right of his Churche * to the which maner & lord-
shippe the seid Abbott & his predicessours haue hadd & vsed dyuers
libertyes & franches as retourne of all maner wryttes & execucions of
the same and euery Retourne to be hadd & made by his Bayly for the
tyme beyng at euery Sessions & assisses withyn that Shere holden
and also haue vsed to hold all maner plees of Repleuyn withyn the
same lordshippe and so seasid of the same maner & lordshippe gaue
& graunted the seid lordshippe to the seid Robert Warcoppe thelder
to haue to hym for terme of his lyeflf yldyng therfor yerly to the same
Abbott & his successours a certen Rentte Byforce wherof the seid
Robert was seasid of the seid lordshippe yn his demeane as of frehold
and afterward dyuers beestes were founde damagefesaunt withyn the
frehold of the seid lordshippe of Blatarne, Wherfor one Robert Shawe
then beyng Comen Pynder * for the seid Robert Warcoppe toke &
impounded all Suche maner beestes ther founden damagefesaunt*^
withyn the seid lordshippe att the Comyn Pounde at Blatarne afore-
seid and afterward the seid Richard Joyfvll John mercer and one
> In Dugdale*s list of the abbots of ' Now Bleatarn, about 1^ m. S.E. of
Byland * Thomas'— surname unknown — Warcop.
is given as abbot in 1478. * Monasticon,' * See Byland, Abbot of, v. Warcoppe,
V. 346. A, p. 256, n. 8.
^ John Farlington. See Byland, Abbot * Impounder (* inclusor *).
of, V. Warcoppe, A, p. 263, n. 3. • See Introd., p. cxx.
110 COURT OF THE STAR CHAxMBER
gylberd a ' mussegraue gentylman ® acompanyed with dyuers other
Eiottuse personys vnknowen to the number of xxij** defencible arraied
in maner of werre with Brygenders ^ Stele Bonettes Swordys Bucclers
Clobbys & byllys The seid xiiij^'' day of October toke the seid Beestes
out of the seid pounde and theym with violence myght & powar drave
away without Shewyng or delyuere of any wrytt warrant or repleuyn
or any other lawfull auctoritye wherfor the seid Eobert Warcoppe
theyounger John Elwald William morthwayte & Christofer Thompson
folowyng the seid Riottuse personys to thentent to haue delyuere of
the seid beestes mett with the seid misdoers att plowlondbodham ^"
within the seid fraunches then hauyng the seid beestes demaundid of
theym why and by watt auctoritye they hadd taken the seid beestes
praying theym yn lawfull maner to make theym delyuere of the same
Which Aunswerd and seyde That they hadd executed Edward musse-
graues Commaundement and that they wold reteyne theym wo so euer
wold sey nay And the seid Eobert Warcoppe the yownger & his
Company e folowyng the seid Eiottuse personys eftsonys ^^ intreted for
the deluyere of the seid distres seying vnto theym that they hadd
broken the tranches of the seid abbott of Byland and that ther master
woldnott avoue theym yn ther misbehauyng and so the seid Eiottuse
personys of ther owne will left the seid distres and the seid Eobert
theyounger & hisCompanye resceyued the same distres and incontynent
theruppon one Eobert Sympson beyng yn Companye with the seid
Eiottuse personys Spake with open voyce, Fye, shall we suflfer suche
a lewde *^ & sympuU Companye of iij or iiij personys to dreve away
oure distres ? Lett vs sett vppon theym and take oure distrees
agayne. And forewith with greate violence all the seid Eiottuse
personys assauted the seid Eobert Warcoppe the younger John Elwald
Christofer Thompson and William morthwayte and the seid Eobert
Warcoppe theyounger John Elwald Christofer Thompson & William
morthwayte defended ^^ the seid Eiottuse personys and so yflf the seid
^ Observe the sigii of the place name. '® ' Ploughlands * is marked on the map
" Probably a yoanger brother of Edward about halfway between Bleatam and Great
Musgrave. For the use of * gentleman * as Musgrave. Great Musgrave lies E. and
the style of younger sons, see * Select Cases Warcop N.E. of Bleatam.
from the Court of Requests * (Selden Soc. " A second time, again. This form of
1898), p. 147, n. 4. spelling is not noticed in Murray, qu. vid.
• * Brigander,' body armour for foot " Common, vulgar. * The march-law,
soldiers, originally armour for a brigand. which is the statutes of Kilkenny, is said
It was also called ' brigandine,* and was to be no law, but a lewd custom.' Davies,
composed of iron rings or small thin iron ' Why Ireland &c.* J. A. H. Murray, * Eng.
plates, sewn upon canvas, linen or leather Diet.' s.v.
and covered over with similar materials. " Warded off. Cf. Grafton, Chron. ii.
Planch6, 'CycLCost.' See J. A. H. Murray, 17 (1668), 'to withstand and defend his
sub w. enimyes,' ib.
JOYFULL V, WARCOPPE 111
Riottuse personya or any of theym any harme hadde hitt was of ther
owne assaute & yn defence of the seid Robert theyounger John Elwald
Christofer Thompson & William morthwayte, And the seid Thomas
mosse thelder Robert mosse John mosse with other of the seid defen-
dauntes Commyng the day aforeseid frome ther devyne seruyce heryng
of the seid assawte & affray Game to the seid Riottuse personys to
thentent onely for the Riddyng of the seid assaute & fray & for the
Conseruacion of the kynges Peace. Without that the seid defen-
dauntes or any of theym ar gyltye of any Riott or of any other vnlaw-
fuU demenyng oderwyse or yn any other maner then ys supposed by
this aunswer, And as to the seid dysobeyans ^* of the seid priuy seales
they sey & euery of theym seyith that vppon ther examynacion ther
shalbe founde yn theym no maner of Contempt ayenst the kynges
grace nor his lawes. All which maters and euery of theym they ar
redy to prove as this Courte wull awarde and prayen and euery of
theym prayith to be dysmyssed with ther resonable Costes for ther
wrongfuU vexacion in this behalff &c.
Ind(/rsed in modern hand. Joyfull r. Warcop & al.
D. The Replicacon of Richard Joyfull John Mercere & ^
Mercere to thanswere of Robert Warcoppe theldere Robert
Warcoppe the yonger and dyuers othere &c.
The seide Richard & John seyen that their bill is sufficient, true
& not feyned of malice for vexacion or troble as by the seide answere
is supposid, And the seid Robert Warcoppe thelder & Robert Warcoppe
the yonger & all other in the bill of compleint of the seid Richard &
John Mercer speciiSed be gilty of all suche Riottes vnlawfuU inpound-
yng of Catell and other mysdemeanours as in the same bill is alleggid.
And the seide Richard Joyfull & John mercer seyen that they knowe
noe franchis that the seide Abbote of Bilond hath at Blaterne in
maner & forme as by the seide answere is supposid but the seid
Richard & John Mercer seyen that suche Catell off theres as the seide
Warcoppe thelder & Warcoppe the yonger & othere toke & distreyned
they inpounded them at Warcoppe forseide withoute any lawful! cause
soe to do for whiche Catell and for ony damages done by them yf they
ony dide there was sufficient amendes offerid for theni to the seid
Warcoppes by the ownere of the same Catell & othere,^ And also
>* A form not noticed by Murray, who, cepit aueria sua quia ilia inuenit in damno
however, gives the adjective ' disobeyant. * suo et secundum legem et consuetudineip
8eo further p. 106, n. 2, supra. regni imparcauit ilia donee damnum suum
' Blank in MS. The missing name is ei esset emendatum et non alio modo.
Thomas. See p. 107. Bracton, f. 158.
'^ * Dicere enim poterit captor quod iuste
112 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
sufficient Replevyn suyd for their delyueraunce,^ And that not with-
stondyng they were still kepte in the pounde by the seid Warcoppes
contrary to all right. And ouer this they seyen that at the day of
the seide Riotte supposid & before the Ryotte comyttid & done the
seid Richard JoyfuU Baylly of the lordeshippe of Warcoppe John
Mercere & othere distreyned other Catell of the seide mysdoers withyn
the seid lordeshippe of Warcoppe for certen dutees by the owners of
them due to the lorde of the seide lordeshippe ^ & were comyng to the
seid distresse in peasible manere towardes the lordes pounde theire
And the seid Riottours hauevyng knowlege therof riottously with
force & Armes came & toke the seid distresse fro them and them then
& there bete wounded & maheymed in maner & forme as by the seide
bill of complaint is alleggid, the first distresse taken by the seid
mysdoers then and after that beyng still in pounde by reason of their
takyng aforeseide. Without that that the seid Abbot of By Ion d
hadde or hath ony suche fraunchise in maner & forme as by the seide
Answere is supposid, And withoute that that the seid Richard Joyfull
John Mercere & other named with hym to the nombre of xxij persones
or to ony nombre be gilty of ony Ryotte brekyng of ony pounde ^ or
comyng in harnesse in maner ^' And forme as by the seide Answere is
supposid. And with oute that the seid Richard Joyfull or ony of his
company hadde ony manere vnfittyng langage to the seide mysdoers
And with oute that the seid Robert Symson hadde ony such langage to
the seid mysdoers in manere & forme as by their seid Answere is sup-
posid, And with oute that the seid Richard Joyfull or ony of the seide
complaynauntes made ony assaute or Riotte vpon the seid mysdoers
in manere & forme as by their seide answere is also supposid, And for
as moche as none of the seide mysdoers with sey not the disobeyng
of the firste privy Sealx to them delyuered but that they & euery of
them confesse a contempte done to the kyng oure souereign lorde for
the disobesaunce of his moste highe comandement in the same privy
Sealx conteyned the seid complaynauntes pray therfore that the seide
mysdoers & disobeyers of the seid privy sealx may be punysshed
Accordyng to there demerites in that behalfe. All which maters the
seid Richard Joyfull & the seid John mercere bene redy to proue as
' See Introd., p. cxx. upon Littleton, 47 b.
* * Si autem iasta sit captio videlicet * By the statute of Northampton, 2 Ed.
pro seruicio detento ab aliquoqui seruitium 3, c. 8 (1328), it was forbidden to go or
illud cognoscit, tunc poterit ille qui capit ride armed. In 1383 the Commons peti
cognoscere captionem illam, nee in tali tioned Bichard 2 that the Act might be
captione delinquit.* Bracton, f. 166. proclaimed in every county and enforced,
* * If goods be distrained without cause, to which the king assented. The plea of
and impounded, the owner can not breake the plaintififs in this replication is probably
the pound and take them out, because they in view of that statute,
are then in the custody of the law.* Coke
JOYFULL r. WARCOPPE 1]3
this Court wuU Awarde & prayen in all thyng as they haue prayed in
there seid bill.
E. The Eeioynder of Robert Warcoppe thelder Robert War-
coppe the yonger and other to the Replicacion of Richard
Joy full it John mercer.
The said Robert Warcoppe thelder Robert Warcoppe the yonger and
other defendauntes say in euery thyng As in there Answer is Comprysid
And ouer that they say that After the said Richard JoyfuU John mercer
Gylbert musgraue and other hadd Riotously takyn the said Catall oute
of the pynfold within the franches of Blaterne Aforesaid as is Allay d ^
in the said Answer the said Joyfull mercer Gylbert musgraue and other
Riotus persons to the nomber exprissid in the said Answer Ryotusly
with oute eny cause toke certen catall within the said franches of
Blatern And theym forcybly drove oute of the said franches to such
tyme As the said warcoppe the yonger come in peassible maner and
iij persons with hym, and desyred the delyuere there of in lawfuU
maner, vpon whame the said Joyfull mercer, Gylbert musgraue and
other made Assaute in maner and forme As is alleggid in the said
Answer. Withoute that eny lawfull Amendes was oflferd by the
owners of the said Catall So impoundyd And without that there were
eny dewtes dew by the owners of the said Catall last takyn to the lord
of the said Lordshippe or to ony other for which they myght of Right
distreyne the said Catall And without that the said Warcoppe and
other toke the said distres fro theym in Riotus maner And withoute
that the said catall fyrst inpowndyd were styll in the pownd att the
tyme of the Assaute & Aifrey made vpon the said warcoppe & other.
All which maters they er Redy to prove As this Court will Award And
prayeth As they prayed in there said Answer.
F. Termino Pasche Anno regni regis xv°.*
Ricardus Joifull Johannes mercer Gabriell Warcoppe Thomas
mosse senior Robertus Gibson Robertus mosse de Comitatu
Westmerland contra Robertum Warcoppe seniorem & Robertum
Warcoppe Juniorem.*
Robert Warcoppe thelder sworne vpon this complaint deposith that
he nether bete nether causid tobe bete, the day and place within declared
' Allay, the original form of the later * It is to be observed that these are the
allege.' Cf. p. 234, infra. See J. A. H. parties as set out in A. Perhaps the solu-
Murray, * Eng. Diet.' s.v. Allay. tion of this puzzle is that this document
' May 6— June 1, 1500. J. J. Bond, was evidence taken by commissioners and
* Handybook of Dates.* returned to the Star Chamber, and that the
114 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
any of the complaynauntes, nether was weting willing privye nether
consenting there to. albe it of this deponentes houshold seruauntes
there were diuers that is to say Robert warcoppe the youner John
Elwold, Christofor Thomson, John Patynson and other mo which hav-
ing knoulege that diuers seruauntes & tenauntes of the Lord latemer
and of Edward Musgraves were come and breke vp the powndfold^ of
the tranches of the abbey of biland ' and to take oute certaigne bestes
that there were empounded for damage faysant vpon the ground
of this deponent, went to a water side ouer which the said tenauntes
and seruants of the Lord latimer and Edward were comyng * with the
bestes that were empounded as is before said, and also other bestes of
such as be now the defendantes^ and bade thaim leve the bestes
behind thaim, and thei expresslie denyed so to do, and oute with
thaire wepons and assaulted the said deponentes seruantes and if any
hurt were then doone to any man there it was in thair owne assaulte,
and not in ^ blame of the defendauntes. And this notwithstanding
this deponent as he saith brought to Appulby at the next Sesshions
such of his seruants as were at the said affray, where thei were bound
and found suretie to the peax and the said persons making the said
affray that is to say Richard Joifull and other be at thair libertie.
PYNSON & OTHERS «. SQUYER & OTHERS.^
A. To the right Reuerend fader yn God my lorde Cardinall
Archbisshope of Caunterburye And Chaunceller of Inglonde.^
1500 Lamentablye Compleynyth vn to youre Gode grace youre poore
Oratourz and daily bedeman ^ Rycharde Pynson ^ Cornelys Johnson ^
and Harre Wilson ' of the parish of seynt Clementes without temple
Court thereupon ordered a fresh plaint to be prayer/ here * petitioner/
filed, which has disappeared, but to which * The printer, a Norman by birth, not
B was the answer. naturalised till 1513 (S.P. Dom. Henry 8,
*-* Interlined. i. 4873). The colophon of his first dated
* There follow, struck through, the book, * The Dialogue of Dives and Pauper,'
words ' to come to the said pound and bade by Henry Parker (1493), states that he was
thaim come no more.' living * at the Temple-barro of London,'
^ There follow, struck through, the though he shortly alters this to ' dwelling
words * and there the same persons.' without the Temple barre.' There he con-
* * thair ' struck through. tinned until the beginning of the sixteenth
' S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 94. century, when he moved to the sign of the
* John Morton, Archbishop of Canter- George in Fleet Street, continuing at that
bury, October 6, 1486 ; Chancellor, March 6, address till his death ' (d. 1530), * Diet. Nat.
1487 ; Cardinal, 1493 ; died October 12, Biog.' He succeeded Caxton as printer to
1500. ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' the King. Registers of Stationers' Com-
' Sic. The word is an obsolete form of pany (Birmingham, 1894), v. lix.
beadsman, according to J. A. H. Murray * Neither of these persons appeal's in
(' Eug. Diet.'), meaning literally * a man of the Begisters of the Stationers' Company.
PYNSON & OTHERS V. SQUYER & OTHERS 115
barre That where as they and theyre seruauntz the xxj daie of Aprill
last past ^ were yn God is peace an the kynges vn to the tyme that
oone Harre Swquier Cordiner^ John Walker sadeler baillye of the
Sauoye ^ & John uikers Bocher dwellyn yn the seid parish of Seynt
Clementes wyth yn the Countie of Middlesex accompanyed wyth
diners other Eiouttos and euyl disposed personz to your seid sup-
pliauntez vnknown to nombre of xl persons and aboue att x of the
Clocke att nyght of the same daye ley yn a wayte ® of youre seide
Complaynantz att the parish of seynt Clementes a fore seyd to thentent
to haue moordred & slayn your seid suppliauntz and soo accordyng
to their malicious and cruell entent they mett wyth youre said com-
pleinantz and theym then & their wyth force and armes cruelluy and
Riouttusley assautyd and theym by force droue yn to their housez or
elles they had bene slayn and att the same tyme and place maihemed
and hurte diuers of the seruantz of your seid suppliantz and the seid
Riottourz then not content butt fett ^® in forme ^^ and other abily-
mentz ^^ and wold haue broken vppe the doore of youre seid Oratourz
and soo to haue executed their furder malicious and cruell purpose
yf Gentill men had nott bene the which atthat tyme put theym from
their purpose, And on the Wensdaye then next ensuyng the seid
Riottours caused xv or xyj of their companye to lye yn awayte* for the
seruantz of the seid Richard Pynson yn flete stret yn london to
thentent to haue murdred and slayn hys seruantz & so they mette
wyth the same seruantz and theym then and their cruellye assauted
sore bete and wounded soo that they were yn great ieopardye of theyr
lyuys and att the same tyme and place the seid Riottourz felonouslye
toke awey a Cloke and a shorte dager from on of the seid seruantz and
haue solde the same Cloke to an vppeholester yn the parish of Seynt
Thomas thapostell yn London ^' yet moreouer att diuers tymys the
* 1500. a bench. Murray (s.v.) gives an example
' Cordwainer. ' Originally in Spanish, of its use as a weapon from Fabyan's
Italian, and Old French a maker of or ' Chron.' vii. coxxii. 246 : ' The munkes
dealer in Cordovan leather ; thence, in later with fourmes and candelstyckes defended
French and the Teutonic languages, a theym.'
worker in this leather, a shoemaker.* ''^ The usual form of * habiliments 'when
J. A. H. Murray, ' Eng. Diet.,' s.v. in the sense of weapons of war, doubtless
** This person does not appear in the list from the recognised connexion with able,
of stewards or bailiffs given by W. J. Loftie, ability, quasi ' things making able for war.'
• Memorials of the Savoy ' (1878), pp. 82, Cf. Gregory, * Chron.' (Camd. Soc.), 145.
83. See further B, p. 117, n. 1, infra. *A11 the abyllymentys of werre ... as
" Await, an obsolete substantive, an am- welle ponders, gunnys, schott or othyr
bush. Cf. Chaucer. Nonnes Pr. T. 406. artyleres.' J. A. H. Murray, • Eng. Diet.,*
* Homicides. . . . That in awayte lyn to s.v. Habiliment. Cf. also Fumivallys In,
morther men.' J. A. H. Murray, *£ng. Principal of, v. Johnson A others. A, p.
Diet.,' S.V. See also pp. 37 and 248. 239, infra.
'» See p. 141, n. 12. " In Knightrider Street, City. J. Stow,
" Apparently not a printer's * forme,' but ed. J. Strype, * Survey ' (6th ed 1754), i. 581.
I 2
116 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
seid Biottourz (&) '^ euyll disposed persons haue so manased and
thretened the same seruantz of the seid Richard Pynsonz & putt theym
yn such fer & perell of theyr lyuys that they durst nother goo to the
Church to hire their dyuyne seruycez nor to (goo) ^* owt of their
maisters doorres to doo their maisters besynes for whych assautz and
manassynges the seid seruantz bene departyd from the seid Richard
Pynson & haue left ryghte greate besynez the whiche he hath nowc yn
hande to be vndone to hys greate hurte and vtter distrucion. Also
the seid Harrye Squier, John Walker, John Viker & other of their
malicious & euyl disposed sect ^'^ haue made great othys and pro-
misys that their shall nother frenshman nor flemmyng dewell nor
abide wythyn the seid parish of seynt Clementes and thus dailye and
contenuellye the seid Riottourz manass your seid Oratourz & their
seruantz so that they nother their seruantz dare nott goo aboute
their laufull besynez to the vtter vndoyng of your seid Oratourz. In
Consideracion wher of please your grace to commaunde the seid Harrye
Squeyer, John Walker and John viker to appeir be fore the kynges
highnes and the lordes of hys moost honorable Gouncell att such tyme
& pleace & vnder such certeyne peyne as by your grace shalbe lemyted
to make aunswer to the premyssez and youre seid supphauntz shall
euer praie to all myghty God for your noble grace long to endure.
hidorsed. Termino Trinitatis anno xv ^^
Ricardus Pynson Cornelius Johnson & Henre Wylson contra
Balliuum de Sabau[dia] ^^ Henricum Squier & aUos.
B. The Seuerall answherres of Herry Squyer Cordyner John
Walker Bayly of Sauoye & John Vykers Bocher to the
Byll of Compleyntes of Richard Pynson Cornelys & Herry
Wylson.
Thei sey that the seid Byll of compleynt is insufficient vncerten &
vntrue & onely Imagined of malice without ony true grownd or cause
resonable to thenthent to vexe & trouble the seid Herry John &
John ageyn all right & good Concience and furthermore thei sey that
thei ne none of theym ner eny oder by theire procuryng or sterryng
be not in eny thyng gylty of eny ryott assemble felony mayme ore of
eny oder mysdemeanour oflfence or wronge in maner & fourme as is
surmytted by the seid byll of compleynt and the seid Herry seith
that he the same nyght immediatly after the fyrst Ryott supposed
" Conjectural ; MS. torn. " June 24 to July 16, 1500. J. J. Bond,
»* Following. ♦ Handybook ' (1889). '' MS. illegible.
PYNSON & OTHERS V. SQUYER & OTHERS 117
syttyng in his house with one Wylliajn Halys his neyghbour, one
persone to the seid Herry Squyer vnknown came in to his seid house
& shewed hym & to his seid neyghbour of affray made in the Strete
& therefore the seid Herry Squyer then & yet beyng one of the
kynges Constables of Seynt Clementes parysh ^ came out of his house
accompenyd onely with the seid William Halys & mett nygh his doore
the seyd Richard Pynson one Thomas Sutton ^ & William Berell ^ &
in the kynges name charged theym to kepe the kynges pees and the
seid Richard Pynson charged the seid Constable to kepe the kynges
pees & furthwyth with out eny further mysdemeanyng or hurt done
bytwyxt theym the seyd Herry Squyer went home ageyne to his
house in peseble wyse & there rested alle nyght. AUe which maters
thei be redy to proue as this Curt wyll award & praith to be
dismissed with their resonable Costes & damages for their wrongfull
trouble in this behalf.
Indorsed. Herry Squyer sworne vpon this his answer * and vpon
the bill of complaint ayen him saithe that he is not giltie of any
maner ryot as it is supposid in the said bill, bi his oath more &c.*
John Vicar sworne and examyned. He saith vpon his oath that
he is not giltie of any Riot contaigned in the bill ayenst him, for at
the time of the said Riot supposid he was continuallie in his owne
hous, and come not forth of his doores, vntill all was doone and
euery body withdrawn.
c. Thys ys the Replicacon of Richard Pynson Cornelis Jonson
and Harre Wylson to the seuerall Aunswer of Herry Squyer
John Walker & John Vikers.
The seide Richard Pynson CorneUs Johnson and Harre Wylson
sey that their Bylle of Complaynt is sufficient Certeyn & true and
nott ymagyned of malice butt ys Commensed on a true grownde and
' The parish of St. Clement Danes wad sail, StafiFord,' proved 1508 (J. C. C. Smith,
within the liberties of the Duchy of Lan- Index, ii. p. 512).
caster, as also was the Savoy. The de- * Will of * William Berell thelder,' of
fendant Squyer was the king's constable Crossed Freres, London, and Moohe Badowe,
as a servant of the duchy, which was the Essex, proved 1518 (J. C. C. Smith, Index, i.
king's. The liberties of the duchy, ac- p. 52). Will of William Berell, grocer, who
cording to J. Stow (ed. 1633, p. 492) were devised lands to the Prior and Convent of
governed by the chancellor of the duchy, the * Crossed Fryers,' near the Tower, dated
a steward, 'four burgesses & four assis- January 30, 1512, proved 1519. K. B.
tants to take up controversies; a baylifife, Sharpe,' Wills enrolled in Court of Husting,'
which hath two or three under bailiffes, London (1890), ii. 628.
that make arrests within that Libertio, ^ See Bath, Prior of, v. St. Augustine's,
four constables ' &q. Canterbury, Abbot of, p. 25, n 27.
-Will of Thomas Sutton, of 'St. M.e. * he can not say ' omitted.
Lawrence in the Jury, London, and Gnow-
118 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
on a Just Cause as ytt shalbe Euydently prouede att all tymez,
further more they sey that the seide Herre Sqwyer John Walker John
Vikers and euery of theym and other by their proeuryng and steryng
be gyltye of all Riottz assemblez felonys maymez ^ and of euery other
mysdemeanure Oflfence and wrong yn the seid bylle off Complaynt
conteynyd and ouer that the seide Cornelis Richard & Harre Wylson
sey and auerr yn althynges as they yn their seid bylle of Compleynt
haue supposed and alleged all whych maters they be redye to auer
& proue as thys Court woU awarde and praie that the seid Eiottourz
may be punysshyd accordyng to their offencez.
CARTER V. MALMYSBURY, ABBOT OF, AND OTHERSJ
A. To the most reiierent Father in god Byshop of
Salisburie keper of the kynges great Seale *
1500 Most lamentably complayneth to your good lordschip your dayly
Oratoure Robert Garter that where oone Roger Late Abbot ^ of the
monastery of seint Aldelme of Malmesbury ^ in the Countie of Wyltes
predicessoure to the nowe Abbate ' there for the summe of xl marcs ^
' Mayhems. * Mayhem, mahemium, 48. John Andover, d. 1462.
membri mutilatio or obtrunoatio, commeth 44. John Aylee (1462-1479).
of the French word mehaigne, and aignilieth To this last name Dugdale adds ' sup-
a oorporall hurt, whereby hee loseth a posed to have departed this life in 1479,
member, by reason whereof hee is less able because then
to fight ; as by putting out his eye, beating 45. Thomas Olveston was put into
out his foreteeth, breaking his skull, strik- possession of this abbey, and died in 1509.'
ing ofif his arme, hand or finger, or cutting Dugdale's editors, however, here intro-
ott his legge or foot, or whereby he loseth duce the following note : * It is more prob-
the use of any of his said members.' Coke able that he (John Aylce) died in 1475 or 1476,
upon Littleton, § 502; cf. id. § 194, and as among the patents we find one 16 Ed. 4 "de
3 Inst. 118. Cowel adds: * But the cutting regimine abbatie Malmsb. et temporalibus
off of an ear or nose, the breaking of the ejusdem commiss. priori Bathon. pro quin-
hinder teeth, or such like, was no mayhem, quennio." The editors had not consulted
it being rather a deformity of the body the original patent, which shows them to
than diminishing of strength.' Intcrp. s.v. be mistaken in their inference. See Introd.,
See also Pollock and Maitland, * Hist. Eng. p. cxxlii.
Law,' ii. p. 487, 488. It is most probable that * Roger ' refers
> S.CP. Hen. 7, No. 76. to Robert Persore, but whether this MS.
' Henry Deane, translated from Bangor or Dugdale be right it has not been possible
to Salisbury, December 7, 1499 (Le Neve, to ascertain.
* Fasti,' ii. 604) ; appointed Keeper of the * The second abbot (c. 670) and patron
Great Seal in succession to Morton, October saint of Malmesbury. See ' Diet. Nat. Biog.'
13, 1500 ; archbishop of Canterbury April * 262. 135. 4d. In the case of the Prior
26, 1501 (* Diet. Nat. Biog.'). These dates of Bath against the Abbot of St. Augustine's,
fix that of the petition within six months. Canterbury, p. 29, supra, the price was 16
' No abbot bearing the Christian name marks (lOl. l^. 4i.). * There are frequent
of Roger is to be found in Dugdale's list, cases of villains buying their freedom with
*■ Monast.' i. 256. The succession given by their own money.' Braoton's * Note Book,'
Dugdale is as follows : pi. 31, 343. P. Vinogradoff, * Villainage in
41. Robert Persore, 1424-1434. England ' (1892), p. 87. For the acquisi-
42. Thomas Bristow, d. 1456. lion of fortunes by bondmen (natiri) see
CARTEK V, MALMYSBURY, ABBOT OF, AND OTHERS 119
of lafull money of Englond to hym by - homas Carter Grauntfather
to your seint *'* Suppliaunt and his Frendys payed the same late Abbot
and his Couent by their Sufficient Dede of manumyssion sealed vnder
their Couent seale raanumysid and made free for euer the seid Thomas
Cartar oone William Cartar and John Cartare Sonnes to the seid
Thomas and all their Sequele ^ and afterwardes the seid John Carter
hadd issue your seid Suppliaunt and oone John AyUe Abbot theire
predicessor to the seid nowe Abbot longe tyme after the seid manu-
myssion not only reteyned youre Suppliant in his seruyce yerly by
the space of xvij yeres® And by all the seid tyme well and trewly
contentid and paied to hym his wages as they were agreid appon at
the tyme of the seid reteyner but also dimysid vnto hym ij mesas
with thappurtenaunces in Malmesbury foresayd to haue to hym for
terme of his lyffe^ and receyued of hym for a Fyne c s., And besydes
this the seid now Abbote *^ reteyned yerely in seruice by the space of
yj or vij yeres oone John Cartare Brother to your Suppliaunt and
trewly contentid paied vnto hym all suche wages as they at the tyme
of the same reteynere were agreed appon and afterwardes the seid
Dede of manumyssion come to the handes of oone Thomas Herner
Laurence Hamonde late decessed ^^ and John WhythypoU whych Dede
by sotill and crafty meanes by twene the seid Laurence and John and
the seid now Abbot is come to the handes and kepyng of the same
Abbot So hit is gracious lorde that thes premisses notwythstondyng
* Domesday of St. Paul's/ p. xzv. Cf. escheators, of London and Bristol, being
Leadam, * Select Cases in the Court of issued on October 25, 1462, for the restitu-
Bequests ' (Selden Soc. 1898), pp. Ixz-lzzii. tion of the temporalities of the abbey to Dan
* Sic, by mistake for * seid.' John Ayly, monk, whose election as abbot
' Latin sequela, literally * litter ' (of B.(ichard Beauchamp), bishop of Salisbury,
animals), customarily used in legal docu- had confirmed. For the condition of the
ments to express the ofifspring of bondmen. abbey under John Aylie's government see
Cowel (s.y. Manumission) gives an ex- Introd. pp. cxxiii-cxxix. It is probable that
ample of a manumission by John Pcckham, he became blind about the year 1475, for
archbishop of Canterbury : * Manumit- November 8 of that year is the latest of his
timus et ab omni jugo servitutis absol- nominations upon the commission of the
vimus perpetufeque titulo libertatis decora- peace for Wilts, which had been continuous
mus Bobertum de Hempstcde in Freintfeld since 1463. P. B. 1461-67, p. 575, 1467-
qnondam nativum cum tota sequela sua 1477, p. 635.
procreata et procreanda.' So William de * See Introd., p. cxxv.
Longesp^e in 1234 granted to the manor of '® Thomas Olveston. Doubtless an
Berencester (Bicester) his land in adopted name from Olveston in Gloucester-
Wrechervych (Wrechwick), * cum villanis shire. The temporalities of the abbey were
et eorum sequelis et catallis.' (White restored to him by patent of June 7, 1480,
Kennett, ' Parochial Antiquities ' (1818), i. in which he is described as * monk of the
305). This form Kennett in his ' Glossary monastery ' (Patent Bolls, 20 Ed. 4, p. 202).
(vol. ii.) erroneously renders * suit and ser- I have not been able to discover any further
vice,' doubtless confounding it with * secta.' particulars of him.
** This is substantiated by the Patent " Laurence Hamonde of Tetbury,
Bolls, 2 Ed. 4 (1462), p. 228, a mandate to Gloucestershire. Will proved 1498. J. C. C.
the escheators of Wilts, Gloucester and the Smith, * Index of Wills,' i. 249.
marches of Wales, and the mayors, as
120 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
the same Abbot that now is not Feryng God the kyng oure souerayn
lorde ne his lawes in the vigill of the holy Trinitie laste paste *^ of
greate Crueltie and extorcionet mynde without pitie caused the seid
John Whythipoll Cristofer Capes John Mochgood Eychard Chalener
William Carew and Thomas Tobie his seruauntes accompanyed wyth
diuerse othere ryotise and mysrulid persons to goo to the house of
youre seid Suppliaunt at Malmesbury fore seid and ther they with
force and armes that is to sey with Bokelers swerdes Dilles ^^ and
Staffes and other abilementes of warre ^* riotisly the seid bowse and
Glosse of your seid Oratour brake and entred and v Bollockes & x
keyne ** ix calues cix shep of the goodes and Catalles of your seid
Oratour to the value of xx U. then and ther found riotusly with
great myght and force toke and dryve away and conveyed the same
to the sayd monastery and the same goodes and Catalles the seid now
Abbot receyueth and kepyth ther wyth great myght and will not
suflfre your seid Oratour his wyflf nor Childer haue any soucour or to
be releued of the same to their vtter distruction and nere Faraysshyiig
and ouer that the seid riotouse and mysruled persons by the Gom-
maundement of the seid now Abbot then and ther in to your seid
Oratoure made assaute and hym toke and imprisoned and so from
his sayd howse carried hym in prisoun as a theff in to the seid
monasterie and ther put hym both handes and fete in strayte stockes
and ponderous Jrrons and tied hym to a great new cheyn to a great
Stocke and so yet kepyth hym in that intollerable durese and willnat
suflfre hym to goo to bayly ne nianeprise nor his wyflf nor other his
frendis to speke with hym nor to bryng to hym any thyng that shuld
be for his sussetenaunce releue or socour and so ther he lyeth most
pitiously cryyng and walyng in full great heuynes and all most nere
dede and lyke to be ^^ shortely murdered excepte your gracious lord-
schip of your pure pytie and mercy prouyd for hym som remedy in
the haste possible. Please it ther fore your lordschip the premisses
tenderly consideryd to graunt severall wryttys sub pena to be directed
to the same now Abbot John Whythypoll and William Carewe com-
maundyng them and euery of them by the same to apere afore oure
souerand lorde the kyng and the lordes of his most honorable Councell
at his palyee at Westminster at a certen day and vnder a certeyn
peyn by your good lordeschipp to be lymytted ther to Answere to the
premisses and Ferther to doo and obeye asby the sayd Councell shalbe
'* Jane 12, 1600. " See Pynson & ore. v. Squyor & ors.,
" Sic for • Bills,' the stroke distinguish- A, p. 116, n. 12.
ing B from D having been omitted. On " Pluml of cow.
bills, see Walterkyn v. Letice, A, p. 165, n. 5. »• * dede ' struck through.
CARTER t\ MALMYS13URY, ABHOT OF, AND OTHERS 121
thought reasonable, And also to Commaunde the seyd nowe Abbott
that he vpon the sight of the sayed wryt of sub pena do deliuer or
cause to be deliuered your seid Oratour out of his said prisoun and
suflfre hym to be at large soo that he may be forth comyng to sue this
his said Complaynt. And this at the reuerence of god and in the
way of Charite &c. And your sayd Oratour shall dayly pray to god
for the preseruacion of your good lordschipp.
Indorsed. Excellentissimo Domino Eegi & consilio suo apud
Westmonasterium Reddita octabis Michaelis.^'^
Garter contra Abbatem de Malmesbury.
B.
Henricus dei gracia Eex AngUe & Francie & Dominus Hibernie
Dilectis & Fidelibus suis Thome ^ Abbati Cirencestriensi ^ & Thome
Holford clerico ^ salutem. Cum Eobertus Carter quandam peticionem
versus abbatem monasterii sancti Aldelmi de Malmesbury Johannem
Wliythypoll & Willelmum Carewe coram nobis in Consilio nostro nuper
e>diibuit quodque eisdem Abbati Johanni & Willelmo per breuia nostra
precepimus quod essent coram nobis in Consilio predicto ad certum
diem iam preteritum sub certa pena in eodem breui contenta peticioni
predicte responsuri ac idem Abbas adeo impotens sui existat quod
vsque Curiam ConsiUi nostri ad diem ilium ad responsionem suam
eidem peticioni fiendam absque maximo corporis sui periculo laborare
non suiScit vt accepimus Nos statum eiusdem Abbatis pie compaci-
entes ac de fidelitatibus vestris plenius confidentes dedimus vobis
^coniunctim & diuigim potestatem'* ipsum Abbatem de & super materia
peticionis predicte diligenter examinandi responsionem que suam
recipiendi & in scriptis redigendi. Et ideo vobis mandamus quod
viso tenore peticionis predicte quem vobis mittimus presentibus inter-
clusum ad certos diem & locum quos ad hoc prouideritis ad prefatum
Abbatem seu ipsum si commode laborare sufficiat coram vobis venire
»' October 6, 1600. C. Smith, * Index,* i. 278). According to
' According to Dugdale Thomas Aston, A. T. Lee, ' History of Tetbury * (1857), p.
abbot of Cirencester, 1488-1504 (* Monast.' 218, the connexion of the family of Holford
vi. i. 170) ; but he signs Itun, see p. 123 with this place did not begin until the
infra, and qu. whether for Aston we should seventeenth century. Tetbury is five miles
not read ' Alton.' In the * History and N.W. of Malmesbury.
Antiquities of Cirencester ' (3rd ed. 1842), * Substituted in another hand for
p. 106, the name is given as Ashton. words erased. * Dedimus potcstatem is a
'^ Cirencester, a mitred abbey of writ whereby a commission is given to a
Augustinian or Black Canons, founded by private man for the speeding of some act
Henry 1 in 1117. Valued in 26 Henry 8 appertaining to a judge, and it is granted
at a yearly revenue of 1,0512. 7s. Oi<2., Dugd. most commonly upon suggestion that the
1.3.0. party which is to do something before a
' Thomas Holford, clerk, of Tetbury, judge or in court is so feeble that he can-
QloucesterBhire. Will proved 1506 (J. C. not travel.' Co wel, 'Interpr.' s. v. Dedimus.
122 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
faciatis ac ipsum de & super materia peticionis predicte super sacra-
mentum suum tactis per ipsum sacrosanctis dei euangeliis corporaliter ^
protestandum diligenter examinetis dictam que suam responsionem
eidem peticioni fiendam recipiatis & vt predictum est in scriptis redi-
gatis. Et cum illam sic ceperitis eam nobis in Consilium nostrum
predictum vnacum tenore predicto ac nomine attornati quem pro eo
habere voluerit ac toto facto vestro in hac parte in Octabis sancti
michaelis proxime futuri ® vbicunque tunc fuerit ^ sub sigillis vestris
distincte & aperte mittatis & hoc breue. Teste me ipso apud West-
monasterium xij die Julii anno regni nostri sextodecimo.®
Wabham.®
Indorsed. Per Consilium. Eesponsio Thome abbatis Cirencestri-
ensis & Thome Holford Clerici infranominati.
Virtute istius breuis nobis directi venire fecimus coram nobis pre-
fato Abbate & Thoma Holford infranominatum Abbatem Sancti
Aldelmi de Malmesbury ac ipsum de & super materia peticionis in
dicto breui specificate super sacramentum suum tactis per ipsum
sacrosanctis dei Euangeliis corporaliter prestitum diligenter examina-
uimus responsionem que suam eidem peticioni factam recepimus &
in scriptis redegimus quas quidem responsionem & peticionem vnacum
nomine attornati quem predictus Abbas de Malmesbury pro se habere
voluerit infrascriptas domino Begi in consilium suum sub Sigillis
nostris ^^ mittimus presentibus consutas prout interius nobis precipitur.
c. This ys thanswere of thabbot of Malmysbury
to the byll of Bobert Carter.
1 The seid abbot seith that the said byll ys vncerten and insufficient
I .' I and the mater therof determinable by the comen lawe wheroflf he
I prayeth allowance and for declaracion of the trouth of the seid mater
he seyth that he is and at the tyme of the matere comprised in the
seid byll supposed to be done was seased of the maner of Newnton in
^ ' It is called a corporal oath because Jorid. (1792), ii. 183. See also p. 218, infra,
he toucheth with his hand some part of the On the other hand, it is to be noted that the
Holy Scripture.' Cowel, s.v. Oath. petition is to the Lord Keeper (see p. xHii,
• October 6, 1601. n. 4), and that Stodam, the attorney (p. 125),
' Ubicunque tunc fuerit. This might was one of the two attorneys practising in
appear to be a proceeding before the Council the Star Chamber. See p. 137, infra,
and not before the statutory Court of the Star " 1601.
Chamber. The form of writ given by Hud- • Master of the Rolls, February 13,
son as issuing from the Star Chamber 1494-August 11, 1501, on which last date
varies in this as in other particulars. It he became keeper of the Great Seal in place
runs : ' Nosinde et consilium nostrum apud of Archbishop Deane. E. Foss, * Lives of
Westmonasterium de toto facto vestro in the Judges,' v. 242.
hac parte . . . certifioetis.* W. Hudson, »• The seals have disappeared.
* Of the Court of Star Chamber,' in Collect.
CARTEK l\ MALMYSBURY, ABBOT OF, AND OTHERS 123
the Counte of Wiltes ^ in his demene as of Fee in the right of his seid
monasterie and that the seid Bobert is vylleyne & bondman ^ regard-
aunt ^ & belongyng to the seid maner, And that the same abbot &
his predecessours haue byn seased of the seid Bobert & all his aun-
cestours & blode * as of theire vylleyns & bondmen belongyng to the
same maner out of tyme of mynde in the ryght of the seid monasterie,
And because the seid Bobert wold not be iustyfied ^ by the seid nowe
abbot the same abbot sued a writte of Natiuo habendo directe to the
Shireffe of the Counte of Wiltes ® by vertue of whiche writte one
Thomas Long esquier now Shireflf of the same Counte ' directed his
Warant to the seid william Cary then beyng Baylyflf of the Burgh of
Malmesburye Cristofer Capys Walter Mochegoode Bichard Chaunde-
lere & other commaundyng them by the same in the kynges behalf to
take the seid Bobert Carter with all his goodes & catalles and all his
sequele and them to bryng to the seid now abbot by force of Whiche
Writte and Warant the seid Baylyff Cristofer Capes Walter Moche-
goode & other in the seid Warant specified in peasible manere in the
seid vygyll of the blessed Trinite toke the body of the seid Bobert
Carter then beyng in the hous of one Walter Estcourte in Malmesbury
» A manor granted to the
abbey by
Athelstan in a.d. 081 (Dugd.
Monast.' i.
258). The constituent revenues derived
from this manor are set forth in ibid.
p. 203 as foUows :
Newynton
I. s, d.
liedditus Assise
0 9 2
Kedditus Custumariorum
Tenentium
12 19 8
Firmarii ....
12 0 8
Pannagium Porcorum .
0 3 0
Firmarii Terrarum
0 10 0
Porquisitiones Curie
0 10 0
Decime ...
12 0
Annua Pencio
0 8 0
Total revenues 282. 155. Od,
In the next manor (Chareleton), in
addition to the rents of customary tenants,
there is an item ' Kedditus tenencium ad
voluntatem domini.* These were probably
tenants of the demesne, most likely bond-
men. See I. S. Leadam, * The Inquisition
of 1517,' Trans. R. Hist. Soc. (1892), N.8.
vi. 219, 220, 255. It would appear, there-
fore, that at the time of the valuation of
1540 there were no bondmen at Newyn-
ton, which suggests that the decree of the
Star Chamber may have gone in favour of
the plaintiff.
' On the confusion of villains with
bondmen by the Norman lawyers and the
real distinctions between the two see ibid.
passim. Also, id. * The Last Days of
Bondage in England,* Law Quarterly Beview
(1893), ix. 30, pp. 351-362.
' As distinguished from ' villain in
gross' (capitagius). See Trans. B. Hist.
Soc. s.c, p. 194 and notes.
* * Natives, or villains bom, had their
pedigrees as well as the most noble among
the peers. Such pedigrees were drawn up
to prevent any fraudulent assertion as to
freedom and to guide the lord in case he
wanted to use the native's kin in prosecu-
tion of an action de nativo habendo '
(Vinogradofif, p. 143). An example of such
a pedigree is given ibid. Appendix x. p. 440.
* Controlled. J. A. H. Murray, * Engl.
Diet.' S.V.
' ' A writ that lay to the sheriff for a
lord whose villain claimed for his inheri-
tance (and) run from him for the appre-
hending and restoring him to his lord
again.' Fitzh., Nat. Brev. f. 77.
' Thomas Long of Draycot Ceme, son
and heir of John Long by Margaret,
daughter of Wayte (J. Aubrey, ' Wilt-
shire,' edited by J. E. Jackson (Devizes,
1802). T. L. married Margery, daughter of
Sir Edward Darell of Littlecote, by whom
he left three sons (J. Britton, * Beauties
of England and Wales,' vol. xv. p. 584);
knighted in 1501 (W. C. Metcalfe, < Book
of Knights ' [1885], p. 80) ; Sheriff of Wilts
in 1500 and 1500 (* List of Sheriffs,' P.B.O.,
124 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
aforeseid and immediatly after that the same day & yere in lyke
peasible manere entred a close of pasture that the seid Eobert
then occupied in Malmesbury aforeseid and the seid v bullokkes x
kyne ix kalves liij shepe & viij lambes parcell of the seid goodes &
catalles in the seid byll Specified then & there founde toke and the
body of the seid Robert with the seid v bullokkes x kyne ix kalves
liij shcfpe & viij lambes brought & delyuered to the seid nowe abbot
as laufull was for them to do ** Whiche abbot the same Robert re-
ceyued & imprisoned ^ and the same v bullokkes x kyne ix kalves liij
shepe & viij lambes toke & kepte as his propre goodes and catalles as
laufull was for hym to do. Without that the seid Roger late abbot of
Malmesbury & his Co vent by there dede of manumyssyon manu-
mysed or made Free the seid Thomas Carter John Carter or William
Carter as in the seid byll is surmysed, And without that the seid
John Ayle late abbot dymysed vnto the seid Robert ij meses for terme
of his lyff and albe it ther hadde be ony suche dymyse as ther was
not, or yf ther were ony suche reteyner in seruice as in the seid byll
ys surmysed it is not materiall in the law to exclude therby the ryght
of the seid nowe abbot & of his seid monasterie that thei haue to the
seid Robert as there bondman, And without that ony dede off
manumyssyon of the seid Thomas came to the handes of the seid
Thomas Heorner Laurence or John WethipoU, And without that ony
suche dede ys comme to the handes or kepyng of the seid nowe abbot,
or that there were euer ony sotyll or Crafty meanes bitwene the same
abbot and the seid Laurence & John WethipoU, And without that
the seid Baylyflf^*^ Cristofer Capys & other in the seid byll specified in
riotous wyse or in ony other maner were at the hous that the seid
Robert occupied in Malmesbury in the seid vygyll of the blessed
Trinite as also by the same byll is vntruly surmysed. And without
that the same Baylyff Cristofer Capes & other in the seid byll speci-
fied toke ^^ ony goodes and catalles of the seid Robert Carter other
than in this answere be specified. And without that the seid nowe
1898) ; died 1508, in which year his will was les membres entiers.*
proved (J. C. C. Smith, * Index,' ii. 340) ; " * Bayliffs of Franchises be those that
buried in Draycot church (Aubrey, p. 230). be appointed by every lord within his
" * Ceux (serfs) ne poent rien purchaser liberty, to do such offices within his pre-
forqe al oes lur scignur,' * Mirror of Jus- cincts as tlie bayliff errant doth at large in
tices ' (Selden Soc. 1893). * Par ley de tere the county ' (T. Blount, ' Law Diet.' [1670]^
tut ceo qc le vileyn ad si est a soun s.v. Bayliflf). See also as to the office of
seigneur.' Y. B. E. T. 13 Ed. 3 [17] p. 235, bailiff F. W. Maitland, * Township and
cf. ibid. M. T. [54] p. 102, Brltton, ii. vii. 1. Borough ' (Cambridge, 18U8), pp. 77, 208.
• Cf . the ' Mirror of Justices ' (Selden The abbots were lords of Malmesbury, Dugd.
Roc. 1893), vii. 79 : * Ceux (serfs) poent les * Monast.' i. 263.
seignurs firgir, ceppir, emprisoner, bat-re, e "An erasure of about 2 J inches in
chastier a voluntie, sauve a euz les vies e length follows.
CARTER V. MALMYSBURY, ABBOT OF, AND OTHERS 125
abbot of Cruelte or of extorcious mynde caused the seid John Wethi-
poU or ony other person in the seid byll specified or ony other riotous
or mysruled person to go to the close that the seid Robert then also
occupied as in the same byll is surmysed otherwise then in this
answere is alleged, or without that the seid abbot or ony of his seid
seruaunts be gyltye of ony ryot or of onythyng done contrary to the
kynges peas, And ouer theis the seid abbot seythe that ouer the seid
goodes and catalles in this answere abouespecified brought to hym
by the vertue of the seid writte he lafte with the wyff & children of
the seid Robert goodes & catall to the value of xx marcs ^* whiche be
sufficient for there sustentacion as yet and the same abbot offerd to
delyuer to them suche mylche kyen as he hadde from them toward
there sustentacion ^^ whiche they refused to receve butyf they mought
haue hadde all other the seid goodes and catallys,^^ And without that
the seid Robert was by the seid nowe abbot or by ony person for hym
so straytely imprisoned and kept as in the seid byll is surmysed. All
whiche maters the seid nowe abbot is redy to prove as this Court
wyll award and prayeth to be dysmyssed out of the same with his
reasonable costes & expenses susteyned in this behalff &c.
Thabbat of the monastery of Seynt aldelme of
Malmesbury aboue named putteth in his
place & maketh for his attourney William
Stodam,^^ to defend ayenst Robert Carter in
the mater comprised in the byll hervnto
annexed.
Thomas Itun ^^
Thomas Holforde
Indorsed. Sherched the 13 may
anno Elizabethae 18.^^
" 13Z. 6s. Sd. •» See Introd., p. cxxvii.
'^ A similar spirit of resistance was
exhibited by the alleged bondman William
Netheway when amends were ofifered by Sir
Edward Gorge who claimed his goods as
belonging to his bondman. * Select Cases
in Court of Requests ' (Selden Soc. 1898),
p. 45.
"* See B, p. 121, n. 1, supra.
•" The name of a family at Burford,
Oxfordshire (see J. C. C. Smith, * Index of
Wills '). The name of this person, however,
does not occur in John Fisher's * History of
Burford ' (1861). Cf. p. 134, infra. W.Hud-
son, in his ' Treatise of the Court of Star
Chamber ' (1792), p. 179, mentions ' Stood-
ham the attorney ' for the city of York ats.
Danby in 10 Hen. 7.
*^ This indorsement suggests that in-
quiry was made as to the status of the
family of Carter at this time (1576) with
a view -to their manumission. Unfor-
tunately the manumissions of serfs on
Crown lands, then general, have not yet
been sorted in the Record Office. That
such an inquiry should be made, if it were
made, appears to involve the conclusion
that in this case judgement was given for
the defendant, but see n. 1, supra. In
1575 (Pat. RoU, 17 Eliz. pt. 2, ni. 39) is
a grant by which Queen Elizabeth gives
to Sir Henry Lee, knight, as a reward
for his services, the fines and compo-
sitions that he could extract from any
two hundred of her bondmen and bond-
women for the manumission of them-
selves, their families, and their lands.
Second letters patent proceeded to present
Sir H. Lee with the fines and compositions
from a hundred more of the Queen's bond-
126 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
tru(e) * (t)hat he had hard say or not, and thabbo(t) ' * ^ (de)-
maimdid ^ of this depon(en)t^ what it was and then this deponent
(did s)*aye, Sir, I her say that ye clajrme Robert here now present to
be * ^ (bo)ndman.* And the said Abbot answcrd, I wote not
yet whether I will or not. Then said this deponent to the abbot agen
as he saith ^ on this forme ^ my Lord he is as fre as the best man
that is here, and ye do him wrong and ye make any clayme to him
for I haue seen haneled and hard red a fayre manumission vnder the
Covent seale of this place made to Thomas Carter grauntfader to this
poor man. Then stode therbie in the hall where this communieacion
was oone Thomas White yet a lyve, husband man, and he said then
and there the said abbot hering it, I wote righte wele that my fadre
lent the said Thomas Carter x li. for to purehaee the said manumission
with. Which w^ordes this spokyn, the said Robert Carter then and there
praied the said Abbot if he wold make any clajrme to him for his
bondman that he wold take him evyn then, for he wold abide it, and
the Abbot answerd. Nay, I will not medle with the now that I haue
herd thies men speke. And nomore he dyd as this deponent saith
vntill the said Robert lay so soore seke that he was shreven and
howseld ^ and then thabbot send his folkes to his hous and pastures
and tooke all the goode that he might come by aswell catall as other
of the said Robertes more « rp^^^^ ^erne.
Furthre this deponent examyned how the said Dede of manumission
came to the keping of the said Water Heme ^
saith that it was *^ *' a pledge f •^ « « *2
John •^ #7 •/ fadre to the said Robert •^ *^
*^ *^ Tho(ma)s2 Carter, and that appered by a booke
th(at) ^ the said W •^ (m)ade^ in his life time in whiche he
wrote all his d * ^ *e * to him and also thos that he himself
ought. And seith that in the same boke the same Water * wrote all
suche pledges as he had of any persons, and for what somme thay lay
men and bondwomen. I. S. Leadam, * Last of Castle Ck)mbe in 1486 where the ous-
Days of Bondage in England/ Law Quar- tomary tenants rejected the lord's claim
terly Review (October, 1893), ix. 36, p. 357. upon the bondman's estate. ' Hist, of the
* These depositions are fragmentary. Manor of Castle Combe,' p. 223, Trans. B.
written on the front and dorse of two folios. Hist. Soc. (1892), N.S. vi. p. 251.
* MS. torn. '~' Interlined. * In the plaint the castodian of the deed
* Communicated, from 'housel,' the is named Thomas Hemer (p. 119, supra),
consecrated elements. Qu. is this Walter Heume of Tetbury,
» This bondman had not the protection whose will was proved in 1486 (J. C. C.
afforded by a customary tenancy. See the Smith, * Index,' i. 269). ?
case of a bondman (* nativus') of the manor ^ MS. indecipherable.
CARTER V, MALMYSBURY, ABBOT OF, AND OTHERS 127
and this booke this deponent had long in his possession after the deth
of the said water, and he saw and red in the same booke that the
said John * Carter had borowed of the said water vpon pledge of a
manumission to the said Thomas his fadre made vnder the Govent
seale of the monasterie of Malmesberie xj s. and this is true by his oath
and in perell of his soul.
Thomas Hebne.
John Newman of Tetberie aforsaid husbandman of thage of Ixxv
yere as he saith sworne and examyned vpon the said bill and In-
terrogatories aforsaid deposith that he was seruaunt to I'homas Carter
grauntfadre to Robert Carter the now defendaunt vpon a Ix^* yeres
goone Utle lesse and he know that his said maistre then bond to the
house of Malmesberie was very desirous to be free ant to be manumised
howbe it that he was very aged and had not many yeres to lyve, yet
natheleas he had greate mynd that his heires and blode aftre him
might be free and that he might be free or he died and if he might
bring that aboute it wold be more joifull to him then any worlelie
goode. Such mynde this deponent knew him of bi thes wordes that
he herd him speke diuers and many times iiij or v yere before his
death. For which purpos the same Thomas Carter made diuers
frindes dwelling with the then (abbot) ^ of Malmesberie in his house
hold whos names were Watkyn Ev(ered)e^ and Jenkyn Sydynham
gentlemen, to be meanys and to ent(er i)n^ communicacion with
thabbot thair Lord for a m(anumi)ssion^ for the said Thomas. And
in conclusion the said Abbot * ^ agreable that the said Thomas
shold be manumised bi him and his Covent and also all his heires
aftre him. What som the same Thomas shold pay for his manu-
mission this deponent is not now remembred albe it the said Watkyn
Everede and Jenkyn Sydynham sent worde to the said Thomas Carter
of all the somme, but this deponent knowth righte wele that oone
NichoU white then of Asshlegh fadre to Thomas white of Cheggelow
fast bi asshley when a lyve sent to the said Thomas Carter to the
payment for his said manumission x U., and that this deponent knowith
for that the said Thomas white come fro his said fadre to Newnton fe
within a myle of Tetbere to this deponentes said maistre Thomas
Carter with the said x li., and this deponent saw the money laid out
vpon a boord in Newntons courte bi the same i homas White and
there it was told in gold and grotes and ^ after that ^ that the same
* Substituted for * Thomas ' which is • Interlined for ' it delivere ' struck
struck through. John was the father of through,
the plaintiff (p. 119, supra).
128 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Thomas White deliuered it to the said Thomas Carter in his fadres
name, and there they appointed a day when it shold be repaid to the
said Nicholl White of which day this deponent is not now remembred
albe it this money was brofte to the said Thomas Carter on a Wensday
and on the next morow thursday the same Thomas Carter took iiij of
his principal! and hed neyburs that is to say John Parson a Landed
man Richard Porter John Cossham Hopkyn * ^ ge Hugh
F * ^ * ^ then ^" went to Malmesberre to the * ^ * ^
and paid •^ •^ *' Marbray^nhe *^ •^ *'
*^ *^ manumission to *^ ** *^ *^
^* thair Coven t seale the said Thomas Ca(rter) ^ and all his (heire)s^
and posterite and that this deponent knowith as (he sait)h'' for
he was there present ^'wayting on his said h*' and saw the money
paid and told opinlie vpo the boorde in the hall of thabbay but how-
mich he is not now remembred. This deponent saw ^' also the dede
of manumission sealid with the Govent seale, for the said Thomas and
his heires and so he herd it red opinlie in the hall aforsaid bi the said
abbot then being.^"* What thabbotes name was this deponent is not now
remembred of as he saith, and aftre that the same abbot made the
high priour ther ** ther also rede it opinlie in the same hall, And that
doone, the same Abbot and priour set both their handes to the same
dede and it deliuerd opinlie ^^to the handes of the same Thomas ^^ and
in the name of *^thaimselff and of ^^ the hoole Covent there for thaire
true dede and this doone, thay that were the said Thomas Garters
frindes went forth of thabbay into the town of malmesberre and there
thay yete a cople of Capons which this deponent had broufte bi his
masters commaundement fro Newnton aforsaid and that doone the said
I'homas Carter and all his said Neighburs rode home to thair houses and
on the sonday folowyng, at the parsons hous of Newnton whos name was
Sir Hugh ^^ a northern man ^' in presence of the substaunce of the
parissh there then for this cause assembled ^^ at the desire of the said
Thomas Carter,^^ the said dede was opinlie red and declared to the
vnderstanding of all thaim that were there bi the same Sir Hugh and
all the people there cnioyed and were glad that the said Thomas was
*" Beading doubtful. '* The original deposition continues ' his
" This is another fragment of the name was Dan Thomas Bristow.' This has
depositions probably taken at the hearing been struck through and the words in the
of the case by commissioners. It is written text interlined. See A, p. 118, n. 3, supra,
upon the front and dorse of two faded and '^ Interlined above the ' ther ' following,
mutilated folios of paper. "*'• Interlined in substitution for 'for
12-is This is interlined and stops abruptly thair dede and the covenauntes ther'
at h. struck through.
•* Substituted for * herde * struck through. " '*' Interlined.
CARTER l\ MALMYSBURY, ABBOT OF, AND OTHERS 129
^^manumysed he ^^ and his ^^ heires and were glad therof and the next ^"
night the same Thomas *' ** (m)ade* a goode fe(as)t^^
for^*^ bis parson and after ^^ •^ *' *« *« •s
Vikar >« at ^^^ * » • ^ dede bec(ause) ^ *' • '
MAYNE AND OTHERS v, GIBBES AND ANOTHER.'
To the King our soneraigne lord And to the lordos
of his moost honourable Counsail
1501 Humbly sheweth and piteously complayneth vnto your highnesse
your daily Oratour and pover subjiettes William Mayne Chapeleyne
John Bony f aunt ^ and Johane his Wyf of your Cite of Exeestre in
your Countie of Deuonshire That Where as your said Oratours and
theyre Aunccstours hath bee peasibly seased in and of iij tenementes,
iij Gardyns in great Totnisse, iiij Acres of Medow in Folotyn lane,
viij Acres of Medow in Northford within the Maner of Dortyngton
and V Acres of Pasture in Tikcombe in the said Countie of Deuen in
their demeane As of Fee, Vnto now of late, that oone William Gibbes '
Esquier Thomas Pendregyst with many othre moo to the Numbre of
X or xj persons to your said Oratours vnknowen, Vpon the Thursday
next aftere our lady day thassumpcion * noue last past, the xvj"* yere of
your moost noble Reigne ^ into the said tenementes entred. In which
tenementes oone William Helyer mercer dwelleth and with force of
Armes That is to say With Billes ^' Bowes Arrowes & Swerdes toke
and bare awey certan Sylkes and lynnyn cloth ' And put the said
William Helyer out at his dorres there and bare awey his keyes. And
felled and cutt down many Okes in the said Medowes, And the same
Okes caried awey riottously and forcibly. And yet soe contynueth in
theyr malicious demeanour, That your said Oratours dare not comme
to the Town for toccupye theyre said landes and Rentes As they
haue doone befor tyme by the space of A C. yere and more. For feare
and jeopardy of theyre lyves, Without your especial grace and pitie
'**"* MS. much injured. Tottenes, also of a wood in Fenton of the
' S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 85. manor of Dertyngton. The other places
' See Hewyt and others v. London, mentioned in the plaint do not occur in the
mayor of, p. 81, n. 12. Inquisition. John Gybbys was perhaps the
* William Gibbes, Gibbys, or Gybbys, John Gibbs who was bailiff of Exeter in
son of William and grandson of John 1470 and 1477. R. Izacke, * Antiquities of
Gybbys, bom in 1471 (Inq. p. m. Hen. 7, i. Exeter' (1724), pp. 88, 89.
303). The Inquisition found that the * The feast of the Assumption of the
grandfather, whose heir William Gibbes Virgin was August 15. * 1501.
was, died seised, inter alia, of certain * See Walterkyn v. Letice, p. 165, n. 5.
messuages and lands of the clear yearly ' A principal commodity of the trade of
value of ten marks (6Z. 135. id.) in Great Exeter; see p. 81 and foil.
130
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
bee vnto thaym shwed in this behalue. In consideracion whereof It
Wol please your highnesse the premisses graciously considered to
graunt your lettres of priue Seal to be direct to the said William
Gibbes and Thomas Pendregyst Comaundyng theym by the same
tappere At your Palais of Westminster in the xv of saint Martync
next commyng ^ and vndre a certen peyne ther taunswere to the pre-
misses. This at the Reuerence of God And in way of charite.
xxj die Octobris anno regni regis Henrici vij xvij.-' Responsabile ^*'
apud Westmonasterium xv martini sub pena utriusque eorum c.
marcarum.^^
Indorsed. ^^ ces xvij.
Decretum est Privatum Sigillum fieri et ad com-
parandum '^ vt infra petitur.
R. Rydon.^^
Willelmus Mayne Capellanus Johannes Bonyfaunt &
Johana vxor eius contra Willelmum Gibbes Armi-
gerum et Thomam Pendregist.
In modern hund, Mayne & al v. Gibbs.
A.
KEBELL V. VERNON.»
1502 To prove Wyllyam Vernon brodur to sir Henry Vernon knyght ^
gylty off felous ' takyng & Rauishement of margaret Kebell * Wedow &
" November 25, 1501.
• 1501.
"* Returnable.
" mi 13s. 4d.
>2 MS. torn.
Sic.
'* See Shrowesbury, Abbot of, v. Bailiffs
of, p. 193, n. 2.
• S.C.P. Hen. 8, Bundle 19, No. 71.
Sorted by mistake into the bundles of
proceedings temp. Hen. 8.
' Sir Henry Vernon was the eldest of
seven sons of Sir William Vernon byMargaret
Pype of Spemore (* Diet. Nat. Biog.', Vernon,
Sir Richard, Treasurer of Calais and Con-
stable of England, d. 1467). See Nichols,
* Hist. Leic' III. ii. 985. The family were
perhaps originally Lancastrian in politics,
for on Dec. 3, 1461, Sir William obtained a
pardon of all offences committed by him
before November 4 (Pat. R. Ed. 4, p. 81).
He and his son Henry were sunmioned in
1463 by writ of Privy Seal to answer a
complaint that they, at the head of a party
of men, had broken open the closes and
houses of John Skelley and Richard Baweke-
well, assaulted them, and carried off their
goods, rents, corn, beasts and chattels
(ib. p. 304). As they failed to obey the
Privy Seal, a commission was issued to
inquire into the complaint (ib.). Henry
Vernon presumably made his peace with
the King, for on October 18. 1470, he was
nominated on a commission of oyer and
terminer for the county of Derby (ib.
p. 248) and on a commission of array for
the same county on March 7, 1472 (ib.
p. 349). He was nominated a commissioner
to inquire into certain ' farms for lands
granted & divers other sums of money &
yearly profits ' in Derbyshire on Ajjril 18,
1473 (ib. 408), and from 1469 to 1476 he
was constantly upon the commission of the
peace for the county (ib. 611). He was
returned to Parliament as Knight of the
Shire for Derby on January 8, 1478 (Members
of Parliament, Pari. Pap. 1878, lxii. i. 363).
He probably rallied to Henry 7, for, though
his name does not appear at Boswortli, he
was one of the leaders of the royal army
which defeated John de la Pole, Earl of
KEBELL V. VERNON
131
off the felous reseyuyng by the seyd Wyllyam Vernon off Eoger
Vernon ^ & dyiiers odur partiez previe to the rauishement.
Lincoln, at Stoke on June 6, 1487 (' Hen-
ricQS Vemonus ex Pek,* Polydore Vergil,
xxvi. p. 728, ed. Leyden, 1651). On Decem-
ber 23, 1488, he was nominated a commis-
sioner of masters for the expedition to
Brittany (Campbell, ' Mat.' ii. 386). In
1489 he was dabbed a Knight of the Bath
(W. C. Metcalfe, » Book of Knights,' p. 21)
on the occasion of the creation of Prince
Arthur Prince of Wales. Thenceforth he
was attached to the Prince and was a
member of the Council of Wales. He was
a commissioner to raise a benevolence
towards the expenses of the war with
France in 1491 (July 7) (Rym. ' Foed.' xii.
446). Polydore Vergil (lib. xxvi. p. 766)
mentions him as among the knights who
marched under Edward Stafford, Duke of
Buckingham, against Perkin Warbeck's
army at Taunton in September 1497. He
was a signatory of the marriage articles
between Prince Arthur and Katharine of
Aragon in 1500, and high sheriff of Derby-
shire in 1604 (S. Rayner, * Haddon Hall '
[1836], pp. 28, 29). On June 25, 21 Hen. 7
(1505), he was summoned before the Court of
Exchequer for forcible entry into the lands
of Ralph Pole in Spondon and Chadderden,
Derbyshire, the issue of which process
does not appear (MS. B. O., Exch. K. B.
Mem. Roll, T. T. 21 Hen. 7, m. xxiii). He
was one of the trustees of Henry 7's will (Rot.
Pari. vi. 522 a). He died April 3, 1515, and
was buried at Tong, the castle of which he
rebuilt in brick (J. Leland, * Itin.' vii. 31,
W. Camden, ' Britannia ' [ed. R. Gough,
1800], iii. 29). He married the Lady Ann
Talbot, daughter of John Talbot, second
earl of Shrewsbury. She died May 17, 1494
(Nichols, * Hist, of Leicestershire,' III. ii.
986*). The pedigree in R. Gough 's * Sepul-
chral Monuments,' ii. 264, makes Sir Henry
Vernon an only son of William Vernon by
Margaret daughter of Lord Ferrers, and
grandson of Sir William Vernon and
Margaret Pype. This the present case shows
to be incorrect, and though the writer of
the article in the ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' specifies
Gough's as one of * the most correct pedi-
grees,' it is certainly untrustworthy, for no
* Roger ' Vernon occurs in it, and it is to be
observed that in his account of the family
the writer of the article does not follow it
(vide supra). See J. Nichols, 'Hist, of
Leicestershire,' III. ii. 985*.
* For 'felonous,' a form of felonious.
It was felony by 3 Hen. 7, c. 2 (1487),
'An Acte agaynst taking awaye of women
agaynst their willes.'
* Widow, as appears later, of Thomas
Kebell, serjeant at law, who died in 1500.
A brief abstract of his will is given in H.
Nicolas, ' Testamenta Vetusta,' p. 440, from
which it appears that he was twice married.
He is described in the Registry of the Pre-
rogative Court of Canterbury as of Humber-
ston, Leicester. The name is there spelt
* Kebell,' but in Nicolas * Kebill.' He was
the son of Walter Kebell, whom W. Burton
(' Description of Leicestershire ' [1622], p.
139) calls * that famous sergeant at law in
the raigne of King Henry the Seauenth.' His
name is first found in the Commission of the
Peace for Leicestershire on October 24, 1474
(Pat. Rolls Ed. 4, p. 618), an office which
from this time throughout the reigns of
Edward 4 and Richard 3 he continu-
ously held (Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, p. 563). A
person of his name sat in Parliament for
the borough of Lostwithiel in 1478 (Mem-
bers of Parliament, p. 363). He appears to
have been a Yorkist in politics, for on Dec.
10, 1483, after the abortive insurrection
organised by Buckingham, he was nomi-
nated a commissioner to inquire into
* treasons, insurrections & rebellions' in
Leicestershire (Pat. Rolls, Richard 3, p.
393). He was also a commissioner of
subsidy for the county in the same year
(ib. 396), and a commissioner of array for
the county on May 1, 1484 (ib. 400), and on
December 8 following, in anticipation of the
invasion of Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond.
He was put upon a commission to try
coinage offences in the western and mid-
land counties, among them Leicestershire,
on May 25, 1485 (ib. p. 544). According to
Burton, who was a member of the Inner
Temple, Thomas Kebell *was called ser-
jeant on Nov. 20, 1486, and became king's
Serjeant in 1499 ' (see J. Nichols, ' Hist, of
Leicestershire' [1800], III. i. 270). Foss
(' Lives of the Judges,' v. 16) gives 1494
as the date of his call as serjeant. None
of these dates can be correct, for on
Jan. 30, 1487, in the grant of the cus-
tody of the lands in Leicestershire of
the late John Kebeel during the minority
of his son George, he is styled Thomas
Kebeel, gentleman (Campbell, 'Mat.' ii.
113), while on Dec. 15, 1487, he is styled
Thomas Kebeell, serjeant at law (ib.
p. 214). The date of his call as serjeant
may therefore have been Nov. 20, 1487.
Further, on Nov. 10, 1488, he is styled ' one
of the king's Serjeants at law,' being nomi-
nated to inquire into certain complaints of
the king's officers and tenants of Tutbury,
in the duchy of Lancaster, agamst the abbot
of Burton (ib. p. 361). His appointment
K 2
132
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
First, the seyd margaret seyth that she was broght by Roger Vernon
& dyuers odur Contrarie to her mynd & good wyll from blore in the
Countee off derby ^ to Henry columbell ys place in the same Countee '
& on Candylmas day last past ® sehe was broght by the seyd Roger &
dyuers odur to a manor place off sir Henry Vernon callyd Sheyll in the
Countee off leycester ® where in duellyth on Wyllyam Vernon brodur
to the seyd sir Henry & the seyd Wyllyam Vernon ^" with owt the dore
resceyuyd the seyd Roger Vernon margaret Kebell & odur dyuers
partiez preve to the felous takyng a wey off the seyd margaret &
Wyllyam Vernon & Roger toke the seyd margaret by the armez &
broght her to a chamber where in was a feyr fyre redy made a fore
the Cummyng off the seyd margarett & by cause the fyre brend *^ not
clere the seyd wyllyam Vernon was very angry.
Item the seyd margaret seyth that when the seyd Roger Vernon &
Wyllyam had broght the seyd margaret to her chamber they departyd
& walkyd down in gret Counsell. Whydur they walkyd the seyd
margaret can not tell and immediatly aftur ther departyng Game the
Wyff off the seyd Wyllyam Vernon to the seyd margaret & askyd off
the seyd margaret what thyng shuld cause the seyd margaret to be
so sad & hevy and furtheremore sche askyd off the seyd margaret
as King's Serjeant so soon after the
accession of Henry 7 suggests that he
was among those Yorkists who abandoned
the cause of Richard 3. In 1489 he was
put upon the commission of the peace by
the new king (Campbell, * Mat.' ii. 480).
He was nominated by Henry 7 in 1496,
in company with a number of personages
of the highest distinction, a feoffee of cer-
tain lands to the use of the king's will
(Hot. Pari. vi. 510 b). His wives' Christian
names, as his will shews, were Ann and
Margery. Nichols, who only knows their
surnames, gives Bathorp as that of his
first, Eyton of his second vnte (* Leicester-
shire,' III. i. 273). He appears to have
acquired a large fortune at the bar.
Nichols (p. 270) enumerates his lands in
Leicestershire, including six manors, from
an inventory in the archiepiscopal registry.
His widow was, therefore, a wealthy woman.
^ A son of Sir Henry Vernon, as appears
presently, not mentioned in the pedigrees.
Bee n. 2, supra.
* Now in N.E. Staffordshire, less than a
mile from the borders of Derbyshire. At
this time the manor appears to have been
held by the family of Bassett or Basset.
8. Erdeswick, * Survey of Staffordshire '
(ed. T. Harwood, 1844), p. 486 ; cf. W. C.
Metcalte, 'Book of Knights,' p. 61, 'Sir
(? William) Basset of Blowre ' knighted 1529.
' Lord of the manor of Darley, about
five miles S.E. of Bakewell, Derbyshire, and
about twelve miles N.N.E. of Blore. D. and
S. Lysons, * Derbyshire ' (1817), pp. cxxiii,
98 ; Harl. Soc. xv. 183 ; • Genealogist ' (1882),
vi. 143.
" February 2, 1502.
* Sheyll. In 'Domesday' Scella; in
* Testa de Nevill ' (1240) Scheles and Scheyl,
but in other contemporary documents
Sheyle and Seile. Now Seale. The manor
of Church Sheyle or Nether Seile was held by
the family of Pipe, until it passed into the
Vernon family by the marriage of Sir Wil-
liam Vernon, of Haddon, with Margaret
Pipe. But the Vemons had held land in the
manor of Over Seale since the time of John,
and acquired that manor in 1427. In 21
Ed. 4, and again in 2 Bichard 3, Henry
Vernon acquired other lands in Sheyle
(Nichols, * Leicestershire,' III. ii. 986*). Sir
Henry's eldest son, Bichard, succeeded to
his lands in Sheyle (ib.).
^^ W. V. may be inferred to have been
living here as early as 21 Ed. 4, when
Henry Vernon, esquire, made him his
attorney to take seisin from Thomas Brad-
shaw of Tyddeswall of lands infra domini-
cum de Sheyle and Sheyle Hide. Nichols,
III. ii. 986*.
" Burnt.
KEBELL t\ VERNON 133
whedur Roger Vernon had takyn her Contrarie to her mynd & good
wyll & the seyd margaret sey th that sche seyd that Eoger Vernon had
takyn the seyd margaret contrarie to here mynd & wyll & that
he schuld repent yff euer the seyd margaret Cam to her libertee
furthermore the seyd margaret seyth that the Wyflf off Wyllyam
Vernon desyryd the seyd margaret to haue pite and Compassion on
the seyd Roger & not to vndo hym for euer.
Item the seyd margaret seyth that the Wyff of Wyllyam Vernon
departyd from the seyd margaret & went to the seyd Roger Vernon &
Wyllyam & seyd to them that hyt was pitee that the seyd Boger
Vernon levyd by cause that the seyd Roger toke a wey any good
Gentylwoman as the seyd margaret ys contrarie to her mynd & wyll.
Item the seyd margaret seyth that the Wyff off Wyllyam Vernon
Came to her & schewyd what sche had seyd to Roger Vernon &
Wyllyam her husbond and inmediatly aftur Cam the seyd Roger
Vernon in to the chamber to the seyd margaret & seyd Alas
mastres Wyl hjrt be no bettur yit I mervell gretly that ye wyll schew
yowr mynd to suche a strong strumpett & a hore as sche ys for sche
Can kepe no Councell & al that ye doo ys to vndoo me for euer & with
that the seyd margarett seyth that the seyd Roger wept very fast and
the seyd margaret seyth that sche seyd sche wold do so en eny place
where so euer sche Came & wold not let for no man.
Item the seyd margaret seyth that on the moroo next aftur
Candylmas dey last past ^* yerly ^' in the mornyng the seyd Roger
Vernon & Wyllyam causyd a preest to syng masse in the chamber a
fore the seyd margaret & the seyd Roger Vernon and Wyllyam Came
in to the chamber where as the seyd margaret was knelyng & wept &
made gret lamentacion & sorow & that the seyd Roger Vernon &
Wyllyam see & hard the wepyng and lamentacion made & there they
hard masse & when masse was endyd the seyd Roger Vernon &
Wyllyam went to gedur to a wyndow & there they talkyd to gedur the
space off an owr in gret Concell what hyt was the seyd margaret Can
not tell but as sche supposyth hyt was for her takyng a wey for in-
mediatly the seyd Roger Vernon and Wyllyam send vppe to london
on Jhon Alsoppe ^^ to dyuers off*^ the fryndys off the seyd Roger
Vernon for to labur for hym in the mater & the seyd margaret seyth
at that tyme the seyd Wyllyam Vernon was redy to ryde & the seyd
Roger Vernon shewyd to the seyd margaret that the seyd Wyllyam
'2 I.e. Feb. 3, Festival of St. Blasias. shire, about ten miles S.W. of Haddon.
" Early. See the pedigree in S. Glover, • Hist, of
»* Probably the second son of John Derby ' (edited by T. Noble, 1829), ii. 21.
Alsopp of Alsopp in the Dale, W. Derby- '^ * hys fryndys * struck through.
134 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Vernon schuld goo to Haddon to hys ^*' fadur & then the sayd Roger
Vernon & Wyllyam toke the seyd margaret by the armez & broght
her to her hors the whyehe be eausez sufficient to prove the seyd
Wyllyam gylty off the premissez. And the seyd margaret besekyth
yowr good lordschyppes that the seyd Wyllyam may be put to Answere
to the premissez & that the seyd sir Henry Vernon bryng in the seyd
Wyllyam Vernon for he ys continualy with the seyd sir Henry Vernon
and he aydyth Confortyth & resceuyth the seyd Wyllyam the whych
ys felony e in hyt selff.*^
Indorsed, This bill my lord Chaunceller dehuered to me W.
Stodham *** in the sterre chambre vpon Wednysday
the xvij^ day of Juyn
Termino Trinitatis Anno regni regis xvij" ***
Margareta Keble vidua contra Henricum Vernon Ot alios.
B. Interrogatoriez betwyx Henry Vernon knyght And margaret
Kebell late Wyff off Thomas Kebell on off the seriantes
at the la.
Imprimis yffe * the seyd margaret were conveyd &. reseuyd loggyd
or confortyd at any manour or placys off the seyd sir Henry or at
any off the fryndys oft* the seyd or seruantes off the seyd sir Henry.
Item yff ^ Wyllyam Vernon brodur to sir Henry Vernon came or
Any message from Roger Vernon concernyng the takyng a wey off
the seyd margaret or that the seyd sir henry had any knolegge by the
seyd Wyllyam vernon off the felous takyng a wey off the seyd margaret.
Item yff* sir Henry Vernon Ayded confortyd or procuryd or
concellyd Wyllyam Vernon that the seyd Wyllyam shuld schew to
Roger Vernon that he schuld Convey the Company" by the manour
placez And liggynges^ off sir Henry Vernon & to the marchez off
Walez or vn to Any odur place.
Item yfe ^ the seyd sir henry vernon Abbettyd Comfortyd Aydyd
procuryd or receuyd * the seyd Roger or Any off hys Company prevy
to the rauischyng off the seyd margaret in any place to take a wey
the seyd margaret.
•« I.e. Roger's. >" See p. 125, n. 16, and p. 137, n. 13.
»' This is true. The Act 3 Hen. 7, c. 2, »• 1502.
lays down * that such takyng procuryng and • * \Vhether * struck through,
abettyng to the saine, and also receyvyng - Presumably the escort of a hundred
wetyngly the sanie Woman so taken armed horsemen. See Introd., p. cxiii.
ayenst her Will and knowyng the same, " From *ligge,' to lie down, a North
be fclonye, and that such mysdoers takers country word. See J. O.Halli well, 'Archaic
and procuratours to the same, and receytours Diet.'
knowyng the said offence, in forme aforseid ' The words of the statute. See n. 17,
be hensfurth reputed and juged as prinoi- supra,
pall felons.'
KEBELL V. VERNON 135
Item yflfe * the seyd sir henry concellyd the seyd Roger to take a
wey the seyd margaret or that the said sir henry relevyd the seyd
Eoger or Any off hys Company with hys Concell or with hys money in
the Conveyng a wey off the seyd margaret to the marches off Walez
or in her leying in the marchez off Walez'* or in Any odur place.
Item yff the seyd sir henry send any letturs to the seyd Roger in
hys beyng in the marchez of Walez or in Any odur place confortyng
the seyd Roger.
Item yjBf the seyd sir Henry procuryd mouyd or styrd the seyd
margaret to Conceall & excuse the seyd Roger hys Company or Any
oflF them prevy to the rauischement off the seyd margaret off her
felouz takyng a wey & rauischement in any place.
Item yjBf the seyd Roger were relevyd by the seyd sir henry with
Any oflf hys seruantes or fryndys or aydyd or strenght.^
c. The sayng of Edward Capull.^
The seid Edward seithe that at the fyrst comyng to london of
Margett Vernon late the wyflfe of Thomas KepbuU that she dyssired
hym to speyke with sir henre Vernon and dyssire hym to come and
ispeyke with hyr, which so dyd and at the fyrst metyng the seid sir
henre seid she was welcome bot he wyst not whedur he myght sey
welcome doghter or maistres, and she seid doghter and it pleased
hym and so I trust ye will take me and be good fadur to your son
and me and the seid sir henre seid, so that ye be as ye say, the Eyng
pleased, I will be contentt.
Item the seid Edward seith that^ the seid Margett seid to hym
^betwix chepyngnorton and Islep vpon a down^ '•and also in a
bote betwix the town' & grenwech^ that she was as well contentt
with Roger Vernon as any woman in the world was with hyr
* The object of taking his captive to who here gives evidence for the defence,
the Marches of Wales was to protect him- is a dififerent person. The name Gapell
self from justice by interest with some one is written Cabell in * Paston Letters/ iii. 326.
of the Lords Marchers, who claimed that I have not been able to identify this
the king's writ did not run there. See person.
the case of Straunge v. Kenaston, Introd., ^ The words * at all tymes,' which
pp. xciii-xcv. The Marches of Wales were followed, have been struck through with
the common haven of abductors. See *Rot. a pen in the same ink as the subsequent
Pari.' iv. 497-98, v. 16, &c. interlineations, and marginal note 4-4.
" Strengthened. *~* Interlined. The order in which the
' From the report of the case * Vernon places are named and the fact that the
V. Keble,' an action for conspiracy arising direction is from N.W. to S.E. show that
out of this abduction, heard in the King's this occurrence was on the return journey,
Bench in 1506, it appears that E. Keble presumably to London,
was a person who endeavoured to rescue *-* Marginal.
Margaret Keble. See Introd., p.cxiii. It is ^ An early use of the phrase,
therefore to be inferred that Edward Capull,
136 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
husbonde, and that he dyuers tymes examyned hyr to prove hyr
whedur she dessembled or not and euer he founde hyr won woman
in as lovyng maner as any woman eowde be to h,yr husbonde as
well m goyng to hyr bed with the seid Roger as in all odur lovyng
delyng.
Item the mondey by fore she wentt to the kyng to Grenewyche the
seid Margett ^at Sarynshed in fletstrete^ dissired the seid Edward to
goo to the seid sir henre and witt of hym whedur I shall come and
speyke with hym or that he will come and speyke with me and he so
dyde and the seid sir henre seid that he wold speyke with hyr and
there they sett them downe at a bed syde hot what they seid he can
not tell.
Item the seid Edward seith that when she wentt to grenewyche
he wentt with hyr, and then when they were in the botte he seid thes
wordes to hyr. Maistres, woll ye be aswell contentt now as ye haue
bene all the whiles, that ye haue bene with the seid Roger. ^ Then
she answerd thus,^ What thenke ye in me that ye axke me all thes
questions so oft as ye haue done, and I were so false and so vnsad ^
as ye thenke I am, it were pete that I shuld lyflfe.
Item the seid Edward seith that the seid Margett when the seid
Roger hade boght a hors at a Town called Parshore in Worsetturshyre
she was glad there of and toke to hyr awne purse as she sate on
hors backe and gaffe to hym that broght the seid hors xij d. or xx d.^
he wottes not well whedur.
Item the seid Edward seith in no comynycacion that euer he
hade with hyr at any tyme hot that she ^said that she'' was euer well
contentt and pleased with the seid Roger and that the seid Roger
hade done nothyng to hyr bot that she was well pleased and that she
was mete for no man bot for hym.
Item the seid Edward seith that he examyned sir James hyr
preste in secrete maner and axked hym whedur his maistres were
contentt with the maryage as she seid or not and he seid yes he
knew non odur wise and the seid Edward besoght^ the seid preste to
shew hym the verray trouth as he knew in hyr and he layde his
hande apon his porthowse^® and sware by that boke that he knew
non odurwise bot that she was verrey well contentt with the seid Roger.
*"* Interlined. I have not been able to Blacklriars side of the Fleet,
identify this tavern. In * New Remarks ' ' Unsteady.' J. O. Halliwell, * Archaic
of London,* collected by the Ciompany of Diet.'
Parish Clerks (1732), in an appendix con- ** I.e. three or five groats,
taining a list of stage coaches and carriers, * * hym ' struck through,
there is frequent mention of the Saracen's '" Otherwise portasse, portaa or potteux
Head, Carter Lane, which was on the a breviary. UalliwoU.
KKBELL r. VKKNON 137
Item the seid Edward seith that the seid Roger ^' after aH he was
takyn^* Westmynstre ^ send hyr a Pyke and Erynges *• and she send
to hym ^* to the same place ® ayen a dysshe of appuls, and the seid
margett send the seid Pyke by the seid Edward vnto the seid sir
henre when it was sodon and he toke parte there of and send hyr the
remnant and the seid Edward seith that he knowith not hot that she
toke the seid Pyke and Eryng with good hert and good will as any
woman eowde take a gyft of hyr husbond.
XV™" die Julii Anno etc. xvij"**.^^
Indorsed. Pro Henrico Vernon milite.
Edward Gapull.
Thies billes my ^^ felow quynt deliuered to me this Tewysday the
viij"' day of Novembre anno xviij''.*^
iiij die Novembris Anno Henrici vij. xxJ*
EYNESHAM, xVBBOT OF, v. HARECOURT AND OTHERS.'
A- To the kyng our Souereyn Lord
1^^^ Humble sheweth vnto your noble highnes
your dayly Oratour milys^ Abbot of your^
" I.e. fled to sanctuary. Ho was privi- '* Herrings,
leged from arrest here bccaase his offence '^ In W. Stodham^s hand. He was
was a felony. In 1378, in response to presumably attorney for the defendant,
complaints by Parliament of the abuse of * Originally there were but two attornies
the Sanctuary at Westminster, the King appointed in the Court, one for the plaintiff,
took the advice of ' certains Doctours en another for the defendant ' (W. Hudson,
Theologie de Canoun ot de Civil ' who *0f the Court of Star Chamber,' p. 46).
held 'qe en cas de dette, d'accompte, ne Hence ' my felow.*
pur trespas fait, si homme n'y doit perdre *' 1502.
vie ou membre, nully doit en saint Esglise '^ 1504.
avoir Immunite.' They held further that ' S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 34.
no prince or pope had power to grant '^ Miles Salley or Sawley. The name
immunity in such cases (Rot. Pari. iii. was probably that of the place of his birth,
37, a, b). This opinion was adopted, ex- adopted at his profession, as was then the
cept that * pour especial affection que fashion (see R. Holinshed, * Chronicles '
nostre dit seigneur le lioi ad au dit lieu de [1808], p. 213). This would either be Sawlay
Westminster plus que a aucun autre lieu in Derbyshire or Sawley or Salley in
de Son Roiaume,* a special privilege was Craven, Yorks, for the pronunciation of the
conferred in favour of persons indebted name may be inferred from this variation
otherwise than owing to their own defaults in the spelling which also occurs in the
(ib. 51, a, b). Westminster, and some name of Arthur Sawle, Sale or Salley in
other sanctuaries, called ' private,' pro- 1546 (C. W. Boase, * Register of the Uni-
tected the criminal for life; general sanctu- versity of Oicford' [1885], i. 212). Antony
aries, as churches, only for forty days. Wood {' Ath. Oxon.' ii. 711, ed. 1815)
within which the criminal had his option conjectures that he was educated at
of abjuring the realm. Reeves, ' Hist, of Gloucester College, * afterwards Gloucester
.' Eng. Law ' (ed. W. F. Finlason, 1869), iii. Hall, begun at first to be built by and for the
191. monks of Gloacester of the Order of St.
138
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
monasterie of Eynesham ^ within the Gountie of
Oxenford of dyuerse riottes extorcions wronges
and inuries done to hym and his Couent'^ by
sir Eobert Hareeourt ^ knyght and dyuerse oder
^f* v.'- <»
Bennet ' (id. 'Colleges and Halls' [ed. 1786],
p. 629). The Christian name of Miles,
latinised as Milo, was so extremely rare in
the fifteenth centary that it does not once
occur in the Register of the University of
Oxford between 1449 and 1463, after which
date there is a gap till 1505. He probably
took his degreee, therefore, after 1463. In
a list of the bishops of Llaudafif given by
Leland/ Collectanea' (ed. T.Heame [1760],
I. ii. p. 348, f. 473), he is entered as
* eleemosynarius de Abbendun,' also a
Benedictine house. According to Willis,
followed by the editor of Dugdale, he was
elected abbot of Eynesham in 1498, but this
date is incorrect, for he was returned by
the commissioners of inclosures in 1517 as
having, as abbot, inclosed land at Little
Holbight on Nov. 4, 1496 (I. S. Leadam,
* Domesday of Inclosures' [1897], i. 328).
Custody of the temporalities of the see of
Llandafif was granted him on Nov. 14, 1499
(Le Neve, * Fasti Eccl. Angl.' [1854], ii. 250,
n. 11). The Canterbury Kegister shows
that he obtained a licence for his consecra-
tion on March 13 (according to Kennet in
Wood's ' Fasti Oxon.' ii. 711, n. 5, on March
10), 1500 (Le Neve, ii. 250), and received
the temporalities as bishop of Llandaff
on May 12 following (ib.). He held the
abbacy in commendam with his see (ib.
n. 9). In 1601 he entertained prince Henry
at Eynesham. If an inference may be
drawn from the circumstance that during
the first six years of the reign of Henry 8
ho was constantly nominated upon
the commission of the peace for Oxford-
shire, but^ never for Wales, it would seem
that he. generally resided at Eynesham.
On August 16, 1515, he was put upon the
commission of the peace for the towns of
Uske, Caerlion and Trillek in the Marches
of Wales (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, II. i. 815).
On November 15 of the same year he was
among the bishops present in West-
minster Abbey upon the occasion of the
reception by Wolscy of tlie cardinal's hat
(ib. 1153), and he was also sitting in
Parliament in the same month (ib. 1131).
His last nomination on the commission of
the peace was for tlie town of Oxford on
August 22, 1516 (ib. 2292). His will is
dated November 29, 1516, and was proved
on January 22, 1517 (Le Neve, supr. cit.
n. 12). Wood states incorrectly tliat ho
died in September 1616. Godwin (' De
Praesulibus ' [ed. 1743], p. 611) gives the date
as towards the end of December of that
year. He was buried at Bristol in the
chapel of the Black Friars' priory called
the Oaunts, afterwards known as St. Mark's
Church (Dugdale, 'Monast.' VL iii. 1492;
Godwin, supr. oit.), now known as the
Mayor's Chapel; the east end of which
he rebuilt, and where his recumbent effigy
in full episcopal robes is still to be seen
(A. Wood, ' Fasti Oxon.' supr. cit. ; J. Murray,
* Handbook for Gloucestershire' [1895], p. 82).
He built some portion of the abbey of Eynes-
ham, as the date 1504 visible in a gate-
way in 1819 showed (Dugd. * Monast.' iii.
11), and a large part of the palace at
Mathem, Monmouthshire, inhabited by the
bishops until 1706, much of which remains
(Godwin, supr. cit. ; J. Murray, * Handbook
to S. Wales ' [1890], p. 5). His will is abridged
in Sir N. H. Nicolas, * Testamenta Vetusta '
(1826), ii. 538. He left books to Eynesham,
and his mitre and staff to the cathedral of
Llandaff.
* Note the recognition of the king as
superior lord. In the charter of William 1
confirming the ancient foundation occur
the words, * Abbatia autem in meo dominio
maneat sicut caeterae per Angliam ' (Dugd.
'Monast.' iii. 14), in conformity with which
the dissolution of the monasteries was
preceded by a formal surrender into the
king's hands.
* Eynesham, Eynshom, or Egnesham, a
Benedictine Abbey, founded by Aethelmaie
or Ailmer, earl of Cornwall and Devonshire,
before a.i>. 1005; surrendered in 1539, at
which time its revenues were 182Z. 2s. 4d.
per annum. In 1536 they had been valued
at 421/. See Dugd. 'Monast.' iii. 3.
* *The early form of "convent," com-
mon down to seventeenth century.' J.
A. H. Murray, 'Engl. Diet.' s.v. Note that
it is here used of the brethren exclusively
of the abbot. Murray quotes in illustra-
tion (int. al.) Prynne, ' Bemonstrance
against Shipmoney ' (1636), 7 : ' The Abbot
without the Covent, the Master of the
CoUedge without the Fellowes.' It is cor-
rectly distinguished here from the house
or ' monastery,' but the use of ' convent ' in
this sense is as old as the thirteenth
century. See Murray, I.e.
* Grandson of Sir Robert Harcourt who
was elected K.G. in 1463 (Anstis, ' Register
of theGarter ' [1724],pp. 171, 186), was killed
on the side of the Yorkists in the Lancas-
trian rising of 1470 and buried in Stanton-
Haroourt church, where the tombs of both
grandfather and grandson may yet be seen.
EYNESHAM, ABBOT OF, V. HARECOURT AND OTHERS 139
evyll disposed persons to hym belongyng and
retayned/
First where one John Welshe oderwise
called Sawyar a seruaunt to the saide sir Eobert
desired and prayed instantly one Dan ^ Eoger
Walyngford one of the comounes® of the said
monasterye havyng the rule of the waters and
nettes of your said monasterie that he mought
haue his draught nett to fysshe his waters of
Curiously enough, the defendant's tomb
exhibits in front 'four monks in black
holding their beads ' (Earl Harcourt,
* Account of the Church and Manorhouse
of Stanton-Harcourt ' |1808J, p. 15). The
defendant was eldest son and heir of Sir
John Harcourt, knight, by Anne, daughter
of Sir John Norris, knight, of Bray. He is
said to have carried Henry Earl of Rich-
mond's standard at Bosworth after the fall
of Sir William Brandon, but he was not
standard-bearer to Henry after he became
king (CampbeU, ' Materials,' i. 382). He
served as high sheriff of Oxon and Berks
in 1492-3 (J. M. Davenport, 'Lords
Lieutenant and High Sheriffs of Oxford-
shire ' [Oxford, 1868], p. 9). He was Esquire
of the Body to Henry 7 in 1501 according
to Lipscomb (* Hist, of Buckinghamshire '
[1847], iv. 590), but his name is among the
list of knights dubbed of the Bath at the
creation of Henry duke of York on October
31, 1494, and he was made a knight
banneret at the battle of Blackheath, the
suppression of the Cornish rising on June
17, 1497 (W. C. Metcalfe, 'Book of Knights'
:1885], pp. 25, 27). In 1498 the University
of Oxford addressed to him a letter in
eulogistic terms as a man of the highest
influence in the county (' qui maxime in
comitatu potes ') requesting his neutrality
in a lawsuit in which one of his dependants
was plaintiff (H. Anstey, ' Epist. Acad,' ii.
649). He married Anne or Agnes, daughter
and heir of Thomas Limericke, esq., and
widow of William Tame. By her he left a
son, John, who died without issue, and four
daughters (Lipscomb, I.e.). Sir Robert
perhaps died about 1509, for on June 14 of
that year a grant was made to Anthony
Fetyplace, Squire of the Body, to be steward
of ' Suffolk's land ' in the county of Oxford
and master of the hunt in Ewelme Park,
as held by Robert Harecourte and William
Tyler (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 174). After
this his name does not appear in the
Domestic State Papers of Henry 8's reign.
' A suggestion that either the Act of
1468 or that of 1487 against unlawful
retainers had been contravened (see the
defendant's plea on p. 157). Of these
Acts the former was general and, while
confirming the existing laws against giving
liveries, forbade persons of all ranks to
' give any such Livery or Badge or retain
any person other than his menial servant,
officer, or man learned in the one law or the
other by any writing, oath or promise ' under
penalty of a fine of 100 shillings for each
badge given and a hundred shillings a
month to which both parties were liable
during the retainer (8 Ed. 4, c. 2). In
view of the fact that Sir Robert Harcoart
held office from the Crown as steward of
' Suffolk's land ' and master of the hunt in
Ewelme Park, the Act which the plaintiff's
counsel probably had in mind was that
passed in 1487. It is intituled ' An Acte
agaynst retayning any of the kynges
tennantes ' (3 Hen. 7, c. 12). It recites
that, among other royal officers, the
' Maisters of Game and kepers of his (the
King's) Forestis Chaces Parkes and Warens '
were both retained themselves and retained
others, whence 'greate unsuertie hath
growen afore this time aswell to his
Highnes as to his progeny tours.' It strictly
forbade this practice and added that if ' eny
of the seid officers convey eny of the seid
Tennantes Inhabitauntez or Fennours to
the kyng to eny feld or assembfe.or rowte,
otherwise then by the kynges commaunde-
ment to doo hym such service as he shall
be commanded and that alwey in the kynges
iyverey or signe with a conysaunce of hym
that 800 convey theym by the kynges com-
maundement ' the grants to the offending
officer should be void. A rout, according to
Brooke, is where three or more actually do
an unlawful act of violence, either with or
without a conmion cause or quarrel. Abr.
tit. Riot (ed. 1573), p. 231.
* A corrupt abbreviation from dominus,
' used in addressing or speaking of members
of religious orders.' J. A. H. Murray, ' Eng.
Diet.' s.v. Its equivalent ' Dom ' is still
prefixed to the Christian name of Benedic-
tine monks. Id. s.v. Dom.
• I.e. co-moynes, fellow-monks, as fre-
quently in Year-books.
140 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
the Temssyde havyng therfor as it is accus-
tomed in the Contree, that is to say the thirds
parte and when the said water was drawed and
fysshed the said dan Eoger lefte the poysyng ^®
stones of the said draught nett in an lie land
perteynyng to the Ferme of the said John and
brought home his nette with hym ageyn, which
was the xix day of Septembre last past, and the
xvj day of February then next folowyng the
said Dan Roger and one Cristofre seruaunt of
the said monasterie of thage of lx yeres and
more came into the said He land with the bote
of the said monasterie for to fetche the said
stones ageyn, And the forsaid John Welsshe
perceyvyng theym beyng ther came pryvely
whill thei wer in the said lie land gaderyng the
sayd Stones and toke a way ther said bote and
sedyciously ^^ rowed the said bote away, en-
tendyng to haue distroyed theym and so left
theym ther like to haue bene perisshed, For it
was colde weder and froste. And the said Dan
Eoger and Cristofre wer environd with water by
the space of half a myle. Thei perceyvyng the
malece of the said John cried for helpe and so
atte last one Baffe mury herd and cam to
theym with a Bote and caried theym to land, or
elles that nyght thei had bene distroyed for
colde and with the water.
Also the XV day of marche the said John
Walsshe came with an oder bote of his owen
into the Seuerall water within the Orchard of
the said monasterye and ther tied his said bote,
and then the officers of your sayd monasterye
perceyvyng the said bote ther for the hurt
harme and gret damage done to your sayd
'" I.e. weighing down, in the sense used was that was seid Barabas that was bounden
by Shakspeare — with men of discenoioun that haddcn doon
* Lest leaden slumber poize me down manslaughter and sedicioun.' C. Richard-
to-morrow son, *New English Diet.' (1844), s.v. In this
When I should mount with wings of meaning the word ' seditious ' foUows the
victory.* Latin. * Ego illam (Clodiam) odi. Ea est
Rich. 3, V. 3. enim seditiosa; ea cum viro bellum gerit &c.*
'* I.e. quarrelsomely, provocatively. Cp. Cio. Ep. ad Att. II. i. 5.
Wiolif, St. Mark, o. 15: 'And con there
EYNESHAM, ABBOT OF, V. HARECOURT AND OTHERS 141
'^ Sir Robert Har-
court sftith vppon his
othe that he was not
privie to any thing in
thies articles surmised,
neither woting willing
neither assenting to any
of thaim.
monastere, as fettying*^ ther dyuerse tymes
willcs ^^ and nettes of your said monasterie toke
a loke ^* and lokked his said bote to a tree, and
when the said John perceyued that his bote was
fast lokked, that he coulde not haue it a way, he
retourned home to his house, and fett a biU,^'^
and an hangger *® and came ageyn forsably into
the said Orchard ouer an high wall there metyng
with ij of the monkes manysshyng and thretyng
theym callyng theym Churles and thevys, and
vppon that did smyght att one of the said
monkes with the said bill and smytte hym doun
to the grounde, and his Felawe perceyuyng the
maliciouse disposicion of the sayd John avoyded,
and the said John pursued after hym to haue
slayn hym.
Also the xxiij day of the said moneth on
tenebre *^ Wedonsday *^ at seruice tyme martyn
Whithill Thomas Cater John Vaughan Kobert
Smyth Thomas Bodam of Staunton harecourt *®
Robert Walton and Edmund Spark of Sutton in
the lordshippe of Staunton seruauntes reteigned^
with sir Robert Harecourt came with force and
armys that is to say with byllys Swerdes and
dagars and oder wepons, and entred into the
'- I.e. Stealing. This meaning of the
word * fet,' an obsolete form of * fetch,* is
not given in Murray's Diet, sub * Fet,* but
he quotes * Piers Plowman * (B. iv. 51) and
Fletcher's ' Beggar's Bush,' v. 1, for the use
of ' fetch ' in the same sense.
'* Wiles, i.e. snares.
'• Apparently of the nature of a pa<llock,
but I can find no mention of such an article
in Nicolas's * Testamenta Vetusta ' nor in
Lacroix's * Illustrations of the Middle Ages.'
'* See p. 165, n. 5.
'* *A kind of short sword, originally
hung from the belt.' J. A. H. Murray, 'Eng.
Diet.' s.v. By the Act 1 Rich. 3, c. 12, § 2
(1483), 'No Merchant Straungier (shall)
bring into this Bealme . . . Knyves,
Hangers, Tailiourshires, Scisors, Andyrons.'
ib. In J. Skelton's * Engraved Illustrations
of Ancient Armour,' I. plate Ixii., are some
engravings of hangers, otherwise called
anelaces or onlaces, from which it appears
that they were short double-edged swords
or long daggers, broad at the hilt and
tapering to a point. Chaucer, Prol. 357*
* An anlaas . . . Heeng at his girdel.' See
Murray, Eng. Diet. s.v. Anlace.
" In another hand.
"* The Wednesday before Easter, so
called because at the office of Matins and
Lauds a triangular candlestick with fifteen
candles was used, one of which was
extinguished after each psalm. \V. Smith
and S.Cheetham, * Diet. Christ. Ant.' (1880),
ii. 1952. S. & C, however, state that the
word * Tenebrae ' was used of the last three
days of Holy Week only. J. O. Halliwell,
♦ Diet, of Archaic Words,' gives ' Teneble
Wednesday.'
'" This gives us the date. Tenebre
Wednesday being March 23, Easter Day
was March 27. This was only in the
year 1502 during Henry 7's reign. J. J.
Bond, * Handy Book of Dates ' (1866), p. 235.
*• About two miles S.S.W. of Eynesham,
where was the manor house of Sir Robert
Harecourt.
142 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
said orchard ayenst the kynges peax commyng
ouere the wall of the said orchard^' with
oder evell disposed persons beyng without the
wall redy to assist theym to the nombre
of xj persons, whose names wer martyn
Whi thill howsold seruaunfc to the said sir
Robert Harecourt & John Cokkes with oder moo
bryngyng with theym an axe to hew doun the
said tree that the bote was lokked too, and so
forciably to cary it away, and to be avenged on
suche persons as did arrest the said bote, and
at such season as thei wer ther was iiij of the
monkes walkyng in the said Orchard, and thei
seyng theym ther thei retorned bak to the prior
and shewed hym of the said persons, but what
thei entended thei knewe not. Wheruppon the
said Prior came to the said persons and
enquired of theym why thei came thear so
suspiciously ouer so high gret walles beyng
deched xv fote brode in such forciable maner,
and thei ounswcrd Horson Churlcs delyuer vs
the bote that ye have arrested, or elles we woll
have it whether ye will or noo, and also be
revenged vppon you or we depart this grounde
And the said prior seyng theym so wilfully and
unreasonably disposed satisfied theym with good
and cold ^* wordes. Wheruppon thei departed.
Also the x'*" day of Aprill then next ensueng
which was Lowe Sonday ^^ came Thomas Cater
John Vaughan John Welsh John Stokelay
Thomas Badam John Hepy John Broughton
*• In an Extcnta Manerii et Abbatliiac de H. MuiTay, * Engl. Diet.' s.v.
Egnesham, given in Dugd. * Monast.' iii. 16, " There must be a mistake here. If the
is a description of this orchard ' adjacente Abbot was right in his ftrst date, and
uno largo gardino cum vivariis pro piscibus Tenebre Wednesday was March 23, Low
recenter inponendis et custodiendis et cum Sunday must have been April 3, it being
arboribus et ortis pro fabis plantandis, the Sunday after Easter. If Low Sunday
plantisquc olerum, porectis, canabo, lino et was April 10, then Easter Day must have
mnltis aliis herbis necessariis domus been April 3. Now Easter Day only fell on
proficientibus. Et valet gardinum praedic- April 3 twice during the reign of Henry 7,
tum cum proficuis hujuKmodi ab eo viz. in the years 1491 and 1496. But at
provoniendis per annum juxta veri valoris the later of these dates the plaintiff had
estimationem quadraginta solidos.' not yet been elected abbot of Eynesham
"Cool, unimpassioned. Cp. Fisher, (see note 2, supra). It follows that the day
Works, 269: ' His dclyng in tyme of pcrylles was either Low Sunday, April 3, or the
and daungers was cold and sobrc.' J. A. Sunday after Low Sunday, viz. April 10.
EYNESHAM, ABBOT OF, V. HARECOURT AND OTHERS 143
Edmond Sparke Robert Smyth John Nele
Richard Sharpe and Spephon -^ Swaynford with
Oder persons vnknowen seruauntes retaigned to
said sir Robert Harecourt into the Toun of
Enesham with force and armes, that is to say '^'^
also with bowes & arrowes swordes buklers
hawberkes^ billes and dagars, and then &
ther went into dyuerses howses and sought and
enquired if any seruaunt perteynyng to the
Abbay myght be found, And so it fortuned
that thei mett with an innocent body, one John
Hadley Clerk of the Church of the said
monasterie hauyng a botell on his hand to fett
oyle for the said Church, and ther violently the
sayd Thomas Cater smytt the said John Hadley
with a dagar and sore hurt and wounded hym
on the hed, wheruppon the said Clerk retourned
into your said monasterie and shewed the prior
and Couent beyng at Soper how thei had betyn
and hurt hym and that thei wer commyng after
hym. Vppon whiche shewyng the said Prior
did send for the constable ^^ and the tythyng
*• Sic. As appears below, a blunder prefect of the Imperial Stables or Master of
for * Stephon.' the Horse. The Constable * stiillarius ' was
^ An erasure of about eight inches in a high official before the Conquest, and
length follows. after the Conquest was styled * Constabu-
■^« The use to which these were presently larius Angliae.' The last Constable of
put shows that this is a variant (unnoticed England was Edward Stafford, Duke of
by Murray) of * haubert,' a form of halbert, Buckingham, beheaded May 17, 1521. The
and has nothing to do with the knightly office of Constable was also attached to
' hauberk.' The halbert differs very little Manors which had the right ' pur garder
from the bill, being like it constructed both les prisons,* Stat. Westm. I. c. 15 (1275),
for cutting and thrusting. The blade of a and is reckoned by Littleton (§ 379) as an
halbert consists of three parts, the spear, ' estate upon condition.' This is doubtless
the hatchet, and the flook or hook. The the origin of the Constables of fortresses. By
first is intended for thrusting or charging the great Police Act of Edward 1, called the
in battle; the second for cutting, and the Statute of Wynton( 1285), it was enacted that
third for pulling dow^n works made of * en chescun hundred e fraunchise seyent
fascines, in an attack on trenches or other eleus deus Conestables a fere la veue des
temporary fortifications.' F. Grose, ' Milit. armes ' (cf. Worcestre, Bp. of, v. Thomas and
Ant.' (1801), i. 130. Representations of others, p. 230, n. 5). But Bracton, who
halberts are to be found in J. Skelton, died in 1268, speaks of Constables in asso-
• Anc. Arms and Armour,' ii. pi. xc. In ciation with sheriffs, aa though Constables
11 Hen. 7, c. 64 (' Actus convictionis of Hundreds or of Counties were in exist-
certarum personarum ') occurs ' Armours ence (f. 337). It would appear from the
defensives as Jakkes, Salettis, Brigandynes, Statute 5 Ed. 3, c. 14 (1331), that at that
Bowes, Billes, Haubertis, Curesses, Gonnes, time there were Constables of Towns, upon
Speres, Marespikis, Crosbowes, and other whom was cast the duty of arresting sus-
enhabilmentis of Werres.' picious strangers under the provisions of
*' A title gradually declining in im- the Statute of Wynton (* soient arestuz par
portance. Originally 'comes stabuli,' the les Conestables des villes '). At a later
144
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
men ^ to see the peax kept, And thereuppon the
said Constable and tythyng men charged the
said riotouse & evell disposed persons to kepe
the peax in goddes name and the kynges, and
thei diffied theym and put theym in ieopardie
of their lyves, And so incontinent*^ came to
the yates ^® of the said monasterye and shott in
arrowes puttyng the Prior and Subpriour in
ieopardie of their lyves, and hewed at the said
yates with their billes and lyfted theym then
out of the hookes with their hawberkes. Then
thei within the yates as the porter with oder
sett tymbre ayenst the gate and did vnder sett -^^
it ageyn. And then thei toke their hawberkes
& hewed at their legges vnder the yatc. And
then thei made an out Cry and called for Strawe
date towns, as Lynn in 1480, were divided
into oonstabularies, the constables being
nominated by the people but elected by the
jurats (A. 8. Green, *Town Life in the
Fifteenth Century ' [1894], i. 307, ii. 415,
n. 1, 421). By the sixteenth century, con-
stables had become an object of ridicule, as
in William Bullein's * Dialogue ' (1573), and
in Shakespeare. In 1869 the office of
Constable of a Hundred or High Constable
was abolished by 32 & 33 Vict. c. 47. A
writer in * Notes and Queries * (8th ser.),
X. 297, states that the office of High
Constable still exists in Caerphily Higher
and Miskin Higher, Glamorganshire, as
well as in the City of Westminster.
The Constable in this case did not
represent the Manor, for neither the
charter of WiUiam 1 nor of Henry 1
grants any franchise, and even the assize
of bread and beer was subjected to a Quo
Warranto (Dugd. * Monast.' iii. 17). He was
the Constable of the Town, as is explicitly
stated in C, p. 160, infra, and he and the
tithing-men were the officers of the peace
of the district; cf. the title of William
Lambard's *Tlie Duties of Constables,
Borsholders, Tithing-men, and such other
Lowe Ministers of the Peace' (ed. 1610).
The Hundreds-man and the Tithing-man
are both mentioned together in the laws
of Edgar, § 4 (B. Schmid, *Die Gcsetze
der Angelsachsen ' [Leipzig, 1858], p. 184),
as the responsible police of the district.
The Hundreds-man became the Constable
of the Hundred, or High Constable (see
preceding note). ' Every Constable, petie
Constable, Tithing-man and Borowhead be
Conservators of the Peace by their offices
within the limits of their Hundreds, Towns,
Tythmgs and Boroughs. Y.B. 12 Hen. 7,
17, Fineux.* W. Lambard, ' Eiremircha '
(ed. 1610), p. 14.
** The tithing was a police division.
Upon the question whether it was origi-
nally a personal or a territorial division,
see W. Stubbs, * Const. Hist.' chap. v. Pro-
fessors Pollock and Maitland appear to be
of opinion that the Tithing was a group of
twelve or more persons in the Midlands,
and a district in the South. The number
of twelve was a tithe of the Anglo-Saxon
long hundred of a hundred and twenty
(Stubbs, I.e.). In the South the vill
became recognised as a tithing. *The
tithing-man is the tithing-man of a place,
of a vill or hamlet' (P. & M., 'Hist, of
Engl. Law' [Cambridge, 1895], i. 554-8).
Qu. whether in this case the tithing-men
summoned were the tithing-man of the
town of Eynesham and the tithing-man
of the tithing of the Hundred of Wootton,
in which the town was situate.
*• I.e. in continent! tempore, in con-
tinuous time, without an interval. Cf. R.
Higden, ' Polychronicon ' (Rolls Series, 41),
V. 393: (transl.) * where he diede in con-
tinenti tifter he hade seide so.' J. A. H.
Murray, ' Eng. Diet.' s.v.
** A common dialect form in Yorkshire,
Derbyshire, and the northern Midlands
generally. See Joseph Wright, 'English
Dialect Dictionary ' (1900), ii. s.v. Gate.
" Prop up. Cf. Gower, ' Confcssio
Amantis,' b. v. :
* That thei the werke shuld vndersette
With tymbre.'
C. Richardson, * New Eng. Diet,'
(1844), S.V.
EYNESHAM, ABBOT OF, V. HAKECOURT AND OTHERS 145
and Firzes for to sett fire on the yates & on the
said monasterie More ouer the said evell doers
afterward went to Staunton, and arraysed ^^ vpp
more people that nyght, and drave the said
Prior to ordeigne men for the Save Gard of
theym and the monasterie to watche al nyght
vnto the next morowe that thei sent for ij
Jastices of the peax maister William Harecourt ''
and M' Eggecombe ^ of Oxenford. Vppon the
which m*^ William Harecourt cam to the toun
of Enysham beforesaide and charged the Con-
stables ^ and Tythyng men ^ to see goode rule
kept rebukyng one John mury William Wode
** Arraise, araise, (fee, an obsolete form
of * raise.' J. A. H. Murray, ' Eng. Diet.'
B.V. araise.
•• William Harcoort, of Combury Park,
Oxfordshire, first cousin onoe removed of
Sir Robert Harecourt, being second son of
Sir Richard Harecourt and grandson of
Sir Thomas Harecourt, the great-grandfather
of Sir Robert Harecourt. He was lord of
the Manor of Oorfe Moylen, Dorset.
Lipscomb (* Hist, of Buckinghamshire,' iv.
590) leaves a blank for the name of his
wife, but in W. Eennett's * Parochial Ant.'
(Oxford, 1818), ii. 894, occurs a memo-
randum of John Chedworth, Bishop of
Lincoln, dated June 11, 1464, as follows :
*Dominus concessit licentiam vioario ec-
desiae de Bygnell ad solenmizandum ma-
trimonium inter Willelmum Harecourt
armigerum et Elizabetham Stokys filiam
Johannis Stokys in capella infra manerium
de Burcestre situata dum tamen nulli per
hoc fiat praejudicium.' John Stokes was
High Sheriff of Oxon in 1486 (J. M.
Davenport, * Lords Lieut, and High Sheriffs,'
p. 9) and Knight of the Shire in Parliament
in 1459 (J. M. Davenport, * Oxfordshire
Annals,' 1869). It is, however, possible
that this was a fijst or second marriage of
his uncle. Sir William Harcourt, Knight,
who, according to Lipscomb, married
Anne Home. This seems the more pro-
bable because *armiger' is properly the
title of the eldest son, and although Sir
William Harcourt was the second son, yet
after his elder brother Sir Robert Har-
court, K.O., had been knighted, the second
son may have borne the title of armiger.
(See ' Select Cases in the Ck)urt of
Bequests ' [Selden Society], 1898, p. 147,
n. 4.) William Harcourt served as High
Shenff of Oxfordshire and Berks (the two
counties being united under one shriev-
alty) in 1491-2, 1503-4 and in 1510-11
(Davenport, I.e.). PJt.O. List of Sheriffs,
pp. 108, 109.
** Presumably John Eggecombe, of
St. Aldate's, Oxford, owner (perhaps in-
heritor from John Edgecumbe, gentleman
[flor. 1484], H. Hurst, 'Oxford Topo-
graphy,' p. 37) of TriU-mill Hall, in Grand-
pont Street, which he converted into a
brewhouse (A. Wood, *City of Oxford'
[ed. A. Clark, 1889], i. 201, 300). He was
. Mayor of Oxford in 1484, 1485, 1491, and
1497, and an Alderman in 1503 (ib. iii. 25,
26), in which year he was nominated a
commissioner to raise the feudal aids
demanded by the King both in the town
and county of Oxford (Bot. Pari. vi. 588,
542). His will was proved in 1515 (J. C.
C. Smith, * Index of Wills,' i. 184), and he
was buried in St. Aldate's (A. Wood, ' City
of Oxford,' iii. 199, n. 1). He left a sum of
money for prayers for his soul at the
annual service on St. Scholastica's Day, on
which the Town made submission to the
University. See A. Wood, * Hist, of the Uni-
versity ' (1792), i. 473. See also H. Hurst,
* Oxford Topography ' (Oxford, 1899), p. 50.
"» Although by the Act 13 Hen. 4, c. 7
(1411), two justices with the sheriff or under-
sheriff were needed to record and certify
riots, it had recently (Y. B. 14 Hen. 7, f. 9)
been held by Fineux, C. J., that any one
justice may suppress rioters (W. Hudson,
* Treatise of the Court of Star Chamber >
[1792], p. 85. Cp. also p. 236, n. 7,
infra). As reason has been shewn for the
belief that the abbey had no franchise, it
may be inferred that one or both of the
Constables of the Hundred of Wootton had
appeared on the scene, accompanied by
one or more of the tithing-men of the
Hundred, in addition to ^e Constable of
the Town. See n. 27, supra.
** In another hand.
" Sir Robert Harecourt had a manor
146
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
** The said Sir
Robert saith that he
sapposithe that saoh
Inditmentes ther be as
be in this article oon-
taigned bat he was at
the time of thos Indit-
ments fonnd in Stafford-
sher " & had noo know-
ledge therof vntil they
were past.
and Oder perteynyng to sir Robert Harecourt to
Buflfre and maigten^ any such evyll disposed
persons, which he wold lay to ther Charge
herafter. And notwithstandyng the premisses,
the said sir Robert Harecourt with his
adherentes of very pure malece, without any
occasion or lawfull cause geven vnto hym or any
of his, hath vntruly indited '• certeyn of the
monkes of the sayd monasteris at Islype of
Felony that is to say one dan John Abendon of
thage of iiij" and v yeres, Edward Westin Jameys
Salley Roger Wallyngford and John Oxford*®
with mo beyng monkes of the same monastery to
the gret hurt and impoverysshment of the same
monasterie, And so vtterly he entendith to vn
doo theym except your good grace to theym be
shewed in this behalf. And yet after al this the
said sir Robert Harecourt coulde not be content
but attempted to indite moo of the saide monkes
at the Sessions kept at Ghepyng Norton, and ther
al the Court knewe and perceyved that it was
of wilfull malece. So that at that Cessions he
coulde not opteigne his maliciouse purpose.*^
and seat at EUenhall, in Staffordshire, five
miles N.W. of Stafford. S. Erdeswick,
* Hist, of Staffordshire ' (ed. 1844), p. 184.
*■ Maintain. The Act 11 Hen. 7, o. 8
(1496) (*An Acte agaynst anlawfull As-
semblyes and other offences contrary to
former Statutes') complains of obstacles
being thrown in the way of justice by
*imbracery mayntenaance corrupcion and
favoar.' In this petition, and perhaps in
the Act, * maintenance ' is used in the
sense of 'support.* In a strict sense it
appears to mean either taking part in
another's lawsuit or inducing another to
embark in lawsuits. See Ooke, on the
Statute of Westminster the First, 2nd Inst,
p. 212. Cf. p. 241, n. 1, infra, and Introd.,
p. Ixv.
** Presumably at Quarter Sessions. In
1860 an Act (84 Ed. 8, c. 1) founded the
jurisdiction of Quarter Sessions for counties
and empowered the magistrates *doier et
terminer a la suite le Boi, tote manere de
felonies et trespas faites en meisme la
Countee.' Lambard conjectures that the
gp:ant of this power was accompanied by
the assumption of the name of Justices in
lieu of the more modest title of Conser-
vators of tibe Peace. Marrow, whose read-
ing is among the Lansd. MSS. in the Brit.
Mus., whom Lambard controverts, assigns
the change to 18 Ed. 8, st 2, c. 2 (1344).
See *Eirenaroha' (ed.l610), p. 22. Although
the statute of 1860 authorised the trial
by Quarter Sessions of cases of murder,
as a matter of practice the Justices of
the Peace chiefly confined themselves to
cases of theft, (fee, involving, however,
capital punishment. See J. F. Stephen,
* History of the Criminal Law' (1888), i.
118-115, where the history is given of the
gradual disuse and eventual abolition by
statute (6 (fe 6 Vict. c. 88) of the power of
trying capital cases.
^ Note that, with the exception of
Salley, every one of these is the name of a
place in the neighbourhood, which points
to the fact that the religious houses were
recruited from the surrounding country.
There is a Weston in Berks and another
in Northants. See note 2, supra. That
the names were adopted on profession is
rendered the more probable on comparison
with the other names in the case, which
are not, with the exception of Broughton,
local.
*> See Introd., p. evil, supra.
EYNESHAM, ABBOT OF, V. HARECOURT AND OTHERS 147
*« This article this
deponent confessithe
savyng he saith that
he saw noo oeroiorari
and he dyd it vpon good
ground as he saith as
he was infoormed.
And more ouer the thursday next folowyng
he caused a Sessions to be kept at Henley vppon
Temys in the extreme parte of the Shire of
Oxford which is more then xxvj myles from the
said monasterie And ther caused dyuerse of the
said monkes to be indited Some of Felony and
some of Byott, and some of both, and hath
retoumed the said inditementes into the Eynges
Bench " notwithstandyng a cerciorary ** to hym
before delyuered.
Also the said sir Robert Harecourt contrary
to the laudable statutes of this lande mayn-
teneth** certeyn evell disposed persons in the
tounes of Eynesham and Gherlebury, that is to
say, William Titte William a Wode Richard
Serle Richard Reynoldes with oder evell disposed
persons, So that the officers and seruauntes of
your said Oratoures, when thei shall require any
Rentes or oder dueties be so thretenned and
imbraced** with the said Sir Robert and his
seruauntes that thei dare nor may peasable do
your said oratour seruice.
** Presumably with the hope of seouring
a conviction from a London jury. It was
a legal doctrine that the removal of a
record into the King's Bench was irre-
versible, except by Act of Parliament.
Coke, 4 Inst. p. 73. It was the practice of
criminals at this period, perhaps in order
to secure a less prejudiced trial in London
or to throw difficulties in the way of the
prosecution, themselves to procure the
removal of their indictments to the King's
Bench. To check this the * Acte concemyng
felons and murderers ' was passed in 1515
(6 Hen. 8, c. 6), empowering the justices
of the King's Bench to remit such prisoners
to their counties for trial.
** * Certiorari is a Writ out of the Chancery
to an Inferiour Court to call up the Records
of a cause therein depending, that conscion-
able justice may be therein administred,
upon complaint made by bill that the Party
which seeketh the said writ hath received
hard dealing in the said Court.' . . .
*Crompton, in his Justice of the Peace,
fol. 117, saith. That this Writ is returnable
in the King's Bench and then hath these
words. Nobis raittatis ; or in the Chancery,
and then hath in Cancellaria nostra ; or in
the Common Bench, and then hath coram
Justitiariis nostris de Banco.' Cowel,
* Interp.' s.v.
** See n. 38, supra.
^ This is a le^ term used, as * main-
tain ' above, in a loose sense. * Embraceour
or embrasour, 19 Hen. 7, o. 18, is he that
when a matter is in Tryal between Party
and Party, comes to the Bar with one of
the Parties (having received some Reward
so to do) and speaks in the case, or privilv
labours the jury, or stands there to surveigh
or over-look them, thereby to put them in
fear and doubt of the matter. . . . But
persons learned in the Law may speak in
the case for their clients.' Cowel, * Interp.'
S.V. The statute to which Cowel refers is
intituled *De Biotis repremendis' (1504),
and recites that in the Act 13 Hen. 4, c.
7 (1411), respecting riots there is ' no men-
cion therin made of eny punysshment of
the maintenours and embracers of the
Jurriours.' Similarly, the recital of the
Acte for Writtes of Attaynt to be brought
against Jurors for untrue Verdictes ' (11
Hen. 7, c. 24), passed in 1495, speaks of
*unlawfull mayntenours, ymbrasours and
Jurrours.' The next Act on the Boll of the
same session is intituled * An Acte agaynst
Perjury unlawfull mayntenaunce and
l2
148
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
This article he oon-
fessith thus that he com-
aanded the said persons
all bat William bigar
to take Distressed if
thabbot wold not pay
his fee, affor William
bigar was with them as
he saith. To the other
artiole he saith that he
sent onlye ij of his ser-
oantes for thos oxen,
that is to say, Baof
Ghamels and oone or
ij to go with him how
many oxyn thay toke he
can not tell nor how long
the! wer kepte. He did
thaim to be takyn ypon
sooh causes as is ex-
pressed in his answer.
Also the xx" day of Octobre the xviii yere of
the Eyng oar souereigne lorde,^^ the said su
Bobert Harecourt sent one Eauffe Gharnes
and Edmund Cooke William Byger with other
of his seruantes ^^ in to the seuerall pastures of
the seid monasterie and ther tok and droue
awaye ccc schepe thorowe myre and water to
Staunton,** which were worth at that tyme
XXX li^^ and then afterwardis the said Eaufife
Charnes came to Eynesham to the Abbot your
Oratour and said to hym that he hadde arestid
his forsaid shepe for iiij nobles^ of his
masters fee^^ due to hym atte feste of seynt
michell laste paste and so your said Oratour
seid he deseruyd no fee of hym and that he
wold trye with hym And thervppon your seid
oorrupcion in officers * (11 Hen. 7, c. 26), and
recites that * perjurie growth by onlawfull re-
teynders mayntenaance embrasyng cham-
pertie and corrupcion of goode aswell of
the Shirefs as of other officers,' these
persons, as the Act shows, being the
offenders. It thence appears that CowePs
definition is correct and that the word is
properly applicable to tampering with trial
by jury. Sir Bobert had, however, been
probably sworn by the commissioners
appointed for that purpose on 4 Jan. 1486,
that he would not *any Mayntenaunce
Imbracery Biotis or anlawfol Assembles
make, oaase to be made, or assent thereto.'
Bym., ♦Peed.* xii. 280.
*• 1602.
^' * Also if a man grant by his deed a
rent charge to another and the rent is
belund, the grantee may chase whether he
will sue a writ of annuity for this against
the grantor or distreine for the rent
behinde. But he can not do or have both
together &o. For if he recovers by a writ
of annuity, then the land is discharged of
the distress &o. And if he doth not sue a
writ of annuity and the tenant sueth his
replevin and then the grantee avow the
t^ng of the distresse in the land in a
court of record, then is the land charged,
A the grantor discharged of the action of
annui^.* Littleton, § 219 (Coke on
Littleton). Coke doubts the doctrine that
the grantee is estopped by taking a distress
from bringing a subsequent writ of annuity,
lb. 146a.
A corody (see p. 28, n. 18, also
n. 61, infra) was in the nature of a
rent charge, and was conceived to issue
from the religions house itself (prioratus
sine abbathia vel alia domus est quasi
tenementum de quo talis redditus [a
oorody] pronenire debeat, Bracton, f. 180).
But Bracton expressly says that there is no
distraint for a corody, likening it in this
respect to a contract to pay an annuity
(* hujusmodi praestatio est quasi praestatio
de camera,' lb. Cf. P. and M. * Hist. Eng.
Law,' ii. 133), and he refers the grantee to
the spiritual courts. By the Statute of
Westminster II. c. 26 (1285) the temporal
action of Novel Disseisin was assigned
to the grantee of a corody (P. and M.,
ii. 184). The statement of defence alleges
that * a clause of distress ' was in the deed
granting the * fee.' Annuity deeds of this
kind were known to Bracton as issuing
from lay manors (f. 180).
** ka erasure about two inches in length
follows.
^ I.e. two shillings apiece. This is a
somewhat high price, for except in 1601,
when the highest price of muttons was at
the unprecedented figure of Sa. 4d., 2s,
had not been reached since 1496, and
Is. lOfd. and Is, 10\d. are the figures given
by Bogers for 1602 and 1603 respectively.
♦Hist. Agr. and Pr.,' iv. 860.
^ 11, 6s. 8d., the noble being here
taken at 6s. Qd, But see Idele v. Abbot of
St. Benettes Holme, A, p. 60, n. 5,
** Gowel says that a fee is a reward
* given to one for the execution of his office,'
and the reply of the abbot seems to indicate
that Sir Bobert's demand was for his fee in
this sense. Beasons have been already
adduced for the inference that this was
not a corody. According to dowel ' Corody,
Corodium signifies in the Oommon Law
a sum of money or allowance of meat,
EYNESHAM, ABBOT OF, V, HARECOURT AND OTHERS 149
Oratour sent for a replevy ** which replevy sir
Robert Harecourt wold in no wise obeye bat
kept the said shepe still by the space of viij
dayes** So that for mysguydyng of the same
shepe many of them the wynter folowyng were
distroyed to the grett hurt of your said
Oratouris and after that your Oratour paid hym
xxvj* viij^ by compulsion or elles they had bene
all distroyed. Also the last day of Marche then
next foliwyng the said sir Eobert and his
seruauntes fetchid away out of your said
Oratours plowes xyj Oxen^ without demaund
of any thyng dette or other And kept the same
Oxen by the space of iij wekes So that your seid
Oratour this yere was fayn to hire other plowes
to erry** his lond which shuld be for the
sustynaunce of hym and of his brethern the yere
foluyng by reason whereof your said Oratour
coulde not sowe the halfe of his said land to his
drink and olothing, due to the King
from an Abbey, or other house of
Beligion, whereof he is the founder, to-
wards the reasonable sustenance of such
a one of his servants, being put to his
pension, as he thinketh good to bestow it
on. ... It is also apparent ... by the
New Terms of Law, that a corody may be
due to a common person, by grant from one
to another, or of common right to him that
is a founder of a religious house not holden
in Frank almoine, for that tenure was
discharged of all corodies in itself.* For
examples of corodies granted by a religious
house in return for a capital sum down
see Bath, Prior of, v. 8t. Augustyn, Canter-
bury, Abbot of, pp. 28, 29, 82.
*' * Goods may be replevied two manner
of wayes, viz. by writ, A that is by the
common law, or by the pleint, & tiiiat is
by the statutes for the more speedy having
againe of the cattell & goodes.' Coke upon
Littleton, 145 b. Li the latter case, the
Sheriff would, without a writ, proceed to
make replevin. Beeves, ' Hist. Eng. Law *
(ed. W. F. Finlason, 1869), i. 49.
*» In Bracton*8 day this was a very
serious offence known as * vetitum namii ' :
*cum injusta captio et detentio contra
vadium et plegium dici poterit quaedam
roberia contra pacem domini Regis, etiam
plus quam nova disseisina' (f. 158 b).
That the * captio ' was just made no differ-
ence: 'quamvis captio justa vel injusta,
tamen vetitum semper erit injustum*
(ib.) The Sheriff might thereupon raise
a hue and cry and apprehend the offender.
In the case of a person so powerful as
Sir Robert Harecourt this course was
scarcely likely to be taken. Nevertheless,
in holding a plea * de vetito namio ' the
Sheriff acted, not as Sheriff, but as * justi
tiarius regis,' it being among the pleas of
the Crown assigned to the Sheriff owing to
the necessity of expedition where the
ownership of animals was to be determined
(ib. 155 b). By the Statute of Westminster
II. c. 2 (1285) facilities were provided for
removing these pleas to the royal courts.
The Sheriff, Sir Richard Fouler, in this
case appears to have taken no steps; an
illustration, so far as it goes, of the in-
effective operation of the law.
^ From the bailiffs' rolls of Cuxham
(1316-17) and Holywell, Oxford (1841), it
appears that the plough team was four
oxen or four horses. J. E. T. Rogers, * Hist.
Agr. and Prices,' i. 15, ii. 617, 655. Both
Walter of Henley (ed. E. Lamond, 1890,
p. 11) in the middle of the thirteenth
century and Fitzherbert towards the middle
of the sixteenth agreed that * the ploughe
of oxen is much more profitable than the
ploughe of horses ' (* Husbandry,' chapter
intituled * Whether is better a plough of
horses or a plough of oxen ').
" A form not noticed in Murray's Diet.
Cf. the obsolete *ear,* to plough. In
Walter of Henley, p. 48, 'erybyll londe.'
Cf. p. 259, n. 4, infra.
150
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
*• Vnto this article he
B&ith that the sayd
Robert was tached by a
warraant vpon bob-
pioions of felony and
only by my persone."
hurte and damage of xx li and more. Also the
iij'' day of April the said sir Robert Harecourt
sent Edmmid Cooke his seruaunt with other
persons to the numbre of xyj whos names your
seid Oratoor knoweth not to Eynesham and
ther lay in a bame all nyght and by force toke
away away ^ a seruaunt *' of your said Oratours
callid Robert Lane without any warraunt or
laufull cause as far as he knowith as yet.
Also the said sir Robert at euery sessions
and assise wolnot sufEre the kynges lawes
peasable with justice to be execute and
especiall when any nisi prius shuld pass by
twen partie and partie*® yf the jury be not
retourned after his mynde with his riotous
adherentes he stoppith them with thretenyng
and other meanes that the true proces of
the lawes may not passe but after his wilfull
and ynlawefull pleasurs insomuch at the last
assise kept vppon the brige bisides Abyndon
in the Countie of Oxon^® he kept certayn
** Sio, repeated.
" In the time of William Bufns there
were sixty-five servants at Evesham Abbey
in attendiEuice on sixty-seven monks, five
nnns, three * pauperes ad mandatum,* and
three clerks. Of the servants five served
in the church, two in the infirmary, two in
■ the chancery, five in the kitchen, seven in
the bakehouse, four in the brewery, four
attended the bath, two were shoemakers,
two were in the pantry, three weregardeners,
three were porters, and five were in the
vineyard, four attended on the monks when
they went abroad, four were fishermen,
four waited in the abbot's chamber, and
two were watchmen. Dugd. * Monast.* ii. 4.
At Tewkesbury at the Dissolution there
were 144 servants to wait on the abbot and
thirty-eight monks, ib. p. 88, W. Dyde,
• Hist, of Tewkesbury ' (1798}, p. 146. See
farther T. D. Fosbroke,* British Monasticism '
(1848), p. 195. The abbey of Eynesham at
the Dissolution contained eight monks
besides the abbot. Dugd. * Monast.' iii. 27.
** Added to the line in the same hand
as the marginal notes.
** ' It is called a writ of Nisi Prius of
these two words whereby the Sheriff is
commanded to bring to Westminster the
men impannelled at a certain day, or before
the Justices of the next Assizes, Nisi die
Lunae apud talem locum prius venerint *
(fee. Cowel, *Interp.* s. v. The statute
originating the writ of Nisi Prius was that
of Westminster the Second, o. 80 (1285),
where the writ is given as follows : * Prae-
cipimus tibi quod venire facias coram
justiciariis nostris apud Westmonasterium
in octabis sancti Michaelis, nisi talis et
talis tali die et loco ad partes illas venerint,
xii. (fee' ; but Coke, 4 Inst. 159, gives it at
greater length as foUows : * Bex viceoomiti
salutem. Precipimus tibi quod venire facias
coram justiciariis nostris apud Westmonas-
terium in octabis sanoti Midiaelis, vel coram
justiciariis nostris ad assisas in comitatu tuo
per formam statuti nostri inde provisi capi-
endas assignatis, si prius die Lunae proximae
ante festum (fee. apud (fee. venerint 12 tam
milites quam alios (fee'
*" The Justices of Assize in the thirteenth
century held their sittings in villages as
well as in the principal towns. Bracton
sat as Judge of Assize at Exeter, Morchard,
Molton, Torrington, Chulmleigh, Barnstaple
and Umberleigh. • Note Book,' i. 17 ; P. and
M., * Hist. Eng. Law,' i. 181. By an Act of
1882 Justices of Assize and Gaol Delivery
were ordered to sit * in principalibus &
capitalibus villis singulorum comitatuum,
abi videlicet comitatus eorundem comi-
tatuum tenentur vel in posterum tene-
EYNESHAM, ABBOT OF, V, HARECOURT AND OTHERS 151
persons by violence in a Ghambre and also letted
Oder persons to come to the said assise, as the
Justices then beyng ther can more largely shewe
and specially in ij matiers one concernyng your
** This article this ^^^ Oratoor and in An oder mater concernyng
deponent denyeth." qj^q Thomas Dentun Squier.
Also where William late Abbott ^' of the said
monasterie & the Couent of the same place
graunted vnder ther couent scale an annuitie of
iiij markes ^^ yerly goyng out of their manor of
Eynesham a fore said to the said Robert Hare-
court only to haue his Fauour help and counseill
to the seid monastery your said Suppliaunt
seith that the seid Robert is ther most extreme
enmy distroyer and vndoer to his poure of the
said Monastery as apperith by the articles and
co(m)playntes aboue rehersid wherfor they prey
to be discharged of the said annuyte. All
which the premysses considerid that it may
pleas your god grace to graunt seuerall writtes
of Sub pena to be dyrectid aswell to the said
sir Robert Harcourt Thomas Cater John
Vaughan Robert Smyth Thomas Badam Robert
Walton Edmunde Sparke John Stokeley John
Hepy John Broughton Stephan Swaynford
William Titte^ John Sawier Richard Sparke
Richard Serle Edmund Coke Richard Reynoldes
John Neele John Gokkes Rauff Charnes William
and ^ Byger commaundyng theym by the same
to appere before your highnes and your most
honorable Counseill in the Sterre Chambre at
Westmenster to answer aswell your highnes
as your seid Oratour of the seid wronges riottes
and extorcions before don and the same your
Oratour shall alwey prey for the preseruacion
buntur» (6 Ric. 2, st. 1, o. 6). As 'the 1746), ii. 14.
countie of Oxon ' is specified here, the '■ William Walwyn, 1469-1498 (Dugd.
inference is that the assize was being held * Monast.* iii; 2), as to which last date see
for Oxfordshire in violation of this Act. n. 2, snpra.
The assize court was perhaps the hall of *" 21. 18s. 4d.
the abbey, which is close to the bridge. ** See next case, p. 162.
See J. Leland, * Itinerary * (ed. T. Heame, ** Sic.
152 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
of your gracioas astate long to endure to goddes
pleasure.^'*
{Indorsed) Termino sancte Pasche ^ anno Begni Regis
Henrici vij decimo octauo.
Miles Episcopus Landauensis contra Bober-
tum Harecourt militem et alios.
Coram domino Bege & Consilio suo apud
Westmonasterium die Martis videlicet xxiij die
Maii proxime ^^ futuro quo ad Bobertum Hare-
court militem ac ad alios infra nominatos in
Octabis Ascensionis ^ domini proxime future.
B. Thanswer of sir Bobert Harecourt knyght to the byll and
Articules therin conteyned put ayenst him by Miles Abbot
of Enesham.
The same sir Bobert saith the gret parte of the mater comprised
in the said bill is vntrue and by craft ymagined to put the same sir
Bobert to trouble and vexacion for malice that the same Abbot berith
to him without cause for he saith it apperith clerly by the shewing of
the said Abbot in the said bill that as to the v or vj articule in the
said bill conteyned, that he is not gilty consentyng nor priuy to the
doyng of them, as by the same bill more pleynly apperith and for
further declaracion of the trowght in the said mater towching the first
Articule of the said bill for the takyng awey of the bott by the said
John Welshe from the said yle leuyng the same Dan Boger and the
same Gristofer his seruaunt within the same yle, the said sir Bobert
saith that the said John Welsch hath said and often tymes complayned
that the said monke and Gristofer oftyn tymes with their said bott
wold com to the said yle lond and there drawe the lepys * and store-
pottes with Fysche of the saidwelsche erly and late and had takyn
the Fysshe awey with them to thualo^ of xl' and Above at dyuers
tymes as he supposid wherwith the said John welsche founde him
sore grevid, and oftyn tymes wetched to espie the takers of the said
Fysshe and coude not fynde them And at the said tyme of the takyng
of the said botte, The said monke and his seruaunt come with their
** MS. maoh injured in parts. oatoh or keep fish. Cf. Act 25 Hen. 8,
•• 8 May— 29 May, 1603. See J. J.Bond, o. 7 : * No person shaU take in ... any
* Handy-Book of Dates ' (ed. 1S66), pp. 85, wele . . . lepe ... or by any other
285. engyne . . . ue yonge frye ... of aD>
" Tuesday, 28 May, 1508. kynde of salmon.* J. A. H. Murray, * Eng.
« 1 June, 1508, ib. pp. 70, 79. Diet.,' 8.v. Leap.
* Lepe, leap, dkc, a basket in which to ' The yalne.
EYNESHAM, ABBOT OF, l\ HARECOURT AND OTHERS 153
said botte in to the said yle for to Fysche and to drawe the said lepys
and storepottes And not for to seche for any such stonys of nettes as
is supposid in the said bill, And the said John welsche perceyuyng
them there hauyng no Record with him by cause they shuld not after
that denay it, caried awey their said botte, thinkyng to them no
harme but to haue their dede opynly knowyn, for there is a fery botte,
and men kepyng the same neire the said yle which within an houre
after conueyed them to the said Abbey,
AND AS to the ij"** article for teyeng of the botte in thorchard of
the said monastery the said sir Bobert saith that the same John
Welsche infourmid him that the same John come with his bott to the
comen landyng place of bottes in Enesham called thorchard ende, and
from thens went to the said towne for the cariage of such stuf as he
had to cary home, and after his departing oone of the monkes or ser-
uauntes of the said Abbey for malice that they here vnto him for the
takyng of the said Abbey botte in the said yle lond secretly conueyed
the said botte of the same John Welsche into thorchyard of the said
Abbey, And ther drownyd ^ the said botte, And the same John Welsche
retournyng homward missed his said bott and hauyng infourmacion
that the said bott was in the said orchyard, went in to the same to
feche ayen the same botte And ther founde his saide botte drownyd.
And ij of the said monkes of the said monastery there lyeng awayte
for him purposely and perceyuyng him to come for his saide botte ther
they him assautid sore bett and woundid and there him imprisoned
so that he was not able by long space after to erne his levyng. The
same sir Bobert than beyng in Stafford Shire afor and also long after
vnderstonding no thyng of the said demeanour in the said Orchyard
And after the same John welsche and diuerse othur supposid in the
said bill and the monkes of the said monastery and othur the semauntes
of the said Abbey frayed ^ to gedyr in the town of Enesham and at
the said affrayes many wer by the monkes of the said Abbey hurt, but
how thoys affrayes began or of whos sekyng the said sir Bobert can not
certenly telle, for he was than and long afore in Stafford shire, not
knowyng of theis demeanours but at his comyng home out of Stafford
Shir, which was a monith after hering the demeanour of the said
' Cp. the * Eng. Chron.' (Camden Soo. as it was already in the water, there would
1856), p. 43 : * On of the grettist carrakez have been no point in carrying it out only to
. . . was so rent and bored in the sides drench it.
. . . that sone after it was dround.' J. A. * I.e. came into collision. Cp. Merlin
H. Murray, * Eng. Diet.' s.v. It would seem (1450), 524 : * Ther myght a man haue sein
from the narrative that a creek ran up the . . . many a shafte and shelde frayen
orchard and that in this they sank the to-geder.' ib. s.v.
boat. The word also means to drench, but
154 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
persons with the said monkes as many as were his seruaontes there
present which were but ij persons, and some of the Bemenaunt were
his tenauntes, he commaunded forthwithe to warde to the stokkes '^ in
Staunton harecourt And there kept them by the space of v dayes
and after dischargid the said John Welsche and Edmund parke his
tenauntes of theire tenure and lond * which they hild of the said sir
• Bobert for their said misdemeanours AND AS to thindittament
supposid to be done at the Sessions at Islipe, The same sir Bobert
saith that he was neuer priuy nor consentyng therunto for at the
tyme of the forsaid afirayes committed and contynually after vnto the
said Sessions were done he was in Stafford Shire as is abouesaid, not
knowyng of the said affrayes nor Sessions kepyng. And as towching
the Indictamentes at the Sessions at Henley, The said sir Bobert saith
that the said Sessions were the generall Sessions of the Shire, and he
oone of the Justices of peax there sittyng as it was there afor con-
tynually vsid and there dyuers billys of complayntes were put in ayenst
dyuers of the said monkes and othur at the said Sessyons, and proues
therupon hard, and the said sir Bobert no thing did there but as a
Justice of peax ought to doo according to his othe concemyng thoffice
of a Justice of peax. AND AS to tharticle that the said sir Bobert or
any of his seruauntes shuld lett the said Abbott in gadering vp of his
duties ^ in Enesham or othur places that he is not nor was gilty in
any poynte in the said Article conteyned. And as to the takyng of
the said Sheppe what the numbyr was he certeinly remembirs not,
but for the takyng of them he saith that aboute michaelmas last past
^ A punishment as old as the Anglo- following the precedent of the Act of 1351,
Saxons. In Harl. MS. no. 603 is a picture labourers were to be sworn to observe the
of a man in the stocks. See also Thomas regulations of the Statutes of Labourers as
Wright/ History of Domestic Manners,* <&c. to wages, &c., and on retusal to be fastened
(1S62), pp. 59, 116. By an Act of 1851 (25 in the stocks for three days. In order to
Ed. 8, St. 2, c. 2) stocks were ordered to be enforce the provision of stocks, every town
set up in every town for the purpose of or seignory which failed to supply them by
punishing servants who were guilty of the following Easter was rendered liable
offences against the statute fixing wages, to a fine of a hundred shillings (ib.).
Ac. In 1352 the clergy complained that Considering that three days in the stocks
king's justices confined clerks in the was held a sufiScient penalty for infringing
stocks for a longer time than they did the Statutes of Labourers, the punishment
laymen (Bot. Pari. ii. 244 b). In 1376 awarded by Sir Bobert Harecourt cannot
the Commons petitioned that vagabond be said to have erred on the side of
labourers should be confined in the leniency.
stocks (ib. 340 a) and that stocks be set * It is to be observed that John Welsche is
up in every town and village for this pur- described by the Abbot as * seruaunt * to Sir
pose (ib. 841 a), which looks as though Bobert. He would probably be a tenant at
the Act of 1351 had not been observed, will on the demesne. Cp. ' Trans. B. Hist.
This petition was the foundation of the Soc' (1892) n.s. vi. 255.
Statutes of Labourers passed in 1888 by "* I.e. legal dues. Cp. Chaucer, Friar's
which wandering labourers were consigned Tale, 93 : To reysen vp a rente. That
to prison or the stocks (12 Bic. 2, c. 8, Ac), longeth to my lordes duetee. J. A. H.
By an Act of 1406 (7 Hen. 4, c. 17), Murray, s. v.
EYNESHAM, ABBOT OF, V. HARECOURT AND OTHERS 165
he sent to the said Abbott for xxyj' viij'^ than to him dwe for a fee
which he hath out of the said Abbey vnder the conuent seall with a
clause of Distres for non payment of the same, And the said Abbot
refusid to pay the same, Aiid the said sir Robert sufferid a monyth
yet after, And for asmoch as the said Abbott than wold not content
the said fee, he commaundid Bauf Gharnels his seruaunt to Aske ayen
the same fee And the said Abbot refusid to pay the same, wherfore
the said seruaunt in peasible maner without any harnes distrayned the
said Shippe And after the said money payd the said sheppe were
delyuered forthwith. AND AS to the takyng of the said Oxon, The
said sir Robert saith that oone John mery was bounde for the said sir
Robert to the predecessour of the said Abbott for a certeyn summe of
money And for the contentacion therof the said old Abbott and the
said sir Robert aggreed that the said olde Abbott shuld reteigne of his
fee of iiij marc which the said sir Robert had of the said monastery
vnder the cou'ent seall vnto the said money were leuyed, And in the
said old Abbottes dayes iiij li. was byhinde of the said fee which iiij
the said sir Robert was content to goo to the contentacion of the said
money, and after the said old Abbott died and the said now Abbot
was elected Abbott And for malice that he berith vnto the said sir
Robert he will not allowe the said John mery the said iiij h. but toke
An Accion ayenst him for the same money. Wherfore the said sir
Robert sent vnto the said now Abbott for the said iiij li. tharrerages of
the said fee which to pay the said now Abbott refusid by force wherof
the said sir Robert causid the said oxon to be distrayned in peasible
maner without harnes by the said Rauf Gharnels and them kepte by the
space of V or vj dayes, and than at the request of a gentilman there
callid Edmunde Hampden ^ the said oxon were delyuered. AND AS
" Second son of Thomas Hampden of for a month after Henry's aooession he
Hampden, Bucks (W. Kennett, * Par. Ant.* ii. received a grant for * true and faithful ser-
460-1). He joined in the rising of Henry vice as well beyond the sea as over this side '
Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, against of the office of keeper of the royal park and
Richard 3 in October 1483, in which also forest of Woodstock (September 24, 1483,
John Harecourt, Sir Bobert's father, was W. Campbell, * Materials,* i. 53). His attain-
concemed (an instance of the revulsion of der was reversed by the first Parliament
feeling produced in a Yorkist partisan by of Henry 7 (November 7, 1486. Rot. Pari,
the suspicion of the murder of Edward 5 vi. 273). His grant was enlarged by another
and his brother). Both Harecourt and of March 6, 1486, which bestowed on him
Hampden were attainted of high treason in addition the office of steward or lieutenant
by the Parliament that met on January of the manor of Wodestoke, &c, (Campbell,
28, 1484, Hampden being described as ' Mat.' i. 357). In March 1487 he, being
* Edmund Hampden, late of Fisherton, then an Esquire for the King's Body, was
gentilman, sone to Thomas Hampden * dispatched by Henry 7 to Oxford with a
(Rot. Pari. vi. 246). He probably escaped letter demanding the surrender of the
to Henry, then Earl of Richmond and a Torkist ex-Chancellor, Robert Stillington,
refugee in Brittany, and doubtless returned bishop of Bath and Wells. He was un-
with him to England and fought at Bosworth, doubtedly selected for this mission as being
156 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
to the takyng of Robert Lane, The same sir Robert saith that he was
Buspectid of felony for stellyng of a horse of oone John a wod for
asmoche as he toke the said horse in the nyghte out of the close of
the said John awod and secretly the same horse kepte, wherfor the
seraaontes of the said sir Robert knowyng him suspecte with the same
him arrestid in peasible maner withoat any harnes how be it the said
Abbott ought not there with to entermedill AND AS to that articule
that the said Abbott surmisith that the said sir Robert shuld lett justice
to be doone at the Sessions Assises or othur places, he is not gilty of
any thing in that Articule comprised And as to the fee of iiij marc
grauntid vnder the couent seall to the said sir Robert, which the same
Abbott surmisith the same sir Robert to forfett thorought his de-
meanour The same sir Robert saith that he hath alwey myndid the
welth and honour of the said monastery, and hath done nothing to
the hurt of the same except it were in the default of the said Abbott,
for he saith that the said Abbott of his high and cruell mynde pykyth
many quarells to his poore neyghburghs,^ which causes the said sir
Robert hath avised the said Abbott to leue And in them wold neuer
take parte with him which is the misdemeanour surmisidayenst the same
sir Robert. Without that that the saide John Welsche John Vaugham
Robert Smyth Thomas Badam Robert Walton Edmunde Sparke John
a persona grata to the University, of which that in the same year the University wrote
he was high steward or seneschal (H. Anstey, to the King, * Viz quemquam ex nostris
* Epistolae Aoademicae ' [Oxon. 1898], ii. scolastiois viris in aliqua looa vestre Uni-
521). Nevertheless, the University refused, versltati vicina profiscisoi posse in qaem
being, it would seem, Yorkist in sympathy, fautores EdmnncQ Hampden non faciunt
and it was not until the following October impetum * (H. Anstey, ii. 608). Henry,
that Hampden succeeded in effecting an writing from Greenwich on April 5, 1492,
arrest and conveying his prisoner to Wind- informed the University that he had sent for
sor (Anstey, pp. 516-23 ; Ant. Wood, * Hist, of Hampden, censured his conduct, and for-
the University * [1792], i. 645 ; * Diet. Nat bidden a repetition of it * seu per se seu
Biog.' Bub Stillington). He does not appear per suos complices * (ib. p. 609). Hampden
to have matriculated or been otherwise a had ceased to be high steward in 1491. He
member of the University. On December was knighted on February 18, 1503 (W.
23, 1488, he was nominated on the commis- C. Metcalfe, * Book of Knights,* p. 39), and in
sion of the peace for Oxfordshire (W. Gamp- the same year was nominated a oommis-
bell,* Materials,' ii. 386), and in the following sioner for collecting the feudal aids levied by
year (April 7) a commissioner of gaol the King (Bot. Pari. vL 536).
delivei^ for the University, to try a scholar ' There is so much justification for this
of the University (ib. 482). In 1491 a tax, that Abbot Salley was presented by the Com
of which the nature does not appear, was mlssioners of Inclosures in 1517 as having
levied by Hampden, as high steward, and by on November 4, 12 Henry 7 (1496), in-
oertain collectors (quaestores) belonging to closed two messuages and two hundred acres
the King, which caused an outbreak on the of land at Little BoUright, and laid them to
part of * the vulgar sort of scholars with other pasture. But the same oonmiissioners pre-
associates of the laity ' (A. Wood, i. 649). A sented Sir Bobert Harecourt, also dead in
brother of Hampden, presumably engaged 1517, as the imparker of thirty acres of arable
in the collection of the tax, was imprisoned land at Staunton Harcourt on March 16,1495,
by one of the proctors in Bocardo. This and for the conversion of the land to pasture
seems to have provoked a feud between for the purpose of sport. Inclosures were
Hampden and his supporters on the one nnpopuiar. I. S. Leadam, * Domesday of
hand and the University on the other, so Inolosores * (1897), i. 328, 381.
EYNESHAM, ABBOT OF, V. HAKECOURT AND OTHERS 157
Cok John Stokley John Hercy John Broughton and John Nele were
seroaantes to the said sir Bobert or with him reteignid contrary to
the lawe in maner and foorme as in the said bill is sapposid, or that
Bichard Sharpe, Stephin Swaynford or any othirs named in the said
bill be or euer were reteigned with the said sir Bobert contrary to the
lawe. And withoat that that the said sir Bobert was priuy knowing
or assentyng to the said Biottes and A£&ayes in the said bill surmisid.
And without that that the said monkes or any of them were indictid
at Islipe by the labour and procurement of the said sir Bobert, or that
he did Any thing ayenst the said monkes or their seruauntes at any
Sessions othur than he by his ofiBce of Justice of peax ought to doo,
or that the said sir Bobert appoyntid the Sessions to be kepte At
Henley in maner and fourme as by the said bill is supposid, And
without that that the said sir Bobert sent the said Bauf Gharnels
Edmunde Cook or any other in harnes *^ to take the same distres, or that
he is gilty of any such misdemeanour riott or trispasse, as ayenst him
is surmisid in the said bill, all which maters the said sir Bobert is
Bedy to Auerre And proue as this court woU awarde, And praythe to be
dismissid out of the same with his resonable costes and charges for
his wrongfull vexacion susteyned in theis behalfes.
0. Thanswer of John Walshe otherwise callid John Sawyer,
John Yaugham, Thomas Gatter, Bobert Smyth, Thomas
Badam, Bichard Sharp, John Cockys, John Stokley,
Edmund Cooke and John Nele to the bill of complaynt
putt ayenst them by thabbott of Enysham.
The said John Walshe saith that the grett parte of the matter
surmisid ayenst him by the said bill is vntrue and by craft ymagined
to putt the same John to truble and vexacion without cause resonable,
but for declaracion of the trought in the said mater towching the
first articule of the said bill for * takyng awey of the botte by the
said John Walshe from the said He levyng the said Dam - Boger
** The word includes weapons. Gf. 'Lano. or of artificers should be liable to arrest if
Wills ' (1539), i. 158 : ' My soune . . . shall armed otherwise than with bows and arrows
have one hamys that ys to saye a plate except when travelling on behalf of their
coote or jacke a sallett a payre of speutes masters. The fact that the persons men-
(? splentes) and ahalbert.' J. A. H. Murray, tioned in the plaint as assailing the monas-
s.v. It is, however, to be noted that although tery were armed raises a presumption that
persons said to be dependants of the de- they were armed as being the retainers of Sir
fendant were armed, there is no allegation Bobert Harecourt ; or that, if of the labour-
in the plaint that they were armed on this ing class, they were guilty of a breach of the
occasion. By an Act of 1388 (12 Bich. 2, statute.
0. 6) it was provided that servants of hus- ' ' the ' in B.
bandry, labourers, and servants of victuallers * Dan, B.
158
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
monk and ^ Gristofer his seraaont within the same He, The said John
Walshe saith, That the said monke and Cristofir oftyn tymes with
theire said botte wold come to the said He lond and there drawe
the lepys and store pottes with Fysch of the said John Walshys ^ erly
and late, and had takyn awey with them Fysshe ^ to thualour of xP
and a bone at diners tymes as he supposid wherwith the said John
Walshe found him sore grevid and oftyn tymes watchyd to espie the
takers of the said Fysshe and cowde not finde them, and at the ^ tyme
of takyng of the said botte the said monk and his seruaunt came with
their said botte in to the said He ^ to Fysshe and to drawe the said
lepys and store pottes, and not ^ to seche for any such stonys of nettes
as is supposid in the said bill, And the said John Walshe percey vyng
them there hauyng no Record with him by cause they shuld not
after that denye it, caried awey theire ® botte thinkyng to them no
harme but to haue their dede opynly knowyn for there is a fery botte
and men kepyng the same neire the said He which within an houre
aftur conueyed them to the said Abbey, AND AS TO THE 8E-
CUNDE article for teyeng of the said ^° botte in the said **^ Orchyard
of the said monastery, The said John Welshe saith that he came
with his botte to the comyn londyng place of bottes in Enysham
callid thorchard ende and from thens went to the said towne for to
seche ^^ such stuff as he had to cary home, And after his departyng
oone of the monks or seruauntes of the said Abbey for malice that thei
bare vnto him for the takyng of the said Abbey botte ^^ secretly
conueyed the said botte of the same John Walshes ^^ in to thorchard
of the said Abbey, and there drownid the same ^^ botte. And the same
John Walshe retournyng homwardes" missid his said botte, and
hauyng informacion that the same ^' bott was in the said Orchyard
went in to the same to seche ayen his said ^^ botte. And ^® found his
said botte drownyd, and ij of the ^^ monkes of the said monastery
ther lyeng awayte for him purposely And they ^ perceyuyng him to
come for his said botte there they him assautid sore bette and
woundid And there him imprisoned soo that he was not able by long
space after to erne his lyvyng,'^ AND AS TO thentryng and comyng
' the same, B.
* the said welsohe, B.
* the Fysshe awey with them, B.
* said tyme of the, B.
» for, B.
* for. B.
* said.
»• • said * omitted, B.
** the oariage of, B.
>' in the said yle, B.
'> Welsche, B.
»* said, B.
*• homward, B.
>• said, B.
" the same, B.
'• ther, B.
'• said, B.
«• * they * omitted, B.
•* The oorrespondence with
B here
EYNESHAM, ABBOT OF, V, HARECOURT AND OTHERS 159
in to the said Orchyard the zxi^'^* day of marche in the maner and
fourme as in the said bill is allegid the said John Walshe Thomas
Gatter John Yaagham and Bobert Smyth sayen that grett parte of
that mater is vntrue and by craft ymagined to put them to troable
and vexacion without caase, And for declaracion of the trought they
say that they came with martyn whithill to entrete the prioor of the
said monastery to haae delyueraunce of the said John Walshys botte,
And the said martyn went in to the said Abbey, and spake with the
priour desiring him to haue the said botte delyuered, and the said
prioor bad him seche the said botte And the said John Walshe
Thomas Gatter John Yaugham and Robert Smyth went in to the
said Orchyard to seche the said botte, and as they were Abought to
haue losid and takyn the said bott the said Priour with xiiij monkes
and V seculer persons seruauntes of the said Abbey came with bowys
arrowys billes swordes and othur wepyns and there made assaute
vpon the said John Walshe Thomas Catter John Waugham and
Bobert Smyth and they perceyuyng the malicious entent of the said
Priour and monkes and their seruauntes departid and fled for drede
, of theire lyvys, And the said monkes pursuid them soo fast that
oone of the same monkes lepid ouer the wall of the said orchyard and
fell in a grett mire and there stak fast till he was holpyn oute, AND
AS TO THE FBAY supposid to be made in the said towne of
Enysham The said Walshe Thomas Carter John Yaugham and
Bobert Smyth sayen that grete parte of that mater is vntrue and of
pure maUce contryued to put them to trouble and vexacion, And for
further Declaracion of trought they say that the said John Broughton
^ Edmund parkes William Buteler and the same John Yaugham come
in to the Ghirche of the said Abbey to here euynsong by cause it was
, sonday, and whan they were in the same chirch dan Boger Wallyng-
• ford and Thomas Ware monkes of the said monastery come and askyd
them what they made there callyng them horson^^ knavys, and
comaundid them to avoyd out of the chirch or they wold make them
and therupon the same John vaugham John browton Edmund parkes
and William Butler departid out of the said chirch and wer goyng
in to the said towne of Enysham and whan they come to the yates
of the said Abbey diuers of the monkes and seruauntes of the said
monastery whos names they knowe not made assaute vpon the said
John vaugham John Broughton Edmund Parkes and William Butler
with cross bowis '' long bowys ^* billes ^^ stavys ^® swordes and othur
" .Whoreson, bastard. non exeroitandis, 19 Hen. 7, o. 4) it was
" By an Act of 1504 (De Balistis provided that none should shoot with a
160
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
wepons and Shot at them and Smote the said John vaagham thorough
the legge, and the said John Broughton on the brest with an Arrowe
soo that they were in grett ieopardie of their lyvis, And the Constable
of the said towne hering of this said afiray come towardes the yates
of the said Abbey to thentent to see the kynges peax kepte, and
diuers Inhabitauntes of the same towne come to ayde and assiste the
said constable in kepyng of the kynges peax, and with them came the
crossbow anless for the defence of his house,
other than a lord or person having two
hundred marks (133Z. 69. 8d.) freehold per
annom. The penalty was forfeiture of the
crossbow * to any person that wyll sease and
take tiie same/ the offender to be prosecuted
at sessions or assizes, and a fine of 405. for
every day on which the use of the crossbow
should be proved. A penalty of 102. was
laid upon any privileged person who should
allow his servant the use of his crossbow, and
his privilege was withdrawn. The servant
offending was to be discharged from service.
This Act was, as the dates will have
shewn, passed after this case had come
before the Star Chamber, and as the monks
were ostensibly defending their house, they
would have been exempt from its forfeitures.
The Act was inconsistent in its policy, for
it allowed the use of the crossbow to un-
privileged persons in this emergency, though
the stringency of its provisions excluded the
possibility of rendering its use effective by
practice. The fact that .the monks had a
store of warlike weapons illustrates the
social condition of the time. Cf. p. 120.
** The above-mentioned Act recites that
*nowe of late the Kinges Subjectes . . .
gretly delyte them selfe and take pleasour
in usyng of Crosebowes, wherby grett
distruccion of the Kinges Deer aswell in
Forestes Chases as in Parkes dayly is hadde
and done and shotyng in Long Bowes lytyll
or nothyng used & lykelye in shorte space
to be loste & utterly dekayed, to the great
hurt & enfebelyng of this Bealme A to
the cumforth of oure outewarde enymyes
yf remedie be nott therfore in dewe tyme
purveyd.' One cause of the disuse of the
longbow is omitted from this recital, that
is, the rise of price, as is set forth in a
petition of the Commons in 1472. This
petition mentions that prices had gone up
from forty shillings to a hundred shillings
per hundred bowstaves, the retail price
being, instead of eight, ten, or twelve pence,
five shillings, six and eightpence, or ten
shillings apiece (Bot. Pari. vi. 156). The
cause of this deamess was the extension of
Turkish power in the Levant, from which
the best bowstaves were brought. Accord-
ingly the Act (12 Ed. 4, c. 2) provided
thiftt vessels bringing cargoes from Venice
or from any other country whence bow-
staves had been imported should bring
four bowstaves for every ton of merchandise,
under penalty of 6«. Bd. for each bowstave
in default. In 1483 the retail price of bows
was limited to 3s. 4d. (by 22 Ed. 4, c. 4).
Nevertheless, in 1484 bowstaves had, ac-
cording to a petition of the bowyers, gone
up to 8{. a hundred, a rise attributed to
* the seducyous confederacy of the Lum-
bardes.* The Act 1 Bic. 3, c. 11, therefore
provided that Venetian and other mer-
chants from the Mediterranean should bring
in ten bowstaves for every butt of Malmsey
or Tyre wine imported, under penalty of
13s. 4d. per butt for every default. The
Act limiting the price to 3s. id. was re-
enacted in 1487 ('An Acte agaynst the
excessyve price of long bowes' — 3 Hen.
7, c. 13). But the consequence seems to
have been to increase the scarcity, as the
Commons complained in 1504, which led
to the Act ' De custuma Arcuum ad tempus
perdonanda* 19 Hen. 7, c. 2. The Act of
Bichard 3 continued for three quarters of a
century to be used by governments from
time to time as a weapon of fiscal oppres-
sion against Italian merchants. For the
prevention of export by the Turks see S. P.
Dom. Hen. 8 (1538), xiii. 1, 115. For
action against the Venetians see Acts of
the Privy Council, Ap. 22, 1566.
** See Walterkyn v. Letice, p. 166, n. 5.
** The staff as a weapon of war was, as
may be seen by the well-known badge of
the bear and ragged staff, what we should
call a club (cf. p. 168, * clubbe or staffe ').
It was one of the weapons anciently peculiar
to the unfree. By the Leges Henrici Primi,
c. 78, § 2, as an evidence of Uie degrada-
tion of a free man to a servile condition
'billum vel strublum vel deinceps ad
hunc modum servitutis arma suscipiat,'
where strublum, AtoI Xc7^/iacvov, with a
v.l. Btumblum, is by some translated ' a club,'
by others * a goad ' (Schmid, * Die Oesetze
der Angelsachsen '). Bracton says that a
club was the slave's weapon. Cf. Shak-
speare, * Macbeth,' v. 7 :
* I cannot strike at wretched kernes, whose
arms
Are hired to bear their staves.'
Cf. also Walterkyn v. Letice, p. 167, n. 2.
EYNESHAM, ABBOT OF, V, HARECOURT AND OTHERS 161
said John Walsche Thomas Garter ^^ John Stokeley and John Nele
to ayde and assiste the said constable in kepyng the peax as is
aforesaid, and the said monkes and theire seraauntes shotte arows
a mong them all and hurt dyuers of them, and a mong all othur they
strake a gentilwoman thorowe the Arme and they strake oone
Stephen Warnysford thorough the neke with a quarrell *® of a crosse
bowe AND AS to the bettyng and hurtyng of the said John hudley
sernaunt of the said monastery the said Thomas carter saith that
he and the same John mette sodenly togeders at the said affiray the
same John beyng than dronkyn yave the saide Thomas Gatter unfit-
tyng werdes and the said Thomas Gatter^ strake the said John hudley
flat lyng ^^ with his daggar but he dide him no harme nor drew blode
on him. AND as to the takyng of the said Sheppe, the said Edmund
Gook saith that he come with the said Eauf Gharnes in peasible maner
to take a distras for xxyj' viiij** which was that tyme due to his said
maister for parte of his fee, and for asmoch as the said Bent had
ben lawfully demaundid and the said abbott wold not paie it the said
Bauf and Edmond toke the said shepp in peasible and lawfuU maner,
And as to any mater in the said bill allegid ayenst the said John
Gockes Thomas Badam and'^Bichard Sharpe" They sayen that the
said bill and the mater therin surmisid ayenst them is vntrue and of
pure malices contriued to put them to vexacion and truble for they
were not in the said orchyard nor at the said afiray in the said town
of Enysham as in the said bill ayenst them is allegid but they were
in othur places abowte theire owne besinesses and so the said John
Gokkes Thomas Badam and ^^ Bichard Sharp '^ sayen that they and
euery of them be not gilty of the said mater surmisid ayenst them in
the said bill. Without that that the said John Walshe conueyed his
said botte in to thorchyard of the said monastery or that he yaue.
the said monkys any such unfittyng wordes or smotte at them in
maner and fourme as in the said bill is alleggid, but all that the same
John walshe did to the said monkes was in his owne defence for
sauegard of his lief, And without that that the same John Walshe
^^ John Nele John Stokley ^^ Thomas Gatter John Vaugham and Bobert
Smyth came in harnes or with any vnlawfull wepons to the said
Fray in the said towne of Enysham *^ or in to the said orchyarde '* or
'' Apparently three names which fol- ^ An erasure of about two inches in
lowed have been erased. length follows.
*• A square-headed crossbow bolt. Old *" Generally as a single word, * flatling/
French quarrel, Modern carrcau, from or ' flatlings,* prostrate.
Latin quadrus with diminutive suffix. " Interlined.
W. W. Skeat, ' Etymological Diet.* (1882), " An erasure of about three inches in
s.?. length follows.
M
162 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
othurwise demeanid them to the said monkes or seruauntes of the
said monastery at the said affray or at any othar tyme than is afor
rehersid in this theire Answere, And without that that the said John
walshe John vaugham Robert Smyth Thomas badam John Nele
John Coekes John Stokley and Robert Smyth ^^ were euer seruauntes
to the said sir Robert Harecourt or with him Reteigned contrary to
the lawe in maner and fourme as in the said bill is allegid or that
they or any of them be gilty of any mater ayenst them in the said
bill surmisid otherwise than in this their said Answere is expressed.
All which maters they and euery of them ben redy to proue as this
court woU awarde and prayen to be dismissid out of the same with
theire Resonable costes and charges for their wrongfuU vexacion
susteyned in theis behalfes.
TREHERNE AND ANOTHER v. HARECOURT.'
1608 A. In most humble wyse shewith vnto youre goode lordeshippos
your dayly Oratours John Treherne and William Full
seruauntes to the Bisshopp of landaff that where the seid
Bysshopp suyde the kynges writtes of sub pena directed
to oone William Tytte of Eynesham in the Countie of
Oxonford yoman and other seruauntes of sir Robert
Harecourt knyght retornable bifore the Kynges most
honorable Councell in his Starre Chamber whiche writtes
your seid oratours deliuered to the seid William Tytt and
other at Eynesham aforeseid on ^Saturday next after- seint
• Dunstans day ' and then and ther the seid William Tytt
dyd cast the seid writt in to the Strete and sore dyd strike
your seid oratours for executyng of the same and on
Sonday next after came moe seruauntes of the seid sir
Robertes from Staunton Harecourte and other places to
the seid Town of Eynesham with Swerdes bocolars and
other wepons of warre and dyd lye in barnes hydels * and
other places to thentent to haue murdered and slayn your
seid oratours for executyng the Kynges commaundement if
they myght haue takyn them owt of the monastery ther
so that your seid oratours durst nat ryde to london the
^ Sio, repeated. ' Hiding places, not unoommon in
> S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 35. medieval English. See J. A. H. Murray,
'-' Interlined for ' Wenesday last bifore.* * Eng. Diot.' s.v.
? May 19.
TREHERNE AND ANOTHER V. HARECOURT 163
right wey agayn but were fayn to ryde by woodes and other
priue placys for * out of ther wey for fere of murderyng or
sleyng by the seruauntes of the seid sir Bobertes so that no
lawe justice nor equite can be ministred to none of the
Eynges subgettes in that Gountre for the seid sir Robert
and his myschiff adherentes and seruauntes to the grete
discomford of all the kynges subgettes ther and to ther vtter
vndoyng if remedy be nat prouyded for them in this
behalue by the kynges most gracious highnesse and the
lordes of his most honorable Gouncell ayenst the seid sir
Eobert and his seid seruauntes, Please it therfore your
seid good lordeshippes to commaund the seid Bobert here
beyng present in this honorable Court vppon a certeyn
peyne by your seid lordeshippes to be lymytted to bryng in
to this seid Courte the seid William Tytt by a certeyn day
by your seid lordeshippes to be lymytted that the same
William may have answer to theis premisses and be
punisshed accordyng to his deseruyng and your seid
oratours shall dayly pray to god for your seid good
lordeshippes.
Indorsed. Termino Pasche Anno xviij° ®
milo Episcopus Landauensis contra Bobertum Harcourt
militem & Willelmum Tytt de Eynsham
Sir Bobert harcourt sworn denyethe that the within wreten
William Tytt is or euer was his seruaunt, but onlye he was
in this deponentes cumpanye at blakheth feld/
B. Thanswer of sir Bobert Harecourt knyght to the bill of
complaint of John Threherne and William Full.
The said sir Bobert saith thitt ^ the said bill is fayned by the
vntrue compassyng and ymaginacion of the said Bisshoppe to vex and
truble the said sir Bobert and to put him to slaunder and to lose his
good name, And for non othur cause, for he saith that the said
William Titte is not nor of many yeres past was seruaunt to the same
sir Bobert wherfor the said sir Bobert can not him bryng in as it is
desired by the said bill, and as towching the demeanour of the said
Sic, pronounced • for.* of, v. Harecourt and others, A, p. 138,
•• May 3-29, 1603. n. 6.
' 17 June, 1497. See Eynesham, Abbot ' Sic.
M 2
]64 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
William Titte vppon the said delyuerey of the said sub pena the same
sir Robert can therto make non Answer for he was neuer consentyng
priue nor willyng therunto, And if the said Titte soo oflfendid as is
specified in the said bill the said sir Bobert in that nor in none othur
hath not nor will socour nor comfort him therin, but to helpe to his
punyschment according to his demerites. Also the said sir Bobert
saith that he nor non of his seruauntes hath not to his knowlege nor
shall doo nor say ayenst the said complaynauntes, And if his seruauntes
hath done any thing ayenst them vnlawf uUy The said Sir Bobert saith he
will not also therin them here ^ nor helpe. And as towching all the said
misdemeanour specified in the said bill laide to the charge of the said
sir Bobert he saith that he is not in them nor any part of them gilty,
as by the same bill is surmisid. All which maters the said sir Bobert
is redy to auerre and proue as this court woU awarde, and prayth
to be dimissid owt of the same, with his resonable costes and charges
for his wrongf ull vexacion susteyned in this behalf.
Indorsed. Besponsum Boberti Harcourt militis.
WALTERKYN v. LETICEJ
A. To the king our soueraiii lordc
1503 In most humble wise sheweth vnto your highnes your
pore humble Oratour and daily Bedman Thomas Walterkyn
heremyte of saint Michell besides highgate in the parisshe
of harnesey- Where on sir Boberte letys Vicar of the
parisshe of Saint pancras in the feld called Eentysshetown '
* I.e. support. Of. J. Strype/Eccl. Mem.* School is, on his own cost caased gravel to
I. ii. App. Ixi. 150 : * If ye ... bear the be digged on the top of Highgate Hill,
Abbot in his evil dealing.' J. A. H. where is now a fair pool of water, and
Murray, * Eng. Diet.' s.v. therewith made a causeway from High-
' S.G.P. Hen.7, no.51. gate to Islington.' The pond is now an
' A hermitage is known to have existed asphalted open place in South Grove,
here as early as 1364,in which year a pavage formerly Pond Square (Lloyd, p. 114).
grant dated November 11 was made by the The hermitage occupied the site of
King to William Phelippe, authorising Cholmeley's School, having been suppressed
him to take tolls from horses and carts in 1539 (pp. 116, 135). The chapel was
carrying merchandise on * the highway rebuilt and granted to the school by Bishop
of Heghegate and Smethefield.' This Sandys in 1575, the Bishops of London
Phelippe has been without any substantial being patrons of the hermitage (E. Walford,
ground identified (J. H. Lloyd's * Hist, of * Old and New London,' v. 419). A form
Highgate ' [1888], p. 118) with the * name- of profession of a hermit may be seen set
less hermit ' who, according to Norden out in Sir B. G. Hoare's ' Hist, of Wilts '
('Speculum Britanniae ' [1723], p. 22) (1825), ii. 162.
and Fuller (* Worthies of Middlesex 'in • * St. Pancras alias Kentish Town
' Worthies of England ' [ed. 1840], ii. 326), Vicarage. This church is by the high-
* dwelling in the Hermitaige where now the way side that leads from Holbom to
WALTERKYN V. LETICE 165
William Chadwyk of the same parisshe yoman John
Hosteler yoman and Bichard Taylour with other diuerez
and many Biottours and enyll disposed personz to the
nombre of xl persones and more vppon Tewsdaie last
passed the xxiij*^ daie of this present moneth of Maii^
in riottnos wise and in maner of warre that is to say with
billes and stafes and other wepyns defensible cam into the
hous and heremytage of your said Oratour in the parisshe
of hamesey aforsaid, your said Oratour than being in his
garden and his seruaunte with hym in peasible maner
there laboring, And than and there riotously with diuerz
manasing and threting wordes brake and hewd down as-
well the pale of thorchard of your said Oratour as the pale
of his garden and vnlawfuUy entered into the same And
without cause or occasion yeuen by your said Oratour the
said William Chadwik strucke your said Oratour vppon
tharme with a bill * and wold haue murdred hym Except
he had escaped from the said William and his cumpany
into the Stepill of his said heremytage, wherein he
contynued by all the tyme of there being there. And
ferthermore your said Oratour saith that the said Byotours
entred into the dwelling hous of your said Oratour and
* summe of them toke awey ij Aulter clothes, a Syrplis and
a boke called a grayll ^ with other stuff besides other hurtes
and harmes to hym done in his said Orchard and garden.
And as yete your said Oratour dare not presume to go
home to his said heremytage, Onlesse your gracioux socour
to hym be shewid in that behalf. Please it therfore your
said gracioux highnes the premisses tenderly considered
graunte your gracioux lettres of priue Seale to be directed
Kentish Town, and so up to Highgate. (ed. 1866), p. 235.
The advowson belonged to the Dean and * Bills varied * in form from a simple
Chapter of St. Paurs.' B. Newcourt, concave blade with a long wooden handle
' Bepertorium * (1708), i. 704. Kentish to a kind of concave ax with a spike at the
Town is said to have been so named from back, and its shape terminating in a spear
Kantelowes or Kentelowes, a manor in the head, a halberd. J. A. H. Murray, * Eng.
Hundred of Ossulston, in which Kentish Diet.' s.v. Bepresentations of bills are
Town is situate. E. Walford, ' Old and given in F. Grose, ' English Military Anti-
New London,* v. 317. quities ' (1801), ii. plate 28, and in S. B.
* The answer tells us that this was in Meyrick, ' Ancient Armour,' ii. 220.
Bogation Week, which enables us to fix 'A book containing the antiphons call'Hi
the date. Bogation Sunday, the fifth after ' Graduals,' * beyng wont to be song at the
Easter, being May 21, Easter Day would steps going vp ' i.e. to the altar, between
fall on April 16, which, in the reign of the Epistle and Gospel. Foxe, * A. & M.*
Henry 7, only happened in the year 1402, i. J. A. H. Murray, sub ' Grail ' and
1503. J.J.Bond, ' Handy-Book of Dates ' 'Gradual.'
166 COURT OF 1*HE STAR CHAMBER
to the said sir Thomas • William Chadwike John Hosteler
and Richard Tailour or a seriaunt of Armes ^ or sum other
commaundement them and euery of them straitly com-
maunding by the same to appere before your said highnes
and the lordes of your most honourable councell at a certen
daie and vnder a certen payne to them and to euery of
them to be lymytted by the same. And your said oratour
shall daily pray to god for the preseruacion of your most
noble and Royall estate.
Indorsed. Scilicet coram Domino Rege & Consilio suo
die Martis proxime futuri.^
B. Thanswere of sir Robert Letice Clerk Vikar of Seint Pan-
erase William Chadwike John Hosteler and Richard
Tayllour to the bill of compleint of Thomas Walterkyn of
Seynt michell by Highgate.
The seide vikar and the oder seyen that the seide bill is not certen
ne sufficient to be answerid vnto but of grete malice vntruly feyned
and imagened onely to sclaundre vexe and trobull the seide vicar and
the other And the mater theryn conteygned determinabull at the comen
lawe and not in thys Court Wherto they prayen to be remytted And
thauauntage therof to them savid for declaracion of trouth and answer
seyen that the seide vikar and the other before named with the hole
parisshe of Eentishtowne the seide xxiij day of May in the bill of the
seide Hermyte specified Whiche was in the Rogacion weke Accordyng
to the lawdabull Custome of Englond Went in procession abowte
theire seide parisshe in theire prayers as they and there predecessours
haue vsed to doe owte of tyme of mynde ^ in godes peax and the
kinges till thei came to the Heremitage of the seide Heremyte at
Highgate Whiche Heremyte and his predecessours Stopped the pro-
cession wey of your seide vykar and of his parisshons by meanes of
makyng of pales and dikes And wuld not suffer them to passe With their
' Sio, although supra * Sir Roberte/ that this was so, but so expeditious a pro-
whioh the statement of defence shows to oedure is improbable,
be correct. * ' The procession on three days before
" See p. 247, n. 9. Also Introd., p. zxvi. Ascension Day was instituted by Mamertus,
' If we are to assume that the petition bishop of Vienne in Dauphin^,' a.d. 452.
came before the Court forthwith, it must ... In England the Council of Cloveshoo,
have been drawn after May 23, and filed 747, orders the observance of these Boga-
and indorsed before May 30, the day tion Days, secundum morem priorura
appointed for hearing. There being no nostrorum (can. 16).' W. Smith and S.
other date attached to the document than Cheetham, ' Diet, of Christian Antiquities .
that of May 23, the indorsement suggests (1880), li. 1809.
WALTERKYN V. LETICE 167
procession as thei were wont to doe Albe it the seid Hermyte was
cortesely entretid by the seide Ghadwike and other to suffer them
peasibly to passe with their procession And then the seide Hermyte
hauyng a grete Clubbe ^ by hym in his garden & ij other with hym
with Clubbes Also Eichard yerdeley and Thomas marshall sodenly
toke the seide Glnbbes and Strake at the seide Ghadwike ouer the
pale with the violence of Whiche Stroke the seide Hermyte brake
diners of his pales And afterward diners of the seide parisshe pullid
downe serten pales for the seide parisshe to passe with theire pro-
cession and so departed peasibly that wey With theire procession
Withoute ony occasion gevying or quarell makyng to the seide Here-
myte or to any othere And as to the entrying into the dwellyng
Howse of the seide Heremyte and takyng awey of serten bokes thens
they seyen that they be not therof gilti but thei seyen that the seide
Heremyte is a man of il conuersacion and rule For thei seyen that
the seide Heremyte hath leide to plegge one of the bokes that he
supposeth shulde be Stolen that is to sey A grayle and other Stuffe to
one John PheUppe for a serten Summe of money whiche the seid
Phelippe wull auowe and testifie Whiche he Wulde now colorably and
vntruly ley to the charge of diners of the seide parisshens. Withoute
that that the seide vikar and the other before named came riottusly
into the Howse and Heremytage of the seide Heremyte in the
parisshe of Harnesey in manor and forme as by the seid bill is
supposed, And Withoute that that they be gilty of brekyng or
hewyng ony pale otherwise but as before doth appere, And Withoute
that that the seide William Chadwyke is gilty of Strekyng the seide
Heremyte with a bill or otherwise in maner and forme as by the
seide bill is also supposed, And Withoute that that the seide vikar and
the other aforeseide be gilty of ony Riotte or were of ony suche
' Presamably as an ecclesiastical weapon . 1386, to William Lichfield, * pauperi Here-
like the mace of Odo, bishop of Bayeux, at mitae senectute et debilitate oppresso * of
the battle of Hastings, which was not designed * officium custodiae capellae nostrae de
to shed blood (cf. also p. 158, n. 26). In 1236 Highgate juxta parcum nostrum eidem
the Cardinal Legate Ottoboni issued an in- capellae annexae per Heremitas alios
junction to the clergy against the wearing of pauperes solitae custodiri ' &c. The ameni-
arms and armour. ♦ Cum igitur clericis, qui ties of the place are more fully set out
inpraeclaramChristihaereditatemassumpti in a grant by Bishop Stokesley, on April
sunt, usus armorum Divini et humani 20, 1531, of the chapel or hermitage, *ac
juris auctoritate sit omnino prohibitus, ita messuagium, gardinum et ortum, cum suis
ut etiam pro justitia eis ad offensionem aut pertinentiis, cum omnibus et singulis
vindictam nullatenus uti permittatur' &c. decimis, oblationibus, proficuis et cummo-
(E. Gibson, 'Codex,' &c. i. 161.) The ditatibus ac emolumentis quibuscumque
hermit was an ecclesiastic, and served the Willielmo Forte Heremitae durante vita
chapel. The hermitage was in the gift of sua naturali ' (ib.). The phrase ' chapel
the bishop of London. Newcourt ('Repert.' or hermitage' recalls the expression in
i. 654) gives the grant by Robert de Bray- document A, p. 166, ' the stepiU of his said
broke, bishop of London, dated Feb. 20, heremytage.'
168 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
mysdemenour in maner and forme as by the bill of the seide Heremy te
is sapposed. ALL WHYCHE maters the seide vykar and the other
bene redy to proue and make good as thys Court wuU Awarde and
prayen to be dismyssed With theyr reasonabuU costes and charges for
theyre Wrongefull vexacion and trobull susteyned in this behalf.
c. This is the Replycacion of Thomas Walterkyn heremyte of
seynt michell besidys hygate to the Aanswer of sir Robert
vicare of seynt pancrase William Chadwyk & othyrs.
The seid heremyte seith that his bille of complaynt is true in
euery thyng and sufficyent to be aanswerd and he seith that the
seid vicare and othyr be gilty of the seid riote & mysbehauyng in
maner and forme as in the seid bille is supposed and moreouer he
seith that the seid hermytage is in the parishe of harnesey out
of the parishe of seynt pancras^ and he seith that dyuers per-
sonys aswell of the seid parishe as of othir placys of theyr deuocion
haue vsed to entre in to the Ghapell of the seid hermytage to here
deuyne seruyce & to honour god ther at tymes conuenyent. Without
that the seid Yicary or any of the seid parishe of seynt pancras haue
or oght to haue any procession Wey ther or any other colour or title
of entre in to the seid hermytage or any parte therof other then as he
hath be fore rehercyd, And without that the seid hermyte or any
other for hym hadde any clubbe or staffe at the tyme of the seid
riote & forcyble entre commytted by the seid vicary and othir And
without that the seid hermyte is a man of mys rule or that he
pleyged any stuflfe belongyng to the seid hermytage as the seid vicary
and othir in theire aunswere haue supposid. All which maters he is
redy to prove as this court wille a ward and prayth as in his bille &c.
HALLE V. ESSEXE.*
A. To the Kyng cure soueraigne Lorde
1608 Li the moste humble and lamentable wyse shewith and compley-
nyth vnto youre excellent highnesse youre true Subgiette and Liegeman
* Newcourt says on this point, *High- St. Michael the Archangel) where was
gate, in this parish of Homsey aforesaid, antiently an Hermitage' (' Bepert.' i. 054).
and partly in the parish of St. Pancras. If Newcourt be right, either the vicar &c.
... On the top of this hill, in the said of St. Pancras were guilty of trespass, or
parish of Homsey, stands a Chappel for the the boundary line must have passed close
ease of that part of the country (called the to the chapel,
chapel of St. Michael, because dedicated to ' S.C.P. Hen. 7, no. 53.
HALLE V. ESSEXE 169
William Halle of your Cite of London Taylour, son and heire vnto
William halle of the parysshe of Eensyngton yn youre Gounte of
middlesex decessid, That where as a good blessid creature callid
Elizabeth Boote late of the saide parysshe of Eensyngton doughtir
and heire vnto John Buttyrwyk ^ of the same parysshe, of her good
mynde and vertuous disposicion than beyng wedow, yn her Testament
and last wille made and provided vpon feoffament, after her dettis
paide» that suche possession of Landis and Tenementes that she or any
othir for her, to her vse yn Fee, hadde wythyn the saide parysshe of
Kensyngton and elliswhere shulde remayne vnto oone Robert
Scarburgh her next kynnysman, at suche tyme as he shulde comme
to his laufuUe Age of xxj yeris. To have and to holde vnto hym and
to the heires of his body laufully begotyn, and for laeke of suche yssue,
alle the same landis and Tenementes beyng yn kensyngton shulde
remayne perpetually vnto the forsaide william halle fadir of your
saide Oratoure, whiche than was oone of her Feoffees yn alle the saide
landis and tenementes. To haue and to holde vnto hym to his heires
and assignes for euermore, Vndir condicion that the saide william the
, Fadir shulde yerely fynde a covenable Preste to the honoure of god,
to sey masse daily, sykenesse oonly excepted, yn the chirche of our
lady of Kensyngton abouesaide and to pray for her Soule and for the
Soules of othir her Frendis, till the somme of c. li. myght there be
thurghly expendid and paide, and that the saide William halle the
Fadir shulde fynde sufficient Surete to his Gofeoffees of and yn the
saide Landis so to doo. And beside that, from the day of the discesse
of her forsaide kynnysman Robert Scarburgh, the saide william halle
the Fadir his heires executours and assignes shulde kepe a perpetuall
Obytte yn the saide chirche of kensyngton for her Soule, the Soules of
her fadir and modir and for alle her Frendis Soules, and for kepyng
of the same shulde expende and pay yerely x' as yn her Testament
more pleynely yt apperyth Whiche Robert Scarburgh discessed without
yssue, by reason wherof all the saide landis and Tenementes yn
Kensyngton remayned fully vnto the Fadir of your saide Oratoure yn
Fee Symple, vnto all the whiche condicions the saide william halle the
On Jane 8, 1454, Thomas Beanmond Husting, London, edited by B. B. Sharpe
(d. 1467) in 1442 Sheriff of the City of (1890), ii. 633. The will of a WiUiam
London, executed his will, whereby he left Bote, esquire, of Eensyngton, Middlesex,
lands, tenements, and rents in the parish was proved in the Prerogative Court of
of All Hallows de Bredestrete, charged with Canterbury in 1421. ' Index of Wills
the maintenance of a chantry in that church proved in the Prerogative Court of Canter-
for the souls of John Boterwyk, Alice wife bury, 1383-1668* (edited by J. Challenor C.
of the same, William lloote, Elizabeth Smith for the British Becord Society, 1895)
wife of the same, and others. Calendar of ii. 466.
Wills proved and enrolled in the Court of
170
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Fadir yn his lyfe was evir agreable and them perfourmed, And your
saide Oratoure wolde haue doon the same yf he myght haiie enjoyed
the saide landis and Tenementes But soo yt ys moste redoubted
soueraigne lorde, that oon Piers Ardern than beyng chief Baron of
youre Eschequer ^ and william Essexe than beyng Remembrauncer yn
* Peter Ardern or Ardeme, perhaps a
son of John Arderne appointed a baron of
the Exchequer on Feb. 5, 1444 (E. Fosb,
' Lives of the Judges/ iv. 282), probably a
member of an ancient family of that name
settled in Essex soon after the Conquest
It is possible that this was originally a
branch of the very ancient and numerous
family of Arden, in Warwickshire, among
whom the name of Peter occasionally
appears. (See Dugdale's * Warwickshire ' ;
also O. B. French, ' Shakespeareana Genea-
logica ' [1869], pp. 416-514 ; notes on the
Shakespeare and Arden families.) But
Sir Peter Ardern *s coat of arms, upon his
tomb at Latton, differs from the bearings
of the Warwickshire branches of that
family. (See P. Morant, * History of Essex *
[1768], ii. 489 A.) He first appears in 1439,
at Knaresborough, as deputy of William de
la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, Chief Seneschal of
the Duchy of Lancaster in the north parts
('Plompton Correspondence* [Camd. Soc.,
1889], p. liii.). Doubtless owing to the in-
fluence of Suffolk, then at the height of his
power, Ardern was made Chief Baron of the
Exchequer on May 2, 1448, and on June 7
following, also a tfustice of Common Pleas
(Foss, ib. p. 408). He continued Chief Baron
after the accession of Edward 4 (March 4,
1461), and on April 8 following received
a grant ' for the maintenance of his estate
in his office * of 110 marks (732. 6s. 8d.)
yearly at the Exchequer, and a robe with
fur at Christmas, and one with lining at
Whitsuntide (Patent Bolls, Ed. 4.
1461-7, p. 128). His formal re-appoint-
ment as Chief Baron is dated June 20
following (ib. p. 94). On February 10,
1462, he received a grant of a tun of Gascon
wine yearly, at Easter, from the King's
prises in the Port of London (ib. p. 187).
He was evidently in favour at Court, and
may be conjectured, from his connexion
with de la Pole, to have been Yorkist in
sympathy, for he was frequently appointed
on speciaj commissions to try cases of
treason (Pat. BoUs, 1461-7, pp. 201, 847.
490). He had ceased to be Chief Baron on
September 10, 1462 (ib. p. 198), when a
grant was made to Illyngworth, his suc-
cessor. The inscription on his tomb at
Latton states that he was *in scaccario
Baro primus ac post Justioiarius in Banco *
(Morant, l.o.). This is confirmed by the
Patent Bolls, for on June 25, 1467, in a
grant of the manor of Latton to his widow
Katherine, she is recited to have been ' late
the wife of Peter Ardern, Knight, one of
the justices of the bench,' i.e. of the
Common Pleas (P.K. 1467-77, p. 28). No
record of his appointment by Edward 4
survives, but he was constantly engaged in
judicial work on circuit till the year of his
death (see Pat. BoUs 1461-77, passim).
A gap, however, appears from March 28,
1462, when he was commissioned to try
treasons in Hampshire, to June 8, 1468,
when he was put on the commission of the
peace for Middlesex. This suggests that
the cause of his cea^sing to hold office as
chief baron was ill health, for it may be
inferred from the fact that the grant to
him of a tun of wine was exempted from
the Act of Besumption of 1464 (Bot. Pari.
V. 528) that ho had not lost the King's
favour. In a case in Trinity Term 1463
he is called *latc chief baron of the
Exchequer, and now justice of the Common
Bench et secundar ' (* Year Book,' 8 Ed. 4,
fo. 6), which Fobs inclines to intei-pret
* second baron of the Exchequer ' (Foss, iv.
409). This conjecture receives some con-
firmation from the fact that early in the
term following his death (Oct. 80, 1467)
Nicholas Stathum was appointed second
baron (Dugdale, 'Orig. Judiciales' [1680],
p. 68). Arden's re-appointment to the
Common Pleas may therefore be dated
between September 1462 and June 1468.
Foss states, without giving his authority,
that * fines were acknowledged before him
so late as Easter, 7 Edward 4, 1468'
(ib.). The recital of the Patent Boll
already mentioned (June 25, 14G7) shows
this to be a mistake for 1467. Easter
Term in that year began on April 15 and
ended May 11. His death, therefore,
probably took place in May 1467, and his
will was proved in the same year (J. C. C.
Smith, * Index to Wills proved in the
Prerogative Court of Canterbury,' i. 17).
The grant to his widow of June 25, 1467,
was a licence to feoffees to uses to convey
'the manor of Merkhalle, alias Latton
Merk, co. Essex,' to the heirs male of
Sir Peter Ardern and Katherine, with suc-
cessive remainders to Anne, wife of John
Bohun, esquire, and Elizabeth, wife of
John Skrcne , esquire, daughters of the
said Peter.' He was buried in a chantry
chapel founded by him and Katherine his
HALLE V. ESSEXE
171
the same Eschequer * by theire grete myght and power, by coloure and
vertue of their OflBces with writtes and many othir ynordynate
meanys of vexacion caused the forsaide Fadir of your Oratoure to be
putte yn prison, and hym excluded and putte from the possession of
all the saide Landis and Tenementes yn Kensyngton, contrary to the
wille and Testament of the forsaide Elizabeth Eoote, true enheritrice
to the same, And at suche tyine as the Fadir of your saide Oratoure was
yn prison, the forsaide Piers Ardern and williamEssexe sente vnto his
Ghambre, and there by force contrary to your lawes brake vpp his
Ghestes and Gofirs, and toke owte therof his golde and silvir and
alle such evidences as he hadde concernyng the saide landis &
tenementes, And whan the saide William halle hadde noticion and
wife in the church of Latton, Essex, where
an incised brass lies over his grave (Morani,
ii. 489. C. Boutell, ' Monumental Brasses '
[1847], i. 91. H. Haines, 'Manual of
Monumental Brasses ' [1861], p. 59). The
probate of his will shews that he also left
land in Yorkshire.
* William Esseze, the Remembrancer of
the Exchequer, first appears in a letter
from Thomas Playters to John Paston, dated
April 18, 1461, he being apparently then
in office at the Exchequer (J. Oairdner,
• Paston Letters ' [1874], ii. 7). His formal
appointment by Edward 4 to the office of
Bemembrancer of the Exchequer for life was
dated July 18 following (Patent Bolls, Ed. 4,
1461-67, p. 24). According to Leland (* Itin.,'
iv. f. 19) he was also Under Treasurer
of the Exchequer. On September 11, 1461,
and again in 1465 and 1467 (P.R. Ed. 4, p.
567), he was nominated on the commission
of the peace for Middlesex. His grant of the
Beniembrancership was exempted from the
Act of Besumption of 1464 (Bot. Pari. v. 529).
After the flight of Edward 4 he apparently
turned Lancastrian, for he was nominated
upon a special commission for Middlesex to
try felonies, murders, and other offences
(Pat. Bolls, Ed. 4 and Henry 6, 1407-77,
p. 248). But he again conformed upon
Edward 4's restoration in the following year.
Thus he was placed upon the commission
of the peace for Middlesex in January 1471
by Henry 6, and in September 1472 and
subsequently down to November 1475 by
Edward 4 (ib. p. 622). In 1474 (October 16)
he was nominated a commissioner ' de
wallis et fossatis' 'by the coast of the
marsh of the Thames between the Tower of
London and the town of Stratford atte
Bowe ' (ib. p. 463). On June 12, 1475, he
obtained a confirmation of his office of
Bemembrancer, his wages A'c. which were
overdue from Michaelmas 1474 being made
payable from the customs and subsidies in
the port of Southampton (ib. p. 541). An
inquisition taken in 1481 recites that
Bichard Sturgion and William Hall were
seised of the manor of West Towne in
Kensington, Brompton, Chelsea, Tyburn,
and Westbume, which by charter dated
July 5, 32 Henry 6 (1464), they gave to Wil-
liam Essex and Edith his wife in fee tail ;
that William Essex died on May 26 last
past (?1480), leaving Thomas Essex his
son and heir aged twenty years* (Esch.
20 Ed. 4, No. 80 ; T. Faulkner, * Hist, of
Kensington' [1820], pp. 90, 91). 'This
(i.e. William) Estsax pnrchacid Landes
aboute London and is byried in an Isle of
the Church of the late Priory of S. Barp-
tolemes in Smithefeld in London * (J.
Leland, ' Itin.* l.s.c.). It would seem that
at some date between 1475 and 1481
William Essexe received knighthood, for
a grant dated May 4, 27 Hen. 8 (1535),
appoints Bichard Pollard Bemembrancer of
the Exchequer with fees &o. as enjpyed by
Humph. Bowland, Thos. Walsh, or Sir
William Essex (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, viii.
802, 14). Now Thos. Walsshe was King's
Bemembrancer of the Exchequer till his
appointment as fourth baron on April 23,
1534 (ib. vii. 588, 10), when Bowland was
nominated in his place (ib. 589, 15).
Walsshe had succeeded Bobert Blagge on
January 27, 15 Hen. 8 (1524) (ib. 588, 15),
who had held the office since December 6,
1502 (Pat. 18 Hen. 7). Clearly, then, in
the appointment of Bichard Pollard, the
elder William Essexe is referred to. On the
other hand, in the recital of the grant to
Walsshe in 1524 he is spoken of as ' Wil-
liam Essex' without the title of knight.
The inquisition of 1481 also omits the title,
which may perhaps have been a clerical
eiTor arising from a confusion in the scribe's
mind with Sir W. Essexe the grandson.
172
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
knoulache therof, he telle forthewyth distraught and clerely owte of his
mynde, and than they delyuered hym owte of prison and withyn
shorte tyme aftir he departed the Contrey, and noon of alle his
Kynne nor Frendis knew where he became, to the grete hevynesse
ynjuries and damages of your saide pore Oratoure, and ayenst the
Soule helthe of the forsaide Elizabeth Boote, yn asmoche as her wille
was not nor yitte ys perfourmed, And howe be yt that the same your
Oratoure hathe many tymes and oftyn, bicause he was not of power
to sue the Course of youre comyn lawe ayenst the saide william
Essexe than enjoying the saide landes and tenementes yn Eensyngton,
requyred hym, and also sythyn his discesse Thomas Essexe his Son
and william Essexe son and heire^of the saide Thomas Essexe, whichc
^ This William Essexe, the grandson,
married between January and June, 1488
(Inq. post mortem, Hen. 7, i. 345, 365), a con-
siderable heiress, Elizabeth only daughter
of Thomas Rogers, a large landowner in
Berks (ib. 460), Herts (ib. 405), Hants
(ib. 494), Sussex (ib. 365), and Wilts
(ib. 521). On his betrothal, his bride
being then aged eleven or twelve years
(ib. 345, 365, 460), his father-in-law
settled the manors of Bumbaldyswyke
and Holyngardyn, Sussex, on his daughter
(February 1, 1487). * By her he (Essexe)
had 300 Markes of Landes by the Yere in
Barkeshir and theraboute' (J. Leland,
* Itin.,' iv. f. 19). Thomas Bogers died
on January 19, 1488 (ib. 345, 865, Ao.),
His principal seat was at Lambourn, Berks,
called *Bogger8 Manor* (ib. 460), and
here William Essex and his wife lived. He
was appointed to the commission of the
peace for Berks soon after the accession of
Henry 8 (S. P. Dom. Henry 8, i. 241). On
November 14, 1509, he was pricked sheriff
of Oxon and Berks (ib. 664), and was
from this time continuously enrolled upon
the commission of the peace for Berks,
though not for Oxon. He took his release
from his shrievalty on May 24, 1511, and
is therein described as of Chepynglambam
(Chipping Lambourn), Berks (ib. 1688).
He accompanied Henry 8 in his expedition
against France in the summer of 1513, and
was one of the knights created by him in
the diurch of Toumay on September 25 of
that year (ib. 4468, where the Harl. MS.
erroneously has December). In France he
was attached to the staff of Charles Brandon,
Viscount Lisle (afterwards duke of Suffolk),
the commander-in-chief (ib. 4653). He
was present at the marriage of the King's
sister, the Princess Mary, to Louis 12 of
France at Abbeville on October 9, 1614
(ib. 5483). He became a member of the
royal household in 1516 (ib. ii. 872) as a
Knight for the Body, and was present at a
State banquet at Greenwich to the Imperial
ambassador on July 7, 1517 (ib. 3446). In
1518 he was a second time sheriff of
Oxon and Berks (J. M. Davenport, ' Lords-
Lieutenant and High Sheriffs of Oxford-
shire,' Oxford, 1868, p. 2). He was one
of the six knights representing Berk-
shire at the Field of the Cloth of Gold
in June 1520 (' Chron. of Calais,' Camden
Soc. [1846], p. 21 ; cf. S. P. Dom. Hen. 8,
ii. 703, 704), and on July 10 was present at
the meeting of Henry and the Emperor
Charles 5 at Gravelines (ib. 906). In
1523 he was a commissioner of subsidy for
Berks (ib. pp. 1364 and 8504). He was an
officer in the Duke of Suffolk's army in
France in August of the same year (ib.
3288), having acted as commissioner of
musters for Berks (ib. 3687). In the
year following he was one of the collectors
for that county for the loan in aid of the
war with France (ib. iii. 214) and for the
subsidy (ib. p. 235). He was again pricked
sheriff of Oxon and Berks, November 10,
1524 (ib. 819). He appears for the first
time on the commission of the peace for
Wilts in 1526, in which county, at Pyrton,
he held the manor of Pyvenhill in right of
his wife (Inq. p. m. Hen. 7, i. 521). From
this time he was regularly on that commis-
sion (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, iv. 2002 ; v. 1694,
ii. Ac). On February 13, 1525, in company
with Sir Thomas More and the Solicitor-
(}eneral, Kichard Lyster, he was nominated
a commissioner to make searches for sus-
pected persons in Kensington, Hammer-
smith, Knightsbridge, and Chelsea. He
was appointed a member of the Privy
Council ' for matter of law ' on February 5,
1526 (ib. App. 67; ib. 1082) Upon the
occasion of the great scarcity of 1527 he
was one of a numerous commission to search
bams and stacks in Berkshire for concealed
wheat and for putting into execution the
HALLE t\ ESSEXE
173
William the Son of Thomas nowe holdith and kepith the possession of
the saide landes & tenementes to sufEre youre saide Oratoure to haue
and enjoye hoolly the saide landis & tenementes accordyng to the
wille of the forsaide Elizabeth, which they haue at alle tymes refused
statute of Winchester against vagabonds
and unlawful games (ib. 3587). Perhaps
as a reward for this service he obtained
(April 28, 1529) a Crown lease for twenty-
one years of a forfeited house and lands of
Sir Francis Lovell, at a nominal rent, at
Buckland-in-Overton Burton (Berks), (ib.
xvii. 1154, 3). He was returned to Parlia-
ment as knight of the shire for Berkshire
on November 3, 1629 (ib. v. 6043, 2, i.). In
June 1530 he was a commissioner of gaol
delivery at Oxford (ib. 6490, 20). He was
one of four commissioners appointed on
July 14, 1530, after Wolsey*s fall, to inquire
into the Cardinal's possessions in Berkshire
(ib. 6516). In this year his son Thomas
Essexe first appears on the conmiission of
the peace for Berks (ib. 6751, 24). Sir Wil-
liam may have been taken to belong to the
Boleyn party, for he accompanied Henry 8
to Calais on October 11, 1532, upon the
occasion of his meeting with Francis 1 to
persuade the French king to intercede with
the Pope for the divorce (* Chron. of Calais,'
p. 42), was one of the knights chosen
to attend Anne Boleyn at her coronation
banquet in Westminster Hall on May 31,
1538 (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, vi. 562), and in
the following year was appointed * steward
of Newberye,' part of her dower, with a
salary of 205. (vii. 1522, ii.). He appears
about the same time (1534) to have engaged
in two successful lawsuits against the Abbot
of Abingdon, for which special juries were
impanelled, to judge from the fees of
61, lis. lOd, debited to the abbot (ib. 1676).
His son Thomas in 1536, then aged 28,
married Margaret, widow of William Rogers,
eldest son of Sir John Rogers (ib. z. 392
[28]). Sir William Essexe evidently con-
tinued to support in Parliament the King
and the party of the Reformation, for in
October 1536 he was appointed, with other
noblemen and gentlemen, ' to attend upon
the king's own person,* and he raised a
hundred men for the suppression of the
Northern rebellion (ib. xi. 580, 2). But in
the following December an unfortunate
incident cast suspicion upon his loyalty.
Essexe and Sir George Throckmorton met
one night at supper * at the Queen's Head
betwixt the Temple gates ' (ib. 1406),
Essexe's favourite tavern (ib. xii. ii. 952).
Throckmorton lent Essexe a copy of the
demands put forward by Aske, the leader of
the rebellion. Essexe, who had chambers in
the Temple (see * Cal. I. T. Rec' i. 79, 118),
gave the document to his 'chamber boy,*
Geoffrey Gunter, to copy. Gunter took two
copies ; one he gave to Essexe, the other he
showed to some priests in Reading, who
apparently took and distributed more copies
(S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, xi. 1405-6). News
having reached the Council of this distribu-
tion of treasonable literature, Throckmorton
and Essexe were arrested and clapped
in the Tower. ' Their lives are in danger.
Some say there is much to be laid to their
charge,' wrote John Husee to Lord Lisle on
January 14, 1537 (ib. xii. i. 86). But before
January 16 they had been released, and
there seem to have been no real grounds
for suspicion of Essexe's disaffection (same
to same, January 25, 1537, ib. 237). He
was at once restored to favour and put on
the commission of the peace for Wilts
(January *16, 1537, ib. 311, 14). He was
present at Hampton Court at the christen-
ing of Prince Edward (Edward 6) on
October 15 following (xii. ii. 911). Throck-
morton, however, who, as member for War-
wickshire during the Parliament of 1529-36
(' Members of Parlt.' i. 370), had been an
active opponent of Henry's measures, was
re-arrested in the autunm, charged with
defamatory conversations against the King
and Anne Boleyn, some of which took place
at the Queen's Head in Essexe's company
(S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, xii. ii. 952-3). Essexe,
on the other hand, was appointed on a
special commission to punish disseminators
of false reports of the King's death in Berk-
shire (December 24, 1537, ib. 1256, cf. ib.
xiii. i. 7). He was a commissioner of gaol
delivery at Wallingford for Oxon and Berks
on February 4, 1588 (ib. 384. 16), and
again regularly on the commissions of the
peace for Berks and Wilts (ib. 646. 36,
1115. 69; xiv. i. 1354. 27). That the
confidence of Cromwell and the King in
him was now re-established is evident from
the fact that on February 4, 1539, he was
sent by special commission on the Oxford
circuit to try cases of treason (ib. xiv. i.403.
17). Later in the spring of the same year,
when national defence was organised against
anticipated foreign invasion, Essexe was
nominated a commissioner of musters for
Wilts (ib. p. 229). His certificate of the
forces available in the county remains
(ib. p. 302). He was among the knights
deputed to attend on the King at the recep-
tion of Anne of Cleves in December (ib.
ii. 572). He was in receipt of a yearly
174 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
and denyed hym, and yitte doo, ayenst alle right and good conscience,
So that your saide Oratour ys nevir lykly to recovir his right withoute
the helps and favoure of your good grace. WHERFOR the
premyssis by you tendrely considered yt may please youre highnesse
of your most habundant grace and rightwisnesse to ordeyne and
commaunde that the saide william Essexe son and heire of the saide
Thomas Essexe may be callid bifore youre highnesse and the lordis
of your most honorable Counsell to answer vnto the premyssis and to
shew a laufuUe cause why he ought not of very right to make vnto
your saide Oratoure due and vndelayed restitucion of the same landis
and tenementes soo by his Grandefadir and Fadir and nowe by hym
kepte from youre saide Oratours Fadir and hym that ys to sey by the
space of xl yeris and more,® Whiche landis & tenementes ben of
the yerely value of xx li , The arrerages wherof your saide pore
Oratoure whiche ys nowe fallen blynde ys content to gyf vnto youre
excellent highnesse to comfort hym yn his right And he shalle daily
pray to god for the preseruacion of your moste noble persone and
Boyall astate.
Responsabile apud Westmonasterium infra iiij^*" dies/
Indorsed. Ad quindenam 8ancte
Termino Trinitatis Anno regni regis xviij " infra iiij dies.
Willelmus Hall secus^ scissor londoniensis contra Willelmum
Essexe.
* f ee ' of ten marks from the Court as a of the legal contests of herself and her son
member of the household (pp. 328, 327). William Darrell with Thomas Essexe and
He was again pricked for sheriff of Ozon other members of her family, 'as greedy,
and Berks in November 1540 (ib. zvi. 306, false, and cringing knaves as any perhaps
80), and returned to the Parliament of in the county * (Wilts), is to be seen in
1642-44 ('Members of Parlt.' i. 372). He Hubert HalPs ' Society in the Elizabethan
died on August 13, 1648, seised of the Age' (3rd ed. 1888), ch. i., in the fronti-
manor of West Towne, in Kensington, a spiece to which work are blazoned the Essex
circumstance which discloses the issue of arms. Thomas Essexe, who was knighted
this suit (Faulkner, p. 91). By his will between 1648 and 1663, lies buried with
dated January 27, 1548, he devised this his wife Margaret under an alabaster tomb
manor to his son Thomas Essexe, then forty in Lamboum Church. J. Murray, * Hand-
years of age, a member of the Inner book for Berkshire ' (1902), p. 107.
Temple ('Cal. I. T. Bee.* i. 61, 166 &c.). * This statement, taken in connexion
He also left lands in Berks, Derbyshire, with the indorsement (June to July 1603)
Essex, Leicester, Oxford, Salop, Somerset, and the date at which Sir Peter Ardem
Surrey, Warwick, and Wilts (J. G. C. Smith, ceased to be chief baron (September 1462),
'Index of Wills,' &c. i. 191). Probably, fixes 1462 as the date of the forcible
however, some of these were lands held in entry,
tmst. He had a daughter Elizabeth mar- * In another hand.
ried to Sir Edward Darrell of Littlecote * 1608.
(d. August 26, 1549). An amusing account * For ciucus, ' nowe fallen blynde.'
HALLE V. ESSEXE
175
B. This is the answere of William Essexe to the
bill of Complaint of William hall.
The said William saith that the said bill is vncerteyn & vnsuflBcient
to be answerd vnto and the matiere theryn conteyned determinable
at the Comen lawe wherunto he praith to be remyttid and there is no
matiere of Riott surmysed in the said bill wherby he shuld be com-
pellid to make answere in this Court, ^ And Ferthermore he saith that
the Euidence of the said londes & tenementes be withholden frome
hym by oon Rauff Swyllyngton ^ which wedded the mothere of the
said William Essexe And he Cannot opteyne the possession of them
' For this plea, which also ocoars in
Bath, Prior of, v. St. Augustine's, Canter-
bury, Abbot of, p. 21, see Introd., p. Ixxxi.
The Interrogatories seem to show that the
plea was held bad.
' Bauf or Ralph Swyllyngton was
probably a member of an ancient landed
family in Leicestershire (see index to
Nichols's * Hist, of Leicestershire ') settled
at Eettleby and elsewhere (ib. II. i. 9, 11).
He was a Member of the Inner Temple.
On Dec. 20, 1509, he was admitted to the
freedom of the town of Leicester and to
membership of the gild merchant there
(ib. I. ii. 388). He is styled * recorder'
in a commission for levying the subsidy at
Leicester, dated Sept. 21, 1512. He was
probably appointed to the recordership in
1509, in succession to Robert Jakys (ib.
p. 452). This conjecture is strengthened
by the fact that he appears on the com-
mission of the peace for Leicestershire
dated November 12 of that year (S. P.
Dom. Hen. 8, i. 656) and he continued on
the commission of the peace for the county
till 1514 (ib. 4783). During the same
period he was also frequently a commis-
sioner for gaol delivery for Leicester castle
(ib. 554, 3209, 4742), On May 12, 1514,
he was appointed Reader in the Inner
Temple, having served the previous year
as 'attendant on the Reader.' (F. A.
Inderwick, 'Calendar of I. T. Records,'
i. 27, 28, 30). In 1515 he is recited in a
commission of gaol delivery for Coventry,
as Recorder of that city, though he retained
his recordership of Leicester (Nichols, I. ii.
390) . He appears to have become a bencher
of the Inner Temple in 1518 (' Calendar ' &o.
i. 42). He took an active part in the go-
vernment of the Inn (see ' Calendar,' Index).
In 1521 he was again 'attendant on the
Reader ' (ib. p. 61). On July 15, 1521, he
was nominated a commissioner to inquire
into concealed lands in the counties of
Warwick and Leicester (S. P. Dom. Hen.
8, iii. 1451. 15). About the same time he
was employed to inquire into a ' pretended
insurrection' in Coventry (ib. iv. 2751).
Doubtless by way of reward he received a
grant on July 11, 1522, of the stewardship
of the Manor of Chelesmore, Warwickshire,
and of all the Crown lands in Coventry Ac.
(ib. iii. 2415. 11). That this was a valuable
preferment may be inferred from the fact
that after his death it was bestowed on
Thomas Orey, Marquis of Dorset, Aug. 23,
1525 (ib. iv. 1860. 10, cf. 1676. 20). He
was re-elected Reader of the Inner Temple
in February 1523 ('Calendar,' Ac. i. 71),
and was treasurer of the Inn in the same
year (ib. 74). He was appointed Attorney-
General on April 1, 1524 (S. P. Dom.
Hen. 8, iv. 297. 1). In the same year he
, received a legacy of 6Z. 135. 4d, from Sir
Thomas Lovell, K.O., 'for making the
wharf at the Temple' (ib. iv. 155).
Conjointly with the Duke of Norfolk and
John Porte, the following year made a
judge of the King's Bench, Swyllington
was appointed a commissioner for the
redress of grievances in the North on
July 16 of the same year. The Commis-
sioners were to hold their first sitting at
York on July SO (ib. 497). They transacted
their business expeditiously, for on August 9
Wolsey wrote to the Duke from Hampton
Court requesting that Swyllyng^ton might
return, as it was needless to detain him any
longer (ib. 571). It is possible that he
received some grant for his services. At
any rate, he appears for the first time on
the commission of the peace for Middlesex
on November 26 following (ib. 895. 26).
That he was a man of wealth and liberality
is evident from the fact that at a town's
meeting at Coventry on February 1, 1524,
he contributed the large sum of iOL * to a
common wealth for making of cloth ' (ib.
App. 1). He died between June 26, 1525,
when he was named upon a commission
of gaol delivery (ib. iv. 1466) and
176
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
without Bute of accion by the lawe so that he without the said Euidence
can not make directe answere to the said bill but he saith that he
knowith well that oon William Essexe his graundefathere purchesid
the said londes & paid for the same vij or viij c.^ markes which is aboue
XX yeris purches * by reason wherof he contynued peasibull possession
all his lif without any title or clayme made by the said william hal
or any of his blode to the same. And after the deth of the said wil-
liam Essexe his graundefathere Thomas Essexe his Father '^ entred &
toke peasible the yssues & profites of the same without entre inter-
rvpcion ore accion or any othere thyng done or attemptid contrary to
the same which peasibull contynuance of possession by his Fathere &
graundefathere was by the space of xl yeris & more, And after the
said Thomas Essexe his Fathere died after whose deth the said
william Essexe the Son entred & was & is possessid of the same
which the same william peasible without clayme ore pretence enjoyed
till nowe of late by the inticement of suche persons that bare no good
will vnto the said william Essexe knowyng the same william to be
but yonge & newe comyn to his londes ^ & that his Euidence & writynges
August 28 following, when his stewardship
of Ghelesmore or GhelmyBmore was con-
ferred on the Marquis of Dorset (ib. 1860.
10). His will, dated 1528, is published
in H. Nicolas, ' Testamenta Vetusta,' ii. 612.
According to Dugdide ('Warwickshire,*
47a) his wife in 5 Hen. 8 (1518-14) was
Alice (qu. Pauncefot), but it would seem
from the phrasing of the will, which
is not very intelligible, that a former
wife was a widow, Katharine Hulcot,
with daughters to whom he bequeaths 101.
apiece as a marriage portion, and that his
wite Elizabeth who, as this case proves,
was the widow of Thomas Essexe, survived
him. She was buried by the side of
Thomas Essexe, her first husband, as the
arms shew, in the Church of St. Michael,
Coventry, with an inscription as follows :
* Orate pro anima Elizabeth Swillyngton
vidue nuper uxoris Badulph Swillyngton,
Attomati Oeneralis Domini Regis Henrici
Octavi, Becordatoris Civitatis Goventrensis
quondam uxoris Thome Essex armigeri,
que quidem Elizabeth obiit in anno domini
millesimo ccccc ,' the concluding
letters being lost (B. Poole, * History of
Coventry' [1870], p. 142). Swyllyngton
had purchased lands in Drifiield, Yorks,
which he devised to his nephew, (George
Swyllyngton, who represented Leicester
in the first Parliament of Edward 6
(* Members of Parliament' 1878, L 875).
His will was proved February 14, 1525
(J. C. C. Smith. * Index,* Ac. ii. 513). On
April 24, 1640, a pardon was granted to
one Thomas Hourde of London for all
felonies and trespasses, particularly for
those of which he was found guilty by the
court of King's Bench, viz. that he, with
George Hourde of London and John Dale
of London, yeoman, stole certain articles
belonging to John Hulcott or Halkett. at
the parish of St. Clement Danes without
the New Temple, London, and likewise
certain articles belonging to Sir William
Essex (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, 1540, 738.
21). The conjunction of the names of
Hulcott and Essex suggests some proceed-
ing like that alleged against Sir Peter Arden
and William Essex, the elder, in the bill of
complaint.
* 4662. 18s. id., or 588Z. 68. Sd.
* See Bath, Prior of, v. St. Augustin's,
Canterbury, Abbot of, C, p. 22, n. 9.
* Cf. the Inquisition of 1481 (see A,
n. 4, supra). Thomas Essexe, as 'Sun
and Heir (of William Essexe), married the
Daughter and Heir of Babthorpe of War-
wikeshir and by her had a Hunderith
Markes by yere of Landes ' (J. Leland,
* Itin.,* iv. f. 19). William Babthorpe was
one of Ralph Swyllyngton*s executors (H.
Nicolas, * Test. Yet.* p. 613). Doubtless this
marriage accounts for the burial of Thomas
Essexe in St. Michael's, Coventry.
* Assuming that he had come of age in
the previous year, 1502, he would be about
seven years old at the date of his marriage
with Elizabeth Bogers in 1488 (see p. 170,
n. 5, supra). On early marriages see
W. Denton, * England in the Fifteenth
Century,' p. 261, n.
HALLE v. ESSEXE 177
concernyng the said londes wer owt of his handes causid the said
William hall to put in the said bill ayenst the said william where for
trouthe the said william hall nor none of his auncestres were at any
tyme owners therof nor sesid to theire own vses And if any of them at
any time were enfeffid therin it was to the vse of othere whose interesse
the said William Essexe haith. Without that the said Elizabeth Bote
enfefiBd any person to thentent to declare any will vppon the said
Feffement or that eny of hire feffees wer sesid therof the tyme of hire
deth And without that the said Elizabeth made any suche will as is sur-
mysed in the said bill or that eny suche will kuld be shewid longe &
many yeris after hire discese And though she hadde made suche a will
it is not materiall to the said William Essexe hauyng sufficient con-
veiaunce from them that hadde seson & possession of the said londes,
And without that the said Peers Ardern & William Essexe his graund-
fathere euer jnprisoned or trowbuld the Fathere of the said William
hall, And without that the said William Essexe his graundfathere
breke vppe the Chest of the Fathere of the said William hall or toke
any Euidenee or othir thyng from hym but suche Euidence as he
hadde were delyuerd hym at the tyme of his said purchase W'herfore
the same William Essexe most humbly praith to be dismissid owt of
this Court & not to be compellid eny longere to awaite vpon any suche
fayned or surmysid mater And he shall allwey pray for the preser-
uacion of your grace.
c. The Interogatoryes for the parte of william hall for the
title & Right of Certen londes beyng yn varyaimce
betwyxt the same william & on william Essexe gentylman.
Item whether the scyd William hall now playntiff ys son i\: heyer
to William hall late of Kensyngton.
Item whether the seyd william hall ut* Kensyngton ioke any issuer
or profittes of the londes & tenementtes specifyed yn the seyd byll or
any parte of theym and hew long he toke the profittes of the same.
Item who entered ymmediatly yn to the seyd londes after the
deth of the sayd Robert Scarburroghe.
Item whether Ellizabeth Rote made any suche wyll as ys alleged
yn the sayd byll of Compleynt.
Item whether the seyd william hall of Kensyngton made any
astate of the sayd londes or graunted the seyd londes of his free wyll
to the seyd peers arden or to william esexe graunflfather to the seyd
william Essexe now defendauntt.
178 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Item whate summys of money the seyd peers arden or william
Essexe payed for the sayd londes to the seyd william hall of Kensyngton
or to any other person to thuse of the seyd william hall.
Item whether the seyd William hall of Kensyngton was euer vexed
trobelled sued or by any other vnlawfuU meanys imprisoned by the
seyd peers arden or by the seyd william Essexe the graunfather for
fere wherof the seyd william hall was fayne to departe frome the seyd
londes and for sorow ^ off the same ^ the seyd william hall was dis-
traught & nott of hole mynd & soo departed out of the Countree.
Item whether Peers arden att suche tyme as he haddc the seyd
william hall of Kensyngton in prison Broke vpp the house & Chamber
of the seyd william and soo Conveyed awaye all suche euydences as
the seyd william hall hadd Concernyng the seyd londes yn Kensyngton.
Item of whome the seyd Peers arden bought the seyd londes & by
whate auctoryte he sold the same londes to the seyd william Essexe
the graunffather or of whome the same William Essexe bought the same
londes.2
Item whether Thomas Essexe Father of the seyd William now
defendauntt was euer agreable to Compound with the seyd william
hall now playntyff for his title yn the seyd londes and whether the
same wilUam hall that now ys euer made any Clayme for the same
londes to the seyd William Essexe that now ys.
SHKOWESBURY, ABBOT OF, v. BAILIFFS OF.'
A. This is thaunswere oflF the BailieflFes off
Shreuysbury to the Bill off thabbot off
Shreuysbury.
1504 The seid bailieffes seyn that the Town oflf Shreuysbury is and
tyme out oflf mynd hath ben an auncient Borough wherunto aswell
our soueraign lord the king that now is as his noble progenitours ^
* Interlined in substitution for* whereof after executing the oonveyanoe, had re-
underlined for erasure. fused to deliver it or the title-deeds.
* This interrogatory suggests that the ' S.C.P. Hen. 8, Bundle 26, No. 363.
land had been bought by Ardem either to Wrongly sorted. The reference at the end
resell or to give to William Essexe the of the abbot's replication (B) to the bring-
elder, and that the conveyance direct by ing up of Bichard Dicher, whose examina-
Sturgton and Hall to Essexe (see A, p. 171, tion, dated February 6, anno xix'^o (1504),
n. 4, supra) was by his instructions. The follows, shows that this answer and the
forcible entry and breaking open of the replication belong to that time, the bill of
chests of William Hall the elder imputed complaint being lost.
to Sir Peter Ardem looks as though Hall, * The earliest royal grant to Shrewsbury
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, V, BAILIFFS OF
179
haue graunted diners liberties & Fraunches Wherflfore they paie vnto
the kinges highnes a yerely Ferme^ as apperett off Record in the
kinges eschekker. Which borough is and be all the said tyme hath
ben on off the keyes for the good ordre off the marches in those
parties * and now gretly in decay ^ & soe dayly groweth & moche the
more by reason off the Importable chargies & costes that the said
Abbot ® putteth them vnto ; whiche lyethe here within this Cite ' at his
appears to have been by Henry 1, but the
charter has been lost. H. Owen and J. B.
Blakeway, » Hist, of Shrewsbury' (1825),
i. 76. The charter of Henry 7 extending
the jurisdiction of the town's view of
frankpledge is dated December 14, 1495.
lb. 268.
* This was fixed by a charter of John
of February 24, 1205, at 45 marks (30/.)
(see ib. i. 86, 301). On December 12,
1486, Henry 7, grateful to the town for
its zeal in his cause, remitted ten marks
(62. 13s. 4d.) of this sum, in consideration
of the ruin, poverty and decay of the town,
during a term of fifty years, and released
the town for ever from contribution to aids
and subsidies (Campbell, ' Materials,' i. 213).
The town was in arrears with its fee farm
rent. lb. 445.
* I.e. of Wales.
^ See n. 3, supra. A charter of Decem-
ber 14, 1495, recites • the very great poverty,
decay and ruin of the town ' (0. and B. i.
268). A letter written by Peter Newton,
an inhabitant of Shrewsbury, between 1502
and 1508, to the bailiffs of the town, is
printed in Owen and Blakeway, i. 277. The
writer had apparently been deputed to make
representations to the king on behalf of
the town. He writes : * And in the meanc
season nowe and herafter at my being with
his grace, I shall shewe that without his
help, succor and benigne favor be largely
extended to the said Town, wiche hathe
been and is honorable and the grettest
strengthe and defence that his subgetts
of that shire have agenst the wildnes of
Waled and Marches ther is hastely likly to
be right porely inhabited, in suche grete
ruyn and decay it dailly falleth and con-
tynueth.' Shrewsbury is mentioned as
iimonn the decayed towns in 27 Ilonry H,
e. 1. and 35 Hen. 8, c. 4. On the
decay of English towns in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, see the references col-
lected in C. Gross, • The Gild Merchant '
(Oxford, 1890), i. 61, n. 5.
® Bichard Lye, in 1487 the junior monk
of the house, son of Lodovic Lye, elected
1495, died 1512 (Dugd. ' Monast.' iii. 514).
He was possibly a native of Lichfield, where
he was admitted a member of the Gild of
St. Mary in 1508 (T. Harwood, * History
of Lichfield * [1806], p. 411). According to
Dugdale, he received the temporalities of the
Abbey of Shrewsbury on January 20, 1495
(Orig. 14 Hen. 7. See MS. Lansd. 903,
p. 54). But from the registers of the
bishops of Lichfield it appears that his
election was not confirmed by the bishop
till March 16, 1498 (Owen and Blakeway,
ii. 129). ' It is certain,' say Owen and
Blakeway, ' that in his time the affairs of
this house were in a state of extreme de-
rangement, and its liberties actually seised
into the king's hands.' On June 17, 21
Hen. 7 (1505), being summoned before the
Exchequer for refusing to pay 6Z. 6s. Sd.,
part of his contribution to the subsidy
gi-anted by the clergy of the province of
Canterbury in 12 Hen. 7, he successfully
pleaded a remission by the king, dated
Nov. 20, 19 Hen. 7 (1503) (MS. K. O.,
Exch. K. R. Mem. Roll, E. T. 21 Hen. 7,
m. xi.). He died in London on March 4,
1512, while in attendance on Parliament
(S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 3093). His epitaph
in the church of St. Bartholomew-the-Less,
Smithfield, on * a fair plated stone in the
South aisle,' attested that ' Sua industria,
sumptibus magnis, et suis laboribus, deo
suadente, recuperavit libertates sue ecclesie
Salopie ' (J. Stow, * Survey,' ed. J. Strype
[1754], i. 713). It has of late been 'restored'
out of existence in order to make way for
some modem tiles. The delay in the con-
fiimation by the bishop of his election may
perhaps be accounted for in part by the
fact that bishop William Smyth was trans-
lated from Lichfield to Lincoln in January
149(), and his successor at Lichfield, John
Arundel, was not consecrated until Novem-
ber r» following (J. Le Neve, ' Fasti '
ilH.Tli, i. oSl, 555). The statement of
Willis that ho ' was admitted abbot an.
1499' may perhaps be a confusion of his
admittance with the date at which the
Crown restored its liberties to the abbey.
^ I.e. London, as is evident from the
abbot's replication (B, p. 183, infra). In
1275 abbot Luke de Wenlock had bought a
house in the parish of St. Ethelburga,
Bishopsgate, London, which he had settled,
with odier houses, on the conventual
N 2
180 COUKT OF THE STAR CHAMBEK
pleasure to hym lytell charge & cost, & therby eschewyth kepyng oflf
hospitalite within the said monastery contrarie to the laudable ordre
& rule that his predecessours there beflfore tyme hath kept, soe that
by his vncharitable <fe vnleefull vexacions the Inhabitauntes of the
seid borough be the more vnhable to content the kinges seid grace his
seid Feeferme and at leyngthe enles his seid grace help & assist
theym for the deflfence off the same they shalnot be hable to here the
charities off the seid Town. And for the declaracion off trouthe off
there demeanyng concernyng the Articles comprised in the seid bill as
to the furst article off the same they sey that the seid bailieffes &
commynyalitie haue had a vew off Frankplege * tyme out off mynd
amonges other off all the Inhabitauntes dwellyng uppon the stan-
bruge ^ in Shreuysbury forsaid whiche the seid Abbot pretendeth to
be within his libertie & fraunches that in dede is vntrew, And for not
suynge to the eeid lete '^^ off *^ certeyn off the same Inhabitauntes aswell
other gentilmens tenauntes as the tenauntes off the seid Abbot were
amerced and for the same amercementes beffore the deliuere off the
3eid priue seale ^^ distresses were takyn appreised and accompted for
accordingly as there off old tymes hath be vsed in such behalff, And
morover they seyen that they desired the seid William Coll ^^ named
in the seid bill to com & appere with the seid Now bailieffes ^^ accord-
ing to the tenour off the seid priue seale. And for asmocbe as at his
last commyng and appering before your highnes &> your most honour-
able counsail here at Westmynster by virtue off your priue seale and
kitchen at Shrewsbury, with the reserva- name for such a court, but to the last
tion ' Salvo tamen nobis et ouccessoribus visus franciplegii remained the most
nostris ubbatibus dicti munastcrii hospitio fonnal and correct of titles.* P. and M.
competenti quandocunque ibidem veneri- i. 568.
muB.' Ow. and Bl. ii. 114. >» Sic.
'^ There is no mention of frankpledge in " This would be after January 15,
the earliest two charters preserved, those of 1500, at which date bishop Arundel's offer
Uichard 1 and John (Ow. and Bl. i. 82-89). of mediation had been accepted by the
' Occasionally we find a clear grant of bailiffs. See Ow. and Bl. i. 270-271.
*»view of frankpledge," occasionally a grant " Bailiff in 1493, 1498, and again, with
of immunity from frankpledge, which may Richard Dicher, in 1502 (ib. 530), to which
or may not have amounted to the same thing last date this passage relates. The family
... far more commonly a lord prescribed of Colle or Cole had long been considerable
for the '* view " and prescribed for it sue- in Shrewsbury (ib. 467-471). The bailiffs
cessfully.' Pollock and Maitland, ' Hist. were, by the charter of Hicnard 2, to have
Eng. Law,' i. 567. * The frankpledge ays- the qualification of 10/. a year of land or
tem prevails in the boroughs.' lb. 642. rent (ib. 172). They received a fee of 100s.
• The Stone bridge, now generally called a year, and a robe worth 20s. lb. 207.
the English bridge, over the Severn at tlie '* Ow. and Bl. give under the year 1502
east end of the town, connecting the town an extract from the town archives as fol-
with the abbey. lows : ' In diversis expensis factis per ij
'" ' Towards the end of the thirteenth ballivos tres satellites et alios secum equi-
oentury the word leet (leta), which seems tantes ad civitatem London, ad responden-
to have spread outwards from the East- dum privato sigillo domini Kegis.' lb. 275.
Anglian counties, was becoming a common
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, V. BAILIFFS OF 181
at the sute off the seid Abbot, the same William Coll was arrested
enprisoned & compelled to paie to the seid Abbot the somme of
xxxviij li. sterlinges in contempt off your highnes and as yet not
punyshed to his ondoyng by reason wheroff he is soe enpoueryshed
that he is not hable to com & appere at this tyme. Alsoe they seyen
that a wai*aunt off the peas was directed From the seid bailieffes beyng
Justices off the peas ^^ within the seid town & Fraunches to attache ^**
the seid Thomas Boughton specified in the seid bill, Wheruppon on
Edward Bent on off the seriauntes at mase ^' within the seid town &
fraunches attached the seid Thomas Boughton by virtue off the seid
waraunt within the libertie off the seid Town. Alsoe they seyen that
where the seid Abbot hathe off his extorcion takyn by his seruantes
toll off pouer people commyng to the seid town with wod & coole yet
the same taking off toll off wod and coole hath be vsed in the strete
called foryate strete '® belonging to the seid Abbot and not on any part
off Stanbruge within the libertie off the seid town. And by cause the
seid Abbottes Fermour ^^ wold haue takyn toll wod ^" off a certeyn
person caryeng & brynging wod ouer the seid bruge*^* toward the seid
Town to be sold, the seid Fowke Spurstow & Edward Bent in peasible
wise desired the seid Fermour to spare takyng off the seid wod on the
seid bruge beyng within the libertie off the seid town. And alsoe the
seid bailieffes seyen that on Roger barbur on off the seriauntes at the
mase within the seid town off his own mynd without commaundement
or knowlage off the seid bailieffes attached John Stub named in the
seid bill for suspeccion off Felony but whether he were attached within
the place wheroff the Fraunches is in variaunce the said baiUeffes
know not. With out that the seid bailieffes or any off there seriauntes
or officers haue takyn any distresses within the liberties & Fraunches
off the seid Abbot, And Without that the seid Fowke spurstow Edward
Bent dauid Kyngesley & William duthek ^^ attached in Eiotous maner
'* By a charter of 30 Hen. 6, 'Hist. MSS. jeants and were answerable for them. It
Commission,' 15th Bep., Append., pt.x. p. 31. was the duty of the Serjeants (inter alia)
" By a charter of 1341 the burgesses to receive certain fees and collect fines,
were granted attachments. Ow. and Bl. They were removed every year (ibid. 173).
i. 162. A third serjeant was appointed by the
" • There is also a more inferior kind of aldermen Hb. 207, 215). All three are
Sergeants of the Mace, whereof there is a mentioned nere.
troop in the city of London and other cor- '* East of the Severn, still called • The
porate towns, that attend the mayor or Abbey Foregate.'
other chief officer, both for menial attend- '* I.e. farmer of the tolls.
ance and chiefly for matters of justice. '^" Apparently a toll in kind.
These are called Servientes ad Clavam.' "-'* Presumably this person had avoided
J. Cowel, ' Interp.' s.v. Sergeant. The town Foregate Street by taking the Coleham
of Shrewsbury had no mayor until the road leading to the end of the bridge from
grant of the charter of 1638 (Ow. and Bl. the south at a point west of Foregate Street,
i. 406). The bailiffs appointed two ser- " William Duthek of Shrewsbury,
182 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
or contrary to Any decre or commaundement to them geven the seid
Thomas boughton. And Without that the bailieffes or Any there
oflScers to there knowlage ^^ or by there commaundement ^^ attached
the said John Stub for Any trespasses by hym commytted within the
seid town or elles where or that they made watche to attache the seid
John Stub in the place wheroff the fraunches is now in variaunce.
And without that the seid bailieffes or there officers have disobeyed or
wrought contrary to the commaundement and articles conteyned in
the seid priue seale, or that they haue Forfeted the peyn or somme
conteyned in any priue seale to them or there predecessours at Any
tyme directed. And without that they haue disobeyed or Any thinge
don or attempted to the preiudice hurt damage destruccion or vndoyng
off Any liberties off the seid monastery. All whiche maters &c.
B. ^ This ys the "Replicacion of Thabbot of Shrowesbury ^
to the aunswarc of the Bailys of the towne of
Shrowesbury.
1504 The same abbott sayth that his said byll of complaynt is true yn
euery poynt as he hath allegged and sayth that the aunsware of the
same nowe baillyes is Fayned & of no trouth to thentent that they
may prolonge the tyme with theire vntrue surmyse and so to contynue
yn there vnlauffull & riottuous demeanour agaynest the said libertiez
and yn avoydyng & distruccion of the same and where it is allegged
by the aunsware of the same Baillys to the disclander ^ of the said
abbott that the sayd Towne is by hym & by his meanes gretly
ympoueresshed & decayd the said abbott sayth that the ympouer-
ysshement & decay of the said Towne is by theire mysrule & yn
defaute of good order and fer lak of due mynystracion of justice and
not executyng the kynges writtes & his lettres of privey seall to the
said Baillys directed there and not by the said abbott nor by his
meanes and the said abbott sayth for the encrese of the said town he
; yerely bestoweth yn the same town for bredde drynks & vytaill aboue
* Sherman,* acted as a commissioner for - A mitred Benedictine abbey, founded
the town in levying the aid granted by by Boger de Belmeis or de Montgomery
Parliament in 1504 (19 Hen. 7, c. 32), about 1087 (Dugd. ' Monast.' iii. 513). See
though his name is not among those ap- also A, p. 177, n. 6, supra. A computus of
pointed by the statute (Statutes of the 1534 valued the revenues at 615Z. 4s. 3^^.
Beahn [1816], ii. 679). Sec MS. B. 0., The computus of 33 Hen. 8 (1541) valued
Exoh. K. B. Mem. BoU, E. T. 21 Hen. 7, them at 656/. 45. Sd. lb. 527, 528.
m. vii. Inter Communia. ' Cf. Esclandre. J. A. H. Murray, *Eng.
«^** Interlined. Diet.,* suggests that the prefix des- or dis-
» S.C.P. Hen. 8, Bundle 18, No. 160. was perhaps due to confusion of des- and
Wrongly sorted. es-.
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, V. BAILIFFS OF 183
the somme of cccc markes * and sayth that he kepeth hospitalitie yn
his said monastery yn as good & pleyntyous maner as hath byn vsed
theire yn tymes past and his absens from thense is to hym no
pleasure nor comfort and is moche by the meane of the said baillyes
& Commynaltie for they do to hym & his monastery so moch wrong
that they dry ve hym to personal! suite but his nowe ^ beyng yn the
Citie is by summons of the kynges writt to appere here and attende
opon the hiegh Court of parlament and ouer that the said abbott
sayth that he & all his predecessours of his said monastery yn the
Right of the same monastery haue vsed to haue thir vie we of Fraunke-
plegge of all the inhabitauntes & resiauntes dwellyng opon the said
Stanbrigge.^ Without that the said Baillys & Commynaltie and theire
predecessours haue hadde the viewe of Fraunkeplegge of the inha-
bitauntes there yn maner & fourme as they haue allegged yn theire
said aunsware and Without that the said nowe Baillys haue
appraiseid the distresses by theym taken specified yn the said byll
and accompted for the same by any laufuU autorite Or haue
delyuered the said distresses by theym taken accordyng to the hiegh
commaundement of the last privey seaU and the said abbott sayth
that the matter allegged in the said aunsware is no sufficient matter
to excuse the said nowe Baillys for their non bryngyng of the said
William Coll specified yn the said byU before this honourable consaill
nowe present and Without that the said Edward Bent made the said
attachment specified yn the said byll of the said Thomas Bou^hton
specified in the same byll within the liberties of the said town and
the said abbott sayth that he & all his predecessours & their Fer-
mours from tyme of no mynde haue vsed to take of euery lowde of
wode Toll wode ^ and of every lowde of Coll toll Coll commyng opon the
said Stanbrigge whech is within the liberties of the said abbott and
* 266Z. 13.S-. 4^. Salop et super pontem quae prostratae
^ This fixes the year. No Parliament fuerunt et combustae occasione guerrae
had met since 1497. The Parliament of motae inter dominum Johannem patrem
I 19 Henry 7, which is omitted from the nostrum et barones suos.' Ow. and Bi. 1.92,
; official list of members of Parliament n.c, * The abbots were undoubtedly lords of
(' Pari. Papers/ 1878, Lxn. pt. i.), met on the manor,' but this seems to refer to the
January 25, 1504, and was the last Parlia- Foregate Manor (ibid. ii. 139). There is an
' ment of Henry 7's reign. See ' Statutes entry • Monkeyate alias Foryate et Castel-
of the Realm,' ii. 648; Rot. Pari. v. 620, forgate ao Villa Salop -108Z. 6s. 4 ^d.' in the
C. H. Parry, ' Parliaments and Councils of computus of the last abbot, Thomas Butler,
England ' (1839), p. 197. dated Michaelmas, 26 Hen. 8 (1534), in
" This is to some extent confirmed by a Dugd. * Monast.' iii. 526.
writ of 6 Hen. 3 (1222), addressed to the , ' The charter of Henry 3 to the abbey
Sheriff of Shropshire forbidding him to expressly grants Uheoloneum lignorum
impose any impediment in the way of the quae intrant ad vendendum in Salopes-
abbot * quin libere et sine impedimento beria per Estgatam et Sudgatam ' (Dugd.
possit reaedifioare domos suas coram ponte ibid. p. 622) ; but it says nothing of coal.
184 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Without that the said abbott by his seruauntes haue taken any such
Toll by extorcon yn maner & fourme as is allegged yn the said
aunsware With that the said abbott wyll averre that the said
Stanbrigge is parcell of the said Foryatt strete, which hoU foryatt
strete is within the liberties of the same abbot ** and Without that the
said Baillys haue fulfilled any of the commaundementes yn the said
last privey seall eontayned but onely the bryngyng vpp of Eichard
Dycher. All whech matters the said abbott is redy to averre as this
honourable Court shall award.
c. vi'^' February, anno.xix"*"J
1504 Richard Dicher ^ sworn saith to the first Interrogatorie that he
^^^ knowith not by what warant the town claymeth the vew of frankpledge
in & vppon the place comprised in that first Interrogatorie but if it
be in the Town Chartour or other wretinges that be betwix the same
Town and thabbotes that haue ben of the monasterie there, and
whether ther be any warrant in those wretinges & chartour this
deponent knowith not as he saith.'
To the ij** he saith he knowith not that the Town of Salop hath
had the vew of Frankpledge in the place in that Interrogatorie
specified * in peace without Interrupcion of thabbot, nether the abbot
in possession of his clayme without Interrupcion of the Town, for
this xyj yere last past, and before that it was litle hede takyn to such
• It appears that at some time after the Vicus autem ipse Biforietta vocatur, quod
rebuilding of the houses on the bridge by nos lingua Galliea, ante portam dicimua,'
the abbot, an agreement was made with The void tract of ground was called Mary-
the burgesses by which the abbot under- val or Merivale. Ow, and BJ. i. 242.
took to forbear to build on the ground ' 1604. Tlic interrogatories are lost,
forming the approach to the bridge, which. As the original complaint, now lost, was
in case of war, it was proposed to fortify filed in tlie same term (see F, p. 191, in-
(O. and B. i. 92, n.c). This approach to fra) it is clear that the business of the Court
the bridge was the natural continuation was at this period conducted with expedition,
and termination of Foregate Street, ns is - Bailiff in 1502. Will proved 1524.
evident from the plan of the town. See J. C. C. Smith, * Index,' i. 171.
the plan of Shrewsbury in J. Murray, ' Next follows the answer to the second
• Handbook to Shropshire ' (1897), p. 52. Interrogatory, but it is struck through and
Dugdale (* Monast.' iii. 517) prints from the iij** interrogatory changed to ij'*. The
the abbot's register a document intituled answer to the second was as follows : ' To
• Fundationis ct Dotationis Historia,' which the ij** Interrogatorie he saith he hath no
is carried down to the reign of Stephen. knowledge of the contentes therof, nether
Speaking of the founders, the Earl and he knew any vew of frankpledge takyn in
Countess of Montgomery, ii says : ' Primo, that ground that is in debate by the bailififes
scilicet, dedcrunt congregatis illuc fratribus or keping cf any court baron there nor
vicum quendam juxta eandem eccleaiam otherwise.'
positum. . . . Ilic autem vicus dividitur a * In the absence of the interrogatories,
civitatc Salopesbiriae solummodo alveo flu- it is somewha • uncertain what is meant by
minii intercurrentis, cui nomcn est Sabrin.n. ' place.'
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, 7\ BAILIFFS OF 185
thinges * as is in that Interrogatorie specified of both the town and
thabbot, for noo strif was for it asfarr as this deponent can remembre.
To the iiij**' he saith he can not answere for he knowith noon
other autorite for the contentes^ of this Interrogatorie but onles®
this of the town chartour.
To the V*** he saithe it chargethe not him.
To the vi^^ he saithe he herd neuer of that atachment vntill he
come to London now.
To the vij*^ he saith he is not remembered that thabbot or his
fermour haue takyn any such toll in any place but within iiij or v
yere last past by which space thabbot & his fermours haue vsed to
take Tolwode and CoUe without Estgate first by Richard pynners hous
now there dwelling which is within iij houses of the gate.
Item he knowith noo thing of the contentes of that vij^'* or ix
Interrogatories.
To the x^"' he saith that many men be owners of the hous in
debate, that is to say m*" Mitton,' m*" Skryvener,® Richard Want-
ners ° lyeing and the Town ij houses next to the said gate.
Item the last Interrogatorie this deponent confessith him to haue
known to be true.
To the ij** Interrogatorie he saith that he hath no knowledge of
the contentes therof nee he neuer knew that the bailiffes of Salop
euer kept any Court baron or otherwis in that place ^^ without estgate
or in any other place that is now in debate betwix thabbot and the
said bailiffes ^' vpon vew of Frankpledge, for he neuer knew any court
* As a matter of fact, so far from Garth (ib. 281). A. P. Burke, 'Landed
there having been i)eace between town and Gentry ' (10th cd. 1900), p. 115G. William
abbey prior to 1488, a fierce dispute had Mitton (Mutton) represented the town in
been waged between the two in 1267, with the Parliament of 1496 ; died 1612. Ow.
regard to the Binall tract of ground east of and Bl. i. o.'JO.
the Stone Bridge, called Merivale or Mury- •• The name of a family which had been
vale, on which six houses stood. This was considerable in the town since the four-
probably one of the plots of ground which teenth century (ib. 174). Robert Scryven
it was apreed should be left unoccupied in was bailifif in 1454. Ib. i. 624.
case of war (Ow. and Bl. i. 242). The quarrel '^ Bailiff in 1471, 1483, 1487 (ib.). The
was renewed after the charter granted by first two were probably feoffees to uses.
Henry 7 in 1495, extending the liberties of '" An important piece of evidence, for
the burgesses. Ib. 2(58. ' the court baron must be holden on some
*'* Interlined. part of that which is within the mannor,
' There were several members of this for if it be holden out of the mannor it is
ancient family among the inhabitants of voyd.' Coke upon Littleton, 58, a. The
Shrewsbury at this time: Thomas Mitton court baron was the court of the freeholders
had been bailiff in 1464, 1468, 1472, 1476, of a manor. As to the constituents of this
1480, 1484, 1488, 1492, 1496, and 1500, court see ' Trans. R. Hist Soc' (1892), N.S.
and died bailiff in 1504, when William vi. 231-235.
Myttonwas elected in his place (Ow. and Bl. •' There follows 'but only the Town
i. 530). There was also Richard Mitton, court in thaire town,* struck through,
bailiff in 1503, ancestor of the Myttons of
186 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
kej)te by the said bailiffes but onlye the Town court of Salop in thaire
hallJ2
Thomas Wethyford/^ examyned vppon his answer to thabbottes of
Salop new ^* bill and certaign Interrogatories ^* ministred by the same,
saith that the bailiffes of Salop that haue ben as this deponent hath
herd say haue takyn the vew of frank pledge in the place specified in
that Interrogatorie ; albe it he neuer herd that euer any court was
kept in that place at any vew takyn there by the said bailiffes, but
thaire courtes thay, ^^ where it hath ben enquerid of frays &
blodsheds,^*^ have vsed to kepe within the Town of Salop at thaire
haU.
To the ij^ he saith that he hath not known the said vew takyn ^'
ouer.a yj yere now last past, but the court roUes of the Town shewith
that amerciamentes haue be takyn of thinhabitantes in the said place
now in strif and in the first Interrogatorie specified by the said bailiffes
for the time being.
To the iij'^ he saith that the Abbottes haue alwey made clayme
but otherwis thay neuer interrupted the possession of the said bailiffes
by perceyving ^^ of any amerciamentes or fines in that place now in
debate.
To the iiij*** he saith that he knowith noone other autorite but
onlye the vsage and costom that it hath be so vsed, so that *® the
distresses be first praised.
To the v'^ vi^^ and vij*** it is ansuerd to the bill.
To the viij**^ he saith that thabbottes fermer preassid to tak wode
Toll within the franches of the Town & where he ought noon take &
courtouslie he was praid to forbere thasking of it there.
'-A town ordinance of 1433 decrees *■"*• Interlined. By a charter of May 4,
that * all the burgesses shall attend the 1341, it was granted that no burgess should
Gildhall atte whatte tyme the bailiffs do be impleaded or charged for any ofTence
make open proclamation as hit hath been arising within the liberties, except by the
used of olde tyme' (Ow. and Bl. i. 208). bailiffs, Ac. (Ow. and Bl.i. 162). The grants
This was for the transaction of town busi- of the king to the burgesses of a town
ness. ousted the jurisdiction of the manorial
** Bailiff in 1503, 1508 and 1519, when lords. ' When the king under pain of his
he died. lb. 530. full forfeiture ordains that none of them
^* As will have been seen, the abbot had [the burgesses] need answer in any court
by a former bill procured the issue of a outside the borough ... he is practically
privy seal which had ordered the appear- detaching these burgesses from the manors
ance of William Coll before the Council and to which they have belonged and is defying
had not been obeyed. The * new ' bill seems the principle of feudal justice.* Pollock
to be the one which originated this suit and and Maitland, ' Hist. Eng. Law,' i. 680.
which has been lost. The interrogatories " An interlineation, * and fynes takyn
appear to be the same as those to which for frayes & blodeshedes ' struck through,
the foregoing answers were given. '■ Collecting; a classical use of *per-
'* The words * drawn out of the same ' cipere.*
followed, but have been struck through. »• • Thay be ' struck through.
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, V. BAILIFFS OF 187
The ix*^ is ansuerd. To the x^^ he saith that he knowith not the
contentes of that Interrogatorie.
To the last he saith as Eichard dicher saith in his deposition.
Indorsed, Thexamination of the
bailiffes of
Salop vpon
Interrogatories ministred
by thabbot
Dycher & Whetyford 2"
In modern hand. Salop Abbot of
V.
Bailiffs of the Town.
D. ^ Termino Trinitatis viij'' die Julii Anno &c xxiij^^
Dominus Cantuariensis Cancellarius ^ Franciscus Eede ^ capitales
Judices. Tremale ^ Britnell ^ capitalis baro Scaccarii ^ Kyngs-
mell ^ Fyssher " & Buttler ; ^" prior sancti Johannis Jerusalem.^ ^
1508 Coram istis dominis & Judicibus predictis perlecte fuerunt depo-
siciones & dicta testium product orum tarn ex parte abbatis Salopiensis
'^^ Dicher had been bailiff in 1502 ; the of the King's Bench, 1507 ; Justice of the
bailiffs for 1503 were Richard Mitton and Common Pleas, 1509 ; Chief Justice of the
Thomas Withyford ; for 1504 Roger Forster, Common Pleas, 1521; died 1631. 'Diet.
Thomas Mytton died, William Mytton Nat. Biog.'
elected. Apparently Dicher and Withyford ' Sir William Hody, A.G. and*Serjeant-
were each bailiffs in the respective years at-law 1485 ; Chief Baron of the Exchequer,
(1502 and 1503) when these disputes came 148(5-1522 ; died 1522. ' Diet. Nat. Biog.*
to a head. Dicher's colleague in 1502, " John Kyngsmell, or Kingsmill, of the
William Coll, had been summoned to appear Middle Temple ; Serjeant-at law, 1494 ;
by the privy seal issued in response to the King's Serjeant, 1497 ; Justice of the
abbot's original bill. See A, p. 180, supra. Common Pleas, 1503-1609 ; died 1509
» S.C.P. Hen. 7. No. 112. (E. Foss, • Lives of the Judges' [1857], v.
' 1508. 57-59). He frequently sat as Judge in the
* William Warham. See p. 227, n. 2. Court of Requests. Seld. Soc, Select Cases
* This is a blunder for Robertus Rede, in the Court of Requests (1898), Index.
of Lincoln's Inn, Serjeant-at-law, 1486 ; ■ John Fyssher, or Fisher, King's
Justice of the K.B. and a knight, 1495 ; Serjeant, 1486 ; Justice of the Common
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 1506. Pleas, 1501-10; died 1510. E. Fobs,
Died 1519 (* Diet. N. Biog.'). He frequently ' Lives,' p. 166.
sat as a Judge in the Court of Requests ''^ John Buttler, or Boteler, of Lincoln's
(see Selden Soc. [1898], Index). The original Inn; Serjeant-at-law, 1494; Justice of the
judgement correctly recites 'Robert.' See Common Pleas, Apr. 26, 1508; died 1517.
n. 12, infra, where note also that Sir John lb. p. 138.
Fyneux, C.J., was present at the original , "Sir Thomas Docwra, of Hlghdown,
judgement, though having since died he is Herts, Ambassador to Philip, King of
omitted eo nomine from the exemplifi- Castille, in 1507 ; to France in 1510, 1514,
cation. and 1518; to the council of the Lateran
* Tremale. See Gtoryng v. Northumber- in 1512 ; to the Emperor in 1521 ; Grand
land, Earl of, B, p. 99, n. 8. Prior, 1502-27 ; died 1527. ' Diet. Nat.
* Robert Britnell. or Brudenell, Serjeant- Biog.'
at-law, 1504 ; King's Serjeant, 1605 ; Justice
188 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
pro parte sua quam ex parte balliuorum burgensium ville Salopie
predicte, perlegebanturque certe clausule diuersarum concessionum per
j diuersos Reges Regis nunc progenitores dicto abbati, Et eciam
balliuis & burgensibus ville Salopie concessarum quibus sic perlectis
dominus cancellarius supra dictus interrogauit Judices predictos
seriose omnes & singulos tunc personaliter presentes quomodo eis
visum fuerit pro possessione abbatis supradicti in premissis Et
finaliter quid iuste statui debeat pro possessione predicta, qui Judices
omnes & singuli decreuerunt abbatem predictum nullis aliis pro dictis
balliuis & eorum clameo ostensis quam sunt ostense possessione
omnium de quibus contenditur iuste gaudere debere & quod abbas &
Buccessores sui deberent sic iuste continuare possessionem suam sine
interrupcione dictorum balliuorum & burgensium quoquo modo fienda.
Super quo dictorum Judicum aduisamento dominus cancellarius &
ceteri consiliarii tunc presentes decreuerunt & adiudicarunt quod dictus
abbas & conuentus gauderent de cetero possessione sua in premissis
sine Interrupcione ut supra. Et eciam decretum est quod omnes
Iniuncciones & mandata huic decreto derogatoria & preiudicialia ville
Salopie dicto abbati per priuatum sigillum aut aliter quamcunque
facta & data sunt prorsus per decretum irrata vacua & nulla & sic pro
nullis de cetero de facto haberi.
Indorsed. Decretum pro
Abbate Salop. ^^
In modem hand. Shrewsbury, Abbot of, v. Inhabitants of Shrews-
bury.
•« The Inspeximus and Exemplification cuiusdam decreti sine Judicii per Willelmum
setting out the actual words of the original Cantuariensem Archiepiscopum Cancel-
judgement of which the preceding is a larium Anglie & alios de consilio domini
translation is of sufficient importance to henrici nuper Regis Anglie patris nostri
deserve transcription here. It is calendared tunc existentes inter Ahbatem & Gonuentum
in S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 289. The following Salopiensem Ballaios & communitates ville
transcript is from the original in Pat. Bolls, Salopie nuper redditi Vobis mandamus
1 Hen. 8, pt. 1, m. 27. quod tenorem decreti sine iudicii
* Pro Abbate de Shrewsbury de exempli- predict! cum omnibus eum tangentibus
ficatione.' quibuscunque nominibus partes preuicte in
Bex Omnibus ad quos &c salutem. iudicio siuc decreto predicto censeantur
Inspeximus tenorem ouiusdam brevis nostri nobis in Cancellariam nostram sub sigillo
*per breve de priuato sigiilo ac de data vestro distincte & aperte mittatis & hoc
iVc* de certiorando dilecto nobis Boberto breve. Teste me ipso apud Westmonas-
Bydon 'per ipsum Bobertum' clerico terium xx die Mail Anno regni nostri
Consilii nostri nuper directi in filaoiis Can- primo. Yong. Inspeximus vlterius quandam
cellarie nostre residentis in heo verba ccrtifioacionem per prefatum Bobertum
Henricus dei gratia Bex Anglie & Francie pretextu brevis nostri factam & in Can-
& Dominus Hibernie Dilecto sibi Boberto cellariam nostram missam in filaciis eiusdem
Bydon clerico consilii sui salutem Volentes Cancellarie nostre residentem in hec
certis de causis cerciorari super tenore verba. Domino nostro Begi in Cancellariam
suam Ego Bobertus Bydon consilii regii
*'* Interlined. clericus certifico quod virtute vigore dl
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, V. BAILIFFS OF
189
B. To the Byght Reuerent Fader in god William Archebyshop
of Cantorburye And Chauncelar of Englonde.
A second byll.^
1609 Shewyth To your grace your dayly Oratours and bedemen the
abbott of Shrewesburye and the Couent of the same of the dyspo-
sicion and demeaner of Thomas Wythyford^ one of the balyflfes of
Shrewesburye Richard Fyssher hys serieant and of William Dethyk
hys cachepoU ^ committed and done to your seid Oratours syth the
last day of May last past and syth the same Wyihyfordes last beyng
before your grace in the Kynges Starr Chamber * as toychyng the
liberties and francheses of the same abbott and Couent.
auctoritate brevis Begii huic certificatorio
annexi libros actorum consilii recolende
memorie domini Henrici illius nominis
septimi Regis Anglie inactitatonim
diligenter perscrutatas sum Quibas vero in
libris reperio quod octauo die Julii anno
regni Henrici septimi vicesimo teroio quod-
dam decretum sub tenore subscripto per
dominos eodem in iudioio designates reddi-
tum extitit cuius decreti tenor sequitur de
verbo in verbum. In the mater of varians
apendyng byfore the moost reuerent fader
in god the Archiebishopp of Caunterbury
And chaunceler of England and other the
lordes of the Eyngys moost honorable
counseill bytwen thabbat and Couent of
Shrewresbury oon the oon partie and the
bayleifys and the Cominaltie of the same
towne of Shrewesbury on the oder partie
The title of the said Abbot & Couent to
them by dyuerse olde grauntes and confir-
macions of the Kynges noble progenitours
theyre courte rollys and dyuers deposicions
testifying and prouyng the continuance of
theyre possession of and in the same cV
the title of the said baylefis & cominalitc
by the said counsell well and determinatly
had seen and ripely vnderstoud it is ordened
and decreid by the same counsell by suchc
aduyse and consent of all the Kynges
Jugges bothe of his bench e and of his
common place Whith the chief baron of
his Eschecar then beyng present That is to
say sir John Fyneux knyght Thomas
Tremayll and Robert BruteneU Jugges of
the Kynges benche, Syr Robert Rede knyght
sir John Fyssher knyght John Kyngesmell
Si John Butteler Justices of the Comon
place and Syr William body chief baron
of theschekar and the lorde of saynt
Johns of Jerusalem, that the said Abbat
and Covent and thayre Successors shall
haue possede frely vse and enyoye all
liberties Franchises possessions and other
thynges in varians bytwene the sayd Abbot
and Covent of that oon partie and the
said Bailifhs and cominaltie of that other
partie Withoute lett or interrupcion of the
same Bayliefifes and cominaltie and theyre
Successors or eny of them or eny of them**
or eny other for them or by thaire or eny
of theire abbettyng procuryng or sturryng
and that all Jniunccions made hertofore
to the said Ballities & their successours by
the moost Reuerent fadre in god and other
lordes of the Kynges moost honorable
Counseill be ferme and stable and stond in
thaire full strenght after the purporte of
the same and that all enjunccions and
commaundmentes at the sute of the said
BalUefes burgesens and cominaltie yeven
to the said Abbot by priuy Seale or other
Wise contrary to this decree be clerely
voyde and of none effecte and thabbot
clerely discharged for euer more. Et ego
Robertas antedictus iuxta mandatum in
brevi sapradicto michi directum tenorem
decreti huiusmodi domino nostro Regi
nunc in Cancellariam suam mitto vna cum
(>odem breui datur quo ad sigiUacionem
huius certification is ante penultimo die
mensis Maii anno Regni Regis henrici ootaui
primo Rydon. Nos autem tenores brevis
& certificacionis predicte ad requisiciones
predictorum Abbatis & Conuentus duximus
exemplificandos per presentes. In cuius <fec
Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium decimo
die Julii. See Introd., pp. xxxv-xxxviii.
' In another hand.
- See C, p. 186, n. 13.
' • Tho' it now be us'd as a word of
contempt, yet in ancient Times it scemeth
to have been us'd without reproach, for
such as we now call Sergeants of the Mace
or any other that use to arrest Men upon
any cause.' Cowel, Interpr. s.v. Catchpole.
* I.e. in 1604; see D, p. 187, n. 12.
*»Sic.
190 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Furst where ther was dyuers pryue Sealys dyrected to dyuers men
of the Towne of Shrewesburye For ther Riotous misdemeaner lately
committed and done in the Franches of your seid Oratours contrarye
to the ordenaunce decreyd by your grace and the honorable lordes of
oure late soueren lordes Counsell wyth the assent and agrement of all ^
the Juges of the Eealme and the Chyfif Baron of the Kynges Escheker
then beyng of which Pryuey Sealys one was delyuered to Thomas
Knyght ^' an oder to Elys Thomys beyng Comyn Serieant "^ there and
the seruant of your seid Oratours would have delyuered the 'J hyrd
Pryuey Seale to the partyes conteyned in the same and then come the
same Wythyford to hym and ^ wold not suffer ® hym to ^ delyuere ^"
the Pryuey Seale For he wold answer for them all.
Item where the seid Pryue Sealys were delyuered to the seid
partyes on Trynite Sunday last past ^^ the seid Thomas Wythyford
nowe balye knowyng the delyuere of the same & heryng the Deere
opynly redd before hym at hys last beyng before your grace on the
morowe aftur caused hys Sarieantes & seruantes to here theire mases
in to the abbottcs Franches welnygh to the wall of the monastery. ^-
Item on Corpus Christi day last the same Wythyford knowyng the
Deere and delyuere of the Pryuey Sealys caused hys Sarieant and
offycers in hys prescns to here theire mases in the Franches & libertes
of your seid Oratours and the seid abbott required the seid Wythy-
ford and hys offycers to lay downe theire mases wherunto he answerd
& seid he wold justyfy hys doyng.
Item on the Seturday next aftur that Eychard Fyssher Serieant
to the same Wythyford and William Dethyk hys Cachepoll by the
* See p. 199, n. 2, infra. appointed by the bailiflfs and removed every
* Perhaps as next on the list for bailiffs, year. Ow. and Bl. i. 173.
for he was bailiff in 1509. The day of elec- •** Interlined in substitution for *de-
tion was fixed in 1433, as the Friday after sired ' struck through.
St. Giles's Day (September 1). Owen and "'have the,' which followed, is struck
lilakeway, i. 20(5. As Wythyford, elected through.
in 1608, is expressly stated below to '" ' of,' which followed, is struck through,
be 'now balye,' this document probably " Muy 20, 1509. In Easter term, 1 Hen.
belongs to the interval between June 24 8 (1509), it is recorded in Lansd. MS. 039
(Coi*pus Christi Day, 1509) and the election that * a Privy Seal (was) decreed to the
of bailiffs on September 1 following. It Bailiffs of Shrewsbury to keep the peace to
appears, however, from *L,' infra, that the the Abbot of Shrewsbury, the like process
bailiffs did not go out of office on that to the Abbot ' (J. S. Burn. • The Star
day,forWilliamMitton and Thomas Wythy- Chamber,' p. 38). In 1509 Easter Term
ford, wlio were bailiffs in July 1508 (pp. 200, began on April 17 and ended May 13. As
203), were still bailiffs on the following Oc- this decree is dated 1 Hen, 8 it must have
tober 4; butinthe8amedocument(*L')they been on or after April 22, the day of Hen.
are described as on October 0 having been 8's accession, and was probably issued
* baylis the yere before ' (p. 207). It follows towards the end of the U^mu which closed
that the new bailiffs came into office on thirteen days before it was served.
October 5 or 6, for it is added that Thomas " The town was obliged to relinquish
Knyght was *the new chosen bayly.' this pretension. See Ow. and Bl. i. 272.
' The sergeants were resident burgesses
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, V. BAILIFFS OF 191
commaundement of the same Wythyford come into the Fraunches of
your seid Oratours and Summoned the inhabitant and resiantes dwell-
yng within the seid Franches to appere at theire Court which they
• refused Wherfore they crossed theire durres wyth Chalke and
amersed them which Was neuer sene before and the same day wold
haue taken a wey the Toll of your seid Oratours. Wherfore gracious
lord seyng that thys presumptuous &; malicious demeaner is committed
and done by the hygh and Wylfull mynde of the same Wythyford and
hys adherentes ^^ which fere not the penalty of the seid decre ^^ seyeng
and aflfermyng to the Comyns there that the decre is but a Skrewe of
paper and not to be obeyed by the Which he contynuis hys vnlefull
possessyon in the seid Fraunches and Wyth those Wordes blyndes the
myndes of mony of the Comyns there that hyt may plese the same
youre lordshyp that the same decre may be exemplified vnder the
Kynges brode Scale and that the same Wythyford may bo punysshed
accordyng to hys demener.
1509 The summary of the controuersies depending bet wen thabbot of
Shre[wsbury] ^ & the bailifes & enhabitauntes ther, wherof the originall
complaint w[hich]- [we]"^ can now finde was the xix^^-yere of king
henre the vij*^'' termino hillarii.^
Vpon the which complaint conteynyng diuerse articles as by the
supposell of thabbot committed contrary to [pryvy] ^ scale to the said
bailifes & enhabitauntes directid, after the mater herd & duely examined
by the* mooste Reuerend fader in godd William archebisshopp of
Caunterbury Chaunceler ofEnglandecfe thelordes of the kinges mooste
honourable councell & aswell the ^ allegingis of that oone party & that
oder as the aunswers & lleplicacions, Sc alsoo the deposicions of wit-
nesses for eider partie herd & Redd bifore the lordes aforesaid, It was
decreed" the eight day of July the xxiij yere of King henry the vij^*' ^
that the said ^ Abbot & convent shulde enyoye their possession of & in
euery thmg conteyned in the said bill, vpon the which possession the
saide Abbote &; *^ bailifes Remayn yet in trauerse.
'=»"'* Interlined. " The words ♦ deposicions of witnesses
» S.C.P. Hen. 8. Bundle 18, No. 318. of the allegacions [?]/ which followed,
^ Paper torn. struck through.
' January 23 or 24 to February 12 or ' The word ' that ' struck through.
13, 1504. J. J. Bond, ' Handy Book of " 1508. The form seems to indicate
Dates ' (1880), p. 94. that Henry 7 was dead.
* Paper torn, but the tails of the y's left. "The words 'prior shulde enjoye,'
'The words 'lords of the,' which fol- which followed, struck through,
lowed, are struck through. '•' The word ' town ' struck through.
192 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
The which Eestith in oon thing especially** which is whider a
bridge ther called Stanbrige *^ & a hamelet called meryvale *^ be within
the fraunches of the Abbott, or eny parcell therof, & whider thabbot
& his predecessours haue been in possession of the said Bridge &
hamelet as percell of & within theire fraunches And if ony parcell
be within the said abbottes fraunches whou ferre it extendith
& vpon this same dependith the Residue of the controuersies
J bitwen thabbot & the baillifes & inhabitauntes above named,
i Of the which the first is whider thinhabitauntes of the said Bridge
i & hamelet be within the lete of thabbay or of the toun.
The second whider the sergeauntis & cachepollis ^^ of the toun of
Shrewesbury may doo their oflSces of aresting vpon the said bridge or
within the said hamelet.
The thirde wheder thabbot by the Eeason of his fraunches may
take the toll of woodd & cole caryed ouer the saide bridge vpon the
same bridge.
i The fourth whider the ij houses buylded there vpon a grounde
sumtyme lyeing voide be buylded vpon thabbotes freeholde, orels that
the town was wont to enyoye the same grounde as theire propre
grounde to make aflforciamentes & bulwarkes in, in Tyme of warre.' *
Indorsed. Thomas pewes boucher, Grifl&th brounlowe bocher
Thomas boughton bocher John Spinell bocher John
Friser boucher.
Thomas withson * *
Abbas de Salop.
o.*
Interrogetories How Far the abbot of Shrouesberys Fraunches
extendith fro the stangate toward coUame.-
Item whedur the seriantes of schrouesbery vsid to here ther mase ^
,& to make any Arestmentes be twdx the stangate <fe the abbey.
Item whedur the abbot of Schrouesbery be lord & owner of
the grounde whervi)pon Richard pynner & Thomas BotfSld have bylde
ij howsis.
"The words '& therupon' struck not allowed to practise their calling within
through. the walls of the town, and that they were
'- '2 Interlined. witnesses, on behalf of the abbot, to whom
'* Sec E, p. 189, n. 8, supra. the interrogatories were to be put. None of
" See B, p. 184, n. 8, supra. the names appears in the list of bailiffs.
'* The circumstance that five of the six Cf. p. 195.
names of laymen are the names of butchers ^ S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 112.
suggests that these were inhabitants of the ' See A, p. 181, n. 21, supra.
suburb called the abbey foregate, who were ' See L, p. 204, n. 25, infra.
1509
STIIIOWESBURY, ABBOT OF, ?\ BAIUFFS OF 193
+ Item whedur the abbot have usid to kepe a gret lete in the abbey
& whedur al the inhabitantes be twix the abbey & the stan gate ^ have
vsid to com & appere at the seid lete.
+ Item whedur he knewe that the abbot was peaseably possessid of
the landes liberties & Franches be twix the abbey & the stangate &
how long hit is a go soth he knew the premisses.
I Item whedur he hath knowin any Afforciament or bulwerkes that
hath be made vppon the grownde whervppon the forseide howsis byn
bylde.3
X Item whedur the abbot haue byn in peaseabyll possession to take
toll of wode & Colys that is Caryed in at the Stangate at schrouesbery
in what place the seid toll hath be vsid to be takyn.*
H.* Vltimo die mensis Februarii in domo mansionis mei
Roberti Rydon ^ Londonii situata.
1509 Thomas Cleberie of the parissh of Saint Sepulcre withoute New-
gate in the suburbes of the Citie of London Bruer,^ of thage of Ixvj
yers as he saith sworne and examynied of and vppon the matiers
depending in this counsell betwix Thabbot of Salop on that oon partie
and the bailiflfes and comminaltie of the same Town on that other
partie, and in especiall vpon certayn Interrogatories ministred on the
behalf of the said Abbot, drawn oute of suche billes as the same abbot
hath put agens the said Bailiffes &
In primis to the First and ij"* Interrogatories the Teneour wherof
* See B, p. 183, n.O, and p. 184, n. 8, supra. Hen. 8, iv. 6490; J. S. Burn. 'The Star
* Written on f. 5 of the paper book de- Chamber ' [1870], p. 21), where is a list of
scribed on p. 19G, n. 1, infra. the clerks (see also W. Hudson on the
* S. C. P. Hen. 7, No. 112 (cont.). Star Chamber in * Collectanea Juridica '
- Kobert Rydon (or Roydon [S. P. Dom. [1792], ii. 39). He it was who, on July 10,
Hen. 8, iv. 6490]) was clerk of the Council. 1509, wrote the exemplification of the de-
He was probably a member of Lincoln's Inn cree of the Star Chamber of July 8, 1508
in 1505 ('Black Books of Lincoln's Inn,' (see S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 289, and p. 188,
. 1897, i. 137). Under Edward 4, in 1482, n. 12, supra). He died in 1509, for on
he had been official prosecutor for Use- October 19 of that year John Mewtys, the
inajesU m the Courts of the Constable and king's French secretary, was nominated
Admiral of England, with a salary of twenty clerk of the Council *vice Robert Rydon
marks (13Z. Gs. 8rf.) (Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, deceased ' (ib. 588). Cf. also ' Trans. R.
p. 343). Richard 3 made him a commis- Hist. Soc* 1902, pp. 162, 156. Hudson
sioner of the Admiralty on April 8, 1484 (l.s.o.) states that in 1 Hen. 8 (1509) John
(ib. p. 391-2). He retained favour under Valentine succeeded Rydon as clerk of the
Henry 7, being nominated, with Richard Court of Star Chamber ; but this must be
Mayowo, or Mayew, President of Magdalen incorrect, for we have the signature of John
Colloge, Oxford, joint envoy to Spain on Mewtis as clerk of the Court on p. 208, infra*
September 1.5, 1490 (Campbell, ' Materials,' * A trade much pursued in the neigh -
ii. 508). He was appointed clerk of the bourhood of Holbom. See * Select Cases in
Council in 6 Hen. 7 (1490-91) after his the Court of Requests' (Selden Soc. 1898),
predecessor John Bladswell's * deadly p. 48, * The Brewers, do., of Holboume v.
sickness ' (John Baldiswell, in S. P. Dom. William Bobye.'
194 CJOUBT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
is this — Item houfarre Thabbot of Salop franchies extendith fro the
Stongate toward Collam — this deponient saith and deposith that he
knowith right wele that the Franchies of the said Abbot begynneth
evyn fro the gate callid Stonegate vntill the brigge of Colham which
brigge of Colham is a stone brigge and half of that brigge apper-
taigneth to the said abbot and that other half to the said Town, and
fro the said Stongate vnto the townes parte of Colham brigge it is the
franchies and liberties of the said abbot. This deponent demawnded
of* me thexamynour how he knowith his deposicion aforsaid to be
true deposith and saith that thus he knowith it. His fadre callid
John Cleberie by Ucence of thabbot that then was bylded ij ^ houses
] vpon the ground nextf^ adioygnyng to the voyde ground ^ which voyde
♦ ground^ was kept voide next to the said gate and betwix the said hous
bylded by this deponentes fadre and that gate to make bulwerkes and
j fortressis in time of werre there for which ij houses this deponentes
said Fadre paid yerlie to the said monasterie xx s. Item this deponent
saith farthre that he knouith by a nothre reason that fro the said
gate to the said colham brigge ^ and also fro the same to the abbey ^ it
is thabottes tranches aforsaid, for this deponent as he saith was borne
in oon of the said houses and dwelled with his fadre in the same hous
vntill he were fast upon xx" yere old and then he went frothens vnto
Couentre and there was apprentice vij or viij yere and aftre that was
maried and come agen to Salop, and kept a shop without the said
stonegate by the space of ij or iij yere, and fro the yeres * his discrecion
by all the time that he dwellid first with his fadre as is aforsaid and
aftre maried that he kept the said shop this deponent knew that
the bailiflfes of Salop neuer had any thing to do fro the said gate
towardes Colham vntill thay come to that parte colham brigge that
belongith to the town of Salop, nether they made any arest, nether
levyed any amerciamentes in any parte of that space. And this
deponent knowith verelie and bath seen an c times and how many
times more he can not now remembre that the bailiflfes of Salop when
thay come with their mases born before thaim to the said Stangate
to goo farther by or thorough the said Abbottes fraunches toward
\f r Colham, the said masys were laid down and somtime lefte within the
said gate at a tenauntes hous there, and somtime without the gate in
a glovers hous in knouledging of that fraunches to be thabbottes and
not the townes of Shreusberie. Item this deponent knowith by the
* I.e. asked by. '~' Interlined in substitution for * that '
* Interlined iq substitution for * an ' struck through,
struck through. *~* Interlined.
* Sic ; a cross here in MS. • Sic ; 'of * omitted.
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, v, BAILIFFS OF 195
iij^ reason that it t ^^ is belonging to the said Abbot as in the right
of his monasterie evyn fro the said gate forthward as it is before said,
for this deponent knew ij brethern bochres both that dwellid in ij
light ® shoppes which stode in the voyde ground next adoygnyng to
the said gate and without the same in which the said fortressis shold
be made in time of werre,^^ for which ij shoppes the same bochers paid
the Rent to the vse of the said abbot and his monasterie. More &c.
Item to the iij'^ Interrogatorie he saith he can not clerlie depose
whether thabbot be Lord of that ground yea or nay, but when this
deponent dueUid there he herd say that ther were few houses fro the
said gate to Golham or to thabbey but the monasterie had a Bent of
it for the grownd.
Item the iiij*^^ Interrogatorie contaignith a trouth of his verey
knowledge for he saw aslong as he dwellid there that lete court kept
in thabbey every iij wekes and all thos inhabitantes dwelling vpon
the ground in that Interrogatorie comprised appered at the same court.
Item to the v^*' Interrogatorie he saith that fro the time of his age
of his discrecion he hath known thabbotes of Salop in playn and
peasible possession of all suche liberties ® and fraunches ** as be now
interrupted by the said bailiffes vntill within this Dosen yere and that
the bailiflfes of Salop for that time neuer medled with any parte of the
said fraunches asfarre as euer this deponent coude heere see or haue
any knouledge. More &c.
Item to the vj^^ this deponent saith that he is not remembred that
euer he saw any fortresse or bulwerk in that voide ground but he is
wele remembred that he saw vpon the same void ground ij postes
of a greate bignes for to fastyn the said fortresses and bulwerkes.
Item to the last Interrogatorie he saith that he hath seen the
aforsaid Abbottes peasiblie possessed of taking suche Toll of Colys
and woode as is in that Interrogatorie specified, and that as farre as
this deponent is remembred it was neuer said the contrarie by any
man but that him aught to have it, and this deponent saw the
abbottes fermours take the same Toll any where within his said
franches evyn to and in the said voyde place adioignyng to the said
stangate and this deponent neuer knew nether herd the bailiffes of
Salop to impugne the taking of Toll or againsaye it in the said place
caUid the place for the fortresse or any place els without the said
gate.
'** Sic ; a cross in the middle of the top of the leaf.
" See p. 184, n. 8, supra.
o 2
196 COURT OF THE 'STAR CHAMBER
iJ Pro parte abbatis
xiiij'* die Octobris ^ in Camera Stellata.
John Aylof of Coventrie marshal! vnto the prioure ^ of the same
of the age of iiij*'' yer save ij as he saith gentill man sworn and
examyned of and vpon the materes dependyng in the Councell betwixt
the Abbot of Salop on the on partie and the Bailyfes and comminaltie
of the same town on the other partie and in especiall vpon Interoga-
toryes* ministred by the Counsel!* of the said Abbot &e. The
* tenour of the * fyrst and the ij*® Interogatoryes ys ^ thys Item howe
farre the^ abbot of Salop frauncheis extendyth fro the stone gate
toward Collham. This deponent saith that he neuer knewo other
wysse but that the fraunchesse of the said Abbot begynnyth at the
Chanell without the stone gate and contynuyth vntyll the Abbaye
and that all the Inhabytantes of Both the sydes of the same strete ys
all withyn^ the franchesse and libertyes of the Abbote of Salop
And also thys deponent saith that betwixt the said Chanell and the
Abbey of salop ys ther a stone Bryge* withyn the said fraunchesse of
the Abbey. And also thys deponent saith that in hys dayes vpon
XXX yeres past or ther abowtes he dwellt in the ^ franchesse of the
same Abbey ^ the space of vij yeres and more contynually And he
neuer knewe but that the Byrge Callid Collam Byrge was withyn the
liberties of the same Abbot & in the franchese of the same place.
And farthermor as fare as he ys*^ remembryth noon of the
sergeantes of the said towne shalld make noone arest of the same
Brige of Collam howbe it of this he ys not well remembryd for at that
tyme was noon suche varyance. But he saith he remembrith well
that noo sergeantes ne other oflfyceres of the towne shall niether arest
ner medell fro the forsaid Chanell vnto the abbey ner bare noo masse
but only the Baileyf of the franchesse of the said abbey.
Item to the iij''*' Interogatorie he saith that in hys tyme dwellid
* S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 112. A paper book, *-* These words interlined, in a different
consisting of nine leaves, of which the first hand and ink, in substitution for * drawyn
four are written front and dorse, the fifth, owt of the bylles,' which is struck through,
containing the interrogatories, on the front *~* Interlined as above.
only, and the remaining four are left blank. ' Interlined as above in substitution for
'^ If this document belongs to 1509, the * begynnith ' struck through,
delay since the previous examination in ' ' Stonegato * struck through by the
February may perhaps have been due to the scribe of the body of the MS.
illness and death of Robert Bydon, the clerk " Interlined in the same hand and ink
of the Council. See H, p. 193, n. 2, supra. as 4 and 5, in substitution for * longyng '
* William Polesworth, 1500-16 (Dugdale, struck through.
* Monast.' iii. 183). Coventry was also a •'• Interlined by the scribe of the MS. in
Benedictine house, and the prior sat in substitution for ' same towne of Shrews-
Parliament. See Browne Willis, • Hist, of berye ' struck through.
Mitred Parliamentary Abbies,' 1718, i. 70. '" Interlined by the scribe of the MS.
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, l\ BAILIFFS OF 197
ther on Thomas Wentnoure a Bocher and at that tyme he was
tenaunt to the said Abbey and ferther he saithe that he knewe neuer
but all the said howses ware longyng to the said abbey and withyn
the francheis and lybertyes of the same.
Item the iiij^^ interogatorye contaignith of a trouth of hys very
knowlege as longe as he dwellyd ther all the inhabytantes dwellyng
vpon the same grownde ^^ betwixt the abbey and the forsaid Chanell
apperyd at the lete holdyn in the forsaid abbey.
Item to the v*** he saith that fro the tyme of hys fyrst knowlege
of the same towne and fraunchesse the said abbote hath ben in
peasable possession of hys said libertyes that euer he sawe or harde
tyll nowe of late he harde therof ij yeres past of which he marueld.
Item to the vj'*' thys deponent saith that he neuer knewe noo
such place wher any such fortresse or BuUwarke should be for he
knewe it neuer but that yt was mansions*^ as fare as he Can remember.
Item to the last Interogatorie thys deponent can no thyng depose
for he neuer markyd it & therfor he can no thyng remember therof.
Eichard Vpton of Vpton ^^ gentilman of the age of iij"^^ and x yeres
or theraboutes as he sayth Sworn and examynid vpon the same
interrogatoryes deposyth and saith to the first and the ij"^® of the
same Interogatoryes That for of trouth he hath knowyn ^^ thos
thinges now in debate by ** the space of xl yeres and mor And that
yt was euer longyng to the Abbot and hys fraunchesse and libertie
from the Chanel to ihe said Colam Byrge ^^ vpon the whiche Brigge
there is ij hoolys for a marke of knowlege.^* Also thys deponent saith
that of trouthe that he neuer knewe that the sergeantes of Shrews-
berye shulld nether Bare masses ner make eny arestes fro the Chanell
furthe ^^ without the stone gate ^^ in any of the said abbots
Fraunchese *^ but that yt was euer the libertie and fraunchese of the
Abbot, and that noo ofifycer medlyd with yn the said libertie but the
bayly of the said fraunchyse of the Abbot.
Item to the iij'^*^ he saith that he knew not verily whether the
Abbot be lorde of the said grounde wher the said houses be bylldyd
but he saith that vppon xx yeres past as thys deponent remembryth
" Interlined by the scribe of the MS. in "-•* Interlined by the scribe of the MS.
substitution for * comprised in the same ' in substitution for the words following, viz.
struck through. ' but whether the said byrge be belongyng to
'^ This word did not at this period con- the abbottes franchese thys deponent can
note size or importance. See * Trans. R. not depose but '
Hist. Soc.' 1893, n.s. vii. 168, 109. '« Interlined in a different hand and ink.
'* Upton Cresset, near the Glee Hills. '""'^ Interlined in a different hand and
Ow. and Bl. i. 243. ink in substitution for ' vntill the Abbey '
>* Interlined by the scribe of the MS. in struck through,
substitution for • it.'
198 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
on Thomas wantnore *® kept a Bocheres shop wher on of the said
houses ar byldyde and he saith he knowith of certen theit he was
tenaunte vnto the said Abbey and aperyd at the court of the said
abbey.
^^ Item to the iiij*^ *^ he sayth that the said Abbot yerly kepith ij
gret letes within the said Abbey, and also this deponent sayth that all
thinhabitantes bitwix the said Abbey and the stangate haue vsed to
comme & appere at the said gret letes and at other smalle Courtes.
Item to the v*^ ^^ this deponeth ^^ sayth that alle the tyme of his lyf
the said Abbot and his predecessours haue been peasybly possessed
of alle the landes liberties and Franchises betwix the said Abbey and
the said stangate vntil now within fewe yeres past that the Baillifes
& Township of Shrewysbery haue made a chalenge to a parcell of the
same.
Item to the vj'^ ^o ^jjjg deponent sayth that he neuer see nor knew
no afforciament ^^ or Bulwerkes made vpon the said grounde where
the said howses be buylded.
Item to the vij^**^" this deponent sayth that he knowith not
whether the said Abbot euer toke any tolle of wode & Colys that is
caryed in at the stangate aforsaid. And also this deponent vnder-
standith not in what place the said tolle hath been vsed to be taken
&c. more he cann not shew in the premisses.
J. To the Eight Reverende fader in god the archbischoppe of •
^ --.Q Canterbury & Chaunceler of England.*
Plese it your grace to llemembre the long & contynuall Sute made
by your oratours the abbot of Shrosbery & his covent to your good
lordship & oder lordes of the late Kinges moost honorabil councell of
for & vppon the monyfifold riettes oppressions & wranges don to him
& his monastery by the bayUffes of the town of schrosbery for the tyme
beyng & the comminalty of the same for vsurping and taking Prom
the seid abbot & covent their landes Franchesis & liberties, vppon
whiche longe & continuell sute, as well the charteris, Evidence, curt
Bollis proving the Right & continuell possession of the seid monastery
as the Right of the seid bayliflfes & commynalty discretely & diligently
by your good lordschip & oder lordes of the seid late Kinges moost
honorabill councell with & by the advises of all the Jugges then beyng
" Interlined in a different hand and ink ^ * Article ' struck through. ^* Sic.
in substitution for * wontnor.* " Fortress, fortified place. J. A. H.
i*-i» In the same hand and ink as the Murray, * Eng. Diet.'
corrections before noted. * S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 112.
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, V. BAILIFFS OF 199
of Englond ^ and the cheff ^ Baron then & now of the kinges eschekyr
it was decreid * that the seid abbot & his successours schuld peseably
vse occupy & enyoy the seid landes franchesis & liberties in debate
with owt lette or interrupcion of the bayliffes & comminalty off the
seid town wherfor the seid abbot & covent specially * beseche the King
our souerayne lorde & your good lordschip that the seid decre so
solemnly & by so grette advise geven & made & vnder the Kinges brod
seale exemplified ® may stande ferme & stabill & that the offenderys
contrary to the same may be ponysched as by your good lordship
schall be thowghte resonabill.
My good lord the bayliffes in the name of the comminalty haue
made a byll of their mynde in three articles.
The fyrst is to ordyr theym to the commyn law which is an vn-
reasonabill desire remembrynge that the gentilmen & inhabitans
dwellyng in the seid town be so kynnyd Frynded alyed & in fauor
with the gentilmen & odyr of the same schire ' that the seid abbot
can have non indifferent triall there, & that was the principall cause
that he began his sute here.
Item they desire the mater may be put in compromise to endifferent
men Whiche desire is not Eesonabill for my lord I know noon moore
endifferent men then your grace & the lordes of the Kinges moost
honorabill councell whiche haue made your awarde & decre in this
mater wher vnto I moste ® holde me & truste.
Item they desite that the seid abbot may schow his charterys &
Evidence And that that can be provid his Eight he schall haue with
the fauor of the town.
' See D, p. 187, n. 4, and p. 188, n. 12, cation of a decree in the Star Chamber sent
supra. * At the King's [Henry T's] death into Chancery by John Mewtis, clerk of the
there were only three [Justices of the Council. The inspeximus and exempllfica-
Common Pleas], viz. Robert Read, Chief tion in this case of the abbot of Shrews-
Justice, John Fisher, John Boteler ' (E. bury consisted of two parts : the first, a
Fobs, Lives, v. 10). writ of certiorari dated May 20, 1 Hen. 8
* * Jugge * struck through. (1509), directed, to Robert Rydon, clerk, re-
* See Introd., p. xxxv, supra. quiring the tenour of a judgement given
* * require A * struck through. by William archbishop of Canterbury and
*^ In Page's case, Mich. 29 and 30 El. others of the Council on a dispute about
(1587) lib. 5, fo. 54, it was resolved by the certain possessions &c. between the said
whole court of Common Bench 'that no abbot and convent and the bailiffs and
record or inrolment of any record may be commonalty of Shrewsbury ; and the second
exemplified under the great seale, but of a a certificate (exemplification) of Robert
record of the court of chancery, or other Rydon reciting the decree of the Council
record duly removed thither by certiorari * on July 8, 23 Hen. 7, in favour of the
&c. E. Coke, 3 Inst. 173. But Coke says, said abbot (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 289). See
4th Inst. 66 : * The processe in this court p. 188, n. 12, supra.
[the Star Chamber] is suppcena, attach- ' This suggests that the abbot and monks
ment, processe of rebellion d'C, all under were unpopular even with the gentry ; but it
the great seal.' Semble that a decree under seems to have been otherwise with the abbot
the great seal may be exemplified under and monks of Byland. See p. 261.
the great seal. In S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, * Interlined in substitution for * will '
i. 711, occurs an instance of an exemplifi- struck through.
200 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
My good lord I dowte not but that ze call to your mynde many
charteris curt EoUis long continuance of possession with diuerse
proves bothe olde & new as wel of the bayliffes of the seid town then
beyng as off oder proving the Bight & possession of the landes &
tranches in varians to be of Bight & oldc continuance to the seid
monastery, whervppon ze commawndid the seid abbot to make a
breuiat ^ wodurwise called a summary of al his charteris curt roUis
' evidens & proves concernyng the Bight & title of his mater & so he
did, which Bestith of Becorde before your good lordschip And vppon
the same duly provid before your lordschip & the lordes of our late
souereyne lordes councel it was decreed as is above seid according
to true Justice & the verey truthe of the mater And if it plese your
good lordschip to commande the same breuiat & summary here beyng
of Becorde before yow to be Bed the same abbot is here Bedy present
effte sonys *" to schew his charterys court BoUis evidens & doposicions
to prove his Bight in the same, For he seith that this new bill is for
to delay the mater & to delay their ponyschment For their offences
late doon contrary to the seid decree and for no cause elles.
Indorsed in modern liand.
Shrewesbury, Abbot of
V.
BaiHffs of the Town.
K.^ To the most reuerend father in god Wyllyam Archbyshopp
of Canterbury & Chaunceler of Englond.
1510 Humbly shewith vnto your grace your pore Oratours the hooll
commynyalte of the inhabitantes of the Town of Shrouesbury, That
where We the seid commynyalte be credibly informed by Boger
Thornes * & Thomas knight ^ oure BaiUefes, That the abbot of Salop
shuld puplice & openly say before your grace sitting in the Sterre
Ghambre that all suche variances discordes & controuersies had & as
yet depending before your said grace vndiscussed bitwixt the said
abbot & vs were only fortified pursued & maynteyned by the sinistre
myndes & meanes of oure said Bailieffes with othre ij or iij persones
vnto them associate & of theire affinites in that behalue, contrary to
the mynde of vs the said comens, And further was reported vnto your
j];race that We the said comens & inhabitantes knowing oure silfes to
• The earliest instance of the word cited *• See p. 110, n. 11.
by Murray is in 1681- J. Bell Haddon's » S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 112.
•Ann.Osor.' 226--*ABreviateof allLuther»s « See p. 206, n. 30, and p. 208, n. 49.
doctrine.* * Eng. Diet.* s.v. » Sec p. 203, n. 5, and p. 208, n. 49.
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, l\ BAILIFFS OF 201
haue done vnto the said abbot wrong & Iniury in vsing & occupyeng
sucbe liberties as the said abbot maketh pretense vnto, wold gladly of
oure fre willes & myndes surcease oure said vsing & occupyeng the
said liberties and alsoe surrendre & yelde vnto the said abbot all suche
interesse & title which he pretendeth & claymeth to haue of vs before
your said grace without further trouble or inquietacion if our said
Bailiefes wold consent & be agreable vnto the same, of whiche sur-
myses & reportes thus puplished before your grace by the said abbot
we gretly marvell trusting your grace will in noe wise yef perfit cre-
dence vnto any suche forgedd surmyses &c. Wherfore We the com-
mynyalte forsaid of oure holl assentes & consentes certyfye vnto your
grace that it is & hath be oure perfit willes & myndes that oure
Bailiefes that nowe be & they that heraftre shalbe frely & peasibly
shall vse enjoy & occupy the stanbruge with the appurtinaunces as
parcell of the kinges enherytaunce perteynyng to his Crowne & of his
liberty of the Towne & franchese of Salop & porcion of oure Fe Ferme
whiche Bruge with the appurtinaunces was parcell of the said Towne
cc ccc yeres & more before the tyme the abbey there wes foundid * &
wherof we & oure predecessours contynuelly haue be possessed & the
same haue vsed & occupied as parcell of the said Towne & liberte of
the same. Wherfore We in oure most humble maner beseke your grace
not to obiette & ley the charge therof to oure said Bailiefes by the
sinistre surmyse & reporte of the said abbot for of a surety it is all
oure deedes & not only theires. Therfore we specially trust your said
grace to be theire & oure singuler good lord in the premisses, and that
it may please you to vnderstand that of late dayes seth the departing
of oure said Bailiefes from your grace oone John lye Stuard vnto the
said Abbot ^ & othre evill disposed persones to hym associate riotusly
assaulted the sergeantes of our said Towne & putt them in gret Fere,
And after thus done Eiotusely disobeyd oure Bailief Thomas knight
the kinges lieftenaunt ^ there & putt hym in jupardy of his lif And to
the supportacion & maynteynyng of all the said mysdemeanures cam
the said Abbot & the substance of all his Couent with hym with othre
mysruled persones to the numbre of LX ^ & above Sc there thrette &
mysintreted our said Bayly and said he wold bring hym to his prison ^
' This is an improved edition of an Salop, to be imprisoned if his master does
assertion made temp. Hen. 7 that * the not appear/ Lands. MS. 630 ; J. S. Burn,
town with the bridges was made long before * The Star Chamber,' p. 38.
the abbey.' Ow. and Bl. i. 270. « See p. 186, n. 16.
^ Evidently a case of nepotism. See A, ' At the Dissolution the house contained
p. 179, n. 6. In Easter Term 1 Hen. 8 seventeen monks besides the abbot. Dugd.
(150U) an order of the Star Chamber was Monast.' iii. 525.
iiiado, 'John Lye, servant of the abbot of ■ In a placitum de quo Warranto
202 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
with many othre vnreasonable & inordinate sayenges & mysdemean-
ynges contrary to all good ordre & maner, And ouer this Alen mitton
household seruaunt * vnto the same Abbot in forsible maner violently
Assaulted John Stowche Burges & mercer of the said Towne & hym
did greuously Beete & evill intrete to the gret fere & jupardy of his lif
to the breche of the kinges peax & contrary to the tenure of A pryve
Seale by the kinges grace to the said Abbot directed. All whiche
Jniuries rebukes thretinges betinges & mysentretinges We right
paciently sufire rathre than we wold offende the kinges lawes or dis-
please your said grace. And insomoche as all the said maters before
specified be determinable by the course of the comen lawe therunto
we beseke your grace to be remitted As we may haue the rather cause
to pray for the prosperouse contynue of your said grace. And for
that oure seuerell Seales vnto your grace be vnknowen *® In Witnesse
of the premisses We haue putto thies presentes oure commen Seale
the xij^^ day of Aprile in the furst yere of the Raigne of oure most
soueraign & liege lord king henry the viij"*.^*
Indorsed in modern hand.
Shrewesbury, Inhabitants
of v. Abbot of Shrewesbury.
1510 Sheweth vnto youre grace youre daily orator Thabbot of Schrewes-
bury that Where a decre is made and geven in the starre Chaumber
by youre grace and the lordes of youre moost honorable Councell by
the advise of all the kynges Juges of Westmynster, and the said decre
was exemplified vnder the Erode Seale of owre moost souerayne lorde
kyng henry the viij^*' in Trinite Terme the First yere of his Eaygne ^
by Whiche decre It is ordened that youre said orator shulde possede
and vse the Fraunches landes and libertes beyng in varyaunce by
twyxt hym and his Covent on that oone partye, and the Baylis and
in 1292 (Hilary, 20 Ed. 1) 'abbas clamat 1508 (D), was sent up to Westminster some
infangenthef et f ureas et alias libertates.* time after June 24, 1509. The exemplifica-
Ibid. tion arrived and was read publicly at Shrews-
• An example of the employment of bury on July 21 following (L). The abbot's
members of gentle families as in the abbot letter to the Chancellor (J) was written
of Malmesbury's case, p. 127. Similarly after this date. On July 24 W. Mitton,
Bobert Warcoppe the younger is household the bailiff, was served with a privy seal
servant to Bobert Warcoppe the elder (p. relating to the riot on July 21. The abbot's
114). Cf. also p. 238, n. 10. petition (L) was filed after March 1, 1610
" Cf. Tayllour v. Att Well, A, p. 10. (see p. 208, n. 49), and on October 22, 1510.
" 1610. * S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 112. certain persons were ordered to appear 'by
* Proceedings were at this time fairly fore the Kyng and his counsaill at West-
expeditious. The document £, praying an minster * on November 12 (L).
exemplification of the decree of July 8,
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, V, BAILIFFS OF 203
Cominalty of the Towne of Schrewesbury on the other partie, and that
the said Baylis and Cominalty schuldnot intermitte nother attempte
any thyng Contrary to the said decree, Neaertheles after that the said
decre was redde openly and schewed vnder the kynges brode Seale to
the said bailis and Comenalte These thynges be do Contrary to the
said decre as in articles here Folow.
The xxj daye of Julij the First yere of the Raygne of Kyng henry
the viij"* youre said orator the abbot of Schrewesbury Caused the said
decre vnder the Kynges Seale patent to be puppUshed and openly
to be rede in his said fraunches WilUam Mitton then bayle of Schrewes-
bury^ and EUs Thomys then Comen sergiaunt of the Towne of
Schrewesbury and William dytheg kachepoU and many other then
beyng present and after the puppUshyng of the said decre the same
daye that the decre was rede openly at Schrewesbury Certen persons
of the towne of Schrewesbury whose Names here after Folow Entred
in to the said Fraunches and ther made proclamacion that no man
schulde obbey the said decre Whiche youre said orator hade red and
schewed that day vnder the Kynges Seale, and ouer that Charged the
Inhabitauntes of the said Fraunches Whiche haue vsed and Con-
tinually do vse to plede and to be Impleded at the said abbottes
Courtes, That they scholde appere no more at the abbottes Courtes
nother obbey his Ofl&cers of the seid Fraunches. Theis persons made
proclamacion Contrary to the decre and the Kynges Seale.
Edward hosiar * Robert Coll ^ Thomas Cowper ^*
Thomas knyght ^ Robert Wotton Elis Thomys other-
Thomas kynaston ^' Dauid Ireland ^^ wise ^^ Called Elis
of Schrewesbury Roger Inter ^* Jonys
Richerd mitton ^ Richerd Dicher ^^ Richerd yemans pyn-
Edward knyght ^ Richerd Pope ^^ ner ^^
' Elected to Parliament for Shrewsbury i. 530). Will proved (Roger Luther) 1529.
October 17, 1491 ; bailiff in 1504 and 1508 ; J. C. 0. Smith, • Index,' ii. 345.
died, while bailiff, in 1512. Ow. and Bl. " See C, p. 184, n. 2, supra,
i. 530, 549. •' Will proved 1512. J. C. C. Smith,
* BaUiff in 1496. 1506 and 1510. lb. ' Index,' ii. 422.
i. 530. •* Town clerk of Shrewsbury. Ow. and
* Bailiff in 1501, 1505, 1509, 1513 and Bl. (i. 278) give extracts of his expenses in
1517. lb. 1506, for riding on business of the town to
^ Bailiff in 1511. Ludlow, London and the abbot of Shrews-
' See 0, p. 185, n. 7, supra. bury at Abbot's Eyton and Withington.
■ Will proved 1510. J. C. C. Smith, He was still town clerk in 1522. lb. 29(».
* Index,' ii. 317. ** On the use of ' alias ' see * Notes and
» See A, p. 180, n. 13, supra. Queries,' 7th ser. xii. 401, 450.
>« Bailill in 1510, 1519, 1524 and 1528 »• Pynner is not a trade name, but a
(Ow. and Bl. i. 530). Will proved 1530. surname (see pp. 185 and 206, n. 37, infra).
J. C. C. Smith, * Index,' i. 295. The will of this person was proved in 1525
" Bailiff in 1514 and 1519 (Ow. and Bl. in the name of Richard Ye'mans (Ycomans)
204
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Bichard Worteley
John Barton
Thomas Raynoldes
Eicherd purser ^^
Kicherd Bolkley
Eicherd lister ^®
John lister
Folke Coll
William Janyns ^®
Nicolas Waryng ^"
WiUiam Bayly **
Edmund Weele
Thomas trentam the
elder *2
Sir *^ lyngam priest
and other moo
Item the said xx**j day of Julij ^* Elis Thomys then Comen ser-
giaunt of the Towne of Schrewesbury and WilUam dythyk kachepole
of the same Towne Went into the said abbottes Fraunches in vary-
aunce after the said decre Was rede Wyth there billis and masses ^^
and there Tarried a gret part of that day and in nowyse Wold departe
From thens when they were requyred, For they said they wolde vse
and kepe possession of the Fraunches ther. And the xxiiij^^ daye of
Julij a privye Seale was delyuerd to William mitton then bayley of
the said Towne and to the Cominalty of the same towne to kepe the
peace agenst the said abbot and all his officers and scruaunttes. And
on the morow next after that they resseue the said previe Seale, Elis
Thomys then beyng Comen sergiaunt of the said towne, William
dythyg Cachepole and dakkyr kachepole of the said Towne and With
them Eauff meghen and Edward parsys and other moo Cam into the
said abbottes Fraunches and there attached John passeffant ^^ Cryer
of the abbottes Courttes and Wolde haue draw hym owt of the said
Fraunches and by Cause he woldnot go With them, They Cast hym
alias Pynner, of St. Julian, Shrewsbury.
J. C. C. Smith, * Index,' ii. 597.
" Probably the same as Bichard Pur-
sell or Purcell, bailiff of Shrewsbury, 1514
and 1518 (Ow. and Bl. i. 530). Will proved
1524. J. C. C. Smith, ' Index,' ii. 429.
'« Bailiff of Shrewsbury 1500 (Ow. and
Bl. i. 530), at Michaelmas of which year
he rode to London * about the bysynes by
twixt the said town and the Abbott.' His
expenses of 405. were paid on May 5, 1507
(ib. 278, 279). He also made two journeys
to London on the same business in May
and June, 1507, his diary narrating which
is preserved amon^; the records of the Cor-
poration. Hist. MSS. Comm. 15th Bep.
Append, pt. x. p. 31. His will was proved in
1527 (J. C. C. Smith, * Index,' ii. 348). B. L.
was a country gentleman, owner of Bowton.
Ow. and Bl. i. 277.
»• Bailiff of Shrewsbury 1513 and 1517.
Ibid. 530.
» Bailiff of Shrewsbury 1495, 1499
and 1510, in which year he died (ib.)
* Of a very ancient family possessed of
property in Shullon and the neighbour-
hood at least as early as the reign of
Henry 3' (ib. 200; see also 278). Will
proved 1510. J. C. C. Smith, * Index,' ii. 556.
«» Bailiff of Shrewsbury 1523, 1527 and
1534, when he died. Ow. and Bl. i. 531.
« Baaiff of Shrewsbury 1491, 1500,
1507 and 1511. Ib. 630.
" Blank in MS. Perhaps a member of
the Shrewsbury family of Lingen. Ib. i.
295, 300, 340.
" 1609.
" A sign of jurisdiction ; cf . p. 194, supra.
An agreement, based upon the decree of tlie
Star Chamber in this dispute, was entered
into between the abbey and the town 1512,
by which it was provided, inter alia, that * the
Serjeants of the town shall bear their maces
. from the said mears [four boundary posts to
be set up on the Stone bridge] unto Coleham
under their girdles, and their weapons in
their hands, executing none office there.'
Ow. and Bl. i. 272.
*• Qu. an ancestor of the Shrewsbury
family spelt Passand in the seventeenth
century. Ib. 408, n. 10.
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, V, BAILIFFS OF 205
downe and did bete hym and his wyffe also by Cause she wold a
succurd hjnn and then toke his purse and his mony from hjnn to his
gret hurte and theruppon an outcrye *^ was made on them ther.
Item the xxvij** daye of Julij Elis Thomys then Comen sergiaunt
by the Commaundment of Thomas knyght and Edward hosiar then
depute baylis of the said towne ^® Charged the said abbottes Carpyn-
ders to Wurke no more the abbottes werkes^® Within his said
Fraunches and With thretyng wordes Caused the Carpynders to leve
ther werke so that he Cannot haue his werke performed. And the
said depute Bailis said hit was ther Commaundment.
Item the xxviij^* daye of Julij Thomas withiford then baily and
Thomas Knyght then depute Bayly, Roger Thornis,^^ Richerd mitton,
Thomas Trentam the elder, Elis Thomys Comen sergiaunt and With
them kachepoUes and other moo, Cam into the said abbottes Fraunches
and ther commaunded the Inhabitanttes vnder Certen peyne to
remove ther Woode and Fuell. And the said Thomas Withifford and
Thomas Knyght Commaunded and Caused William dithik kachepole
to wache at the towne gate of schrewesbury and to take awaye Fro
pore men soche Fleshe as they had bowyght in the said abbottes
Fraunches and so he toke fro many pore men ther vitals to ther grete
hurte, Wherwith many of the said towne and Cuntre abow^te were gretly
displesed. And the xxix^* day of Julij the said abbot sent diuers of
his seruanttes to Thomas Whithiflford then Bayly and to vnderstonde
whether he wolde byde by soche thynges as wer do in the said abbottes
Fraunches Contrary to the kynges wrytyng and his Seale, and he said
lie Cowde have as good a Seale for vj d. With other wordis for he said
liit was sealed With Butter and that the abbot scholde haue no
Fraunches as is decreed as long as his legges hynge to his bodye.
And the xj daye of awgust, Thomas withifford then Bayly and Thomas
knyght depute bayly Cam into the said abbottes Fraunches With
ther sergiaunttes Ellis Thomys, Richerd Fisher and Edward goghe,
Wyth them Thomas Cowper, Richerd Wortley, Richerd Bolkley, Folke
spristow and dakyn kachepoll and Carried awaye in a Carte out of the
said abbottes Fraunches Woode of thomas blake, Whiche woode laye
upon a brocun place of a brige to the savegarde of them that passed
that Waye, and that same daye a man Fill of the bryge Where the
Wood laye be fore and hurte hym sore.
-' I.e. the hue and cry ; cp. p. 242, n. 9. of which, engraved in Ow. and Bl. ii. 69,
■-"♦ The bailiffs were William Mitton and appears to belong to this period.
Thomas Wythyford. «» Bailiff of Shrewsbury 1497, 1505,
^ It is possible that the abbot was re- 1509, 1515, 1621, 1525, and 1530. lb. i.
storing the abbey church, the north porch 530, 531. See also p. 208, n. 49, infra.
206 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Item the xiij*^ daye of Awgust Thomas Withiford then Bayly,
Richerd dicher, Edward Knyght, Robert Coll, Thomas Cowper, William
dithik kachepoUe, William Janyns, William folke, Richerd wurtley,
Thomas wryght, Folke Coll, John lister and richerd Fysher then
sergiant and dyuerse moo made a Sawte on Thomas powes and wolde
haue take hym With stroung hande owt of his schoppe Within the
said abbottes Fraunches into there prison, and that tyme Thomas
withiford bade a sergiaunt of the said towne to thrust a bill into the
said Thomas and to brynge hym owt of the Fraunches quyck or dede,
and he wold here hym out in so doyng nothyng regardyng the privie
Seale Wherin he is bownde to kepe the pease. And the xxix daye of
awgust a seruant of Thomas Kynaston of Shrewesbury made afraye
on the said abbottes horsse keper at the abbey gate.
Item the iiij*** daye of October the yere before said, William mitton
and Thomas Withiford then baylis ^^ of the towne of schrewesbiu-y
and Ellis Thomys, Edward goghe and richerd Fisher then sergiaunttes
of the said towne and With them associate richerd Wurtley, George
spristow, Edward Bent,^* William Barbur, William dithik and other
moo entered into the said abbottes Fraunches and toke awaye Fro the
abbottes tenaunttes then, That is to saye, fro Thomas blake Corser,"
richerd peere, John barbur, hugh hill, John Charnet agenst ther wille
Certen stresses,^ be Cause the said tenaunttes willnot appere at the
towne Courte ^'' where the ^® neuer vsed to appere, Notwystondyng
the baylis of the said Towne and ther successours haue be Com-
maunded by diuerse Jniunccions the Contrary, and by Force of the
said Jniunccions haue delyuerd agayne diuerse stresses that hathe be
taken fro the said abbottes tenaunttes in tyme passid. And the vj^^'
daye of October, Thomas knyght, Thomas withiford, William mitton,
Thomas Trentam the elder, Edward hosier, richerd dicher, robert
Coll, Dauid Irelond, roger Inter, richerd yemans pynner,^" richerd
higyns, dauid Wotton and Gryffith lyngam^" Enterd into the said
" See E, p. 190, n. 5, supra. views of frank pledge of all other lords and
« Bailiff of Shrewsbury 1520 and 1526. persons ' (2 Inst. 120, 121). The court was
Ow. and Bl. i. 530. the court leet, over which the bailifiFs pre-
•* Horse dealer; cp. Fitzh. *Husb.* sided, as at Norwich. See W. Hudson,
§ 120. * A corser is he that byeth all * Leet Jurisdiction in Norwich * (Selden
rydden horses and selleth them agayne.' Soc., 1892), p. xxvj.
J. A. H. Murray, *Eng. Diet.' s.v. »• Sic ; for • they.'
** I.e. distresses. " Here three names appear as in the
*^ Coke, on the Statute of Marlborough, modern usage, of which there are occa-
c. 10, says ' distress can be taken for the sional examples even in early times. See
amerciaments for default of suit.' The Act p. 98, n. 1, p. 203, n. 16, and p. 238, n. 9.
refers to the Turns of Sheriffs, on which *• Perhaps son of John Lingayne of
point Coke notes, * This toume of the sheriff Lingeyn, Herefordshire. Griffith cora-
ls curia vicecomitis franci plegii, and there- manded a cavalry contingent from Shrews-
fore this Act extendeth to all leets and bury against Scotland in 1522. In 1525 he
SHROWESBURY, ABBOT OF, V. BAILIFP^ OF 207
abbottes Fraunches and the said Thomas withiford and William mitton
that were baylis the yere before delyuerd possession of the said abbottes
Fraunches Contrary to the said decree to Thomas knyght then new
Chosen bayly ^^ and other officers of the said towne that then were
new Chosen and theruppon Thomas then *® knyght bayly Commaunded
gryffith lingam his sergiaunt ^^ to kepe possession and to rest and vse
his office and his masse thorow all the said Fraunches in varriaunce
and forthe ^* then they made *' Clayme beffore and the said gryffith
seid he wold do that yeff he did not more then that and the morow
next after sent davies daye last passed/* roger thornys and Thomas
knyght then New baylis of the said towne, dauith wutton, Griffith
lyngam & robert bruerton sergiaunttes Entered into the said abbottes
Fraunches and then the said roger Thornis said vnto robert hill
bayly of the said abbottes Fraunches a foresaid that he and the Fore-
said persons With hym Wold kepe possession of the said Fraunches
and yff the said bayly of the abbottes Wolde vse his office there
as he hathe vsed before, that he and the said abbot schulde repent hit.
Indorsed.^^
Witnesseof the proclamacion as is in the First article — Alyn mitton,
John Coplond John Charnet John Friser and many other.
Witnesse of the owt Crye Conteynid in the Seconde article — sir
roger buttler John Charnet, hugh hill, William pypar and
many other.
Witnesse on the Sawte *^ and Fray made on Thomas powes in the
v^^ article — John Charnet, Thomas thorpe, Thrustan Corser,*^
dauith hill, John barbur, richerd taylor, richerde harseneppe.
Witnesse of the stresses taken and Comyng of the new bayly downe
in the vj^ article —robert hill, Gryffith Bromlow, Thomas
Tailor, Thruston scot, richerd harseneppe, richerd oseley^^ and
diuers other.
was sub-bailiff of the town. In 1547 he gives the date of the document as of the
again led a body of cavalry to reinforce the year 1510. Cf. p. 202, n. 2, supra,
earl of Warwick (John Dudley) on the ** These depositions are on two whole
Scotch borders. Ow. and Bl. i. 301, 340. skins and a portion of a skin stitched to-
'' See E, p. 190, n. 6, supra. gether. The first indorsement is in the
*^ This word is here interlined, evidently hand of the same clerk and on the second
by mistake, instead of before * bayly.' skin. The second indorsement is on the
** Apparently newly appointed by the first skin and is by the clerk of the Court,
incoming bailiff. *^ Assault.
" Apparently for * further.* *' Here apparently a surname.
*' * ther,' which followed, is struck *■ The name of * a considerable family
through. in this town.' Ow. and Bl. i. 272, n.
** St. David's Day was March 1. This
208
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Thabbot of Salop contra the bailyffes.
The xxij day of octobre anno primo ** henrici octaui.
It is Decreed that Eoger Thomas balyf Thomas Withiford Eichard
Fisher Dauid Watten Datkyn Corde*^ William Deithwike Eichard
bolkeley Thomas knyght baylyf Eobert Wotton Elis Thomas otherwise
called Elis Jones Gryffith lyngham Eichard Yemans pynner Eichard
Wurtley by ** callid by two*^^ seuerall preue sealles to appere person-
ally by fore the Kyng and his counsaill at Westminster the morowe
after Saynt Martine next comyng *' euery of theym vpon payne of
ther allegeaunces ** to aunswer to the complaynt vpon them made,
aswell for the within wretten greves and mysdemeanours as for the
disobeyng of a decre Judgement and sentence gevyn by the kyng
our soueraign lord and his counsaill and for lykewise disobeyng
contempttiously of other preue sealles latly to them directed as it ys
certified by william Bramall of shreuysbury vpon the boke, by fore my
lord Chaunceler in the Sterre Chambre. Johannes Mewtis.''*
** This indorsement must be a mistake
for 'secundo.' The document contains a
continuous history from * the xxj daye of
July the first yere of the Baygne of kyng
henry the viij•^' i.e. July 21, 1509, to * the
morowe next after sent davies day,' i.e.
March 1, 1510. This last date would also
be 'anno primo,' but the regnal year ended
on April 21, and therefore October 22 must
be 'anno secundo.* The indorsement,
it is true, styles (by mistake for Thomes)
Roger * Thomas,' bailiff, and also Thomas
Knyght. As a matter of fact, they had
ceased to be so about seventeen days (cf.
p. 190, n. 5, supra), a circumstance of which
the new clerk of the CJouncil may be inferred
not to have had cognisance. Seen. 55. The
two were burgesses for the town in Parlia-
ment in 1509-10. Hist. MSS. Commission,
15th Bep., Append., pt. x. p. 31.
*• Writing indistinct: parchment in-
jured.
*> *be.'
** Apparently, as stated below, one to
answer for their invasion of the abbot's
franchises, the other to answer for con-
tempt.
" November 12, 1510.
** * Sub poena ligeantice.' Hudson, in
his * Treatise of the Court of Star Cham-
ber,* p. 147, writes as though in his time
this were only issued in the case of default
of appearance by peers, an attachment
being awarded, without further delay,
against ordinary subjects.
** Otherwise Mewtys,Mewtes, or Meautis :
first appears in 1500 as clerk of the signet
to Henry 7 (J. Gairdncr, * Letters and Papers
of Rich. 3 and Henry 7 * [1863], ii. 90).
Afterwards promoted to be Henry 7's * secre-
tary for the French tongue' (lb. i. 289,
300, ii. 367 ; S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 1420, ii.
p. 875), an ecclesiastic (ib. 14), pensioned
by Henry 7 (ib. ii. p. 875), retainc<l by
Henry 8 and appointed clerk of the Council
during pleasure, Oct. 19, 1509 (ib. i. 588),
nominated a justice for gaol delivery in
London and Surrey, March 21, 1511 (ib.
1547, 1548) ; displaced from the clerkship of
the CouncQ, Oct 21, 1512 (ib. 3478) ; on
the commission of peace for Middlesex, Nov.
28, 1512 (ib. 3552) and Jan. 21, 1514
(ib. 4663) ; received a licence to import 400
tuns of Gascon wine and 200 tons of
Toulouse woad, July 7, 1514 (ib. 5233). and
an annuity of 40 marks (26/. 13s. 4d,) Sept.
27, 1514 (ib. 5455) and a second annuity of
the same sum, Sept. 4, 1515 (ibid. ii. 878).
To this was added in 1516 an annuity of
401. for life (ib. p. 874), and another of
26i. 13s. 4d. during pleasure (ib. 875). In
the riot of London apprentices, called Evil
May Day, 1517, his house in the city was
attacked and sacked, and he escaped death
by hiding in the belfry of a neighbouring
church (ib. 3204). During the summer of
the same year he was employed in negotia-
tions in Flanders (ib. 3518, 3546, 3647).
On Aug. 17, 1518, he received a licence to
import 400 tuns of Gkiscon wine (ib. 4389) ;
he was again nominated on the commission
of the peace for Middlesex on Sept. 16
following (ib. 4435) ; accompanied the
earl of Worcester's mission to France in
November 1518 (ib. 4594). It is pro-
bable that he removed to Kensington after
GLOUCESTBE, MAYOU ETC. OF, PETlTIOxV OF 209
GLOUCESTRE, MATOR &c. OF, PETITION 0F.«
A. To the moost Keuerend fader in god Willyam^
archebishope of Canterbury and other of the
lordis of the kynges moost honorable Councell
in the Sterr Chambre
1504 Humbly shewith vn to your good lordshippis your supplicauntes the
Maire & Burges of the towne of Gloucestre that Where in the parlia-
ment holden at Westminster in the xxv*^ day of Januarie in the xix^^
yere of the reigne of our souereign lorde kyng henri the vij'**,' it was
inacted that whate so euer person or persons of whate estate degree
or condicion he or they be that from thensfourth take any impposicion
of eny of the kynges liege people for trowe boote or eny other vessell
for eny goodes or merchaundises caried or conueyed in & vppon the
Eeuer and Water of Seueme or lett vex or interupte eny bootes trowes
or other vesselles so passing by the seid Reuer & Water for eny suche
impposicon or otherwise agenste the kynges lawes that euery suche
person or persons so doing & offendyng shall forefaite to the kyng our
souereigne lorde for euery suche offence xx li. & for euery suche
somme or somes so forefayted the party greued & all other persons
that will sue for the saim forefaiture shall haue & sue an accion
populer * of dette aswell to & for the vse of our souereign lorde the
kynge as to the vse of hym that shall so sue for it in hys owne name
And that our Souereign lorde the kyng have too partes of the same
somme so forefayted & the parte that so shall sue for the same haue
the thred parte therof & the party defendaunt in eny suche accion
shall not be receyued to wage his lawe & allso be outed of all dela-
tories in the same accon as proteccon"^ Essoin® & other & if it
the destraction of his house in the city, * 1504.
for on July 8, 1519, he was nominated a ^ * * The di£ference between an Action upon
commissioner to make search for suspected the Statute and an Action Popular is where
persons in Kensington, Hammersmith, the Statute gives the suit or Action to the
Enightsbridge and Chelsea (ib. iii. 3C5), party grieved, or otherwise to one person
while for purposes of business he * tarried certain, that is called Action upon the
within the Friars Austins * (ib. 952), to Statute. But where authority is given by
which body he possibly belonged. He died the Statute to everyone that will so sue,
probably in 1522, in which year his will that is termed Action Popular.' T. Blount,
was proved, he being then described as *Law Diet.' (1670), s. v. Action,
of *Eensyngton etc., Middlesex.' J. G. G. * Protection is * an exemption or immunity
Smith, * Index,' ii. 363. given by the king to a person against suits
' S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 4. The documents in law or other vexations upon reasonable
of this case have been separated in the cause him thereto moving, which is a
sorting. F is numbered 42, the rest of the branch of his prerogative.' n)., 8.v. See
documents 4. Fitzh., Nat. Br., fo. 28.
* William Warham. See p. 227, n. 2. ' Excuse for non-appearance. — * The
P
210 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
fortune the parties in eny suche accion to defend or pleed to an issue
for eny offence doone or comytted contrarie to the premysses triable
in the Cite of Worcester or the liberties of the same then the same
issue to be tried by xij men within the counte of Worcester not
dwellyng nor hauyng eny landes within the same Cite nee in the
subarbes of the same & if the parties aforeseid in eny suche accon
defend or plede to an issue for eny offence doone or comytted contrarie
to the premysses triable in the schire of the towne of Gloucestre or in
the counte of Gloucestre the same issue to be tried by xij men of & in
the Counte of Gloucestre therto adioynyng not hauyng eny landes nee
dwellyng within the same schire of the towne of Gloucestre as in the
seid acte more pleynly it doth appere, And it is prouyded by the same
acte that if eny person or persons spirituall or temporall or body
corporate come before the lordes of the kynges honorable Gouncell in
the starre Chambre at Westminster at eny tyme after the seid xxv^^
day of Januarie before the feiste of thascencion of our lorde that shalbe
in the yere of our lorde god a M*^ fyve hundred and fyve ' & there
make eny sufficient proue & lawfull title of there owne oSre or by
other meanys before the same feiste to haue eny manor of dute or
impposicion of or for eny maner of boote trowe or other vessell afore-
seid or for eny other merchaundis or goodes in eny of the same Garied
& conueyed in & vppon the seid Beuer & Water of Seuerne & the same
prone & title by the seid Gouncell admitted & decreed before the
same feist to be good & ayaylable to the partie or parties that shulde
so sue for the same that then from thensfourth after suche proue &
title shewed & so by seid Gouncell admitted & by them befor the seid
feiste decreed to be good thoose persons hauyng suche lawfull title
may & shall haue from the tyme of that decree made all maner suche
duetes of euery of the kynges liege people so Garieng or conveying eny
boote trowe or vessell in & vppon the seid water of Seuerne accordyng
to there title & right so proued & decreed after the maner & fourme
of the same title & decree the said Acte or eny thyng therin conteigned
in eny wise not withstandyng And it is further prouyded by the seid
Acte that the same Acte or eny thyng in the same conteigned or
specified in eny wise extend not nor be preiudiciall or hurtefull to eny
person or persons hauyng eny landis or medues adioynyng to the seid
streme or water of Seuerne to take of euery person or persons going
vppon his or there seid landes or medues and halyng or drawyng eny
oaoBea that serve to essoin any man sum- endi, which is also caUed the oommon
moned are divers, yet drawn to five heads, essoin ; the fourth is de malo leoti ; the
whereof the first is ultra mare ; the second, fifth, de servitio Regis.' Blount, 8.v.
de terra sancta ; the third, de malo veni- ' 1 May, 1505.
GLOUCESTRE, MAYOR ETC. OF, PETITION OF 211
suche trowe boote or vessell reasonable recompence & satisfaccion for
snche hortes and offences as he or they hauyng suche landes or medues
adioynyng to the same streme or water shall sastegn by reason of eny
suche going or drawyng of eny suche trow boote or vessell as in the
seid estatued more pleynly it doth appere. The foreseid maire &
burges seyen that the seid Towne of Gloucestre is an auncient borough
& but littell grounde in quantite ^ and oute of tyme of mynde hath ben
a Towne corporate firste by name of Burges of the Towne of Gloucestre *
& after that by the name of maire & Burges of the towne of Glou-
cestre^^ & that the Burges of the same towne before they were
incorporate by the name of mare & Burges of the towne of Gloucestre
and the maire & Burges of the same towne seying ^^ the seid incorpora-
con haue by the same tyme holden & yet haue & holdeth the seid
towne with thappiu-tenaunce of the Kyng our Souereign lorde & of his
moost noble proienitours in Fee ferme oute of tyme of mynde payng
& yeldyng for the same & other there liberties at the kynges Eschequer
Ixv U. ^* yerely ouer & aboue diuers other greate charges by them
yerely borun & susteigned by reason of the seid towne all which Fee
ferme hath be of olde tyme leueed & gadared in effecte of Costumes &
bottes^^ in the same towne and they sey that the seid Beuer &
Water of Seueme passith & hath Coursse through the liberties of the
seid towne ouer which Beuer & streme there is sett a greet Brigge made
of Free ston arched & enbowed ^^ & belonging to the seid maire &
Burges, which all weyes withoute tyme of mynde hath be made &
yerely is repared & maynteyned at there expens & greate costes in so
moche that the reparacion of the seid Brigge hath coste the seid towne
within this iij yeres laste passed ccc markes & aboue by the whiche
" Leland, the antiquary, who visited it by bailiffs from the time of Edward 1 to
between 1536 and 1542, says :— * The towne 1483.
of Gloucester is antient, well builded of "^ In 1483 Richard 3 granted the town
Tymbre & large, A strongly defended with this incorporation. S. Rudder, p. 115.
Walles, where it is not well fortified with " For * since.*
the deepe Streame of Seveme Water. In '* This was by the Charter of John. See
the Wall be 4 Gates by East, West, North, C. Gross, l.s.o.
& Soutii.*— * Itinerary,' ed. T. Heame '» From * bote * or * boot * with many
(2nd ed., 1744), iv. ii. 170 b. The lengths senses, but especially used for * repair,' and
of the streets leading to and bearing the contributions towards repairs. Bridgebote
names of these gates are given by S. or Briggbote was the expense of keeping
Budder, * Hist, of Gloucestershire ' (1779), bridges in repair. See J. A. H. Murray,
p. 85 :_West Gate Street as 938 yards * Eng. Diet.' s.v. Boot,
long, East Gate Street as 294 yards long, >^ ' The Bridge that is on the cheife Arme
Upper North Gate Street as 180 yards of Seveme, that runneth hard by the Towne,
long, and South Gate Street as 391 yards is of 7 great Arches of Stone.' J. Leland,
long. * Itin.' I.S.O. By * enbowed ' (embowed) is
* So styled in the Charter of King John meant having recesses for protection of foot
of April 21, 1200. See C. Gross, Gild passengers from passing vehicles, <tc. See
Merchant, ii. 373. The town was governed J. A. H. Murray, s.v. Embowed.
p 2
212 COUPtT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Brigge all the kynges subiectes hauc there passage betwext Englond
& Walls with there goodes & eatalles & all other marchaundis & by no
other Brigge from thens to seynt michelles mounte which is aboue cc
myles ^* and also there is & by the same tyme hath been within the
seid towne a key or wharflfe made of Free stone adioynyng to the
same Beuer for the escharging & discharging of all goodes & mar-
chaundis there aswell for forenyes as for the seid Burges which key
or wharffe was in like wyse made & is maynteigned & repayred by the
seid mayre & Burges to there greet charge, And ouer that they
seyen that euery of the kynges liege people conueyeng ther trowes
bootes & other vesselles laden or charged with goodes & marchaundis
through the seid liberties of the seid towne & vnder the seid Brigge
vppon the seid Reuer haue there passage & going at there pleasure
yppon the comen soyle & landes of the said maire & Burges within
the liberties of the seid towne and at there pleasure takyth there
ancre holde & tyage in the seid streme & Reuer there free holde
ioynyng to the same and with lynes & cordes drawith there seid trowes
bootes & vesselles so charged with the seid marchaundis yppon the
Boyle of the seid Towne adioynyng to the same streme & with the
said cordes & with hookes & sparris of iron drawith hookyth tayeth &
puttith at the seid Brigge & greetly Fretith lowsith & ofte tymes
brekyth & castyth downe the stones of the same wherby it is dayly
imppeyred which hath so be vsed there withoute tyme of mynde, &
they sey that they in concideracion of the premyssis haue taken & of
tyme wherof no man hath mynde to the contrarie haue vsed to take
of & for euery boot trowe or vessell that comyth to the seid towne or
passith throwe the same ij d, & of & for eny ton or ton tyght of mar-
chaundis conteigned in the same vesselles passing through the seid
Brigge or putt on lande at the seid key or wharffe vj d. towarde the
payment of there Fee ferme & other the seid charges of which custome
or sommes of money they haue be peasibly & lawfully possessed by all
the seid tyme. And the seid maire & Burges seyen that they haue not
in certente towerd there seid Fee ferme & other charges in rentes &
other certentes aboue ix li. yerely & in aduoydyng of troble & expens that
herafter may ensue betwene the seid maire & Burges & other persons
which shall haue stuffe & marchaundis to be conueyed by or vppon
the seid streme vnder the seid Brigge or putt on lande in fourme as
is aforeseid by colour of the seid acte and for lacke of reasonable
interpretacon or construccion therof the seid maire & Burges in
** Vi& Bristol, Exeter, and Camborne, Helston, 223} miles.
220} miles ; vift Bristol, Exeter, Troro, and " Blank of about three inches in MS.
WORCESTRE, BAILLYS ETC. OF, PETITION OF 213
there moost humble wyse besechen your good lordshippes to affenne
decree & auctorise there seid takyng & hauyng of the seid ij d. for euery
suche boote trowe or vessell & of the seid vj d. for euery ton or ton tyght
of stuffe or marchaundis so brought or to be conueyed & brought vnder
the seid Brugge or discharged or put on lande at the seid key or wharffe
& that to remayne & abide of recorde a-s your decree according as in
the seid Acte & prouyso ys conteigned And that ^® may be
receyued & admitted Attourneyes ioyntly & seuerally to pursue to your
good lordshippes for the seid decree to be hadde & geuen in the pre-
mysses accordyng to right & for the supportacon of the seid towne which
if the seid Gustume shulde be withdrawen shulde cause the seid towne
which is greately decayed ^^ to fall in desolacion & shuld not be able
to content & pay the seid fee Ferme aswell to the greate losse of the
kynges Highnesses ^® as to the greet hurte & damage of the seid towne
and they shall prey dayly to God for the preseruacon of your good
lordshipz.
B, c. Two copies of a Petition of the Baillys dc Citesyns of Worcestre
in almost identical words, mutatis mutandis, after the recitals
as in A continue
The foreseid Baillys & Citesyns (seyen that the)^ seid Cite of Wor-
cetour is & owt of tyme of mynd hath be an auncient Cite & Burgh
'• Charter of Inspeximus of Edward 4, greate ruyne and decaje, and specially in
dated April 6, 1473, recites that a petition the pryncipalle and chief stretes there
has been presented to the King in Parha- beyng, in the whiche chief stretes in tymes
ment as follows : * The bailiff and stewards passid have bene beautyfull dwellyng
of the town of Gloucester shew that the Howses there well inhabited whyche at thys
said town is " febly paved and fall perilous daye moche parte therof is desolate and
and iepardous " for passengers, in so much void groundys, withe pittys sellers and
that many persons, both of high degree vaultes lying open and uncoveryd very
and low, have been seriously injured peryllous for people to go by in the nyght
thereby, and the bailiffs and stewards have without jeopardy of lyfe, whyche decayet
no lands, tenements, or rents in common are to the great impoverysshyng and
wherewith to maintain the same.' The hynderanoe of the same Townys ' (27
petition asks that householders may be Hen. 8, c. 1). Leland, who saw the town
compelled to pave the streets in front of about this very time, says :— * When the
their property. Petition assented to and key was by St. Oswaldes, there was divers
an exemplification granted at request of pretty Streetes that now be cleane decayed,
bailiffs and stewards (Records of Corpo- as St. Bride's street & Sylver Girdle
ration of Gloucester, ed. W. H. Stevenson, , Street. The truth is that these Streets
* Glouc' 1893, p. 15). * About 1487 there stood not most holesomely and were sub-
were 300 houses in it fallen to decay, and ject to the raging Floodes of Seveme, there-
an Act of Parliament was made, 27 Hen. fore Men desired more to inhabit in the
8 (1536), to enforce the rebuilding of higher Places of the Towne.* * Itin.' l.s.o.
part of it' (S. Rudder, p. 83). According '* In 1397 the contribution of Gloucester
to the preamble of this statute, intituled to a forced loan to Richard 2 was sixth
* An Acte for reedyf yeng of dyvers Townes in value, ranking with York and Salisbury,
in the Realme,* Gloucester and the other and amounting to £200.
towns named, * of long tyme have bene in
214 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
(and) ^ Is but a litill grounde in quantite, a Cite corporate by the name
of Baillys & Citesyns of the seid Cite ^ (and that the seyd) * Baillys
& Citesyns holden & they & their predeeessours haue holden the same
Cite of the kyng our soueraign lorde & of his most noble progenitours
in fee ferme paying out of tyme of mynde ^ seid (fee fe)^rme & other
their liberties at the kynges Escheker xxx * li yerely ouer & aboue
viij li. of anvitie yerely payd to the Bishop of Worcetour & his prede-
eessours for such title & interest as the seid (predeeessours of the
seid) * Bishop of olde tyme hadde within the same Cite (&) ' Burgh
besides other charges and they sey that the seid Byuer & Water of
Seuarn passith & hath cours trough the liberties of the (seid Cite ouer
which reuer and) ^ streme is ^ sett a grete Brigge^ made of free stone
arched & inbowed & belongyng to the seid Baillis & Citesyns which
alweis without tyme of mynde hat byn made & yerely (is repared and
maynteyned) ^ at their expences & grete Costes in so moch that the
reparacion of the seid Brugge ^ hath cost the seid Cite within this vij
years last past v c markes ' & aboue by the which Brugge ® the (kynges
subiectes haue) ^ their passage betwene Englond & Walys with theirr
godes or catelles and also ther is & by all the same tyme hath be
within the seid Cite a key or wharfife &c.^
they . . . haue vsyd to take of and for euery tonne or tonnetyght
of merchaundises conteyned in the same vessellis passyng trough the
seyd burge or putt on land at the seyd key or wharfe iiij ^^ to ward the
payment of ther seyd fee ferme and other the seid charges of which
custome or summes of money they haue be peassably & lawfully
possessyd by all the seid tyme and the (seid Baillys & Citesyns) ^ sey
that they haue not in certente towardes their seid fee ferme & other
charges in rentes & other certenties aboue v li. yerely and in auoydyng
of troubles & expences that herafter may (ensue betwene the seid) ^
baillys & Citesyns & other personys which shall haue stufT & mar-
chaundez to be conveyed by & vpon the seid streme vnder the seid
* MS. of B torn ; supplied from C. * C reads * in fee ferme oute of tyme of
' By a charter of 1261, Henry 3 granted mynde paying and yeldyng for the same
to the citizens of Worcester that two bailiffs, and other,* &c.
two aldermen, two chamberlains, and forty- * There appears to have been an erasure
eight assistants should have the govern- of a numeral letter after zxx.
ment of the town, &o. H. A. Merewether * Following A.
and A. J. Stephens, ' Hist, of Boroughs ' * A blank space of about five inches
(1835), i. 468. See also Nash, *Hist. of follows.
Worcestershire ' (1782), ii., Append, czl. ; ' 8882. 6s. Bd.
T. Madox, 'Firma Burgi » (1726), p. 272 ; • 'Burge ' in C.
V. Green, * Hist, of Worcester ' (1796), ii. » Following A down to next paragraph
33. of this text. '• Sic.
WORCESTRE, BAILLYS ETC. OF, PETITION OF
215
brugge ^^ or put on lande in forme as is afore seid by colore of the
(seid acte and for lacke) ^ of reasonable interpretacion or construccion
therof The seid bailies & Gitesyns in their most humble wise besechen
your gode lordshippis to afiferme decree & autorise their seid takyng
and (hauyng of the seid iiij ^^ f)^or euery tonne or tonnetight of stuff or
marchaundez so brought or to be conveyed & brought vnder the seid
brugge ® or discharged or put on lande at the seid key or wharffe and
that to (remayne and abide of recorde) ^ as your decree accordyng as
in the seid acte & prouiso is conteyned and that Bowland Burgis
William Porter ^^ may be receuyd & admytted attorneys (ioyntly &
seuerally to pursue to your) ^ gode lordshippes for the seid decre to be
hadde & yevyn in the premisses accordyng to right & for the suppor-
tacion of the seid Cite which if the seid custome shulde be withdrawen
(shuld cause the seyd Cite to fall) ^^ in decay & shuld not be able to
content & paye the seid fee ferme as well to the grete losse of the
kynges highnes as to the grete hurt & damage of the seid Cite. (And
they shall pray to) ^* God for the preseruacion of your gode Lordshippes.
Henricus dei gratia Bex Anglie & Francie & Dominus Hibernie
dilecto sibi in Ghristo Bicardo Abbati monasterii beate Marie de
Bordisley ^ necnon Dilectis sibi Gilberto Talbot ^ militi Thome Lygon ^
• * The will of William Porter, gentleman,
of Blak freres, Worcester, was proved in
1537. J. C. G. Smith, Index, u. 428.
" The space here is not enough for this
doooment to have followed the wording of
A. The text here is conjeotaral, based
upon A.
* A Cistercian abbey in Worcestershire
founded by the Empress Maud in 1136.
Dugdale, *Monast.' v. 407, mentions
Richard as abbot in 1511, but the surname
is unknown.
> Sir Gilbert Talbot, E.G., was third son
of John Talbot, second earl of Shrewsbury
(d. 1460), by Elizabeth, daughter of James
Butler, fourth earl of Ormonde. He first
comes into prominence at the battle of
Bosworth, on the eve of which he deserted
at the h^ of more than 500 men to the
camp of Henry, earl of Richmond. * Polyd.
VergU' (Camd. Soc. 1844), p. 218. He
conmianded the right wing of Uie vanguard
at the battle on the following day (Aug. 22,
1485, id. p. 228). He was knighted by
Henry on the field (W. G. Metcalfe * Book
of Knights,* p. 10). He owned land
in Shropshire (see Inq. p. m. Hen. 7,
i. 720, 924), for which county he was ap-
pointed sheriff on September 12 following,
doubtless to dispossess Richard 8*8 nominee,
and was pricked sheriff for the year on
Nov. 18, 1485 (W. CampbeU, *Mat.' i.
<157, 548, 693), receiving an allowance of
100/. from the Exchequer towards the ex-
penses of the office (ib. 157) and a further
. * reward * of 1002. at Easter, 1486 (ib. 407).
On July 17 following he receivea a large
grant of lands in Worcestershire, com-
prising the two manors of Grafton and
Upton Waryn, with the advowsons and
lands &o. in Hainbury, Bromysgrove,
Kingisnorton, Eedermyster, Eeimeswyk, and
Esbury forfeited by the attainder of Hum-
frey Stafford (ib. 506). For his valour at
the battle of Stoke on Jane 9, 1487, at
which Lambert Simnel was taken and John
de la Pole, earl of Lincoln, the Yorkist
pretender, was defeated and slain, he was
made a knight banneret (W. C. Metcalfe,
p. 18). Appointed, on December 28, 1488,
to take musters of arohers intended for the
expedition against France for the relief of
Brittany (Campb. * Mat.* ii. 886), he com-
manded part of the English army which
raised the siege of Dixmude in Flanders on
June 13, 1489 (* Chron. of Calais * [Camd.
216
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Gentilman Rogero Bednam * Gentilman & Johanni Breynton ^ salutem.
Ex parte dilectorum subditorum nostrorum Balliuorum & Giuium
Soo. 1846J, p. 2). By the will of his uncle,
Sir Hmnfrey Talbot, dated February 18,
1492, he received the < rule of the lordship
of Glossop' for life (will proved Novem-
ber 11, 1493 ; Sir H. Nicolas, • Test Vet/
ii. 409, 410). He was much at court, being
a privy councillor and Knight for the
Body (J. Oairdner, * Letters and Papers,'
Rich. 3 and Hen. 7, ii. 180, 181). He took
part in the festivities on the creation of
prince Henry duke of York in 1494, and
at the reception of Elatharine of Ara^on in
1501 (ib. i. 403, 410, and ii. 291) ; he was
nominated for the Garter by Henry 7 on
December 20, 1495 (ib. ii. 60). In 1504
he was dispatched ambassador to pope
Julius 2 with the abbot of Glastonbury
and Robert Sherborne, afterwards bishop
of Chichester, as his colleagues. C. Bernard
Andreas (ed. J. Gairdner [1858], p. 84), in
his account of which visit to Rome the his-
torian describes him as * strenuissimus
miles.* His military distinction recom-
mended him to this Pope, who showed him
exceptional honour (ib.). He was nomi-
nated * Deputy of Calais ' on September 25,
1509, S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 528, and, accord-
ing to the ' Chronicle of Calais ' (p. xxxviii),
was 'constitutus * at Calais on September 26.
But this appointment, which took place five
months after the accession of Henry 8, must
have been a confirmation only, for he is
styled ' Deputy of Calais * in a letter of the
Flemish ambassadors to Margaret of Savoy
on December 7, 1508, and in an official docu-
ment of April, 1509 (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 14).
He is * Lieutenant ' of Calais in an official
protection to a Venetian merchant dated
July 27, 1509 (ib.346). After the appoint-
ment of September 25 he becomes * Deputy *
of Calais once more (ib. 560, October 10,
1509). He was now resident at Calais (ib.
1280), and was repeatedly a commissioner
for receiving instalments of the sum of
745,000 crowns in gold due from Charles 8
of France for the EngHsh expenses in relief
of Brittany under the Treaty of Staples of
November 3, 1492 (ib. 626, November 5,
1509, Rym. * FoBd.' xiii. 298, April 26, 1511).
Henry 7 made him a trustee of his will,
dated March 31, 1509 (Nicolas, * Test.
Vet.* i. 30). From Henry 8 he received on
February 4, 1513, a grant in tail made of
the manor of Byrfeld Abbot alias Birfeld,
Berks, forfeited by the attainder of John dc
la Pole, earl of Lincoln (S. P. Dom.
Hen. 8, i. 3705). In this year he was in-
volved in trouble by the piratical exploit of
one of his three sons, who captured at sea
some Spanish merchants and their goods
(Sir G. Talbot to Wolsey, March 20, 1513,
ib. 3813). His health was now breaking
(ib. 3948, 4021). His son, Sir Gilbert Talbot
the younger, held a command in the king's
campaign in France in the summer of 1513
(ib. 4253), though he had himself intended
to do so (ib. 4021). No doubt as an arrange-
ment for his retirement the office of Deputy
was conferred upon Sir Richard Wingfield
and himself in survivorship on August 6,
1513 (ib.4392). During these years 1509-13
he was constantly on the commission of the
peace for Worcestershire, Sta£Fordshire,
Warwickshire, Herefordshire, Gloucester-
shire, and Salop (ib. passim). He is styled
' late Lieutenant and late Deputy of Calais *
in official documents of March 20 (ib. ii.
254) and June 15, 1515 (ib. 586). He died
in 1517, the livery of lands to his eldest
son. Sir Gilbert Talbot, issuing on Novem-
ber 9 of that year (ib. 3784). The ruins of
his house at Grafton, Worcestershire, which
was burnt down in 1710, are described by
Nash (i. 158). His portrait and the portraits
of his two wives, (1) Elizabeth, daughter of
Ralph, seventh lora Greystock, and widow
of Thomas le Scrope, Lord Scrope, and (2)
Awdry, daughter of Sir John Cotton, co.
Cambridge, were painted in glass on the
chapel window of Grafton, Worcestershire,
together witli thoseof his three sons, Gilbert,
Humfrey, and John (Nash, i. 164 ; G.E. C,
* Complete Peerage ' [1896], vii. 91). His first
two sons, who were by his first wife, died
without issue. The youngest was by his
second wife, and was ancestor of the present
earl of Shrewsbury. Burke's ' Peerage.*
• Thomas Lygon, Lygen, or Ligon, son
and heir of William Lygon, of Madres-
field, Worcestershire, by Elizabeth, daughter
of — Giflfard, and widow of — Alkok (Nash,
ii. 1 18) . A Yorkist, appointed by Edward 4,
on August 12, 1461, to raise troops * against
the rebels ' (Pat. RolU, 1 Ed. 4, p. 98).
He was returned knight of the shire for
Worcester to the Parliament of 1467 (Nash,
i. xxvii). He was nominated a commis-
sioner of array on March 7, 1470 (P. R.,
10 Ed. 4, p. 218), on the breaking out of a
Lancastrian insurrection, and again after
Edward 4*s restoration on March 7, 1472
(ib. 12 Ed. 4, p. 848). In 1475 he was
enfeoffed as a trustee of lands to the use of
the will of the king's brother, the duke of
Clarence, upon the occasion of Edward 4's
invasion of France, in accordance with the
provisions of the statute 14 Ed. 4, c. 1 ; ib.
16 Ed. 4, pp. 613, 518, 630. After the
duke's execution he was frequently em-
ployed by the king on surveys &o. of his
WORCESTRE, BAILLYS ETC. OF, PETITION OF
217
Ciuitatis nostre Wygornie coram dominis de consilio nostro in camera
stellata apud Westmonasterium ostensum est qualiter ipsi & predeces-
sores sui a tempore quo non exstat memoria quandam custumam siue
summas denariorum de subditis nostris pro bonis & mercandisis in
omnibus & singulis vasis videlicet Trowes botes ac aliis vasis per
aquam & riuolum de Saveme cariatis & conductis & in libertatem
Ciuitatis nostre predicte confluentibus habere & percipere consueuerunt
prout per eorum peticionem coram dicto Consilio nostro in Camera
predicta exhibitam plenius liquet Nos vnicuique ligeorum nostrorum
quod iustum est fieri ac de & super veritate peticionis predicte tenorem
lands (ib. Ill, 319, Ac). On April 27,
1483, after the accession of Edwanl 5, he
was nominated a commissioner of subsidy
for Worcestershire (Pat. Bolls, 1 Ed. 4, p.
354). He was employed byBichard 3 on a
commission to inquire into lands forfeited
in Worcestershire by the supporters of the
duke of Buckingham's abortive rising in
the autumn of 1483 (ib. 1 Bio. 3, p. 392,
December 10, 1483), and also as a commis-
sioner of subsidy for the county (ib. p.
394, August 1, 1483). He was also a com-
missioner of array against an anticipated
invasion by the earl of Bichmond (Hen. 7)
(ib. p. 899, May 1, 1484), and again on the
December 8 following (P. B., 2 Bic. 3, p.
491). During the reigns of Edward 4 and
Bichard 3 he was continuously on the com-
mission of the peace for Worcestershire.
He was also much employed by Edward 4
upon commissions and inquiries in the
county (see indexes to Pat. Bolls). He pro-
bably deserted to the side of Henry 7, for
four months after Bosworth he received a
writ directing the arrest of a number of
persons, probably political opponents,
December 28, 1485 (W. Campbell, * Mate-
rials ' Ac, i. 223). He was also nominated
on December 23, 1488, a commissioner to
take musters of archers for the relief of
Brittany (id. ii. 384). He appears to have
received a grant of the office of escheator
of Worcestershire, probably soon after the
accession of Henry 7, for on February 10,
1488, on vacating it, he received the cus-
tomary pardon (ib. 240). In this document
he is described as * late of Madresfield,' but
no forfeiture is recorded against him in the
Bolls of Parliament. He was appointed in
1503 a commissioner for Worcestershire to
raise the aid granted to the king on the
marriage of prince Arthur (Bot. Pari. vi.
535). He married Ann, second daughter
and coheir of Sir Bichard Beauchamp, lord
Bcauchamp of Powick, ' with whom he had
Beauchamp *s court ' (Nash, ii. 118). This
perhaps accounts for his description as
* late of Madresfield,* for in the register of
his will, which was proved in 1507, he is
styled 'esquire, Madersfield, Worcester*
(J. C. C. Smith, Index, ii. 346). He left a
son, afterwards (1533) Sir Bichard Lygon.
Nash, l.s.c.
* Sic for Bodnam, as the signature
shows. Boger, son of Boger Bodenham,
and sheri£f of Herefordshire in 1487 (P.B.O.
List of Sheriffs, p. 60), lord of the manor
of Byford, Herefordshire (Duncumb's ' Hist,
of Herefordshire ' [W. H. Cooke], iv. 63) ;
Botherwas (ib. p. 88) and Holampton
(Inq. p. m. Hen. 7, i. 454). The son was
nominated a commissioner of gaol delivery
for Leominster, February 12, 1489 ; a com-
missioner for Herefordshire to raise the aid
on the marriage of prince Arthur in 1503
(Bot. Pari. vi. 542). On the commission
of the peace for Herefordshire, 1509-1513
(S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 646, 675, Ac). A
commissioner of gaol delivery at Hereford
Castle, November 4, 1512 (ib. 3503). Died
in 1514, when his son Thomas sued out
livery of his lands in co. Hereford and the
mardies of Wales (November 16) . Ib. 6610.
* John Breynton, lord of the manor of
Stretton Sugwas, co. Hereford (W. H.
Cooke's addition to 'Duncumb's' Hist.
[1892], iv. 163). A grantee from Henry 7
upon his accession of the office of Feo-
dary of the manor or lordship of Fowne-
hope, Herefordshire (W. Campbell, * Mat.*
i. 172 ; Bot. Pari. vi. 359 a). A com-
missioner of subsidy for the county in
1496 (ib. 518) and for the aid granted to
the king on the marriage of Arthur, prince
of Wales, m 1503 (ib. 642 b). A trustee of
lands in the county to the use of the will
of Sir Thomas Monyngton of Samesfield,
in 1492 (Inq. p.m. Hen. 7, i. 825). On the
commission of the peace for Herefordshire,
1509-1525 (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, vols, i.-iv.). A
commissioner for gaol delivery of Hereford
Castle, November 4, 1512 ; a commissioner
of subsidy for Herefordshire, November 2,
1523 ; died 1520. Cooke's * Duncumb/ l.s.c.
218
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
cuius vobis mittimus ^ presentibus interclusum per vos cerciorar i volentes
vobis de cuius fidelitate & prouida circumspeccione plene confidimus
dedimus potestatem ^ & auctoritatem tenorem predictam ^ inspiciendi
materia(m)que in eadem considerandi et ad omnes & singulos testes
quos maxime pro testificacione veritatis materia prediete videritis
evocandi coram vobis quinque quatuor tribus aut duobus vestrum ad
certos dies & loca euocandi^ ipsos que & eorum quemlibet super
materia predicta per eorum sacramentum examinandi. Et ideo vobis
mandamus quod statim visis presentibus ac tenore supplicacionis sine
peticionis prediete testes predictos quos maxime pro testificacione
veritatis premissorum vt premittitur fore videritis euocandos coram
vobis quinque quatuor tribus aut duobus vestrum ad dictos dies & loca
quos ad hoc prouideritis venire faciatis & euocetis ac ipsos & eorum
quemlibet de & supra materia predicta diligenter examinetis examina-
ciones que suas recipiatis Et nos de examinacionibus huiusmodi cum
sic capte fuerint coram Consilio nostro predicto in Camera predicta
in quindena sancti Hillarii proximo futuri ^^ sub sigillis vestris vel
duorum vestrum distincte & aperte reddatis cerciores remittentes nobis
tenorem predictam ® vnacum hoc breve. Teste me ipso apud West-
monasterium quarto die Decembris anno regni regis vicesimo.^^
Gawbsbm.^'
Indorsed. Besponcio infrascriptorum Abbatis Gilberti Talbott
Thome Legon et Bogeri Bodynham.
Execucio istius breuis patet in quodam Botulo huic
breui annexo.
■ The handwriting of C appears to he
the same as that of tiiis doooment, so that
C is probably the copy here referred to, and
B the original petition.
' See p. 121, n. 4.
■ Sic.
* Sic, repeated.
** January 27, 1505. Hilary term began
this year on January 23.
•» 1604.
" The Exoh. E. B. Mem. Bolls for 21
Hen. 7 (1505-6) shew that (John) Gawesem
was at tibat time a clerk in the Exchequer,
in which capacity presumably he signed
the enrolments of the Boyal Letters to the
Barons of the Exchequer. He was after-
wards clerk of Windsor Castle till August 27,
1509, when his post was filled. S. P. Dom.
Hen. 8, 1. 608.
WORCESTRE, BAILLYS ETC. OF, PETITION OF 219
B. Examinacions taken the xvij'^ day of January the xx*** yere
of the reinge of our souerain lorde king Henry the vij*** * at
the Citie of Worcestre in the Countie of Worcestre before
thabbatt of Bordisley Gylbert Talbott knyghte Thomas
Lygon Gentilman and Boger Bodenham gentilman by veriue
of the kinges writt to them dyrectyd and herunto annexyd.
Phelipp Trowman of areley in the Countie of Stafford sometyme of
the Towne of Beaudeley of thage of Ixx" yeres and more sworne and
examynyd sayithe vppon his othe that Worcestre is an auncient Citie
and holden by the bayliflfes and Citezyns of the same Citie of the king
our souerain Lorde in fee ferme, and what somme of money they pay
therfore he knowith nott. Also he seith that the seide Citie is sett
vppon the oone syde of the Byuer of Savorne and that ther is there a
brygge of stoon archyd and enbowyd for men to passe ouer that
Byuer with cart ^ and wayne on horsbak and on fote and the grounde
on bothe sydys the seide Byuer and at bothe thendes of the seide
Brugge is within the libertie and Fraunchesse of the seide Citie and
parcell therof on bothe sydis of the seide Byuer and bothe thendes
of the seide Brugge there is ther grounde and soo the seide Byuer
rennyth throught the seide libertie and Fraunchesse and the seide
brugge is alweys repayred when nede requyrith at the great costes
and charge of the seide Bayliffes and Citezyns, butt what is the cost
and charge therof he knowith nott. Also he seith that euery of the
kinges leege people co[n]veying ther bootes Trowis and othre vesselles
ladyn or chargyd with goodes or marchaundizes throught the seide
liberties of the seid Citie and vndre the seide Brugge vppon the seide
Byuer haue ther passage and going at ther pleasur on the soyle and
landes of the seide Bayliffes and Citezyns within the libertie of the
seide Citie and att ther pleasur take ther tying in the seide streme
and on ther land adioyning to the same and with lynys and cordis
drawith ther seide Trowis botes and vesselles soo chargyd with
marchaundise vppon the soyle of the seide Citie adioyning to the
seide streme and with the seide cordes and with hokis pykkys and
sparrys of irron drawith hokith tyith & puttith at the seide Brugge
and greatly fretith lowsith and somtymes brekith and castith downe
the stonys of the seide brugge whereby it is daylie enpeyryd,' which
* 1505. hath two legges, a oart hath two wheeles.
' I.e. a two-wheeled as distingaished J. A. H. Murray, * Eng. Diot.' 8.y.
from a four-wheeled carriage. Of. J. Tay- ' Impaired,
lor (1628), * World on Wheels*: *As man
220 COURT OF THE STAIi CHAMBEK
hath be vsyd boo ther withoute tyme of mynde. Also he seith that
he hath passyd by the seide Ryuer dyuers tymes as a Trowman by
the seide Citie and vndre the seide Brugge fro Brystow with wyne and
with other goodes and marchaundise and payd for his Trow or Cobull *
passing vndre the seide brugge vpwarde at euery tyme a peny, and
euery man having merchaundise or goodes in the same Trowe paide
ther custome that is to wytt for euery tonne or tonne tyght — iiij d.
according to the olde custome alweys vsed, and al other men passing
vndre the seide brugge with there cobulles and Trowys paide alweys
ther custome in lyke forme as far as euer he knew, excepte thenhabi-
tauntes of the Town of Bristow,*^ the Forest of Dene,® Shrowisbury ^
and Bruggenorthe,** which were euer fre for paying custome for ther
marchaimdise and goodis butt oonly the owner of the Trow paide
euery tyme a peny for the passing of his Trow • vpwarde and of thes
customs and takyng the seide bayliffes and Gitezyns haue byne
peaseble possessyd by the space of fourtie yeris, during which xl yeris
I occupyed vppon the seide Ryuer as a Trowman. Butt he seith that
King Edward the iiij^^ for the seruice that thenhabitauntes of Beau-
deley dyd vnto hym att the fylde of Tewkisbury dischargyd them
of almaner of customs in any wise to be takyn by the saide baylififes
and Gitezyns of Worcestre ^^ and soo paide they noo custome by the
* Coble, generally a flat-bottomed boat. Owen and J. B. Blakeway, ' History of
J. A. H. Murray, • Eng. Diet.* s.v. Used Shrewsbury * (1825), i. 101.
in £. Yorkshire for any small fishing-boat. * By a charter of John dated January
* By the charter of Henry 2 dated 1164 10, 1215, the burgesses of Bruges (Bridg-
the burgesses of Bristol were * quit both of north) were made * free and quit of toll and
toll and passage and all custom through- passage for all their merchandise, wherever
out' England, Normandy, and Wales, they may pass throughout our land of
' wherever they shall come, they and their England, saving to our city of London its
goods.' John, when Earl of Mortain, by franchises ' (R. W. Eyton, * Antiquities of
a charter of 1188 expressly added *pont- Shropshire' [1854], i. 298). In 1223 the
age,' the duty now claimed. Henry 3 bailiffs of Bristol were forbidden to trench
in 1252 confirmed the charters both of upon this immunity (Rot. Claus. i. 538;
Henry 2 and of John. S. Seyer, * Charters Eyton, i. 302). By a charter of Henry 3
and Letters Patent of Bristol' (1812), pp. 1, dated June 20, 1227, the immunities above
6, 19. given as granted to the burgesses of Shrews-
* I have failed to discover any charter bury, including pontage, were granted to
conferring the privilege of exemption from those of Bridgnorth. Eyton, i. 803.
tolls upon the inhabitants of the Forest of * Presumably on the ground that the
Dean in H. O. Nicholls, * Forest of Dean ' immunities granted by the charters only
(1858), or in Atkyns, Rudder, or Fosbrooke. referred to merchandise.
Qu.whether the allowed exemption was a sub- '* By letters patent dated October 80,
mission to blackmail. See Introd. p. cxliv. 1472, Edward 4 granted to the burgesses
' By a charter dated March 20, 1227, and inhabitants of Beaudeley incorporation,
Henry 8 granted to the burgesses of Shrews- and that they should be * quit of toll,
bury and their heirs to be ' free of toll, pontage, passage, paiage, lestage, tronage
lestage, passage, pontage, stallage, leve anchorage, stallage, carriage, pesage, pa-
[levy], danegelds, gaywite, and all other vage, terrage, picage, cheminage, murage,
customs and exactions, both in England fossage, pedage, quayage, and other customs
and aU other the king's territories, saving throughout the realm,' <S;e. Pat. Bolls
the liberty of the city of London.' H. 12 Ed. 4, p. 362.
WORCESTRE, BAILLYS ETC. OF, PETITION OF 221
space of thre yeris butt after they paide their custome as they dyd
of olde tyme and paide vnto late dayes and further he knowithe nott
in this matter.
Thomas Kynges of nether areley in the Countie of Woreestre
of thage of Ix yeris & more sworne and examynyd seith vppon his
othe and agreythe with the seide Phelipp Trowman in euery thing
and furthre he seith that the Town of Glowcestre is fre of all customs
and takynges att Woreestre aforeseide ^^ in lyke wise as Brystow, the
Forest of Dene, Shrowisbury & Bruggenorthe, and more he knowithe
nott in the matter.
William Wethye of Claynes in the Countie of Woreestre of thage
of Ixx yeris & more sworne and examynyd seith vppon his othe
that he knowith of noo custome or taking of a peny of the owner
of euery bote or Trowe passing vndre the seide brugge as is rehercyd
and also seith that certen Townys be fre of customs and takinges at
Woreestre and certen be nott fre, butt whiche Townys be fre ther
and whiche be nott he cannott sey. And in euery othre thyng he
accordith with the seide Phelipp Trowman and furthre he knowith
nott in this matter.
William Yatton of Wyrbynhall in the parish of Kydurmynstre in
the Countie of Woreestre of thage of xl yeris and more sworn and
examyned seith vppon his othe that he hath occupyed vppon the
Eyuer of Savarn and vndre the brugge of the Citie of Woreestre by
the space of xx" yeris butt he knowith nott how far the Fraunches
and lybertie of the seid Citie extendith and in euery othre thing
agreyth with the seide Phelipp Trowman and furthre he knowith nott
in the matter.
John Sowthall of Tewkisbury in the Countie of Woreestre of thage
of 1 yeris & more sworne and examyned seith vppon his othe that he
hath occupyed vppon the seid Ryuer and vndre the seide Brugge
of Woreestre by the space of xxx yeris as a master of a Trow and
seith that the Town of Tewkisbury is fre of all customs to be take[n]
" By a charter of Richard 1 dated the sheriffs of Gloucestershire, Worcester-
May C, 1194, the king granted to the bur- shire, and Shropshire, ' command that the
gesses of Gloucester ' the same customs men of Gloucester and all those who wish
and liberties throughout our land of toll to go by the river Severn shall have their
and of all other things as the citizens of way and passage free and quiet by the
London and those of Winchester had at Severn with wood and coal and timber and
any time in the reign of King Henry, all merchandise * (letter of Bichard 1, ib.)
grandfather of our father.' ' Becords of By a charter of Edward 3 dated December
the Corporation of Gloucester,* ed. by 20, 1328, the burgesses 'shall be quit Or
W. H. Stevenson (Gloucester, 1893), p. 5. murage, quayage, pavage, passage, gildage
Letters in almost identical words from and merchants' gild, and of aU other such
Henry 2, between 1163 and 1174, and from customs throughout our whole kingdom.
Bichard 1, dated May 6, 1194, addressed to Ib. p. 12.
222 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
at the brugge of the Citie of Worcestre ^^ vppon the seid ryuer ecepte
iiij d. for euery tonn tyght of goodes and marchaandise passing vndre
the seide brugge. Butt how far the lybertie and fraunches of the
seide Citie extendith he cannott sey and in euery othre thyng agreyith
with the seide Phelipp Trowman and furthre he knowith nott in the
matter.
John Walker of Tewkisbury in the Countie of Woreeestre of thage
of XXX*' yeris & more sworne and examyned seith vppon his othe that
he hath occupyed vppon the seide ryuer and vndre the seide brugge
as a purcer of a Trow by the space of iiij yeris butt he knowith nott
how far the Fraunches and libertie of the Citie of Worcestre extendith
butt he seith that the owner of euery Trow passing vpward vndre the
seide brugge payith nothing for his Trow and in euery othre thing
agreyith with the seide Phelipp Trowman and furthre he knowith
nott in the matter.
Wattkyn Page of Beaudeley in the Countie of Salop of thage of Ix
yeris & more sworne and examyned seith vppon his othe that he hath
occupyed vppon the ryuer of Savarne and vndre the bryge of the Citie
of Worcestre as a master of a Trow by the space of xx yeris for dyuers
men butt he knowith nott how far the fraunches and libertie of the
Citie of Worcestre extendith and in euery othre thing aggreyith with
the seide Phelipp Trowman and furthre he knowith nott in this
matter.
Bichard Piers of Grymley in the Countie of Worcestre of thage of
Ix '^ yeris and more sworne and examynyd seith vppon his othe ^^ that
he hath occupyed vpon the ryuer of Severn & vnder the seide
brugge of the Cite of Worcestre as a purcer and master of Trowis and
Cobulles by the space of xl yeris and in euery othre thing he aggreyith
with the seide Phelipp Trowman and furthre he knowith nott in the
matter.
Thomas Bedill of Grymley in the Countie of Worcestre of thage
of xl yeris & more sworn and examyned seith vppon his othe that the
Townys of Brystow & Glowcester Shroswisbury and Bruggenorth byn
discharged of almaner marchaundise and goodes caryed in botes or
" By a oharter dated Angast 12, 1837, ^* The deposition as it originally stood
Edward 8 granted to the borgesses of continued : * that the Townys of Bristow,
Tewkesbury *to be for ever free of toll, Gloucestre, Shrowisbury A Bruggenorth
pannage, morage, pontage, quayage, lastage, byn discharged of almaner marchaundise
pioloMP^, Btiokage and stallage, and of all and goodes carryed in botes and Trowes
other customs . . . throughout our whole vndre the brugge of the Citie of Worcestre.*
realm.' J. Bennett, * Hist, of Tewkesbury * These words are struck through and those
(1880), p. 826. of the text interlined.
** xl struck through.
WORCESTRE, BAILLYS ETC. OF, PETITION OF 223
Trowis vndre the Brugge of the Citie of Worcestre and in euery other
thyng he agregith with the seide Phelipp Trowman and farthre he
knowith nott in the matter.
John Yatton of Dowlys in the Gountie of Salop of thage of xl
yeris & more sworn and examyned seith vppon his othe that
Worcestre is an auncient Citie holden of the king our souerain lorde
by a fee ferme the some whereof he knowith nott. And also he seith
that he hath laboryd vppon the ryuer of Savarne and vndre the
bruge of the seide Citie in Trowis and botes dyuers tymes and the
owner of euery Trow or Cobull passing vpward vndre the seide Brugge
payithe att euery tyme a peny for his Trow, and the owner of the
goodes in the seide Trow paith for euery Tonne or tonne tyght iiij d.
and this hath byne euer vsyd as far as euer he knew. And furthre
he knowith nott in this matter.
William Holwey of ouer areley in the Countie of Stafforde of
thage of Ix yeris & more sworne and examyned seith vppon his othe
that Worcestre is an auncient Citie and holden by the bayliffes and
Citezyns of the Same Citie of our soueran lorde the King in fee ferme
and what somme of money they pay therfore he knowith nott. Also
he seith that he hath dyuers tymes carryed woode in Trowis and
botes vppon the Eyuer of Savam vndre the brugge of the seide Citie
^ and payd yerely for his Trow to the seide bayliffes and Citezyns xx d.
for his haling tyage and hoking att the seide brugge which brugge is
oftentymes hurtyd therby and amendyd ageyn att the costes of the
seide bayliffes and Citezyns. Also he seith that euery man passing
vnder the seid Brugge with ther Trowis payith in lyke forme & euer
dyd as he hath harde sey euer. And more he knowith nott in this
matter.
WiUiam Palmer of Vpton Warren in the Countie of Worcestre of
thage of XXX** yeris & more sworne and examyned seith vppon his
othe that he hath carryed dyuers tymes irron wyne and hering and
other stuff of dyuers men whiche wyn hering and othre stuff were
sett on land vppon the key made of stoone of Worcestre and he paide
to the seide bayliffes for euery tonne tight theroff iiij d. excepte that
the owners of the same irron wyne heryng and othre stuff agreyd
with the seide bayliffes of the Citie of Worcestre for the custome ther.
And furthre he knowithe nott in this matter.
Bichard Lokook** of Kyngisnorton in the Countie of Worcestre
of thage of xl yeris and more sworn & examyned seith vppon
his othe that he hath oftentymes bought iron and dyuers othre
»» Will proved 1610. J. C. C. Smith, Index, u. 889.
224 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
merchaundise att the key made of stone in the Citie of Worcestre
repayred and amendyd euer when nede requyrith att the costes and
charges of the bayliffes and Gitezyns of the seide Citie and hath paide
to the seide bayliffes for euery tonne tyght therof iiij d. and this
doo all othre men euer pay as far as he knowith. And forthre he
knowith nott in the matter.
Richard Vytter ^^ of Kyngisnorton aforeseide of thage of xxx^*
yeris and more swome & examyned vppon his othe seith and
agreyith with the seide Richard Locook in euery thyng and further
he knowith nott in this matter.
Thomas Seriaunt of Kyngisnorton aforeseide of thage of xxx^*
yeris and more sworn & examyned vppon his othe seith and agreyith
with the foreseide Richard Locook in euery thyng and further he
knowith nothing in this matter.
William Palmer of Burnfordyelde in the parish of Bromysgrove
in the Countie of Worcestre of thage of xl yeris & mo[re]^' sworne
and examyned vppon his othe seith that he hath cariyed irron wyne
hering & othre marchaundise of dyuers mens sett on lande vppon the
key made of stoone of the Citi[e] *^ of Worcestre alweys repayryd when
ned requyrith att the costes and charges of the bayliffes and Citezyns
of the seide Citie and paide for euery tonne tyght therof iii[j]d.'^
orels the owners of the seide marchaundise dyd agre with the bayliffes
of the seide Citie * " this dyd euery othre man pay hauyng
any stuff ther as far as euer he hard and [further] ^^ he knowith
nothing in this matter.
Richard Wodwall of Beaudeley in the Countie of Worcestre sworn
and examyned bef[ore]*^ Gylbert Talbott knyght seith vppon his othe
that he hath alweys paide to the bayl[iffes] ^^ and Citezyns of Worcestre
for his Trow or Cobull passing with any goodes or marchaund[i8e] '^
vppon the Ryuer of Savern and vndre the brugge of Worcestre att
euery commyng vp of th[e] *' bote that wey a peny, and for euery tonne
& tonne tyght of goodes & marchaundise in the seide Trowe or
Cobull iiijd., and also seith that thenhabitauntes of the Town of
Beaudeley paide noo soche custome in the dayes of king Edward
the iiij*** by the space of thre yeris and after they paide custome as
they dyd before tyme. And as to the resydue of tharticles he was
nott examyned.
And we the seide Abbott, Gilbert Talbott knyght, Thomas Legon
& Roger Bodnam certifie the king our souerain Lordes moste honor-
•• Will proved 1604 of Richard Vytter the elder, of King's Norton. lb. p. 646.
" MS. torn.
WHYTE V. GLOUCESTRE, MAYOR AND BURGESSES OF 225
able and most discrete Gounsell in the starryd Chamber thabove
writtyn examinacions by vs taken in maner and forme afore rehercyd.
And herunto haue putt oar seales^^ the day & yere aboue seide.
Indorsed. A certificate of the Citie of Worcestre, &c.
In modem hand. Worcester, Bailiff, and Citizens of.
WHYTE V. GLOUCESTRE, MAYOR AND BURGESSES 0F.»
F. To the Lordes ' of the kyngis ho[noiLrable]' counsell in the
Sterre chamber.
1505 In the moost humbly wise shewith vnto youre good lordshippys
Thomas Whyte ^ marchaunt that whare as he and all the kynges liege
peopull for the tyme that no mynde is haue vsed to passe by the
Towne of Gloucestre in the countie of Gloucestre throwe in and vpon
the water of Seuern with Trowes* botes and other veselles with
marchaundises and other goodes within the same and to Tye to the
keyes there and to passe thorow their Surge ^ with cordes hokes and
other ingyns puttyng halyng and drawyng vpon the bankes of the
seid Ryuer and the Byrge ^ of the seid Towne for the sauf conveyeance
of the seid veselles and botes without eny toll or other custume
therfore paiyng vnto the tyme of Kyng Henry the vi*^ Kyng Edward
the iiij^^ late kynges of Inglond and in the tyme of oure souerayn lord
the Kyng that now is in which tymes the mayor and other of the
seid Town of Gloucestre and their predecessours haue caused diuerse
of the kynges Liege peepull passyng by the seid Ryuer arid Town
with botes vesselles and marchaundises and other goodes within the
same to be arestid and committed to the Geale of the seid Towne and
of diuerse other of the seid kynges liege peopull haue arestid and
takyn parte of theire seid marchaundise and the seid kynges liege
peopull so arestid haue kept in ward and the seid goodes so takyn
haue reteyned vnto they haue had of the seid people for euery Tonne
tyte ^ of the seid marchaundise sumtyme xij d. sumtyme viij d.
* Presumably cut off. ! HalliweU in * Aroh. Diet.' as ' a sort of
> S.C.P. Henry 7, No. 42. double boat, with an open interval between
' * Kyngis ' struck through before and closed at the end, used on the North
Lordes.* Tyne for salmon fishing.* Here, however,
* MS. torn. the word seems to be * trow,* and simply to
* There were several contemporaries of mean a barge,
this name, but there is no sufficient clue * Bridge.
given here for identification. ^ * Tite, weight. Somerset.* J. 0. Halli-
* The ' trows ' is described by J. 0. weU, ' Aroh. Diet.,* 8.V.
226 COURT OF THE STAB CHAMBER
snmtyme yj d. and sumtyme lesse as it lyked theym and for the refor-
macion therof in the tyme of the seid late kyng Henry the vi^^' and
speeyally in the tyme of our seid souerayn Lord the kyng that now is
the xix*** yere of his Realme it was enacted * that their seid peopull
shuld frely passe by the seid Streme and that no persons shuld of
theym take nor aske any thyng for theire seid passage vpon payne of
XX li, Prouyded that if eny person or body corporate coude afor the
lordes of the kynges moost honourabuU counsel! in the Sterre
chamber shewe thatt they ought to haue for the seid passage eny toll
or other custome and cowde proue their tale good to the same, that
then they shuld be herde as by the seid acte made the seid xx" ^ yere
of oure seid souerayn Lord more pleynly is expressid and therupon
the seid mayer and Burgenses pretendyng to haue auauntage by the
seid Statute haue late presentid a byll to your gode lordshippys sur-
mysyng by the same that they and there predecessours for the tyme
that no mynd is haue vsid to haue of euery bote passyng thorow the
seid Towne by the seid water appliyng to their keyes there or passyng
thorow their Burge halyng puttyng or drawyng with cordes or howkes
vppon their bankes of the seid ryuer there or by their Burge shuld
pay toll for euery Tonne tyte of their seid marchaundise yj d. as by
the seid byll more pleynly apperith wher of trouth they neuer vsed nor
, had eny suche custome nor toll except in the tyme of the seid late
kynges that they by extorsyon leuyed the seid summys of mony of
diuerse of the seid kynges Subiettes as your seid Oratours hath aboue
alegid. Wherfor youre seid Suppliant besechith your gode lordshippys
to be amytted *® into this Court to disproue the pretensid title and
clayme of the seid mayer and Burgeses and to bryng in his prouys
for the same for the welthe of your seid Suppliant and all other the
kynges liege peopull passyng by the seid ryuer. All whiche mater
your seid Oratour is redy to proue as this court wyll award and
praiyth as he hathe aboue prayed.
mo 11
Indorsed. Termino Pasche anno regni regie xx^
• 19 Henry 7, c. 18. * De Fluvio Sabrini/ »• For * admitted.* Cp. Madeley v. Fitz-
See Introduction, p. cxlv. herbert, D, p. 60, n. 11.
"Sic. There was no Parliament daring ** April O-May 5, 1505.
this reign after 19 Henry 7 (1504).
POWE AND ANOTHER V. NEWMAN 227
POWE AND ANOTHER v. NEWMAN.^
A. To the moost Keuerende father in god my
lorde Archebisshopp of Caunterburye ^
1504 Moost lamentablie compleyneth vnto youre goode and graciouse
-18 lordeshipp your contynuall Oratoures and dayly beedmen Thomas
Powe ^ and Thomas Towker of the diocese of Bathe and Welles. That
where as your said Oratoure Thomas Powe hathe a quearell
. dependyng in your noble Courte of the Audience ^ betwen hym of
oone partie actif and oone John Newman otherwise called Elys of the
other partie defendant, And the same John for his contumacie
obteyned by your honourable AuditourC* lawfully to be suspended
oute of the churche, ^ And vpon the same hadde oute your lettres of
execucion ^ so to denounce ^ the same John Newman in the parishe
churche where he dwelleth and so it is moost gracious lorde that for
bicause oone of your forseid Oratoures Thomas Towker whiche at
thinstant desire and diligent requisicion of the seid Thomas Powe
your oratoure aforeseid brought your foreseid moost reuerend letters
of execucion and them delyuered to the parishe prest or Curate of the
parishe churche of Comehawie ® of the same diocese for to denownce
* S.CP. Hen. 7, No. 62. See next note.
* Presumably William Warham or * Cp. the 33rd of the Articles of Religion:
Wareham, lord keeper August 11, 1501 ; * That person which by open denunciation
archbishop of Canterbury November 29, of the Church is rightly cut off from the
1603 (J. Le Neve, * Fasti,' i. 24) ; lord unity of the Church and excommunicated *
chancellor January 21, 1504. He resigned &c. ' Si reus nee per se nee per Procura-
the chancellorship December 22, 1515 ; died torem suum comparuerit. Procurator Acto-
August 22, 1532. ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' ' ris concipiet in scriptis literas denuncia-
' A family of this name inhabited the torias excommunicationis, et easdem sigillo
parish of Langridge, three miles N.N.W. of judicis oommuniri faciet : mittetque Beo-
Bath and about six miles distant from tori, Vicario sive Curato Ecclesiad Paro-
Combe-Hawie. J. Collinson, ' Hist, of chialis personae excommunicatsB ad denun-
Somerset' (1791), i. 133. ciandum et publicandum easdem Divi-
^ See Introd., pp. Ixxxv-xc, supra. norum tempore aliquo die Dominico seu
* Presumably sentenced to * suspensio ab Festivo ' (T. Oughton, ' Ordo Judiciorum '
ingressu ecclesiaa.' This, which was gene- [1738], i. 69). The incumbent was bound
. rally, though not exclusively, inflicted on under penalty of suspension to publish the
the laity, was, as bishop Gibson says, • a letter of denunciation and to return a
temporary excommunication,' inflicted for certificate of having done so to the party
offences of an inferior nature, and ter- who obtained them. lb. p. 70.
minated by satisfaction given to the judge * Combe-Hawey or Combe-Hay, three
(E. Gibson, ' Codex juris ecclesiastici ' [Ox- miles S.S.W. of Bath ; in Domesday, Come,
ford 1761], ii. 1047). For instance, by Its second name was derived from the
6 Ed. 6, c. 4, § 1 (*An Acte agaynste family of Hawey or Hay who held the
fightinge and quarelinge in Churches and manor not long after the disgrace of Odo,
Churcheyardes ') it was prescribed as the bishop of Bayeux, in 1088, to whom it
penalty for brawling laymen, to terminate had been granted by the Conqueror,
at the discretion of the Ordinary. In the reign of Edward 1 it passed, through
^ Apparently the liters denunciatoriaB. the marriage of Julian, daughter and
Q 2
i7 P.
228 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
suspended the foresaid John Newman in the seid parishe churche and
otherwise to doo accordyng as the tenor of the seid lettres makethe
mencion, The foresaid John Newman of all the premisses hauyng
knowlege And assone as your moost reuerend lettres were so
executed, and by the reason of the same not only the foresaid Thomas
Towker your mandatorye in that behalfe pullyng and halyng hym
by the bodie wrongfullye intreted hym And to hym speke many
iniuriouse and vilependiouse wordes but also caused your Oratoure
and mandatorye wrongfully at his sywte to be arrested And him
like a felon his handes bounde byhynde hym led to preson And
also caused the cattell of the seid Thomas Powe your Oratoure and
the cattell of the fader of the seid Thomas to the numbre of x oxen
to be arrested and dreven awey by force the seid Thomas Powe then
beyng at London geuyng attendaunce vpon his councell of your
honourable Courte where the fader of the seid Thomas bey(ng)* of
the age of Ixxij yeres, feryng the vtter yndoyng of hym self and also
of his Sonne, was feyne to make hym frendes to take the seid John
Newman otherwise called Elys vij" yj* viij^ to haue his Catell
agey(n) • where there was no peny due And after the maner of
extorcion orels brybery *° the seid John Newman withholdeth and
kepeth the seid Somme of vij" yj» viij'* wrongefully to the grete
lost** and hynderaunce of t(he)^ seid olde man fader to the seid
Thomas Powe your oratoure. And when the seid John hadde the
seid Somme of money he thretenyng the olde fader with maliciouse
wordes seyng, this money shall finde the *• thy sonne
plee y nowith ** Beforce whereof it wyll ensewe to the vtter
vndoyng of your seid Oratoures onlesse your lordeshipp the more
gracious be shewed to theym in this behalf. Hit may please youre
goode lorde8h(ip) ^ the premisses tenderly considered *' And also the
vntrew Arrestes made to thentent youre said Oratoure shuld surcesse
his seid Accion yn your Courte **to graunte a writ sub pena to be
dir(ected) ® to the said " John Newman otherwise called Elys
heiress of Thomas Hawey, to Sir Peter '* An erasure of about five inches in
Stradling, knight, whose family, the original length follows.
name of which was Le Esterling, had '^^* In another hand, in sabstitu-
emigrated from the Baltic to England in tion for words erased. After the word
the eleventh century. J. Gollinson, iii. 335. * said * follows an erasure of about an inch
* MS. torn. and a half in length. These erasures and
'" I.e. robbery with violence. Cp.A.Fitz- the substitutions consequent appear to
herbert, * Surveyenge,' Prologue : ' A gretter have been made in order to change the
bribery nor extorcyon a man can not do court from which the petitioner sought
than vpon his owne tenauntes ; * and see redress. The petition was apparently
J. A. H. Murray, ' Eng. Diet.' s.v. originally destined to the archbishop of
" Sic. Canterbury for contempt of his Court of
" Enough. Audience. The draughtsman, whose advice
POWE AND ANOTHER V. NEWMAN 229
commaundyng him by the same to comme and make Answers
before ^Hhe king our soueraign lord & his most honourable counsell
at a certeyn day and vppon a certeyn peyne ** by your lordeshipp to
be lymytted And to reforme hym according to his meritis yn this
behalf after your noble discrecion And your seid Oratoures shall
pray god for the preseruacion of youre noble estate.
Indorsed. Scilicet coram Bege in Gonsilio suo in Octabis sancti
martini proxime futuriJ*
{In modem hand) Powe v. Newman.
B. The aunswere of John Newman to the bill of
Compleynt of Thomas Powe & Thomas Towker.
The seid John seith that the seid bill is vncerten & insufficient
to be awnswared vnto and all thyng conteyned in the same is mater ^ ^^ -,^1
determinable at the Comen law and not in this Court. And ferther-
more as to the first poynt as to the wrongous vexacion doon agaynest
the said Thomas Towker by the said John as puUyng and haylyng
hym by the body in riotous maner when he brought the lettres of
execucion into the said Parissh Church as is supposid in the said bill
The said John seith that at that tyine that the said lettres in to the said
parissh Church were brought & the wrongous vexacion in the same
Church as in the said bill is supposid to be doon that he wos not nere
the said Church & place by the viage of x myles and more And
for forther Aunsware to the ij^ poynt as towchyng the areste &
bryngyng of the said Thomas Towker to prison like a felon The said
John seith that the said Thomas Towker hath comyn many & diuerse
tymes with iiij or v persones with hym & hath manassed enthretid
& spokyn malicious wordes vnto hym wherof he wos in doute &
iepardy of deth and so for saffgard of his lyf he went to a justice of
the peas of the same Shyre & so hadd out a warant for the same
Thomas Towker for to fynd surerte to here & kepe the peas agaynest
hym as law & right requerith And also for more vnsware to the
was subsequently foUowed, relied upon the > cognisance of perjury fsee p. 19, n. 8), and
'yntrew arrestes ' of the petitioner and the readiness of the Court to extend its
Towker as bringing the case within the jurisdiction probably justified the draughts-
cognisance of the Star Chamber. Except man's tactics. It is curious that the con-
by forcing the words of the recital * to the eluding prayer is addressed, not to the
encres of . . . unsuerties of all men lyvyng archbishop and the Council, but to the arch-
and losses of their londes and goodes,' it bishop alone, conformably to the original
does not seem possible to make the Act intention of the petitioner. See further
applicable. Nevertheless, it was in virtue of Introd., p. Ixxxix, supra,
the recital that the Star Chamber assumed '* November 11-18.
230 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
iij'^ poynt as to the arestyng & drivyng a way the catell of the Fader
of the said Thomas Fowe as is sapposid in the said bill The said
John seith that he as Seruaimt & Baylly vnto oone Edward
Stradlyng^ Squyer & by his commanndement distreyned the said
Fader of the said Thomas Fowe as a Tenaunt vnto the said Edward
his mayster for arrerage of his rent & ferme dewe vnto hym
the which arrerages amounteth to the said Somme of vij" vj* viij"* as
is surmitted in the said bill the which he will averre and prayeth to be
dismyssed out of this Court with his resonable Costes for his wrongous
vexacion in this behalf.
WOROESTRE, BISHOP OF, v. THOMAS & OTHERS.^
A. To the Kyng our soueraign lord
1505 Humbly Shewith vnto your highnes your feithfull Chapleyn and
contynuall Oratour Siluestre Bishop of Worcestre ^ That Where at a
launday ' & Court holden for your supplyant at Stratford vppon avene *
in your Countye of Warwyk elleccon was made by the xij men sworn
at the same lauday & Court of too Constables for the conseruacon of
your peas with in the precyncte of the same town '^ and of a baily ^ ther
to be for the yere folowyng as all weys hath he vsed ther out of tyme
of mynde one Thomas Thonasyn of the same Town yoman which of
his own presumptions mynde wold haue be bailly ther for this yere,
not plesyd with the seid elleccon assemble ^ with one Richard Bentley ®
and John Stafforshire ® of the same yonen **' & other mysruled
personys to the Nombre of xij with billes Clubbys Stauys & Swerdes
came riotously to the hous wher the seid lauday & Court was holden
* Eldest son and heir of Thomas Strad- genitive, i.e. the day of law. Cf . p. 44, n. 8.
lyng, lord of the manor, by" Jennet daughter * Stratford-on-Avon had been a manor
of Thomas Matthew of Rhydor, Glamorgan- of the See of Worcester since 716. See R. B.
shire. Thomas Strad lyng died in 1480. Wheler, * Hist. &o. of Stratford-upon-Avon '
Edward Stradlyng married Elizabeth (1806), p. 2.
daughter of Sir Thomas Arundel of Lan- • Under the provisions of the Statute of
hem, Cornwall. He was knighted at Winchester (1286). Cf. p. 148, n. 27.
Toumay on September 25, 1613, for his ' Called in a deed of 1469, 'capitalis
services in Henry 8's expedition against ballivus.' Wheler, p. 18, n.
France (W. C. Metcalfe, • Book of Knights,' ' Sic for ' assembled.'
p. 49, with which cf. Halle v. Essexe, A, " Master of the Gild of St. Cross in
p. 172, n. 6, supra). This fact determines 8 Henry 7 (1492-93). J. O. Halliwell,
the latest limit of date for this case. Sir ' Calendar of Records of Stratford-upon-
E. S. died in 1536. J. Collinson, • Hist, of Avon ' (1863), p. 67.
Somerset' (1791), iii. 336. * The name of a Stratford family. lb.
» S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 66. p. 66.
2 Silvestro Gigli, bishop of Worcester, '• Sic for yomen (yeomen). Cf. the
1498-1521. See * Diet. Nat. Biog.' writing of Thonasyn for Thomasyn, supra.
> Qu. the old English form of the
WORCESTRE, BISHOP OF, t\ THOMAS & OTHERS 231
and then ther whold haue slayne one John Elys deputie Styward
sittyng & kepyng the seid Court and ther with exclamacon seid that '^
William Cottoun *^ which was ellecte bailly as is aforeseid shuld not be
bailly ther Who so euer wold sey naye and with assautes & exclamacons
riotuosly kept the seid deputie Styward bailly & xij men tille hit was
passed x of the clokke in the nyght to the grete distorbans of your
peas and in contempt of your highnes & of your lawes to the perillous
example of mysdoers enlesse they may haue due punyscion therfore.
In consideracon wherof that it wiUe pleas your highnes to directe your
honorable letters of pryue seale to the seid Thomas Thonasyn Richard
Bentley & John Staffordshire to appere before your highnes and your
most honorable Counsaill at your palous of Westminster at the
y^jtasis Qf geynt hillarii next commyng there to aunswere to thes
premisses & to be punyshed for their seid riotte & contemptes. And
your seid humble Oratour shall daily pray to God for the preseruacon
of your most Biale estate long to endure.
Indorsed. ^^ Respondeat apud Westmonasterium octabis hillarii ^^
Episcopus Wigornensis.
Termino Hilarii anno vicesimo.^*
Episcopus Wigomiensis contra Thomam Thomasyn
Bychard Bentley & Johannem Staffordshyre
worsecester.
B. This is the answere of Thomas Thomas ^ Bichard Bentley
& John Staffordshire to the byll of Complaynt of Syluester
Bisshopp of Worcestere.
They sayen that that at the sayd lawe daye holden at the said
Town of Stratford vppon aven that suche xij men that there shuld be
Bwome haue bene vsed owt of tyme of mynd to be xij of the most
substanciall & honest persones of the same Town to thentent that they
shuld Chose substanciall men & men of honest Conuersacon to be
Constables & Bayllyflfes of the same Town for the yere ensuyng And
oon JohnEylis beyng Stywardes deputie of the same Town to thentent
that he wold make Bayllyffes & Constables of the said Town suche as
"~" A blank had been left and is filled oit (octo). A. Brachet, * Dictionnaire Ety-
in with this name by another hand. mologique ' (1879), s.v. Huit. Cf. p. 38, n.
•« Utas or Octave— i.e. January 20, St. 16.
Hilary being January 18. See J. J. Bond, "~" In another hand.
* Handy-Book of Dates ' (ed. 1876), p. 160. " January 23-February 12, 1505.
The word is ' quasi huitas, from huit ' (Fr.). * Note this variation in the name and
B. Nares, ' Glossary ' (1888), s.v. The that in C.
ancient form of huit was uit, and originally
232 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
hym shnld please caused the jurie to be made of the most senglest ' &
symplest persones of the said Town And some of them wer but
mennys seruantes And left the substanciall men owt of the same jury
And after the said jury was sworn they kuld not agree vppon oon of
the Baylyflfes and they so beyng not agreed the said John Eylis pro-
claymed Baylyflfes & Constables at large in the sayd Town suche as
hym pleased as thoughe the same j urates hadde been fully agreed on
the same without the assent or agrement of the said xij men and
bifore any verdite by them geven And then Richard Bentley & John
Staflfordshire came to the said John Eylis & shewid hym that they
did not well to proclayme the said oflScers bifore the said jurie were
agreed vppon them but advised hym to put the said jury in a howse
till they were agreed. And the said Thomas Thomas saith that in the
mornyng of the same day owt of the Courte & long bifore the Court
began the same John Eylis & the said Thomas Thomas Fell at wurdes
for an entre made by the said John Eylis in the name of the said
Bisshopp in to certen londes of Thomas handys wyfes by occasion
wherof the same John Eylis was about to drawe his knyflf at the said
Thomas Thomas. Without that the said Thomas Thomas Richard
Bentley & John Staflfordshire with other to the nombre of xij persones
came with billys ^ Clubbys * staflfes & Swerdes Riotously to the howse
where the said la we day & Court was holden or there wold haue slayn
the said John Eylis sittyng & kepyng the said Court And without
that that they with assautes & exclamacions riotously kept the said
John Eylis Baylyf & xij men till it was past x of the Clok in the
nyght. Ant ^ without that eny of them were or be gilty of eny riott
or misdemenure comprised in the said bill And without that the said
Thomas Thomas cam to the said Court at eny tyme duryng the same.
All which maticrs they bene redy to proue as this Court will award
And prayen to be dismyssid owt of the same with there reasonable
Costes & damages for their grete trouble and wrongefuU vexacon in
that behalf.
c. This is the replicacon of the Bishop of Worcettour to the
aunswere of Thomas Tomeson Bichard Bentley & John
Staflfordshire.
The seid Bishop seith & auerith his bille of Complaynt to be true.
How be hit that the seid Thomas Tomeson Richard Bentley & John
' I.e. silliest, weakest. See J. O. Halli- * See Eynesham, Abbot of, v. Harecourt
well, ' Diet, of Archaic Words * (1850), b.v. and others, p. 160, n. 26.
Single. * Sio.
* See Walterkyn v. Letice, p. 165, n. 5.
WORCESTRE, BISHOP OF, V. THOMAS & OTHERS 233
Staffordshire Golerably wold excuse theire rioute & mysbehanynges
conteyned in the bille and moreouer he seith that the elleccon of the
bailly & officers was made by agrement of honest personys sworn at
the seid Court. Also he seith that one William lane & Richard
Bucke receuour & surueyour of his landes then beyng in the seid towne
of Stretford and perceuyng the grete perell that was lyke to ensue by
reason of the seid rioute & onlawfull essemble of the seid defendantes
went vnto doctor Collyngwod warden of the Colege of Stretford * &
desired hym to lycens certeyn of his seruantes to attende & assist
theym in Company to the seid Court howse for the appesyng of the
seid riotuose delyng wherupon certeyn of the seruantes of the seid
warden & by his commaundement went with the seid William lane &
Richard Bucke to the seid Court house and then they by their
wisdommys with grete defyculte caused the seid mysdowers to departe
& the seid depute Styward & othir of the xij men to come forth out of
the seid house. Without that the seid jurie sworn at the seid Court was
made of symple personys or mennys seruantes as is surmysed in the
seid aunswere, and without that the seid John Eylis proclaymed the
baillys & Constables of the seid town for the yere folowyng before the
seid xij men were agreed or without their assentes. Also he seith
that the seid Thomas Tomeson Rayled & hadde onsittyng ^ langauge
towardes the seid John Eylis in the mornyng before the Court and
wold haue drawen his wodknyf on hym and by cause he coude not
then accomplishe his malos and also haue the bailly to be chosen
after his wille & entent he conspyred with the seid Bentley & Stafford-
shire to pyke quarelles & Challenge the seid deputie Styward sittyng
in the Court accordyng & do ^ as it is conteyned in the seid bille of
complaynt and for asmeche as hit apperith by the seid aunswere that
the seid Riotous personys of their malicyous mynde entendyd & were
aboute to take on theym the rule & ordour of the Court wher as yf
ther hadde be any mysordore hit hadde be conuenyent to haue shewed
hit to the seid receuour & surueyour then present in the towne. All
which maters he is redy to proue as this Court award hym and praith
to be dismyssed with his reasonable Costes for his wrongfull vexacon.
Indorsed (in modem hand). Worcester, Bishop of, v. Tomeson
&al.
* Ralph Colyngwood, or Collingwode, Archdeacon of Coventry, 1510; Dean of
D.D., prebendary of York, April 6, 1487 ; Lichfield, 1612 ; died 1518. Wheler, p. 31.
Warden of the Collegiate Church of Strat- ^ Unsitting, onsnitable. Halliwell, b.v.
ford-npon-Avon, 1491 ; Dean of the Col- ' Sic for * unto.'
legiate Chnroh of St. Mary, Warwick, 1507 ;
234 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
D. This is the reioynder of thomas thomas, Eichard Bently,
And John Staffordshere To the replicacion of the bisshopp
of Wosseter.
They sey And Auerre theire seid Answere to be good and trewe in
euery thyng in the same Answere by fore Alleyed ^ With ovte that
that they caused the seid depute Steward and xij men to be kept in
the seid cowrte howse tyll the ower of x of the clock at aflfter none or
that the seid Thomas Richard or John departid from the seid cowrte
by grett dificulte & labour of the seid William lane And Richard Buck
or that they or eny of them compelled the seid depute Steward for any
Fere to tary in the seid cowurte howse. And with oute that that the
seid thomas thomas rayled or had any on syttyng ^ langgage a genst
the seid John eylys depute steward or wold haue drawyn his wodknyflFe
vppon hym and with oute that he conspired with the seid Richard
bentley and John Staffordshere to pyck quarelles or challenge the
seid depute steward or do any thyng that is comprised in the seid
byll of complaynt And with oute that the seid thomas thomas Richard
or John or eny of them entendyth or were aboute to take vppon them
the ordre or rule of the seid courte but oonly cheritable to enforme in
goodly maner the seid depute steward of his myssedelyng contrary to
there lawdabill customez of the seid towne by fore tymes vsed all
wiche maters they be redy to prove as this courte woU awarde and
pray as in the seid answer they haue prayed.
DALABERE AND OTHERS, JUSTICES OF PEACE, CERTIFICATE OF.^
To the Kynge and his Coiincelle
1606 The certificat of sii- Richarde dalabere^ knyght waiter basker-
vyle^ Knyght and Rowlande morton^ Justices of the peez of
the shere of hereforde and sir John lyngen the yunger*
Knyght Scheryff of the same Schere.
Where it is ordeynyd & provided by a statute made in the xiij-*"
yere of the reygne of the ryght noble prince henry the iiij***^ That yif
* See p. 113, n. 1. son and heir of Sir Kynard Dalabere, or
2 For'unsitting' see C«n. 2, p. 233, supra. Dalabar, by Joan, eldest daughter and co-
» S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 19. heir of Sir Thomas de Barry. (Atkyns, I.e.)
* Sir Richard Dalabcre of Southam, Glou- Entrusted by Edward 4 in 1474 with a com-
oestershire (Sir R.AtJiyns,' State of Glouces- mission, under Anthony Wydeville, Earl
terriiire* [1768], p. 186), and a considerable Rivers, Edward's brother-in-law, to sup-
landowner in Herefordshire (W. H. Cooke's press an insurrection in Wales. Pat. Bolls
•Ck)ntinuation of Duncumb ' [1892J, iv. 83), 13 Ed. 4, p. 429 (26 Feb.). But he must
DALABERE AND OTHERS, JUSTICES OF PEACE, CERTIFICATE OF 235
any Eyotte Rowtte or assemble of people agenste the law within any
payrte of the Bealme be made That then the Justices of the peez iij
of • Hereford Cathedral * (J. C. C. Smith,
•Index,' i. 166). He married Elizabeth,
daughter of Henry Norrys, marshal of the
hall to Henry 7. B. Atkyns, 1. s. o. ; cf. W.
Campbell, * Mat.' i. 177.
' Sir Walter Baskervyle or Baakerville,
son of Sir James Baakerville, *an active
partisan of the House of York' (W. H.
Cooke, * Continuation of Duncumb,' iv.
157), who in 1492 settled upon Walter, or
Walter's son James and their heirs, the
manors of Eardisley, Standune, Letton and
Orcop, Herefordshire. Sir Walter Basker-
ville was sheriff of the county in 1470.
In 1496 he was nominated a conmiissioner
of subsidy for the county (Rot. Pari. vi.
518). He was dubbed E.B. in 1501, on the
occasion of the marriage of Arthur, Prmce
of Wales, to Katharine of Aragon (November
17). (W. C. Metcalfe, 'Book of Knights,'
p. 34.) He is said to have died in 1505
(Cooke's ' Duncumb,' 1. c), but this case
proves that date to be erroneous.
* Younger brother of Cardinal Morton, i
knighted after November 12, 1522, on which
date he was pricked sheriff as Bowland
Morton, Esquire (P. R. O. *List of Sheriffs '
[1898], p. 61), of The Grange, Bosbury,
Herefordshire (Cooke, ib. p. 118). Nomi- !
nated in 1503 a commissioner for Hereford-
shire to raise the aid granted to Henry 7
on the marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales
(Rot. Pari. vi. 542). Married first Elizabeth
Pembruge, through whom he acquired the
manor of Mansel Oamage (Cooke, 1. c):
Sheriff of Herefordshire 1522 (List of
Sheriffs in J. Duncumb, i. 145) ; died 1523,
leaving a son and heir, Richard Morton
(ib.), by his second wife Sibilla, daughter
of Monington, co. Hereford (J.
Hutchins, ' Hist, of Dorset,' ii. 594).
* Sir John Lyngen the younger was of
a Yorkist family, his father, Sir John
Lyngen, having been knighted by Edward 4
upon the field of Tewkesbury (W. C. Met-
calfe, p. 3) on May 3, 1471. The family
had held the manor of Sutton Freene,
Herefordshire, since the reign of Henry 3
(J. Duncumb, ii. 183), and also held that '
of Kenohester (W. H. Cooke's * Continua-
tion,' iv. 110). The son evidently inherited
the politics of his father if it was he who
was nominated by Richard 3 on December
10, 1483, a commissioner for Herefordshire
to inquire into lands belonging to the
supporters of the Duke of Buc^ngham's
abortive rising in the foregoing autumn.
(Pat. Rolls 1 Richard 3, p. 392.) It is
probable, however, that both deserted the
cause of Richard 8, for the father was
sheriff of the county in 1486 (W. Campbell,
have been suspected of Lancastrian sym-
pathies, for he was not placed upon the
Conmiission of the Peace until Dec. 6, 1470,
during the brief restoration of Henry 6
rPat. Rolls, 1467-77, p. 616), nor again
during Edward's 4'8 reign; nevertheless
he was dubbed a knight by the king on
January 18, 1477, the occasion of the
marriage of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of
York, Edward 4's second son (aged five),
to Anne Mowbray (W. C. Metcalfe, *Book
of Knights,' p. 5). He was sheriff of the
county in 1478, and again in 1482 (' List
of Sheriffs,' P. R. O., p. 61). He was re-
placed on the Conmiission of the Peace
for Herefordshire on May 14, 1483, while
Richard Duke of Gloucester was still
Protector, and was appointed a commis-
sioner for subsidy in Herefordshire soon
after his accession, August 1, 1483 (Pat.
Rolls, 1 Rich. 3, p. 394). He was apparently
trusted by Richard 3, being placed by him
upon the commission of array for Here-
fordshire to resist the anticipated invasion
of Henry, Earl of Richmond, an important
charge in view of the Lancastrian sym-
pathies of the Welsh (May 1, 1484, ib. p.
401), and again on December 8 following (ib.
p. 491). But he probably deserted to Henry
7, for on December 28, 1485, a writ was
issued by the new king ordering him to
arrest a number of persons, probably politi-
cal opponents (W. Campbell, ' Mat.' i. 223),
and he received on December 17, 1486, a
grant of an annuity of £10 out of the issues of
the lordship or manor of Snowdehill, Here-
fordshire (id. ii. 78). For his prowess at the
battle of Stoke, in which John de la Pole,
Earl of Lincoln, was slain, and Lambert
Simnel captured, he was dubbed a knight
banneret June 9, 1487 (Metcalfe, p. 13).
He was nominated a conmiissioner for
gaol delivery at Leominster on February 12,
1489 (W. Campbell, ' Mat.' ii. 482), and was
sheriff again in 1492. He took part in the
festivities at Court on the creation of Prince
Henry Duke of York, in November 1494
(J. Gairdner, 'Letters and Papers of Richard
3 and Henry 7 ' [1861], i. 403). He was
nominated on the Commission of the
Peace for Herefordshire in the first year
of Henry 8 (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 646, 675),
and again on January 28, 1513 (ib. 3686) ;
and was pricked sheriff of the county Novem-
ber 9, 1510 (ib. 1316). He died before July
20, 1514, when the stewardship of certain
lordships in Herefordshire was granted by
Henry 8 to a successor (ib. 5272). His son
and heir Thomas received livery of his
lands on November 14, 1514 (ib. 5596).
Sir Richard's will was proved in 1514 as
236 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
or ij at the leste of the same Countie where svche Ryotte is com-
myttyd vpon Complayntte to them thereof made schall jnquere of the
same Byotte within a monyth then nexte folowynge And in case
soche Byotte assemble or Bowtte may not be Founden then iij or ij
of the said Jnstes att the leste with the scheryff or vndyrscheryf
within a monyth then nexte ^suynge certyfy the kynge and his
Councelle of all the dede and circnmstans of the same as by the said
estatute more playnely apperyth^ So it is that vppon Complayyntte
made to vs the seid Justices by the Castos and vicaryes of the qnere
of the Cathedrall Churche of hereford that henry Chyppenham of the
Cite of hereford in the Counte of hereford Squyer now maire of the
same Cite® gethyrde vnto hym othyr misdoers to the nowmbre of xij^
persons the xvij*^ day of Juny in the xxi*^ yere of our souerayn lordes
Beigne kynge henry the vij^^^ at hereforde aforesaid in the Counte
aforesaid assembled them self with wepons invasyue that is to say,
byllys *® and knyuys and then and there in a medowe called Croked
lesow beynge in the possessyon of Thomas Morton*^ Clerke Bicharde
Judde *^ Clerke Wyllyam Glasyer and othere, entyrde and the grasse
there growynge mowede and caste down as by the said Complayntt
was aftermyd Accordynge to the wych Estatute and Complayntt
We the said Justices with other the xiiij*^ day of July the yere
abouesaid at hereforde aforesaid sate and enquieryd of the premysses
accordyngly, And by the enqueste then and there empanellyd and
chargyd for thenquere of the premysses nothynge before vs was
founden For the wich we the said Justes and scheryff accordyng to
the tenure and fourme of the same Estatute certyfy your highnes
* Mat.' ii. 146). John Lyngen the younger mas. lb. 357.
was sheriff in 1497, 1505 (December 1), * 1506.
1516, 1520, and 1528, P. R. O. *Li8t of •• See p. 165, n. 5.
Sheriffs' (1898). He was a commissioner *' Thomas Morton, Archdeacon of Here-
for raising the aid in Herefordshire on ford 1493-1511 (J. Le Neve, * Fasti ' [1854],
the marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales, i. 481) ; perhaps the same as the rector of
in 1503 (Bot. Pari. vi. 542). He was dabbed Lanteglos, near Camelford, to which living
Knight of the Sword on the creation of he was presented on October 6, 1490 (W.
Henry, Prince of Wales, February 18, 1503 Campbell, ' Mat.' ii. 513) ; probably a con-
(W. C. Metcalfe, p. 40). He married in nezion of the Cardinal, in whose family
1512 or 1513 Eleanor, daughter and heir Thomas was a frequent name (see J.
of Thomas Myldwater, of Stoke Edith Hutchins, 'Hist, of Dorset' [1863J, ii. 694).
(Doncomb, ii. 184), and died in 1530, His will was proved in 1511 as canon resi-
leaving a son, John (ib.). dentiary of Hereford and of Bosbury, Here-
• 18 Henry 4, c. 7 (1411). fordshire, which associates him with Row-
' The significance of this certificate land Morton (see n. 4, supra). J. C. C.
was that by the statute it was made equi- Smith, ' Index,' ii. 378.
valent to presentment by a jury (ib.). Cf. *=* Richard Judde, prebendary of Here-
also p. 145, n. 35, and Introd., p. ii. ford (qu. 1476 ; see J. Le Neve, ' Fasti,' i.
" Mayor of Hereford in 1501 and 1505-6 497) ; Treasurer of the Cathedral June 22»
(J. Donoumb, i. 866). In the reign of 1511. Will dated May 11, 1512 ; proved
James 1 the Mayor took office at Michael- June 15, 1512. Ib. p. 490.
DALABERE AND OTHERS, JUSTICES OF PEACE, CERTIFICATE OF 237
and your most honorabull Councell the vj day of Auguste the yere
abouewretyn that the said henry meyre of the said Cite beynge
accumpanyde with one Thomas Bowse his Swyrdeberer Waltre melyn
Jamys Ayleman and John peyynter his Sargaunttes the said xvij^**
day of Juny the yere and place abouewretyn entyrde in to the said
medow as in the pretensyd ryght of Thomas Chyppenham ^^ brother
to the said henry and caused one Gryffyth Clemente and other to
mow and Cutte down the grasse there growynge wich is the hole dede
and circumstans as nere as the said Justices and scheryfif canne
vndyrstande or know.
Indorsed. Liberatum fuit domino Gancellario Anglie apud
Kiow^* per manus Eowlandi moreton yj^ Augusti anno xxi
Henrici vii.^*^
FURNIVALLYS IN, PRINCIPAL &c. OF, v. JOHNSON AND OTHERSJ
A.
To the kyng our souerayn lord
1607 ^^ moste humble wise sheweth on to your gracius Hyghnes your
pore subiectes and continuall oratours John Appliard^ of London
Gentilman^ Pryncypall of Fumivallys In* in Holburne and the
*' Qn. whether this was Thomas Chip-
ham (sic) who became prebendary of
Hereford July 16, 1512 (Le Neve, ib. p.
619). Presumably this was a quarrel about
some land belonging to the cathedral.
^* Eew was included in the royal manor
of Richmond. The house was buUt, accord-
ing to Lelandf by a steward of the house-
hold of Henry 7. See W. E. Brayley, ' Hist,
of Surrey,' ed. E. Walford, p. 304.
»* 1506.
» S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 26.
' John Appliard of London, perhaps
John Applyarde of Alhalowes, Honey Lane,
London, and Carlton, Norfolk, who died at
Calais, and whose will was proved in 1537
(J. C. C. Smith, ' Index,' i. 16). There was a
family of the name in Norfolk, whose prin-
cipal seat was Brakon or Braconash. The
will of John Appleyard or John Appliarde the
elder esquire of Brakon was proved in 1498
(ib.). John Appleyard the younger, the date
of whose death Blomefield does not mention,
died without issue, and it is probable that
the principal of an inn of Chancery was
unmarried. The manors of Brakon and
Carlton were held together. See F. Blome-
field, 'Hist, of Norfolk' (1806), v. 84, 103.
There was, however, also a family of this
name settled at Burstwiok-in-Holdemess,
one contemporary member of which was
named John. Poulson gives a pedigree of
this family. ' Hist, of Holdemess ' (1841),
ii. 366.
' See ' Select Cases in the Court of
Requests ' (Selden Soc. 1898), p. 147.
* So called from Joan de Fumival,
daughter and heiress of WiUiam last baron
Fumival (d. 1383), who married Thomas
Nevill, brother of Ralph first earl of West-
moreland. W. Herbert, in his ' Antiquities
of the Inns of Court and Chancery ' (1804),
p. 324, speaks of Furnival's Inn as tnougn
it first became an Inn of Chancery when
purchased by Lincoln's Inn in 1647. He is
followed by Foss, * Lives,' v. 288. Two
engravings of old Furnival's Inn are to be
seen in Herbert, pp. 324, 327. But it is
mentioned in the Black Book of Lincoln's
Inn, of whicii it was evidently then a
dependency, as early as 1496, when an
account was passed of * lis. 5(2. for a refec-
tion given to the society of Fumevall's Inne
at Christmas ' (1495) by order of the then
governors (Black Books, i. 111). Lin-
coln's Inn nominated its readers and prin-
cipals (ib. 172, 236), but the name of Apple-
yard does not occur before 1646, in which
238
COUKT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Company of the same place that wer as on John Irton * & on Jamye
Drylond ® Gentilmen and felowys of the seyd Company the monday
be fore twelffe day last passyd wer in pesabull maner Comyng to the
seyd place of Furnivalles In aboute vij of the cloke of the ny3ght ^ in
Holbume a fore seyd on Humfrey Hadderton® Holt & Holford^
Bichard Bekynsall Eaff Holand Richard Cony & Roger Johnson
seruantes*® and dyuers odyr wyth the reuerent Fadyr Jamys
Bysshoppe of Ely*^ than and there assembled and assocyat wyth
year a John Appleyard was admitted to
Lincoln's Inn (Line. Inn Admissions, i. 54).
FumivaPs Inn paid 3/. 6s. 4d. yearly rent
to Lincoln's Inn (W. Herbert, * Antiquities,'
p. 825). The site of Fomival's Inn was
sold, and prestmiably the Society dissolved
in 1853. C. Welch, * Modem Hist, of the
City of London ' (1896), p. 205.
* John Irton, junior, was admitted to
Lincoln's Inn on March 26, 1507 (ib. i. 32).
This would be after residence at Fumival's
Inn (see W. Herbert, * Antiquities ' &c.
p. 325). On his admission to Lincoln's
Inn he was ' pardoned five vacations, the
remainder to be kept within three years,'
an indication that this was so (Black Books,
i. 145). There was a family of considerable
estate of this name at Irton in Cumberland,
in which the name John was common,
W. Hutchinson, 'Hist, of Cumberland'
(1794), i. 673.
' A student named Dryland (Christian
name unmentioned) was admitted to Lin-
coln's Inn in 1431, but this is too early a
date. The will of a James Dryland of
Davyngton, Kent, was proved in 1467
(J. C. C. Smith, 'Index,' i. 179), but this is
also too early. This James Dryland had
purchased the manor of Davington in 1443,
and left an only daughter, through whom
the seat came to the Walsinghams
(E. Hasted, • Hist, of Kent ' [1782], ii. 441,
720 g. 727). James was not a very com-
mon Christian name in England at this
period, and the James Drylond of this case
was probably one of this family.
^ One of the rare examples of the Anglo-
Saxon ^ that I have met with in the Star
Chamber documents. 'We find "gh" in
olden English often represented by ^, as
in cijte, wy^t, myjte, fojte, bro^te. . . . The
sound of this *' gh " was originally that of
the High Dutch "ch"' (Maetzner, 'An
English Grammar,' translated by C. J.
Grece [London, 1874], i. pt. i. § 1, p. 156).
Here the 3 has been retained, together with
the *gh,' doubtless to mark the guttural
sound.
• Otherwise Atherton. See n. 10, infra,
and B, p. 241, infra.
^ These names probably stand for those
of three persons, as appears from B, p. 241,
infra. Double Christian names were rare at
this date, though as many as twenty-eight
have been noted belonging to the fifteenth
century. See * Notes and Queries,' 9th ser. 1
vi. 217, and Goryng v. Northumberland,
Earl of, B, p. 98, n. 1, and p. 206, n. 37.
'* This does not necessarily imply that
they were of humble origin. They were
probably young gentlemen attached to the
bishop's household, as Sir Thomas More
was to that of Cardinal Morton. Shak-
speare in * Henry 8,' act ii. sc. 1, makes
Buckingham say of himself and his father :
' Both fell by our servants, by those men we
loved most.' The betrayer of this duke was
his cousin Charles Enyvet, and the betrayer
of his father was Ralph Bannister of Lacon
Park, near Wem, esquire, lord of the
manor of Lacon (S. Garbet, 'Hist, of
Wem,' 1818, p. 363), of an ancient family
(W. Hutton, 'Battle of Bosworth Field'
[Birmingham, 1788], p. 18), yet both were
styled * servants.' The bishop, being son of
Thomas Stanley, first earl of Derby, a great
landowner in Lancashire and Cheshire,
would naturally have the sons of families
belonging to these counties in his household.
Hadderton or Atherton (see B, p. 241, infra)
would be a member of the family of Ather-
ton or Aderton of Aderton. There were
two families named Holt or Hoult, at
Stubbley and Gresillhurst (Benalt's ' Visita-
tion of Lancashire' [1533], Chetham Soc.
xcviii. [1876], pp. 47, 63, 86). The Holfords
of Holford were a Cheshire family (Harl.
Soc. xviii. 125). Bekynsall or Becconsall
was another Lancashire name. There was
an influential family of the name of Holland
settled at Clifton, Lancashire (Benalt's
' Visitation,' Cheth. Soc. ex. p. 214). Dug-
dale's ' Visitation ' (1664-5) gives Johnson
of Preston (ib. Ixxxv. p. 164). Cony was a
Lincolnshire name (Harl. Soc. iii. 10). Cf.
also F, p. 251, n. 9, infra.
»' James Stanley, Bishop of Ely 1506-
1515. From 1485 to 1509 he was warden
of the collegiate church of Manchester,
where he lies buried. His house was
notoriously not a model of decorum. See
•Diet. Nat. Biog.'andC. H. and T. Cooper,
• Athenae Cantab.' (1858), i. 16.
FURNIVALLYS IN, PRINCIPAL &c. OF, V. JOHNSON AND OTHERS 239
othyr ryottys parsons to the numbre of xiij or a boue with Swerdys
and Buklers and other abyhnentes *^ of werre in ryottys maner than
and there wyth out ony occasyon gevyn made a sawte apon the seyd
John Irton and the seyd Jamys Drylond and than & ther Stroke the
seyd John Irton and hym sore wowndyd in hys lefte Sholder wer vppon
the seyd John Flede and for suerte of his lyue enteryd in to an hous
were apon the seid mysdoers pursuyd the seyd Irton to the hous and
there vyolently brast vp the dorys and the wyndows and there hurt
& wowndyd the seyd Irton so that they lefte hym in parell of deth
wervppon the sayd Bysshoppe for thesaute of hys seruantes in the
same assawte agreyd and payd to te ^^ seyd John Irton for the grevyus
hurt on to hym done xiiij li. in money and other auauntages ^^ yerele
incresyng to the seyd Irton to the value of v marckes ^* all wych
demenour not wyth standyng the seyd Hadderton and the seyd
Johnson consederyd ^^ to gedyr with dyuers and many of the houshold
seruantes of the seyd Bisshopp haue causyd ^^ dyuers and many
tymys sen the seyd affray haue yeuyn euyll occasyon and quarelyng
wordys on to your seyd oratorys and yet dayly doo that your seyd
oratours may not pesably ne quyetly pas by them wer appon thursday
at ny^ght^ ^®vj May anno xxij"*" Henrici vij'^^ last passyd *® twayn of
the seyd felechypp of Furnyvals In namyd moyle and myddylmore
were comyng to the plase warde of Fumyvalles In and the seyd
myddelmore Beryng vndyr hys arme a bolsterr for hys bed wyth the
keys of hys Chambyr in hys hand and soo comyng iiij of the seyd
mysdoors houshold seruauntes of the seyd Bysshopp lyyng in wayte
wyth swerdys and boclers issuid out of bak lane^° anexte the seyd
>' See p. 115, n. 12. tended to the Clerkenwell Boad. Both the
*' Sic. map of Ralph Agas (c. 1591) and that of
'^ See p. 251, n. 13. W. Faithorae (1658) show a large garden at
'* 3/. 6s. 8d. the back of FumivaPs Inn extencUng as far
»• Sic, with a long s, probably Intended as that road. This was, however, probably
for * confedered.' The substantive * con- the famous garden of Ely House then con-
federey or confedre' occurs at this date. tiguous to the south-east comer of Fumi-
See J. A. H. Murray, • New English Diet.' val's Inn, for less than half the width of the
ii. (1893), S.V. garden is conterminous with the Inn. Out-
'^ Sic. The subsequent construction side the western waU of this garden Agas
suggests that it had been intended to strike shews a strip running down to the road, its
these words out. western side, designated by bushes, forming
IS- IS These words interlined. the eastern side of • Liver Lane,' where
'• 1507. Brook Street now is. This western side is
«* Stow ('Survey' [ed. 1754], ii. 817) in a line with the western wall of the Inn. It
mentions Back Alley or Back Hill, Hatton may therefore possibly have gone by the
Wall. Back Hill is shewn in the large name of Back Lane, being in fact a lane at
Ordnance Survey (1896) of 88 ft. to an inch, the back of the Inn. See also Ogilby and
as a lane running northwards out of the Morgan's map, published in 1677 (facsimile,
Clerkenwell Boad, almost opposite the edited by C. Welch, 1896), where Back Hill
northern end of Hatton Garden. If Back is dearly shown. In Agas's and Faithome's
Lane and Back Hill are the same, the pre- maps it does not appear, but the north of the
cincts of Furnival's Inn must have ex- ClerkenweU Boad was in their time country.
240 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Purnyvalles In and than and there ryottyusly assaute made appon the
seyde moyle and myddylmore and draue them from the seyd lane
onto sych tyme that they were wyth in the Barrys of the seyd
Purnyvalles In and there sore hurt & woundyd the seyd myddylmore
so sore that he was in joberby of hys lyue and yet ys were appon the
seid middylmore came Eonning in to the seyd In Cryyng out for
helpe and in ry3ght^ petyus wyse seyd that he had hys dethys
wownde were appon dyuers of your seyd oratours seyng the seyd
myddylmore so sore bledyng and in so grete parell3 of death hastely
issuyd out of the seyd place to make pursute aftur the seyd mysdoors
to take them and Brynge them to pryson there to remayn in sauegard
tyll yt my5ght ^ be forther knowyn wedyr the seyd myddylmore shuld
of hys wowndys dye or noo and for as muche as dyuers syche
mysdoors and onthrifty parsons vsyd Comynly to resorte to the hous
fj^fu of on cawlyd modyr Johane dwellyng in holburne *^ aforseyd your seyd
oratours for the forseyd purpose enteryd into the seyd hous and for
as muche as they fond no parsons there to wom they had suspecte of
the seyd Eyottys ^' demenour the(y) returned home ageyn in pesabull
maner and all now ^ wythstondyng dyuers euyll dysposyd parsons of
the houshold of the seyd Bysshoppe yet dayly sesnott to quarell as wel
with dyuers of your seyd oratours in dyuers places were by your seyd
oratours be gretly trobelyd, to the grett hynderance and inquietyd &
to the vttyr vndoyng of the seyd company of your seyd orators wythe
out your gracyus fauour be to them Shewyd in concyderacon were of
yt may lyke your hyghnes to commaund the seyd mysdoors to appere
be fore youre most honourabull Councell and to a byde syche dyreccon
as there discrete wysdomys shall thyng conuenyent and thys in the
weye of pety and your seyd Oratours and he shalle deyly prey to god
for the preseruacion of youre most noble & roiall estate.
Indarsed, John Appliard querens seruientes Episcopi Eliensis
Stow, in his Survey, says of the Inn : 'It to infer that Agas has marked it by mistake
hath a handsome garden behind ' (ed. sap. to the west instead of to the east of the Inn.
cit., p. 729). The engraving of it m the '^ Not at * The Grown.* See p. 250,
edition of 1754 shows that the garden was infra.
then formed out of the south end of the strip ** * Great riottes and unlawful! assem-
above mentioned, across which at the north bley * are among the offences assigned by the
end of the garden buildings had been erected, statute ' Pro Camera Stellata/ 3 Hen. 7, c 1,
As * Liver Lane ' does not elsewhere occur I to this Court.
incline to identify it with Leather Lane, and ^ Apparently for * non ' or * not.'
FURNIVALLYS IN, PRINCIPAL &o. OF, V, JOHNSON AND OTHERS 241
B. Thansawre of Roger Johnson Bichard Baconsaw and
Bichard Coney and other named in the seid byll of
compleyint to the byll of John appliard principall of
Furnyuall Inne and other the Company of Purnyuall Inne
in holbume.
The seid Boger and the other personz named In the seid byll off
Compleyntes sey the seid byll ys ooncerten and devysed by subtell
and Crafty Imachynacionz made to thentent to colour and kepe from
opyn knowlege their manyfold riotes and other gret misdemenours
nightly Committed and down aswell by nyght as by day by the seid
James Dryland, myddelmore, moyell, and other of the seid company
of Furnyuall Inne whech be socoured and mayntened * by the seid
pryncipall hauyng perfyet knowlege of their such seid misdemenours
whech they Styll contynue and by likly hode wyll do to the gret
daunger of the seydes defendauntes and also of other the Eynges
true subgettes of their lyffes resettyng ^ or Contynuyng in holboume
negh theym specifyed Jn the seid byll of Compleynt at x of the Clok
Jn the euynyng and past for they seid that homfray atherton holte
and holford were departyd from london Jn to lancastre Shyr Somme
of theym x wekes affor the seid affray made the seid thursday
last past and it is a moneth and more Syn any of the seydes humfra
atherton holte and holford was last In london. Neuer the lesse
for forther vnswar they say that the seid monday ^specifyed in
the seid byll of Compleynt at x of the Clok in the euynyng and
past^ the seides Bichard Couney and oon humfrey atherton in
peasable maner went from their lordes Byschopp of Ely place In
holboume affore seid towar a Comyn Inne Wher theygh vsed to be
lodged, that is to sey at the sygne of the Crown* and within iiij Boodes
of the gates of the place of the seid Bysshopp of Ely and Within the
Benttes libertyes and franchessez ^ of the seid Byschopp. Came
James Dryland, as Capteyn of all the Biotous Companye of Fumyyall
Inne, and other Sundry mysrulyd personz with theym to the
noumber of x personz and then and there with there drawen
* This is a tenn of art, to bring the case Cronykil ' {circa 1425).
within the statutory jarisdiction of the Star *~* Interlined.
Chamber, the Act ' Pro Camera Stellata * re- * The Crown is mentioned in Stow's
citing the evils arising from •onlawfullmayn- 'Survey* (ed. 1764), ii. 756, as an inn on
tenancies.' Nevertheless, it appears from Holbom Hill.
the language of the statutes against Main- * * This Ely House with the bounds of it
tenance tlmt the term is properly applied claimed a privilege of express exemption
only to legal proceedings. See Coke, Second from the lord mayor's jurisdiction.' The
Institute, p. 212. Cf. p. 146, n. 38, supra. claim was tried in the Star Chamber in
' Le. Besiding. Beset, abode, is noticed in 1567, and judgement given on June 9, 1570,
the ' Enoyolopisdio Diet.' ; alsoin Jamieson's in favour of the City. See Stow's * Survey,'
* Scottish Diet.,' as occurring in Wyntoun's i. 724.
R
242
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Swordes and Boklers ® vppon the seid Richard and humfrey made a
Biottoas assaate and the seid humfrey appon the for ther part of
his hede with their Swordes greuewysly Smote hurt and Wondyt
without any occasyon or cause gyflfen by ayther of theym to any of
the seid misdoers and when the seid Dryland hade perfyet knowlege
that he and his seid Riottous Compeny hade wondet the seid Humfrey
atherton So that he was in perell of his lyve as the seid Dryland and
other Riotours with hym aflfor tyme haue vsed to do at their lyk
gettinges ^ and quarelles pykyng to the kynges subgettes thynkyng no
euyll in the nyght tyme wherby mischyflf and murder hath insued In
tymes past he and his seid riotous Gumpany ^ed & withdrew theym
selff ® and the Nighburs there a bouttes heryng of the seid riote and
a&ay made a great noys and oute Grye^ opon the seid mysdoers
opynly in the Strete and theruppon the seid Boger Johnson Bichard
' See Introd., p. oiz, supra. By the
Statata Civitatis London. 13 Ed. 1 (1285),
the carrying of swords and backlers in the
City was expressly forbidden. § 1 : * Primere-
ment poor ceo que multz des mals com
des murdres, Bobberyes, e homycides ont
este fetz ca en arrere deinz la Citee de
nnyt e de Jour e gentz Batues e mal tretes,
e autres diverses aventures de mal avenuz
enoontre sa pes ; Defendn est que nul seit
si hardi estre trove alannt ne wacraunt
[vagrant] par my les Buwes de la Citee
apres Coeverfu par sone a Seint Martyn le
graunt a Espeye ne a Bokuyler ne a autre
arme pour xnal fere ne dount mal supecion
poet avenir ne en autre maniere nule, sil
ne seit graunt Seigneur ou aultre prodome
[prudhonune] de bone oonysaunce, ou lour
oertayn message [messenger] que de els
serra garaunty que vount 11 un a lautre par
oonduyte de Lumere.' The penalty was
arrest by the watch, imprisonment for the
night and punishment by the mayor or
aldermen; but presumably the persons
complained of here were outside the City
gates. In that case they were within the
Statute of Northampton (2 Ed. 3, c. 3) of
1828 by which it was provided that no one
should bring a force in affray of the peace,
nor go nor ride armed by night nor by day
. . . upon pain to forfeit their armour to
the King and their bodies to prison at the
King's pleasure. This statute was affirmed
in 1379 to be *toutes voies en sa force'
(2 Bic. 2, St. 2, 0. 2).
» Usually spelt j— , from to * jet,* to jostle
or nudge. Halliwell, * Diet, of Archaic &c.
Words ' (1860).
•-• Interlined.
* Note that they are not said to have
* levied hue and cry/ which was the duty
of the constable ; see Coke, 3rd Inst., c. 52,
p. 116, where he refers to Bot. Pari. an. 6
Ed. 3, num. 6. But Coke, citing 8 Ed. 2,
cor. 395, says, ' If a man be present when
a man is murdred, or robbed, and doth not
endeavour to attach the offender nor levy
hue and cry, he shall be fined and im-
prisoned.' This points to a common law
right of any one to raise hue and cry him-
self. The Laws of Canute (ii. 29) enjoin
upon any person meeting a thief the
duty of doing so (B Schmid, * Die Gesetze
der Angelsachsen ' [1858], p. 286). Bracton
iii. 10 leaves the point doubtful, but there
can be little question that, in accordance
with the practice of primitive law to sanc-
tion the personal exaction of satisfaction,
the right was anciently universal, and as a
matter of fact, in Eyre Bolls of an early
time, pNBople are frequently punished for
not raising hue and cry. Certainly
the City of London enjoyed the right
by an ordinance of Edward 1 : * And the
King doth will and command, to preserve
the peace in his City, that if any felony
shall be conmiitted within the City or any
offence against his peace, each person who
shall be near when such offence or felony
is committed within the City, or who shall
hear, or see, or know of any offence against
his peace or any felony conmiitted, shall
arrest or attach such felons or transgressors
to the utmost of his power ; and if he have
not power to do the same forthwith, let
him raise hue and cry against the mis-
doers. Upon which hue and cry, the King
doth will and command that all those who
shall be near and shall hear such cry shall
come upon such cry for the taking and
arresting of/ &c. Liber Albus, p. 244
(13 Ed. 1).
FURNIVALLY8 IN, PRINCIPAL &o. OF, V. JOHNSON AND OTHERS 243
(Bekyns)all and other of the houseold Seruauntes of the seid
Byschopp heryng of the premysses issued out of their lodgeynges and
pursued to haue taken the seid (Drylan)d '^ and to haue Broght hym
to ward and sure kepyng vnto that hit might be knowen whether the
seid Humfrey shuld dye of the seides * " Strokes and Wondes
or not and as they wold haue entred the chamber of oon Henry
Barbur where they were enfourmed that the seid Dry (land wa)s"
fled and a bode then and there oon John Irton with a drawn
Sword yn his hand made there a newe assaute and afiEray
• d *° • " * ^° and his seides felowes and
there sore hurte and wondet dyuers *" *" and
if the seid Irton any hurte hade hit was in his *^^
* ^° assaut • ^° * " * ^° (comm)etted ^^ and doone in maner
and fourme as is affor seid. And forther they say that on
Thursday next affor the Fest of thassencyon ^* * *" * ^®
1 * *" * ^"^ * ^*^ (a)bowt X of the clok in the evynyng
iiij Boys gromes in household with the seid Byschopp in peasable
maner went fro theyr * ^° * *^ * ^^ oone mergeretes
hardyng where they were vsed to be lodged and ij of theym were
entred within their seid lodgeyng and as the * *" * ^^ * *°
theym folowed then and there the seid mydelmore and moyell ley in
wayte sodenly came vpon the other ij or they entred into theyre seid
* *° * ^° g • ^** with drawen Swordes and Buklers in their handes
and then and there made a Biottus assaut and affray apon theym
intendyng to bete and murdour the seides ij boiis and asked what
knaves were there and so the seid ij gromes wer fyne^' for the sauege'*
of their lyues to draw out their weppyns and to defend theym selff
and so if the seid mydelmore any hurt hade hit was in the assaut of
the seid moyell and middelmor and in the deffens of the seid ij gromes
Without that the seid Dryland and his seid riottous Company at the seid
first affray were goyng homwardes toware Furnyvall Inne as by the
seid byll of Compleynt is surmyttyd, for they were after Soper tyme
the seyd euynyng jettyng ** and hoveyng ^® in the strett and lying in a
wayde ^^ to bete and murder both the seruauntes of the seid Byschopp
and other the Eynges Subgettes walkyng late in Holboume for
thaccomplyschment of their vnthryfty and riottous appetites as is
*® MS. torn. swagger. See Mumj, s.v.
" MS. indecipherable. *' * Swelling up.* *The earth swelleth
*^ I.e. May 6, 1507. See p. 239, supra. A houeth as it were with a leauen/
>* A variant for fain. See J. A. H. quoted by Murray s.v. from Holland, * Pliny,*
Murray, • New Eng. Diet.* (1901), s.v. i. 500 (1601).
^* Salvage. " Wait. See p. 115, n. 9.
1^ To ' jet ' is here used in the sense to
s2
244 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
affor seid and Without that that the seid Homfrey atherton with x
persons with hym with swordes or Boklers or any inhabilmentes off
wer made any riott or assaut vppon the seid Irton or Dryland as is
also sormytted by the seid byll and Without that the seid Irton any
hurt hade whech (o)aused^^ hym to take the seid hovse for the
sauegard of his lyve Or that the seid Humfrey or eny other
Seruauntes of the seid Byschoppe any dore or wyndaw (vio)lently ^^
brast ^^ vp or any hurt ded to the seid Irton in any other maner or
for any other cause then is affor rehersyd in this present Answar And
without that (the) ^^ (s)eid *° B(ys)choppe ^° for any defautes of any his
seruauntes towchyng the same assaut agreed or payed to the seid
Irton for the hurtes to hym down the somme xiiij li. or other *
* ^^ to the seid Irton inoressyng yerely to the value of v markes ^^
as the seid principally Dryland, moyell and the other of that Company
full • '** and sklanderwysly in their byll of Compleynt hath
1 surmitted but wold full gladly lyff in quiet and rest as a spirituell
I prelet of the Church iff the riotous Cumpany of Furnyvall Inne wold
pyke no querelles apon hym and his seruaundes and Without that
the seid atherton or Johnson or eny other seruauntes to the seid
Byschoppe sith the seides affrayes or affore any occasyon or querell
made or any word hath spoken so that the seid Cumpany may not
peassable oumme and goe to and fro to the seid Furnyvall Inne at
their pleasure as is also feyned and surmytted in the byll of
Cumpleynt and Without that the seid Boger Johnson or any other
seruaunt or seruauntes of the seid Byschoppe ley in wayte or any
assaut made vppon the seid moyell and middelmore or on ayther of
theym or that any of the affore named iiij gromes any assaut made or
were in any bake lane ^^ or in any other place bot goyng to bedde in
to their lodgyng in the house of the seid mergrett Hardyng where
they were vsed to be logged as is also supposyd by the seid byll and
Without that that the seid middelmor was or is in any suohe perell of
death as they in their byll haue surmysed or that theyr brekyng of
),, c > cj the house whech they name to be moder Jane house was to any suche
intent as they in theire byll hath surmysed or yet to the knowlege
of any of the seruauntes of the seid Byschopp that eny vnthyrfty
Compeny comynly vsed to resort vnto the seid house and Without
** Burst. wards from the west end of the back of
** See A, p. 239, n. 15, supra. Fumival's Inn, it might very well be called
^ This looks as if Back Lane was Back Lane by the members of the Lin,
interpreted by the defendants as a desorip- but unknown as such to the bishop's house-
tive term rather than a proper name. If it hold.
be the lane described as running north-
COLTHURST AND FURBCJR V. FURNYVALS IN, PRINOIPAL &c. OF 245
that that any of the howshold Seruauntes of the seid Byschoppe euer
dyd make or beggyne any qaerell in any place with any of the
Compeny of Furnyvall Inne or any other person wherby that they or
any other personz be trowbolt to theire hynderance and inquietyng or
vtter vndoyng of the seid Compeny as they full Subtelly by greatt
Imagynacion and Craft vntrewly and sklanderwysly in their byll haue
alleged to thentent that they by Colour of excuse wold contenew their
mischys wyce *^ and riottous demenours in maner and fourme aboue
rehersed and after lay it from theym selff to the charge of other the
kynges Subgettes wyllyng to lyff in rest and quietnes, all whech
maters the seydes personz be redy to * ^^ proue as this Court
shall a ward and pray to be dysmyssed out of this Court and that the
seid principall & Felows of Furnyvall Inne may be bounden by
Becognicians to be of gud beryng enendes ^ the seides personz and
other the kynges Subgettes and els the seides priucipall and Felowes
wyll if they may do somme myschyeff shortly here after to the seid
personz now defendauntes.
Indorsed. Examinacio patet in libro annexo '^^ capta xvj die maii
anno xxij ^* Henrici vij"*
Bichard Beconsall]
Bichard Coney [
Boger Johnson j
COLTHURST v. FURNYVALLS INN, GENTLEMEN OF.^
c. To the most Beuerend (Father) ^ in god Wylliam Archbyshop
of Canturbury and Chaunceler of England.^
Humble sheweth and compleyneth to your grace your dayly oratour
John Colthurst grome of the StabuU with my lord of Ely that Wher
he and John Walmysley William metecalff and Bichard Watson on
thursday next after the fest of Fhily p and Jacob last past ^ a Bowt x
'* A long B intended probably for f. ' William Warham or Wareham, aroh-
Mischievoas. bishop of Canterbury, 29 November, 1508
" MS. mutilated possibly before being (J. Le Neve, ' Fasti/ i. 24), lord chancellor
used by the scribe. January 21, 1504 ; resigned the chancellor-
" I.e. anent, towards. This form is not ship December 22, 1515 ; died August 22,
noticed by Murray. It is for the more 1582. * Diet. Nat. Biog.'
common * anendes.* See s.v. * The feast of St. Philip and St. James
'* Missing. ^ 1507. is May 1, which in 1507 fell on Saturday.
* S.C.P. Hen. 8, vol. x. 122. Sorted by This is, therefore, the Thursday, May 6,
mistake among the cases of Henry 8's reign. 1507, variously designated in A and B. See
' Parchment torn. • F, p. 251, infra.
246 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
of the clok at after none on the same day went in peasable maner fro
their saides lordes place to the house of one merget Hardyng in
Holburne where they were vsed to be lodged and as they were enteryng
into theire seid lodgyng the seides John Walmysley and Wylliam
metecalff beyng within the seid house came ij Gentylmen of Furnevalys
Inne the oone called mydmore and the other moyell in Biottous maner
with Swordes and Bukelers and callyd to youre Oratour and asked of
^ hym what knaves were there and ther schulderyt * youre seid oratour
so that his hat fell downe ther to the grounde and youre seid pore
Oratour vnsward and seid he knew no knaffe there and furthwith both
the seid Gentylmen drew owt theyr Swordes and cruelly Stroke at
youre seid pore oratour mony and dyuerse great Strokes to his greatt
fere and jeopardy of his lyflFe so that he for drede to haue bene by
theym murdred and Slayne fled and with drewe hym selff and after
ward the seid moyell cryed and called oute, the Gompeny of the seid
Furneualles Inne and the seid Frincipall and other of the seid place
p and of Bernardes Inne ^ and other to the nowmber of xl personz
j or therabowtes in Biottous maner with Byllys Clubbes Swordes
I bukkelers and knyffes came to the house of oone John Bradley nighe
t the gatez of the seid Byschopp of Ely ^ place and ^ by force and
I myght Brake and entred therin to the entent to have murdred and
I Slayn youre seid oratour yf they hade founden hym there and yet the
J seid Biottous personz not here wyth contented hot furthwith went to
I the house of oone John Browne with force and armes and in Biotous
/ maner to the entent to haue executed theire myschyfifyous myendes in
; maner and fourme as is affore seid and be sydes this oone Fayrchyld
; and oone Tyndall of Bernardes Inne on the Fryday next after in the
J nyght tyme came and Soght your seid pore oratour in the afforeseid
house of the seid John Browne as maynteners of the affore seid
; Biottous and misrellyd personz and ther oppynly inquered whether
any of the Byschopp of Ely seruantes were there and then and there
hade murdred and Slayne a Gentylman called Henre Brych * if that
* Shouldered. Chauncery, it beareth Barnard's name still
' Bernard's or Barnard's Inn, on the to this day. The arms of this house are
south side of Holbom, was second in an- those of Mackworth.' J. Stow, ' Annales,'
tiquity as an Inn of Chancery to Thavies Appendix of the Universities in England
Inn. It was sometimes called Mackworth f (1632), p. 1075. It \vas sold in 1892 to the
Inn from John Mackworth, dean of Lincoln Mercers' Company for their school remoyed
(1412-1451), by whose executors it was con- I from College Hill, Cannon Street. C. Welch,
veyed in 1453-4 to the dean and chapter of * Modem History of the City of London '
Lincoln to find a chaplain to celebrate (1896), p. 436. See further W. Herbert,
divine service in the chapel of St. Qeorge * Antiquities of the Inns of Court and
in Lincoln Cathedral. * Seeing in the Chancery ' (1804), pp. 349-51.
occupation of one Barnard, at the time of ^-' Interlined,
the conversion thereof into an Inne of " Also a Lancashire name. About this
COLTHURST AND FURBUR V. FURNYVALS IN, PRINCIPAL &o. OF 247
other bettur dispposed personz of the same place hade not lettyd theym
of theyre cruell and myschefvoos porpas at that tyme and so contynue
in theyer riotous mysrule to the most perillous example and occasion
of murdre and gret myscheff to be commy tted and done except Somme
gudde reformacion may be opteynyd of your gudde grace in that
behalf. In oonsideracion Wherof It may please youre gudde grace to
gyflf in Gommaundement to youre Sergeant of Armes ^ to brynge the
seides Biotous personz afEbre youre gudde grace ther to answare to
the premysses and to fynde suertye to be of their gudde beryngageyns
youre seid oratour and other the kynges subgettes entendyng to lyff
in pease and rest. And youre seid oratour shall dayly pray for the
preseruacion of your gudde and gracious lordschypp.
Indorsed. John Golthurst versus the gentilmen of Furnyvalls
Inn.
FURBUR V. FURNYVALL IN, PRINCIPAL OF, AND OTHERS.*
D. To the most Beuerend Fader in god (W)'ylliam Archbyshop
Caunturbury and Chaunceler of England
1507 Humble Shewith And Compleyneth to youre grace youre Dayly
Oratour Henre Furbur that Where youre seyd Oratour beyng Seruant
^M<L to Syr Edward Vndurwod Chaplayne to my lord of Ely on Thursday
next after the fest of the appostelles Phylypp and Jacob ^ abowt xj of
the Glok in the nyght vppon the same day as he went in peasable
maner from the place of the seid Byschopp of Ely toward the house
of oone John Browne in Holbum to his bedde and loggyng wher he
was vsed to be logged Sodenly came the Frincipall of Furnyvalles
Lcme and with hym mony other persons vnknowen with Swordes
Bukelers and other defensyble weppens in Biottous maner and ther and
then toke after the maner of Bobberie from youre pore suppliant a
Sword the price ij" viij** * to his great fere and daunger of his lyve
and the same Sword as zet they wrongfully kepe and with hold
Gontrary to all Byght and gudde order of the kyng ^ lawes to the
time Richard Bryohe of Bryche oo. Lano. ' S.C.P. Hen. 8, vol. x. p. 128, wrongly
married Anne daughter of Thomas sorted.
Hawarden of Wolstone. W. Flower, * Visi- ' Parchment torn,
tation of Lancashire ' (1567). Ghetham ' See G, p. 245, n. 4, sapra.
Soc. Ixxxi. (1870), p. 121. * The only example of the price of a
* ' Another of them (Sergeants at arms) sword between 1401 and 1582 in Bogers's
attends on the Lord Chancellor or Lord 'Hist. Agr. and Prices' is ib. iii. 558,
Keeper, in the Chancery.* Cowel, ' Inter- where a sword is recorded to have been
preter ' (ed. 1701), s.y. Their number was sold at Boydon for la, Qd.
limited to thirty by 18 B. 2, st. 1, c. 6. * Sic.
Cf. pp. 2, 72, and Introd., p. xxvi.
248 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
evyll example of all other misdoers & that they may thus Contynue
vnpmiysshed accordying to theyr demerites In Gonsideracion Wherof
It may please yoore gudde grace to gyff in Gommaandment to youre
Sergeant of armes to bryng the seides riottourg personz afifore youre
gudde grace ther to answare to the premysses ^ & to delyuere the
seyd sword ageyn ^ and to Fynde Suertye to be of their gudde beryng
ageyn youre seid Oratour and other the kynges subgettes entendyng
to lyffe in peas and rest and youre seid Oratour shall Dayly pray for
the preseruacon of youre gudde and gracious lordschypp/
Indorsed. Henry Furbure versus Appliard principal of Fumyvall
In&c.
COLTHURST AND FURBUR v. FURNYVALS IN, PRINCIPAL, Ac.
OF.'
E. Thys ys the Answere of mydmo(re and moyle) * and of the
pryncypall and felechyp of Fumyvals In to the seuerall
(bills of com)*playnte of John Golthurst & Harry Furbure.
The seyd pryncypall and hys felechyp seyth that the seyd byll of
1507 (comp)laynt * ys insufficyent and ontrew but only of malys contryuyd
to vex and Trubbull hym and hys seyd felechyp not wyth stondyng
for declaracion of trowthe they sey that the seid ij Gentylmen namyd
in the seyd byll of complaynte wos namys be mydmore and moyle
beyng in goddes pees and the kynges thynkyng no yeuyll to eny parson
the Thursday in the seyd byll of Gomplaynt specyfyyd ' a bout ix of
the Gloke at nyzght went to a neyburse house in holburne to fett a
bolsture for there bedde and as they were comyng ageyne toward
there plase the seyd mydmore hauyng the seyd bolstere vndyre hys
arme met sodenly at a lanyse yend^ the seyd suruantes of the
Bysshoppes that ys to sey John Golthurst John Wamsley William
metcalf & Bichard Watson suspeciusly stondyng wyth there Swerdys
& bokelers and as the seyd mydmore and moyle passyd by them the
seyd iiij persons askyd what they werr and they answeryd ayene * &
seyd goodfelowys and there a pon the seyd Bysshopys seruantis caulyd
them knauys wyth out eny occasion rone to them wyth there knyuys
*-* Interlined. * See A, p. 289, n. 20. This suggests (hat
^ In the same hand as Colthorst's bill either the N. end of Back Hill or the S.
of complaint. end of the lane rmming northwards from
■ S.G.P. Hen. 8, vol. z. p. 124. Wrongly the W. end of the N. front of the Inn was
sorted. the place.
* Parchment torn. ^ Interlined.
'■ See C, p. 245, n. 4, supra.
C0LTHUR8T AND FURBUR V. FURNY VALS IN, PRINCIPAL &o. OF 249
drawne and then they gaue gaue ^ bake for there defence and sauegard
of there lyuys tyll they came wyth in the Barrys of the seyd place of
Furnyvalys In and there and then the seyd Bysshopes seruantes
greuynsly hurt the seyd mydmore and gaue hym grete woundes were
by he was in jopardy of hys lyfe and thereapon the seyd mydmore
rane in to the place of Furnyvalles In sore woundyd and all bledyng
pytuysly cryng for help seyng that he was sore woundyd and in
jupardy of hys lyfe and moreouer the seyd parsons that soo had
woundyd hym were wythin the barrys of the same place wyth there
knyuys drawe purposyng to do more myschyflf were apon the pryncy-
pall and dyuers of the felechype of the seyd In went out of the seyd
place to haue knowen watt mysdemenyd persons they were and then
to haue takon and brought them to to ^ the constabulls and soo pur-
suyd the seyd misdoars and serchyd for them at a suspecius house
vuu^^ caulyd modyr Jones were euyll rule by them and other of the seyd
Bysshopes seruantes of long tyme haue byn and yet ys dayly vsyd,
and wen they cam to the same hous the seyd mysdemenyd persons
were not there but there founde odyre dyuers seruantes of the
Bysshopes there sittyng on to ^ they gaue noo yll wordys but departyd
peably ^ out of the same hous and soo returnyd womward and wen the
seyd pryncypall and hys felechyp were in the strete they met wyth
the seyd harry furbur complaynant in the othyr byll suspeciusly
stondyng wyth hys swerde in hys hand wom they askyd in pesabull
maner watt he was & wethyr he were eny of them that had don the
seyd mischeuous dede and then he answeryd and seyd he was seruant
'k. f with on doctur vndyrwood * chapelen of Bisshopes ^ and that he knew
of noo siche dede done ant ^ seyd to the intente that yt shuld well appere
that he intendyd to doo noo hurte he was contente & oflferyd to delyuer
on of them ^ hys swerd and to feche yt ageyne of the morow and in
sich wise of his one fre wyll and oflferyd in fryndly maner wythout
eny compulcion he deliuerd the seyd swerde & sence he neuyr
requiryd yt wych hath byn and yet ys redy to be deliuerd on to hym.
Wyth out that that the seyd mydmore and moile made eny assawte
a pon the seyd John Colthurst in maner and forme as the seyd byll
hath ellegid, and wyth ^ that that the seyd princypall and hys com-
pany riottysly enterid in the seyd house in eny other maner then thys
answer conteynyth & wyth out ^ that that the seyd principall and hys
company toke a wey the Swerde of the seyd harry Furbure in maner
* Sic. (G. W. Boase, ' Begtster of the UniYeraity
' Sic, ' whom ' omitted. of Oxford/ 1885, i. 29.) If so, he would be
" Edward Undyrwod, Undorwod, per- a yoimger contemporaxy of Bishop Stanley,
haps the Edward Underwod who was who was educated at both Universities.
admitted B.A. of Oxford July 4, 1457
250 COURT OF TH£ STAR CHAMBER
and fonne in hys byll has ^ Elegid. Al wych maters the seyd princi-
pall and hys felechypp be redi to prone as this conrte wyll awarde and
prayth to be dysmyssyd out of the same wyth there resonaball costes
and damages of there wrongfoll vezacion.
Indorsed. Examinacio capta fait zyj die mensis^ anno xxij'*''
Henrid vij"^ in qoadam papiro hoic responso annexa.
In modem hand. Clolthorst & Forbur v. Principal of Fumivall
Inn.
Thexaminacion * ' * * * '
# 1
* I
* 1
♦ 1
* 1
♦ 1
# 1
♦ 1
♦ 1
# 1
Elyof ♦^ ♦' *' ♦'
of Pumiu(als In) *' •^
♦ I
Boger Johnson of the age of *' ** ** •' ♦^ *^
to the Beuerend fader Jamys Bosshop (of Ely)* • ' * ^ ♦ *
examyned, Saithe and deposithe vppon his othe, th(at) * ^ * ^
the first affiray supposed to be doone and made vppon 3 * ' * *
James Jrlond ' vppon the monday before twelf day last p(ast)' (in) ^
the evenyng betwixt viij ^nd ix of the clok, This deponent • * * ^
^ and Homfrey Adderton ^ came oat of the said lord of (Ely's) ^
place vnto a woman's hoase next the same strete gate called modre
70C. Johanne, where ymmediatly oone Bichard Coney came in to this
deponent & to the said Hamfrey, taking the same Ham&ey
Adderton with hym, to goo to the signe of the Crowne in Holbarne *
to thair lodgieng, and within a litle tyme after the same wer departed
thens, this deponent then being in the seid poaer womans house and
hering a grete noise & outcrye issued out of the hous, And then, a
litle from the gate, founde in the derke the said Coney and Adderton
in the strete haueng theyr wepons in thur handes, and the same
Adderton being hurt on the hed & the other personnes that had hurt
hym wer goone from theym, and this deponent asked his fellawes
whar they were that had hirt theym, and they seid they knewe theym
not. Wheruppon this deponent with his said ij fellowes ymmediatly
perceyueng ij men goeng vnto oone Henre harbours hous with thur
knyffes in thur handes drawen, supposing the same personnes to be
* The month omitted, bnt the indorse- ' See A, p. 285, n. 11, sapra.
ment on the answer to the plaint of the ' Apparently a confosion between the
Principal of Fumivall*s Inn and others v. names Irton and Drylond.
Johnson and others (p. 245, supra) shows * * Coney ' stmok through,
it to have been May (1507). * See A, p. 288, n. 10, snpra.
» S.C J>. Hen. 8, vol. x. p. 126. Wrongly • See B, p. 241, n. 4, supra,
sorted. Paper torn.
COLTHURST AND FURBUR V. FURN YVAL8 IN, PRINCIPAL &c. OF 251
the same that p * ^ theym * * * ' barbours
house, And the same ij personn(es) ' being * * * * (m)ade *
resistence, and soo oon of theym was hurt and this deponent
thinketh in his conscence that so he hurt hym somwhat, but where
he hurt hym he cannot tell, And so this deponent & his said fellawes
departed, and moreouer he saith that the next day after he herd it
named that it was Irton that was hurt by this deponent, but he saith
by his othe he knewe hym not what he was at the tyme of the affray.
And furthermore this deponent saith that he knewe not of any mo of
his company, but of the same Gonye & Adderton till the fray was
done & the same Irton hurt.
This deponent also saithe and confessith that he was present in the
passion weke last past ^ at my said lordes place in what hous he
remembrith not,^ when oone sir Bandall poole ^ chapeleyn to my lorde
of Ely payde to the hands of the said Irton for his hurtes vij li. in
pens of twoo pens ^° in full contentation of xiiij li. ^' but wheder the
same Irton haue any "yerely aduauntages ^^ " to the value of v
marcs ^* or to any value ^^ increasing to hym ouer and aboue the said
xiiij li. he knoyth not. And after the last affray supposed to be doone
& made on the thursday the yj day of may last past vppon moyle
and middelmore, this deponent saithe he knoyth noo thing of it ^' but
by report,^' nother was at it first nor last, and more he knoythe not
in this mater.
Bichard Coney seruaunt to my said lord of Ely sworne
* ^ * ^ the day and yere abouesaid, Saithe that on the
«
* ^ Adderton wer goeng from thaire lordes place to the C(rowne) *
1 * ^ afore twelf day last as this deponent and
^ April 16-23, 1507. in vol. ill. The half groat or penny of
" From Agas's map it appears that the two pence most therefore have be^ a coin
precincts of Ely Place contained a number in common use.
of dwellings. , " l.e. apparently as many twopenny
' This was another Cheshire neighbour pieces as if they had been pence would
of the Stanleys. He was the son of Sir have made 11. At this time the silver
William Pole, knight, of Nether Poole on penny weighed 12 grains and the pound of
the banks of the Mersey. Inq. post mortem silver contained 5,760 grains. The number
29 Hen. 8 ; G. Ormerod, * Hist, of Cheshire ' of silver pence to the pound of silver was
(ed. T. Helsby, 1882), ii. 421. Cf.A,p. 238, therefore 480 or 3,360 to seven pounds,
n. 10, supra. The number of twopenny pieces counted
*® By statute 19 Hen. 7, c. 5, § 2 (1504), : out must therefore have been 3,360. B. H.
it was enacted as follows : * The Eyng our . Inglis Palgrave, ' Diet. Pol. Econ.* (1899),
Soverayn Lord by thadvyce of his Counseill vol. iii. * Penny.'
hath cansid to be made newe Coynes of **-*' Interlined.
grotes and pens of too pens and that euery ** Pecuniary profits : cf. Lydg. * Pylgr.
pese of the same Coynes shall haue a serde Sowle * (1483), iv. xzxiii. 81 : * His rentes
about the utter parte therof.' Eight different and revenues and suche other auantages.'
half groats are described by Budmg as coined J. A. H. Murray, 'Eng. Diet.' s.v. Cf. Da
in this reign. * Annals of the Coinage ' Gauge, * Gloss.' s.v. Cf. p. 239, supra,
(drd ed. 1840), ii. 311. Cf. plates vi. and vii. ^* See A, p. 239, n. 15, supra.
252 OOUBT OF THE STAB CHAMBER
(in) ^ Holbame, where thaire horses & they were at
lodge • ^ • * * ^ Bayles within xx yerdes of the grete
strete gate *^ *^ perceyue v personnes standing at the
Eayles, and the *^ Hmnfrey asked who was there, and the
same v personnes * ^ * ^ ye shall well knowe or ye departe
and forthwith dr(ew their) ^ swerdes and knyffes, and
assaulted this deponent & the * ^ * ^ and there hurt the
same Adderton vppon the hed, and *! ** folkes in
the strete made an outcrye, and dyuers and * ^ came out of
the said lordes place to rescewe the same, and then the said v
personnes withdrewe theym selues, and ij of them went into a
harbours hous ^ in the said lordes Bentes, and so this deponent and
the said Humfrey, and oone Boger Johnson, with dyuers othre whom
he remembreth not, pursued into the hous the sai dij personnes and
ther oone of theym fled on the baksyde thrugh a gardeyn & soo
escaped, And the other was soore hurt on the hedde. And moreouer
this deponent saith he knoyth not whos dede it was but he thinketh
the same Adderton by cause of his hurt he was the more angry, and
seith that till the next day after he knew not what they were that had
soo ^'made the^' affirayde^' with theym And saithe furthermore
that the same Irton as he hathe herd it reported had xiiij^^ for
am(endes for) ^ his hurtes, and that the same money, parte of it
was • ^ * * in " charge of this deponent and parte of othre
mens charges, ^" And m(ore) ^ (he) ^ knoyth not in that mater. And
asto the last affray supposed to be made vppon moyle & other this
deponent saith he knoythe noo thing therof but by report nother was
present therat at the begynneng nor endyng. And more he knoyth
not &c.
Bichard Beconsall ^° seruant to my lord of Ely of thage of 1 yeres or
more sworne and examyned the day and yere abouesaide, Saith and
deposith vppon his othe, That after the first affray supposed to
be made vppon the said Irton and Drylond, he saith that when
he herd the cry in the strete, he then being within my said
lordes place, resorted thiddre, and came to a barbouris hous in
my said lordes Bentes^ where many personnes wer assembled
■* Galled above ' Henre harbours hous/ were interlined * and * * to oome.*
showing this to be a trade name. " I.e. contributions had been levied by
** The scribe had originally written the bishop to make up the sum.
* had so affrayde/ but an amendment having ** See A, p. 238, n. 10, supra.
been introduced which was intended to be ** Ely Bents was the name of the tene-
* made the affray * he forgot to strike out ments adjudicated upon by the Star
the last two letters. Chamber in 1567. See B, p. 241, n. 5,
'^ Above the words ' was in charge of ' supra.
BYLAND, ABBOT &o. OF, V. WARCOPPE
253
^' without the doore ^^ '^ and soo entred the hous, and ther
he sawe iiij or v of his owen company, that wer oommeng
out of the harbours house, whoa names wer Johnson, Coney,
Humfrey Adderton and othre whiche he nowe remembrith
not. And ther in the same hous he sawe the said Irton being
hurt vppon the bed.'* And more in this mater this deponent
knoyth not but by report, nother was present at any parte of the
affray first nor last, othrewise then he hathe aboue deposed.
And after the seconde affray supposed to be made " the Thurs-
day " vppon moyle '* and midmore, he saithe he was not there nor
knoythe nothing therof othrewise than was reported openly the
next day after, when he herd dyuers of his company speke therof
&c. and more &c.
1507
BYLAND, ABBOT Ac. OF, v. WARCOPPE.*
A. To the right reuerent Fader in God William the archbisschopp
of Cantorbury and Chaunceller of Englond *
Humbly shewyth and compleaneth vn to your good and gracious
lordshipp your dayly Oratours and beidmen John the Abbot ' of the
monasterie of our blyssid lady saynt marie of Byland in the Gountie
of york ^ and the Gouent of the same monastirie that where affore
^* The words ' bothe of his owen oom-
pany ' struck through.
" A side note, apparently intended to
be read here, runs as follows: *but after
the money paide to Irton for recompense of
his hurt he saith that he herd my lordes
Beceyuour say he had paide hym xiiij li.*
" Perhaps a son of Sir Walter Moyle,
J. of C.P., 1452-71.
' S. C. P. Hen. 7, No. 91. See p. 106,
supra.
* See p. 245, n. 3.
* John Farington or Farlington, abbot
1499-1525. Dugdale, * Monast. Angl.' (ed.
1846), V. 345. By the will of Malde Han-
coke, widow of Robert Hanooke, citizen
and grocer and alderman of York, dated
March 28, 1508, there was bequeathed * To
dan John Farlington, abbott of Byland,
a gylt spone ; and to him and the covent
for oon obet xx*.' * Testamenta Eboraoen-
sia ' (Surtees Soc. 1869), iv. 275. He was
perhaps also the *frere John Farleton,'
to whom on August 81, 1479, Janett
Gaudell, widow of John Caudell, of York,
sacrist, bequeathed *for to praye for my
saule, my husband saule, my fader and
moder saules, my childer, and all mygoode
doers saules x* with a hailing of white
stened ' (a hanging of white tapestry).
* The Cistercian Abbey of Byland, foun-
ded by Boger de Mowbray in 1148. Ac-
cording to Dugdale (l.c.) the abbey was pre-
served by letters patent from the dissolution
of the lesser monasteries and refounded in
28 Hen. 8 (1536-37), but finally dissolved
30 Hen. 8 (1588-39). But Dugdale preserves
the computus roll at its final di^lution,
from which it appears that its net revenue
was 2382. 9«. 4d. The letter of the com-
missioners to Cromwell announcing its dis-
solution is dated December 15, 1587
(Camd. Soc. xxvi. p. 167). The Act of
1536 (27 Hen. 8, c. 28) provided for the dis-
solution only of monasteries of which the
revenue was less than * the dereyerly value
of ij c. 11.' It is evident, therefore, that the
dissolution was a mistake, being unauthor-
ised by Parliament, and that tibis was t^e
cause of the formal refoundation which
Dugdale notes. The Abbey was finally dis-
solved in 1539 with the other greater mon-
asteries under the * Acte for dissolucion of
Abbeys,' 31 Hen. 8, c. 13.
254
C»UBT OF THE STAB CHAMBER
this tyme it jdeasid the kyng oore soaereigne lord by his gncioiis
lettres wOlyng your said Oratoors to appoynt & name his most doist
son my lord Prynee that Nowe is at that tjme beyng Doke of yoA
to be Stoard of the said monastirie ^ i^ of all theyr maners londes
k tenementes in york shyre to bane the defence role & gpaernannoe
of all theyr tenaontes & semaontes there and aftnrward for somoehe
as our said soaereigne lord thooght it nessessarie that my said lord
prinee shnld bane A depntie there it pleaaid his grace by his second
gracious lettres efteones vnto yonr said Oratonrs direetid to appoynt
A Name Richard Cholmelay knyg^t* to be depntie ynto my said lord
Prynee doryng his lyff of all the said manoors londis A tenementes
* See Introd., p. eriti, tapoL,
* Sir Bichjtfd Chdmelaj, or Cbdtaifdej,
who died in 1521, is tteled bj ThomM
Tonge, NoiTOj King of Arms, idio made
ma henUdie Tisitelion of the Northeni
eoontiee in 1530, to hmre been a ton
of John Chobnondeley of Oolston (Salop)
bj Joan, dao^ter and 'oon of the
hejret of Tlumiaa Eyton of Goldston;
and he (John) had Tsrae Syr Bichard
Chobnondeley, lyre tenaont of the Tower
of London, whiche dyed without ysaoe'
(Sortees Soe. xlL 21 [1862]). As this pedi-
gree waa found nineyears after Sir Biehard's
deiUh it is ineontrovertible. It follows that
this Sir Bichard has been wrongly identified
wiUi Sir Bichard Cholmely or Cholmondeley
of Chorley, Cheshire, whose will is dated
December 26, 1531, and who appears to
have been the son of Bichard Cholmondeley
(see Onnerod*s ' Hist. Cheshire ' [ed. Helsby]
u. 688, iiL 401). The Sir Bichard Cholme-
ley in this case, afterwards Lieatenant of
the Tower, was appointed gentleman osher
of the King's chamber soon after the
accession of Henry 7. This identifica-
tion ean be made by a grant of May 7, 1511
(S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 1645) of an annuity
of 20Z. oat of the customs of Newcastle-on-
Tyne on surrender of patent dated June 80,
2 Hen. 7 (1487), when he was gentleman
usher of the clumiber. The original grant
was for life (Campbell, ' Materials,* IL 157).
From this appointment we may infer that
he was in politics a Lancastrian. He is
mentioned in an award dated April 80, 1490,
in which he acted as one of three arbitra-
tors between two religious houses and the
town of Bichmond, Torks. In this docu-
ment he is described as *squyer of the
King's Counsall and Oenerall Beceyvor of
Bichmund and other Lordeshipes' ('Tes-
tamenta Eboracensia * [Surtees Soo. 1855],
vol. zxx. p. 114, n^ In January 1492 hie
was appointed l^ Henry 7 with two others
a ooimmissioner to setUe a dispute as to
preeedenee between the weavers and eovd-
wminerB of York, bong stj^ed ' Usher of the
King's Chamber' (B Danes, 'Municipal
Beeordsof Toilc*(1848),p.254,folL). On
April 11, 1494, Cbohnc^ was ~«»'"*tH
one of ei^t commissioners to disehazge out
of the rerenues of the see then in the
King's hands the ddite of John Shirwood,
bishop of Durham, who had died at
Bome on the previous Januaiy 12. B
Surtees, 'Hist, of Durham* (1816), L IxL
gives the date of the oonmiissicm as April
11, 8 Hen. 7. This must be a mistake for
9 Henry 7, sinee April 11, 8 Hm. 7, was
in 1498 and the bishop did not die till
Januaiy 12, 1498-94. So also the letter
dated June xvj, to which the editor of tiie
'Plompton Correspondence' (Camd. Soc
1889), p. 106, has added 1498, must be mis-
dated, as the writer speaks of the bishop as
already deceased. This letter, in which
the editor is undoubtedly correct in reading
* Cholmeley ' for * Coverley,' is dated from
Cotingham, near Hull, where Cholmeley
lived. Part of his duty was to levy arrears
due to the bishop. At this time Thomas
Howard, earl of Surrey, was commander-
in-chief on the Scotti^ border, and Chol-
meley appears to have been in his favour
(see ib. p. 104). When in 1497 Surrey
invaded Scotland, Cholmeley accompanied
him, and was one of thirty who received
from him the honour of knighthood for
service in the field (W. C. Metealfe, * Book
of Knights ' [1885], p. 81). He was made
treasurer and chamberlain of the town of
Berwick, and customer of the port (S. P.
Dom. Hen. 8, L 176). In this capacity
it was his duty to collect revenues from a
large number of lordships in Yorkshire,
Durham, and Derbyshire assigned by Par-
liament for the maintenance of the garrison
(ib. 192, Statute 11 Hen. 7, o. 61, Pro
Berwik et Carllol). Perhaps as a reward
for discharging this office to the king's
satisfaction he was granted the manor of
BYLAND, ABBOT &o. OF, V. WARCOPPE
255
as by the said lettres of oure said souereigne lord vn to your said
beidmen directid more playnly it doith appier whos pleasoor &
comaondement in that byhalfif as well in granntyng of the said
Stuardshippe as makying the said sir Richard Gholmeley deputie
your said Oratours dydd accomplysshe, And this not with stondyng
Foroet, Yorks (ib. iii. 2415. 19). After his
resignation (1503) of the treasurership of
Berwick he was employed in 1503 as com-
missioner to levy two aids for the king in
the North Biding of Yorkshire (Bolls of
Parlt. vi. 538) « and was made bailiff of Ryse
in the East Biding (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8,
i. 229). He retainea this place at the
accession of Henry 8, and was nominated
constable of Sherifehoton castle, in the
North Biding, and steward of that lord-
ship (June 28, 1509, ib. 230). About
this time he appears to have attended
court and is first mentioned among the
select knights styled * Knights of the Body '
in a grant of July 4 of the same year,
appointing him to the lucrative office of
customer of wools, hides and fleeces in the
port of London (ib. 254). The first mention
of him in connexion with the Tower of
London is in a copy of ordinances for its
regulation addressed to Sir Thomas LoveU,
the Ck)nstable, and himself, presumably as
Lieutenant, by the Privy CJouncU on July 25
following (ib. 336). At the head of the
Council at this time was his old friend, the
Earl of Surrey, to whose patronage these
preferments may be ascribed. Doubtless
he discharged his office of customer of
London by deputy, for on October 8 he was
nominated comptroller of the great and
little customs in the port of Eingston-on-
Hull (ib. 553). He now married Elizabeth
widow of Sir Walter Strikland, the ward-
ship of whose son he was granted by patent
of April 26, 1510 (ib. 1016). On May 7,
1511, he received the grant of an annuity
of 201. out of the customs of Newcastle-on-
Tyne already mentioned (ib. 1645). He
was placed on the commission of sewers for
Yorkshire on March 15, 1512 (ib. 3072).
At this time he was resident at Cottingham
Castle, near Hull, being described as 'of
Cottingham ' in a release of recognisances
of April 8, 1513 (ib. 3866). Cottingham
was one of those royal manors of which, as
treasurer of Berwick, he drew the revenues
(Bolls of Parlt. vi. 394, 11 Hen- 7, c. 61).
He was steward of the manor (S. P.
Dom. Hen. 8, i. 5089). But he must have
been frequently in attendance at Court, for
he was nominated on the commission of the
peace for Kent on September 23, 1512, and
March 3, 1514 (ib. 3428, 4847), probably
that he might act when the court was at
Greenwich, and for Middlesex on November
28 following and on January 21, 1514
(ib. 3552 and 4663). He is, in virtue of his
Lieutenancy of the Tower, styled Sir Bichard
Cholmeley 'of London' (ib. 3600) in a
release of his recognisances for 401. entered
into on behalf of Sir Thomas Corwen,
sheriff of Cumberland (December 18, 1512,
cf. ib. 3866). At Greenwich on April 18,
1513, he received a grant of an annuity of
ten marks {61. IBs. id.) during pleasure out
of the issues of the lordship of Eenyngton,
Surrey (ib. 3911). He commanded a por-
tion of the right wing at Flodden (Septem-
ber 9, 1613: Hall's *Chron.* p. 557). It
was perhaps in recognition of his services,
he having led the men of Hull, that he was
promoted to be a member of Henry 8's Privy
Council on September 23, 1513 (ib. 5762).
He was nominated a commissioner of gaol
delivery for Surrey on November 18 follow-
ing (ib. 4568). Perhaps further to quality
for judicial office, he was admitted a mem-
ber of Lincoln's Inn on August 4, 1514
('Line. Inn Admission Begister,' p. 36).
While comptroller of the port of Hull, he
obtained a dispensation, dated May 17,
1514, from the Act 20 Hen. 6, c. 5, prohibit-
ing officers of customs from possessing
merchant ships (ib. 5091). Such profuse
grants were not confined to Cholmeley, and
in 1515 the Commons declared that the
King's improvidence had impaired his
resources. An Act of Besumption was
passed of all grants other than those
annexed to offices issued since the beginning
of the reign (6 Hen. 8, c. 25). Cholmeley
was not seriously affected, but his influence
with the King was successful in procuring,
immediately after the passing of the Act, a
fresh grant of his annuity of 201. out of the
customs of Newcastle-on-Tyne (August 1,
1515, S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, ii. 781). The
Act was again violated in his favour, in
respect of its prohibition of joint grants
(§ 2), by his appointment with Sir John
Daunce as stewards in survivorship of
Eenyngton, Surrey, on April 7, 1516
(ib. 1744), a preferment worth flve marks a
year {SI. 6s. Sd.) to each (ib. 2252). He
continued to be nominated upon the com-
missions of the peace for Kent (ib. 6, 677,
747, 1302) and Middlesex (ib. 2127, 4435),
and in 1515 appears on those for Cambridge-
shire (ib. 1196, 1311) and among those
qualified to serve as sheriff for that county
(ib. 4562) in 1518 and 1519 (ib. iu. 500). He
256
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
one Robert Warcoppe of Warcoppe esquier ' of his extort power malls
& wrong with dyaers & mony euyll disposid persones to bym assemblid
haith not only entrid in Biottous manor and ayaynst tbe kynges
peasse of & in to the possession of youre said Oratonrs & beidmen at
Blatem Warcoppe asby graunge & Bretherdale^ and dyaers placis
had become possessed of a Gambridgeshire
estate at Holmehall, Stowquye and Little
Wylbram with a seat at Stowquye, where he
obtained a licence to impark 200 acres (May
21, 1520. ib. 854, 51). In 1517 occurred
the oatbreak of the apprentices and citizens
of London against foreigners, known as
Evil May Day. *Syr Richard Cholmeley,
Lieutenaont of the Tower, no great frende
to the citie, in a frantyke fiuy e losed certayn
peces of ordinaonce and shot into the ciiie,
whiche did litle harme, howbeit his good
wilapered' (Hall's * Chronicle' [ed.l809],
p. 589). In the accomits of 1520 he appears
as the recipient of a salary of 251, a quarter
as * depnty-lientenant of the Tower' (S. P.
Dom. Hen. 8, iii. 408) and of 502. a half-
year as a member of the Household, pre-
sumably as Knight of the Body (ib. p. 409).
At the trial of Edward Stafford, duke of
Buckingham, in May 1521, the duke was
escorted to and from Westminster Hall by
Sir Thomas Lovell and Cholmeley (Hall's
* Chron.* p. 628). Cholmeley died later in
the same year, in which also his will was
proved (J. C. C. Smith, * Index of Wills,' i.
120). He was buried, together with his
wife, in the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula
in the Tower of London. A magnificent
altar tomb, which yet remains, was there
erected to his memory, bearing the effigies
of himself and his wife. He left no issue.
An engraving of the tomb is given in J.
Bayley's' History of the Tower of London '
(1821), i. 122.
* Robert Warcoppe of Warcoppe or War-
cop, in the SJ!. of Westmoreland, about
seven miles from the present border of
Yorkshire. The family had anciently held
the manor (J. Nicolson and R. Bum,
*Hist. of Westmorland' [1777], i. 603).
But as early as 10 Henry 5 (1422) it had
passed to the Nevills, Earls of Westmore-
bsknd (lb.). It was at this time held by
Richard Nevill, lord Latimer (Calendar of
Patent Rolls Ed. 4 [Pat. June 11, 1481],
p. 274). This Robert Warcoppe, apparently
a considerable landed proprietor in West-
moreland, was probably the eldest son of
Robert Warcoppe, who died before 1467,
and Joan his wife (see CaL Pat. Rolls
Ed. 4 [Pat. March 15, 1467], p. 12), and
was himself the father of a son named
Robert (see Joyfull v. Warcoppe, A, p. 106).
The second Robert, co-defendant with his
son in the suit of Joyfull v. Warcoppe
(p. 107), is jmentioned by Polydore Vergil
(lib. xxvi. p. 768, Leyden ed. 1651) as a
leader of Henry 7's forces in September,
1496, assembled to resist the Scotch in-
vasion in support of Perkin WarbeoL He
appears from the Plompton Correspond-
ence (Camd. Soc., vol. iv. p. 107) to have
been a cousin of Sir Robert Plompton.
He was under-sheriff of the county in
1508-1509, receiving his release on July
20, 1610 (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, i. 1179).
On November 28, 1512, he was nomi-
nated on the commission of the peace for
Westmoreland (ib. 3552), and again in
the following year (February 4, 1518, ib.
3708). He was at this time a gentleman
usher of the Chamber, which probably
accounts for the grant of a wardship ob-
tained by him on July 22, 1509 (ib. 822, cp.
ib. 4369), and for a grant in survivorship
on February 3, 1513, together with George
Warcop, his brother, of the office of bailiff
of the lordship of Gkiyneforth in the
diocese of Durham with 2d, a day (ib. 3698).
He was appointed on August 23, 1513,
receiver-general of the possessions of the
crown in Westmoreland and Cumberland
(ib. 4414). Flodden was fought on Sep-
tember 9, 1513. Warcoppe was, like
Cholmeley, a commander of a part of the
right wing of the vanguard rHall, ' Chron.'
p. 557). He was one of the grand jury
at Carlisle on July 9, 1532, who found
an indictment against Lord Dacre for
treason, of which he was acquitted on trial
at Westminster Hall. He is mentioned in a
muster roll of the gentlemen of Westmore-
land taken in 1539 as ' absent,' which pre-
sumably means that he was at his post of
gentleman usher (S. P. Dom. Hen. 8, xiv.
i. 653, i.). He was probably dead on April
1, 1540, when his brother George sur-
rendered in favour of Anthony Brakenbury,
gentleman usher of the king's chfumber, the
patent of February 3, 1513 (ib. xv. 611 [18]).
He married Agnes, daughter of Sir Richard
Musgrave. Nicolson and Bum, i. 594.
" In the computus of the abbey of
Byland taken by the royal commissioners
at the dissolution occur the following
entries : —
It. s, d,
Blateme cum Wercop — Terr'
etten' . . . . 20 0 0
Bretherdale et Asby — Terr'
etten' . . 10 0 0
Dugd. ' Monast.' v. 355.
BYLAND, ABBOT &c. OF, V. WARCOPPE 257
with in the Gountie of Westmoreland ^ hot also of wrong he pretendith
to be stuard of all thayr said londes and tenementes in Westmoreland
afforsaid as deputie vnto my said lord Prince by colour of an vntrue
surmise made by the said Robert Warooppe to my said lord Prince
And nott only by colour ther of syttith as stuard ageynst the will of
your said Oratours & holdith theyre Gourtes & callith theyr tenauntes
affor hym and greuously amercieth theym at his owne pleasure And
ouer this the said Robert dischargith & puttith out the good tenauntes
of your said besechours out of theyr fermholdes ayaynst the will of
your said oratours & puttith in to the same trubblesom persones
that be of lytill substaunce or value in to theyr placis at his pleasour
bot also he kepith & retaynyth the Gourt Rolls of your said sup-
pliauntes and also the Streittes ^° of the same Gourtes & willnot in
nowyse accompt ne pay to theym the perquisites ne proffectes of the
said Gourtes ne no parcell ther of nor sufEre theym to see the Gourt
Rolls. And also the seid Robert warcop haith dyuers parcells of lond
the whiche be his owne frehold lyeng with in the seid lordshippe of
Warcoppe by reason wherof the said Robert dayly encrochith of the
londys of your said suppliauntes and claymyth it to be his owne
londes to the vndowyng of youre sayd Oratours and to the dishen-
heritaunce of they ^^ said monastiry and also the said Robert kepith
from your said suppliauntes the possession of theyr londes & tene-
mentes in blatern ^^ afforsayd and id dyuers other places • Ryottously
& with force. And also the said Robert Warcoppe haith nowe of late
causid dyuers Euyll disposid persones to come vn to Blatern afforsayd
and there haith bett woundid & mayhemed on William Thomson a
poir tenaunt of your said besechours, with mony othere great iniures
& wrongges the which the said Robert dayly comittith and doith vn
to your said compleinauntes ayaynst all right & good consciens For
the Which Iniures & mysdemeanours your said Oratours and the said
Robert Warcoppe bene at dyuers & mony sutes in the lawe aswell
for breche of peasse maneysshyng & mayemyng of theyr tenauntes
asfor entryng and disseasyng theym of theyr londes " as is affore
The other possessions of the ahbey in true extract, copy or note of some original
writing or record, especially of fines, amerce-
ments &e. entered on the rolls of a court
to be levied by the bailiff or other ofiBcer *
(Wharton). Murray, * New Engl. Diet.' s.v.
'» Sic.
" Now Bleatam, S.W. of and contiguous
to Warcop. The defendant's claim to this
lordship is stated in Joyfull v. Warcoppe,
0, p. 109.
'* See Joyfull v. Warcoppe, p. 107.
Westmoreland were : —
li.
s.
d.
Fawcett — Redd'
forestae
17
6
8
Wasdale, Armes-
Firma divers'
dale et Shap
terr'etten'
8
0
0
Old Byland
Beotoria . .
7
0
0
Rillyngton
Rectoria . .
18
6
8
Bubwithe
Medietas rec-
toriae . .
12 18
Ibid.
4
'« Estreats, Old French estraites.
*The
258 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
said Wberfore gracious lord that his dealyng considred it is not
semyng that the said Bobert Warcoppe shuldbe stuard or deputie
vnto your said Oratours of the said londes & tenementes. Wherfore
it myght pleasse your graciouse lordshippe the premissis graciously
considrid As well to comaund the said Bobert Warcoppe that he in
no wyse take vppon hym the said office of stuardsshippe or deputie
there or in any wise medle with as to graunt your gracious comaunde-
ment or writ of sub pena to be directid vnto the said Robert Warcoppe
comaundyng hym by the same to be & personally appiere by for the
kyng & his lordes of his most honourable Gounsaill at his palays of
Westminster at a certayne day and vnder a certayn payne by your
good lordshippe to be lymittid there to aunswere to the premisses,
and forther to be rulid in the same acoordyng to Justice lawe and
good consciens, this for the love of God and in the Way of Gharite
and your said Oratours shall dayly pray to God for the preseruacion
of your most honourable lordshippe.
Indorsed. Termino trinitatis anno regni regis xxij^.^^
thabbott of bylond contra Warcoppe.
B. To the most reuerend fader in god William Archbisshopp
of Canterbury Ghaunceler of Englond And to the kynges
most honorable Gouncell
In most humble Wise shewith & piteously compleyneth vnto your
goode & gracious lordshipps your humble & dayly Oratours & bede-
men Thabbot & Gouent of the monasterie of our lady of Byland in
the Gountie of york that wher your seid besechers lately by their
bill of compleynt & peticon shewed & compleyned of the great
wrongfull & forcible keping of their londes from them & dyuerse oder
great wronges extorcions and Jniuries done vnto them by Bobert
Warcop as by the same bill of compleynt more at large apperith, vnto
the which bill the seid Bobert as yet hath made no answer, Neuer-
theles gracious lordes so it is that in the last Terme of the holy
Trinite the xxij*** yer of the Beign of our Souereyn lord the Kyng *
direccion was taken by your lordshipps & by the seid most honorable
Gouncell so that Iniunccion was yeven to the seid Bobert^ vppon
payne of xl" to suffre youre seid besechers to occupie all suche londes
as they then hade in Blatern in Warcoppe in the Gountie of West-
moreland of the which they wer laufuUy possessed or of right ought
" June 9-30, 1607. J. J. Bond, * Handy » See preceding note.
Book of Dates ' (1866), pp. 88, 236. > See Introd., p. cxxi.
BYLAND, ABBOT &c. OF, V. WARCOPPE 259
to haue by the lawe without interupcon or let of the seid Robert vnto
this day that is to sey the xv®*" of seynt michell then next folowyng.'
Neuertheles so it is that the seid Bobert not dreding any Iniunccion
ne commaundement yeven to hym, And also nottwithstanding that
the seid Bobert was indited of forcible entree into the seid londes &
your seid Oratours restored therunto by the Justice of the Kynges
Benche, The seid Bobert sithen that & sithen the seid Jniunccion
hath riotously & with force made newe entree into the seid londes &
tenementes and taken the peetes of the Tenauntes ther that they
shuld haue hade for their fuell & casten them into the water &
distroyed them and with such force put one John Walker beyng
Fermour to your seid Besechers out of his Ferm and puttith the
residue of the seid tenauntes in such fere & drede of deth that they
dare not occupie their Fermez. And so the seid Bobert with such
force hath ered ^ great substans of the ground of your seid besechers
& occupieth & lettith it hym self by scottishmen & oder riotous
persons gaderd out of Straunge Gountreys that no man in that
Contrey knowith And also with such force compellith the Fermours
of the residue of the seid londes for fere & drede of their lyves to
pay hym the rentes which londes & rentes be of the yerly value of
xliiij' & better and the seid Bobert is of such riotous disposicon that
your seid bedemen ne their seruauntes ne Tenauntes dare deale with
hym for hertofore vpon varians hade betwene hym & oder one
honest & well disposed person called Bichard Jofeld was slayne &
murdred wherof the seid Bobert standith indited as accessary to the
same.^ And wher as suertie of peas was taken afore the Justice of
peas of the seid Countie of Westmoreland ayenst John Sawyer John
Elweld William Lancaster Baufe Metcalf and diuerse oder riotous &
euill disposed persons gadered by the seid Bobert & diuerse of them
secretly kept in his hous, And they wer arrestid by one John Jackson
Bailly Errand,^ the said John by the meanez of the same Bobert
suffered them to go at large without brynging them to Justice of peas
* October 13, 1607. cases of murder see Worcestershire County
* ploughed, 'eared up by a plough,* Records (edited by J. W. Willis Bund,
Harrison's * England ' fl687), I. xxiv., Worcester, 1900), vol. i. Introd., pp. xl,
(1877) i. 361. The word occurs in the xcvii, and 4 and 177.
form * erry * in Eynesham, Abbot of, v. • * Ordinary BaylifTs are of two sorts,
Harecourt. A, p. 147, n. 65. See J. A. H. Baylififs Errants and Bayliflfs of Franchises:
Murray, * New Engl. Diet.' s.v. Bayliffs Errants, Ballivi Itinerantes, be those
* Apparently out on bail. The mur- which the sheriff maketh <fe appointethto
dered man was probably the Richard Joy- go hither & thither in the county to
full who was plaintiff against Warcoppe in serve writs, to summon the county, sessions,
the former case seven years before (see assizes & such like. Baylififs of Franchises,
p. 106). For the practice down to about Ballivi Franchesiarum aut libertatum, be
1626 of admitting to recognisances even in those that be appointed by every lord within
8 2
260 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER '
or fynding suertie to the peas ^ vnto the tyme that they hade maymed
one WiUiam Thomson Permour to your seid Besechers & cutte of his
right thorn to his vtter vndoyng & put hym in great daanger of his lif
and then resorted ageyne to the seid Bobert, and ther be they kept &
mayntened ^ by hym that no man dare medle with them. And also
wher the seid Robert was commaonded at the last assissez before the
Justice of assise & Justice of peas of the same Countie by virtue of
the kynges writt of supplicauit * to them directed to fynd suertie for
the peas, the seid Robert obstynately refused so to doo Wherfore he
was committed to warde and ther lay a long space & wold fynd no
suertie according to the seid writte to thentent as it semyth &
apperith that he wold haue eftsones ^® beten & maymed the Fermours
& seruaunttes of your seid besechers or he founde any suertie for the
peas, And for fere therof & of the wilfull & riotous demeanour of the
seid Robert, The Fermours & Tenauntes of your seid besechers
dare not come in their housez ne the seruaunttes of your seid be-
sechers come in that Contrey. Wherfore youre seid besechers in most
humble wise besechith your goode & gracious lordshippes that the seid
Robert may haue condigne ponysshement for the seid riot & his
offences in example of oder mysdoers and to fynd suertie that your
seid besechers may peacibly haue & enioy all the seid londes and
tenementes by them self Fermours & tenaunttes without let or
interupcion of the seid Robert or any oder for hym. And also to
satisfiie them of such profites as he hath taken therof to the value of
xl li. & aboue, And also for costes that he hath caused them to spend
to the some of c marcs ^* & aboue, So that your seid besechers may
quietly serue god and pray for the kynges grace & my lord prince &
youre lordshippes &c.
Indorsed. Termino Michaelis Anno regis xxiij® *^
thabbott of Bylond contra Robertum Warcoppe
Abbas de Bylond contra Warcoppe
Abbas de Bylond contra Robertum Warcopp.^'
his Liberty, to do such offices within his Pre- of Peace of the County and the Sheriff A is
cincts as the Baylif Errant doth at large in grounded upon the statute anno 1 Ed. 3,
the County.* Cowel, * Interpreter ' (1701), s.v. cap. 16, which ordains that certain persons
' This reads as if the Bailiff was to in Chancery shall be assigned to take care
find surety for the peaceable behaviour of of the Peace.* lb.
his prisoners. " A second time, again. Murray, s.v.
• Cf. p. 146, n. 38, and p. 241, n. 1. '* 662. 13s. 4d.
* * Supplicavit is a writ issuing out of ** October 9-November 29, 1507.
the Chancery for taking the surety of peace " This indorsement on the parchment
against a man. It is dimsted to the Justices turned upside down.
BYLAND, ABBOT &c. OF, l\ WARCOPPE 261
c- The answer of Robert Warcoppe to the seuerall byllys of
Gomplaynt pat in ayenst hym by the abbot of Bylond.
The seyd Robert seyeth that the seyd byllys are insuflScyent
vncerten & vntrew, and also Sclanederusly Fayned, to the grevus
vexacion trouble and cost of the seyd Robert, and ouerthat the seyd
Roberte seyeth that as to eny Ryott, forsyble entree, murther, mayme
or eny other vnlawfull demeanour contrarye to the kynges peace, he is
therof and of euery parcell of the same no thing gyltye. And as to
the Resydew of all the maters and articles Specyfyed in the seyd
seuerall byllys of Gomplaynt, he seyeth hyt ys mater Clerely lie ^^^^
determinable at the Comen law of thys lond and not els where,
Wherunto the seyd Roberte prayth to be remyttyd, and that he may
haue alowaunce of the same. And for asmoche as the seyd abbott ys
a mane of grete possessions and gretely fryndyd in the seyd Countye
of Westmoreland, And the seyd Roberte a gentylman of mene & lese ^
powre in the same Countye, Wherfor he axyth Jugement and prayyth
that the seyd abbot may be punysheyd for hys vnlawfuU vexacion Con-
trarye to the order of the kyng oure souerayng lordes lawys in thys
behalfe purveuyd.^ And as to the occupacion and manevranse ' of the
office of the stewardshyppe of the manours londes and tenementes in
the Countye of Westmoreland belongyng to the seyd monestary, the
seyd Roberte seyeth that the kyng our Souerayng lorde and hys most
deryst sone, my lord prynce, Commaundyd the seyd Roberte to occupye
and excersyse the same Offyce vnto suche tyme that hys grace or my
lord prynce Commaundyd hym to leve the occupacion of the same
offyce. All whyche maters the seyd Roberte woll auere as thys Corte
schall awarde, And axyth Jugement yf the kyng oure Souerayng
lord or my lord prynce of thys article natt Councellyd with all* if ^
thys Corte ^therin* eny forther ought to procede. All whyche maters
the seyd Roberte ys redy to prove as thys Corte wyll awarde and
prayth to be dysmyssed with hys resonable Costes for hys wrongefull
vexacion *& trouble* in thys behalfe.
1 Less. and before ' if ' and the * if ' be Btrnok out.
' Apparently for ' porreyed,' i.e. pro- Cf. ' the argument of Sir Francis Bacon,
vided. Knight, A.G., in the King's Bench in the case
* Manuranoe generally means coltiva- De Rege Inoonsolto,* &c. Bacon's Works,
tion ; here, exercise. ed. J. Spedding and D. D. Heath (1859), yii.
* This is a translation of the Latin 687.
common form ' et petit indicium si Bege in- * Sic ; apparently * o ' has been erased
oonsulto Curia debeat nlterius procedere,' as and * i ' substituted,
win appear if brackets be read after ' yf * *'* Literlined.
262 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
BUTLOND & OTHERS t;. AUSTEN & OTHERS.*
A. To the kyng our soueraigne lord
1507 ^ the moost humble and lamentable wyse besechen and shewen
vnto your moost habundaunt grace your humble subgettes and true
liegemen the Felishipp of the crafte of Founders of your Citee of
London ^ that where an acte was made amongest other in your noble
parliament holden at Westminster the xix*** yere of your moost noble
Reigne, that no Wardeyns nor masters of any Crafte Fraternite or
Guylde Corporate or not Corporate shall make any statutes or actes
withyn them self or Execute any Statutes or actes before made, that
be in derogacion of your heighnes or hurt of your Comons without the
same Actes or statutes be before examined and allowed by the Chaun-
celler of England or by your two Justices or by your Justice of peace
of that your countee where suche Acte or statute shalbe made or
executed vpon payne to forfaite to your heighnes at euery tyme xl li.^
and where oone Randolf Austyne * Founder subtilly entendyng his
owne singuler lucre and the vtter vndoyng of your seid suppliauntes
of his own auctorite and power made an acte amongest your said
suppliauntes that they or any of them should not sell any candell
styk chafyng disshe or other wares to any man not beyng of the seid
crafte vnder such prices as he named vpon payne to forfaite such
sommes of money as he assigned by his seid acte at euery tyme doyng
» S.CP. Hen. 8, Bundle 19, No. 347.— p. 266, n. 15, infra), and that the hearing
Wrongly sorted. The evidence that this salt must have been fixed for June 2, 1508.
belongs to the reign of Henry 7, and not to This is corroborated by the tenour of the
that of Henry 8, is derived from the names award of Sir L. Aylmer, which is dated
of the parties to it, from the ' Annals of October 26, 24 Hen. 7 (1508), regulating
the Founders' Company,' edited by W. M. the future government of the Company.
Williams in 1867, and from the Exch. K. B. See n. 9, infra.
Memoranda Boll for M. T. 21 Hen. 7. The ^ The ordinances of the Mistery were
precise year to which the case belongs is first enroUed on July 29, 1365, in the BoUs
also ascertainable from the same sources. at the Gild Hall. They are set forth by
On 5 Oct. the original information in the W. M. Williams, * Annals of the Founders'
Exchequer was laid in M. T. 21 Hen. 7 Company ' (1867), pp. 4-9.
(1605) (see Append., p. 279). The peti- » 19 Hen. 7, c. 7 (1604). *De privatis
tion was lodged in the Star Chamber, we et illicitis statutis non faciendis.* See
are told (* Annals,' p. 60), by the new Introd. p. oli.
Master and Wardens in the following * Bandolf Austyne, or Bandolffe Austyn,
year. At this time the Wardens entered of St. Margaret's, Lothbury, London,
office on St. Clement's Day, November 23 Master of the Founders' Company in 1506,
(• Annals,' p. 46). The date indorsed is * xiiij * Annals,' p. 60. Will proved 1507. J. C. C.
die Novembris,' on which day it may be in- Smith, Index, i. 26. The Founders' HaU
ferred that the petition was lodged, since was at the west of St. Margaret's church,
another indorsement fixes the hearing for 'seated at the upper end of Founders'
the morrow of the Ascension. It follows that Court.' J. Stow, Survey (ed. J. Strype,
November 14 must be in 1507 (see also B, 6th ed. 1761, i. 677).
BUTLOND & OTHERS V. AUSTEN & OTHERS 263
the contraxie and thai acte so made the same Bandolf seid vnto your
seid suppliaontes that rather than any of them shuld breke the same
his acte, that they shulde bryng their wares vnto hym and that he
wold geve them redy money for their wares after the fourme folowyng,
that is to sey, that where his acte was xij d. he would geve viij d. and
where he set hit at viij d- he wold geve y d., and so your seid subgettes
for fere of brekyng of the seid Randolfs acte brought moche ware vnto
the seid Eandolf and sold hit to hym after his owne price and many
tymes better chepe than he before graunted to pay, wherthurgh the
same Bandolf takyng no regarde to his seid owne Acte but such wares
as he had of your seid suppliauntes for xvj d. he sold for ij s. and xxij d.,
and that he had for xd. and sumtymefor ix d. sold hit for xvj d. and sum-
tyme at xiiij d., at his owne pleasure puttyng his owne acte clerely
apart and therby gate great goodes and brought many of your seid
suppliauntes into so great pouertee and myserie, that they haue
neither candelstyk nor metall to make a candelstyke of, to their vtter
vndoyng, where yf they myght haue sold their owne wares at their
owne libertee as they haue doone in tyme paste, without punysshement
of the seid Eandolfs Acte, they myght haue sold for xxij d. to other men
that they sold to the seid Randolf for xvj d., and sum that they sold
vnto hym for x d. and sumtyme for ix d., might haue sold hit for xiiij d.,
and so myght haue had their competent levyng, and now by meane of
his seid acte be vtterly vndoone, and where afterwardes the seid
Randolf Austyn and Robert Setcole^ and Edmonde Byrde* late
Wardeyns of the seid Felishipp contrarie to your seid Acte executed
the seid Acte made by the seid Randolf in the seid Felishipp and took
of oone Thomas Basset of the same Felishipp iij* iiij*^ for a Fyne, for
that that the seid Thomas Basset sold certeyn candelstykkes vnder the
price that the seid Bandolf had made in his seid Acte, And that the
seid Thomas ^ Basset than gave therof informacion to the Barons of
your Escheker, the which your Barons therupon made processe
chargid accordyng to your seid Acte ayenst the seid Randolf Robert
Setcole and Edmond Byrde and was pleted to an issue and tried and
past with your grace at a nisi prius at Seint martyns the Graunde ^
* Bobert Setoole, Warden of the Foun- ' By the first charter of Edward 3, dated
ders' Company in 1497 and 1506, * Annals/ March 6, 1327, it was granted to the citi-
pp. 45, 50. Will proved as of St. Laurence, - zens of London * that all inqaisitions from
Olde Jurye, London, 1507. J. C. C. Smith, henceforth to be taken by oar justices or
Index ii. 473. ministers of the said city i^all be taken in
• Edmonde Byrde, otherwise Borde, St. Martin's le Grand in London and not
Warden of the Founders* Company, 1497 elsewhere, except the inquisitions to be
and 1506. * Annals,' pp. 45, 50. taken in the circuits at the Tower of London
' Bobert in ' Annals,' p. 50. See n. 10, and for the gaol delivery at Newgate.'
infra. W. de G. Birch, Charters of City of
264
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
in your Gitee of london and the seid Bandolf Bobert Setcole and
Edmonde were there caste vnto your heighnese in xl li., ouer and
above the costes, and for payment therof and for such costes as the
seid Bandolf Bobert Setcole and Edmond have spent in your lawes ^
by reason of the premisses haue without assent or knowlege of your
seid suppliauntz embeseled sold and spent all suche money juels and
goodes as belonged to the seid hooll Felishipp the whiche they in
tyme passed had of the gift of other well disposed persones, to their
comon wele towardes their charges '^ that amongest their Felishipp
should be levyed and paide to your heighnes for their part withyn
your seid Citee and otherwise to the charges and honour of your same
Citee, And theryn your seid suppliauntes be without remedie " to their
great vndoyng for euer, For now ther woll no persons take vpon them
to be rulers of them in seyng the good rules and orders amongest
London (1SS7), p. 58. In 1545 the Aote of
1532 ^conoexynge peijarie & ponysshe-
ment of untreae verdictes* (23 Hen. 8,
c. 3) having ordered Attaints to be tried
before the Coarts at Westminster, the City
protested against this breach of its privi-
leges, and cases affecting citizens were
ordered to be tried at the GildhaU (37
Hen. 8, o. 5).
» An entry in the records of the Founders'
Company runs as follows: — *24 Henry 7,
Oct. 26 (1508). Ayhner, Maior. By the
asente and consente of all the hoole fele-
shippe both Old and Yonge. Praying the
Wardens to labor on to the Lord Chancellor
to haue ouer Acts and Bules corrected that
theCrafte myte be harmless ayenst the Kyng
our Soveryng Lord, nottwithestandyng oon
of the semplesse persons of all the fele-
shippe whose name is John Sandeforde
of evyll and gret melesse, presented the
Wardens into &e Cheker, for that they had
made an Acte contrary to the Parlement,
wheruppon they were tryde by the Law,
which gave the Crafte gretcoste and put
the Wardens in gret fer that they dorste
not do no ponychement in the time of ther
yer nor gader no quarterage, nor take no
mony for ablyng of no prentysses, Where-
uppon the Wardens take nothyng to help
the charge upon the aforesayd matter.'
' Money spent in the Cheker the first terme.
Sum Tottalle iiij li. x s. v d.* W. M.
Williams, ' Annals,' p. 18.
** The f oUowingfpassage relating to these
transactions is in tifie * Annals,' p. 50 : —
* 1506. Mem.— The 21"* year Henry 7,
then being Wardens Bandolphe Austen
Maister, Edmonde Borde & Bobert Setcoll,
Bobert Bassett presented them in the Court
of Exchequer for takyng of hym a fyne of
3V4* for which they were condemned in
a penalty of 402., for which they sold the
plate and w* the money that they toke for
the juells and w* the money that was in the
Boxe they went and payd it unto the
Tresorer, and so they were clerly discharged
agenst ouer Soveryng Lord the kyng. And
the imediately servyng next, in the 22nd
yere of the Kyng, the Master and Wardens
w* many others thus seeing the goods goon
and loBte by reason of the takyng of pre-
sumption of the mind of the forsaid Ban-
dolphe Austin the sayd fyne of 3»/4'* w*
owte any consell of any of the feleshippe of
the Crafte, the new Master and Wardens
toke Consell, and so caused him to be called
before my Lord Chancellor into the Star
Chamber, and caused the sayd Bandolfe,
with the other too, to make and bryng
forthe all the goods, plate, redymony and
other things that belongyd unto the Crafte
as good as ever it was before the sute, to
the grete cost and damage of all the outhers
before named and to the grett hyndrance,
they bering the cooste of all the hooll
matter upon ther owne goodes.*
1" *But it hath been heretofore much
questioned, Whether several men might
join together in one suit for several matters ?
And some judges have certified that they
could not in this court more than at the
common law ; and the reason they yielded
was for that one man might by that means
maintain another man's suit. But assuredly
it is no good reason, for that every suit in
this court is the king's suit, and it is lawful
for any man to maintain the king's suit.'
• W. Hudson, ' Treatise of the Star Chamber,
Collectanea Juridica ' (1792), ii. 130.
BUTLOND & OTHERS V, AUSTEN & OTHERS 265
them obserued and kept,'* without your moost habundant grace to
them the Bouner be shewed in this behalf, That hit woll therfore
please your heighnesse the premisses tenderly to considre, and therupon
of your moost habundant grace to commaunde the seid Bandolf
Robert Setcole and Edmond to come before your heighnes or before
the lordes of your moost honorable Councell there to aunswere to the
premisses, and such direccion theryn than to be sett as your seid sup-
pliantz mowe ^^ be recompensed & restored of their seid money juels
and goodes, and also now be set in such wey as they may haue
honest men of their Felishipp assigned and chosen to se the good ordre
and rules of their Felishipp obserued and kept as they haue doone in
tyme past- And this at reuerence of god and in wey of charite, and
your seid suppUauntes shall specially pray to God for the preseruacion
of your moost roiall persone and excellent astate-
Flegii de prosequendo Johannes Boo de london yoman & Willelmus
Doo de eadem yoman.
^^ John Eympyngden.
Indorsed, xiiij die nouembris.^*
Founders. Eandolf Austyn sworn saith that to *^
Scilicet coram domino Eege & Consilio suo in Crastino
Ascensionis Domini proxime futuro.
*^ This statement as to the disorganisa- persons who were the authors of the ordi-
tion of the gild is corroborated in the pas- nance were B. Austeyn, Edmund Byrde, and
sage in note 9, supra. Bobert Setcole, whom it describes as war*
" Old present subjunctive of * may.' See dens, not distinguishing B. Austen as
B. Morris, ' Historical Outlines of English master, in which last point it agrees with
Accidence ' (3rd ed., 1873), p. 186. the defence before the Star Chamber (p.
^* In another hand. The name was 267). That defence traverses the allegation
perhaps that of the counsel who drafted that Setcole was a warden at the time the
the petition. It does not, however, occur ordinance was made (ibid.),
in the lists of counsel practising in the The assumption of office by the master
courts during the reigns of Henry 7 and and wardens appears to have taken place
Henry 8, as collected by E. Fobs in his on Nov. 23 annually (p. 262, n. 1). Aocord-
* Lives of the Judges ' (1857), v. 20, 107. ing to the ' Annals * B. Austen was master
The will of John Byppyngden of St. Mar- in 1506, Le. presumably from Nov. 23, 1505,
tyne, Salisbury, was proved in 1516 (J. G. C. to Nov. 23, 1506. It seems to be common
Smith, Index, ii. 461), which is not im- ground that Byrde was a warden for the
probably the same name, the sign for the same year (p. 263 and p. 267). Possibly
* m ' being omitted. the new master and wardens were elected
** The new ordinance, which was the at Michaelmas to enter upon their offices
cause of the subsequent litigation, is stated on Nov. 23 following, so that the informa-
in the information dated Mich, term 21 tion of Mich. Term 1505 was laid against
Hen. 7 (1505), on which the case was those who would be in office at the time
tried in the Exchequer (see Appendix, p. the case came on for hearing, and there-
279), to have been passed on June 16, 20 fore against Setcole and not against Haly-
Hen. 7 Q505). According to the defendants fax, who may be taken to have vacated
before tne Star Chamber, B. Austen was office on Nov. 22, 1505. The case was
master(p.264,n. 10), and Edmond Byrd and tried in the Court of Exchequer in Easter
Thomas Halyfax wardens (see p. 267). term 21 Hen. 7 (1506). See Append., p. 282.
The information, however, which was laid It would seem that there were two sets
by one William Venables, states that the of informations laid. The information
266
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
?.(>'.'»^0
B. Thanswer of Eandolf Austen Robert Setcole and Edmond
Byrde to the Byll put ayenst them by^ John Butlond
Thomas Bassett William knyght * Thomas Sweting humfrey
Walker John parker ' Bichard Fynehe and Thomas perkyn-
son in the name of the felyshipp of the craft of Founders
in London/
The said Bandolf Austen Bobert Setcole and Edmond Byrde
sayn that the said Bill is vncertein and insufficient to be answerd vnto
and vntruly faynd of greate malys withoute cause or grounde reason-
able by the said persones plaintyfes withoute thassent of the said fely-
shipp for the vexacion and trouble of the said Austen Setcole and
Byrde and the matter in the said bill conteyned ys determinable att
the common law and not in this courte, And they for any thing therin
comprised owen not by the lawe to make answer and for the insuffyence
therof they prayen that the said Bill may abate. Neuertheles
thaduantage of the premisses to them sauid for declaracion of trouth
laid by Yenables and printed in the
Appendix alleges the * making * of the Act
impugned, and this harmonises with the
answer of the defendants on p. 266. It was
for this offence also that the information
was laid by John Sandefforde, as stated in
the * Annals ' (see p. 264, n. 9, supra). But
the examination of B. Austen (p. 270)
shows that Setcole was condemned in the
Exchequer, not for making, but for execut-
ing the illegal ordinance or Act, and the
* Annals * represent such an information to
have been laid by Bobert Bassett, presum-
ably the person called Thomas Bassett in
the answer of the defendants before the
Star Chamber (p. 267). The 'making*
and the * executing ' such an Act were in-
dependent offences, each punishable by a
fine of 402. This last information I have
not been able to discover in the Exch.
K. B. Mem. Bolls for 21 Hen. 7, but a com-
parison of these statements certainly sug-
gests that the master and wardens were
mulcted by two separate informations,
each time in 401. Doubtless a number of
persons laid informations upon each
charge, for the reason given on p. 264, n. 11.
The wardens in 22 Hen. 7, i.e. from
Nov. 23, 1606, to Aug. 21, 1607, when the
regnal year ended, were John Butlond,
master or senior warden, Thomas Bassett,
and William Knyght (see p. 264, n. 10).
The petition filed by these and others
before the Star Chamber is indorsed
Nov. 14. This is therefore, presumably,
Nov. 14, 1607, nine days before they
quitted oflice. The 'Annals ' unfortunately
do not furnish a list of wardens.
*• The writer apparently had intended
to take the depositions down on the dorse,
but stopped at ' to.'
* The three names following were those
of the master and wardens from Novem-
ber 23, 1606, to November 23, 1607. See
A, p. 262, n. 1, and p. 264, n. 10, supra.
The reason of the selection of eight to
represent the company is probably that
they formed the Court of Assistants. See
* Annals,* p. 14, n.
' This answer was put in between Nov.
14, 1607, the date of the indorsement of
the petition, and the morrow of the Ascen-
sion following, i.e. June 2, 1608 (p. 266).
As the answer states that Austen, Byrd and
Halyfax * yet ben Wardens,* it follows that
a reaction in their favour must have taken
place, and that they must have been re-
elected on Nov. 23, 1607. But as the
answer speaks of Austen and Setcole as
both alive, and we know that their wills
were proved in 1607, this answer must
have been filed between Nov. 23 and the
dose of the year. The morrow of the
Ascension, fixed for the hearing, was in
Easter term 1608, in which term or the
succeeding Trinity term the case was pro-
bably heard, for on Oct. 26, 24 Hen. 7
(1608), Sir L. Aylmer settled the outstand-
ing question of the custody of the restored
chattels of the Company (p. 271, n. 10).
' * Otherwise called John Sena,' Warden
in 1497. lb. p. 46.
* In 1601 the Founders* Company con-
sisted of 22 members. ' Annals,* p. 213.
BUTLOND & OTHERS V, AUSTEN & OTHERS 267
in the premisses they sayen that ther was communycacion amonges
the said hole felyshipp commonyd ^ in the tyme that the said Austen
Edmond Byrd and oon Thomas halyfax ® wer wardens whiehe yet ben
wardens, that forasmoche as dyuers persones vsyd to make sale of
diners wares apperteynyng to the said mystere or craft ferre better
chepe than the charge therof cost and stood them ynne for the making
and stuf of the same to the impouerishement of the same sellers and
to the hurte and preiudice of all the hole felyshipp. Wherfore yt was
comonyd^ emonges them in what wise and price they myghte sell their
wares so that they myghte haue a conuenient lyuyng ther by, and yt
was thoughte emonges them that a chafing callid a mydyll dysshe could
not well be sold vndre the price of xiiij d. and a candilstik callid a small
lampe vnder the price of viij d. and a candylstyk called a greate lampe
vndre xij** yf they shuld lyve therby and vpoun this communycacion
the said felyshipp departid after whiehe communicacion by the crafty
meanys of the said Thomas Bassett and for couetous ® and lucre ayenst
all good consciens and charyte put an informacion in the kinges
Eschequier ayenst the said Randolf Edmond Byrde and Eobert Set-
cole calling them wardens of the said felyshipp of foundres where of
trouthe the said Setcole was none of the wardyns nor yet ys not ^
supposing that they and othre of the said felyshipp shuld make an
acte contrary to the statute of the last Acte of parUament made that
none felishipp shuld make ordenaunces vpon pain of xl li. the one half
therof to the king and the other half to the suter, that none of the
said felyshipp shuld sell a grete lampe vndre xij d. and a small lampe
vndre viij"* and a chafing dyshe vndre xiiij d. vpon pain who so euer dyd
the contrary to forfeit iij s- iiij d. to the said felyshipp and that as
oftyn as any suche case shuld happen vpon which informacion by the
sinistre meanys and labour of dyuers persones they were condempyd
in the somme of xl li. whiehe ys content and paid whiehe was by
thassent & agrement of the most honest and substanciall persones
of the said felishipp aswell of them that haue ben wardens as of othre
that ys to sey of the goodes and jewelles of the said felyshipp xx li.
» Acquainted, told. Cf. Udall etc. (1548), By the charter of James I. (1614) the num-
tr. Erasm. Par. John, 68a. * After these ber was fixed at two. Ibid. p. 26.
thynges were commoned to iS; fro from ' Here in the sense of * discussed.'
one to another.* J. A. H. Murray, * Eng. ■ Cf. p. 24, n. 22.
Diet.,* s. V. • Setcole had apparently served from
• Also warden in 1514, when there was Nov. 23, 1505, to Nov. 22, 1506, whereas
a further dispute about the plate (* Annals,* the ordinance complained of had been
p. 51). There seem to have been some- passed on June 16, 1505, and this answer
times two and sometimes three wardens, belongs to Nov. or Dec. 1507. See A, p. 263,
e.g. three in 1508 (see ibid. p. 14) and 1579 n. 5, also p. 265, n. 15, and p. 266, n. 2, supra,
(ibid. p. 20), and two in 1619 (ibid. p. 51).
268 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
and the othre xx li. of their owne goodes bysyde their costes in suyte
which amountyd to x li. and aboue, Wytiiowte that that the said
Bandolf Austen subtylly intending his owne singuler weale & lucre and
the vtter vndoyng of the said felyshipp of his own auctorytie made any
such Acte emonge them as by the said Bill of complaint is surmytted
and withoute that that the said Bandolf said vnto the said John
Butlonde and othre of the said felyshipp that rather than any of
them shuld broke the same his acte that they shuld bring their
wares vnto hym and that he wold gyve them redy monye for the same
wares after the fourme and prises surmyttid in the said bill of com-
plaint Or that the said Butlonde and othre of the said felyshipp for
feare of broking of any suche act broughte any suche ware to the said
Bandolf and sold yt hym aftir his owne price or better chepe than he
byfore grauntyd to pay Or that the same Bandolf sold any suche wares
for ij s. as he boughte for xvj d. or that he boughte any suche ware
for X d. and sold yt for xvj d. and therby gate greate goodys and
broughte many of the said felyshipp in grete pouertie and mysery in
manor and fourme as ys surmyttid in the said bill of complaint Butt
that the same Bandolf vppon good sufficient suertie wilbe glad to
delyuer the same wares ayen to them for the monye that he paid for
them And withoute that that they myght haue sold the said good at
any suche price as ys specyfyed in the said bill of complaint and so
have had their competent lyuyng but only for any suche acte made by
the said Bandolf And withoute that that the said Bandolf Austyn
Bobert Setcole and Edmond Byrde contrary to the said act of parlia-
ment executid any suche act made by the said Bandolf in the said
felyshipp or took of the said Thomas Bassett the said iij s. iiij d. for a
fyne for that the said Thomas Bassett sold certen candilstykes vndre
the said prices supposid to be in the said acte made by the said
Bandolf in manor and fourme as by the said bill of complaint ys
surmyttid And withoute that that the said Bandolf Bobert Setcole and
Edmond Byrde for suche costes as they had spent in the lawe in
defens of the said suyte in thescheker withoute thassent and knowlage
of the said felyshipp embeselyd sold and spent all suche monye
jewelles and goodys as bylongyd to the said hole felyshipp in manor
and fourme as ys surmyttid by the said bill of complaint And without
that that there be no persones to take vppon them to be rulers of the
said felyshipp for the good rules and ordenaunces to be restorid and
kept among the same felyshipp in manor and fourme as yn the said
bill of complaynt ys surmyttid. ALL whiche matters the said Bandolf
Bobert Setcole and Edmond Byrde ben redy to proue as this court will
BUTLOND & OTHERS V. AUSTEN & OTHERS 269
awarde wherefor they prayen that they may be dysmyssed from hens
with their reasonable costes for their wrongful! vexacion in this behalf.
Indorsed. The Founderes materr.
c. The replicacion of John Butlond Thomas Basset William
Knyght Thomas Sweting humfrey Walker John Parker
Bichard Fynche & Thomas Perkynson & the substans
of all the Oder of the seid Felishipp to the aonswer of
Bandolf Austen Bobert Setcole and Edmond Birde.
The seid John Thomas William Thomas humfrey John Bichard
& Thomas and all the oder^ substans of the seid Felishippe seyn
that their seid bill is certeyn and sufficient to be answerd vnto and the
mater therin conteyned true & not fejned and that the same
compleynt is made by the said Felishipp and by their hole assentes
apon true & resonable groundes & greuous causes to be reformed by
the kynges highnes & his most honorable Councell & not at the . .
Comen lawe and ouer that they seyn in euery thing as they haue seid
in their seid bill of compleynt. And that vppon the seid Gommuni-
cacion hade bitwene the seid Austen Setcole & Birde in suche wise as
is specified in their seid answer for their singuler lucre & aduantage
made^ an Acte & ordynaunce in the seid Felyshlpp that no man
shuld sell eny candylstik chafyng dysshe or oder wares to any man
but oonly to them of the same craft vnder such price as they then
sett and vppon payne of forfiture for euery tyme xl d. to the grete
vndoyng of the poure men of the seid Felishipp and ayenst the comen
wele of this lond which acte & ordynaunce the seid Austen Setcole &
Birde made for their own singuler profett & aduantage and wrong-
fully put in execucion to the great vndoing of your seid besechers
and to the great aduauntage & profite of the seid Austen Setcole &
Birde & oder for the whiche the seid informacion was truly giffen
ayenst them for the kynges grace ' and truly founden and they con-
dempned for their own offences. And for asmoche as they haue
confessed by the seid answer that they haue taken the money juelles
& goodes belonging to the seid Felishipp to content & pay the seid
condempnacion your seid compleynauntes prayen that^ may be
* An erasure of about an inch in length were (sic I ) generally confined to penal
follows. statutes and lUcewise to the CJourt of £x-
^ Interlined, the insertion of *they* chequer and King's Bench.' Beeves, 'Hist,
being omitted. of £ng. Law' (ed. W. F. Finlason, 1869),
' * The commencing of prosecutions by iii. 168.
Information had grown into common use in * ' They ' omitted,
the reigns of Henry 6 and Edward 4, and
270 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
compelled to restore it to the seid Felisbipp, And also all suche oder
goodes & jueUes as they haue or hade belongyng to the seid
Felishipp and also to restore your seid suppliantes to suche costes &
damages as they haue putt them vnto according to right & goode
consciens. Without that that the seid xx li. or. any peny of the seid
condempnacion -^ was paid of the goodes & juelles of the seid Felishipp
was paid by the assent & aggrement of the most honest & substanciall
persons of the seid Felishipp or by thassent & aggrement of any oder
person then of the seid Austen Setcole & Birde as is surmitted by the
seid answer, all whiche maters the seid John Thomas William Thomas
humfrey John Eichard & Thomas ar redy to proue as this Court will
awarde and prayen as they haue prayed in their bill of compleynt.
Bandolf Augustyn sworne vpon this answer deposith and saith
that true it is that among the felishipp of Foundours in London such
an acte was made for sale of thair waris as in the byll of complaint is
specified, but he denyeth that euer it was made by him onlye, but it
was made as he saith vpon such consideracions as in the within
wreten answer it is declaryd by communicacion first had in this
deponentes hous wher he dwellith betwixt him and other of the best
of the said craft, that is to say Eobert Setcole, Edmund Bird Thomas
Halifax Eobert Wellys,^ Eobert Pynchbeke/ John Payn, Eobert
Storye, John Parker and diuers other of the clothing * of the said
felishipp now not in this deponentes remembraunce, all which persons
assembled to gether in the hous of this deponent at a season sith
the fynysshing and ending of the last parlement * condescendyd agreed
and concluded that the said acte shold be made in the hoole <€raftc
aforsaid to be kepte forthon. And for the mor suretie therof thay
agreed to do call all the hoole companye of Founders aswele thoos
that wer in the lyverye as not ® for thair assent to the said acte, and
^ * That * omitted. | put in Nomination to come upon the
* This document is upon the dorse of the | Clothing.' September 24, 1646. Annals,
answer B, and bears the marks of having p. 100.
been hurriedly penned. * 1504. See C. H. Parry, * The Parlia-
* In the Annals of the Company appears ments and Councils of £ngland * (1839),
the following entry, which throws a light p. 198, n. (t).
upon the character of this person: *Re- ' * Brethren of the Craft, being out of the
cvyed for fynes. First of Maister Cham- Clothing,' were subject to the rules of the
bleyne of London for a fyne lost by Bobt. Company, but not allowed the privileges of
Wells for romaunoe, ij d.,* i.e. for a false the Liverymen. For instance, they might
story. * Annals,' p. 46. only take one apprentice, whereas a Livery-
' Apparently Warden in 1496. See man might take two. See the Articles of
ib. the Company of April 2, 2 Henry 7 (1489).
* I.e. the Livery. * Certain persons were Annals, p. 10.
BUTLOND & OTHERS V. AUSTEN & OTHERS 271
tbay ther vpon wer assembled in the house also of this deponent and
vpon the shewing of this deponent Bobert Setcole Bird Halifax and
other of thinconueniences and damage that fell of the sales at
sondrye prices of thayr waris vsed among thaim, tbay all wer then
and there agreed to the said acte, and thos that now complayn wer
besyest to haue that acte made among thaim insomuch that tbay set
the price of euery thing as tbay haue said in thair complaint. Item
to the second parte of this answer he saith that true it is that Thomas
Basset was ceassid ^ at iij s. iiij d. for breking of the said acte which
he broughte to this deponent and therupon he bar it to the chamber-
layn of London which hath euermore the oone half of all suche
forfeates, For taking of which this deponent Setcole and Bird wer
condempnid by a Nisi P(rius) * at saint martins in xl li. for comyng
agen the said acte of parlement. Hoube it he saith that the same
fyne of xl d. was ceassid by the hole felishipp of Founders and for
payment of the same xl li. the said Setcole ^ movyd fyrst for sale to be
made of the plate of the feUshipp to pay the king xx li. half of the
said xl li. and at the first this deponent wold not agree therunto but
said it was not wele doone to sell that was geyen to the feUshipp by
good men but in conclusion he coude not as he saith bring bird
Setcole and HaUfax to the contrarie but that they wold haue it sold &
so by thair assentes & steringes it was sold for xx li.^^
MAYDESTON, WILLIAM GROCYN, MASTER, AND THE BRETHREN
OF ALL SAINTS AT, v. KEMPE/
To the kyng our souereign lord
1608 In moste humbly wyse sheweth vnto your Highnes your contynuall
bedemen William Grocyn^ maister of the College of all seyntes of
' Ceased, assessed. said Crafte on the one part and the Yeo-
" Document illegible. manry on the other parte, as well for the
* Observe that the principal blame is Gustodie of certain plate, Napyre (i.e.
laid upon Setcole, who was perhaps by this table linen). Money and other Juells be-
time dead. Cf. A, p. 263, n. 5, and B, p. longyng to the said Crafte as for other
266, n. 2, supra. Misdemeanours.' The award then recites
"^ After the judgement of the Star that both sides have been heard by the
Chamber in favour of the plaintiffs Sir mayor and proceeds : * Forasmuch as the
Lawrence Aylmer, Lord Mayor, was called plate belongyng to the said Crafte in time
in to reorganise the Company. The Annals past hath been sold by them that had it in
give ' The award of sir Lawrence Ailmer their kepying,* the plate to be henceforth
Lord Maior as to great variance and dis- locked in a chest with four locks and keys
cord in the Founders' Company * as and to be kept in the chapel of St.
follows : Clement (the Company's patron saint) in St.
* Be it remembered that lately there hath Margaret's, Lothbury. * Annals,' p. 14.
been great variance and discord between * S.C.P. Hen. 7, No. 111.
the Wardens and other the Livery of the ' The celebrated Greek scholar, the
272
COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Maydeston in the Countie of Kent ^ and the brethren of the same College,
that Where as there was a certayn communicacon betwen your seid
Oratours and one sir Thomas Kempe of the seid Countie Knyght ^ of
a leaee to be made for certayn yeris by your seid Oratours vnto the
seid sir Thomas of the manour of Tremworth with thappurtenaunces
except and reserued vnto your seid Oratours the advoson of the
Chirch of Cromedale in the same Countie Whan hitt shold happen to
fall voide ^ vppon which communycacon hitt was agreid that a Note of
friend of Golet and Erasmus, born aboat
1446 ; appointed by his friend Archbishop
Warham to the Mastership of the Col-
legiate Church of All Saints, Maidstone,
April 17, 1506 ; died and was buried there
in 1619. See * Diet. Nat. Biog.,» Dugdale,
* Monast. Anglican.' vi. 1894.
* The Collegiate Church of All Hallows
or All Saints, Maidstone, was founded by
Archbishop Courtenay on August 2, 1896,
when there was incorporated with it the
* hospital of the New Work,' which had
been established here by Archbishop Boni-
face in 1260, and the parish church of St.
Mary. It consisted of a master and six
chaplains. The licence of Bichard 2 for
its foundation vested the advowson and
patronage in the archbishops of Canterbury.
It received an endowment of lands in the
parish of Maidstone from Grocyn (M.
Burrows, * Memoir of William Grocyn,*
Oxford Hist. Soc. 1890, Collectanea, ii.363).
It was dissolved in 1547, at which time
its net yearly revenues amounted to
159Z. 7s, lOd. (Dugdale, I.8.C.). Extensive
remains of it are still to be seen (J. Murray,
'Handbook to Kent' [1892], p. 198). See
also Beale Poste, * History of the College of
All Saints, Maidstone' (1847), where
Grocyn's will, dated June 2, 1519, is printed,
p. 133.
* Only son and heir of William Kempe
of Ollantigh in the parish of Wye, Kent,
esquire, elder brother of Thomas Kempe,
bishop of London, whose heir Thomas
Kempe the nephew became on the bishop's
death in 1489. The bishop was the nephew
of John Kempe, cardinal archbishop of
Canterbury (d. 1447), who was, therefore.
Sir Thomas Kempe's great-uncle. Sir
Thomas Kempe was bom in 1445, being
found by the Inquisition post mortem on
Bishop Kempe to have been 44 years old
and more on May 8, 1489. By Uie death
of the bishop he became a considerable
landowner, inheriting the manors of Bocton
Alulph or Boughton Aluph, Ashenfield or
Asshemersfeld, and Stoutyng Hadlowe, be-
sides lands in Henhurst, Staplehurst, and
elsewhere in Kent (see Inq. post mortem.
Hen. 7, i. 380; Hasted's *Hist. of Kent,'
iii. 59, 62, 181, 191, 814, 742). Although
of strongly Lancastrian connexions, he
seems to have accepted the Yorkist dynasty,
for in 1482 he was one of the commanders
of a body of a thousand Kentish archers dis-
patched to the defence of Calais (Pat. Bolls,
22 Ed. 4, pt. i. m. 7 d, p. 322), and on May 1
and Dec. 8, 1484, he was nominated by
Bichard 3 a conmiissioner of array for the
Cinque Ports in order to resist the appre-
hended invasion of Henry Earl of Bichmond
(Pat. Bolls, 1 Bic. 3, pt. ii. m. 21 d, p. 397,
and 2 Bic. 3, pt. i. m. 19 d, p. 492). It is
probable that he was at this post at the time
that the battle of Bosworth was fought. He
doubtless accepted with satisfaction the
accession of Henry 7. He served as sheriff
of Kent in 1492-3, 1505-6, and 1512-13
(Hasted, I. Ixxxix, xc, xci), being the first
of his family with land adequate to this
position. He was nominated a commis-
sioner to raise the subsidy in Kent in 1496,
and again in 1503 (Bot. Pari. vi. 518, 538).
Upon the occasion of the marriage of
Arthur prince of Wales with Katharine of
Aragon, Nov. 17, 1501, he was dubbed a
Knight of the Bath (W. C. Metcalfe, * Book
of Knights,' p. 36). He married Emelyn or
Emeline, daughter and co-heir of Valentine
Chiche of the manor of The Dungeon, Can-
terbury, by Philippa, daughter and co-heir
of Sir Bobert Chichele of Goodneston,
knight, mayor of London in 1411 and
1421, and brother of archbishop Chichele
(Hasted, ii. 814). By her he left several
children (id. iii. 170 n. [s]). See further
H. H. Drake, * Hundred of Blackheath '
(1886), pp. 112 n., 148 n., 189 n. He died
in 1520 (Hasted, iii. 170), and his family
became extinct in the male line in 1607
(id.). The inquisition post mortem found
that at his death he held sixteen acres of
arable land in Crondal and ten acres of
pasture in Crondal and Wye of the College
of All Saints at a rent of 13s. 4d. a year
(see next note). Pegge, * Monasticon Can-
tianum,' No. 4, in Gough's Collections in
the Bodleian Library. Poste, p. 122.
* By a charter of Bichard 2, of which
an Inspeximus is in the Patent Boll, 1 Hen.
4, pt. vi. m. 32, and is printed in Dugdale
GROCYN & OTHEflS V. KEMPE 273
Endentures shold be made of the leace and covenauntes bytwene your
seid Oratours and the seid sir Thomas Kempe and vppon the sight
therof either of the parties to take theyre counsaill & to be aduised
and thervppon the seid sir Thomas Kemp caused a Note to be made
in which such articles were conteynd that your seid Oratours coulde
not without theyre grett hurtt & losse agre ther vnto, and therfore
both the parties refused to fynyshe the seid leace, which thyng not-
withstandyng graciouse lord the seid sir Thomas not onely hath pre-
sented a Clerk vnto the seid Chirch ® and trowbeled the possessyon of
your seid Oratours in theire seid advowson butt also entendyng to
enioy and possed the seid manour by Colour of the seid communy-
cacon agaynst the will of your seid Oratours and agaynst all ryght
manasseth & threteneth vexeth and trowbleth one Michell Fhilepot
to Whom your seid Oratours haue letton the same manour that
the same Michell can not peasibly manure^ the seid londes nor
take the profittes of the seid manour by force wherof your seid
Oratours be likely to lese® theyre rentes reserved of the same to
theire grett dammage and agaynst al right & consciens and so is hitt
nowe gracyouse lord that the seid sir Thomas is in the seid Countie
so gretly frended and of soo grett power ther that your seid Oratours
be vnabill by the Course of the Comen law agaynst the seid sir '7'^f*^7^
Thomas to sue for theire ryght and in this behalff be remediles
except your gracyouse fauour be to theym shewid hit may like ther-
fore your good grace the premysses tendrely consydred to graunt one
writt of sub pena to be directid vnto the seid sir Thomas com-
maundyng hym by the same to appere before your good grace & other
of your most honarable Councell in the Stere Chaumbre at West-
minster there to answere to the premysses and ferther to doo as
shalbe towght convenient by your good lordshipp and your seid
Monast.' VI. iii. 1395, the king granted to stone. The name of this master does not
the master and chaplains of the college of occur in Dngdale, l.o. ; but Poste gives it
Majdenstone the advowson of the church from Archbishop Warham's Begister as
of Croundale together with the reversion of the name of the master from 1470 to 1494
the manors of Trem worth and Faunes, (p. 34).
Kent. According to Hasted (iii. 181, 182), * In the list of rectors in Hasted, iii.
the parish was sometimes called Crundal 187, there is a gap between the death of
and sometimes Tremworth, and sometimes John Sprot, December 9, 1466, and the pre-
Crundale in Tremworth. The parish also sentation of Thomas Nightingal in 1548.
contained the manor of Handloe, which Sir Thomas Kempe, by deed of March 4,
was one of those ii^erited by sir Thomas 1503, had given ' all the trees near or about
from bishop Kempe (Inq. p. m. Hen. 7, the church yard of Cnmdal as a succour
i. 380). The Inquisition on bishop Kempe and defence to the church * (Hasted, iii.
recites that 16 acres of land in Crundale, 185). See, as to the law touching wrongful
worth 135. 4d., were held by the bishop of presentations, Introd., p. cxxii, supra.
John Lee, clerk, Master and the CJonfra- ' Cultivate,
temity of the College of All Saints, Maid- ■* Otherwise leese, * lose.'
274 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
Oratoors shall dayly pray to god for the preseroaoion of your gracious
highnes.
Indorsed. Master of the College of Maydeston.
In another hand. Termino Michaelis anno regni regis xxiiij® •
M"^ William grocyen clerk contra sir Thomas
Eempe Knyghte.
In modem hand. Maidston College, Master of v. Kempe.
STRAUNGE. JANE, LADY, v. KENASTON ^
To the kyng our souereygne lord
1508 Humbely Shewith vnto your hignes your true and feythfuU
Subgett and wydowe Jane Stanley lady Straunge ^ howe that the last
day of June last past one Humfrey Eenaston ^ of Stokkes * accom-
paned with many dyuerys persons in harnes with bylles ^ bowes
arrowez swordes bokelers and spears to the Nombre of xliiij in
defencyble Array at EUesmere in your marchez of Wales Adioynyng
to your countie of Salop forcybly entred the seuerell grounde and
pasture of your said Gomplaynaunt in EUesmere aforesaid and ther
wrongfully cutte downe and Caried away sertayn grete ookes to the
nombre of foure score and aboue to the vttor destruccion of then-
heritaunce of your said complaynaunte, And ouer that the said
Humfrey with the said mysruled Company the same day Ryoutsly
made Assaute opon the offycers and seruauntes of your said Com-
plajniaunte and theyn and ther put in grete feayre and jeobardy of
theyre lyues, And for so moche as your said Complaynaunte is
enheritour of the said lordship of EUesmere and by reason therof
she ys a lady marchys after the Custome of the marchez of Wales
havyng Jurisdicion and power of the Courtes there,^ And also that the
said Byott and mysbehaviour was done within the precynctes of the
Jurisdicion of the Courtes of your said Complainaunte therfore yt ys
* Ootober 9 to November 28, 1508. her right. He was eldest son of Thomas
> S.CP. Hen. 8, Bundle 24, No. 884. Stanley, lord Stanley, created in 1485 Earl
Wrongly sorted. of Derby. George Stanley was hostage to
* Only daughter and heir of John Le Richard 3 at the battle of Bosworth. He
Strange, Lord Strange of Enockin, by died December 5, 1497, Jane lady Strange
Jacquetta, sister to Elizabeth Queen Consort died March 20, 1514. Will proved May 8,
of Edward 4, daughter of Richard Wyde- 1514. G.E.C., ' Complete Peerage,* iii. 69,
ville. Earl Rivers. On her father's death, 70.
Ootober 15, 1477, she became suo jure ' See Introd., pp. xo-xoiii.
Baroness Strange de Enockin, and her * One mile N.N.E. of EUesmere.
husband, George Stanley, was summoned * See p. 165, n. 5.
to Parliament as a baron (Lord Strange) in * See I trod., pp. xoiii, xov«
f
STRAUNQE, JANE, LADY, V. KENASTON 275
not semyng nor Convenient that your said Gomplainaante should vse
or hane any suete Agaynyst the seid humfrey and the other Byoutouse
persens within her owne Gourte Therfore hit may pleayse yoor
hyghnes to graunte your honourable letturs of privey seale to be
dyrectid to the said humfrey Commandyng hym by the same to aper
afor your highnes at a sertayne day and vndure a sertan payne by
your grace to be lymy td to aunswer to the premisses And your said
oratour shall dayly pray to god for the preseruacion of your moste
noble grace long to endure.
Indorsed. Decretum est privatum Sigillum fieri ad comparendum
coram consilio Regis apud Westmonasterium mense
michaelis sub pena c li. G. Stmbon.^
Termino michaelis anno xxiiij*' ^ Dame Jane Stanley
lady Strange wedow.
JONES V. LYCHFELD.^
^- To the Kyng oure soueraigne lord
c. 1609 I^ ^^6 ^0^^ humble wise shewith and complaneth vnto your
Highnesse your pouer and faith! ull subgett Thomas Jones of the Gitie
[of Wynchester] ^ * * * ^ Iniuries and wronges doone to hym by
oone John lychfeld in the tyme the same lichfeld was maire of Wyn-
chester.*
First the said John lichfeld then beyng maire of the said Gitie, of
his fraward and malicious mynde without grounde or cause * ^
• ^ • * kept in prison by the space of iiij dais your said
suppliaunt, and wold in noe wise sufEre hym to goe at his libertye vnto
such tyme * ^ * ^ * ^ and delyuered to hym in redie
money xx s. where he neuer ought, nother was indebted to hym in
oone peny.
Item the said John lichfeld wold haue compelled your said Oratour
to haue delyuered hym an obligacion wherin oone Adam Wattys ^ of
W[ynchester] ^ [and] ^ John Boteller * of the same mercer, stode bounde
in xl li. to your said suppliaunt, for fere wherof your said Oratour was
' Geoffrey Symeon, dean of Linooln ' S.G J^. Hen. 7, No. 2. Parchment torn.
(1606) and a member of the Gooncil, aeons- * 1606. J. Milner, * Hist, of Winchester,'
tomea to sit as judge in the Court of Bequests vol. ii., App. vii.
(Selden Soc. 1898, p. cxi, n. 16). He must * Mayor in 1614 and 1629. lb.
therefore have signed here as a judge in his * Mayor in 1608, 1610, 1617, and 1626.
capacity of councillor. See Introd., p. xlii. lb.
* October 9-November 28, 1608.
T 2
276 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
compelled and * ^ * * * ^ Citie vnto london and to
leyve his occupieng by the space of vj wekes & durst not come to his
house nor visite his wif and children to the grete impoueri8hy[ng] ^
•1 • 1 • I
Item the same tyme your said pouer Oratour beyng at london
sende to his wiflf to Wynchester for as many wollen clothes as a
mounted * ^ * * * ^ he myght helpe hym selfe to lyve,
beyng from his house and goodes. And assone as thesaid lichfeld had
knowlige therof, he ymmediatpy] ^ • ^ * ^ arrested thesaid
clothes, and the same kept in his possession by the space of v wekes,
soo that your said Oratour was put to grete losse and hynder[ance] ^
* ^ * ^ instaunt labour and sute to haue his woollen clothes
ayen, ayenst all good reason and iustice. In consideracion wherof,
and that the said li[chfeld] ^ • * * ^ acqueyntaunce power and
myght, and your said suppliaunt pouer and of small acqueyntaunce
^7 ^ not beyng hable to sue for remedie of * * * ^ * ^ by the
\ ' "^ cours of the common lawe,** it may pleas your highnesse of your
habundaunt pitie to call the said John lichfeld by your writ of
* ^ * ^ * ^ councyll at Westminster to aunswere to the
premisses. And your said Oratour dureng his liff shall pray god for
the preseruacion of your noble as[tate].^
Indorsed. Thomas Jones contra John lychfeld.
In another hand. Scilicet coram domino Bege & Gonsilio suo apud
Westmonasterium a die Pasche proxime futuri ^ in vnum mensem.
B. These been the answers of me John lychfeld
ageyn a certen byll of complaynt proposid ageyn me
by Thomas Johns of Wynchester afore the Knyges Cowncell.
Fyrst wher as Thomas Johnes sayeth that I John lychfeld late
mayr of Wynchester shuld committ hym to prison and ther kepe hym
vnto the tyme that he had delyverid me in redy money xx s., As vnto
that, I denye not but I committed hym to prison and of hym receved
the sayd xx s., but the cause was this. The sayd Thomas and his
* * So odious was onjust imprisonment, or be criminal. Britton (ed. F. M. Niohols,
unjastdeteyning of any freeman in prison, as 1865, i. 123) says : ' Appeals of felony may
in anoient time there lay a writ de pace et | also be brought for imprisonment of freemen
imprisonamento &c, ubi Uber homo (&c. uno j and for every other enormous trespass, but
modo propter injustam captionem et alio , for avoiding the perilous risk of battle, it is
modo propter injustam detentionem &q.* (E. ' better to proceed by our writs of trespass
Coke, 4 Inst. 182). Bracton, f. 145 b, says than by appeals.'
that in an appeal for imprisonment a civil <* March 31, 1509. See B, n. 7, infra,
action may be brought, although the act
JONES V. LYCHFELD 277
felow bayly with hym of the Cyte of Wynchester whos name is Adam
Wattes by reason that in gadering ther duetes belongyng to them for
the tyme of ther Office in that that eche of them mistrustid other
diuerse tymes eche of them reviled other with many vnfitting wordes
opynly and in that they bothe o£fendid the statute of the Cyte ther-
vppon made,^ whervppon I seyng in them no reformacion of ther sayd
mysbehavour but dayiy moved and vexed with ther forsayd vngodly
demeanour callid vnto me my bretherine to the Towne hall and the
sayd partiez also and ther they denyed not but eche of them had
oflfendid the sayd statute of the Cyte whervnto they ware swame, and
thervppon by my commavndement and with the consent of my
bretheme they ware committed to prison and there remayned vnto
suche tyme as they agreed to pay the sayd xx s. for there Fyne in the
sayd statute lymytted and inacted, wiche xx s. is levyed vnto the vse
of the Cyte and not a peny to my syngler avayll and that I wulbe
declared by the hole Cyte.
Also wher as he saith that I wold a compellid hym to delyver an
obligacion wheryn John Butler and Adam Wattes ware bovnd vnto
hym in xl li., That is of trewth, for wher as he and Adam Wattes ware
bayles of Wynchester havyng in ther handes by ther particuler receyttes
of the Kynges money concernyng there Office of the Baliwyke xxxiij li.
vj B. viij d.,^ and by reason wherof dayly ware diuerse and many
Inconuenyentes and debates by twene them as is in the fyrst articull
rehersid, I as mayr of the Cyte regardyng the duety of my sayd Office
with the consent of my bretherne moved the sayd Thomas Johns and
Adam Watts ^ in avoydyng of suche debates ^ to accompte afore ij
Indifferent Auditours vppon there said particuler receyttes wher-
vnto they both agreed and named John Belyngham^ and John
Plommer ther Auditors afore whom they accomptid immediatly,
and in the ende of the accompt concluded that Adam Wattes shuld
recevey the sayd money and to pay it at the Kynges Escheker
for ther both discharges and vppon this the same Adam Wattes
' ' At a Coxnon Convocation helde at officers aforesayd . . . that he shaU be
Wmchester the thyrde day of Aprill in the imprisoned as afore wryten and shall pay
thyrde yere of the Raigne of Einge Harry to the proffit of the said citye half a marke,
the fyvthe after the Conquest, it was without any grace of pardon/ <&c., <&c.
ordeyned and enacted that whatsoever fre , C. Bailey, * Transcripts from the Municipal
man within the libertye of the cytie of Win- Archives of Winchester ' (1856), pp. 49, 50.
Chester dothe blaspheme or speake slaunder- ' Six months' instalment of the fee farm
ouslye of the Mayor of the iyiye aforesayd of a hundred marks (£66 13s. Ad,) paid
hereafter or of any bayliffe (&c., &c., <&c. under the original charter of King John.
. . . That then he which slaundereth any See Milner, i. 235.
Mayre hereafter shall be imprisoned at the *'* Interlined.
will of the Mayre & shall pay to the use of ^ Mayor in 1507, 1511, 1519, and 1527
same z d. <fe he that slaundofthe any of the Milner, sup. cit.
278 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
with sufficient suerty to be bovnd to the sayd Thomas Johns in
xl li. and the same Thomas Johns to send with hym a man callid
Mathew Mores at his proper cost & charge for company with the
sayd Adam for the saue conveying of the same money and so Adam
Wattes with John Butler his suerte sealed the sayd obligacion of xl li.
and delyvered it vnto Thomas Johns the same Thomas promisyng me
that at the commyng home of Adam Wattes and Mathew Mores afore-
sayd from the Kynges Escheker they bryngyng with them a sufficient
discharge for the sayd money, to redelyver the said obligacion wiche
he innowise wold doo ^ nor yet doyth * but sayd the sayd obligacion
to be in his lemyd Gowncells handes and ther shuld remayn for hym
wiche me thowght was ageyn his sayd promise made vnto me and
also ageyn all right and conscience wiche I wold gladly a reformed
with thaduise of my bretheren acordyng to right.
Also wher as he saith that I arested his clothes That is contrary
and not to be proved. For the sayd Adam Wattes after that he had
performed the condicion of the said obligacion feryng the obligacion to
be owt of his handes and seyng that I as mayre cowd not obtayne the
sayd obligacion of hym by no manor of good meanes, commensed an
Accion in the crowne court of wynchester agayne the sayd Thomas Johns
for the withholdyng of the sayd obligacion and wheras the seriant ®
coude not personally fynde the seyd Thomas Johnes he attached
certen of his clothes and vnder that maner put the sayd Accion in
execucion and otherwise his clothes was nevir arested nor restrayned
by me nor by the court and that I wilbe reportid by the mayr for this
tyme beyng and his bretherne wiche I besech your lordshipp that I
may bryng by fore your grace for my declaracion vppon thes forsayd
particulers and also to enforme your grace of the trobulles manors and
condicions of the forsaid Thomas Johns not only ageyn me at this
tyme but ageyn the hole Cyte of Wynchester as the mayr of the
Cyte^ and his bretherne shortly purpose to sue vnto the Kynges
grace for his reformacion exepte short remedy of your grace in this
behalfe.
. ^'* Interlined in a different ink. designation * now mayor,' it is probable
* See p. 189, n. 8. that this defence belongs to the mayoralty
' The mayors of the city in suooession to of John Bird (1509). The indorsement of
Lychfeld were John Bellinigham (1507) and the plaint shows that it dates from the
John Batler (1508). As both these names begixming of that year— i.e. daring the life-
have been mentioned withoat the oustomary time of Henry 7.
APPENDIX^
Adhuc Communia de Termino sancti Michaelis
Anno xxj Kegis henrici septimi
Memorandum quod Willehnus Venables venit coram Baronibue
huiuB Bcaccarrij quinto die Octobris hoc termino in propria persona
London^ ho ^^* ^* 8*<5r8'°^®iitu°i prestitit corporale, Quod cum in
^^yn^ quodam actu in parliamento domini Regis nunc apud West-
r^'poundlra ^oi^asterium viccsimo quinto die die^ Januarii anno regni
LoSdo^iuo- ^^ decimonono tento edito inter alia ordinatum stabilitum
ubrist!^'^ ^ inactuatum existat quod nulli magistri gardiani &
tufforisfoS'' societates artium siue misterarum aut eorum aliquis nee
for^m aliqui gubernatores guyldarum vel fraternitatum assumant
IctuB S^o super se ad faciendum aliquos actus vel ordinaciones nee ad
d^c.'"' exequendum aliquos actus vel ordinaciones per ipsos ante
tunc factos in exheredacionem sen diminucionem prerogatiue domini
Regis vel aliorum nee contra bonum publicum plebis Nisi eadem'
actus & ordinaciones examinentur & approbentur per Cancellarium
Thesaurarium Anglie & Gapitales Justiciaries vtriusque banci vel tres
eorum vel coram ambobus Justiciariis ad assisas in eorum circuitu
siue processu in Gomitatu ubi huiusmodi actus siue ordinaciones fiant
sub pena Forisfacture quadraginta librarum tociens quociens ipsi
incontrarium inde fecerint prout in actu predicto plenius continetur.^
Quidam tamen Banulphus Austeyn Edmundus Byrde & Bobertus
Setcole gardiani Artis siue mistere de lez Founders in Ciuitate London
commorantes & alii de eadem mistera & societate existentes actum &
ordinacionem predictam minime ponderantes sextodecimo die Junii
Anno regni domini Begis nunc vicesimo apud London videlicet in
parochia sancte margarete in Louthbury in Warda de Golmanstrete
> MS. B. Om Exoh. K. B. Mem. Boll, ' * Sio ' repeated.
M. T. 21 Hen. 7, Adhuc Beoorda m. ix. ' Sic
(1505). See Batlond & Others t;. Austen A * The Act is 19 Hen. 7, c. 7 (1504), * De
Others, p. 263, supra. privatis & iUicitis statutis non faoiendis.'
280 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
London se ipsos in magno namero assemblauerunt & congregati
fuerunt & tunc ibidem ex eorum vnanimi assensu quandam pretensam
ordinacionem & statutum facerunt & deereaerunt in forma sequente
Videlicet quod nulla persona de arte mistera & societate predicta
existens vendat aut vendi faciat alicui persone aliquam magnam
lampadem de laton ^ infra precium octo denariorum ad minus aliquem
discum de laton vocatum a mydle Chafyngdissh pro minore precio
quam xiiij d. nee aliquem discum de laton vocatum a smalchafyngdissh
infra precium xij d. sub pena perdendi & soluendi Gardianis & societati
Artis predicte xl d. tociens quociens ipsi seu eorum aliquis incontrarium
fecerint in exheredacionem domini Eegis & diminucionem communis,
legis huius regni Anglie et contra bonum publicum populi sui que-
quidem pretensa ordinacio sine statutum per dictos Gardianos &
societatem in forma predicta facta per Dominos Gancellarium &
Thesaurarium Anglie aut dictos Gapitales Justiciarios seu Justiciarios
ad Assisas seu eorum aliquem nunquam examinata aut approbata fue-
runt contra formam actus & ordinacionis predictorum in parliamento
predicto editorum. Vnde predictus Willelmus venables petit auisamen-
tum Curie in premissis.' Super quo concordatum est quod predicti
Eanulphus Austeyn Edmundus Birde & Eobertus Setcole veniant hie
ad respondendum domino Begi in premissis Et preceptum sit vice-
comitibus london quod ipsos Banulphum Edmundum & Bobertum
venire faciant in forma predicta. Ita &c a die sancti michaelis hoc
termino in xv dies.' Ad quem vicecomites non retornarunt breve.
Tamen ad eundem diem predicti Banulphus Austeyn Edmundus
Birde & Eobertus Setcole venerunt hie per Johannem Webbys eorum
Attornatum. Et petunt auditum informacionis predicte & eis legitur
&c qua lecta & audita petunt ex gracia Curie diem eis dari extra quem
&c quod eis per Curiam hie concessum est. Et super hoc datus est
dies hie prefatis Banulpho Austeyn Edmundo Birde & Boberto Setcole
eodem statu quo nunc vsque diem lune vicesimo die Octobris hoc
termino. Ad quem diem predicti Banulphus Edmundus & Bobertus
Setcole venerunt hie per dictum eorum Attornatum & protestando *
quod materia in informacione predicta specificata minus sufficiens est
in lege Ad quam ipsi necesse non habent nee per legem terre tenentur
respondere Pro placito dicunt quod dictus dominus Bex nunc ipsos
* Laton, latten, &o., * a mixed metal was, as we are expressly told below, on a
of yellow colour, either identical with or Monday; but this last date is probably
closely resembling brass.' J. A. H. Murray, a blunder. The tables in J. J. Bond,
* Engl. Diet.* S.V. Latten. * Handy-Book of Dates ' (ed. 1889), p. 58,
* In the margin is * Veneris,' i.e. (die) shew that in 21 Hen. 7 (1505) October 5
Veneris, Friday. Note that October 5 was a Monday, and October 20 Tuesday.
21 Hen. 7 was on a Sunday, if October 20 ' October 13. * See p. 103, n. 1.
APPENDIX 281
sen eorum aliqaem racione premissornm in informacione predicta
specificatorum vlterias impetere non debet. Quia dieunt quod ipsi nee
aliqui alii de mistera & societate predictis existentes dieto xyj'"'' die
Junii dicto anno vicesimo in informacione predicta specificato nee
aliquo tempore postea sen antea seipsos assemblauerunt nee congregati
fuerunt nee ordinacionem predictam nee aliquam aliam ordinacionem
sine statutum fecerunt seu decreuerunt contra formam ordinacionis
predicte in parliamento predicto edite aut alitor modo & forma prout per
informacionem predictam superius supponitur quamquidem materiam
predicti Ranulphus Austeyn Edmundus Birde & Eobertus Setcole parati
sunt verificare prout Curia &c vnde petunt indicium Et quod ipsi
quoad premissa ab hac Curia dimittantur &c. Et Jacobus Hobart
miles attornatus domini Regis presens hie in Curia in propria persona
sua petit pro dicto domino Eege quod predicti Eanulphus Austeyn
Edmundus Byrde & Bobertus Setcole inueniant sufficientemsecuritatem
ad satisfaciendum domino Begi de omni eo quod eidem domino Begi
racione informacionis predicte adiudicari contigerint. Et dictum est
prefatis Banulpho Edmundo & Boberto Setcole quod huiusmodi
securitatem inueniant &c. Et super hoc predicti Banulphus Austeyn
Edmundus Birde & Bobertus Setcole presentes hie in Curia in
propriis personis suis dicto vicesimo die Octobris hoc termino reco-
gnouerunt se debere domino Begi Centum marcas sterlingorum ^
soluendas eidem domino Begi in festo Natalis domini proxime futuro.
Sub condicione videlicet quod si predicti Banulphus Edmundus &
Bobertus Setcole satisfecerint eidem domino Begi de omni eo quod
eidem domino Begi racione informacionis predicte adiudicari contigerit
Ac si iidem Banulphus Edmundus & Bobertus Setcole finem placiti
inter dictum Begem & ipsos Banulphum Edmundum & Bobertum in
premissis pretensi prosequantur cum eflfectu quod tunc predicta
Becognicio pro nullo habeatur alioquin in suo robore permaneat &
effectu. Et predictus Jacobus Hobart miles ^ qui pro dieto domino
Bege sequitur pro eodem domino Bege dicit quod predicti Banulphus
Edmundus & Bobertus Setcole & alii de mistera & societate predicta
existentes dicto xyj"'' die Junii dicto Anno xx"** in informacione pre-
dicta specificato seipsos assemblauerunt &c & predictam pretensam
ordinacionem sine statutum fecerunt & decreuerunt modo & forma
prout per informacionem predictam supponitur. Et hoc idem Jacobus
petit pro eodem domino Bege quod inquiratur per patriam &c. Et
predicti Banulphus Edmundus & Bobertus Setcole dieunt vt prius &c.
Et petunt simiUter. Ideo fiat inde inquisicio. Et preceptum sit
> 751. ^ See p. 18, n. 8.
282 COURT OF THE STAR CHAMBER
vicecomitibus London quod non omittent^ &c et venire faciant hie in
Crastino Animarum xviij^° tarn milites &c de visneto Warde prediete
quorum quilibet &c per quos &e et qui nee &c ad recognicionem ^ in
premissis. Et idem dies datns est hie prefatis Banulpho Edmundo &
Boberto Setcole. Ad quem diem predicti Banulphus Edmundus &
Kobertus Setcole venerunt hie per dictum eorum Attomatum Et Vice-
comites videlicet Ricardus Shore & Radulphus Grove retomarunt hie
breve vnacum panello de nominibus iuratorum. Et Jurati non vene-
runt.^ Ideo preceptum sit Vicecomitibus quod ipsos Juratos distringant
per terras &c Ita &c in Octabis sancti hillarii vel interim coram dilecto
& fideli Regis Willelmo Hody milite Capitali Barone huius Scaccarii
apud sanctum Martinum magnum London die Veneris xxviij"" die
Nouembris proxime futuro si prius &c Et dictum est prefatis
Ranulpho Austeyn Edmundo Byrde & Roberto Setcole quod exspectent
diem suum coram prefato Capitali Barone ad dictos diem et locum.
Et quod sint hie ad dictum Octabis sancti hillarii ad audiendum
Judicium suum si &c Ad quem diem predicti Ranulphus Austeyn
Edmundus Byrde & Robertus Setcole venerunt hie per dictum eorum
attornatum Et predictus Capitalis Baro coram quo &c non misit hie
tenorem Recordi predicti nee vicecomites retornauerunt hie breve nee
Juratores venerunt Ideo preceptum sit vicecomitibus quod ipsos
Juratores distringant vt prius &c Ita &c a die pasche in xv dies vel
interim coram dilecto & fideli Regis Willelmo hody milite Capital!
Barone de dicto Scaccario apud sanctum martinum magnum london
die Jouis xij"" die Februarii proxime futuro si prius &c Et dictum
est prefato Ranulpho Austeyn Edmundo Byrde & Roberto Setcole
quod exspectent diem suum coram prefato Capitali Barone ad diem &
locum predictos Et quod sint hie ad dictam xv pasche ad audiendum
indicium suum si &c. Ad quem diem predictus Capitalis Baro coram
quo &c retornauit hic^ tenorem recordi predicti indorsatum sic Scilicet
Postea die & loco infracontentis coram infranominato Capitali Barone
associato sibi Ricardo Palmer per formam statuti ^ &c venerunt infra-
nominati Ranulphus Austeyn Edmundus Birde & Robertus Setcole in
propriis personis suis Et vicecomites london retornauerunt breue de
distringas Juratores coram eodem CapitaU Barone et iidem Jurati
exacti comparuerunt prout patet per panellum &c. Super quo facta
* Sio. ' (1818), ' Et ausi une Justice del on Bank
' MS. ' reoog.* oa de lautre, associe a loi on prudhome du
' For the rationale of these and the pays, Chevaler ou autre, a la requeste du
following proceedings see Blackstone, plaintife, preigne les enquestes des pledz,'
*Comm.* (ed. 1768), iii. 868, foil. Ao. Gf. also 2 Ed. 3, c. 16 (Statute of
* I.e. into the Court of Exchequer. Northampton, 1328).
^ In accordance with 12 Ed. 2, c. 4
APPENDIX 283
proclamacione pro domino Bege prout moris est si quis predictum
Capitalem Baronem aut Jnratores predictos de infracontentis pro
domino Bege informare aut ipsos Jnratores pro eodem domino Bege
calumpniare vellet veniret & audiretor. Et Jacobus hobart miles
Attomatns domini Begis ad hoc faciendum comparuit. Super quo pro-
cessum est ad capcionem Juratorum predictorum per sacramentum xij
Juratorum modo comparencium Qui ad veritatem de infracontentis
dicendam electi triati & inrati dicunt super sacramentum suum quod
predicti Banulphus Edmundns & Bobertus Setcole gardiani de iez
Founders & alii de eadem mistera & societate existentes dicto xyj^ die
Junii dicto Anno xx° in informacione predicta specificato seipsos
assemblauerunt &c & infrascriptam pretensam ordinacionem &
statutum fecerunt et decreuerunt ^ modo & forma prout per informa-
cionem infrascriptam supponitur contra formam infraspecificati statuti
in huiusmodi casu editi & prouisi Ideo &c Et super hoc predictus
Jacobus hobart petit indicium pro domino Bege in premissis Et visis
premissis per'^ Barones Consideratnm est quod predicti Banulphus
Austeyn Edmundus Birde & Bobertus Setcole de xl Ubris domino
Begi onerentur iuxta formam statuti supradicti & pretextu aliorum
premissorum.^
' Marginal note, Judioiom pro Bege. the Cowpers' Company of London in 1506.
' Marginal note, Becuperacio in Regis See MS. B. 0., Exch. K. B. Mem. Boll, E. T.
xxj°'<>, i.e. 1506. 21 Hen. 7, Inter Gommunia m. ix.
' A like proceeding was taken against
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Danby v. York, City of (Hudson, p. 179),
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Davison's case, xlii
Devonport v. Sympson (Cro. Eliz., 520),
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Figett's case (T.B. 24 E. 3), cix
Kendall's case (J. S. Burn, The Star
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Northampton's case. Earl of (Hudson),
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Page's case (1587) (Coke, 3 Inst.), 173
Proctor's case (Coke, Beps., xii, f. 118),
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xxvii, n. 2 ; xxviii ; xxix ; xxx ; xxx, n. 1 ;
xxxi ; xxxii ; xxxii, n. 2 ; xxxiii ; xxxiv,
xxxiv, n. 2 ; xl ; xl, n. 3 ; xli ; xliii ;
xliii, nn. 5, 7 ; xlvi ; xlvii, n. 2 ; xlix ; 1 ;
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lix ; lix, n. 1 ; Ixvii ; Ixvii, nn. 2, 3, 4 ;
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Hari. MSS. 603
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294
INDEX OF AUTHORITIES CITED
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li
Selden Society (continued) :
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1898. Select Cases in the Court of
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2 ; 81, n. 12 ; 96, n. 6 ; 110, n. 8 ;
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Shakspeare, W., 140, n. 10 ; 148, n. 27
160, n. 26 ; 238, n. 10
Shaw, S., History of Staffordshire (1798),
58, n. 8
Skeat, W. W., Etymological Dictionary
(1882), 39, n. 6; 54, n. 9 ; 161, n. 28
Skelton, J., Antient Arms and Armour
(1830), 107, n. 4 ; 143, n. 26
Engraved Illustrations of Antient
Armour (1830), 141, n. 16
Smith, J. C. C, Index of Wills (1896), 7,
n. 7; 9, v. 18; 12, n. 39; 23, n. 18;
26, nn. 6, C ; 28, nn. 17, 20 ; 31, n. 42 ;
62, n. 3 ; 63, n. 4 ; 71, nn. 3, 6 ; 72, n.
10 ; 80, nn. 1, 2 ; 83, n. 20 ; 85, nn. 37,
38 ; 86, n. 48 ; 87, n. 54 ; 88, n. 69 ;
91, n. 11 ; 94, n. 32 ; 95, n. 2 ; 117, n.
2 ; 119, n. 11 ; 121, n. 8 ; 123, n. 7 ;
126, n. 16 ; 126, n. 7 ; 145, n. 34 ; 169.
n. 2 ; 170, n. 3 ; 172, n. 5 ; 184, n. 2 ;
203, nn. 8, 10, 11, 13, 16 ; 204, nn. 17,
18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26 ; 208, n. 55 ;
215, n. 11 ; 216, n. 3 ; 236, n. 11 ; 238,
n. 6 ; 264, n. 6 ; 262, n. 4 ; 263, n. 6 ;
265, n. 14
Smith, Sir Thomas, Commonwealth of
England (1594), xxxix ; xxxix, n. 3 ; Iviii
Smith, Toulmin, English Gilds (E.E.T.S.
12), Ixxii; 1, n. 4; 2, n. 10
Smith, W., and Cheetham, S., Dictionary
of Christian Antiquities (1880), 141, n.
18 ; 166, n. 1
Speed, J., History of Great Britain (1650),
20, n. 23 ; 61, n. 7
Spelman, Sir Henry, Glossarium Archaio-
logicum (1687), 23, n. 18
Spence, G., Equitable Jurisdiction of the
Court of Chancery (2 vols., 1846), xviii,
n. 1 ; xxiv, n. 2
Staffordshire Historical Collections
(1883), 54. n. 3 ; 55, n. 6 ; 68, n. 8
State Papers, Domestic :
Henry 8, xoii, n. 4 ; cviii ; cxxvi, nn.
6, 7 ; cxxxvii, n. 2 ; cxxxviii, nn. 1,
3 ; cxl ; cl, nn. 4, 5 ; cli, n. 2 ; 22,
n. 9 ; 92, n. 21 ; 108, n. 9 ; 114, n.
4 ; 137, n. 2 ; 138, n. 6 ; 160, n. 24 ;
172, n. 6 ; 175. n. 2 ; 188, n. 12 ;
193, n. 2 ; 199, n. 6 ; 208. n. 65 ;
216, n. 2 ; 217, nn. 4, 5 ; 218, n.
12 ; 234, n. 2 ; 254, n. 6 ; 266. n. 7
Elizabeth, Ivi, n. 3 ; cxlviii, n. 2
State Trials, New Series (1893), xlvii, n. 1
Stationers' Company, Registers of the
(Birmingham, 1894), 114, n. 6
Statutes cited :
John:
Magna Carta, c. 4, cxvi ; c. 6, cxv ;
c. 20, cxxvii ; cxxviii ; c. 26.
cxxxvi, n. 8 ; c. 29, cxxxvii ;
cxxxvi, n. 9 ; c. 30, Ixxx ; c. 36,
cxlviii.
Hen. 3 :
20 Hen. 3, Statute of Merton, c. 6,
cxv; cxviii
52 Hen. 3, Statute of Marlborough,
c. 4, cxx ; cxx, n. 4 ; cxxi ; c. 10.
206, n. 36 ; c. 14, 14, n. 2 ; c. 16,
cxviii ; c. 17, cxvii
Edw. 1 :
3 Edw. 1, Statute of Westminster
the First, c. 16, 143, n. 27 ; c. 17.
cxx ; cc. 26-28, Ixv ; c. 34, 102, n.
17 ; c. 38, cxxxiii ; c. 48, 97, n. 13
6 Edw. 1, Statute of Gloucester,
c. 6, cxvi ; c. 9, cxxxvi, n. 8
13 Edw. 1, Statute of Winton, cxlv,
cxlv, n. 3 ; 143, n. 27 ; 172, n.
6 ; 230, n. 6
13 Edw. 1, Statute of Westminster
the Second, c. 6, oxxii ; cxxii, n.
1 ; c. 11, cxxxvi ; c. 12, ciii ;
c. 16, oxv ; cxv. n. 1 ; c. 26, 23,
n. 14 ; 148, n. 47 ; o. 30, 150, n.
59 ; c. 35, cxviii
28 Edw. 1, Articuli super Chartas,
XX ; XX, n. 3
Edw. 2 :
1 Edw. 2, De frangentibus pri-
sonam, 14, n. 1
INDEX OF AUTHORITIES CITED
295
Statutes cited {continued) :
4 Edw. 2, Ordinances, ciii. n. 6
12 Edw. 2, c. 4, 282, n. 5
Edw. 3 ^Statute of the Livery of
Hats [inc. temp.], xcvii, xcviii) :
1 Edw. 3, St. 1, c. 6, cxxxili
1 Edw. 3, St. 1, c. 7, ciii, n. 6
1 Edw. 3, 0. 16, 260, n. 9
2 Edw. 3, c. 3, c. oix, 112, n. 6;
242, n. 6
2 Edw. 3, c. 6, cxlv, n. 1
2 Edw. 3, c. 16, 282, n. 6
4 Edw. 3, c. 11, Ixv
5 Edw. 3, c. 6, oxxxiii
5 Edw. 3, c. 7, cxxxiii
6 Edw. 3, c. 14, cxlv, n. 1 ; 143.
n. 27
14 Edw. 3, St. 1, c. 12, cxlviii, n. 9
18 Edw. 3, St. 1, c. 1, xcv, n. 4
18 Edw. 3, St. 3, c. 6, ciii, n. 7
20 Edw. 3, c. 5, xcv, n. 4
20 Edw. 3, c. 6, Ixv
25 Edw. 3, St. 2, c. 2, 164, n. 6
25 Edw. 3, St. 5, c. 4, Ixxx
25 Edw. 3, St. 6, c. 9, cxlviii, n. 9
27 Edw. 3, St. 2, c. 10, cxlviii, n. 9
28 Edw. 3, c. 8, oxxxiv
28 Edw. 3, c. 11, cxlv, n. 1
31 Edw. 3, St. 1, 0. 2, cxlviii ; cxlviii,
n. 10
34 Edw. 3, c. 1, cxxxv, 146, n. 39
34 Edw. 3, c. 6, cxlviii, n. 9 ; cxlix,
n. 6
34 Edw. 3, c. 6, cxlviii, n. 11
34 Edw. 3, c. 7, cxxxiii
34 Edw. 3, c. 8, cxxxiv
37 Edw. 3, c. 18, Ixxx
38 Edw. 3, St. 1, c. 9, Ixxx
38 Edw. 3, St. 1, c. 12, cxxxiv
42 Edw. 3, c. 3, lii, Ixxix, 20 ; 20,
n. 6
Ric. 2 :
1 Ric. 2, 0. 7, Ixv, xcvi
1 Ric. 2, c. 13, ciii, n. 7
2 Ric. 2, St. 1, c. 6, 102, n. 17
2 Ric. 2, St. 1, c. 6, c, cxi, n. 3
2 Ric. 2, St. 2, c. 2, ci, 242, n. 6
6 Ric. 2, St. 1, c. 6, cxi
7 Ric. 2, c. 6, cxlv
12 Ric. 2, c. 3, 164, n. 5
12 Ric. 2, c. 6, 157, n. 10
12 Ric. 2, c. 7, cxxx
12 Ric. 2, c. 11, lii,cxxxii, 102, n. 17
13 Ric. 2, St. 1, c. 6, 247, n. 9
Statutes cited (continued) :
13 Ric. 2, St. 1, c. 9, cxlviii, n. 9 ;
clxix, n. 7
13 Ric. 2, St. 3, c. 1, xcvi
15 Ric. 2, c. 4, cxlix, n. 8
16 Ric. 2, c. 4, Ixv
20 Ric. 2, c. 1, cix
20 Ric. 2, c. 2, Ixv, xovii ; xcvii, n. 6
Hen. 4 :
1 Hen. 4, c. 7, xcvii ; xcvii, n. 7 ;
xcviii ; xcviii, n. 1
1 Hen. 4, o. 18, cv
2 Hen. 4, c. 21, xcvii ; xovii, n. 8
5 Hen. 4, c. 10, oxxxvii
7 Hen. 4, c. 14, xlviii, n. 6 ; Ixv,
xcvi, xcvii ; xcvii, n. 10, xcviii
7 Hen. 4, c. 17, 164, n. 5
11 Hen. 4, c. 9, civ, n. 4
13 Hen. 4, c. 3, xcviii ; xcviii, n. 2
13 Hen. 4, c. 7, li, ci ; 145, n. 85 ;
147, n. 46 ; 236, n. G
Hen. 5 :
2 Hen. 5, st. 1, o. 8, ci
2 Hen. 6, st. 1, c. 9, oi
7 Hen. 6, c. 1, civ, w. 6
9 Hen. 6, st. 1, oc. 1, 2, cv, cvi
Hen. 6 :
6 Hen. 6, c. 1, cvi
8 Hen. 6, c. 4, xcix
8 Hen. 6, o. 6, cxlix, n. 9
8 Hen. 6, c. 10, ovii
8 Hen. 6, o. 14, oi
8 Hen. 6, c. 27, cxlv
9 Hen. 6, c. 6, cxlvi, n. 1
11 Hen. 6, c. 4, cxxxiv
11 Hen. 6, c. 8, cxlix, n. 10
15 Hen. 6, o. 4, Ix
15 Hen. 6, c. /!, cxxxiv
15 Hen. 6, c. 6, cl
18 Hen. 6, c. 13, cvi ; cvi, n. 1
18 Hen. 6, c. 17, 85, w. 40
20 Hen. 6, c. 6, 81, n. 13 ; 264,
n. 6
28 Hen. 6, o. 4, cxxi
31 Hen. 6, o. 2, xvi, xx, lii, liii, Ix,
Ixiv ; Ixiv, n. 1 ; Ixxxi, n. 4 ; Ixxxii
21, n. 9 ; 66, n. 16
31 Hen. 6, c. 9, cxii
Edw.4:
1 Edw. 4, 0. 2, ovii, nn. 1, 2
8 Edw. 4, c. 2, xlviii, n. 6; Ixv
xcix, n. 4 ; 34, n. 2 ; 139, n. 7
12 Edw. 4, c. 2, 160, n. 24
12 Edw. 4, c. 4, 0
296
INDEX OF AUTHORITIES CITED
Statutes cited (contintied) :
14 Edw. 4, c. 1, 216, n. 3
17 Edw. 4, c. 2, cxliii
22 Edw. 4, c. 4, 160, n. 24
Bic. 8 :
1 Bio. 8, c. 4, cvii, n. 3
1 Bic. 3, 0. 6, cxliv
1 Bic. 3, c. 11, 160, n. 24
I Bic. 3, c. 12. 141. n. 16
Hen. 7:
3 Hen. 7. c. 1 (• Pro Camera Stel-
lata '). iz, X. xii, xv, xxiv. xxxv. xlii.
xliii ; xliii, n. 8, xliv, xlv, xlvii,
xlviii, xlix. 1, lii, liii. liv, Iv, Ivi.
Ivii, Iviii, lix, Ixii, Ixiv, Ixvi, Ixvii,
Ixviii. Ixx. Ixxviii. Ixxxi, Ixxzli.
c, cxxxv ; 18, n. 2 ; 21, n. 9 ;
102, n. 17 ; 240, n. 22 ; 241. n. 1
3 Hen. 7, c. 2, oxii, 131. n. 3 ; 134,
n. 17
8 Hen. 7, c. 9, 36, n. 2
8 Hen. 7, c. 12. Ixv ; c. ; 139, n. 7
3 Hen. 7, c. 13, 160, n. 24
7 Hen. 7, c. 3, cl. n. 1 ; 69, n. 2
7 Hen. 7, c. 11, 39. n. 7
7 Hen. 7, c. 22, Ixxv ; Ixxv, n. 2 ;
Ixxvi. n. 1
II Hen. 7. c. 3. xcix. n. 5. cii
11 Hen. 7, c. 4, ol
11 Hen. 7, c. 5. cl
11 Hen. 7, c. 7, ci
11 Hen. 7, c. 11, olii
11 Hen. 7, c. 12, Ixxxii
11 Hen. 7, c. 21, cxxxv
11 Hen. 7, c. 24, cxxxv. 147, n. 46
11 Hen. 7, c. 26, 147, n. 45
11 Hen. 7, c. 61, 254, n. 6
11 Hen. 7, c. 64. 143, n. 26
12 Hen. 7, c. 2, cxxxv
12 Hen. 7, c. 5, cl
19 Hen. 7, c. 2, 160, n. 24
19 Hen. 7, c. 3, cxxxv
19 Hen. 7, c. 4, 159, n. 23 ; 160.
n.24
19 Hen. T, c. 5, 251, n. 10
19 Hen. 7, o. 7, oli. 262 ; 262. n. 8,
267, 270, 279, 283
19 Hen. 7, o. 8. oxlii
19 Hen. 7. o. 18, xv, 147, n. 45
19 Hen. 7, o. 14. xlviii, n. 6, Ixv.o, oii
19 Hen. 7. o. 17. olii
19 Hen. 7. c. 18. Ixix, oxlvi, n. 8,
226 ; 226. n. 9
19 Hen. 7. o. 32. 121. n. 22
Statutes cited {continued) :
Hen. 8 :
6 Hen. 8. c. 25
21 Hen. 8. c. 20, xliii, n. 8 ; xlix
22 Hen. 8, c. 4, olii
23 Hen. 8, c. 3, cxxxv, n. 1 263,
n. 8
23 Hen. 8, c. 4, 42, n. 11
23 Hen. 8. c. 9. Ixxxviii
23 Hen. 8. o. 12, oxlvi
25 Hen. 8, c 7, 152, n. 1
25 Hen. 8, o. 19, Ixxxvi
26 Hen. 8, c. 6, xciv
27 Hen. 8, c. 1, 179. n, 5 ; 213. n.
17
27 Hen. 8, c. 26, xciv, xcv, n. 1
27 Hen. 8, o. 28, 263, n. 4
28 Hen. 8, o. 6, oliii
28 Hen. 8, c. 10, Ixxxvi
31 Hen. 8, c. 13, 253, n. 4
34 (& 35 Hen. 8, c. 26, 55, n. 10
35 Hen. 8, c. 4. 179, n. 6
37 Hen. 8, o. 5, 263, n. 8
37 Hen. 8, c. 6, 17, n. 9
37 Hen. 8, c. 9, 22, n. 11
Edw. 6 :
5 Edw. 6, c. 4, 227. n. 5
P. dkM.:
1 & 2 P. & M. 0. 12. oxxi, n. 3
Eliz. :
5 Eliz. 0. 18. xliii, n. 4
Jac.1:
1 Jac. 1, 0. 24, 9, n. 26
Anne:
7 Anne, c. 18, cxxii
Vict :
5 & 6 Vict 0. 38, 146, n. 39
32 <fe 33 Vict 0. 47, 143, n. 27
Stephen, Sir J. F., History of the Criminal
Law (1883), Ixxv, n. 1 ; cii ; cii, n. 1 ;
ciii, nn. 1, 2 ; cxxxiii, n. 1 ; cxxxv, n. 2
26, n. 27 ; 102, n. 17 ; 146, n. 39
Stow, John, Annales (1632), xxv; ex,
n. 4 ; 246, n. 6
Survey of London (ed. 1633), 96,
n. 5 ; 117, n. 1
Survey of London (ed. J. Strype,
6th ed., 1754-5), 71, n. 5 ; 81, nn. 11,
18; 82, n. 14; 83, n. 19; 85, nn. 37,
41 ; 88. n. 59 ; 91, nn, 10. 11 ; 93, n,
27 ; 115, n. 13 ; 179, n. 6 ; 289, n. 20 ;
241, nn. 4. 5; 262, n. 4
Strype, J., Life of Abp. Parker (Oxford
1821), Ixxxviii, n. 2
INDEX OF AUTHORITIES CITED
297
Strype, J., Life of Abp. Qrindal (ed. 1821),
Ivi, n. 2 ; Ixxxviii, n. 2
Memorials of Gramner (Oxford,
1840), Ixxxvi ; Ixxxvi, n. 2 ; Ixxxvii, n. 1
Stabbs, William, Bp., (Constitutional
History (3 vols. 1880), 144, n. 28;
Select Charters (7th ed., 1890), cxyii,
ti. 1 ; 33, n. 1
Sortees, B., History of Durham (1816),
254, n. 6
Surtees Society :
(1865) Testamenta Eboracensia, 254,
n. 6
(1862) Tonge's Visitation, 254, n. 6
(1864) Marriage Licences, 108, n. 9
(1869) Testamenta Eboracensia, 70,
n. 6 ; 253, n. 3
Tanner, T., Notitia Monastica (1744), 29,
nn, 24, 26
Thompson, P., History of Boston (1856),
91, n. 11
Vergil, see Polydore
VinogradofF, P., Villainage in England
(1892), cxxvii, n. 4 ; cxzix, n. 1 ; 73, n.
1; 118, n. 5; 123, n. 4
Walford, E., Old and New London, 164,
n. 2
Walter of Henley, ed. E. Lamond (1890),
149, nn, 54, 55
Waters, R E. C, Oenealogioal Memoirs of
the Family of Chester of Chioheley
(1878). 81. n. 13 ; 83, n. 19
Weever, J., Funerall Monuments (1631),
Ixxviii, n. 2.
Welch, C, Modem History of the City of
London, 237, n. 4 ; 246, n. 6
Westcote, T., View of Devonshire (Exeter,
1846), 7. nn. 5, 7
Wheatley, H. B., London (1891). 96. n. 5
Wheler, K B.. History dkc of Stratford-
upon-Avon (1806). 230, n. 4
White, Gilbert, see sub Morris, F. 0.
Wilkins. D. Concilia (1737), Ixxxv. n. 8 ;
Ixxxvi ; Ixxxix, n, 1
Williams, W. M., Annals of the Founders'
Company (1867), 262, nn. 1. 2, 4 ; 263.
nn. 6, 7 ; 264, 7in. 9, 10 ; 265, n. 15 ;
266, nn. 1, 3, 4 ; 267, n. 6 ; 270, nn. 2.
3,4,6
Willis, Browne, History of Mitred Parlia-
mentary Abbies (1718), 179, n. 6 ; 196,
n. 3
Wood. Anthony :
AthenaB Oxonienses (ed. 1816), 187,
n.2
City of Oxford, ed. A Clark (1889),
145, n. 34
Colleges and Halls of Oxford (ed.
1786), 137, n. 2.
Colleges and Halls of Oxford (ed.
1786) (Fasti Oxonienses, Appendix),
96, n. 6 ; 137, n. 2
University of Oxford, History of
(1792), 145, nn. 3,4 ; 155, n. 8
Worcestershire County Becords, ed. by
J. W. Willis Bund (Worcester, 1900),
259, n. 5
Worth, R A, History of Plymouth (1890),
22, n. 8
Wright, Joseph, English Dialect
Dictionary (1900), 144, n. 30
Wright, Thomas, History of Domestic
Manners &o. (1862), 154, n. 5
Tear Books :
13 Edw. 3, 124, n. 8
16 Edw. 3, cxvi
24 Edw. 3, cix
42 Edw. 3, 49, n. 5
49 Edw. 3, 73, n. 1
3 Edw. 4, 170, n. 3
21 Edw. 4, cxxv, n. 3
8 Hen. 7, 7, xxxiv, n. 2 ; xlvii, n. 1
8 Hen. 7, f. 13, xxxv
11 Hen. 7, t 13, cxxv
12 Hen. 7, 17 ; 143, n. 27
14 Hen. 7,9; 146, n. 35
20 Hen. 7, 11 ; cxiii, n. 2
Yorkshire Archadological Association,
Index of York Wills (1891), 70, n. 6
INDEX OP SUBJECTS.
Abduoiion, ox, cxi, oxii, 180, 181, 184, 135
Account, • acoompt,' 277
Action, Popular, 209 ; 209, n. 4
Address, Forms of, xiv-xvi
Advowson, cxxii, 278
Affidavits, Ixxviii
Ale, 42, 44
Aliens in England, oxxxvii ; cxxxviii ;
cxxxviii, rm. 1, 2, 5 ; 114; 114, n. 4;
116, 269
Altar cloths, ' aulterolothes,* 165
Annuity. See Pensions
Answers, xxviii, xxxi, xxxii, xxxiii
Apparitor, Ixxxix
Appeal, 276, n. 5
Appeal, Malicious, ciii
Appearance, xxviii, 282, 283
Apprentices (Prentyses), clii, oliii
Arbitration, cxviii, cxix, 44, 64, 65
Arches, Court of. See Index of Persons
and Places
Arms, Carrying, cix, 112 ; 112, n. 6 ; 115,
120. See also Weapons
Arrows, 46, 51, 106, 129, 148, 150, n. 10;
159, 160, 274
Assault, 'assaute,' *a sawte,' assawte,'
'assautz,' 1, 4, 37, 51, 111, 112, 113,
114, 115, 116, 120, 158, 201, 206, 231,
239, 243, 244, 249, 252
Assembly, Unlawful, Ixxxii, ci, 2, 21, 116,
118, 236, 240, n. 22
Assize, 67, 67, n. 9
Assizes, The, oxxxiii, 150, 151, 156, 260
Attachment, xx
Attainder, Acts of (1491), Ixxv, Ixxvi
Attaint of Juries, xiii, cxzxii, cxxxiii;
oxxxiii, nn. 1, 2 ; oxxxiv, oxxxv ; 14, n.
2; 18
Attorneys, Ixix ; 187, n. 18 ; 213, 215,
280, 282, 288
Audience, Court of. See Index of Persons
and Places
Auditors, 277
Axe, * a naxe,* 41, 142
Bail, • bayly,' cxvii, 13, n. 1 ; 120, 259,
n. 5
Bailiff, * bailly,' * baillye,' Ixxxu, 87 ; 87,
n. 9 ; 39, 44, 48, 115, 120, 128 ; 124, n.
10; 259, 259, n. 6; 277. See also
'Index of Persons and Places* sub
Shrewsbury, Bailiffs of
Barber, ' harbour,* 252, 258
Barrels, barelles, 42, 44, 54
Battery, cv
Battle, Trial by, cxxii ; 13, n. 1
Bed, 136
Bill, The, xviii
Bills, • bylles,' 'byllys,' 1, n. 6; 61,106,
107, 110, 120, 129, 141, 144, 159, 166 ;
165, n. 5 ; 167, 204, 282, 236, 246, 274
Blindness, cxxvi, n. 4 ; 68, 174 ; 174, n. 9
Boat, ♦ bote,' • botte,* ' boote,' 140, 141,
142, 152, 153, 156, 157, 158, 159, 161,
210, 211, 218, 217, 219, 222
Bolster, ' bolsterr,' ' bolstore,' 239, 248
Bond, 39, 155, 275, 278, 281
Bondage, xiii, cxxiv, cxxv, cxxvi, cxxvii,
n. 5 ; cxxviii, cxxix ; 29, n. 27 ; 83, 119
Bondman, 119, 120, 123 ; 128, n. 2 ; 124,
126, 127
Bonnets, ' stele bonetts,' 110
Books, ' bokkys,* ' bokys,* 89, 91, 94, 126,
127, 186, 165, 167, 208
Bote, 211 ; 211, n. 13 ; 225
Bottle, ' boteU,' 143
Bows, 46, 51, 106, 129, 143 ; 157, n. 10;
169, 274
Brewer, ' bruer,* cxxxi ; cxxxi, n. 2 ; 198
Brewing veBsels, 64
300
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
Brewhouse, 27
Bribery, Ixxxii
Bridge, * brige,' * brigge.' • bnigge,'
•brygge,* 'burge,' 150, 211, 212, 214,
215, 219-226. See also ' Index of
Persons and Places,* Shrewsbury,
Bridges at
Brigander, • brygender,' 110 ; 110, n. 9
Bucklers, • bokelers,' • buklers,' 1, 37. 46,
106, 107, 110, 120, 143, 239, 242, 243,
244, 246, 247, 248, 274
Buelles, bules, 54 ; 54, n. 8
Bulls, 30, 31
Bullocks, 30, 31, 53, 120, 124
Butcher, • bochres,* * bocher,' 195, 197,
198
Butter, 205
Calves, 30, 31, 107, 120, 124
Candlesticks, ' candilstykes,* ' candell-
styk,' 64, 262, 263, 267, 268, 269
Canon Law, The, Ixxxlii, Ixxxiv, Ixxxv ;
Ixxxv, n. 1
Canvas, 9, 72, n. 10 ; 90, 91
Caprikkes, caperikis, 84 ; 84, n. 31
Carpenters, * carpynders,* 205
Carriers, 80, 82, 83, 84, 86-88
Cart, 206, 219 219, n. 2
Castles, oxxxvi
Catchpole, ' cachepoll,* ' kachepole,' 189,
190, 192, 203-206
Census Constitutivus, Ixxxiv
Census Ecclesiasticus, Ixxxiii
Census Beservativus, Ixxxiv
Chafing dish, ' chafyng disshe,* 262, 267,
269, 280
Chalice, chalesse, 24
Challenge of jury, cxxii, 283
Champerty, Ixvi, n. 1 ; Ixxxii
Chancellor, The, xiv, xv, xviii, xix, xx,
xxiv ; xxxiv, n. 2 ; xxxv, xxxviii, xxxix,
xliii; xliii, n. 8; xliv, xlvii-xlix, li,
Ixvii, Ixviii, Ixxxi, cxii, cxli, 114, 188,
208, 237, 263, 262, 279
Chancery, The. See * Index of Persons
and Places '
Chaplain, 'ohapelen/ 'chapeleyn/ 28,
249, 261
Charters, * oharteris/ ' oharterys,* cl, cli,
184, 186, 198-200
Chests, 171
Chivahry, Guardianship in, cxiv-oxvii,
czz. See also Knight Service, Wardship
Chivalry, Tenure in, cxiv, cxv
Church, *chirche,* 'chirch,* 'churche,*
18, 39, 47, 159, 169, 228, 229, 236, 273
Church, The, 33, 244
Cloak, * cloke,' 115
Clock, * clok,' 232, 238, 243, 246, 248
Cloth, linen. See sub Linen
Cloth, Woollen, 82, n. 14 ; 276, 278
Clubs, ♦ clubbes,' * clobbys,' 46, 107, 110,
167, 168, 230, 232, 246
Coal, *coole,' *coll,' 'colys,' 181, 183, 193,
198
Cobull, 220, 222, 224
Coflfers, • coferz,' • cofirs,* 64, 171
Coffin, 48, n. 3
Coffiner, 48 ; 48, n. 3
Commission of King in Council, Ixiii, 17,
18
Commissioners of Court of Exchequer, 7,
8 ; 8, n. 8 ; 10, 12, 13
Commissioners under Dedimus Potesta-
tem, xxxiii, xxxiv, 11, 80, 121 ; 121,
n. 4 ; 215, 216
Common Law, The, Ix, Ixviii, Ixxxi ; 21,
n. 9 ; 46, 56 ; 56, n. 16 ; 100, 122, 172,
199, 202, 261, 266, 273, 276
Common Pleas, Court of, Ixi, cxiii
Commons, House of, xxi, xxiii, lix, Ixiv,
Ixxix-lxxxi, xcvi, xcix, c, ci, civ, cxi,
cxx, cxxi ; oxiix, n. 6 ; 20, n. 6 ; 66, n. 16
Confederations, 2
Conspiracy, cxiii
Constable, 117, 143 ; 143, n. 27 ; 144, 145.
160, 161, 230, 231, 249
Contempt, Ixxxix, cxxi, oxxii, 61, 112, 191,
206, 208, 231
Conventicles, 2
Copyholds, cxviii, cxxv, oxxix, 46, 47, 48 ;
48, n. 6
Corn, 17, 53, 54, 58, 69, 60
Corodies, Ixxxv ; Ixxxv, n. 2 ; 23, 28, 29,
32,33
Costs, ' costages,' 4, 11, 13, 16, 19, 21, 45,
56, 59, 61, 64, 67, 111, 117, 126, 162,
179, 230, 260, 264, 268, 269, 270
Council, the King in. Cases heard before,
Ixxii, Ixxiii, Ixxv-lxxix
Council, The King's, xi, xii, xiv-xix, xxiii,
xxxi, xxxv, xxxvii-xlii, xlvi-xlix, li, liv,
Iv, Ivi, lix-lxii, Ixiv, Ixv, Ixviii, Ixix-
Ixxi, Ixxix-lxxxi, Ixxxix, ci, cii, oxi, 2,
6, 15, 36, 38, 40, 46, 50, 54, 56, 62, 63,
64, 66, 77, 98, 100, 103-106, 116, 120.
121, 122, 129, 152, 162, 166, 166, 174.
180, 183, 190, 191, 196, 198, 199, 200,
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
301
202, 208-210, 217, 226, 226, 229, 236,
240, 268, 260, 266, 278, 276, 276
Counoil, Lord President of the, xliii ; xliii,
n. 8 ; xlix, li
Council, Ordinances of (1426), lii
Cooncil, The Privy, xxxix, xl, xlii, xlix,
Ixviii
Coansel, ' cowncell,' cxix, 66, 97, 99, 103,
228, 278
Court Baron, 186
Court of Husting, cxxxv
Court Roll, 47 ; 49, n. 6 ; 186, 200, 257
Coverlets, * couerlettes,' 64
Cows, • keyne,' ' kyen,' 30, 31, 63, 55, 66,
107, 120, 124. 125
Cradle. * cradell,* 46, 47
Crescloth, Crestecloth, Crestes, 9 ; 9, n. 25 ;
90
Crossbows, 169; 159, n. 23 ; 160, n. 24 ; 161
Cruets, cruettes, crewetts, 24 ; 24, n. 25
Curia Regis. The, xvi
Customers, 74, n. 1
Customs, Concealment of, 8, 9, 16
Customs. See Tolls
Dagger, * daggars,' *dagar8,' * dagar,' 61,
116, 141, 143, 161
Darrein Presentment, cxxii
Decree, 187, 188 ; 188. n. 12 ; 190, 191,
199, 202, 203, 208, 210, 213, 215
Defamation, Ixvi, cxxxi, 39-41 ; 102, n. 17.
See also Scandalum Magnatum.Slander
Demesne, Ancient, 73 ; 73, nn. 1, 2; 78, 79
Demurrers, xxviii, xxix, xxx, xxxi, Ixxxi,
Ixxxii, cxiii ; cxxxv, n. 4 ; 21 ; 21, n. 9 ;
175. See also InsufiQciency, Uncer-
tainty
Denunciation, 227 ; 227, n. 7
Depositions, 48, 80-88, 90-95, 113, 114,
126-129. 187, 191, 219-225, 250-253,
270-271
Disseisin, 68, 60, 267
Disseisin, Novel, Assize of, 66; 66, n. 6 ; 67
Distraint, distress, 'stresses,* cxx, cxxi,
65 ; 65, n. 8 ; 91. 95, 106, 107, 108, 110,
111-113, 155, 167, 181, 183, 207, 282
Doglas, Dowlas, 72, 72, n. 7 ; 77
Doublets, 1
Drunkenness, cliv
Duels, Iv. See also Battle
Duress, cziv, oxxvi, 97, 101
Ecclesiastics, Ixxxii-xo, xcviii, oxvii, 6,
18, 20-34, 37, 39, 45-61, 107, 109, 111.
112, 114, 118-130, 138, 188-140, 142-
149, 151-169, 161-164, 166-169, 178-
208, 227, 230-234, 236, 238-241, 248.
246-253, 268, 260, 261, 271, 272. 274
Ecclesiastical Courts, xxx, Ixxx, Ixxxvii-
xc, cxii, cxxxi, cxxxiii
Embezzlement, 43, 264
Embezzling of Evidences, Ixvii ; Ixvii, n. 1
Embracery, Ixvi, Ixxxii, ci, 147 ; 147, n. 46
Enfranchisement. See Manumission
Examination of defendant, xxxi
Examination of witnesses, xxxi-xxxiii
Exchequer, Court of. The King's. See
' Index of Persons and Places '
Exchequer, Court of, Commission issued
by, 7 ; 8, n. 8 ; 10
Exchequer, Informations in the Court of.
Ixxiii, 263, 267-269, 279-283
Exchequer, Court of. Presentment in, 14
Exchequer, Court of. Writ issued by, 7,
280-283
Excommunication, Ixxxviii, Ixxxix ; cxlviii,
n. 3 ; 227, nn, 5, 7
Execution, * execucion,' Letters of, 227-
229
Exemplifications of decrees, Ixix, 187.
188 ; 188, n. 12 ; 199, 202
Exilium, cxvii, 106
Expedition of business, Ixix; 166, n. 9;
196, n. 2
Extortion, IxxxU, 37, 62, 120, 124, 138,
151, 226, 228, 266, 258
Fairs, cxlii, cxiiii ; cxliii, n. 2 ; 36 ; 36, n.
2; 72, n. 11; 73, n,2
Fama publica, oii, cv
Fee Farm of Town, cxlii, 201, 211, 212,
214, 219. 223
Fees, 23, 148, 156, 161
Feoffees, 17, 169, 177
Fines, 28-30, 32, 33, 46, 97. 101, 186, 268.
268, 277
Fodder, Foder, Fother (of lead), 70; 70.
n. 4; 71
Forcible entry, cviii, 16, 21, 46, 61, 269,
261
Forfeiture, 48, 49 ; 49, n. 6 ; 61. 66, 262,
269, 271, 279
Forgery, Iv, Ixxxii, 10, 14 ; 102, n. 17
Frame of house, 17 ; 17, n. 9
Franchise. See Liberties
Frankpledge, View of, 180 ; 180, n. 8 ; 188-
186
Fruit, 87, 90, 92-94
302
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
Gage, 88
Gaol, Ixxiii, cxxxv, cxxxvi, 10, 14 ; 14, n. 1 ;
16, 19, 52, 120, 121, 171, 172, 178, 201,
206, 225, 228, 229, 275-277
Gardens, * gardyns,' 129, 165
Geese, 53
(Weldings, 58
Gild, Illegal by-laws of, 262-271, 279-281
Gilds, The, cxxxvii, cl-clii, 262, 279-281
Foanders of London. See 'Index of
Persons and Places' sub London,
Companies
Taylors*, of Exeter, Ixxii, Ixxiii, 1, 3, 4
Worsted Shearers', of Norwich, cli
See also sub London, Cbmpanies, in
' Index of Persons and Places *
Glaives, * gleyves,' 1 ; 1, n. 6
Glover, 194
Gold, 127, 171
Grail, A ; • grayll,* * grayle,* 166 ; 165, n. 6 ;
167
Grand Assize, cxxii
Grand Jury, cxxxiii
Groats, • grotes,' 127
Groomes, * gromes,' 243, 244
Guardianship. See Wardship
Halbert, 1, n. 6 ; 148 ; 143, n. 26
Hanger, • hangger,' A, 141 ; 141, n. 16
Hangings, ' hangyngs for beddes,' 54
Hat, 246
Hatchets, ' hachettes,' 64
Hats, Livery of, xovi, xcviii
Hawberkes, hauberts, 143 ; 143, n.26 ; 144
Hay, 54, 59, 60
Heriot, cxviii, 101, 104
Hermitage, 165-167
Hermits, cxxx, cxxxi, 164, 166-168
Herring, • erynges,' 137, 223
Homage, 48 ; 48, n. 4 ; 98 ; 99, n. 3 ; 102,
104
Hooks, * hookes,' * hokis,* * howkes/ 54,
144, 212, 219, 226
Horse, 34, 37, 66, 60, 66, 86, 134, 136,
166, 206, 252
Hue and cry, 242 ; 242, n. 6
Impounding, Ixvi, 66 ; 66, n. 8 ; 109, 111-
113
Imprisonment, exxvi, cxxxv, cxxxvi, 52
Indictments, Ixxx, xcviii, cii, civ ; civ, n. 2 ;
ovi, cvii, cxiu, 146, 147, 154, 156, 259
Informations, Ixxx, o, civ ; 18, n. 2 ; 19, 280
Informers, xoix, c
Inhibition, Ixxxviii
Injunction, 61, 62, 66, 67, 188, 259
Inn, 136, 241, 260, 251
Inns of Court and Chancery, ex. See
also * Index of Persons and Places ' sub
London
Insufficiency Demurrer of, xxix, 5, 20,
21, 33, 43, 47, 66, 57, 59, 61, 78, 79,
109, 111, 122, 176, 229, 248, 261, 266,
280, 281
Interest, Ixxxiv, Ixxxv; 23, n. 11
Interrogatories, xxxi, xxxii, Ixxx; 25, n.
27; 89, 134, 136, 177, 178, 184-187,
192-198
Iron, 44 ; 44, n. 10 ; 212, 219, 223
Issue, 67, 210
Jacks, * jakkes,' 1 ; 1, n. 5
Jewels, *juels,* 'jewelles,' 24, 26, 264,
267-270
Jointure, 16
Judges, Common Law, xxx, xxxi, xxxiv,
xliii, xlvi, Ixxi, xcviii, cix, 96, 97, 99,
101, 103 ; 103, n. 2 ; 104, 188 ; 188.
n. 12; 190, 198, 199, 202, 260, 262,
263, 279, 280, 282
Judges of the Court of Star Chamber,
xxxiv-xlix ; xlix, w. 1 ; 187 ; 188, n. 12
Juries, Attaint of, xiii, cxxxii, cxxxiii;
cxxxiii, nn. 1, 2 ; cxxxiv; cxxxv, 14, n. 2 ;
18 ; 18, n. 2
Juries, Corruption of, Iv, Ixvi, xcviii, cii.
cvi, cxxxiii, 18, n. 2
Jury of Manorial Court, 230-233
Jury, Trial by, cxxxiii, cliii, 67, 236, 282
Justices of the peace, xcviii, xcix, ci, cii,
cvii, cxxxv- cxxxvii, cli; 67, n. 5; 145;
146 n. 36 ; 164, 229, 234-237, 259, 260,
262
Keeper, the Lord, xliii, 71, 72, 118
Key. See Quay
Keys, * keyes,' 129
King, The, xxii, xxiv, xxv, xlvi, Ivii ; Ivii,
nn. 2, 3 ; Ixxx, Ixxxvi, xcix, cii, cviii,
ex, cxxxii, cxxxiii, 2, 6, 15, 18, 20, 36,
38, 40, 41, 45, 50, 56, 66, 71-77, 83, 96,
98, 103, 104, 106, 111, 112, 116, 117,
120, 121, 125, 129, 137, 160, 152, 160,
162, 163, 166, 174, 180, 181, 198, 20O-
203, 206, 208, 209, 225, 226, 229, 230,
236, 240, 254, 256, 256, 258, 260, 261,
265, 271, 274-276, 279-281, 283
King's Almoner, The, xxii
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
303
King's Bench, Coxui of, Ixi, <mii, 19, 147 ;
147, n. 42
King's household, o, 96, 108
King's messengers, xxvii, n. 1
Kitchener, cxxx, 45 ; 45, n. 8
Knife, 'knyuys,' *knyffes,' 232-284,236,
246, 24S-250, 262
Knight service, 99, 100 ; 100, n. 11 ; 102,
104. See aJso Chivalry
Lamp, ' lampe,' 267, 280
Lancaster, Hoase of, and Parliament, Ixiv
Land, price of, 22, n. 9 ; 176
Laton, Latten, 280 ; 280, n. 1
Law Day, 44 ; 44, n. 8 ; 230-282
Law Terms, Iviii, Ixiii, Ixviii, 46 ; 46, n. 15 ;
51, 53, 56, 59, 65, 74, 113, 116, 152, 163,
174, 187, 202, 226, 258, 260, 274,275,279
Lead, 'lede,' 69-71, 87, n. 55
Lease, land and stock, Ixxxiii
Lease for life, 61
Lease for years, 272, 278
Leet, 'Lete,* 180; 180, n. 10; 193, 195,
197, 198
Lepys, Lepes, Leaps, 152 ; 152, n. 1 ; 153,
158
Letters, * letturs,' 135
Letters Missive, xix, 254, 255
Letters of Privy Seal. See Privy Seal
Letters Patent, 3, 76, 203
Letters Testimonial, Ixxv, cxxx, 10 ; 74,
n. 1
Libel, Ixxxii, oxxxii
Liberties, 40, n. 4 ; 107, 109, 110, 112-
114 ; 179-181, 183, 189-194, 196, 197,
200-207, 210, 211, 219, 222, 241
Linen * lynnyn,* cloth, 72 ; 72, n. 7 ; 76,
77, 80, 81, 83, 84-88, 92-94, 129
Liveries, Giving of, xlviii, Iv, Ixv, xcvi-
xcviii, c, oi
Liveries, Wearing of, xlviii, xlix, xovi-
xcviii, cliv, 34, 270
Lollards, The, ci
Lords, House of, xi, 101. See also ' Peers '
Mace, ' mase,' * masse,' 190, 192, 194, 196,
204, 207
Madder, ' mader,' 88 ; 88, n. 62
Magna Carta, Ixxx, cxlviii, 83 ; 88, n. 1
Mainpernors, 13, n. 1
Mainprise, * Maneprise,' 13, n. 1 ; 120
Maintenance, Iv. Ixv, Ixvi; Ixvi, n. 1;
xcvi, oi, 146 ; 146, n. 38 ; 201, 241 ; 241,
n. 1 ; 260
Malt, oaten, * otyn,' 54
Manor, 15-18, 28-31, 33, 47; 47, n. 4;
48, 134, 254, 261, 272, 273
Manumission, cxxiv, exxv ; exxv, n. 1 ;
cxxviii, cxxix, 29, 83 ; 88, n. 7 ; 119,
124, 126-129
Marches of Wales, Council of. Court of,
&o. See ' Index of Persons and Places '
sub Wales
Mare, A, 42
Markets, 72, n. 11 ; 73, n. 2 ; 82, n. 14
Marquis, * marchys,' 274
Marriage, cxiv, cxv, cxviii, 95, 186
Marshall's men, xxvii, n. 1
Mattocks, * mattakes,' 54
Mattrasses, ' matresses,' 54
Mayhems, * maimez,' 118 ; 118, n. 1 ; 257,
260, 261
Merchants, cl ; cli, n. 1 ; 31, 69, 70, 71,
74 ; 74, n. 1 ; 78, 79
Miners, Lead, 69-71
Monasteries, The, and the boroughs,
cxxxvii-cxxxix
Monasteries, Condition of the, xiii, Ixxxii,
Ixxxiii, cvii, cxxiii, cxxvi, cxxvii, cxxix,
cxxx, cliii, cUv, 22 ; 22, n. 6 ; 23, 25, 26,
33, 34, 47, 118-129, 180, 182, 183
Dissolution of, xiii, Ixxxiii, Ixxxvi
Mortgage, Ixxxiv, 23, 28
Municipalities, The, xcix, clii
Murder, 259, 261
Muresauce, 40 ; 40, n. 3
Names, Spelling of, xiv
Nativus. See sub Bondage
Neat, ' nete ' oil, 84
Net, Fishing, 140, 141, 153
Nisi Prius action, 150, 268, 271
Nobles. 50 ; 50, n. 5 ; 148
Northern Rebellion, The, 108, n. 9
Oaks, * ookes,' 274
Obedientiaries of religious houses, cxxx
Obligation. See Bond
Orchard, 140, 141, 142, 153, 168, 169, 161,
165
Order Books of Court of Bequests, xxviii
Order Books of Star Chamber, xxviii
Ore tenus. Proceeding by, Ixvii
Osey, 84;84, n. 30
Outlawry, civ, cv
Oven, * euen,' 27
Oxen <&c., 30, 40, 58, 107, 149, 155
304
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
Pandoxaioriam, 27 ; 27, n. 12
Pannage, 47 ; 47, n. 3 ; 48
Pans, ' pannez,' 54
Pardon, xoi
Parliament, xziii, xxiy, Ix, Ixi, Ixiy, Ixxxii,
oxii, oxxi, oxli, oxlv, 188, 209, 270, 271,
279, 280
Parliament, Lords of. See Peers ; Lords,
House of
Pauperis, In forma, Ixxxii, 21
Pavage, cxxx
Pawn, 92
Pax, ' paxbred,' 24 ; 24, n. 24 ; 27
Peat, ' peetes,* 259
Peers, xxxi, Ixii, xovi, xovii, xcix, 101,
102, n. 17
Pence, *pens,» * peny,» 221, 261, 270, 277
Pensions, 23, 26, 27, 32
Perjury, Iv, Ixxxii, oxxxii, oxxxiii, oxxxiv,
cxxxv ; oxxxv, nn, 1, 2, 4 ; 102, n. 17
Pewter, 54
Picks, ' peyckes,* 64
Piepowder, Pypowder, Peepowdrez, Courts
of, cxliv
Pinder, * pynder,* 109
Pinfold, ' pynfold. See Pound
Plate, 271
Plate, parcel-gilt, 27. See also Silver
Pleading, 67, 68
Pledge, cxxviii, 28, 92, 95, 126, 127, 167
Pleadings, xxviii-xxxiii
Ploughs, * plowes,* 149
Pokes, * pockes,' 64
Poldavys, poldavies, 9 ; 9, n. 26
Porthowse, portasse, 136 ; 136, n. 10
Pots, Brasen, 54
Poultry, 51, 128
Pound, * pynfold,* ' pownd,* * powndfold,*
56, n. 8 ; 112 ; 112, n. 5 ; 113, 114
Presentation, Wrongful, 273
Presentments, Ixxix-lxxxi, cii-civ, 14, 20
Prices fixed, 263, 267-269
Priests, 17, 39, 133, 136, 169, 227
Prisons. See Ghaols
Privy Seal, Letters of, Ixi, Ixviii, Ixxxi
n. 60 ; 56, 182, 231, 276
Privy Seal, Lord, xxxv, xxxvi, xxxvii,
xliii ; xliii, n. 8 ; xliv, xlvii, xlviii, xlix ;
1, n. 1 ; Ivii, Iviii, 84, 86
Privy Seal, Writs of, xvi, xviii-xxi, xxvi,
xxvii, xliii, Ixi, Ixiv, oxxi, 21, 44, 61, 63,
64, 67, 68, 111,112, 180, 182, 183, 188,
190, 191, 202, 204, 206, 208
Protection, 209 ; 209, n. 6
Protestation, 108 ; 103, n. 1 ; 280
Purse, 136
Purser, * purcer,* 222
Quarrell, 161 ; 161, n. 28
Quarter Sessions, xcix, 146 ; 146, n. 89 ;
147, 160, 164, 166, 167
Quay, * key,* 212, 214, 224, 226, 226
Bakes, ' regez,* 64
Bape, cxi, cxii
Bavishment of heirs, cxviii
Bavishment of women. See Abduction,
Bape
Bebellion, Process of, xx
Beoeiver, Besettour, Beceptor, 89; 89,
n. 9
Becognizances, 281
Beoord, Courts of, xi, xlvi ; xlvi, n. 2 ;
xlvii, xcix
Becord, Matter of, 20, 282
Beoord Office, The Public, xi, li
Beformation, The, xiii
Bejoinder, xxxiii, 14, 61, 67, 79
Belief, cxviii
Bent charges, Ixxxiii, Ixxxiv, Ixxxv ; Ixxxv,
n. 1
Beplevin, cxxi, 109, 112
Beplications, xxxiii, 5, 13, 59, 67, 78, 79,
80, 102, 112, 168, 182, 269
Bequests, Court of. See 'Index of
Persons and Places *
Bequests, Masters of, Ixxxvi
Betainers, Iv, Ixvi, xcv, xcvi, xcix, c, cii,
cviii, 119, 124, 139, 143, 156, 162
Biot, XXV, lii-liv, Ixvii, Ixxii, Ixxxi, Ixxxii,
xcv, c, ci, cii, cxli, cxliv, 1-6, 21 ; 21, n.
9; 37, 46, 49, 51, 106, 107, 110-113,
115-118, 124, 125, 138, 147; 147, n.
46 ; 156, 157, 167, 168, 175, 182, 190,
198, 201, 231-233, 236, 239, 240 ; 240,
n. 22; 241-249, 266, 267, 269-261.
274, 276
Bogation Days, 166 ; 166, n. 1
Boses, Wars of the, xcv
Bout, * rowte,' Ixxxii, xcv, cii, 236
Sacks, 64
Saddles, ' sadelles,* 64
Salette, ' salade,' 107
Sanctuary, civ ; oiv, n. 8 ; 187 ; 187, n. 11
Saws, * sawez,* 54
Scandalum Magnatum, lii, oxxxii, 101 ;
102, n. 17 ; 104
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
305
Soavage, Sohaaage, Shewage, Skavage,
cxlii, 72 ; 72, nn. 8, 9, 10 ; 73, 74 ; 74,
n.1; 75-95
Seal, The Broad ; Great, xix, zx, Izi, 71,
118, 191, 199, 202, 203, 205
Seal, The Privy. See Privy
Seals, 11, 69 ; 69, n. 12 ; 119, 122, 126-
128, 151, 154, 156, 202
Serjeants, ' sergeauntis,' * sargaonttes,'
192,196,206,207,237
Serjeant-of-Maoe 181 ; 181, n. 17 ; 207
Serjeant, Common, 190, 203, 204
Serjeant - of - Arms, Serjeant - at - Arms,
Sergeant-of-Armes, six, xxv, xxvi;
xxvii, n. 1 ; ex, 2, 72, 166, 247, 248
Servants, 9, 10, 11, 17, 34, 46, 51, 71, 80,
82, 84, 105, 114, 115, 119, 120, 134, 135,
141-143, 147, 149, 150; 150, n. 57;
152-159, 161-164, 181, 184, 190, 204,
206, 230, 232, 233, 244, 245, 248, 249,
251, 252, 254, 259, 260
Shame, 40 ; 40, n. 4
Sheep, ewes, wethers, lambs, <frc., 53 ; 64,
n. 2 ; 120, 124, 148, 149, 154, 155, 161
Sheriffs, Iv, Ixi, Ixvi, Ixxxii, Ixxxix, n. 3 ;
xc, ci, oiii-cvii, cxx, 71, 72 ; 72, n. 10 ;
73-80, 82, 83, 85-90, 92, 123, 236,
237
Ships, 83, 84, 87, 93, 94
Shop, * Bchoppe,' 194, 195, 206
Sieves, * syvez,' 54
Silk, * sylkes,' 129
Silver, * silvir,* 171
Silver plate, 24, 25, 27, 271
Slander, 20, 38, 101, 102 ; n. 17 ; 104, 109
163, 166, 182, 244, 245, 261. See also
Defamation, Scandalom Magnatom
Socage, cxvi, cxvii
Spears, • speres,' 37, 274
Special Commissions, ci. See also Com-
mission, Commissioners
Star Chamber, The Court of :
Its records, x-xiv
Forms of pleadings in, xiv-xvi, xxviii-
xxxiii
Belation to the King's Council, xvi, xvii,
1-lii, Iv, Ivi, lix, Ixii-lxiv, Ixviii
Order and forms of process, xviii-xxviii
Examination of witnesses, xxxiii, xxxiv
Judges of the Court, xxxiv-xlix
Riot, and the jurisdiction of, lii-lv
Proceeding * Ore tenus,' Ixvii
Conclusions as to, Ixx, Ixxi
The Statute • Pro Camera StelJata.' See
sub * Authorities Cited.* Statutes.
3 H. 7, c. 1
Staves, 'stafiFes,' *stafes,* 1,120, 159, 160,
n. 6 ; 165, 168, 232
Stewards of lands, ovii, oviii, 48, 49, 201,
231, 234, 254, 255, 257, 258, 261
Stocks, ' stokkes,' 102, n. 17 ; 120, 154 ;
154, n. 5
Storepots, ' storepottes,' 153, 158
Straw, ' strawe,' 144
Subpcena, The Writ of. See Writ
Sugar, suger, 84
Summoner, summonitor, somoner,
Ixxxviii
Surety, 61, 92, 97, 98, 100, 114, 229, 247,
248, 259, 260 ; 260, n. 9 ; 268, 278, 281
Surplice, * syrplis,* 165
Swine, 47, 48, 53
Swords, ' swerdes,* * swordys,* 1, 37, 46,
51, 106, 107, 110, 120, 129, 141, 159,
230, 232, 237, 239, 242 ; 242, n. 6 ; 243,
244, 246, 247, 248, 249, 252, 274
Tallage, 89 ; 39, n. 8
Theft, 40, 41
Thieves, *thevys,' *thevis,' theff,' 39,
n. 9 ; 41, 44, 85, 120, 141
Tithingman, * tythyng man,* 143, 144 ;
144, n. 28; 145
Title, 62, 63, 66, 96, 178, 214
Tolls, Ixvii, cxxxvii, cxli-cxliv, 87, 72-79,
82, 83, 85, 86, 88-95, 181, 183, 185, 186,
191, 193, 195, 198, 214, 217, 220 ; 220,
rm, 7, 10 ; 221, 223-226
Ton, tun (measure), 85 ; 85, n. 40 ; 87
Ton (weight), 212, 213, 215, 222-226
Towns, Decay of, 22 n. 8 ; 213 ; 213, n. 17 ;
215
Trade gilds. See Gilds
Treasurer, Lord, xxxiv-xxxvi, xliii ; xliii,
n. 8 ; xliv, xlviii, xlix, li, Iviii, 278, 280
Trial by battle, cxxii
Trow, trowe, 209, 211-213, 217, 219, 220-
225 ; 225, n. 5
Trowman, 220
Tubs, tubbys. Small, 54
Uncertainty, Demurrer of, xxxi, 20, 21,
43, 47, 56, 57, 59, 61, 78, 79, 122, 175,
229, 261, 266
Upholsterer, ' uppeholester,' 115
Vagabonds, vaoaboundes, 39
Vestments, 27
306
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
Villains, oxxvii, cxxvii, n. 5 ; 128, 123, n.
2 ; 124, fi. 8
Wager of law, 209
Wain, * wayne,* 219 ; 219, n. 2
Wales, The Marches of, Ac, See * Index of
Persons and Places,' sub Wales
Wardship in chivalry, oxiv-cxvi, oxviii,
oxix, 96, 97 ; 97, n. 13 ; 98-100, 105
Wardship in socage, cxvi, oxvii ; 97, nn,
12,13
Warrant, *warant,* 229
Waste, Ixxxii, Ixxxiii, oxvi, oxvii, 28, 26,
80, 31, 35
Wastes of manors, cxxix, 47 ; 47, n. 4 ; 48
Waterways, oxliii-cxlvii, 209-226
Waynage, oxxvii, exxyiii
Weapons, 'wapyns,' 1, 37, 46, 51, 106,
107, 110, 114, 116, 141, 148; 157, n. 10;
169, 161, 165 ; 167. n. 2 ; 236, 247-250
Weaver, weyaer. A, 41, 43
Weights and measures, oxxxvii, cxlvii,
cxlviii, oxlix, ol; ol, nn. 3, 4; 69, 70;
70, n. 2 ; 71
Wharf, * wharfife,' 212, 214
White Hart, The Fellowship of the, xcvii
Will, 169, 172, 173, 177
Wme, 87, 90, 223
Witnesses, Examination of, xxxi-xxxiii ;
68, 69, 80-96, 126-129, 136-137, 184-
187, 193-198, 219-226, 250-253, 270,
271
Women,Conmion, * qaenes,' * lemans,' ' har-
lots,' ' strompett,' * hore,' 39, 41, 44, 138
Woodcock, White, 69 ; 69, n. 10
Wool, 41, 43; 43, f*. 3
Worsted shearers, oliii
Writ of Attaint, 14, n. 2
Writ of Gapias, xoviii, cvi
Writ of Certiorari, * cerciorary,' 147
Writ Certis de causis, xxii-xxiv
Writ De castodia terrie et haaredis, 97,
n. 12 ; 100, n. 11
Writ * De excommanicato capiendo,' Ixxxix
Writ ' De nativo habendo,' 123, 125
Writ 'De pace et imprisonamento,' 276,
n. 5
Writ * Dedimos potestatem,' xxxiii, xxxiv,
Ixx, 11, 80, 121 ; 121, n. 4; 218
Writ of Distringas, 282
Writ of Exigent, xcviii, civ-cvi
Writ Judicial, 20, n. 6
Writ of Nisi prius, 150 ; 150, n. 69
Writ Original, Ixxix, Ixxx, 20 ; 20, n. 6 ; 63
Writ of Privy Seal. See Privy Seal
Writ of Proclamation, Ixi, Ixili, Ixiv
Writ of Quare impedit, cxxii
Writ of Bight, cxxii
Writ of Right of Advowson, cxxii
Writ of Significavit, Ixxxix
Writ of Subpoena, xviii, xix, xxi-xxiv,
xxviii, Ix, Ixiv, Ixx, Ixxxi, cxxi, 120, 121,
162, 164, 228, 258, 273
Writ of Sunmions before the Chancellor,
Ixxxi
Writ of Summons before the Council,
Ixxix, Ixxxi
Writ of Summons before the Court of
Exchequer, 7, 171, 280, 282
Writ of Supersedeas, cxxxvii ,52 ; 62, n. 10
Writ of Supplicavit, 260 ; 260, n. 9
Wrongful presentation, 278
Writs, Filing of, xviii
Writs, Indorsements of, xvi-xviii
Tarn, yem (woollen), 41
INDEX OF PEESONS AND PLACES.
Abbeville (France), 172, n. 5
Abendon, John, 146
Abergavenny, Lord, xix
Abingdon, Abbendon (Berks), Abbey off
cxxx ; 45, n. 8 ; 137, n. 2
Abingdon, Abbot of, 172, n. 5
Abyndon, Abingdon, Town of, 150
Acton (Gloacestershire), 7, n. 7
Aethelmare, Ailmer, Earl of Cornwall and
Devonshire, 188, n. 4
Agas, Ralph, 239, n. 20 ; 251, n. 8
Alayn, John, 94
Alban, St., Lord. See Bacon, Sir FrandB
Alcester (Warwickshire), Monastery of,
40, n. 2
Aldebory (Bucks), 92, n. 21
Alkok, — , 216, n. 3
Alkok, Elizabeth (afterwards Lygon),216,
n. 3
Allen, Sir John, 94, n. 81
Almain (Germany), 92, n. 21
Alsopp in the Dale (Derbyshire), 183, n. 14
Alsopp, John (the elder), 188, n. 14
Alsoppe, Alsopp, John (the younger), 183 ;
133, n. 14
Alwyn, Alwin, Halewyne, Alewyne, Nicho-
las, 91, n. 10
Alwyn, Alwin, Richard, 91, n. .10
Andover (Hants), 37
Andover, John, Abbot of Malxneebory,
118, n. 8
Andrews, Elizabeth, 62, n. 3
Andrews, John, 62, n. 8
Anne of Cleves, 172, n. 5
Apedale, Apdale (Staffordshire), 64, n. 2
Appleyard, Appliard, Applyarde, Appli-
arde, Family of, 287, n. 2
Appleyard, John (of Lincoln's Inn), 287,
n.4
Appliard, Appliarde, John, of Fumival's
Inn, 287 ; 287, n. 2 ; 240, 241, 244-
250
Appliard, Appleyarde, Appliarde, Apple-
yard, John (of Brakon), 287, n. 2
Appliard, Appleyarde, Appliarde, Apple-
yard, John, the younger (of Brakon),
237 ; 287, n. 2
Appulby, Appleby (Westmoreland), 114
Aragon, Katharine of, Iviii ; 81, n. 18 ; 180,
n. 2 ; 215, n. 2 ; 285, n. 8 ; 272, n. 4
Arches, Court of, Ixxxvii, Ixxxviii, Ixxzix
Arden, Family of (Warwickshire), 170, n. 3
Ardem, Ardeme, Anne, 170, n. 3
Ardem, Ardeme, Elizabeth, 170, n, 3
Ardem, Ardeme, Eatherine, Lady, 170,
n.8
Ardem, Ardeme, Sir Piers, Peter, L.GJB.,
170 ; 170, n. 3 ; 171 ; 174, n. 6 ; 175,
n. 2; 177, 178; 178, n. 2
Ardeme, John, Bar. Exch., 170, n. 3
Areley (Staffordshire), 219
Areley, Nether (Worcestershire), 221
Areley, Over (Staffordshire), 228
Armesdale (Westmoreland), 257, n. 9
Arthur (Tudor), Prince of Wales, Iviii,
58, n. 8 ; 180, n. 2 ; 216, n 8 ; 217,
nn. 4, 5 ; 285, nn. 8, 4, 5 ; 272, n. 4
Arundel (Sussex), cxix ; 95, n. 2
Arundel, Elizabeth (afterwards Strad.
lyng), 230, n. 1
Arundel, John, Bishop of Lichfield, 179,
n. 6 ; 180, n. 12
Arandel, Sir Thomas, 230, n. 1
Asby (Westmoreland), 256, n. 8
Ashbome (Derbyshire), 85, n. 88
Ashenfield, Asshemersfeld (Kent), 272,
n.4
Aske, Robert, 172, n. 5
2
308
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
Aspenden, Aspeden (Herts), 92, n. 21
Ashlegh (Wilts), 127
Aston, Ashton (qu. Alton), Thomas,
Abbot of Cirencester, 121, n. 1
Athelstan, King, 123, n. 1
Atherington, 87, n. 54
Atberton, Hadderton, Aderton, Hamfrey,
Homfray, Humfra, 238 ; 238, nn. 8, 10 ;
239, 241, 242, 243, 244, 250, 251, 252,
253
Atreley (Atterley, Salop), xcii
At Well, Johane, Joan, 23 ; 26, n. 5 ; 34
Att Well, Atwill, Atwyll, John, xxx, Ixxiii,
Ixxiv, Ixxv, Ixxvi, 7 ; 7, w. 5 ; 8, n. 8 ;
10-15, 52, 95
Att Well, Atwill, AtwyU, Philip, Ixxiv,
Ixxv, 7; 7,n.6; 10-15,96
Andienoe, Court of, Ixxxv, Ixxxvi, Ixxxvii,
Ixxxviii, 227 ; 227, n. 4
Austen, Austyne, Austeyn, Randolf, Ran-
dolffe, xi, xxix, 262 ; 262, n. 4 ; 263 ;
263. n. 10 ; 265 ; 265, n. 15 ; 266 ; 266,
n. 2 ; 267-270, 279, 280-283
Austria, Philip Archduke of, Ivii
Aylee, Aylie, Ayly, Ayle, John, Abbot of
Malmesbury, 118, n. 3 ; 119 ; 119, n. 8 ;
124, 127, 128
Aylmer, — , xlviii
Aylmer, Sir L., 262. »k 1 ; 264, n. 9 ; 266,
n. 2
Aylof, John, 196
Aynsworth, Dr., xlii
Azo of Bologna, cxxvii
Baads, Bawds (Essex), 88, n. 59
Baber, Babyr, John, 28, n. 20
Baboure, John, of • Tweuerton,* 28, 32, 86
Babthorpe, — , 176, n. 5
Babthorpe, William, 176, n. 5
Babyngton, Edith {yUe Fitzherbert), 63,
n.4
Babyngton, Sir John, 63, n. 4
Babyngton, Margery, 63, ?i. 4
Babyngton, Thomas, 63 ; 63, n. 4
Babyngton, Sir William, C. J. C. P., xlv
Back Alley, Hatton Wall (Holborn), 239,
n. 20
Back Hill, Hatton Wall (Holborn), 239,
n. 20 ; 248, n. 4
Bacon, Sir Francis, Viscount St. Albans,
Chancellor, xxxiv, n. 2 ; Ivi ; 261, n. 4
Baoon, Bichard, 68, n. 6
Badam, Thomas, 151, 166, 167, 161, 162.
Sre also Bodam
Bak, Bake, Back Lane (Holborn), 23
239,71.20; 244 ; 244, n. 20
Bakewell (Derbyshire), 132, n. 6
Bakewell, Thomas, 82, n. 14
Bangor, Bishop of (Henry Deane), 71, n. 5
Bannister, Ralph, 238, n. 10
Barbor, John (of Bath), 31, 36
Barbur, Barbour, Henry, Henre, 243, 260,
251 ; 262, n. 15
Barbur, Roger, 181
Barbur, William, 206
Barlavington (Sussex), cxix
Barley, Elizabeth, 92, n. 21
Barley, William, 92, n. 21
Bamaby, — , 93, n. 27
Bamaby, Thomasina, 93, n. 27
Barnet, Battle of, 62, n. 3
Barnstaple (Devon), 160, n. 60
Barnwell (Cambs), Prior &c. of, cxxiy, n.
Barry, Joan de, 234, n. 2
Barry, Sir Thomas de, 234, n. 2
Barton, John, 204
Baschuroh (Salop), cxxx
Basing, Family of, 82, n. 14
Baskervyle, Baskerville, James, 236, n. 3
Baskervyle, Baskerville, Sir James, 235,
n. 3
Baskervyle, Baskerville, Sir Walter, 234 ;
235, n. 3
Basset, Bassett, Thomas, 263 ; 265, n. 15 ;
266-271
Bassett, Basset, Family of, 132, n. 6
Bassett, Robert, 264, n. 10 ; 265, n. 15
Batersey (Battersea, Surrey), 16, n. 2
Bath, Abbey of, Ixxxii, Ixxxiii, cxxiii, cliii,
oliv ; 20, n. 2 ; 22-25
Bath and Wells, Bishops of :
Bekynden, Beckynton, Beckington,
Thomas, 27, n. 3
Stillington, Robert, Chancellor, xlviii ;
155, n. 8
King, Oliver, 22, n. 5
Diocese of, 227
Bath, Bathe, Cathedral Church of, 20, 22,
26
Bath, City of, 28-33 ; 227, nn, 3, 8
Bath, Diocese of, 227
Bath, Earl of (John Bourohier), cxxvi ;
oxxvi, n. 2
Bath, Gild of St. George, 31, 36
Bath, Prior of, xxix, xxxi, xxxii, Ixxviii,
Ixxix, Ixxxii, Ixxxiii, Ixxxlv, Ixxzv,
cxxiii, oxxiv, cxxviii, cliv, 20, 21, 22,
23, 24, 25, 26, 32, 33
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
309
Bath, Prior of, v. Abbot of St. Augustyn's,
Canterbury, xii, xiii, xxix, xxxii, Ixvi-
Ixxix, Ixxxi, Ixxxii, 20-36
Bath, St. James's Church, 81 ; 31, n. 43
Batheston (Somerset), 32
Bathorp, Ann, 131, n. 4
Bathweke, Bathwyk, John de, 30, 33, 35
Bawekewell, Richard, 130, n. 2
Bayeux, Odo, Bishop of, 167, n. 2 ; 227,
n. 8
Bayly, William, 204 ; 204, n, 21
Beauchamp, Ann, 216, n. 3
Beauchamp, John, xlvii
Beauchamp, Sir Bichard Beauchamp,
Lord, 216, n. 3
Beauchamp Court (Worcestershire), 216,
n. 3
Beaudeley, Bewdley (Salop), cxliy, 219,
222
Beaudeley (Worcester), 224
Beaumond, Beaumont, Francis, J. of C.P.,
102, n. 17
Beaumond, Thomas, 169, n. 2
Beoket, John, 37, n. 10
Bedell, Thomas, 18, 19
Bedford, County of, 91, n. 10
Bedford, Duke of (Jasper Tudor), xoiii
Bedford, Margaret, 90, nn. 6, 6
Bedford, Margerie, 90, n. 6
Bedford, Nicholas, 90 ; 90, n. 6
Bedford, Bichard, Bicherd, 90 ; 90, n. 6
Bedforth, Andrew, 31 ; 31, n. 42 ; 36
Bednam. See Bodnam
Beeston (Norfolk), 73, n. 2
Bekynden, Bekynton, Beckington,Thomas,
Bishop of Bath and Wells, 27 ; 27, n. 10
Bekynsall, Beaconsall, Family of, 238,
n. 10
Bekynsall, Beaconsall, Baoonsaw, Becon-
saU, Bichard, 238, 241, 242, 243, 245,
252
Bele, Dr., cxxxix
Belknap, Griselda, 80, n. 2
Belknap, Henry, 80, n. 2
Belmeis, Roger de, or De Montgomery,
182, n. 2
Belvoir (Leicestershire), Prior &c, of,
cxxiv, n. 4
Belyngham, Bellingham, John, 277 ; 277,
V. 4 ; 278, n. 7
Benet, John, Ixxiv ; 8, n. 8
Bent, Edward, 181, 183, 206 ; 206, n. 32
Bentley, Bently, Richard, 230, 231, 232,
233, 234
Benys, Harry, 84
Berell, William, 117 ; 117, n. 3
Berencester. See Bicester
Berks, County of, 145, n. 33 ; 146, n. 39 ;
172, n. 5
Bemardes, Bernard's, Barnard's Inn
(Holbom, Middlesex), 246
Berwick-on-Tweed, 254, n. 6
Betty, John, 8 ; 8, ?i. 10
Bicester, Berencester, Buroester (Oxford-
shire), 119, n. 7 ; 145, n. 33
Bigar, Byger, William, 148, 151
Bigging (Essex), 92, n. 21
Bignor (Sussex), cxix
Bilbye, — , xliii
Bird, John, 278, n. 7
Bird, Birde, Rowland, 94 ; 94, n. 32
Bird, William, 22, n. 5
Birmingham, Brymyngeham (Warwick-
shire), 38, n. 3 ; 42
Blacker, William (qu. Thomas). See
Blakar
Blackheath (Kent), Battle of, 188, n. 6 ;
163
Bladswell, Baldiswell, John, 193, n. 2
Blagge, Robert, 171, n. 4
Blakar, Blacker, Thomas, 87 ; 37, nn. 6, 10
Blake, Thomas, 205, 206
Blakschawe, Thomas, 1
Blatame, Bleatam, Blateme (Westmore-
land), cviii, 109 ; 110, n. 10; 111, 113;
256, n. 8 ; 257 ; 257, n. 12 ; 258
Bledislowe (Gloucetftershire), Hundred of,
cxlv
Blore, Blowre (Derbyshire), 132; 132,
nn. 6, 7
Blount, Elizabeth, 64, n. 2
Blount, Sir James, cliii ; 62, n. 3 ; 64 ; 64,
n. 2 ; 65
Blount, Sir John, 55, n. 6
Blount, Sir Walter, Lord Mountjoy, 64,
n. 2
Blount, Walter, 64, n. 2
Blunt, — , xliii
Blythe (? Staffordshire), cxxx
Bobye, William, 193, n. 3
Bocton Aluph, Boughton Aluph (Kent),
272, n. 4
Bodam, Badam, Thomas, 141, 142
Bodenham, Roger (the elder), 217, n. 4
Bodnam, Bednam, Bodenham, Bodyn-
ham, Roger (the younger), 216; 217,
n. 4 ; 219, 224
Bogleham (Suffolk), 62, n. 8
310
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
Bohan, Anne {nSe Ardem), 170, n. 3]
Bobun, John, 170, n. 3
Boleyn, Anne, Qaeen, 27, n. 14 ; 172,
n. 6
Boleyn, Sir Geoffrey, 27, n. 14
Boleyns, The party of the, 172, n. 6
Bolkley, Bichard, 204 ; 204, n. 17 ; 206,
208
Boneython, James, 6, n. 2
Bonyiaont, Johane, 129, 130
Bonytaunt, Bonyfent, Bonyfant, Bony-
fante, John, xxviii, Izxiii ; 9, n. 22 ; 81 ;
81, n. 12 ; 83, 85, 86, 129, ISO
Bonyfaant, Robert, Izxiii, Ixxiv, 9; 9,
n. 22 ; 10, 14, 83, 84
Bordeaux (France), 81, n. 13
Bordisley (Worceetersbire), Bichard,
Abbot of, 215 ; 215, n. 1 ; 219, 224
Borriatt (Devon), 87, n. 54
Bosbory (Herefordghire), 235, n. 4 ; 286,
n. 11
Boston (Lincokishire), 91, n. 11
Bosworth, Battle of, Ixxv, Ixxyi ; 15, n. 2 ;
58, n. 8 ; 81, n. 13 ; 91, n. 11 ; 180,
n. 2 ; 138, n, 6 ; 155, n. 8 ; 215, n. 2 ;
216, n. 3 ; 272, n. 4 ; 274, n. 2
Boteler, Sir Ralph, Lord Sndley, 80,
n. 2
Boteller, Butler, John, 275 ; 275, n. 4 ;
277, 278 ; 278, n. 7
Boterwyk. See Buttyrwyk
Botffield, Thomas, 192
Botiller, Isabel, oxii
Botreanx, Margaret, 29, n. 22
Botreaux, William, Lord Botreanx, 29,
n.22
Boughton, Thomas, 181, 182, 183, 192
Boulogne (France), Ivii
Bow, Both, Castle of (Bewcastle, Cumber-
land), 108, n. 9
Bowland, Humphrey, 171, n. 4
Bozom, John, 7, n. 7
Braoton, 150, n. 60. See also Index of
* Authorities Cited '
Bradburn, Benediota, 54, n. 3
Bradbum, John, 54, n. 8
Bradbury, Thomas, 88 ; 88, n. 5
radbury, William, 88, n. 59
Bradley, John, 246
Bradshaw, Thomas, 132, n. 10
Bradwell, Braddewell (Essex), 12, n. 39
Brakenbury, Anthony, 256, n. 7
Brakon, Braconash (Norfolk), 287, h. 2
Bramall, William, 208
Bramber (Sussex), cxx
Brandon, Charles, Viscount L sle, Duke
of Suffolk, 172, n. 5
Brandon, Sir William, 38, n. 6
Braughm, Brawkhyng (Herts), 88, . 59 ;
92, n. 21
Bray (Berks), 138, n. 6
Bray, Sir Reynold, Reginald, Mr. Bray,
K.O., xlii, oxviii, oxix, 96 ; 96, n. 6 ; 97 ;
97, n. 7; 99,100,103,104
Braybroke, Robert de, Bishop of London,
167, n. 2
Brest (Brittany), 16, n. 5 ; 72, n. 7
Bretherdale (Westmoreland), 256, n. 8
Bretyn, Thomas, 83 ; 83, n. 20
Breynton, John, 216 ; 217, n. 5
Brian, Thomas, CJ.CJ^., xlyiii ; czxv,
n. 3
Bridgnorth, Bruggenorth, Bruges,
Bruggenorthe (Salop), cxliv, 220 ; 220,
n.8; 221,222; 222, n. 14
Briggewater, Bridgewater (Somerset), 6,
n.2
Bristol, BristoU, Bristow, Brystow
(Gloucestershire), cxliv, cxlv, 28; 28,
nn. 18, 20, 31, 32; 119, n. 8; 137, n. 2;
212, n. 15; 220; 220, nn. 5, 8; 221,
222; 222, n. 14
Bristol, St. Mark's Church, 137, n. 2
Bristow, Thomas, Abbot of Malmesbury,
118, n. 8
Britnell, Brudenell, Robert, CJ.C.P.,
XXXV, xxxvi, 187 ; 187, n. 6 ; 188, n. 12
Brittany, 62, n. 3 ; 95, n. 2 ; 155, n. 8 ;
215, n. 2 ; 216, n. 3
Broadwater (Sussex), cxviii
Broke, Alice, of Castell Bromwiche, 38,
39, 40, 41
Broke, Elizabeth {rUe Starkey), 80, n. 3
Broke, John, of Castell Bromwiche, 38,
39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45
Broke, John, of Lye Abbatis (Abbotts
Leigh), 28; 28, n. 19; 32,35
Broke, John (? Serjeant-at-Law), 80 ; 80,
n. 3; 88
Broke, Sir Richard, L.CJB., 80, n. 3
Broke, Thomas, 80, n. 3
Bromley, Bromlie, Sir Thomas, Chan-
cellor, Iv, n. 1 ; cxxxv, n. 4
Brompton (Middlesex), 171, n. 4
Bromshall, Bromeshall, Bramshall (Staf-
fordshire), 59, n. 1
Bromysgrove, Bromsgrove (Worcester-
shire), 215, n. 2 ; 224
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
311
Bromwyz, Henrioas del Chastel de, 38|
n.3
Brougham, Lord, Henry Brougham, Chan-
cellor, xlvli, n. 1
Broughton (Oxfordshire), 146, n. 40
Broughton, Browton, John, 142, 151, 157,
159
Brounlowe, Bromlow, Griffith, 192, 207
Browke, Isabella, 31, 36
Browne, John, 246, 247
Bruerton, Robert, 207
Bruges (Salop). See Bridgnorth
Brutenell. See Britnell
Bmton (Somerset), oviii
Bryoh, Bryohe (Lancashire), 246, n. 8
Brych, Bryohe, Anne {rUe Hawarden),
246, n. 8
Brych, Bryche, Henre, 246 ; 246, n. 8
Bryoh, Bryohe, Bichard, 246, n. 8
Bryggys, Sir John, czxvi
Brynkewurth, Brynkwurth (Wilts), 45, 47
Bubwithe (Westmoreland), 267, n. 9
Bucke, Buck, Biohard, 233, 234
Buckingham, Duchess of (Eleanor Staf-
ford), cxzvi, n. 6
Buckingham, Edward Stafford, Duke of,
cxxvi, n. 5; 130, n, 2; 143, n. 27;
238, n. 10 ; 254, n. 6
Buckingham, Henry Stafford, Duke of,
58, n. 8 ; 64, n. 2 ; 81, n. 13 ; 155, n. 8 ;
216, n. 3 ; 235, n. 5 ; 238, n, 10
Buckland in Overton Burton (Berks), 172,
ft. 5
Burde v. Earl of Bath, xiv, cxxvi ; oxxvi,
n. 2
Burford (Oxfordshire), 125, n. 16
Burford (Salop), xdv
Burghley, Lord, Sir William Cecil, xlii,
n. 4 ; Ivi
Burgis, Rowland, 215
Burnet, The (ship), 84 ; 84, n. 27
Bumfordyelde (Worcestershire), 224
Burstvrick in Holdemess (Yorks.), 237,
n.2
Burton (Staffordshire), Abbot of, 64, n. 2 ;
131, n. 4
Burton, Burkton, Bodecton (Sussex), cxiz,
95, n. 2 ; 99, n. 3
Burton, W., 131, n. 4
Burton Wood (Lancashire), cxii
Bury, Katharine, 92, n. 21
Bury, Sir Thomas, 92, n. 21
Bury St. Edmund's (Suffolk), cxzzvii,
oxzzix ; 40, 9k 4
Buteler, Butler, William, 159
Butler, Elizabeth (afterwards Countess of
Shrewsbury), 215, n. 2
Butler, James, fourth Earl of Ormonde,
215, n. 2
Butler, Butteler, John, 86 ; 86, n. 48 ; 87,
88, 93, 94
Butlond and Others v. Austen and Others,
xi, xxix
Butlond, John, 266, 268, 269, 270
Butlond and Others v. Austen and Others,
xvii, Ixvii, cxxxviii, 262-271
Buttler, Boteler, Butteler, John, J. of C.P.,
XXXV, 187 ; 187, n. 10 ; 188, n. 12 ; 199,
n. 2
Butler, Sir Roger, 207
Buttyrwyk, Boterwyk, Alice, 169, n. 2
Buttyrwyk, Boterwyk, Elizabeth, 169
Buttyrwyk, Boterwyk, John, 169 ; 169,
n.2
Buxston (Norfolk), 15, 16
Byford (Herefordshire), 217, n. 4
Bygnell (Oxfordshire), 145, n. 33
ByUnd (Yorks.), Abbey of, cviii, oix, 114,
253, 253, nn. 3, 4 ; 256, n. 8 ; 258, 261
Byland, Bilond (Torks.), Abbot of, cvii,
cviii, cix, 107, 109-111 ; 199, n. 7 ; 253 ;
253, n. 3 ; 258, 260, 261
Byland, Abbot of, v. Warcoppe, xzvi, zzix,
cvii-dx, cxxi, 253-261
Byland, Old (Westmoreland), 257, n. 9
Byrde, Borde, Birde, Bird, Edmonde, Ed-
mond, 263 ; 263, n. 6 ; 264, n. 10 ; 265 ;
265, n. 15 ; 266 ; 266, n. 2 ; 267, 268-
271, 279, 280-283
Byrfeld Abbot, Birfeld, Burfield (Berks),
215, n. 2
Cade, Jack, Rebellion of, Ixi
Caerlion (Monmouthshire), 137, n. 2
Caerphily Higher (Glamorganshire), 143,
n.27
Caesar, Sir Julius, xlii, liv
Calais, 62, n. 3 ; 64, n. 2 ; 83, n. 19 ; 85,
n. 37 ; 91, n. 10 ; 130, n. 2 ; 172, n. 5 ;
215, n. 2 ; 237, n. 2 ; 272, n. 4
Camborne (Cornwall), 212, n. 15
Cambridge, County of, 215, n. 2 ; 254, n, 6
Cambridge, University of, cxxxviii
Cambridge, Colleges of,
King's College, idii
Camelford (Cornwall), 236, n. 11
Camois, Camoys, Hugh Lord, 95, n. 2
Canfield Magna (Essex), 92, n. 21
312
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
Cantelowe, Biohard, 91, n. 10
Canterbury, Arohbps. of, Ixxxvi, Ixxxyii ;
228, n. 14 ; 272, n. 8
Boniface, 272, n. 8
Robert Winchelsey, Ixxxix
William Ck)artena7, 272, n. 8
Henry Chichele, 272, n. 4
John Eempe, Chancellor, 272, n. 4
Henry Deane, Lord Keeper. See
Deane
John Peckham, 119, n. 7
William Warham, Chancellor. See
Warham
Thomas Cranmer, Ixxxvi, Ixxxvii
Matthew Parker, Ixxxv, Ixxxvii,
Ixxxviii
William Land, xli
Canterbury, Diocese of, Ixxxviii
Canterbury, Province of, 179, n. 6
Canterbury, St. Augustyn's, cliv ; 20, 21,
24-27
Canterbury, St. Augustyn's, Abbot of.
See Cauntlowe
Canute, King, 51, n. 7 ; 242, n. 9
Canynges, Canninge, John, 28, n. 18
Canynges, Richard, 28 ; 28, n. 18 ; 82, 36
Canynges, Thomas, 28, n. 18
Canynges, William, 28, n. 18
Capes, Capys, Cristofer, 120, 128, 124
Capull, Edward, 135, 136, 187
Carell, Caryll, John, Serjeant-at-law, 80 ;
80, n. 2 ; 88. See also Caryll
Carew, Edmund, Lord, 7, n. 7
Carew, Katharine, Lady, 7, n. 7
Carew, Carewe, William, 120
Carlisle (Cumberland), Castle of, 108, n. 9
Carlisle (Cumberland), City of, 256, n. 7
Carlton (Norfolk), 237, n. 2
Carter, Family of, 125 ; 125, n. 17
Carter, Cartare, John, 119, 124, 126, 127
Carter, Robert, xxv, oxxvii, 118, 121, 122,
123, 124, 125, 126, 127
Carter, Cater, Catter, Thomas, oxxiv,
cxxvui, cxxix, 141, 142, 148, 151, 157,
159, 161
Garter v. Abbot of Malmesbury, xiii, xvii ;
xvii, n. 8 ; xxv, xxix, xxxiv, Ixvi, Ixvii,
cxxiii-cxxix, 118-129
Cary, William, 128
Caryll, Griselda {n4e Belknap), 80, n. 2
Caryll, Jane {nee Read), 80, n. 2
Caryll, John. See Carell
Caryll, John (the elder), 80, n. 2
Caryll, John (the younger), 80, n. 2
Caryll, Margaret {n6e Ellenbridge or
Dalynbridge), 80, n. 2
Caryll, Thomas, 80, n. 2
Castell Bromwiche (Warwickshire), xviii,
88, 40, 41, 44
Castell, WilUam, 28, 82, 85
Castillo (Spain), Philip, King of, 187, n. 1 1
Cater, Thomas. See Carter
Catesby, William, 64, n. 2
Gaudell, Janett, 253, n. 8
Caudell, John, 253, n. 3
Cauntlowe, Cantelowe, Cantlowe, John,
Abbot of St Augustyn's, Canterbury,
Ixxviii, Ixxix, Ixxxiv, 20 ; 20, n. 8 ; 22,
n.5; 25
Caxton, William, xlviii ; 114, n. 4
Chadderden (Derbyshire), 130, n. 2
Chadwyk, Chadwik, Chadwike, William,
165, 166, 167, 168
Chalener, Rychard, 120
Chamlet, John, 18, 19
Champneys, Family of, 27, n. 14
Champneys, John, 82
Chancery, Court of, xviii, n. 1 ; xxii, n. 1 ;
xxiv, n. 2 ; xxvi, n. 1 ; xxvii, n. 1 ; xxxi,
Ixi, Ixviii, cviii, oxxxvii
Chaneys, Cheney, Cheyney, John, Ixxxiv,
27; 27, n. 14; 85
Chaneys, William, 28
Chapell, Robert, 18, 19
Chapman, John, 36, 88
Charles 1, x, xix, xxi, xxxix, xl
Charles 5, The Emperor, 172, n. 5 ; 187,
n.11
Charles 8 (of France), 215, n. 2
Charleton, Chareleton (Wilts), 49, n. 8 ;
123, n. 1
Charlewode, Forest of, 6, n. 2
Chamels, Chames, Rauff, 148, 151, 155,
157, 161
Chamet, John, 206, 207
Chartley^ Lord Ferrers of (JohnDevereux),
89, n. 5
Chaundelere, Richard, 123
Chauunceler, John, 28, 82, 85
Cheddar, Cheldre, Cheddre (Somerset),
23 ; 23, nn. 13, 16
Ghedworth, John, Bp. of Lincoln, 145,
n. 33
Cheggelow, 127
Chekewalton, John de, Abbot of Crokesdon,
58. n. 7
Chelesmore, Chelmysmore (Warwick-
shire), 175, n. 2
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
313
Chelsea, Oheloehith (Middlesex), 71, n. 5;
171, n. 4 ; 172, n. 6 ; 208, n. 56
Chelworth, Chellworth, Chelwood (Somer-
set), Ixxziv, 28 ; 28, n. 16 ; 82
Cherlebury (Oxfordshire), 147
Cheney, Cheyney, John, 27, n. 14
Cheney, William, 27, n. 14
Cheny, Cheyne, William, C.J.K.B., xlv
Chepyngnorton, Chepyng Norton, Chip-
ping Norton (Oxfordshire), 135, 146
Chester, Alice, 83, n. 19
Chester, Bishop of, William Smyth, 55 ;
55, n. 9; 67
Chester, Coanty of, Ixiv, ov ; oxi, n. 3 ; oxx ;
238, n. 10 ; 261, n. 9
Chester, Earl of, Bandal de Blnndeville,
68, n. 3
Chester Place (London), 55, n. 9
Chester, Richard, 83 ; 83, n. 19
Chester, Robert, 83, n. 19
Chester, William, 83, n. 19
Chesterfield (Derbyshire), 59, n. 2
Chesterton (Cambs), oxxiv, n. 8
Chewstoke, Chew Stoke (Somerset), 28,
n. 20
Cheyneye, Cheyney, Sir John, 49; 49, nn.
6,8
Chiche, Emelyn, Emeline (afterwards
Eempe), 272, n. 4
Chiche, Valentme, 272, n. 4
Chichele, Henry, Abp. of Canterbury, 272,
n. 4
Chichele, Sir Robert, 272, n. 4
Chichester, Bishops of :
Edward Storey, 96, n. 3 ; 97 ; 97, n.
11; 101
Robert Sherborne, 216, n. 2
Chipham. See Chyppenham, Thomas
Chohneley's School, Highgate, 164, n. 2
Cholmelay, Cholmeley, Sir Richard (Liea-
tenant of the Tower), oviii, 264; 264,
n.6; 265
Cholmeley, Cholmondeley, Richard, 254,
n.6
Cholmeley, Cholmondeley, Sir Richard (of
Chorley), 254, n. 6
Cholmundeley, Joan {n4e Eyton), 254, n. 6
Cholmandeley, John, 254, n, 6
Cholmleigh (Devon), 150, n. 60
Chyppenham, Henry, 236 ; 236, n. 8 ; 237
Chyppenham, Chipham, Thomas, 237
Cinque Ports, The, 85, n. 37
Cirencester, Cicestria (Gloucestershire),
26; 26, n.6
Cirencester, Abbey of, 121, n. 2
Cirencester, Abbot of, Thomas Itun, or
Alton (Dugd. Aston), 121 ; 121, n. 1 ; 122
Clarence, George Plantagenet, Duke of,
Ixxvi ; 6, n. 2 ; 7, n. 7 ; 64, n. 2 ; 92,
n. 21 ; 216, n. 3
Clarence, Isabel, Duchess of {nie Nevill),
Ixxvii
Claynes (Worcestershire), 221
Cleberie, John, 194
Cleberie, Thomas, 193
Clement, — ,51
Clerk, — , xci ; xci, n. 2
Clerk, Henry, 69
Clerk, John, M.R., xd, n. 2
Clerkenwell Road (Middlesex), 239, n. 20
Clifton (Lancashire), 238, n. 10
Cloveshoo (i.6. Abingdon), Council of, 166,
n. 1
Cobham, Elizabeth (afterwards Lady
Straunge), xc ; xc, n. 8
Cobham, Lord (John Broke), 28, n. 19
Codham (Kent), 94, n. 32
Cok. See Cokkes, John
Coke, Cook, Edmund, Edmunde, 160, 161,
167, 161
Coke,Sir Edward, xvi, xxi, xxxiii, xxxyii, xl,
xlii, xlv, Ivi, Ixxxvii, xciv, cxxxii ; 61, n.
7. See also ' Index of Authorities Cited.'
Coke, Thomas, 37, n. 7 ; 38
Cokkes, Cok, Cockys, Cockes, John, 142,
161, 157, 161, 162
Coldassheton, Cold Aston (Gloucester-
shire), 31, n. 4
Cole, John, 29, 33, 35
Coleham, CoUam, Colham, Collham
(Salop), 181, n. 21 ; 192. 194, 196-197 ;
204, n. 26
Colet, John, Dean of St. PauVs, 271, n. 2
Weston, Colley Weston (Northants),
44 ; 44, n. 11
Coll, Cole, Family of, 180, n. 13
CoU, Folke, 204, 206
Coll, Robert, 203, 206
CoU, William, 180, 181, 183 ; 186, n. 14
CoUen, John, 107
Collyngwod, Colyngwod, CoUingwode,
Ralph, 233 ; 233, n. 1
ColshiU, Colsyll, Colsell, Colshyll, Coshyll,
John, Ixxiii ; cxxxv, 9 ; 9, nn, 18, 23 ; 51-
53 ; 53, n. 1 ; 86, 91, 93
Colshill ike, Isabell, Elizabeth, 52 ; 63, n.
17; 64
Colthurst, John, 245, 247-260
314
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
Golthurst and Furbur t;. the Principal Ac.
of Fumiyall's Inn, xi, xxv, xxix, Ixix
Golthurst V. the Gentlemen of Famiyall*s
Inn, xi, XXV
Columbell, Henry, 182
Combe, Combe Monkton, Monkton
Combe (Somerset), Ixxxiii, 30 ; 80, fi. 86 ;
35 ; 85, n. 1
Comehawie, Combe Hawey, Combe Hay
(Somerset), 227 ; 227, n. 8
Constable, Marmadnke, 70, n. 3
Cony, Coaney, Coney, Biohard, 288 ; 288,
n. 10; 241, 242, 245, 250, 251, 253
Cooke, Edmund. See Coke
Coplond, John, 207
Corde, Datkyn, 208
Corfe Moylen (Dorset), 145, n. 83
Cork (Ireland), 29, n. 24
Combury (Oxfordshire), 145, n. 88
ComewiJl, Thomas, xoiy
Comisshe, Humfray, 95
Cornwall, County of, Ixxvi, el ; 188, n. 4
Corser, Thruston, 207
Cossham, John, 128
Coston, Corston (Somerset), Ixxxiii, 80;
80, n. 88 ; 85 ; 85, n. 1
Cotes (Staffordshire), 60, n. 6
Cotes (Sussex), cxix
Cotingham (E. Yorks.)»254, n. 6
Cotis, Family of, 60, n. 6
Cotis, Alexander, 60
Cotton, Awdry, 215, n. 2
Cotton, Izaacke, Clerk of the Star Cham-
ber, XX ; xxiii, n. 1
Cotton, Sir John, 215, n. 2
Cottonn, William, 281
Cotyn, — , 80 ; 80, n. 8 ; 84
Couper, Cooper, Hugh, 86, 38
Couper V. Gervaux and Others, xvii, xyiii,
xxvii, oxxxviii, oxliii, 86-88
Courtenay, Courtney, William, Aroh-
bishop of Canterbury, 272, n. 8
Courtney, Katharine, 7, n. 7
Courtney, Peter, Bishop of Exeter, Ixxy ;
Ixxvu, n. 7 ; 5, 10 ; 10, n. 29 ; 11
Courtney, Sir Philip, 7, n. 7
Courtney, Courteney, Courtenay, Thomas,
Earl of Devon, 84, n. 29
Coventry (Warwickshire), 88, n.82; 175,
n. 2; 176, n. 5; 196;238,n. 1
Coventry, Prior of, 196 ; 196, n. 8
Coventry and Lichfield, William Smyth,
Bishop of Chester or, 55 ; 55, f». 9
Gowbit (LinoohiBhire), 91, n. 10
Cowper, Thomas, 208 ; 208, n. 14 ; 205, 206
Granmer, Thomas, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, Ixxxvi, Ixxxvii
Cresset, Thomas, Iv
Crisshaue, Bobert, 1
Cristofor, — , 93, 94
Cristofre, Cristofer, — , 140, 152, 158
Croked Leasowe (Herefordshire), 286
Crokkesdon, Crokesden, Crokesdene,
Croxden (Staffordshire), Abbot of, 58 ;
58, n. 7 ; 60, 68, 69
Cromedale, Croundale, Crundale, Crondall
(Kent), 272 ; 272, n. 4 ; 273, n. 6
Cromwell, Thomas, cxxvi ; 29, n. 24 ; 108,
n. 9; 172, n. 6; 253, n. 4
Cromwelle, Lord (Balph de Cromwell), 44,
n. 11
Crosfeld, Edward, 91
Crykoff, Thomas (Cricket St. Thomas,
Somerset), 29 ; 29, n. 22 ; 83
Cubley (Derbyshire), 68, n. 8
Cubyle, Cubitt, Bobert, 50, n. 8
Culford, John, 45, 47
Culford, Thomas, 45
Culford V. Wotton, xiii, xxv, xxvii, xzxii,
Ixviii, Ixix, cxxiii, cxxix, cxxx, 45-49
Cumberland, County of, cxx ; 108, n. 9 ;
254, n. 6 ; 256, n. 7
Curwen, Sir Thomas, 254, n. 6
Cuxham (Oxfordshire), 149, iu 54
Dacre, Lord, ' of the North,* 108, n. 9 ;
256, n. 7
Dakkyr, Dakyn, — , 204, 205
Dalabere, Elizabeth, Lady [nie Norrys),
234, n. 2
Dalabere, Dalabar, Joan, Lady {n4e De
Barry), 234, n. 2
Dalabere, Dalabar, Sir Eynard, 234, n. 2
Dalabere, Sir Bichard, li, cliii, 234 ; 234,
n.2
Dalabere, Thomas, 234, n. 2
Dale, John, 175, n. 2
Danby (Sir Bobert), C.J.C.P., cxxv, n. 3
Danyell v, Belyngburgh, xxxi
Darell, Sir Edward, 123, n. 7
Darell, Margery, 123, n. 7
Darley (Derbyshire), 132, n. 7
Darrell, Sir Edward, 172, n. 5
Darrell, Elizabeth, 172, n. 5
Darrell, William, 172, n. 5
Darthmouth, Dertmouth, Dartmouth
(Devon), Ixxiv ; 6, n. 2 ; 84 ; 84, n. 28
Daubney, Giles, 7, n. 4
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
315
Daunoe, Sir John, 254, n. 6
Davington, Davyngton (Kent), 238, n. 6
Davison (William), zli
Davy, Symon, 1
Davy, Thomas, 1, 8, 4, 5
Dawtrey, Family of, oxix ; 95, n. 2
Deane, Henry, Bishop of Salisbury, Lord
Keeper, afterwards Archbishop of Can-
terbury, 71 ; 71, ♦». 2 ; 118 ; 118, n. 1 ;
122, n. 9
Delvys, John, 64, n. 2
Dene, Dean, Forest of (Gloucestershire),
cxlv, 220;220, n. 6; 221
Denston (Staffordshire), 55, n. 6
Dentun, Thomas, 151
Derby, Borough of, cxiii
Derby, Connty of, cxiii, cxx, 54 ; 54, n. 3 ;
58, n. 8 ; 60 ; 63, n. 4; 64, n. 2 ; 69,
n. 11; 130, n. 2; 132; 132, n. 6; 144,
n. 28; 172, n. 5 ; 254, n. 6
Derby, Earl of, Thomas Stanley. See
Stanley
Derham, Thomas, 85, n. 37
Despensers, The, dv, n. 2
Dethick (Derbyshire), 63, n. 4
Devereux, John, Lord Ferrers of Chartley,
39, n. 5
Devonshire, Devon, Devynshyre, Ixxvi,
ol, 6 ; 6, n. 2 ; 7, n. 7 ; 51 ; 84, n. 29 ;
91, n. 12 ; 129 ; 138, n. 4
Dicher, Dycher, Richard, Bicherd, xxxiv,
cxl ; cxl, n. 1 ; 180, n. 13 ; 184, 187,
208, 206
Dieuleucres (Staffordshire), Abbey of, 68,
n.3
Dieuleucres (Staffordshire), Abbot of, 68,
69
Dixmude (Flanders), 215, n. 2
Docwra, Sir Thomas, xxxvi, 187 ; 187,
n. 11 ; 188, n. 12
Donyngton v. Broke, xvi, Ixvi, cxxxii,
40,41
Donyngton, William, 40 ; 40, n. 2 ; 41
Doo, William, 265
Dorset, County of, Ixxvi ; 81, n. 13
Dorset, Marquis of (Thomas Grey), 175,
n. 2
Dortyngton, Dertyngton (Devon), 129;
129, n. 8
Dove, River, 54, n. 2 ; 68, n. 7.
Dowlys, Dowlas (Salop), 223
Draycot Ceme (Wilts), 123, n. 7
Driffield (Yorks.), 175, n. 2
Dronfield (Derbyshire), 69, n. 11
Drovere, John, 29, 33, 35
Drybeker, William, 107
Dryland, James, 238, n. 6
lond. Dryland, Irlond, Jamys, 238 ;
238, n, 6 ; 239, 241, 242, 243, 244, 250,
252
Dudley, Edmund, xci, cxiv
Dudley, John, Earl of Warwick (after-
wards Duke of Northumberland), 206,
n. 38
Dudley, Lord (John Sutton), xlviii
Duffield Firth, 64, n. 2
Duncton (Sussex), cxix
Dunster (Somerset), Ixxviii, 20, n. 2
Dunster, John, Abbot of St. Augustine's,
Canterbury, Ixxviii, Ixxix ; 20, n. 2 ; 26,
30,31
Durham, Abbey of, 24, n. 25
Durham, Bishop of, John Shirwood, 254,
n. 6
Durham, County of, 254, n. 6
Duthek, Dethyk, Dytheg, Dythyk, Dithik,
Deithwike, William, 181 ; 181, n. 22 ;
189, 190, 203, 204, 206, 208
Dygon, John, 20, n. 2
Dyke, Constance, oxix ; 95, n. 2
I^ke, John, 95, n. 2
Dynham, Lord (John Dynham), xlviii,
62, n. 3 ; 63, n. 7
Dyttysham (Devon), 7, n. 7
Eardisley (Herefordshire), 235, n. 3
Ebbisworthy, Rychard, 51
Edenhall (Cumberland), 108, n. 9
Edgar, King, cxlvii, cxlix, 143, n. 27
Edgecumbe, John, 145, n. 84
Edinburgh (Scotland), Ivii
Edmundes, John, 19
Edward 1, cxlviii ; 72, n. 11 ; 211, n. 9 ;
227, n. 8; 242, n. 9
Edward 2, cxxiv, cxlviii ; 86, f». 2
Edward 3, xxii, xxiii, Ixv, xovi, cxi, cxlviii,
cxlix; 29, n. 24; 75, 76 ; 76, w. 6; 221,
n.11; 222,f».12; 263, n. 8
Edward 4, xii, xiv, xxxiii, Ixii, Ixii, n. 7 ;
Ixiv, Ixxii, Ixxiii, Ixxiv, Ixxv, ixxvi,
Ixxviii, xcix, c, cvii ; cxvii, n. 2 ; cxxxviii,
cxlvi; 9, nn.22, 28; 15; 15, n. 2; 18,n. 2 ;
45;62,n. 3; 64, n. 2; 72, n. 11; 80;
80, n. 6 ; 81, nn. 11, 13; 83, 84, 86; 86,
nn. 44, 45 ; 91, n, 12; 92, n, 21 ; 170,
n. 3 ; 171, n. 4 ; 193, n. 2 ; 213, n. 17 ;
216, n. 3 ; 220 ; 220, n. 10 ; 224, 225 ;
234,11.2; 285, n.6; 274, n. 2
316
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
Edward 5, o ; 155, n. 8 ; 216, n. 3
Edward 6, 96, n. 2 ; 172, n. 6 ; 175, n. 2
Eggecombe, John, 145 ; 145, n. 34
Elaston (Staffordshire), 55, n. 6
Elizabeth Tador, Queen, xxzi ; xxxiy, n. 2 ;
xxxviii, xxxix ; 1, n. 1 ; liv, Ivi, Ixviii, cl,
125, n. 17
Elizabeth Wydeville, Queen Consort,
oxvii, n. 2 ; 92, n. 21 ; 274, n. 2
Ellenhall (Staffordshire), 145, n. 37
Ellesmere (Salop), xo, xciii; xov, n. 2;
274 ; 274, n. 4
Ellesmere, Lord (Thomas Egerton), Lord
Keeper and Chancellor, xvii, n. 4 ; xviii,
xl, xli, liv
Elflton (Salop), xcii
Eltesley (Cambs), 85, n. 37
Eltham (Kent), xxi
Elvaston (Derbyshire), 64, n. 2
Elwald, Elwold, Elweld, John, 107, 109,
110, 111, 114, 259
Ely (Cambs), Bishop of, 40, n. 4. See
also Stanley, James
Ely Place, Holbom (Middlesex), 239,
n. 20 ; 241
Ely Bents, Holbom (Middlesex), 252;
252, n. 20
Elys, Eylis, Eylys, John, 231, 232, 233,
234
England, Englon, Inglond, Englonde,
Englond, xxxiy, n. 2 ; Iviii, Ixxxix, xov ;
xcv, n. 2 ; cv. cxxxviii, oxliii, n. 2 ; 64 ;
73, n. 2 ; 75, 78, 119, 121 ; 130, w. 2 ;
155, n. 8 ; 166, 199, 212, 214 ; 220. nn,
5, 7, 8 ; 279, 280
England, Constable of, xxi, n. 3
England, Marshal of, xxi, n. 3
Erasmus, 271, ?i. 2
Esbury (Worcestershire), 215, n, 2
Esk (Scotland), 108, n. 9
Essex, County of, 170, n. 3 ; 172, n. 5
Essex, Edith, 171, n. 4
Essex, Elizabeth(af terwards Swyllyngt on),
175, n. 2
Essexe, Elizabeth (afterwards Darrell),
172, n. 5
Essexe, Elizabeth (n^ Rogers), 172, n. 5
176, n. 6
Essexe, Margaret, 172, n, 5
Essexe, Thomas, 171, n. 4 ; 172, 173, 174 ;
176, n. 2 ; 176 ; 176, n. 5
Essexe, Thomas (son of Sir W. E. the
younger), 172, n. 5
Essexe, Essex, Estsax, Sir William (fie-
membrancer of the Exchequer), 170,
171 ; 171, w. 4 ; 172, 176 ; 176, n. 5 ;
177, 178 ; 178, n. 2
Essexe, Essex, Estsax, Sir William (the
younger), 172; 172, n. 6 ; 173-177
Estcourte, Walter, 123
Estmounde, Esemund, Lady, 27, 32, 35
Etaples (France), Treaty of, Ivii ; 215,
n. 2
Ethelbert, King of Kent, 20, n. 2
Everede, Watkyn, 127
Ewehne (Oxfordshire), 138, n. 6; 139,
n. 7
Ewhurst (Surrey), 12, n. 39
Exchequer, The, cxlix, clii, 7, 8, 211,
214 ; 216, n. 2 ; 277, 278
Exchequer, Eschekyr, Eschequer, Cheker,
Esohiquier, Court of, Ixxiv, cliii,
9-11 ; 130, n. 2 ; 187 ; 188, n. 12 ;
190, 199 ; 218, n. 12 ; 263 ; 264, nn.
9, 10 ; 265, n. 16 ; 267, 268 ; 269, n, 3 ;
279, 282
Exeter, Excestre, Bishops of :
Walter de Stapledon, oxlviii
Peter Courtney. See Courtney
Exeter, Castle of, 10 ; 11, n. 22 ; 13, 15
Exeter (Excestre, Exceter, Excetour,
Exetur), City of, Ixxiii, Ixxiv, Ixxv,
Ixxvii, Ixxvii, n. 1 ; cxxxv, cxxxviii,
cxlii, 1-3 ; 5, w. 1 ; 6, n. 2 ; 7, nn,
5, 6, 7 ; 8, nn. 9-14 ; 9, nn. 15-19, 21,
22, 24 ; 11, 51, 52, 71 ; 71, nn. 3, 4 ;
72 ; 72, M. 11 ; 73 ; 73, n. 1 ; 74, 76-
81 ; 81, n. 12 ; 82-86; 86, nn. 42, 46, 48,
87 ; 87, n. 57 ; 88-91 ; 91, n. 12 ; 92-
95, 129 ; 150, n. 60 ; 212, n. 16
Exeter, Dean and Chapter of, 5
Exeter, Gaol of, cxxxvi, 10
Exeter, Mayor of, xiv, xxviii, Ixxv, cxxxvi,
10,51
Exeter, Mayor &c. of, v. Stoden and
Others, xv, xxv, xxxiii, Ixxii, 1-6
Exeter, Port of, Ixxiv ; 6, n. 2 ; 7, n. 6 ; 84,
n.28
Exeter, Rougemont, 11, w. 32
Exeter, St. Stevynes fee, 6
Exeter, St. Sydwell's fee, 6
Exeter, Staple at, 9, n. 22
Exsten, Exston, Agnes, 28, 32
Eynesham, Eynshom, Egnesham (Oxford-
shire), Abbey of, cliii, cliv ; 51, n. 7 ;
137, n. 2 ; 138 ; 138, m 4 ; 139, 140,
143, 148; 150, n. 57; 163, 166, 158,
159
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLA£!ES
317
Eynesham, Abbots of :
William Walwyn, 151 ; 161, n. 61 ; 156
Milys SaUey, xov, 137 ; 137, n. 2 ; 138 ;
142, nn. 21, 23 ; 148, 164 ; 154, n.
6 ; 155, 156 ; 156, n. 9 ; 159
ynesham, Prior of, 142-146
Eynesham, Enesham, Enysham, Town of,
141, n. 20 ; 143 ; 144, n. 28 ; 145, 147,
150, 151, 163, 164, 168, 159, 161, 162,
163
Eynesham, Abbot of, v. Harecoort and
Others, xv, xxvi, Ixx, xcv, oxx, 137-162
Eyton, Joan (afterwards Cholmundeley),
254, n. 6
Eyton, Margaret, Margery (afterwards
Kebell), 131, n. 4
Eyton, Thomas, 264, n. 6
Fairehoo, Hundred of (Norfolk), 16, n. 2
Farlington, Farington, Farleton, John,
Abbot of Byland, 107, 109 ; 109, w. 2 ;
110, 111, 253 ; 253, n. 3 ; 258, 260, 261
Farrindon (Devon), 7, n. 7
Faunes (Kent), 272, n. 5
Fawcett (Westmoreland), 257, tu 9
Fayrohyld, — 246
Fen Ditton (Cambs), 27, n. 14
Fenkell, Sir John, 91, n. 11
Fenton (Devon), 129
Ferrers, Lord, of Chartley (John
Devereux), 39, n. 5 ; 130, n. 2
Fetyplace, Anthony, 138, n. 6
Fidlers (Essex), 92, n. 21
Field of the Cloth of Gold, The, 172, n. 5
Fineux, Fyneux, Sir John, C.J.K.B., xxxvi ;
143, n. 27 ; 187, w. 4 ; 188, n. 12
Fisher, Richard, see Fyssher
Fisherton (Wilts), 155, n. 8
Fitzalan, Family of, cxix
Fitzherbert, Sir Anthony, Justice of C.P.,
54, n. 3
Fitzherbert, Benedicta (nie Bradbum),
54, n. 3
Fitzherbert, Dorothy (n^ Longford), 54,
n.3
Fitzherbert, Edith, 63, n. 4
Fitzherbert, Fitzharbert, Fitzharberd,
John, xxix, xxx, xxxii, cxx, cxxi, cxxii,
54 ; 64, n. 3 ; 65-63 ; 63, n. 7 ; 64 ; 64,
n. 2 ; 66, 66 ; 66, n. 6 ; 67
Fitzherbert, Balph, Banff, 54, n. 3 ; 67,
58, 60 ; 63, n. 4 ; 69
Fitzherbert, William, 54, n. 4
Fitzjames, Bichard, Warden of Merton,
Bishop of Rochester, Chichester, and
London, xlii, li
Flanders, 208, n. 66
Flint, County of, Ixiv
Flodden Field, 264, n. 6 ; 266, n, 7
Fluett, Bichard, 31 ; 31, n. 43 ; 36
Folke, William, 206
Folotyn Lane, Great Totnisse (Devon),
129
Forcet (Yorks.), 254, n. 6
Forest, William, 50, n. 3
Forte, William, 167, n. 2
Fortescue, Sir John, C.J.K.B., xxzix;
xxxix, n. 2 ; Ixiv
Fouler, Sir Bichard, 149, n. 63
Fownehope (Herefordshire), 217, n. 6
Fowy, Fowey, Fawy (Cornwall), 6, n. 2 ;
81, n. 13 ; 84
Foxcote (Warwickshire), 28, n. 18
Foxe, Richard, Bishop, Lord Privy Seal
Ac, xxxvi, Ivii, 84 ; 84, n. 23 ; 85 ; 91,
n. 10
France, Fraunoe, Ixxvi, Ixxvii, xcii ; xoix,
n. 6; 9,n.26; 64,n. 2;121; 172,n.6;
187. n. 11 ; 208, n. 56 ; 216, n. 2 ; 216,
n. 3 ; 230, n. 1
Francis 1 of France, oxzxix ; 172, n. 6
Frank, William, 18, 19
Freintfeld (? Sussex), 119, n. 7
Friser, John, 192, 207
Frost, John, 94
Frowike, Frowyk, Sir Thomas, C.J.C.P.,
oxiii
Fulford, Sir Baldwin, 7, n. 7 ; 91, n. 12
Fulford, Elizabeth, Lady, 7, n. 7
Fulford, Sir Thomas, 91, n. 12
FuU, William, 162
Furbur, Furbure, Henre, Henry, xi, 247-
250
Fumival, Joan de (afterwards Nevill),
237, n. 4
Fumival, William, Lord, 237, n. 4
Fumivallys, Fumivalles, Fumyvals, Fur-
nyvalls, Fumivals, Fumevalls Inn,
Fumevalys, Fumevalles, Fumyvalys,
Furnyvalles, Fumevalls Inn, Holbom,
xi, Ixix, cix, 237; 237, n. 4; 238, 238,
n. 5; 239; 239, n. 20; 240, 241, 248,
244; 244,71.20; 246-260
Fumivall's Inn, Principal of, v, Johnson
and Others, xxvi, cix, 237-246
Fynche, Richard, 266, 269, 270
Fyndeme, Sir Thomas, 7, n. 7
Fyneux, Sir John. See Fineux
318
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
u
-♦.'
V
I*'
'■!
\\.
h
Fyssber, Fisher, John, J. of C.P., 187;
187, n. 9; 188, n. 12; 199, fi. 2
Fyssher, Fjsher, Fisher, Biohard, xxzv,
189, 190, 205, 206, 208
Gale, Dr., Izxxyiii
GaU, — , 93, n. 27
Gall, Thomasina, 93, n. 27
Galon, Nicholas, liii
Gamlingaj (Cambs), 85, n. 37
Gardiner, Stephen, Bishop of Winchester,
Chancellor, Ixzxvi
Gasoonj, Gascon, 98, n. 27 ; 208, n. 55
Gascoyne, William, 70, n. 8
Gaonts, The, Bristol, 137, n. 2
Gawesem, John, 218 ; 218, n. 12
Gaynard, John, 31, 36
Gayneforth (Durham), 256, n. 7
Gener, Richard, 68, 69
Gener, Thomas, 69
Genoa (Italy), 74, n. 1
Geosslyn, Sir Baa£f. 8u Joceline
Gervauz, John, 36, 38
Gibbes, Gibbys, Gybbys, William (the
younger), 129 ; 129, n. 3 ; 130
Gibbs, John, of Exeter, 129, n. 3
Gibbs, John. See Gybbys
Gibson, Edmund, Bishop of London, 227,
n. 5
Gibson, Robert. See Gybson
Gififard, — , 216, n. 3
GiiTard, Elizabeth (afterwards Lygon),
216, V. 8
Gigli, Silvestro, Bishop of Worcester, 230 ;
230, n. 2 ; 231-234
GUstonbnry, Glaston (Somerset), 26 ; 26,
n. 5 ; 215, n. 2
Glasyer, William, 236
Glaxton, Glaston, Glazston (? Stafford-
shire), 55 ; 55, n. 6 ; 67, n. 4 ; 66
Glossop (Derbyshire), 215, n. 2
Gloucester, Gloucestre, Abbey of, 187, n. 2
Bailiffs of, czliii, czliy, cxly ; 213, n. 17
Borough of, xiii, ziv, czlii, cxliii, czliy,
czly, cxlyi, czlyli, 209, 211 ; 211, n. 8 ;
212,213; 218, tin. 17, 18; 221; 221,
n. 11 ; 222, 225
Castle of, czlv
County of, czliy, czly ; 119, n* 8 ; 215,
n. 2; 221, n. 11; 225
Dukes of :
Humphrey Plantagenet. See Hum-
phrey
Richard Plantagenet. See Richard 3
Gloucester (oonUfvued) :
Mayor of, Izz, 209, 211, 212, 225, 226
Petition of Mayor <fec. of, ziii-zy, czlvi,
czlyli, 209-213
Gnowsall (Staffordshire), 117, n. 2
Goghe, Edward, 205, 206
Golston, Goldston (Salop), 254, n. 6
Goodneston (Kent), 272, n. 4
Gorge, Sir Edward, czzyi, 125, n. 14
Gk>ring, Goringes (Sussez), 95, n. 2
Goryng, Constance (nie Dyke), cziz, 95,
n. 2
Goryng, Joan (formerly Hewster), 95, n. 2
Goryng, John (father of plaintiff), of
Burton, Sussez, Izzyi, cziy, czz; 95,
n. 2; 99
Goryng, John (the plaintiff), of Burton,
Sussez, Izzvi, cziy, czyii, czyiii, oziz,
95; 95, n. 2; 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 102,
103, 104
Goryng, John, of Lancing, Sussez (*the
grandfather'), Izzzyi, cziy; 95, n. 2;
97,n.l2; 98-105
Goryng, Margaret (nU Radmyld), 95, n. 2
Goryng, Sir William, cziz ; 96, n. 2
Gk>ryng v. Earl of Northumberland, zv,
zyiii, zzyiii, n. 1; lii, Izyi, cziy-ozz,
95-105
Grafton (Worcestershire), 215, n. 2
Grafton-beside-Tewkesbury (Gloucester-
shire), bdi, n. 7
Grahame, Richard, 108, n. 9
Grayelines (France), 172, n. 5
Grayell, John, 30, 33, 85
Great Nesse (Salop), zci
Grennyleth (? Salop), zoii
Grenwech, Grenewyche, Greenwich (Kent),
135, 136 ; 156, n. 8 ; 172, n. 5 ; 254, n. 6
Gresillhurst (Lancashire), 238, n. 10
Grey, Elizabeth (afterwards Lady Ky-
naston), zo
Ghrey, Lord (Henry Grey), zli
Grey, Richard. See Powis
Grey, Thomas, Marquis of Dorset, 175,
n. 2
Greystock, Lord (Ralph de Greystook),
216, n. 2
Greyston, Thomas, 84 ; 84, n. 29
Grindal (Edmund), Archbishop of Canter-
bury, lyi
Grocyn, Grocyen, William, 271 ; 271, n. 2 ;
272, n. 8; 274
Grocyn and Others v. Eempe, zvi, Izvii,
IziL, czzii, czziii, 271-274
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
319
Groves, Ralph, 282
Orymley (Worcestershire), 222
Orymmestede, John de, zxi
Oaeldres, Duchy of, 108, n. 9
Goilford, Sir Richard, zlii
Gomby, Gk)nby, Gomby, Gumbie, John,
71; 71, n. 4; 72,76,77,96
Gnnter, Geoffrey, 172, n. 6
Gnscote, Guscott, John, 80 ; 80, n. 5 ; 81,
87, n. 67
Gybbys, John, 129, n. 3
Gybson, Gibson, Robert, 107 ; 107, n. 2 ;
109, lis
Gyse, Ancekn, xxiii
Hadderton. See Atherton
Haddon (Derbyshire), 133, n. 14 ; 134
Haddon, Joan, 58, n. 8
Haddon, John, 58, n. 8
Hadley, Hudley, John, 143, 161
Hainbury (Worcestershire), 215, n. 2
Hainewell, Hameswell (Gloacestershire),
31 ; 31, n. 41 ; 35 ; 35, n. 1
Hale, Sir Matthew, C.J.E.B., zxviii, n. 3 ;
cxvi
Hale, Robert, Serjeant-at-Law, zxviii,
n. 3
Hallam, Henry, zlviii ; zlviii, n, 3 ; zlix, 1
Halle v. Essexe, xvii, xxix, lii, liii, Ixvii,
Ixxxi, 168-178
Halle, Hall, William (of Eensyngton),
169 ; 171, n. 4 ; 177, 178 ; 178, n. 2
Halle, William (of London), 169, 174,
176, 177
Halle, Hall, William (of SaUsbury), 37 ;
37, n. 9 ; 38
Halyfax, Halifax, Thomas, 265, n. 15;
266, n. 2 ; 267 ; 267, n. 6 ; 270, 271
Halys, Wylliam, 117
Hamdon, — , 32
Hamlyn, Hamelyn, Family of, 9, n. 20
Hammersmith (Middlesex), 172, n. 6;
208, n. 66
Hammes Oastle (France), 64, n. 2
Hamond, Lawrence, 119 ; 119, n. 11 ; 124
Hampden (Bucks), 156, n. 8
Hampden, Edmunde, cliii, 156 ; 166, n. 8
Hampden, Thomas, 155, n. 8
Hampton-juxta-Bathoniam (Bathampton,
Somerset), 28 ; 28, n. 19 ; 29, 32
Hampton Ck)urt (Middlesex), 172, n. 6;
175. n. 2
Hampton, Thomas, 61
Hancoke, Malde, 263, n. 3
Hancoke, Robert, 263, n. 3
Handloe, Manor of (Kent), 272, n. 6
Handys, Thomas, 232
Hanley, Kateryne, Eateryn {nie Vemey),
57, 69, 61, 68, 69
Hanley, Symon, 68
Hanley, Upper Hanley (Worcestershire),
68; 68, n. 9
Hanse, The, of Germany, 92, n. 21
Hants, Southampton, county of, Ixxvi,
170, n. 3 ; 172, n. 5
Harecourt, Haroourt, Anne, lady {tUe
Norris), 138, n. 6
Harecourt, Harcourt, Anne, lady {ni4
Limericke), 138, n. 6
Harecourt, Harcourt, Sir John, diii ; 137,
n. 6 ; 155, n. 8
Harecourt, Sir Richard, 146, n. 33
Harecourt, Harcourt, Sir Robert, E.G.,
138, n. 6
Harecourt, Sir Robert, c, cii,cyii, div, 137,
138, 139 ; 139, n. 7 ; 141 ; 141, n. 20 ; 142,
143 ; 145, nn. 33, 37 ; 146-148 ; 148,
n. 51 ; 149 ; 149, n. 53 ; 160-154 ; 154,
nn. 5, 6; 155, 156; 156, n. 9; 157;
157, n. 10; 162-164
Harecourt, Sir Thomas, 145, n. 33
Harecourt, William, 145 ; 146, n. 33
Harecourt, Sir William, 145, n. 33
Hardlaugh, Hardlagh (Harleoh, Merio-
nethshire), Castle of, Ixii, n. 7
Hardwick (Salop), xc, xci, xoii
Hardyng, Margarete, Margrett, Merget,
243, 244, 246
Hamesey. See Homsey (Middlesex)
Harrietsham (Kent), 71, n. 6
Harseneppe, Richerd, 207
Hartlay, Harteley, Hertlay (Westmore-
land), 108, n. 9
Hastings, Edward, Lord Hastings, 29, n.
2 ; 69, n. 11
Hastings, Hastyngs, Elizabeth, 96, n. 3
Hastings, Hastyngs, Sir John, 96, n. 3
Hastings and Hungerford, Mary, Lady,
29 ; 29, n. 21 ; 32, 69, n. 11
Hastings, Willivn, Lord, 69, n. 11
Haton, Robert, 109
Hatton Garden (Middlesex), 239, n. 20
Hatton Wall (Middlesex), 239, n. 20
Hawarde, John, xliii. See dUo * Index of
Authorities Cited '
Hawarden, Anne (afterwards Bryohe),
246, n. 8
Hawarden, Thomas, 246, n. 8
, t
320
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
if
i -
f
Hawey, Hay, Family of, 227, n. 8
Hawey, Julian (afterwards Lady Strad-
ling), 227, n. 8
Hawey, Thomas, 227, n. 8
Hawis, Hawes, Hawys, Haws, John, 71 ;
71, n. 6 ; 73, 76, 77
Hayly, Hayle, Thomas, 8 ; 8, n. 13
Hays, Hayes, John, Ixxiv, Ixxv, Ixxvi ; 8,
n. 8
Heale, John, Serjeant-at-law, xxviii, n. 3
Helston (Cornwall), 212, n. 15
Helyer, William, 129
Hempstede, Robert de, 119, n. 7
Hengham, Hongham (Norfolk), 15-17
Henharst (Kent), 272, n. 4
Henley vppon Temys, 147, 154, 157
Henry 1, 121, n. 2 ; 143, n. 27 ; 178, n. 2 ;
221, n. 11
Henry 2, 72, n. 11 ; 220, n. 5 ; 221, n. 11
Henry 3, cxlviii, 76, n. 6 ; 183, nn. 6, 7 ;
214, n. 2 ; 220, ?wi. 6, 7, 8 ; 235, n. 5
Henry 4, xx, xxili,xxv, Ixiv, xovii, oi, oxliii ;
29, n. 24 ; 56, n. 16 ; 96, n. 5 ; 234
Henry 5, xviii, n. 1 ; xxiii, xxv, Ixlv, Ixxxi,
xviii, cvi ; cxxiv, n. 8 ; 22, n. 9 ; 279,
n. 1
Henry 6, xxvii, n. 1 ; xlvi, Ixii, Ixxxi,
Ixxxii, xoviii, cxi, oli, clii ; 18, n. 2 ; 95,
n.2; 171, n. 4; 225,226
Henry 7, xi, xii, xiii, xvi, xvii, xix, xxiii,
xxvii, xxviii, xxix, xxx, xxxii, xxxix, xl,
xlii, xliii ; xliii, n. 8 ; xliv, xlviii, xlix, 1 ;
Iv, n. 1 ; Ivi, Ivii ; Ivii, n. 2 ; Iviii, Iviii,
n. 5 ; lix ; Ixii, n. 7 ; Ixiv, Ixv, Ixviii,
Ixx, Ixxi, Ixxiii, Ixxvi ; Ixxvii, n. 7 ;
Ixxviii, Ixxix, xoiii, xcv ; xoix, n. 5 ; c,
cvii, ox ; cxxxv, n. 4 ; cxxxvii, oxli, cxlii,
cxlvi, cxlix, cl ; d, n.3 ; clii ; 6, n. 2 ; 7,
n. 7; 12, n. 39; 44, n. 11; 55, n, 9;
68, n. 8 ; 62, n. 3 ; 63, n. 4 ; 64, n. 2 ;
72, nn. 10, 11 ; 81, n. 13 ; 83, 84, 86 ;
86, n. 43 ; 87 ; 87, nn, 49, 50, 51 ; 88,
90; 91. n. 11 ; 93, n. 27 ; 96, n. 6; 97,
n. 7 ; 121 ; 130, n. 2 ; 131, n. 4 ; 136 ;
138, w. 6 ; 141, n. 20 ; 142, n. 23 ; 148,
152 ; 155, n. 8 ; 178, n. 2 ; 179, nn. 3,
6 ; 181 ; 183 ; n. 6 ; 188, n. 12 ; 190, n.
10; 191 ; 191, n. 8 ; 193, n. 2 ; 199, n.
2 ; 208, n. 55 ; 209 ; 215, n. 2 ; 216, n.
3 ; 217. n. 5 ; 225, 226 ; 234, n. 2 ; 235,
n. 4 ; 236 ; 237, n. 13 ; 250, 254 ; 254, n.
6 ; 256, n. 7 ; 261 ; 262, n. 1 ; 265, n.
14; 272, n. 4; 280,281,283
Henry 8, xi, xii, xix, xxii, xxxi, xxxii,
xxxviii, xxxix, xl, xlii, xliv, xlix, ivi,
Ivii, Iviii ; Iviii, n. 5 ; lix, Ixxii, cvii, ox,
cxli ; 137, n. 2 ; 138, n. 6 ; 147, n. 42 ;
172, n. 5 ; 175, n. 2 ; 188, n. 12 ; 190,
n. 11 ; 202, 208, 215 ; 230, n. 1 ; 234, n.
2 ; 235, n. 5 ; 239 ; 254, n. 6 ; 262, n. 1 ;
265, n. 14; 278. n. 7; 281
Hepy, John, 142. 151
Herbert, Sir William, Ixiii
Hercy, John, 157
Hereford, Castle of. 217, nn. 4, 5
Hereford, Cathedral of, 234, n. 2; 236,
236, nn. 11, 12 ; 237, n. 13
Hereford, City of, li, 236 ; 236, n. 11
Hereford, County of, li, Ixiv, cxi, n. 3 ;
cxliv, 215, n. 2 ; 217, vn. 4, 5 ; 234,
234, n. 2 ; 235, n. 5 ; 236
Heme, Heume, Water, Walter, 126 ; 126,
n.7; 127
Hemer, Heomer, Heme, Thomas, 119,
124. 126
Hertford, Castle of, ex
Hertford County of, 81, n. 13 ; 92, n. 21 ;
172, n. 5
Hertyngton, Hartington (Derbyshire), 64,
n.2
Hethoote, Heythcotes, Elyzabeth, Eliza-
beth (n^ Vemey), 59 ; 59, n. 3 ; 61
Heughes, John, xci
Hewster, Humphrey, 95, n. 2
Hewster, Joan, 95, n. 2
Hewyt and Others v. the Mayor and Cor-
poration of London, xv, xxvi, xxxiv,
Ixvi, Ixix, cxli, cxlii. 71-95
Hewyt, Hewit, Richard, 71 ; 71, n. 3, 73,
76,77
Hexton (Herts), 81, n. 13
Hibemico, an, 33
Highdown (Herts), 187, n. 11
Highgate,Heghegate, Hygate (Middlesex),
cxxx, cxxxi, 164 ; 164, n. 2 ; 166, 167,
n. 2 ; 168, n. 1
Higyns, Richerd, 206
Hil, Davith, 207
Hill, Hugh, 206, 207
Hill, Robert, 207
Hobert, Hobart, Sir James, A-G, xiii,
cxxxii ; 6, n. 2 ; 7, n. 7 ; 12, n. 39 ; 18,
19, 281, 283
Hobert, Sir James, A-G, v. Parre and
Others, cxxxii-cxxxv
Hody, Hodie, Sir William, L.C.B., xxxv,
xxxvi, Ixxiii, 67 ; 67, n. 5 ; 187 ; 187,
n.7; 188, n. 12; 199.282,283
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
321
Hoker, oUm Vowell, John, 2, n. 10
Holampton (Herefordshire), 217, n. 4
Holand, Raff, 238
Holbome, Holbonme, Holbom, Holbum
(Middlesex), 164, n. 3 ; 193, n. 3 ; 237,
238, 241, 243, 246 ; 246, n. 6, 247, 248,
252
Holford, Family of (of Holford), 238;
238, n. 10
Holford, Family of (of Tetbury), 121, n. 3
Holford, — , 238, 241
Holford, Thomas, 121 ; 121, n. 8 ; 122, 125
Holland, 88, n. 62
Holland, Family of, 238, n. 10
Holland, Raff. See Holand
Holloway, 20, n. 3
Hohne (Norfolk), xv, 60; 61, n. 7
Hoknehall (Cambs), 264, n. 6
Holt, — , 238, 241
Holt, Hoult, Family of, 238, n. 10
Holwey, William, 223
Holyngarden (Sussex), 172, n. 5
Holywell (Oxford), 149, n. 54
Hongham, Hengham (Norfolk), 15
Hoo, Hoghe, The (Derbyshire), 64, n. 3
Hood, Bobin, xo, xci
Hordley (Salop), xo
Home, Anne, 145, n. 33
Homsey, Hamesey (Middlesex), oxxxi,
cxxxii, 164, 167, 168 ; 168, n. 1
Horwyll, — , 80
Hosiar, Hosier, Edward, 203 ; 203, n. 4 ;
205,206
Hosteler, John, 165, 166
Hoarde, George, 172, n. 5
Hourde, Thomas, 172, n. 6
Howard, Sir Edward, E.G., 15, n. 2
Howard, Henry, Earl of Northampton,
xxxiv, n. 2 ; 96, n. 5
Howard, John, oxxxvi
Howard, John, first Doke of Norfolk, 81,
n. 13
Howard, Thomas, Earl of Surrey (after-
wards second Duke of Norfolk), xxxyi,
Iviii ; 16, n. 2 ; 97, n. 9 ; 254, n. 6
Howard, Thomas, Earl of Silrrey (after-
wards third Duke of Norfolk), 108, n.
9 ; 175, n. 2
Howell, John, 95
Huddesfeld, Huddisfild, Hoddisfeild,
Huttesfold, Hudysfeld, Hudisfeld, Hud-
dersfield. Sir William, A-G, Ixxiii,
Ixxiv, Ixxv ; 7 ; 7, n. 7 ; 8, n. 8 ; 9, n.
23; 10; 10,n.29; 12,18
Hudley. See Hadley, John
Hudson, William, x, Ixx. See also * Index
of Authorities Oited *
Hugh, Sir, 128
Huloote, Katharine, 175, n. 2
Hulcott, Halkett, John, 176, n. 2
Hull, Kingston, Kyngeston-upon- (Tork-
shire), cxvii, oxlii, 70; 73, n. 2; 254,
n. 6
Humberston (Leicestershire), 131, n. 4
Humphrey, Plantagenet, Duke of Glou-
cester, oxxvi, n. 4
Hnngerford Mary, Lady Hungerford and
Hastings, 29 ; 29, n. 21 ; 32 ; 69, n. 11
y Hungerford, Robert, second Lord, 29, n.22
Hungerford, Robert, third Lord, 29, n. 22
Hungerford, Sir Thomas, 29, n. 21 ; 85
Husee, John, 172, n. 6
Husie, Hnsey (Sir William), C.J£JB.»
xlviii, oxxv
Husey, John (the elder), 81, n. 13
Idele, Ydele, Thomas, xv, 50 51
Idele V. the Abbot of St. Bennetts, Holme,
cxii, 50, 51
Illyngworth, — , 170, n. 3
Inglesbache (Somerset), 30
Inglishcombe (Combe-English, Somerset),
30, n. 29 ; 33
Innocent 4, Pope, cxxiii, n. 4
Ireland, Irelond, Irland, xxvii, n. I ; Ixxvi ;
29, n. 24 ; 33, 121
Ireland, Irelond, David, cxl, n. 1 ; 203 ;
203, n. 10; 206
Irton (Cumberland), 238, n. 5
Irton, Family of, 238, n. 5
Irton, John, 238; 238, n. 5; 239, 243,
244,251,252; 253, n. 22
Isaac, Simon, 87, n. 54
Isaac, William. See Tsak
Islep, Islip, Islype, Islipe (Oxfordshire),
136, 146, 154, 157
Islington (Middlesex), 164, n. 2
Itun, Thomas, Abbot of Cirencester, 121
121, n. 2; 122,126
Jackson, John, 269
Jakson, Thomas, 41
Jakys, Robert, 176, n. 2
James, — , 92
James, Sir, 136
James 1, x, xvii, xxiv, xxviii, Ivii, Ixviii ;
236, n. 8 ; 267, n. 6
James 3 of Scotland, Ivii
322
INDEJC OF PERSONS AND PLACES
James 4 of Scotland, Iviii
Jane, Joan (of Navarre), Queen, 96, n. 5
Janyns, William, 204 ; 204, n. 19 ; 206
Joceline, Jooelyn, Geoffrey, 92, n. 21
Jooeline, Jooelyn, Katharine, lady {rUe
Bury), 92, n. 21
Jooeline, Jocelyn, Philippa, lady {rUe
Malpas), 92, n. 21
Joceline, Jocelyn, Geosslyn, Sir Ralph,
87,n. 64; 92; 92, n. 21
Joceline, Jooelyn, Richard, 92, n. 21
Johane, Jane, Jones, Mother, 240, 244,
249, 250
John, King, xvi ; 29, n. 24 ; 72, n. 11 ;
76; 75,n.3; 76, n. 6; 78; 132, n.9;
179, n. S ; 211, nn, 9, 12 ; 220, tm. 6,
8; 277, n. 2
John, Marke, alias John Lmnberd, 89
John, Richard, 69
Johnson, Jonson, Cornleys, Ck)melias,
Cornells, 114, 116, 117, 118
Johnson of Preston (Lancashire), Family
of, 238, n. 10
Johnson, Roger, 238, 239, 241, 242, 244,
246, 260, 262, 263
Joiners* Strangers, The, cxzzviii, n. 2
Jones, Johns, Johnes, Thomas, 276, 276,
277, 278
Jones V, Lychfeld, xvii, xzix, Ixvi, 275-
278
Jonys, Elis. See Thomys
Josselyn, Ralph, 92, n. 1. See also
Joceline
Joyfull, Joifull, Joyfeld, Richard, 106, 107,
109, 111, 112, 113. 114, 269 ; 269, n. 6
Joyfull V. Warcoppe, xxv, xxx, xxxi, 106-
114
Judde, Richarde, 236 ; 236, n. 12
Julius 2, Pope, 215, n. 2
Juyn (Sir John), L.C^., xlv
Kebeel, John, 131, n. 4
Eebell, Ann {rUe Bathorp), 131, n. 4
Eebell, Eebeel, Eebeell, Kepbull, Thomas,
cUii; 131, n. 4; 136
Eebell, Keble, Margaret (n^ Eyton), Ixx,
cxiii, cxiv, 130 ; 131, n. 4 ; 132, 133,
134, 136, 136
Eebell v, Vernon, xv, xxxii, Ixvii, Ixix,
cx-cxiv, 130-137
Eebell, Walter, cxxviii ; 131, n. 4
Eeble, E., cxiii ; 135, n. 1
Eedermyster,. See Eidderminster
Keimeswyk (Worcestershire), 215, n. 2
Eelly, John, Ixxiii, 8 ; 8, n. 9 ; 9, n. 28, 10
Eempe, John, Cardinal Abp. of Canter-
bury, 272, n. 4
Eempe, Thomas, Bishop of London, 272,
nn. 4, 5
Eempe, Sir Thomas, czxii, 272 ; 272, nn.
4,5; 273; 273, n. 6; 274
Eempe, William, 272, n. 4
Een (Devon), 84, n. 29
Eenaston. See Eynaston
Eenchester (Herefordshire), 236, n. 5
Eenford (Devon), 84, n. 29
Eensyngton (Middlesex), 169 ; 169, n. 2 ;
171 ; 171, n. 4 ; 172, n. 5 ; 177, 178 ;
208, n. 65
Eent, County of, xcvi, n. 1 ; xcvii, n. 1 ;
254, n. 6; 272 ; 272, n. 4
Eent, Earl of (George Grey), xix
Eent, Thomas, LL.D., xlviii ; 12, n. 39
Eent, Water (Walter), 1
Eenton (Devon), 7, n. 5
Eentelowes, Eantelowes (Middlesex), 164,
n. 3
Eentysshetown (Middlesex), 164; 164,
n. 3 ; 166
Eenulf, Eing of Mercia, 31, n. 39
Eenyngton (Surrey), 264, n. 6
Eettleby (Leicestershire), 176, n. 2
Eeynisham (Somerset), 28
Kidderminster, Eydurmynstre (Worces-
tershire) ; 216, n. 2 ; 221
King, Oliver (Bishop of Bath and Wells),
22, n. 5
Eingisnorton, Kyngisnorton, King's Nor-
ton (Worcestershire), 216, n. 2; 223, 224
Kingston (Notts), 63, n. 4
Kiow, Kew (Surrey), 237 ; 237, n. 14
Kirkham, — , 63, n. 1
Knaresborough (York8.)t 170, n. 3
Knebworth, Knybworth (Herts), 62, n. 3
Knightsbridge (Middlesex), 172, n. 5 ;
209, n. 65
Knockin, Knokyn, Knookyn (Salop), Iziii,
xci ; 274, n. 2
Knyght, Edward, ozl, n. 1 ; 203 ; 203, n. 8 ;
206
Enyght, Enight, Thomas, 190 ; 190, n. 6 ;
200, 203 ; 203, n. 6 ; 205-208
Enyght, William, 266, 269, 270
Enyvet, Charles, 238, n. 10
Eydurmynstre. See Eidderminster
Eynaston, Edward, xcii
Eynaston, Elizabeth {rUe Meredith), xcii
Eynaston, Elizabeth, Lady (nee Grey), xc
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
323
Eynaston, G^rge, xoii
Eynaston, Eenaston, Humfrey (of Stok-
kes), xi, xo, xoii, xciii, 274, 275
Eynaston, Humfrey (of Morton and Nes-
cliffe, * Wild Humfrey *), xo, xoi, xcii,
xoiii ; xoiii, n. 1
Eynaston, Jane (nSe Lloyd), xoii
Eynaston, John (of Stookes), xoii
Eynaston, Margaret (rUe Eynaston), xoii
Eynaston, Margaret {nde Lloyd), xoii
Eynaston, Margaret (n^ ap Morgan), xcii
Eynaston, Mariana {nSe ap Ghriffith), xoii,
xoiii, xoiii, n. 1
Eynaston, Piers, xoii
Eynaston, Eingeston, Sir Boger, Ixii ; Ixii,
n. 7 ; Ixiii, xc ; xc, n. 7 ; xoi
Eynaston, Sir Thomas (of Hordley), xoi
Eynaston, Thomas (of Shrewsbury), 203 ;
203, n. 6 ; 206
Eynaston, Bev. Walter, xo, xoi, xcii
Eynges, Thomas, 221
Eyngesley, David, 181
Eyngsmell, Eingsmill, John, J. of C.P.,
XXXV, xxxvi, xxxvii, 187; 187, n. 8;
188, n. 12
Eyrkeley (Suffolk), 73, n. 2
Lacon (Salop), 238, n. 10
Lambert, Robert, 107
Lambeth (Surrey), Ixxxv, Ixxxvi
Lamboum, Chepynglambam, Chipping
Lamboum (Berks), 172, n. 5
Lancaster, County of, Lanoastre Shyr,
civ, cv, cxx ; 238, n. 10 ; 241 ; S46, n. 8
Lancaster, Lanoastre, Duchy of, xlii, cxxi,
cxlix ; 39, n. 7 ; 64, n. 2 ; 96, n. 6 ;
117, n. 1 ; 131, n. 4 ; 170, n. 3
Lancaster, William, 269
Lancing (Sussex), 95, n. 2
Lancing, South, Manor of (Sussex), cxix,
cxx
Lane, Bobert, 150, 156
Lane, William (of Malmesbury), cxxvi
Lane, William (of Stratford-on-Avon),
233, 234
Langport, Biohard, xlviii, Ixxiii, 12 ; 12,
n. 39
Langridge (Somerset), 227, n. 3
Lanhem (Cornwall), 230, n. 1
Lanteglos (Cornwall), 236, n. 11
Lateran, Council of the, 187, n. 11
Latimer, Latemer, Biohard Nevill, Lord,
107, n. 3; 114 ; 256, n. 7
Latton (Essex), 170, n. 3
Laud, William, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, xli
Laware, La Warr, La Warre, de, Thomas
(West), Lord, 97 ; 97, n. 10 ; 101
Leather Lane, Holborn (Middlesex), 289,
n. 20
Ledbury (Herefordshire), 108, n. 9
Leder, — , 91, 94
Lee, Sir Henry, 125, n. 17
Lee, John, 272, n. 5
Lee, John de la, xxvi, n. 1
Leeche, Joan, liii
Leeohe, Nicholas, liii
Leek (Staffordshire), 68, n. 8
Legge, Thomas, 94
Leicester, County of, cxiii, 64, n. 2 ; 131,
n. 4 ; 132 ; 172, n. 5 ; 175, n, 2
Leicester, Borough of, oi ; 175, n. 2
Leigh, Leghe (Staffordshire), 58, n. 8
Leominster (Herefordshire), 217, n. 4;
234, n. 2
Le Scrope, Elizabeth. See Talbot
Le Scrope, Thomas, Lord Scrope, 215, n. 2
Letice, Letys, Sir Boberte, xxix, 164, 166,
168
Letton (Herefordshire), 235, n. 3
Levant, The, 160, n. 24
Leystoft, Lowestoft (Suffolk), 78, n. 2
Lichfield, Bishops of :
William Smyth, 179, n. 6. See also
Smyth
John Arundel, 179, n. 6
Lichfield, City of (Staffordshire), 179,
n. 6 ; 233, n. 1
Lichfield, William, 167, n. 2. See also
Lychfeld
Limericke, Anne, 138, n. 6
Limericke, Thomas, 138, n. 6
Lincoln, Bishop of, Ixxxix
Lincoln, Bishop of, William Smyth, xoiii,
57 ; 67, n. 5 ; 179, n. 6
Lincoln, Cathedral of, 246, n. 6
Lincohi, County of, Ixxxix ; 238, n. 10
Lincoln, Deans of :
John Mackworth, 246, n. 6
Geoffrey Symeon, 275, n. 7
Lincoln, Earl of, Henry (de Clinton),
xxxi, xli
Lincoln, Earl of, John de la Pole, 130,
n. 2 ; 215, n. 2 ; 234, n. 2
Lincohi's Inn (Middlesex), 7, n. 7 ; 187,
n. 4 ; 193, n. 2 ; 237, n. 4 ; 238, nn,
6,6; 254, n. 6
Lingayne, John, 206, n. 38
T 2
324
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
Lingen, Family of, 204, n. 23
Lingeyn (Herefordshire), 206, n. 38
Lisle, Lord (Arthar Plantagenet), 172,
n. 5
Lisle, Viscount (Oharles Brandon), 172,
Lister, John, 204, 206
Lister, Bicherd, 204 ; 204, n. 18
Littleoote (Wilts), 123, n. 7 ; 172, n. 6
Little Bolbight (Oxfordshire), 187, n. 2;
166, n. 9
Litton (Derbyshire), 62, n. 3
Litton, Agnes, Lady {nie Bede), 62, n. 3
Litton, Elizabeth, Lady {rUe Andrews),
62, n. 3
Litton, Sir Bobert (M.P. for Essex), 62,
n.3
Litton, Lytton, Sir Bobert (Under Trea-
surer), 62; 62 n. 3 ; 63, n. 7 ; 64, 65, 67
Litton, Thomas ('the King's servant,*
temp, E. 4), 62, n. 3
Litton, Thomas (son of Sir Bobert), 62,
n.3
Litton, William, 62, n. 3
Liver Lane, Holbom (Middlesex), 239,
n. 20
Llai, xcii
Llandaff, Bishop of (Miles Sulley), xov,
137, n. 2; 152, 162, 163. See also
Eynesham, Abbot of
Llandaff, Cathedral of, 137, n. 2
Lloyd, Edward, xoii
Lloyd, Jane (afterwards Eynaston), xcii
Lloyd, Margaret (afterwards Eynaston),
xcii
Llwyr-y-mane, xcii
Lokook, Locook, Bichard, 223, 223, n. 15 ;
224
London, Bishops of :
Bobert de Braybroke, 167, n. 2
John Stokesley, 167, n. 2
Edwin Sandys, 164, n. 2
Edmund Gibson, 227, n. 6
London, Buildings Ao. :
Barnard's (Bamardes) Inn, Holbom, ex
St.Barptolemes (the Great), Smithefeld,
171, n. 4
St. Bartholomew the Less, Smithfield,
179, n. 6
Basing Hall, 82, n. 14
Blackfriars, 136, n. 6
Blakwell, Blackwell, Blakwil, Bakewell
Hall, 82; 82, n. 14; 88; 90, n. 6
Chester Place, 55, n. 9
London, Buildings, Ac. (continued) :
Clifford's Inn, Fleet Street, ex
Counter, Compter, the, 81 ; 81, n. 11
Crown Inn, Holbom, 241 ; 241, n. 4 ; 250
Friars Austins, 208, n. 55
Fumival's Inn. See sub Fumivallys
George, The, Fleet Street, 114, n. 4
Gild, Telde Hall, 82 ; 262, n. 2 ; 263, n.8
Gray's Inn, cviii, 95, n. 2
Lincoln's Inn, 7, n. 7 ; 187, n. 4 ; 193,
n. 2; 237, n. 4; 238, nn. 5, 6;
254, n. 6
Ludgate, 71, 73, 80, n. 8 ; 84, 92
Mercers' School, College Hill, 246, n. 6
Newgate, 81, n 11
Northumberland House, St. Martin's-
in-the-Fields, 96 ; n. 5
Northumberland House, St Martin's-
le-Grand, 96, n. 5
Queen's Head Tavem, Fleet Street,
254, n. 6
St. Martin's-le-Grand, oxiv, 96, n. 5 ;
242, n. 6 ; 263, 263, n. 8 ; 271, 282
St. Paul's Cathedral, Ixxxvi, 164, n. 3
St. Peter ad Vincula in the Tower,
254, n. 6
Saracen's Head, Carter Lane, 136, n. 6
Sarynshed (Saracen's Head), Flet
Strete, 136
Savoy, The, 115, 116
Spital, The, cxxxix
Sterre, Star, The (Bread Street), 80, 85
Temple Bar, 55, n. 9 ; 114 ; 114, n. 4
Temple, Inner, cviii ; 131, n. 4 ; 172, n.
5; 175, n. 2
Temple, New, 175, n. 2
Temple Wharf, 175, n. 2
Thavies Inn, Holbom, 246, n. 6
Ton Tavem, The (Thames Street), 85
Tower, The, Ixxvi, xciii ; 81, n. 13 ; 117,
n. 3 ; 171, n. 4 ; 172, n. 5 ; 254, n. 6
London, Chamberlain of, 85 ; 85, n. 41
London, City of, xxxiii, xxxiv; xxxriii,
n. 3; Ixix, Ixxxvi, Ixxxvii, oix, oxxx,
oxxxv, cxxxvii, cxxxviii, cxli, cxlii,
cxliii ; cxliii, n. 2 ; cxliv, cxlvii, oxlviii,
cl, 2, 36, 37; 62, n. 3; 71, 72;
72, nn. 10, 11; 73-75; 75, n. 8; 76-
81; 81, nn, 11, 13; 82-86, 88-91;
91, n. 7; 92; 92, n. 21; 93-96, 101.
135; 135, n. 5; 147, n. 42; 162; 169,
n. 2; 171, n. 4; 175, n. 2; 179; 179.
n. 6 ; 180, n. 14 ; 181, n. 17 ; 185, 193 ;
204, n. 18 ; 208, n. 55 ; 220, n. 7 ; 221,
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
325
n. 11 ; 228, 241 ; 242, nn, 6, 9 ; 254,
n. 6; 262; 263, n. 8; 264, 265; 270,
n. 2; 271,276,279,280,282
London Ck)mpanies :
Cowpers, 283, n. 3
Founders, oliii, 262 ; 262, nn. 1, 2, 4
263; 263, nn.5, 6; 264; 264, nn, 9, 10;
265 ; 265, nn. 12, 15 ; 266 ; 266, nn. 1,
2-4; 267, 269, 270, 271, 279, 288
Goldsmiths, 81, n. 11
Ironmongers, 83, n. 20
Leathersellers, clii
Mercers, 246, n. 6
Merchant Taylors, 3, n. 2 ; 98, n. 27
Parish Clerks, 136, n. 6
Skinners, 81, n. 13 ; 83, n. 19
Vintners, 85, n. 40
London, Mayor of, xi ; cxlix, n. 8 ; 73, 74,
78, 79, 80, 81 ; 81, n. 13 ; 82 ; 85, n. 37 ;
87, n. 54 ; 88, n. 59 ; 89, 90 ; 91, n. 10 ; 92,
93 ; 93, n. 27 ; 94 ; 119, n. 8 ; 272, n. 4
London, Parishes of :
Alhalowes, Honey Lane, 237, n. 2
All Hallows, Barking, 85, n. 38
All Hallows de Bredestrete, 169, n. 2
Crossed Fryars, 117, n. 3
Freers Prechours, The, 62, n. 3
St. Benet, Powlys Warff, 62, n. 3
St. Clement's without Temple Barre,
St. Clement Danes, oxxxviii, 114, 115,
116, 117 ; 117, n. 1 ; 175, n. 2
St. Dunstone in thest, St. Dunstan's in
the East, 87, n. 54 ; 94, n. 32
St. Ethelburga, Bishopsgate, 179, n. 7
St. Lawrence, Old Jewry, 85, n. 37;
117, n. 2; 263, n. 5
St. Margaret's, Lothbury, 262, n. 4; 271,
n. 10; 279
St. Martyn*s, 96
St. Mary-at.Hille, 83, n. 20; 91, n. 11
St. Mary Wohioth, 93, n. 27
St. Michael, Comhill, 93, n. 27
St. Sepulcre withoute Newgate, 193
St. Stephen, Colman Strete, 88, n. 59
St. Thomas of Aeon, 71. n. 5
St. Thomas thaposteU, 115 ; 115, n. 13
London, Port of, 81, n. 13 ; 84, 87, 90, 92,
93,94; 170, n. 3; 254, n. 6
London, Sheriffs of (and Middlesex), cxlix,
n. 8 ; 71-83, 85, 87-90 ; 91, nn. 10, 11 ;
92, 282
London, Streets of, &c. :
Back Alley, Hatton Garden. See Back
Back Hill, Hatton Garden. See Back
London, Streets of, &c. (continuedj :
Bread Street, 80, n. 9 ; 81, n. 11 ; 85
Bucklersberg (Bucklersbury), 84
Cannon Street, 246, n. 6
Carter Lane, 136, n. 6
Clerkenwell Boad. See Clerkenwell
College Hill, 246, n. 6
Colmanstrete, 279
Fleet, The River, 136, w. 6
Fleet Street, Fletstrete, Fletestreete, cix,
136
Holborn. See Holburne
Knightrider Street, 115, n. 13
Leather Lane. See Leather
Liver Lane. See Liver
Smethefield, Smithfield, cxxx, 164, n. 2
Star Court, 80, n. 9
Themys, Thames Street, 85; 85, n.
40
Watling Street, 80, n. 9
Wood Street, 81, n. 11
Long, John, 123, n. 7
Long, Margaret (n^ Wayte), 123, n. 7
Long, Margery {nSe Darell), 123, n. 7
Long, Thomas, 123 ; 123, n. 7
Longe, Richard, 2, 3, 4
Longesp^e, William de (Earl of Salisbury),
119, n. 7
Longford, Dorothy, 54, n. 3
Longford, Joan, 58, n. 8
Longford, Sir Nicholas, 58, n. 8
Longford, Sir Ralph, 54, n. 3
Lostwithiel (Cornwall), 131, n. 4
Louis 9 (St. Louis) of France, xxv
Louis 12 of France, 172, n. 5
Lovel, Family of. See Lovel, Morley,
de la Pole
Lovel, Francis, Viscount Lovel, E.G., 49,
n.8
Lovel, Sir William, Lord Lovel de Morley.
See Morley
Lovelace, William, Serjeant-at-Law, liv;
Iv, n. 1
Lovell, Sir Francis, 172, n. 5
Lovell, Lovel, Sir Thomas, K.G., xlii ; 175,
n. 2 ; 254, n. 6
Low Countries. See Netherlands
Ludington, Lodinton (Warwickshire), 88,
n.2
Ludlow (Salop), xoiv
Lumberd*, Lumbard, John, alias Marke
John, 89, 90
Luter, Luther, Roger, ozl, n. 1 ; 203 ; 203,
n. 11 ; 206
326
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
Lather, Mariir, Ixxxiv
Lychfeld, Lichfeld, John, xxix, 275, 276,
277. 278 ; 278, n. 7
Lye Abbatis (Abbot's Leigh), 28; 28,
n. 19 ; 32
Lye, John, 201 ; 201, n. 6
Lye, Lodovic, 179, n. 6
Lye, Riohard. See Shrewsbury, Abbots of
Lygon, Ann {ri^e Beauohamp), 216, n. 3
Lygon,. Elizabeth (formerly Giffard and
Alkok), 216, n. 3
Lygon, Sir Bichard, 216, n. 3
Lygon, Lygen, Ligon, Legon, Thomas,
cUli, 215 ; 216, n. 8 ; 219, 224
Lygon, William, 216, n. 8
Lymcombe, Lynoombe (Somerset), 31 ; 31,
n. 40 ; 35
Lyncell, Walter, 32, 36
Lyncoln, — , cxxxix
Lyndwood, W^illiam, Ixxxvi
Lyngam, Lingam, Lyngham, Gryffith,
206 ; 206, n. 38 ; 207, 208
Lyngam, Sir — , 204 ; 204, n. 23
Lyngen, John, 235, n. 5
Lyngen, Sir John (the elder), oliii ; 235, n. 5
Lyngen, Sir John (the younger), cliii ;
234, n. 5 ; 285
Lynn (Norfolk), 88. n. 62 ; 143, n. 27
Lyster, Bichard (of Shrewsbury), cxl, n. 1
Lyster, Richard, S-G, 172, n. 6
Macclesfield (Cheshire), 93, n. 27
Mackworth Inn, alias Bernard's Inn
(Holborn, Middlesex), 246, n. 6
Mackworth, John, 246, n. 6
Madeley, Madley, John, cxxi, cxxii, 54,
56, 67, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67,
68.69
Madeley, Thomas, 68
Madeley, William, 69
Madeley v. Fitzherbert, xxix, xxx, xxxii,
Ixvi, cxx-cxxii. 54-69
Madresfield (Worcestershire), 216, n. 3
Maidstone. See Maydeston
Malmesbury (WUts), Abbey of St. Aldehne
at, cxxiii, cxxiv, cxxvi, cxxvii, cliii,
cliv, 46; 45, n. 2; 47; 49. n. 8; 118.
119 ; 119. n. 8 ; 121, 126, 127, 128
Malmesbury, Abbot of :
CJolem, William de (? 1260-1296), cxxix
Persore, Robert or Roger (1424-1434),
cxxiv ; 33, n. 7 ; 118 ; 118, n. 3 ; 124
Bristow, Thomas (? 1434^1456), 118,
n. 3
Malmesbury, Abbot of {continued) :
Andover. John (1466-1462). 118, n. 3
Aylie, Aylee, John (1462-1479), cxxiii,
cxxiv, cxxv-cxxix ; 45, n. 5 ; 47 ; 47,
n. 1 ; 118, iu 3 ; 119 ; 119, n. 8 ; 124,
125, 127. 128
Olveston, Thomas (1479-1609). xiii,
xxiv, xxix, cxxvi, cxxvii, cxxviii,
cxxix, 47; 47.n. 16; 118; 118, n. 3 ;
119-126; 202. n. 9
Frampton. Richard (1609-1539), cxxvi
Mahnesbury, Borough of, 119. 120 ; 121,
n. 3 ; 123. 124; 12*; n. 10 ; 128
Malpas, Philip. 92. n. 21
Malpas, Philippa. 92. n. 21
Malshanger (Hants), 62, n. 3
Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne, 166, n. 1
Manchester (Lancashire), Collegiate
Church of. 238. n. 11
Manewden. Manuden (Essex), 88, 7U 59
Mansel Gamage (Herefordshire), 235, n. 4
Mapulton, Mapleton (Derbyshire), 68 ; 68,
n. 7
Marbray. — , 128
Marchinton. Marchington (Staffordshire),
59. n. 1
Marchyngton under Nedewode (Stafford-
shire). 64, n. 2
Mardersey (? Mauvesyn Ridware, Stafford-
shire), cxxxi
Mareschal, Le, John, cxxxi
Margaret of Savoy, Regent of the Nether-
lands, 108, n. 9 ; 216, n. 2
Margaret, the Lady. Countess of Rich-
mond and Derby, 44. n. 11
Marillac. Charles de, cxxxix
Marrak, Morocco, Straits of, 62, n. 8
Marshall, Elizabeth, 54, n. 3
Marshall, John, 54, n. 3 ; 70, n. 6
Marshall, Thomas, 167
Martin 5, Pope, Ixxxv, n. 1
Martin, Robert, 81, n. 13
Martin, St., Family of, 81, n. 13
Martin, Thomas, 81, n. 13
Martyn, John, 1
Martyn, Walter, 81, n. 13
Martyn, Sir William, cliii, 81 ; 81, n. 13 ;
85, n. 37
Mary Magdalen, St. (Holloway), 20, n. 3
Mary Tudor, Queen of France, 172, ti. 5
Mathern (Monmouthshire), 137, n. 2
Maud, Empress, 215, n. 1
Maydeston, Maydenstone, Maidstone
(Kent), 272, nn. 3, 5
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
327
Maydeston, Maidstone (Kent), All Saints
or All Hallows College at, oxxii, 271 ;
271, n. 2 ; 272 ; 272. n. 6 ; 274
Maydeston, Maidstone (Kent), St. Mary's
Church, 272 ; 272, n. 3
Mayne, William, 129, 130
Mayne and Others v. Qibbes and Others,
xxvii, 129, 130
Mayowe, Mayew, Mayo, Biohard, xlii;
193, n. 2
Meghen, Banff, 204
Mellis (Mells, Somerset), 32
Melyn, Waltre, 237
Mercer, Merser, Meroere, John, 106, 107,
109, 111, 112, 113
Merchant Taylors' Company, London, 15,
n. 2
Merioneth, County of, Ixii, n. 7
Merivale, Maryvale (Shrewsbury), 185, n.
5 ; 192
Merkhalle, alias Latton Merk (Essex),
Manor of, 170, n. 3
Meiser, Thomas, 107, 111 ; 111, n. 1
Mersey, River, 251, n. 9
Mery, John, 155
Metcalf, Baufe, 259
Metecalff, Metcalf, William, Wylliam,
245, 246, 248
Metkalff, Metcalf, John, 70; 70, n. 6
Mewshaue (Meshaw, Devon), 7, n. 7
Mewtis, Mewtys, Mewtes, Meautis, John,
xii, cxlii; 193, n. 2; 199, n. 6; 208;
208, n. 55
Middlesex, County of, ovi ; 62, n. 3 ; 75 ;
75, n. 3; 115; 170, n. 3; 171, n. 4;
175, n. 2 ; 208, n. 55 ; 254, n. 6
Midlands, The, 144, n, 28
Milford Haven (Pembrokeshire), 64, n. 2
Mill, William, Clerk of the Star Chamber,
xi, XX, xxxix, xli ; xlii, n. 4 ; Ixvii
Minster Lovell (Oxfordshire), xvii
Miskin, Higher (Glamorganshire), 143, n,
27
Mitton, Alen, Alyn, 202, 207. See also
Mytton
Mochgood, John, 120
Mochegoode, Walter, 123
Molton (Devon), 150, n. 60
Monehede (Staffordshire), 64, n. 2
Monington, Sibilla (afterwards Morton),
235, n. 4
Montgomery, de, Roger or de Beimels,
182, n. 2. See also Mountgomery
Monyngton, Sir Thomas, 217, n. 5
Moore, John, liii
Morchard (Devon), 150, n. 60
More, Thomas (of Cheddar), 23 ; 23, n.
13 ; 26, 34
More, Sir Thomas, 172, n. 5 ; 238, n. 10
Morecambe (Lancashire), civ
Mores, Mathew, 278
Morley, Alice Lovel, Baroness Morley, 15,
n.2; 16
Morley, Eleanor (Alianore) Lovel, Lady,
16 ; 16, n. 5 ; 17
Morley, Henry Lovel, Lord, 15, n. 2 ; 17,
n. 7
Morley, Henry Parker, Lord, 15, n. 2
Morley, Robert de Morley, Lord, 16, n. 5
Morley, Sir William Lovel, Lord, 16 ; 16,
n. 5 ; 17
Mortain, Mortagne, Earl of, John (after-
wards King John), 220, n. 5
Mortival, Boger de, Bishop of Salisbury,
36, n. 2
Morton (Salop), xc, xci
Morton, Elizabeth (tUe Pembruge), 235,
n. 4
Morton, John, Cardinal, Chancellor, Ixiv ;
68, n. 7 ; 84 ; 84, n. 22 ; 114 ; 114, n. 2 ;
235, n. 4 ; 238, n. 10
Morton, Bichard, 235, n. 4
Morton, Bowland, 234 ; 235, n. 4
Morton, Sibilla {n4e Monington), 235, n. 4
Morton, Thomas, Archdeacon, 236 ; 236,
n. 11
Mortymer, Thomas, xxvii, n. 1
Mosae, John, 109, 111
Mosse, Bobert, 107 ; 107, n. 2; 108, n. 9 ;
109, 111
Mosse, Thomas (the elder), 107 ; 107, n.
2; 108, n. 9; 111, 113
Mosse, Thomas (the younger), 109
Mossegrave, Musgrave, Qylberd, 107
Mountgomery, Montgomery, Helen or
Ellen, 58, n. 8
Mountgomery, Montgomery, Joan, Lady
{nie Haddon), 58, n. 8
Mountgomery, Montgomery, Joan, Lady
{rUe Longford), 58, n. 8
Mountgomery, Montgomery, Sir John, 58,
n. 8
Mountgomery, Montgomery, Sir Nicholas,
cliii, 58 ; 58, n. 8 ; 60
Mountgomeiy, Montgomeiy, Sir Nicholas
(of Leigh, Staffordshire and Cubley,
Derbyshire), 58, n. 8
Mountjoy, John Blount, Lord, "64, n. 2
S28
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
Mounijoy, Walter Blount, Lord, 64, n. 2
Mowbray, Anne (afterwards Duchess of
York), 234, n. 2
Mowbray, Roger de, 253, n. 4
Moyle,MoyeU, —,239, 241, 243, 244, 248,
249, 253
Moyle, Sir Walter, J. of C.P., 258, n. 23
Mury, John, 145
Mury, Baffe, 140
Musgrave, Great (Westmoreland), 108, n.
9 ; 110, n. 10
Musgrave, Alice, Lady {nie Batcliff ), 108,
n. 9
Musgrave, Sir Edward, oviii, 108 ; 108, n.
9 ; 110 ; 110, n. 8 ; 114
Musgrave, Joan Lady ( neS Ward), 108,
n. 9
Musgrave, Sir Richard, 108, n. 9 ; 256,
n. 7
Musgrave, Sir William, 108, n. 9
Mussegrave, Musgrave, Gylberd a, 110,
113
Myddle (Salop), zcii, n. 1
Myddle Castle (Salop), xci, xciii
Myddylmore, Myddelmore, Mydelmore,
Middelmore, Middlemor, Mydmore,
Midmore, — , 239-241, 243, 244, 246,
248, 249, 253
Myldwater, Eleanor (afterwards Lady
Lyngen), 236, n. 5
Myldwater, Thomas, 235, n. 5
Myrthwayte, Morthwayte, Morthewayte,
William, 107 ; 108, n. 9 ; 109, 110, 111
Mytton (of Garth), Family of, 185, n. 7
Mytton, Mitton, Richard, 185, n. 7 ; 205
Mytton, Thomas, 185, n. 7
Mytton, Mutton, Mitton, William, 185, n.
7 ; 190, n. 6 ; 202, n. 2 ; 203, 204 ; 205,
n. 28 ; 206, 207
Naynow, WiUiam, 82, 84, 85
Nedewode (Staffordshire), 64, n. 2
Nele, Nede, John, 143, 151, 157, 161. 162
Nescliffe, Nesscliffe (Salop), xc, xci
Netherlands, Low Ck)untrieB, cli
Netherlands, Regent of the, Margaret of
Savoy, 108, n. 9
Netheway, William, 125, n. 14
Nevill, Henry, 94
Nevill, Joan {tUe Fumival), 237, n. 4
Nevill, Ralph, Earl of Westmoreland, 237,
n.4
Nevill, Richard, Lord Latimer, 107, n. 3 ;
256, n. 7
Newberye, Newbury (Berks), 172, n. 5
Newcastle-on-Tyne (Northumberland),
254, n. 6
Newenham, James, Ixxvii
Newington (Surrey), 91, n. 11
Newman, John, 127
Newman, John, alias Elys, 227-230
Newnton, Newynton (Wilts), exxix, 122 ;
123, n. 1 ; 127, 128
Newton, Peter, 179, n. 5
Nightingal, Thomas, 273, n. 6
Norbury (Derbyshire), 54 ; 54, nn. 2-4 ;
63, n. 4
Nordon, John, 87 ; 87, n. 57 ; 88
Nores, John, 18, 19
Norfolk, County of, 16, 50
Norfolk, Dukes of. See Howard
Normandy, Ixxv, Ixxvi ; cxxxviii, n. 5 ;
220, n. 5
Norman artisans in England, cxxxviii
Norris, Sir John, 138, n. 6
Norrys, Elizabeth (afterwards Dalabere),
234, n. 2
Norrys, Henry, 234, n. 2
Northampton, County of, 44, n. 10; 64, n. 2
Northampton, Earl of (Henry Howard),
xxxiv, n. 2 ; 96, n. 5
Northford (Devon), 129
Northstoke, Northstocke, North Stoke
(Somerset), Ixxxiii, 31 ; 31, n. 39 ; 35
Northumberland, County of, cxx; 108, n. 9
Northiunberland, Earls of. See Percy
North wod (Salop), xcii
Norwich, Bishopric of, 51, n. 7
Norwich, City of, xxiii, clii, diii ; 206, n. 35
Norwich, Earls of (Goryng), 95, n. 2
Norwich, Free School, 51, n. 7
Nottingham, Notyngham, County of, cxx ;
58, n. 8 ; 63, n. 4
Notyngham, Robert de, cxxxi
Obley, Obleigh, William, 8 ; 8, n. 12
0*Connell, Daniel, xlvii, n. 1
Ocoure, Oakover (Staffordshire), 68, n. 8
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, 167, n 2 ; 227, n. 8
Ogle, Lord (Robert Ogle), xix
Okers, Oker, John, 68
Okers, Kateryn (rUe Vemey), 68
Oldeston (qu. Olveston or Orlston, Glou-
cestershire), 29; 29, n. 26; 83, 119,
n. 10
Olveston, Thomas, Abbot of Malmesbury.
See sub Malmesbury, Abbots of
Orcop (Herefordshire), 235, n. 5
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
329
Ormonde, Earl of. See Batler
Orton (qa. Water Orton, Warwickshire),
41 ; 41, n. 5 ; 43
Oseley, Bicherd, 207
Ossalston (Middlesex), 164, n. 3
Oswestry, Oswestrie (Salop), xc, xoii
Otrye, Oterey (Ottery St. Mary, Devon),
xxxiv, n. 1 ; xzxvii, n. 2 ; 12, n. 39
Ottoboni, Otho, Cardinal, Ixxxv, Izzxix,
Ixxxix, n. 1 ; 167, n. 2
Oulton (Cheshire), 80, n. 3
Owen (Thomas), J. of C.P., 102, n. 17
Oxford, Colleges of :
Gloaoester, 137, n. 2
Merton, xlii
New, Ixxxiii
St. John Baptist, 8, n. 2
St. Mary Magdalen, xlii, 193, n. 2
Oxford, Oxenford, Coanty of, 137, n. 2 ;
138; 138, n. 6; 145, n. 33; 147, 150,
154 ; 155, n. 8 ; 162 ; 172, n. 6
Oxford, Earl of, John de Vere, 64, n. 2
Oxford, John, 146
Oxford, Town of, 137, n. 2; 145; 145,
n. 34 ; 172, n. 6
Oxford, University of, cxxiii, 65, n, 9;
80, n. 1 ; 96, n. 6 ; 138, n. 6 ; 155, n. 8
Oxhey (WUts), 45
Page, Watkyn, 2 2
Pakefeld (Suffolk), 73, n. 2
Pakefeld, Thomas, 50, n. 3
Pakton (Somerset), 27, n. 14
Pahner, Richard, 282
Palmer, William, of Burnfordyelde (Wor-
cestershire), 224
Palmer, William, of Upton Warren (Wor-
cestershire), 223
Paris (France), City of, 64, n. 2
Parke, Parkes. See Sparke, Edmund
Parker, Gefferey, 46, 47, 49
Parker, Henry, 114, n. 4
Parker, alias Sena, John, 266 ; 266, n. 3 ;
269, 270
Parker, Matthew, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, Ixxxv, Ixxxvii, Ixxxviii
Parker, Sir William, 16 ; 15, n. 2 ; 16, 17
Parker r. the Duke of Suffolk, xii, xiii,
xiv, Ixxviii, 15-18
Parre, WiUiam, 18, 19
Parshore, Pershore (Worcestershire), 136
Parson, John, 128
Parys, — , 23, 33, 36
Parsys, Edward, 204
Passand, Family of, 204, n. 26
Passeffant, John, 204 ; 204, n. 26
Paston, John, 171, n. 4
Paston, Sir John, xxxviii, n. 3
Patenson, Patynson, John, 109, 114
Paunfeld, Thomas, oxxiv, n. 8
Payn, John, 270
Payne, John, 32, 36
Peak, Pek, The (Derbyshire), 43 ; 43, n. 3 ;
130, 71. 2
Peokham, John, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, 119, n. 7
Peere, Bicherd, 206
Pembruge, Elizabeth (afterwards Morton),
235, n. 3
Pendregyst, Pendregist, Thomas, 129, 130
Penford, Pensford (Somerset), 31 ; 31, n. 44
Penhall, Thomas, 1
Penreth (Cumberland), 108, n. 9
Paper Harowe (Surrey), 62, n. 3
Perceval, Percival, Peroevale, Sir John,
93 ; 93, n. 27 ; 94
Perceval, Boger, 93, n. 27
Perceval, Thomasina, Lady, 93, n. 27
Percy, Ann, 29, n. 21
Percy, Family of, 95, n. 2 ; 96, n. 6
Percy, Henry (Hotspur), 96, n. 6
Percy, Henry, first Earl of Northumber-
land, ciii
Percy, Henry, third Earl of Northumber-
land, 29, n. 21
Percy, Henry Algernon, fifth Earl of
Northumberland, xxiv; xxviii, n. 1;
cxiv, oxv, cxvii-cxx, 95, 96 ; 96, n. 3 ;
97-102 ; 102, n. 17 ; 103-105
Perkynson, Thomas, 266, 269, 270
Persore, Bobert or Boger, Abbot of Mal-
mesbury, 118; 118, n. 3 ; 119
Petre, Dr. William (Sir W. Petre), cxxvi
Petworth (Sussex), cxiv, cxix, 98, 102
Pewes, Thomas, 192
Phelippe, John, 167
Phellppe, William, 164, n. 2
Philepot, Miohell, 273
Philip, King of Castille, 187, n. 11
Picroste, — , xlviii
Piddleton. See Pudelton
Piers, Bichard, 222
Pipe, Pype, Margaret (afterwards Vernon
130, n. 2; 132, n. 9
Pipe (Staffordshire), 57, n. 5
Plantagenet, Arthur. See Lisle
Plantagenet, Edward. See Warwick
Plantagenet, George. See Clarence
330
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
Plantagenet, Humphrey. See Humphrey
Plantagenet, Isabel. See Clarence
Plantagenet, Bichard, Ixxviii
Plantagenet, Biohard. See Tork
Playters, Thomas, 171, n. 4
Plommer, John, 277
Plompton, Sir Bobert, 266, n. 7
Plowden (Edmund), liy
Plowlondbodham (Ploughlands, West-
moreland), 110
Plymmouth,Plimmoth, Plymouth (Devon-
shire), 6, n. 2 ; 22 ; 22, n. 8 ; 26, 34 ;
62, n. 3
Pole, Poole (Dorset), Port of, 6, n. 2
Pole (? Salop), xci
Pole, Balph, 130, n. 2
Pole, Elizabeth de la. Lady Morley, 15,
n. 2
Pole, John de la, Earl of Lincoln, 130,
?i. 2 ; 215, n. 2 ; 234, n. 2
Pole, John de la, second Duke of Suffolk,
xii-xiv, xxlv, XXV, 15 ; 16, n. 3
Pole, William de la, first Duke of Suffolk,
cxxi ; 16, n. 3 ; 170, n. 3
Pole, Giles, cxxvi
Pole, Sir William, 251, n. 9
Polesworth, William, 196, n. 3
PoUard, Bichard, 171, n. 4
Poole, Nether (Lancashire), 251, n. 9
Poole, Pole, Sir Bandall, 251. See also
Pole
Pope, Bicherd, oxl, n. 1 ; 203 ; 203, n. 13
Popham, Sir John, A-G, oxlviii, w. 6
Porte, John, 175, n. 2
Porter, Bichard, 128
Porter, WiUiam, 215 ; 215, n. 11
Portugal, Portungale, 93
Powderham (Devon), 7, n. 7
Powe, Family of, 227, n. 3
Powe, Thomas, 227-230
Powe v. Newman, xvii, xxix, Ixxxv,
Ixxxviii, 227-230
Powes, Thomas, 206, 207
Powick (Worcestershire), 216, n. 3
Powis, Bichard Grey, Lord, xo
Powys, Land of, Ixiii
Poyntz, Sir Anthony, 7, n. 7
Poyntz, Elizabeth, 7, n. 7
Preston, Priston (Somerset), Ixxxiii, 30 ;
30, n. 37 ; 36 ; 35, n. 1
Prestwood, Prestwode (Staffordshire), 55,
n. 6 ; 67
Proctor, Sir Stephen, xxxiv, n. 2
Prussia, The Master of, xxi, n. 3
Pudelton, Piddleton (Dorset), 81, n. 13
Pulle, William, cxii
Purchase, John, 85, n. 37
Parches, Purchase, Purohaoe, Purchs,
William, 85 ; 86, nn, 37, 38 ; 93, 94
Purser, Pursell, Purcell, Biohard, cxl, n. 1
204 ; 204, n. 17
Putney, Puttenhith (Surrey), 86, n. 38
Pymhill, Hundred of (Salop), xcv, n. 2
Pynchbeke, Bobert, 270 ; 270, n. 3
Pynner, Bichard Yemans, 185, 192, 203 ;
203, n. 16 ; 206 ; 206, n. 37 ; 208
Pynson and Others v. Squyer and Others,
XV, XXV, xxix, xxxii, cxxxvii, 114-118
Pynson, Bycharde, cxxxviii ; cxxxviii,
n.5; 114; 114, n. 4; 116-118
Pypar, William, 207
Pyrton (Wilts), 172, n. 6
Pyvenhill (Wilts), 172, n. 6
Quykkeshull, Quykkyshull, Quykesell,
Qwyekeshill, Quixhall, Quixhill, Qwyx-
hill, Quiksull, Quyksull, Quiokholl
(Staffordshire), 54; 64, n. 2; 55, 55,
n. 6 ; 57, 67, n. 5 ; 69 ; 68, wn. 3, 5
Quynt, — , 137
Badmyld, Margaret (the elder), 95, n. 2
Badmyld, Margaret (the younger). See
Goryng
Badmyld, Sur William, oxviii, cxix
Banwicke, John, 109
Batcliff, Alice, 108, n. 9
Batdiff, Sir Bichard, 108, n. 9
Batcliffe on Soar (Notts), 29, n. 21
Bayneford, Humfrey, 72, n. 10
Baynoldes, Thomas, 204
Beading (Berks), 172, n. 6
Becord Office, PubUc, xi, n. 2 ; xii, li, cUt
Bede, Bead, Sir Bobert (Francis), O.J.C.P.,
xxxv-xxxvii, 80, n. 2 ; 187 ; 187, n. 4 ;
188, n. 12 ; 199, n. 2
Bemyngton, Bennington, Sir William, 91;
91, fu 11
Bennyngton, Bobert, 91, n. 11
Beppys, Beppes, altM Bugge, William
(Bishop of Norwich), 51, n. 7
Bequests, Court of, xvi, xvii, Ixxxv, oxviii ;
44, n. 11
Bevell, Bichard, 64, n. 2
Beynoldes, Bichard, 147, 151
Bichard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester,
Protector (afterwards Bichard 3), 7, n»
7 ; 15, TU 2 ; 234, iu 2
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
331
llichard 1, cxlvii ; 59, n. 1 ; 180, tu 8 ;
221, n. 11
Bichard 2, xxii, Ixiv, Ixv, Ixxxi, xcvii ; 69,
?u 1 ; 180, iu 13 ; 213, n. 18 ; 272, nn,
3,5
llichard 3, xii ; Iv, n. 1 ; Ivii, tu 2 ; Ixii, iu
7 ; Ixxiii, Ixxvi, Ixxvii, Ixxviii, xciii ;
cxxxY, n. 4 ; oliii ; 6, n. 2 ; 15, n. 2 ; 82 ;
58, n. 8 ; 64, tu 2 ; 69, n. 11 ; 81, n. 13 ;
83 ; 94, n. 32 ; 96, n. 5 ; 131, n. 4 ; 155,
iL 8 ; 160, n. 24 ; 211, n. 9 ; 215, n. 2 ;
216, n. 3 ; 235, n. 5 ; 272, iu 4
Richardson, Bichard, 107
Bichardson (Thomas), Serjeant-at-Law, Iv
Richmond (Surrey), 237, n. 14
Richmond (Yorks.), 254, n. 6
Rillyngton (Westmoreland), 257, 7U 9
Rivers, Earl. See Wydeville
Robert, Sir, 29, 33, 35
Rogers, Elizabeth (afterwards Lady
Essexe), 172, n. 5 ; 176, n. 6
Rogers, Sir John, 172, n. 5
Rogers, Katharine, 7, n. 7
Rogers, Margaret (afterwards Essexe), 172,
n. 5
Rogers, Thomas (Serjeant-at-Law), 7, n^ 7
Bogers, Thomas, 172, n. 5
Bogers, William, 172, n. 5
Bollright, Little (Oxfordshire), 137, n. 2 ;
156, n. 9
Bome (Italy), Ixxxvi ; 254, n, 6
Borne, John, xxiv, n. 1
Boo, John, 265
Boote, Elizabeth (n^ Butterwyk), 169,
171, 172, 173, 177
Bote, William, 169, n. 2
Botherham, Thomas, Abp. of Tork, Chan-
cellor and P.S., xlviii
Botherwas (Herefordshire), 217, n. 4
Boan, Boaen (Normandy), Ixxv
Bowoester, Bocester, Boaoester, Bocettor
(Staffordshire), 54, n. 2 ; 58 ; 68, n. 7 ;
68 ; 68, n. 6 ; 69
Bowse, Thomas, 237
Bowsse, John le, cxxxviii, n. 5
Bowton (Salop), 204, n. 18
Bndoliis, Laurentius de, Ixxxv
Bagge {alias Beppys, Beppcs), William,
Bishop of Norwich, 51, n. 7
Bunbaldyswyke (Sussex), 172, n. 5
Bun well, Bichard, 8 ; 8, 7i. 11
Bydon, Boydon, Bobert, xii, Ixix, cxli,
130; 188, n. 12; 198; 193, n, 2; 196,
n. 2 ; 199, n. 6
Bympyngden, John, 265
Byppyngden, John, 265, n. 14
Byse (East Torks), 254, fu 6
Sacheverell, Sir Bichard, 29, n. 21
St Alban's (Herts), exxxvii, oxxxix
St. Augustine, Iv ; 20, n. 2
St Augustyn, Seynt Austyn (Canterbury),
Abbey of, cliv, 20 ; 20, ti, 2 ; 21-26
St Augustyn, Seynt Austyn (Canterbury),
Abbot of, xxiv, 20; 20, m 2; 21-27,
32, 33
St Augustyn, Canterbury, Abbot of, v.
Bath, Prior of, xxv, xxix, xxx, xxxii, lii,
liii, 20-36
St. Bennettes of Holme (Norfolk), Abbey
of, XV, xxiv, xxv, 50, 51 ; 51, n. 7
St Bennettes of Holme (Norfolk), Abbots
of, 50 ; 50 n. 3 ; 51
St George, Gild of (Bath), 31, 36
hi. Germans (Cornwall), Prior of, 22,
n. 8
St. John, Elizabeth, 95, n. 2
St John, Family of, cxix, 95, n. 2
St John, Hospital of (Waterford), 29, n.
24
St John of Jerusalem, Prior of the Order
of, xxxvi, xxxviii, xlviii ; 188, n. 12
St Lo, Family of, 30, n. 38
St Martin, Family of, 81, n. 13
St Michael by Blythe (? Staffordshire),
cxxxi
St MichaePs Mount (Cornwall), 64, n. 2 ;
212
St Pancras in the Feld, Parish of (Middle-
sex), oxxx, cxxxi, cxxxii, 164 ; 164, n. 3 ;
165, 166, 168
Salisbury, Bishops of :
Mortival, Boger de, 36, n. 2 ; 37, n.
9
Waltham, John, xxii
Beauchamp, Bichard, 119, n. 8
Deane, Henry, L.E., 71, n. 2 ; 118
Salisbury, Salesbury, Sarum, Sarisbury,
City of, cxxxviii, cxliii, 36, 37; 37,
nn. 9, 10 ; 38, 71 ; 213, n. 18 ; 265, n.
14
Salley, Jameys, 146
Salley, Sawley, Miles, Milys, Abbot of
Eynesham and Bishop of Llandaff, xcv,
137 ; 142, n. 23 ; 152, 154 ; 154, n. 6 ;
155,156; 156, ?i. 9; 157.
Salop, County of, Shropshire, Ixii, Ixiii,
Ixiv, xc-zcii, cxx, cxliv ; 172, n. 5 ;
332
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
183, n. 6; 215, n. 2 ; 221. n. 11 ; 223.
274
Sandeford, Sandefford, John, 264, n. 9;
265, n. 15
Samesfield (Herefordshire), 217, n. 5
Savage, Henry, 18, 19
Savill, Savell, James, 18, 19
Savoy, Margaret of, Hegent of the Nether-
lands, 108, w. 9 ; 215, n. 2
Sawbridgeworth (Herts), 92, n. 21
Sawlay (Derbyshire), 137, n. 2
Sawle, Sale, Salley, Arthur, 137, n. 2
Sawley, Salley (Yorks.), 137, n. 2
Sawyor, alias Welshe, John, 189, 151, 157
Sawyer, John, 259
Scarburgh, Soarburroghe, Robert, 169,
177
Schote, Shote, William, 29, 32, 85
Sclater, Richard, 60
Soot, Thrustan, 207
Scotland, Ivii, 7, n. 3 ; 15, n. 2 ; 206, n.
38 ; 254, 7u 6
Scott, John, 109
Scottishmen, 259
Scrope, Elizabeth, Lady, 215, n. 2
Scrope, Lord (Thomas le Scrope), 215,
n. 2
Scrope, Richard, Abp. of York, xovii
Scryven, Robert, 185, n. 8
Selbome (Hants), 69, n. 11
Sele (Devon), 6, n. 2
Selling, William, Prior of Christ Ghorch,
Canterbory, Ixxviii, n. 2
Sellyng, William, Abbot of St. Augas-
tine*s, Canterbury, Ixxviii, 20, n. 2
Sely, Gely, Richard (the younger), 85, n.
37
Sena, John. See Parker, John
Serjaunt, Thomas, 224
Serle, Richard, 147, 151
Setcole, SetooU, Robert, 263; 263, n. 5;
264, n. 10 ; 265 ; 265, n. 15 ; 266-271,
279-283
Severn, Seveme,Sevam,Saverne, Savome,
Savam, River, xv, xvi, cxlv, cxlvi, cxlvii ;
181, fu 18 ; 209-212, 214, 217, 219, 221 ;
221, n. 11; 222-225
Seyngill, Sengill, William, 1
Shaftesbury (Dorset), 81, n. 18
Shakespeare, Family of, 170, n. 3
Shap (Westmoreland), 257, n. 9
Shapwike Porset), 81, n. 18
Sharpe, Sharp, Richard, 148, 157, 161
Shawe, Robert, 109
Shelton (Salop), 204, lu 20
Shene (Derbyshure), 64, n. 2
Sheppey (Kent), 27, n. 14
Sherborne (Dorset), 81, n. 13
Sherborne, Robert, Bishop of Chichester,
216, n. 2
Sherifehoton, Sheriff Hutton (Yorks. N.R),
254, n. 6
Sheyll, Scella, Scheles, Scheyl, Sheyle,
Seele, Scale (Leicestershke), 132 ; 182,
nn, 9, 10
Shillingford (Devon). 7, n. 7
Shirwood, John, Bishop of Durham, 254,
n. 6
Shoo, Thomas, 18, 19
Shore, Richard, 282
Shothill (Derbyshire), 64, n. 2
Shottesbroke, Alianor, 27, n. 14
Shottesbroke, Sir Robert, 27, n. 14
Shrewsbury, Abbey of, cxxx, cxxxix, cxl ;
179, nn. 6, 7 ; 182, n. 2 ; 183 ; 183, n. 7 ;
188, n. 12 ; 190, 192, 193-198, 200
Shrewsbury, Abbot v. Bailiffs of, xi, xii,
xiv, xvii, xxxi, xxxiii, xxxiv, xxxv, xliv,
xlv, xlviii, xlix, Ixix, Ixx, cxxxvii,
cxx2dx-cxlii, 178-208
Shrewsbury, Abbots of :
Luke de Wenlock, cxxx, 179, n. 7
Richard Lye, xi, xii, xiv, xxxvii,
xxxviii, cxxxix, cxl, cxli, cxlii, 178,
179 ; 179, n. 6 ; 180-186 ; 186, n.
14; 187-190; 190, n. 11; 191-
208 ; 204, n. 18 ; 205 ; 205, n. 29 ;
206-208
Thomas Butler, 183, n. 6
Shrewsbury, Bailiffs of, cxxi, cxxxix, cxl,
cxli, 178, 180-186, 188; 188. n. 12;
189, 190 ; 190, nn. 6, 11 ; 191-196, 198-
201, 205-208
Shrewsbury, Battle of, 96, n. 5
Shrewsbury, Shrowesbury, Shreuysbury,
Shreusberie, Shrowesbury, Schrewes-
bury, Shrewisbury (Salop), Borough of,
xxxiv, Ixix, xcii, cxxix, cxxxix, cxl, cxli,
178; 178, n. 2; 179; 179, nn. 3, 5;
180, 181 ; 181, n. 17; 183. n. 6; 184-
186 ; 186, nn. 12, 16 ; 188 ; 188, n. 12 ;
189, 192, 194, 197-206; 206, n. 88;
219, 220, nn. 7, 8 ; 221, 222 ; 222, n. 14
Shrewsbury, Bridges of :
English or Stone Bridge, Stan-
bruge, Stanbrigge, oxxxiz, cxl ;
180 ; 180, n. 9 ; 181, 188, 184, 192
Shrewsbury, Corporation of, xd
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLA.CES
338
Shrewsbury, second Earl of, John Talbot,
130, n. 2
Shropshire. See Salop
Simnel, Lambert, 215, n. 2 ; 234, n. 2
Sion (Middlesex), oviii, 71, n 6
Skelley, John, 130, n. 2
Skrene, Elizabeth (nSe Ardem), 170, n. 3
Skrene, John, 170, n. 3
Skrevener, Scryvener, Skryvaner, John
(of Exeter), 71, 73. 76, 77, 92, 94. 96
Skryvener, Scryven — (of Shrewsbury),
186 ; 185, n. 8
Slugge, Slougge, Alice, 20, n. 2 ; 28. 32
Slugge, Slugg, John. 91. n. 7 ; 93
Smith, Sir Thomas, xxxix ; xxxix, n. 3 ;
xl
Smyth, Elizabeth, 41-43
Smyth. Richard, 41-44
Smyth, Robert (of Exeter), 86 ; 86. n. 45
Smyth. Robert (of Stanton Harcoart).
141, 143, 161, 156. 157, 159. 161. 162
Smyth V, Broke, xvi. xvii. xix, xxvii. xxix.
Iv, Ixvi, cxxxii. 41-45
Smyth. William. Bishop of Chester (t^.
Coventry and Lichfield), afterwards of
Lincoln. Lord President of Wales, xciii,
56 ; 55, n. 6; 57; 57, n. 5 ; 179, n, 6
Smythe, Sir John. Ivi
Snowdehill (Herefordshire), 234, n. 2
Somersbury (Surrey), 12, n. 39
Somerset, County of, Ixxvi, 7. n. 7 ; 26. 28,
29 ; 172, n. 5
Sothstoke, Sowthstooke. South Stoke
(Somerset), Ixxxiii, 30; 30, n. 35
Soukeman. Richard. 109
Southam (Gloucestershire). 234, n. 2
Southampton, Suthhampton, 62, n. 3;
90, 171, n. 4
Southampton, County of. See Hants
Sowthall, John, 221
Spain, 193. n. 2
Spalding (Lincolnshire), 91, n. 10
Spark, Sparke, Parke, Parkes, Edmund,
Edmond, 141, 143, 151. 154, 156. 169
Sparke. Richard. 151
Spaxton (Somerset), 27, n. 14
Speke, John, Ixxiv, 8, n. 8
Spemore (? Staffordshire), 130. n. 2
Spinell. John, 192
Spondon (Derbyshire). 180. n.'2
Spriston, George, 206
Sprot, John, 273, n. 6
Spurstow, Spristow, Fowkes. Folke, 181,
205
Spynk, Richard, xxiii
Squyer, Swquier, Squier, Squeyer, Herry,
Harre, xxix, xxxii, 114-117 ; 117, n. 1 ;
118
Stafford, Borough of, 66
Stafford, Family of. See Buckingham,
Duke of
Stafford, County of, cxx, cxUy, 54 ; 54, n. 2 ;
57, n. 4 ; 58, n. 8 ; 64, n. 2 ; 68, 132,
n. 6 ; 146, 153, 154 ; 215, n. 2 ; 219, 223
Stafford, Henry and Edward. See Buck-
ingham, Duke of.
Stafford, Humfrey, 64, n. 2 ; 215, n. 2
Stafforshere, Staffordshire, Staffordshyre,
Staffordshere. John, 230; 230, n. 9;
231-234
Stamford (Lincolnshire). 44, n. 10
Standune (Herefordshire). 235, n. 3
Stanley. Family of, 251, n. 9
Stanley, George, Lord Strange, 274, n. 2
Stanley, Jamys. Bishop of Ely. cix. 238 ;
238, nn, 10. 11 ; 239-241, 243-252
Stanley, Jane, Lady Straunge, 274, 275
Stanley, John, 15, n. 2
Stanley, Thomas, first Earl of Derby, 238,
n. 10 ; 274, n. 2
Stanley, Sir William, xciii
Stanton, John, 107
Stanton Harcourt. See Staunton Hare-
court
Stanwell (Middlesex), 62. n. 3
Stapledon, Walter de. Bishop of Exeter,
oxlviii
Staplehill, John, 91, n. 12
Staplehill, Nicholas, 91, n. 12 ; 92
Staplehurst (Kent), 272, n. 4
Star Chamber, Starre Chsumber, Sterre
Chambre, Sterr Chamber, Camera
Stellata. Starryd Chamber, Stere
Chaumbre, The King's Council in the,
ix, X, xi, xii, xiii, xvi, xvii, xvii, n. 8, xxi,
xxii, xxiv, xxviii, xxxii, xxxiv ; xxxiv, n.
1 ; XXXV, xxxvi, xxxvii, xxxviii, xxxix, xl,
xli ; xli. nn, 1. 2 ; xlii, xlii, n. 4 ; xliii ;
xliii, n. 8 ; xliv, xlv, xlvii ; xlvii, n. 1 ;
xlviii ; xlviii, n. 6 ; xlix. 1, li, lii, liii, liv,
Iv ; Iv, n. 1 ; Ivi, Ivii ; Ivii, n. 3 ; Iviii ;
Iviii, nn. 4, 6 ; lix, Ix, Ixii, Ixiv ; Ixiv,
n. 1 ; Ixv, Ixvii, Ixviii, Ixix. Ixx, Ixxi,
Ixxii, Ixxiii, Ixzviii, Ixxix, Ixxx, Ixxxi,
Ixxxii, Ixxxv. xc, xd, xcii, xciii, xov, cii,
cviii, ex, cxiii, cxiv, cxxi, cxxiii, cxxxi,
cxxxii, cxxxv, oxxxvii, cxxxviii, cxl,
cxli, oxlii, oxlvi, cxlvii, clii. cliii ; 46,
334
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
I i
n. 16 ; 72 ; 102, n. 17 ; 122, n. 7 ;
123, n. 1 ; 134, 151 ; 169, n. 23 ; 162,
189 ; 193, n. 2 ; 202 ; 204, n. 25 ; 208,
209, 210, 217, 225, 266 ; 228, n. 14 ;
241, nn. 1, 5 ; 252, n. 20 ; 262, n. 1 ;
264, n. 10 ; 265, n. 15 ; 273
Starkey, Elizabeth, 80, n. 3
Starkey, Hugh, 80, n. 8
Stathum, Nicholas, Bar. of Exch., 170,
n. 3
Staunton Harecoort, Stanton Harooort
(Oxfordshire), xcv ; 188, n. 6 ; 141, 146 ;
156, n. 9 ; 162
Stede, Steed, William, 71 ; 71, nn, 5, 6 ;
72, 73, 76, 77, 92
Stedman, Robert, 107
Stedman, William, 107
Stephen, King, 184, n. 8
Sterre, Starr, John, 9 ; 9, n. 16
Stillington, Robert, Bishop of Bath and
WeDs, Chancellor, xlviii ; 155, n. 8
Stoddart, WiUiam, 107
Stoden, Stoddon, John, xxix, 1-6
Stodham, Stodam, Stoodham, William,
122, n. 7 ; 125 ; 125, n. 16 ; 134 ; 137,
n. 13
Stodham, Stodam, Family of, 125, n. 16
Stoke (Nottinghamshire), Battle of, 91, n.
11 ; 130, n. 2 ; 215, n. 2 ; 234, n. 2
Stoke, Edith (Herefordshire), 236, n. 5
Stoke, North. See Northstoke
Stoke, South. See Sothstoke
Stokelay, Stokeley, Stokley, John, 142,
161, 167, 161, 162
Stokesley, John, Bishop of London, 167,
n. 2
Stokkes, Stokes, Stockes, Stock (Salop),
xc, xcii, xciii, 274
Stokys, Elizabeth, 145, n. 33
Stokys, John, 145, n. 33
Storey, Edward, Bishop of Chichester,
96, n. 3; 97; 97, n. 11 ; 101
Storye, Robert, 270
Stoutyng Hadlowe (Kent), 272, n. 4
Stowche, John, 202
Stow-on-the-Wold, Stow St. Edward
(Gloucestershire), 83, 219
Stowquye (Cambs), 264, n. 6
Stradling, Sir Edward, 230 ; 230, n. 1
Stradling, Stradlyng, Elizabeth, Lady
(n^ Arundel), 230, n. 1
Stradling, Stradlyng, Jennet {nie
Matthew), 230, n. 1
Stradling, Stradlyng, Le Esterling, Sir
Peter, 230, n. 1
Stradling, Stradlyng, Thomas, 230, n. 1
Strange, Straunge, Lord (George Stanley),
274, n. 2
Strange, Lord (John le Strange), Ixii, 274,
n. 2
Strange, Lady, Jaoquetta {nU Wydeville),
274, n. 2
Straunge, Lady, Elizabeth {nie Cobham),
xc ; xc, n. 8
Straunge, Strange, Lady, Jane Stanley,
274 ; 274, n. 2 ; 275
Straunge v. Eenaston, xi, xvii, xviii, xxvi,
xxvii, xlviii, Ixxviii, xc, 274, 276
Stratford (Essex), Abbot of, 92, n. 21
Stratford atte Bowe (Middlesex), 171, n. 4
Stratford-uppon-Avene, Aven, Stratford-
on-Avon, Stretford (Warwickshire),
cliv, 230 ; 230, nn, 4, 8, 9 ; 231, 233 ;
233, n. 1
Stretton-in-the-Field (Leicestershire and
Derbyshu-e), 64, n. 2
Stretton Sugwas (Herefordshire), 217,
n. 5
Strikland, Elizabeth, Lady (afterwards
Cholmeley), 254, n. 6
Strikland, Sir Walter, 254, n. 6
Stub, John, 181, 182
Stubbley (Lancashire), 238, n. 10
Sturgion, Richard, 171, n. 4 ; 178, n. 2
Style, John, 109
Sudley, Lord (Sir Ralph Boteler), 80, n. 2
Suffolk, Charles Brandon, Duke of. See
Brandon
Suffolk, Elizabeth Plantagenet, Duchess
of, 16, n. 3
Suffolk, John de la Pole, second Duke of,
15 ; 16, n. 3
Suffolk, William de la Pole, first Duke of,
16, n. 3
Suffolk's Land (Oxfordshire), 138, n. 6
139, n. 7 .
Surrey, County of, 172, n. 6 ; 208, n. 65 ;
254, n. 6
Surrey, Surre, Thomas Howard, Earl of,
cxx, 97 ; 97, n. 9 ; 101 ; 254, n. 6
Sussex, County of, cxiv, 95, n. 2 ; 98, 102,
103 ; 172, n. 5
Sutton (Oxfordshire), 141
Sutton (Sussex), cxix
Sutton Freene (Herefordshire), 235, n. 5
Sutton, Sir Richard, cviii
Sutton, Thomas, 117 ; 117, n. 2
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
335
Sw&nswiok, Swainswiok (Somerset), 31,
n. 41
Swaynford, Stephen, Stephan, Stephin,
143, 151, 167
Sweteled, MigheU, 86
Sweting, Thomas, 266, 269, 270
Swyllyngton, Alice, 176, n. 2
Swyllyngton, Elizabeth, 176, n. 2
Swyllyngton, George, 176, n. 2
Swyllyngton, Banff, Ralph, Jl-Q, 176;
176, n. 2 ; 176, n. 6
Sydynham, Jenkyn, 127
Sylk, Sylke, WiUiam, 80 ; 80, n. 1 ; 88
Sylk, William (of Bishop's Lynn), 80, n. 1
Symeon, Simeon, Geoffrey, xlii. 276
Symond, Symons, Bobert, 9 ; 9, n. 16
Symons, John, 92, 96
Sympson, Symson, Bobert, 107, 110, 112
Taillour, Bichard, 8, n. 8
Tailor, Thomas, 207
Tailor, William, ox
TayDour, Taillour, Tayler, Taylour {alias
Walshall), John, ziv, Ixxiii, Ixziv, Ixxv,
Ixxvi, 6 ; 6, n. 2 ; 12, 18 ; 13, n. 2 ; 14
Taylor, Bichard (of Shrewsbury), 207
Taylour, Tailour, Bichard (of Kentish
Town), 166, 166
TayUour v, Att Well, xv, xxx, xxxiii
Ixxiii, cxxxvi, 6-16
Temple Bar (London). See London,
Buildings &c.
Temple, Inner. See London, Buildings
A'c.
Tetbury, Tetberie (Gloucestershire), 119,
n. 11; 121, ?i. 3; 126, n. 7; 127
Talbot, Lady Ann, 130, n. 2
Talbot, Awdry, Lady (n4e Cotton), 215,
n. 2
Talbot, Elizabeth, Countess of Shrews-
bury, 216, n. 2
Talbot, Elizabeth, Lady (formerly le
Scrope), 216, n. 2
Talbot, Talbott, Sir Gilbert, Gylbert, K.G.,
216 ; 216, n. 2 ; 218, 224
Talbot, Sir Gilbert (the younger), 216, n. 2
Talbot, Sir Humfrey, 216, n. 2
Talbot, John, 215, n. 2
Talbot, John, second Earl of Shrewsbury,
Ixiii, 130, n. 2 ; 216, n. 2
Tame, Anne (afterwards Harcourt), 138,
n.6
Tame, Biver, 38, n. 3
Tame, William, 138, n. 6
Tapton, Alice, 61, 63
Tapton v. Colsyll, oxxxvi-oxxxvii, 61-64
Tapton, Wylliam, 61
Tate, Francis, xliii, n. 8a
Tatwyke (Somerset), 31, n. 41
Taunton (Somerset), 12, n. 39 ; ISO, n. 2
Tewkesbury (Gloucestershire), Abbey of,
Ixxviii ; 160, n. 67
Tewkesbury, Tewkisbury, Battle of, Ixii,
n, 7 ; cxliv ; 62, n. 3 ; 64, n. 2 ; 220,
234, n. 5
Tewkesbury, Tewkisbury, Town of, oxlv,
221, 222 ; 222, n. 12
Thadyngton (Derbyshire), 71, n. 6
Thames, Biver f Temssyde *), 140; 171,
n. 4
Thavies Inn (Holborn, Middlesex), 246,
n.6
Thenford (Northants), 27, n. 14
Thistelworth, Isleworth (Middlesex), xvii
Thomas, Boger. See Thornes
Thomas, Thonasyn, Tomeson, Thomas,
230, 231, 232, 233, 234
Thompson, Christofer, 107, 109-111, 114
Thomson, William, 267, 260
Thomys, Thomas, Elys, Elis, alias Elis
Jonys, 190, 203, 204, 206, 206
Thornes, Thomis, Thomys, Thomas,
Boger, 200, 206 ; 206, n. 30 ; 207, 208 ;
208, n. 49
Thorpe, Thomas, 207
Thorverton,Thoverton, Torverton (Devon),
cxxxvi, 61 ; 61, n. 2 ; 62
Throckmorton, Sir George, 172, n. 5
Tiberton, Tyverton, Tiverton (Devon),
Ixxv, Ixxvi
Tikcombe (Devon), 129
Titchmarch, Tichmarsh (Northants), 16,
n,6
Titte, Tytte, WilUam, Ixx, cxxi, 147, 151,
162, 163, 164
Tobie, Thomas, 120
Tong (Salop), Castle of, 130, n. 2
Tonge, Thomas, 254, n. 6
Topsham, Topisham (Devon), Ixxiv, Ixxvi,
7, n.6; 8, n. 8; 9, n. 24
Torrington (Devon), 160, n. 60
Totnisse, Totnes, Great (Devon), 129;
129, n. 3
Tonlouse (France), 208, n. 66
Toumay (France), 172, n. 5 ; 230, n. 1
Towker, Thomas, 227, 228 ; 228, n. 14, 229
Treheme, Threheme, John, 162
Treherne v. Harecourt, xv, cxxi, 162 164
336
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
Tremale, Tremaile, Tremayle, Tremajll,
Thomas, Jastioe of K.B., xxxv; xxxv,
n. 1 ; xxxvi, cxix, 60, 67, 99 ; 99, n. 8 ;
103, 187 ; 188, n. 12
Tremworth (Kent), 272 ; 272, n. 6
Trentam, Thomas (the elder), 204 ; 204,
n. 22 ; 205, 206
Trillek (Trelleok, Monmouthshire), 187,
n. 2
Trowman, Phelipp, 219, 221-223
Truro (Cornwall), 212, n. 15
Tudor, Henry, Earl of Bichmond. See
Henry 7
Tudor, Jasper, Duke of Bedford, xciii
Turks, The, 160, n. 24
Tumour, Toumor, Bichard, 1-6
Tutbury, Honour of (Staffordshire and
Derbyshire), 64, n. 2 ; 131, n. 4
Tutbury (Staffordshire), Prior of, 54, n. 4
Tweverton, Twiverton, Twerton, Teyverton
(Somerset), 28 ; 28, n. 20 ; 82
Twyneo, Thweneho, John, 23, 26, 34
Tyburn (Middlesex), 171, n. 4
Tyddeswall, Tideswell (Derbyshire), 132,
n. 10
Tyler, William, 138, n. 6
Tylham, John, 1, 2
Tyndall, — , 246
Tyng, Sir T., xxxviii, w. 3
Tytte, William. See Titte
Ulpian, oxxxvi
Umberleigh (Devon), 150, n. 60
Undurwod, Undyrwood, Undyrwod,
Underwod, Sir Edward, 247, 249, n. 8
Undrell, John, 18, 19
Undrell, Bichard, 18, 19
Uphall (Herts), 92, n. 21
Upton (Leicestershire), 54, n. 3
Upton Cresset (Salop), 197
Upton-on-Sevem (Worcestershire), 6, n. 2
Upton Waryn, Warren (Worcestershire),
215, n. 2 ; 223
Upton, Bichard, 197
Uske (Monmouthshire), 137, n. 2
Uttekcestre, Uttexhater, Uttoxeter, Ut-
toxather (Staffordshire), 64, n. 2
Uttoxather More (Staffordshire), 64, n. 2
Vale, De Valle, Family of, 38, n. 2
Vale, Symon, 38, 40
Vale V, Broke, xvi, Ixvi, cxxxii, 38-40
Valentine, John, 193, n. 2
Vaughan, Vaugham, Waugham, John,
141, 142, 151, 156, 157, 159, 161, 162
Vavisere, Vavasoure, Sir John, Justice
of C. P., 60, n. 9
Venables, William, 265, n. 15 ; 279, 280
Venetians, The, 160, n. 24
Vere, John de, thirteenth Earl of Oxford,
64, n. 2
Vemey, Family of (Bucks and Worcester-
shire), 59, n. 1
Vemey, Family of (Staffordshire), 69, n. 1
Vemey, John, 68
Vemey, Watere or Walter, 59
Vernon, Lady Anne (n4e Talbot), 130, n. 2
Vernon, Helen or Ellen, Lady {rUe Mont-
gomery), 58, n. 8
Vemon, Sir Henry, cxiv, 130 ; 130, n. 2 ;
132 ; 182, nn. 5, 9 ; 134-137
Vernon, Margaret, Lady (nie Pype), 130,
n. 2 ; 132, n. 9
Vemon, Sir Bichard, 130, n. 2 ; 132, n. 9
Vemon, Boger, cxii, cxiii, 131-137
Vemon, WiDiam, Wyllyam, xi, cxii, cxiii,
130, 132; 132, n. 10; 133, 134
Vemon, Sir William, 130, n. 2 ; 132, n. 9
Vienne (Dauphin^, France), 166, n. 1
Vikers, Viker, Vicar, John, 115, 117, 118
Vowell {alias Hoker), John, 2, n. 10
Vytter, Bichard (the elder), 224, n. 18
Vytter, Bichard (the younger), 224
Wagett, Waggot, Bichard, 9 ; 9, n. 17
Wake, Boger, 64, n. 2
Wales, Walys, Ixiii, xciii, xciv, xcv, cxxi,
cxliv ; 187, n. 2 ; 179, nn. 4, 5 ; 212,
214 ; 220, n. 5 ; 234, n. 2
Council of the Marches of, xciii ; 130,
n. 2
Government of, xciii, xciv, xcv ; xcv,
n. 8 ; cxliv, cxlv ; 55, n. 10
* Marches of, Ixiii, Ixviii, xciU, xciv;
xcv, n. 1; cxi, n. 3; cxliv, cxlv;
119, n. 8; 184, 135; 135, n.6; 137.
n. 2; 179, n. 5; 217, n. 4; 274
Lord President of, xciii, 55 ; 55,
n. 9
Prince of, Arthur Tudor, 58, n. 8 ;
180, n. 2
Prince of, Henry Tudor (afterward
Henry 8), cvii ; 235, n. 5
Walford (Salop), Ixiii
Walker, Humfrey, 266, 269, 270
Walker, John (of Blatem), 259
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
.337
Walker, John (of the Savoy, London),
115, 116, 118
Walker, John (of Tewkesbury), 222
Waller, Millys, 107
Walley, WUliam, 29 ; 29, n. 25 ; 33, 85
Wallingford (Berks). 172, n. 5
Wallyngford, Walyngford, Roger, 139, 140,
146, 162, 167, 159
Walmsley, Sir Thomas J. of C.P., 102,
n. 17
Wahnysley, Wamsley, John, 246, 246, 248
Walsh, Walsshe, Thomas, Bar. of Ezch.
171, n. 4
Walshe, John. See Welshe
Walsingham, Family of, 238, n. 6
Walter, Nicholas, 18, 19
Walterkyn, Thomas, 164, 166-168
Walterkyn v. Letice, xxvi, xxvii, xxix,
Ixix, oxxx, cxxxi, 164-168
Waltham, John de, Bishop of Salisbury,
xxii ; xxii, n. 2
Walton, Robert, 141, 161, 156
Wannesworth (Wandsworth, Surrey), 15,
n. 2
Wansborough, Wanborough (Wilts), 49,
71.8
Wantner, 185 ; 186, n. 9. See also Went-
noure, Richard
Warbeck, Perkin, 130, n. 2 ; 256, n. 7
Warooppe, Warcop (Westmoreland), oviii,
106, 107; 109, n. 3; 110, n. 10; 111,
112, 266 ; 256, nn. 7, 8 ; 267, 258
Warcoppe, Agnes {tiie Musgrave), 266,
n.7
Warcoppe, Gabriell, Gabryell, 106, 107;
107, n. 2 ; 113
Warooppe, Warcop, George, 266, n. 7
Warcoppe, Joan, 256, n. 7
Warcoppe, Robert {d. 1467), 266, n. 7
Warcoppe, Warcop, Robert (the elder),
cviii, 106, 107, 109, 111-113; 202,
n. 9; 256; 266, n. 7; 267-259; 259,
n. 6 ; 260, 261
Warcoppe, Robert (the younger), 106-
114; 202, n. 9; 266, lu 7
Ward, Sir Christopher, 108, n. 9
Warde, William, Ixxvi
Ware, Thomas, 159
Warham, Wareham, William, M. R.
Archbishop of Canterbury, L. Keeper
and Chancellor, xxxv, xxxvi; xxxvii,
n. 2 ; li, Ixxxvi, Ixxxix, 122 ; 122, n. 9 ;
187 ; 187, n. 3 ; 188 ; 188, n. 12 ; 189, 191,
198 ; 199, n. 6 ; 200, 209, 227 ; 227, n. 2 ;
245 ; 245, n. 3 ; 247, 253, 258 ; 271, n. 2 ;
272, n. 5
Wamham (Sussex), 80, n. 2
Wamysford, Stephen, 161
Warr, Lord de la (Thomas West), cviii,
cxx
Warwick, Warrewyk, Warwyke, Warwik ;
County of, cxx, 38, 40, 41 ; 41, n. 6 ; 48 ;
43, n. 3 ; 64, n. 2 ; 172, n. 5 ; 176, n. 2,
176, n. 5 ; 215, n. 2 ; 230
Warwick, Earls of :
Richard Nevill, 85, n. 87
Edward Plantagenet, Ixxvi, Ixxvii, 6,
n.2
John Dudley (afterwards Duke of
Northumberland), 206, n. 88
Warwick, St. Mary's Collegiate Church,
233, n. 1
Waryng, Nicolas, cxl, n. 1; 204; 204,
n. 20
Wasdale (Westmoreland), 257, ru 9
WaterfaU (Staffordshire), 55, n. 6
Waterford (Ireland), 29, n. 24
Watson, Richard, 246, 248
Wattys, Wattes, Watts, Adam, 275 ; 275,
n. 3 ; 277, 278
Waynflete (Lincolnshire), William of,
Bishop of Winchester, Chancellor, 22,
n. 9
Webbys, John, 280, 282
Weele, Edmund, 204
Welbeck, Jane, 86, n. 38
Welbeck, Richard, 85, n. 38
Welbeck, WiUiam, 86, n. 38
Wellys, Wells, Robert, 270 ; 270, n. 2
Welsh, The, cxl, cxliv
Welshe, Walsshe, Welsh, Welsch,
Welsche, Walsche, alias Sawyar, John,
139, 140-142, 151-154 ;154, n. 6; 166-
159, 161, 162
Wem (Salop), 238, n. 10
Wenlok, Lord (John Wenlok), xlviii
Wensdaill, Brian, 70, n. 6
Wentnoure, Wentnore, Thomas, 197,
198
Werth, Worth, Roger, 8 ; 8, n. 14
Wesebury (Westbury), Hundred of
(Gloucestershire), cxlv
Westbume (Middlesex), 171, n. 4
Westdown (Devon), 87, n. 64
Westin, Edward, 146
Westminster, Westmenster, Westmona-
sterium, xvi, xvii, xxiii, xxiv, liii, Iv, Ixx,
civ, 12, 38, 42, 62, 69, 121, 122, 161,
Z
338
INDEX OF TERSONS AND PLACES
174, 180 ; 188, n. 12 ; 202, n. 2 ; 208-
210, 217, 218, 276
Westminster (Middlesex), Abbey of, 15, n.
2 ; 137 ; 137, n. 2
Westminster, City of, 148, n. 27
Westminster Hall, xxxiv, n. 2 ; xliii, 254,
n. 6; 256, n. 7; 263, n. 8
Westminster, Palace of, Ivii, n. 2; Ixviii,
6, 46, 120, 130, 231, 258
Westminster, Palace of. The White Hall
in, xvi, xvii
Westminster, Sanctuary at, 137 ; 137, n.
11
Westmoreland, Weatmerland, Coanty of,
cviii, cxx, 106 ; 108, n. 9 ; 109 ; 266, n.
7 ; 257 ; 257, n. 9 ; 258, 259, 261, 275
Westmoreland, fourth Earl of (Balph
Nevill), 108, n. 9 ; 256, n. 7
Weston (Berks), 146, n. 40
Weston (Northants), 146, n. 40
West Towne, Manor of (Middlesex), 171,
n. 4 ; 172, n. 6
Wethye, William, 221 •
Wethyford, Whetyford, Wythyford,
Wythyforde, Withiford, Withifford,
Thomas, 186; 186, n. 18 ; 189, 190; 190,
n. 6 ; 191, 205 ; 205, n, 28 ; 206-208
Weymouth (Dorset), 62, n. 3
Wharton, Sir Thomas, 108, n. 9
White, Nicholl, cxxix, 127, 128
White, Thomas (of Cheggelow), oxxix,
126-128
White, Sir Thomas, 8, n. 2
Whithill, Martyn, 141, 142
Whithome, John, oxxvi, n. 4
Whittington, Sir Richard, 82, n. 14
Whyte, Thomas, cxlvi, 225
Whyte V. The Mayor <fec. of Gloucester,
Ixvii, Ixx, oxxxviii, cxliii-cxlvii, 225, 226
Whythypoll, Whythipoll, WethipoU, John,
119, 120, 124, 125
Widecombe-in-the-Moor (Devon), 7, n. 7
Wilkyns. Wilkin, Wylkyns, John, 86 ; 86,
n. 42
William the Conqueror, oxlvii ; 138, n. 3 ;
143, n. 27 ; 227, n. 8
William Rufus, 150, n. 57
Wilson, Wylson, Harre, Herre, 114, 117,
118
Wilts, Wiltes, Wyltes, County of, Ixxvi,
oxxvi, n. 4 ; 45, 118, 119, n. 8 ; 123,
172, n. 5
Winchelsey, Robert, Archbishop of
Canterbury, Ixxxix
Winchester (Hants), Bishops of :
William de Edington, xlvii
Richard Foxe. See Foxe
Stephen Gardiner, C, Ixxxvi
Thomas Cowper, xxxix, n. 5
Winchester, Wynchester, City of (Hants),
Ixxvi, cxlvii, 221, n. 11 ; 275, 276, 277 ;
277, n. 1 ; 278
Windsor (Berks), xvii, Iv
Windsor, Castle of, ex
Windsor, St. George's Chapel, xlii
Windsor, Family of. See Wyndesore
Wingfield, Sir Richard, 215, n. 2
Withson, Thomas, 192
Wod, John, 18, 19
Wod, John a, 156
Wode, a Wode, William, 146, 147
Wodfurlonge (WUts), 46
Wodwall, Richard, 224
Wolsey, Thomas, Cardinal, Chancellor,
xvi, xxxviii, xxxix, xl, Ixviii ; cxxxviii,
n. 2 ; 137, n. 2 ; 172, n. 5 ; 175, n. 2
216, n. 2
Wolstone (Lancashire), 246, n. 8
Woman, Robert, 18, 19
Wood, Woode, Thomas, C.J.C.P., cxix,
96, n. 3 ; 99 ; 99, n. 7 ; 103 ; 103, n. 3
Woodstock, Wodestoke, Woodstocke
(Oxfordshire), liii-lv ; 156, n. 8
Woollavington (Sussex), cxix
Wootton (Oxfordshire), 144, n. 28
Wootton, Wotton, Watton, John, xiii,
xxxii, 45-48
Wootton, Wotton, Lord (Edward Wotton),
xxxiv, n. 2
Worcester, Bailiffs &c. of, Petition of,
xiii, XV, xvii, 213-226
Worcester, Worsecester, Worcestere,
Worcettour, Bishop of, Silvestro Gigli,
230 ; 230, n. 2 ; 231-234
Worcester, Bishop of, v. Thomas and
Others, xviii-xxvi, 230-234
Worcester, Worcestre, Woroetour, City of,
cxliv, cxlv, oxlvi, cxlvii, 210, 213, 214;
214, n. 2; 216; 215, n. 11; 215, n.
2 ; 217, 219, 221, 222 ; 222, w. 14 ; 223-
226
Worcester, County of, Worsetturshire,
136, 210 ; 216, nn. 1, 2 ; 216, n. 8 ; 219,
221 ; 221, n. 11 ; 222-224
Worcester, first Earl of (Charles Somer-
set), 208, n. 66
Worcester, Petition of Baillys &o., cxlvi-
oxlvii, 218-215
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES
S39
Worteley, Wortley, Wurtley, Biohard,
204, 206, 208
Wotton, Wutton, Watten, David, 206-208
Wotton, John. See Wootton
Wotton, Robert, 203, 208
Wray, Sir Christopher, C.J.K.B., 1, n. 1
Wreohervych, Wreohwiok (Oxfordshire),
119, n. 7
Wryght, Thomas, 206
Wryghtson, John, 109
Wydcombe, 31, n. 40
Wydeville, Anthony, Earl Rivers, 234, n. 2
Wydeville, Elizabeth, Qaeen, oxvii, n. 2 ;
92, n. 21 ; 274, n. 2
Wydeville, Richard, Earl Rivers, xlviii,
274, n. 2
Wye (Kent), 272, n. 4
Wykeham, William of, 22, n. 9
Wylbram, Little (Cambs), 254, n. 6
Wyllemyndon (Wilmington, Somerset),
27 ; 28, n. 16
Wyndesore, Sir Andrew, Lord Windsor,
62, n. 3
Wyndesore, Elizabeth {n4e Andrews), 62,
n. 3
Wyndesore, Thomas, 62, n. 3
Wyrbynhall (Worcestershire), 221
Wyshall (Staffordshire) 55, n. 6
Wythryge (Witheridge, Devon) 7, n. 7
Yatton, John, 228
Yatton, William, 221
Yerdeley, Richard, 167
Yong (John), M.R.. 188, n. 12
York, Archbishops of :
John Thoresby, Cardinal, Chancellor,
xlvii
Richard Scrope, xovii
Thomas Wolsey. See Wolsey
York, Castle of, 62, n. 3
York, Cathedral of, 233, n. 1
York, City of, 70 ; 70, nn. 3, 6, ; 126, n. ] 6 ;
175, n. 2 ; 213, n. 18 ; 264, n. 6
York, County of, cvii, cviii, cxx, oxxxvii,
69, 70 ; 70, n. 3 ; 144, n. 28 ; 170, n. 3 ;
253 ; 254, n. 6 ; 256, n. 7 ; 268
York, (Archiepiscopal) Court of, 70, n. 6
York, Duke of, Henry Tudor (Henry 8),
cvii ; 62, n. 3 ; 138, n. 6 ; 215, n. 2 ;
234, 71. 2 ; 254, 257, 261
York, Duke of, Richard Plantagenet
(father of Edward 4), Ixii ; 15, n. 2
York, Duke of, Richard Plantagenet (son
of Edward 4), 165, n. 8 ; 234, n. 2
Yorkshire, Lead Miners of, v. Merchants
of York, xii, Ixvi, cxxxviii, cl, 69
Ysak, Isaac, Isaack, Izak, Isak, William,
87 ; 87, n. 64 ; 92, 94
I'RIXTKD BY
Bl'OlTlBWOODK AND CO. VtD^ NEW-HTBZKT SgUAUK
LONDON
Sclben Society?.
FOUNDED 1887.
To Encourage the Study and Advance the Knowledge of the History of English Law.
pattona:
HIS MAJESTY THE KING.
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES.
Pte0l^ent:
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tnce^pte0l5ent0:
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Xltetatl? Director : Professor F. W. Maitland (Downing College, Cambridge),
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342
PUBLICATIONS.
The Volumes already published are
Vol. I., for 1887. SELECT PLEAS OF THE CROWN. Vol. L, a.d. 1200-1225. Edited, from lh«
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of England, Cambridge. With Facsimile. Crown 4to. Price to non-members, 281.
A selection from the earliest records of English criminal justice. These criminal cases throw mud
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Vol. IL, for 1888. SELECT PLEAS IN MANORIAL and other SEIGNORIAL COURTS. VoL I,
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A selection from the oldest manorial records. These embrace the whole legal life and much d
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343
VoL VII., for 1893. The MIRROR of JUSTICES. Edited, from the unique MS. at Corpus Christi
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aa2
344
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TAe Volumes in course of preparation are
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August 1903.
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To Mr. Francis K. Munton, Montpelier House, Twickenham,
Honorary Treasurer of the Selden Society.
I desire to become a member of the Society, and herewith send my
cheque for One Guinea, the annual subscription [or £21 the life contribu-
tion] dating from the commencement of the present year. [I also desire
to subscribe for the preceding years , and I add
one guinea for each to my cheque.]
Name
Address
Description
Date
[Note. — Cheques, crossed ** Robabtb & Co., a/c of the Selden Society,"
should be made payable to the Honorary Treasurer, from whom forms of
bankers' orders for payment of subscriptions direct to the Society's banking
account can be obtained.]
349
LIST OF MEMBEES.
1901.
(* denotes Life Members; t Members of the Council.)
UNITED KINGDOM.
Alsop, J. W.
Alverstonb, The Bight Hon. Lord
Anson, Sir W. R., Bart.
AsHBURNER, Walter
tATKINSON, J. T.
tATTLBE, Henry
Baildon, W. Paley
Bbll & Bradfute
BiRKETT, p.
Blakesley, G. H.
Bond, Henry
Browne, G. F.
tBRUCE, The Hon. Mr. Justice
Brunel, I.
Buckley, The Hon. Mr. Justice
Byrne, The Hon. Mr. Justice
Campbell, B.
Carpenter, B. H.
tCARTER, A. T.
Chadwick, S. J.
tCHANNELL, The Hon. Mr. Justice
Charles, Sir Arthur
Clark, J. W.
Cohen, A., K.C.
Collins, The Bight Hon. Sir B. H., M.B.
COLVILLE, H. K.
•CoNNAUOHT, H.B.H. The DuJje of
Cook, C. A.
CoouDOE, Bev. W. A. B.
Couch, The Bight Hon. Sir B.
Cozens-Hardy, The Bt. Hon. L. Justice
Cracroft, B. W.
16 Bidston Road, Birkenhead.
Homton Lodge, Pitt St., Kensington, W.
Ail Souls College, Oxford.
1 New Square, Lincoln's Lin, W.C.
Selby, Yorks.
10 Billiter Street, E.C.
5 Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
12 Bank Street, Edinburgh.
4 Lincobi's Inn Fields, W.C.
18 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Hillside, Shortlands, Kent.
Royal Courts of Justice, W.C.
1 Orme Square, W.
7 Melbory Road, Kensington, W.
88 Lancaster Gate, W.
5 New Court, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
Bank Chambers, Com Street, Bristol.
Christ Church, Oxford.
Lyndhurst, Dewsbury.
Royal Courts of Justice, W.C.
Woodlands, Sevenoaks, Kent.
Board of Agriculture, St. James's Sq., S.W.
26 Great Cumberland Place, W.
8 Bramham Gardens, S.W.
Bellaport Hall, Market Drayton.
Clarence House, St. James's, S.W.
High Winkworth, Hascombe, Godalming.
Magdalen College, Oxford.
25 Linden Gardens, W.
Royal Courts of Justice, W.C.
12 King's Bench Walk, Temple, E.C.
360
Cross, W. C. H.
cunliffe, r.
currey, c. h.
Danckwkrts, W. O., K.C.
Darling, The Hon. Mr. Justice
Davey, The Right Hon. Lord
Dees, R. R.
-Derby, The Right Hon. the Earl of
Dicey, A. V., K.C.
DoNNiTHORNB, Nicholas
^Elphinstone, Sir Howard W., Bart.
Evans, A. J.
Evans, Sir John, Bart.
Farwbll, The Hon. Mr. Justice
Finlay, Sir R. B., A.G., M.P.
Fisher, H. A. L.
Ford, J. Rawlinson
Fox, G. W.
Fry, The Right Hon. Sir E.
Galpin, H. F.
*GiFFARD, Henry A., K.C.
Grantham, The Hon. Mr. Justice
Gray, W. H.
Gray-Hill, J. E.
Gregory, P. S.
Gruchy, W. L. do
Hadfibld, G.
Hall, Hubert
Halliday, J.
Harris, D. L.
Harris, W. J.
Haslehurst, G. L.
tHEALEY, C. E. H. Chadwyck, K.C.
Heap, Ralph
HOLLAMS, J.
Houghton, Boydell
Hudson, Rev. W.
HUMFBYS, W. J.
Hunter, John
tiNDBRWICK, F. A., K.C.
Jacobs, Herbert
Jelf, The Hon. Mr. Justice
Jeune, The Right Hon. Sir Francis H.
tJoYCB, The Hon. Mr. Justice
Bank Chambers, Bristol.
48 Chancery Lane, W.C.
14 Great George Street, Westminster, S.W.
7 New Court, Carey Street, W.C.
18 Prince's Gardens, S.W.
86 Brook Street, W.
The Hall, Wallsend, Northmnberland.
Derby House, St. James's Square, S.W.
The Orchard, Banbury Road, Oxford.
Fareham, Hants.
2 Stone Buildings, Lincobi's Inn, W.C.
66 Chesterton Road, Cambridge.
Nash Mills, Hemel Hempstead, Herts.
60 Queen's Gardens, Lancaster Gate, W.
4 Temple Gardens, Temple, E.C.
New College, Oxford.
Quarrydene, Weetwood, Leeds.
14 Rochester Ter., Camden Town, N.W.
Fairland House, Fairland, near Bristol.
4 George Street, Oxford.
Braye du Valle, Guernsey.
Royal Courts of Justice, W.C.
Ormond House, 63 Qn. Victoria Street,E.C.
10 Water Street, Liverpool.
1 New Square, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
12 Highbury Mansions, N.
20 St. Ann's Square, Manchester.
Public Record Oflfice, Chancery Lane,W.C.
6 Holland Park, W.
Downing College, Cambridge.
Sittingboume, Kent.
Bank Street, Lincoln.
7 New Square, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
1 Brick Court, Temple, E.C.
80 Mincing Lane, E.C.
1 Temple Gardens, E.C.
15 Hartfield Square, Eastbourne.
Hereford.
Louisa Terrace, Exmouth, Devon.
1 Mitre Court Buildings, Temple, E.C.
1 Harcourt Boildings, Temple, E.C.
Oak House, Putney.
79 Harley Street, W.
Royal Courts of Justice, W.C.
Kekbwich, The Hon. Mr. Justice
Royal Courts of Justice, W.C.
351
Kennedy, The Ho Mr. Justice
King, H. C.
•Lake, B. G.
Latham, W., K.C.
Lawrence, P. O., K.C.
Lewis, Frank B.
LiNDLEY, The Right Hon. Lord
Lindsay, \V. A.
Lister, J.
tLocK, B. Fossett
LusHiNOTON, Vernon, K.C.
tLYTE, Sir H. C. Maxwell
IMacnaghten, The Right Hon. Lord
tMAITLAND, F. W.
Mabsden, R. G.
Martin, C. Trice
Matthews, J. B.
Mears, T. L.
tMooRE, A. Stuart
Moulton, J. Fletcher, K.C., M.P.
tMuNTON, Francis K.
Nash, E.
Neilson, G.
Nichols, G. J.
North, The Right Hon. Sir Ford
Norton, H. T.
•Norton, R. F., K.C.
Oxford, The Right Rev. the Lord
Bishop of (Exors. of)
Palmer, F. Danby
Parker, Kenyon C. S.
Parker, R. J.
tPENNINGTON, R.
Poland, Su: H. B., K.C.
tPoLLOCK, Sir F., Bart.
PooRE, Major R.
Priest, F. J.
Privy Purse, The Keeper of H.M.'8
Prothero, G. \V.
Radford, G. H.
Raikes, His Honour Judge
tRENSHAW, W. C, K.C.
Ridley, The Hon. Mr. Justice
RiGBY, The Right Hon. Sir John
RiGG, J. M.
Romer, The Bight Hon. Lord Justice
94 Westboumc Terrace, W.
17 Serjeants* Inn, Fleet Street, E.C.
10 New Square, Lincoln's Lin, W.C.
11 New Square, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
4 New Court, Carey Street, W.C.
11 Old Jewry Chambers, E.C.
19 Craven Hill Gardens, W.
College of ArmSjQueen Victoria Street,E.C.
Shelden Hall, near Halifax.
11 New Square, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
86 Kensington Square, W.
Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, W.C.
198 Queen's Gate, S.W.
Downing College, Cambridge.
18 Leinster Gardens, W.
86 Hamilton Terrace, N.W.
2 Paper Buildings, Temple, E.C.
9 King's Bench Walk, Temple, E.C.
6 King's Bench Walk, Temple, E.C.
11 Kmg's Bench Walk, Temple, E.C.
Montpelier House, Twickenham.
15 Sussex Gardens, Hyde Park, W.
84 Granby Ter., Glasgow.
Longfield, Bideford, North Devon.
76 Queensborough Ter., Bayswater, W.
108 Lancaster Gate, W.
11 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
c/o W. W. Stubbs, Esq., Dulwich CoDege,
S.E.
88 Hall Quay, Great Yarmouth.
18 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
9 Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
64 Lincobi's Inn Fields, W.C.
6 Paper Buildings, Temple, E.C.
18 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
Old Lodge, Salisbury.
85 South John Street, Liverpool.
Buckingham Palace, S.W.
24 Bedford Square, W.C.
27 Chancery Lane, W.C.
The Leat House, Malton, Yorks.
5 Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
48 Lennox Gardens, S.W.
Carlyle Hou8e,Chel8ea Embankment,S.W.
9 New Square, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
27 Harrington Gardens, S.W.
362
BoYCB, Rev. David
BussELL, C. A., K.C.
Rye, W.
Salisbury, The Rt. Hon. the Marquis of
Savill, Harry
SCAROILL-BiRD, S. B.
Seebohm, F.
Shadwbll, C. L.
Sharp, J. E. E. S.
Smith, Vernon R., K.C.
Stephens, H. C.
tSTiRUNG, The Right Hon. Lord Justice
Stirlino, Hugh
Sweet, Charles
Thornton, 0.
Threlfall, Henry S.
Turner, G. J.
TURTON, R. B.
=='\Valker, J. Douglas, K.C.
Wall, C. Y.
Wallis, J. P.
Walters, W. Melmoth
WarminotoNj C. M., K.C.
Warrington, T. R., K.C.
Watnby, Sir J.
Watson, E. J.
-Welby, Edward M. E.
Westlake, J., K.C.
Whitaker, p.
White, J. Bell
Whittuck, E. a.
WiGHTMAN, A.
t Williams, T. Cyprian
Williams, T. W.
tWiLLS, The Hon. Mr. Justice
Wilson, J. C.
Woods, Grosvcnor, K.C.
Nether Swill Vicarage, Stow-on-the-Wold.
2 Haroourt Buildings, Temple, E.C.
16 Golden Square, W.
20 Arlington Street, W.
12 Fenchurch Avenue, E.C.
Public Becord Ofl&ce,Chancery Lane, W.C.
The Hermitage, Hitchin.
c/o Messrs. James Parker, Oxford.
Public Becord Office, Chancery Lane,W.C.
8 Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Lw, W.C.
4 Carlton Gardens, S.W.
Boyal Courts of Justice, W.C.
11 Birchin Lane, E.C.
10 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
2 Leeds Boad, Nelson, Lancashire.
12 London Street, Southport.
14 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
Killdalc Hall, Grosmont, Yorks.
20 Queen's Gate Gardens, S.W.
Grange House, Darlington.
1 Harcourt Buildings, Temple, E.C.
Ewell, Surrey.
7 New Square, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
6 New Court, Carey Street, W.C.
Mercers' Hall, E.C.
St. John's Arch, Bristol.
Norton House, Norton, Sheffield.
Biver House, Chelsea Embankment, S.W.
Duchy of Lancaster Office, W.C.
2 Paper Buildings, Temple, E.C.
77 South Audley Street, W.
Bank Chambers, George Street, Sheffield.
7 Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn, W.C.
Bank Chambers, Corn Street, Bristol.
Boyal Courts of Justice, W.C.
Shelwood House, Oxford.
Mountfield, Bonchurch, I.W.
SOCIETIES, LIBRARIES, &c.
BlRMINQHAH :
Central Free Libbaby Batcliif Place.
Cambridge :
Trinity Hall
Newnham College
Croydon :
Public Libraries
Dublin :
King's Inn Library
353
Glasgow :
Faculty of Procurators
Mitchell Library
Hull:
Public Libraries
Leeds :
Public Library
Liverpool :
Free Public Library
Incorporated Law Society
Tate Library
London :
Bar Library
Guildhall Library
Gladstone Library
Gray*8 Inn
Incorporated Law Society
Inner Temple
Lincoln's Inn
London Library
Middle Temple
Oxford and Cambridge Club
Public Record Office
SioN College
Society of Antiquaries
62 St. George's Place.
21 Miller Street.
Municipal Buildings.
18 Union Court.
University College.
Royal Courts of Justice, W.C.
Guildhall, E.C.
National Lib. Club, Whitehall Place, S.W.
Chancery Lane, W.C.
14 St. James's Square, S.W.
c/o Harrison & Sons, 69 Pall Mall, S.W.
c/o Eyre & Spottiswoode, Gt. New St., E.C.
Victoria Embankment, E.C.
Burlington House, W.
Treasury (Parliamentary Counsrl)c/o Eyre & Spottiswoode, Gt. New St., E.C.
University of London South Kensington, S.W.
Manchester :
Free Reference Library King Street.
Manchester Law Library Kennedy Street.
Owens College c/o J. E. Cornish, 16 St. Ann's Square.
Newcastle-on-Tyne :
Literary and Philosophical Society
Oxford :
All Souls College
St. John's College
Reading :
Public Library
York:
Yorkshire Law Society Guildhall.
COLONIAL AND FOKEIGN.
DENMARK :
Royal Library, Copenhagen
DOMINION OF CANADA:
Armour, Hon. Chief Justice Cobourg, Ontario.
Proudfoot, W. 8 Queen's Park, Toronto.
c/o Sampson Low & Co., Fetter Lane, E.C.
Law Society of Upper Canada
Library of Parliament, Ottawa
UNrVERSITY of TORONTO
The Supreme Court, Ottawa
c/o Stevens & Haynes, 18 Bell Yard, W.C.
^cjo E. G. Allen & Murray, 28 Henrietta
/ Street, W.C.
c/o Stevens & Haynes, 18 Bell Yard, W.C.
FRANCE :
Barclay, Thomas
Tardiff, E. T.
364
17 Rue Pasquier, Paris.
28 Rue du Cherche-midi, Paris.
BiBLiOTHKQUK Nationalb Parfs. ^c/o Kegan Paul & Co., Paternoster
„ DK LA Faculte DB Droit Paris./ House, Charing Cross Rd., W.C.
DE L'UnIVERSITK
GERMANY :
Hi'BNKR, Professor
Berlin Royal Library
ITALY :
Jerome, Thomas Spencer
NEW ZEALAND :
Williams, Mr. Justice
QUEENSLAND:
♦Griffith, Sir S. W., C.J.
Queensland Public Libraries
SOUTH AFRICA:
*FiNNBMORE, Mr. Justice
SOUTH AUSTRALIA:
University of Adelaide
SAVEDEN :
Royal Library, Stockholm
SWITZERLAND :
Univbrsitats-Bibuothek
TASMANIA:
Tenison, C. M.
VICTORIA:
Melbourne Public Library
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA :
California :
San Francisco Law Library
District of Columbia :
♦Fuller, Hon. M. W.
*Gray, Hon. Horace
Connecticut :
Connecticut State Library
Illinois :
Blair, Frank P.
Rosenthal, Julius
The Law Institute, Chicago
Iowa:
Iowa State University
Maryland :
The Baltimore Bar Library
Johns Hopkins University
c/o Picard et Fils, 82 Rue Bonaparte, Paris.
c/o W. Muller, 69 Castle Street East, ^V.
c/o Asher & Co., 18 Bedford Street, W.C.
Villa Castello, Capri.
Supreme Court, Dunedin.
Judges* Chambers, Brisbane.
Brisbane.
Supreme Court, Pietermaritzburg, Natal.
c/o W. Muller, 59 Castle Street East, W.
c/o Sampson Low & Co., Fetter Lane, E.C.
Basel.
Hobart.
c/o Messrs. Melville Mullen.
San Francisco.
Supremo Judicial Courts, Washington.
Supreme Judicial Courts, Washington.
Hartford.
46-47 Borden Block, Chicago.
c/o Stevens & Haynes, 13 Bell Yard, W.C.
c/o Stevens & Haynes, 13 Bell Yard, W.(\
Iowa City.
Baltimore.
Baltimore.
355
Massachusetts :
•Abbot, E. EL
Adams, Walter
•Ames, Professor James B.
Bkale, Professor J. H.
BiuKLOW, Professor M. M.
Brandeis, Dunbar & Nutter
Fish, Frederick P.
Gray, Professor J. C.
Hale, Richard W.
Hill, A. D.
Holmes, Hon. 0. W.
Leverett, George V.
Thayer, Professor James B.
Boston University
Boston Athenasum
Boston Public Library "i
Harvard College Library /
*Harvard Law School
Social Law Library
Worcester Law Library
Minnesota :
Young, Hon. G. B.
The Minneapolis Bar Assoc.
Missouri :
Sale, M. N.
New Jersey:
Princeton University
New York:
Abbot, Everett V.
Ashley, Clarence D.
Bacon, Henry Selden
Bell, James D.
Brainerd, C.
Davies, J. T.
DrvBN, George M.
Fletcher, Henry
GuLiCK, John C.
Keener, Professor W. A.
Kenneson, T. D.
LoEWY. Benno
MiLBURN, J. G. (Buflfalo)
Nichols, G. L.
Starbuck, Henry P.
Strong, C. E.
1101 Tremont Building, Boston.
S. Framingham.
Harvard Law School, Cambridge.
13 Chaimcy Street, Cambridge.
944 Tremont Building, lioston.
220 Devonshire Street, lioston.
125 Milk Street, Boston.
60 State Street, Boston.
10 Tremont Street, Boston.
53 State Street, lioom 1033, Boston.
Court House, Boston.
53 Devonshire Street, Boston.
5 Phillips Place, Cambridge.
Ashburton Place, Boston.
IQi Beacon Street, Boston.
c/o Kegan Paul & Co., Paternoster House,
Charing Cross Road, W.C.
Cambridge.
Court House, Boston.
Worcester.
24 Gilfillan Block, St. Paul.
Temple Court, Minneapolis.
Commercial Building, St. Louis.
PrincetoiL
66 William Street, New York City.
New York University, New York City.
811 Wilder Building, Rochester.
16 Court Street, Brooklyn.
47 Cedar Street, New York City.
58 William Street, New York City.
Elmira.
214 Lincoln Place, Brooklyn.
132 Nassau Street, New York City.
Coliunbia College, Sch. of Law, N.Y. City.
11 William Street, New York City.
206 Broadway, New York City.
c/o B. F. Stevens, 4 Trafalgar Square, W.C.
49 Wall Street, New York City.
Colmubia College, New York City.
86 Wall Street, New York Citv.
Brooklyn Law Library County Court House, Brooklyn.
Columbia Univ. School of Law c/o W. H. Switzer, Columbia University,
New York City.
Cornell University Library c/o Allen & Murray, 28 Henrietta St., W.C.
Long Island Historical Soc. ". c/o B. F. Stevens & Brown, 4 Trafalgar
Nkw York Public Library / Square, W.C.
356
Nkw York — conf.
Xkw York Uar Association 42 West 44tli Street, New York City.
New York Law Institutk c/o Stevens & Hayncs, 13 IJell Yard, W.C.
Ohio:
CiNcJiN'NATi liAW LIBRARY Assoc. Cincinnati.
Law School, Cincinnati Coll. Cincinnati.
Pknxsvlvaxia :
-'(iKST, John M. 400 Chestnut Street, Fhiladclphi.'i.
JoN'F.s, James Collins 641 N. Eighth Street, Philadelphia.
ScHAFKK, Hon. John I). Pittsburgh.
Simpson, Alexander, Jr. 815 Stephen Girard Bdg., Philadelphia.
r»RYX Mawr Collkok Library c/o Y.J. Pontland,8B West Smith field, E.C.
Law Assoc?, of Phil.vdeli'Iiia Eoom 600, City Hall, Phihidelphin.
Library ('o. of Piiiladklphia c/o Allen & Murray, 28 Henrietta St., W.C.
Pennsylvania University Philadelphia.
Vkrmont :
Hasrlton, Seneca Burlington
May, Elisha St. Johnsbury.
Mower, Edmund ('. Burlington.
Redmond, John W. Newport.
Stafford, lion. Wendell P. St. Johnabui'y.
Taft, Mr. Justice Kussell S. Willston.
Washington :
Shepard, Charles E. Now York Building, Seattle.
Wisconsin :
State IIistoric.vl Society e.'o 11. Sotheran & Co., 140 Strand, W.C.
Wisconsin State Library Wisconsin.
L()(^\L SFX!RF;rAI{Tl^:s AXT) COUllESrc )XT)EXTS.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA :
LOCAL SECRETARY AND TREASURER:
BICHABD W. HALE 10 Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts.
CORRESPONDENTS:
Illinois :
JOHN HEKBY WIOMOBE 710 Masonic Temple, Chicago.
Minnesota :
HEHEY B. WEHZELL 601 New York Life Building, St. Paul.
New York:
GORDON TAYLOB HUOHEB 120 Broadway, New York City.
LOCAL SECRETARIES AND CORRESPONDENTS:
DOMINION OF C\\NA1)A:
W. McOBEGOB YOUNG The Law School, Osgoodf^ Hail, Toronto.
NEW ZEALAND:
F. BEVAN8 CHAPMAN Duncdin.
^
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