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HISTORICAL MEMORIALS
NORTHAMPTON :
TAKEN CHIEFLY FROM UNPRINTED RECORDS.
J^Y THE
REV. C. H. HARTSHORNE, M.A.
,$0* W CCN6^
afO^
')
NORTHAMPTON ; ABEL AND SONS,
LONDON: JOHN HENRY PARKER, 377, STRAND;
AND' BROAD STREET, OXFORD.
M DCCC XLVIII,
c/i>
Mo
.71 W 3
OXFORD :
PRINTED BY I. SHRIMPTON.
TO
FREDERIC EARL SPENCER,
THE UNDEVIATING FRIEND
TO THE INTERESTS OF NORTHAMPTON, AND
THE LIBERAL PROTECTOR
OF ITS INSTITUTIONS :
THIS VOLUME, ILLUSTRATIVE OF ITS EARLY HISTORY AND PRIVILEGES,
IS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED
BY HIS OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
The Charters . 1
Extracts from the Chamberlain's Book of Mi-
nutes 84
Municipal Archives 101
The Castle and Parliaments . . . .111
Queen Eleanor's Cross 174
The Religious Houses in Northampton . . 197
The Mint 219
The Fire 224
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Remains of the Castle
Queen Eleanor's Cross
Details of the Cross
Details of the Cross
Town Seals
Postern Gate of Castle
Figures of Queen Eleanor
to face p. 116
174
192
194
1, 110
. 173
. 182, 183
THE CHARTERS.
N the Conquerors survey,
Northampton is described
as having contained at the
time of King Edward the
Confessor sixty burgesses,
with as many dwellings in
the royal demesne; but when the account was
completed in 1086, fourteen of the latter were set
down as lying waste, and the remainder, with forty
burgesses, were in the possession of the crown.
There were in the town altogether two hundred
and twenty-five houses, valued at £10. lis. Id. a
2 conqueror's survey.
year, being a fraction less than a shilling each.
The Record states that the burgesses of Hantone
(Northampton) rendered annually to the sheriff
£30. 10s. This belonged to the farm; and the
Countess Judith, William's kinswoman, had seven
pounds out of the issues of the said borough.
In examining this extract it appears that there
were at the earliest known period, sixty burgesses
within the royal demesne, having as many houses,
and since the houses and their occupants are both
mentioned in immediate connexion with each other,
it may be justly inferred that the burgesses them-
selves were anciently householders. No persons
having the former appellation are named in con-
junction with the other dwellings, and therefore
those dwellings we may suppose to have been
tenanted by strangers, religious persons, females,
agricultural labourers, bondmen, or by those who
from poverty were unable to pay their share of the
common expenses, and who consequently were not
entitled to rank as burgesses. "Nothing has oc-
curred/' says one of the best investigators of the
subject, "down to the present time, to alter the
class or description of persons who at the close of
the Saxon dynasty were called burgesses," and it
is to these early times therefore that we must direct
EARLY STATE OF FREEMEN. 3
our researches for a true description of the duties
and privileges of a body of men, who from the
commencement of the Saxon government, if not
before, were called freemen. At this remote time
there is no mention whatever of any grant of in-
corporation, or of any creation of a select portion
of the inhabitants who were to be governors of the
rest; they were in fact always described by one
general title, of inhabitants of the borough, burg-
folk or burgesses a . In the Saxon laws and the
Saxon Chronicle we read of the aldermen, who were
royal officers in each borough, but their duties were
entirely distinct from theirs who at present bear
the name. The alderman seems rather to have
been in the position of a senator, or judge, a legal
functionary who presided over the gemote, rather
than one who was called upon to exercise any cor-
porate functions. Henry T. in fact, in his confir-
mation of the laws of the Confessor, 1100, laid it
down that one of the better men should preside
over the whole hundred, and be called alderman,
whose duty it was diligently to endeavour to pro-
mote the laws of God and the rights of man. The
burgesses, on the other hand, were the residents in
the town ; they bore their share of the local bur-
a Merewether and Stephens' Hist, of Boroughs, vol. i. p. 220.
4 BURGAGE TENURE.
dens, and paid scot and lot, and all such persons as
did not contribute to these charges were excluded.
It appears then that the town of Northampton
belonged at this time (1086) to the crown, and
that the burgesses or resident inhabitants held it
as a borough, by what is commonly called burgage
tenure, that is, by sockage, a conventional service,
not of a military, but of a general and uniform
nature, distinguished from knight service, which
was occasional, and being in fact the same tenure
as freehold or gavel kind, but in the present instance
held by a small acknowledgment, paid in the shape
of rent to the king as superior lord. Such as held
immediately under him in right of his crown and
dignity were tenants in chief {capite), which was
the more honourable tenure of all, but at the same
time, it subjected them to greater inconveniences
and to more burdensome services than devolved
upon the inferior tenants.
From being in the royal demesne, which may
serve to account for the origin of the privilege in
the first instance, and from holding their town
by burgage tenure, the burgesses of Hantone or
Northampton paid £30. 10s. yearly to the sheriff,
as the rent of the town, by way of acknowledging
their own relation to the sovereign, and it was one
FEE FARM. O
of the sources from whence the national expen-
diture was defrayed. Formerly many estates be-
longing to the crown were let out or held as it is
termed by fee farm, as well as particular burgage-
tenements lying in the town. It must, however, be
observed that, taken by itself, this did not con-
stitute the peculiar characteristic of a borough, nor
was it any proof of a corporation, since there were
several places even in this country, such as Ape-
thorpe b , King's Cliffe , Brigstock d , Thorp e , Silves-
ton f , and Geddington g , paying similar rents into
the hands of the sheriff, which shewed none of these
features. There were it is true in the county three
other boroughs h , but one of them, Peterborough,
was not incorporated until 1st Hen. III. (1215),
nor Brackley and Higham Perrars, until the middle
of the sixteenth century.
At the time we are now considering, it was the
b Homines de Abethorpe, de firma villae suae,
reddunt compotum xxxvu.jg e Homines de Torp lx. £
de firma villas suae, et de de firma de Torp.
xxxvii. £ de eadem de anno f Homines de Selveston, red-
praeterito; in thesauro libera- dunt compotum de xviii. £
verunt, et quieti sunt. de firma ejusdem manerii.
c Homines de Clive reddunt g Homines de Geytinton, red-
compotum de lx. £ de firma dunt compotum de xlvi. £ de
de Clive. firma de Geytinton. — Mag.
d Homines de Brikestok, Rot. Pip. 46 Hen. III.
reddunt compotum de lx. £ h Madox Firma Burgi.
b DUTIES OF THE SHERIFF.
duty of the sheriff of each county to collect all
crown rents, and regularly pay them into the ex-
chequer, whilst a large amount of the royal ex-
penses was also defrayed by the money which pass-
ed through his hands. He was the king's farmer,
or bailiff, his collector of rents and other revenue.
When the royal treasure was to be conveyed from
one place to another it was entrusted to his charge 1 .
When fixed payments, such as alms {eleemosina
constitutes) or annuities, were to be discharged,
the sheriff attended to the matter; on some occa-
sions he received special writs to provision the
royal castles, to furnish wine, and the common
necessaries of life, even clothing for the king and
the royal family. The mandates addressed to him
were of the most varied description. Take this in
the 6th of John (1204), as one example; 'To the
sheriff of Southampton, We order you to allow
Thomas Esturmy, our valet, a scarlet robe, with a
cloak of fine linen, and another robe of green or
brown, and a saddle, and a pair of reins, and a cloak
for wet weather, and a couch, and a pair of linen
sheets, as he is to be made a knight V Take others
more immediately connected with Northampton-
i Rot. Claus. 15 John, p. k Rot. Claus. p. 3, and
158, b. Genl. Introd. xl.
DUTIES OF THE SHERIFF. 7
shire. In tlie 6th of John, (1205,) the sheriff of
Northamptonshire is ordered to find things neces-
sary for the houses and walls at Silveston 1 ; in the
16th of John, (1214,) to take care of eleven horses
and their seven keepers till he hears further 111 ; in
the 6th of Hen. III., (1221,) to take good bail for
those suspected of murder; to see that the royal
huntsman, with two horses, three men and sixteen
dogs for running fallow deer, should be taken care
of; and another huntsman with the same number
of men and horses, with fifteen dogs for hunting
stags 11 , should be provided for at the expense of
forty shillings ; that the houses at Brigstock
should be repaired , &c. There was in short
scarcely any kind of business whatever, whe-
ther important or trivial in its nature, but what
fell under the sheriff's numerous duties. He was
the local officer of justice, and disbursed money
for executions and duels, and for conveying felons
and approvers from place to place. Thus in the
Pipe roll of 13 Henry II., (1167,) there is an entry
1 Rot. Claus. 20. having dogs to hunt the fox
" Ibid. 176. and hare. (Canes ad vulpem
n Thus also in the Chan- et ieporem). — Rot Cancel.
cellor's roll we find Richard 3 John.
Basset rendering account of ° Rot. Claus. 4S2.
five marcs for the licence of p Ibid. 495.
8 EXCHEQUER PAYMENTS,
of this kind for the cost of bringing two of the
latter here from Oxford.
No doubt their accounts were carefully rendered
annually from the time of the Conqueror's survey
up to the period when we first meet with them
in the 31st of Henry I. (1130.)
The money was weighed at the Exchequer, and
the deficiency, however small, invariably entered
on the accounts; thus in the 41st Hen. III.9,
the purse of Northampton lacked 3^?., and as
the revenue was paid into the exchequer, some-
times by weight, and sometimes by tale, so were
proper officers and utensils provided there for
weighing, telling, assaying, and laying up the
money. In the 26th Hen. II., (1180,) the sheriff
of Northamptonshire was allowed upon his account
what he had laid out in carriage of treasure from
Northampton to Nottingham, by Wm. Malduit the
chamberlain, and John Cumin, according to the
king's court, five shillings; and in payment to
Gilbert the fusor, or melter, from the Nativity of
the blessed Yirgin to the octaves of St. Michael,
ten shillings, and for charcoal and things necessary
for making the examination, four shillings and
q Mag. Rot. Pip. 41 Hen. III.
GREAT ROLLS OF THE PIPE. 9
seven pence, by the same writ 1 *. So carefully was
the money assayed that the smallest deficiency
was entered on the accounts s , Unfortunately after
the compilation of the great survey, until this
exact time, there is nothing preserved to us which
is at all analogous in character. But in this year
of Henry the Eirst's reign, we come to a class of
documents of the most important kind, generally
known by the name of the Great Rolls of the Ex-
chequer, or more commonly under that of the
Great Rolls of the Pipe. They are such extremely
valuable documents for all historical, legal, or anti-
quarian purposes, that I should briefly state the
nature of their contents, more especially as we shall
be indebted to them for all our information re-
specting the town, until its internal government
became more fully matured and developed. The
Pipe rolls contain a series of entries made by the
king's officers relating to the receipt and expendi-
r In carriagio thesauri a carbonibus et necessariis ad
Norhantona usque ad Not- examinationesfaciendas, iiij. s.
ingeham,perWillelmvm Mai- et vij. d. per idem breve. —
duitCamerarium et Johannem Mag. Rot. Pip. 26 Hen. II.,
Cumin, v. s. per idem breve ; Rot. 6, a. and b.
et liberacione Gilberti Fusoris s Bursa de Northamton lacat
a Nativitate B. Mariae usque iij.d. — Mag. Rot. Pip. 41 Hen.
ad octabas S. Michaelis, x. s. III. Rot. 27.
per idem breve Regis ; et pro
10 NATURE OF EXCHEQUER ROLLS.
ture of the royal revenue, as it was collected or
disbursed either by the sheriffs or the king's other
ministers appointed for the purpose. If the king
required money very urgently, he however often
addressed to them special writs, and one of this
kind was sent in the 39th Hen. III. to the sheriff
of Northamptonshire, commanding him to pay
forthwith into the exchequer the debts mentioned
therein, or else the king would so chastise him, as
to make him an example to all the king's other
bailiffs*. The various entries relating to each
county are written on separate rolls with the name
of each at the back, that is to say, strictly speak-
ing, endorsed ; the receipts come first on the list,
and then the different outlays which had been
authorised by the crown. Occasionally the parti-
culars belonging to individual counties fill several
1 Rex Vicecomiti Norham- praecipimus, quod statim visis
ton ; certe si ad te et tua nos litteris, dictum Tallagium, una
graviter caperemus, non debe- cum £42. 13s. 4d. quos no-
res mirari, pro eo quod quasi bis debes de pluribus debitis,
contempnendo nostrum pre- ad Scaccarium nostrum apud
ceptum, tallagium Burgi nos- Westmonasterium statim mit-
tri de Norhamton, quod solvi tas; alioquin sic te castigabi-
debuisset a die Paschae prox- mus,quod poena tua aliis Bal-
ime praeterito in unum men- livis nostris dabitur in exem-
sem, nondum est nobis solu- plum. — (Trin. Commun. 39
turn; igitur ne in te manus Hen. III. Rot. 13. a. apud
gravaminis extendamus ; tibi Madox, 244.)
ILLUSTRATIONS OF PIPE EOLLS. 11
membranes, some of which are written on both
sides, and the top of all the rotulets being united
together, they form what may literally be called,
without any reference to their contents, the Great
Roll of the Pipe. Six detached rolls, namely, 31st
Hen. I., (1130, 1181,) the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, of
Hen. II., (1155—1158,) the 1st Bic. L, (1189,
1190,) and the 3rd of John, (1201, 1202,) have
been printed ; and there still remains of this de-
scription of record, invaluable to those who desire
to become acquainted with local, personal, or na-
tional history, a series wanting only two rolls to
make it complete, (1st Hen. III., and 7th Hen. IV.,)
beginning at the 31st Hen. I., in the year 1130,
and coining down to the present day.
In the earliest of these records we find that
Robert Revel, who was the king's farmer in 1130,
rendered an account of the farm of the borough.
He paid into the exchequer £90. 14s. 3d. ; he had
disbursed in fixed payments £8. 2s. Id. ; in fixed
alms to the monks of Northampton twenty shillings,
and to the same monks 3s. &d. for their land which
the king took within his castle; being in all ex-
actly a hundred pounds u ; so that within the fifty
* Pipe roll 134. Mag. Rot. p. 11. Madox'Hist. Excheq.
Pip, 31 Hen. I. Toll cause, 248.
12 ILLUSTRATIONS OF PIPE ROLLS.
years which intervened between the Conqueror's
survey and this time, the fee farm of the town had
increased from £30. 10s. to £100, as just stated.
The payments varied according to circumstances,
or as the king's writ directed. Some of them were
fixed disbursements from the fee farm, such as those
made to the monks and the knights templars, or
in alms; others were casual, like those made in
repairing the castle ; in wages to the soldiers ; to
John, chaplain to the queen of Spain, who dwelt in
the schools of Northampton for three weeks ; for
conveying Henry the Second's treasure from Hunt-
ingdon to Northampton*; for providing cloth and
garments for the royal servants y; or for the taking
x Et in liberacione Johan- (1176.)
nis Clerici A. Reginae Hys- y Et pro pellura empta ad
patriae qui moratur in scolis opus Regis in eadem villa con -
apud Norhampton vi. sol. de tra festum natalis Domine an-
iii. septimanis per breve Re- no xlviii. xviii. li. iii. s. et iiii.
gis. Et Hugone Salnario xii. d. per breve Regis. Et in
sol. pro armaturis quos duxit garderoba Regis Nicholas de
de Huntedon a Northampton Leukenorcustodiejusdemgar-
per breve Regis. Et pro du- derobae Ixix.li. xl. s. x. d. per
cendo thesauro ad Wudest et breve Regis. Et pro xxviii
ad Gaitenton, et ad London vii. doliis cerevisiae cc et lxviii pi-
sol, per Wallerannum et Odo- theris, ccc et lx ciphis, captis
nem de Falesia. Et pro faci- ad opus Regis xv. li. ix. s. ii. d.
enda justitia de Willielmo de per breve Regis. Et pro pel-
Hetford xv. d. Et quietus est. lura capta ad opus ejusdem in
— Mag. Rot. Pip. 2 Hen. II. nundinis Stanfordiae per Ro-
ILLUSTRATIONS OF PIPE ROLLS.
13
the king's himtins: from Brisrstock to Canterbury 2 .
Then we also find as early as the 7th Hen. II. ,
(1160,) a payment made from the moneyers to the
sheriff, of 28 marcs, and in the 2Sth of the same
reign, (1182,) this became a regular source of
revenue to the crown of sixty shillings a year for a
century downwards.
bertum de Linton et hugonem
de Turri tunc emptores gar-
derobae Regis Ixxiiii. s. per
breve Regis. Et pro pellura
empta ad opus ejusdem in
nundinis Northantonae per
Ric. de Ewall et dictum Hu-
gonem xx. li. iiij. s. vi. d. per
breve Regis. Et in eadem
garderoba eidem Xicholao iiij.
xv. li. xii. s. viij. d. per breve
Regis. Et pro cc et iv pari-
bus sotularium emptis ad man-
datum Regis et Reginae ad
opus pauperum anno 4°. iiij.
li. xviij. s. x. d. obolus per ij
brevia Regis. — Mag. Rot. Pip.
50 Hen. IIL
This entry in the following
year supplies us with another
illustration, and also with the
value of other articles at this
period.
Et Petro de Bleyne Merca-
tori Wasconensi pro iii. doliis
vini ab eo captis apud Kenill-
wurth ad opus Regis xv. li.
per breve Regis. Et Ricardo
de Ewell et Hugoni de Turry
emptoribus garderobae Regis
ad emptiones ejusdem garde-
robae factae in nundinis Xor-
thantonae xlviii. Et Barth. le
Espicer et Ernaldo de la Ro-
kele pro duobus doliis vini ab
eis captis ad opus Regis apud
Xorthantonam x. li. &c. &c.
—Mag. Rot. Pip. 51 Hen. III.
z Et in operacione camini
et domorum Regis de Xor-
hampton vii. lib. per breve
Regis et per visum Henrici
filii Thiardi et Phillippi filii
Jordani. Et pro pannis atque
penulis ad opus servientium
Regis vi.lib. xvii. sol. et vi. d.
per breve Regis. Et pro
ducenda venacione Regis de
Brigstock usque ad Cantua-
riam xi. sol. per breve Regis.
Et in operacione Regis de Sel-
vistona. xvi. sol. per breve Re-
gis. Et quietus est. — Mag.
Rot. Pip. 25 Hen. II. (1179.)
14 FEE FARM.
This farming of the county was so profitable a
thing, that the nobility began to bid against each
other for the office. The bishop of Ely offered for
the fee farm of York, Lincoln, and Northampton,
1500 marcs in hand, and a hundred increase
yearly upon the usual farm of each county; but
Geoffrey Plantagenet, the monarch's illegitimate
son by fair Rosamond, having offered the same
annual increment, and 3000 marcs for the sherifdom
of Yorkshire alone, the king accepted his tender a .
From this it is very evident that the yearly rent of
a hundred pounds for the fee farm was below its
real value, and we learn moreover from the Pipe
rolls, that in the 31st Hen. IL, (1185,) the bur-
gesses of Northampton suffered a fine of 200
marcs to hold their town in capite b .
This is the first important change observable in
the tenure.
The town was still held in free socage, that is,
exempted from any acknowledgment or service to
the crown except in money. The burgesses had it
now immediately from the king, and no longer paid
their rent through the sheriffs. Moreover there
a Madox Excheq. 635. in capite de Rege. Inthesauro
b Burgenses de Norhant. c. marcas. Etdebentc. marcas.
reddunt compotum de cc. — Mag. Rot. Pip. 31 Hen. II.
marcas, pro habenda villa sua
TOWN FARMED BY THE BURGESSES. 15
existed such general dissatisfaction in consequence
of the severity with which these officers performed
their functions, so many complaints were raised
against their quartering a large retinue of followers
upon the people, and abusing the hospitality of re-
ligious houses, that Henry II. displaced several,
and forfeited them for their misdemeanors. These
two circumstances will at once explain the reasons
which induced the burgesses to undergo the fine
just mentioned, and farm the town for their own
profit ; since by so doing they both effected a pecu-
niary saving, and at the same time became freed from
an oppressive jurisdiction. In fact the arbitrary con-
duct of the sheriffs was one cause of similar immu-
nities being now granted to other towns, whilst the
Great Charter of John, the statute of Westminster
the first, (3rd Edw. I.,) as well as the articles upon
the former, passed in the 29th Edw. I., shewed
that the evil existed for some time afterwards, and
required direct legislative interference before it could
be suppressed. We may however observe that in
consequence of the burgesses now holding their fee
farm as tenants in capite, they became liable to
regular assessment for aids, and although it is true
they had paid them on two previous occasions, it
was only doing as other towns did under the same
16
ASSESSMENT FOR AIDS.
circumstances, one of which occasions being to
make provision for Henry II. marrying his daughter
Matilda to the duke of Saxony, from whom descends
the present house of Brunswick, this payment must
be regarded rather as a voluntary contribution
(donum) arising out of the emergency, than as a
regular annual tax c . And in confirmation of this
we see that although the burgesses made a dona-
tion of forty marcs in the 2nd Hen. II., they did
not offer any during the four succeeding years d .
Hen. II.
c MadoxExcheq.417,418.
d Et idem Robertas filius
Sawini reddat compotum de
xl. marcis de Dono Civitatis
Norhantonae. In thesauro li-
beravit. Et quietus est. — Mag.
Rot. Pip. 2 Hen. II.
Et idem reddat compotum
de cc. marcis de dono Burgi
de Norhantona.— Mag. Rot.
Pip. 5 Hen. II.
Idem (Robertus filius Sa-
wini) reddat compotum de
xxvi. li. et vi. sol. et viii. d. de
dono Civitatis. — Mag. Rot.
Pip. 6 Hen. II.
Robertus filius Sewini red-
dat compotum de c. li. de
firma de Norbamtona. Idem
reddat compotum de cc. marcis
de auxilio Burgi de Norham-
tona ad maritandam filiam
Regis Mag. Rot. Pip. 14
Idem reddat compotum de
quater xx. li. et xxxiii. s. et
iiij.d. de auxilio Burgi de Nor-
hantona ad maritandam Matil-
dam filiam Regis.- — Mag. Rot.
Pip. 15 Hen. II.
Idem Vicecomes reddat com-
potum de ix. li. et xii. s. de
auxilio Burgi de Norhantona
ad maritandam filiam Regis.
—Mag. Rot. Pip. 16 Hen. II.
Idem Vicecomes debet vi. H.
et xiii. s. et iiij. d. de auxilio
ad maritandam filiam Regis.
—Mag. Rot. Pip. 17 Hen. II..
Et idem [Robertus filius
Sawini] reddat compotum de
c. et lx. marcas de dono de
Norhant. in thesauro libera-
tur in ii. talliagiis. — Mag. Rot.
Pip. 7 Hen. II.
FINES, 17
The system of providing for the royal expendi-
ture by means of fines being found so easy a mode
of raising money, it was very soon applied in an
almost innumerable variety of ways. Did a suitor
wish to obtain ready access to the king's ear, or
any office in the state, or to have seisin of his
land ? it was readily done by paying a fine. Did he
wish justice expedited, or personal protection, or
a delay of judgment ? payment of a fine purchased
the favour. Did he desire to pursue any particular
trade or calling, or to marry, or to be discharged
from prison ? a fine gained him the wished-for in-
dulgence. And so also when communities, or aggre-
gate bodies sought for any extension of their privi-
leges, the same mode of proceeding procured an
answer agreeable to their petition e .
The urgent necessities of Eichard I. speedily led
him to adopt these methods for increasing the ac-
cumulated wealth of his father. Immediately in fact
that he came to the throne, though he is stated to
have found £900,000, besides jewels, in the royal
coffers, he began to sell the crown lands, to grant
e For instance, many fines to buy and sell dyed cloth, as
related to trade or merchan- they had been accustomed to
dise; thus among other ex- do in the time of King
amples the men of Northamp- Henry. — Mag. Rot. Pip. 4
ton rendered an account often John, Hot. ii. 6.
pounds that they might he able
18 THE CRUSADES.
immunities, exemptions, privileges, and charters,
on such terms as he thought proper, for the sake
of raising money for a crusade. It is well known
that his expedition to the Holy Land, and his sub-
sequent ransom from captivity, required immense
sums, which were levied under every form and pre-
tence that ingenuity or tyranny could suggest. The
Jews however were despoiled of their wealth with-
out the formal consolation of a legal process, and
they had in other respects still stronger reasons fo*
complaints It must not however be concealed that
the feeling of the nation was completely identified
with that of the king in the object of his present
enterprise. All classes partook in an equal degree
of the prevailing phrenzy to chastise the infidels,
who had so long insulted or cruelly treated
the Christian pilgrims to the holy sepulchre ; and
when the English monarch was detained in capti-
vity, notwithstanding the exactions he had made
from his subjects to accomplish his heroic enter-
prise, sincere and universal grief was expressed at
his fate. Yet weighing in our minds at the present
day the motives of this great religious movement,
f In the new edition of the the sheriff of Northampton-
Foedera is a writ printed from shire to take all the property
the Patent rolls, (45 Hen. III. of the Jews into their hands
1261,) ordering amongstothers for the king, vol. i. p. 407.
ARBITRARY CONDUCT OF RICHARD. 19
much doubt must arise as to its justice. That a
unity of spirit pervaded all Europe there can be
no doubt, but its being the universal passion of
Christendom, unregulated as it was in so many re-
spects, does not prove that it originated in those
maxims of international equity which ought to be
based on religious toleration. Nor indeed must it
be forgotten that the sympathy of his own subjects
was excited by a monarch, who as a ruler was but
little worthy of their affection ; for in despite of that
lofty courage and magnanimity, qualities which in
the present example will always claim recognition,
and carry their peculiar recommendation to enthu-
siastic and imaginative minds, to all the admirers
of fiction and romance and poetry, the dishonour-
able modes he adopted to retrieve his impoverished
finances, shew too clearly that the code of chivalry
was far from being identified in his bosom with
that of honesty and justice. The alienations he
had granted before his departure were reversed in-
stantly he returned home. All the patents and
commissions he had executed were to be renewed
by passing with a fine under a fresh seal, and even
justs and tournaments, those training schools of
daring and gallantry of which he may be said to
be in great measure the founder, were forbidden,
20 FIRST ENFRANCHISEMENT OF MIND
solely that he might receive a fine from the knights
or nobility, in proportion to their rank, as they
entered the barriers.
Yet amid all the false maxims of honour and
morality which were in vogue, amid the unnatural
union subsisting betwixt religious and military zeal,
we may perceive the germ of those noble habits of
mind which still retain a striking effect upon the
national character, and which have imparted from
a wild and uncontrolled state of manners much of
the grace and dignity belonging to modern society.
We may see, moreover, how the spirit of chivalry,
contradictory as it may be in itself, helped to keep
alive national prowess at home, to furnish a supply
of recruits to defend the country in times of danger,
and when the power of the nobles declined, who
held their lands by bringing these soldiers into the
field, we may observe how the Commons of England
acquired strength and influence from their ruin.
But these, after all, are the least valuable reflections
that will present themselves, since the crusades gave
the first moral impulse towards the enfranchise-
ment of the human mind, whilst the oppressive
government of Richard I., swayed entirely by the
general movement in their behalf, began to create
new interests in the kingdom, which tended in
BROUGHT ON BY THE CEUSADES. 21
turn to balance the power of the great proprietors,
tenants in capite, as well as to produce those im-
portant changes by which the constitution of the
country was placed on the foundation where it now
rests. And thus also shall we learn how, as in
the present instance, the burgesses of large towns
became more independent, began to acquire muni-
cipal jurisdiction under their own officers, and to
possess increased influence in the state.
Cceur de Lion ascended the throne on the 3rd of
September, 1 189. On the 14th of the same month
he held a great council at the abbey of Pipwell, in
this county, now destroyed. It was attended by a
numerous assemblage of ecclesiastics : the whole of
the English and Irish bishops were present, all the
abbots and priors throughout England, as well as a
large number of the laity s. The main object of
s There had been in the result of which was that the
reign of Will. II., (11th Mar. clergy renounced their obedi-
1094,) a very large concourse ence to the primate. Eadmer,
of the nobility and ecclesi- who was attached to the arch-
astics of the realm assembled bishop, in his account of what
at Rockingham, in the imme- took place on this occasion,
diate neighbourhood, when a mentions a knight, who in the
council was held on Sunday, in name of the people there pre-
the church, contiguous to the sent encouraged the traitor-
castle, to determine the ques- ous prelate in his resistance,
tion whether Anselm should Eadmeri Historia Novorumj
swear obedience to the pope p. 26, &c.
without the king's consent, the
22 COUNCIL AT PIPWELL.
this extraordinary meeting was to make arrange-
ments respecting a crusade. We have already ob-
served what modes were adopted to raise the neces-
sary funds for this expedition, and the not very
distant situation of Northampton from the seat of
these deliberations might have suggested to the
king's mind, had there existed no other circum-
stances to remind him of the importance of the
place itself, that the town might help him to increase
the sums he needed. This however is pure con-
jecture, since we know not in short how long the
council sat, or in truth but very little of its pro-
ceedings. That Bichard I. was thoroughly devoted
to business, energetic beyond most sovereigns who
have sat on the throne, and determined to accom-
plish the object of his ambition, there cannot be the
least doubt. What length of time he stayed at the
abbey of Pipwell, it is now impossible to tell, for
we cannot trace the daily journeys of the prince in
this reign so satisfactorily as in the following ones,
the records of the period being generally lost, and
all historical information very meagre. We hear
no more of the king until the month of November
when we find him still occupied in taking active
measures respecting the expedition, granting on the
first of the month in London a charter to the town
FIRST CHARTER. 23
of Shrewsbury, and on the fourteenth issuing from
Bury St. Edmunds the one before us, to the bur-
gesses of Northampton. The town had previously
enjoyed one from Henry II., that is now lost h , but
of which this appears to be a confirmation.
For the reasons already assigned, Richard I. ex-
tended similar favours to other places, to Colchester,
Winchester, and Lincoln. These various charters
however are not all equally full, since that given to
Shrewsbury, for instance, contains fewer immunities
and concessions than the others, and it may be ob-
served in passing, that the burgesses there paid
proportionably less for the royal consideration. The
general tenor of any one of these instruments will
be found upon comparison to agree with the rest.
It may also further be remarked that whilst tracing
the origin and progress of any borough of im-
portance, we are in fact marking the history of
municipal institutions generally, and stretching our
enquiries over a large portion of English jurispru-
dence.
h It is most likely that the see that the latter were to hold
charter inserted in the new edi- the privileges belonging to the
tion of Rymer, (vol. i. p. 11,) former. This charter, which
and granted to the citizens of has been assigned to the reign
London, was much the same of Hen. I., is very similar to
as the one given to the bur- that granted to Northampton
gesses of Northampton, as we by Richard the First.
24 FIRST CHARTER.
As this charter of Cceur de Lion is both the basis
of those given in succeeding years, and is included
in subsequent grants to the burgesses, it will be
desirable to examine its various clauses rather
closely. By adopting this method we shall be the
better prepared to understand as we go on step by
step, the actual progress that is being made from a
state of servitude, feudal tyranny, and barbarism, to
one of increased liberty and civilization. For the
same reason it will be of importance to ascertain
the meaning, and to deduce constitutional or prac-
tical conclusions from these documents, but the
simple analysis will furnish the best moral comment
that can be made upon their contents.
% Eicardus Dei gratia Rex Anglia3 Dux Norman-
nise Aquitanise comes Andegavensis Archiepiscopis
Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus Justiciis
Vicecomitibus et omnibus ministris et fidelibus suis
Prancise et Anglise Salutem. Sciatis nos concessisse
Burgensibus nostris de Norhanton quod nullus
eorum placitetur extra muros Burgi Norhant. de
nullo placito praeter placita de tenuris exterioribus
exceptis monetariis et ministris nostris. Concessimus
autem quietanciam murdri infra Burgum et in Por-
soka et qtiod nullus eorum faciat duellum et quod
de placito ad Coronam pertinentibus se possint dis-
FIRST CHARTER. 25
coronare secundum consuetudinein Civium Civitatia
Londonice et quod infra muros Burgi ilJius nemo
capiat hospitium per vim ullum pro liberacione
marescalli. Hos autem eis concessimus quod omnes
Burgenses Xorhant. sint quieti de theloneo et leste-
gio per totam Angliam et per portas maris. Et
quod nullus de summa pecunise judicetur nisi secun-
dum legem quern habent Gives nostri Londinenses.
Et quod in Burgo illo in nullo placito sit meskin-
ninga et quod hustings semel tantum in ebdomada
teneatur, et quod terras suas et tenuras et vadia sua
et debita sua omnia juste habeant quicunque eis de-
beat. Et de terris suis et tenuris quse infra Burgum
sunt rectum eis teneatur secundum consuetudinem
Burgi, et de omnibus debitis suis quse accommodata
fuerunt apud Norliant. et de vadiis ibidem factis
placita apud jSTorhant. teneantur. Et siquis in tota
Anglia theloneum vel consuetudinem ab hominibus
Ts T orliant. ceperit postquam ipse a recto defecerit
Propositus ISTorhant. namium inde apud Norhant.
capiat. Insuper et ad emendacionem illius Burgi
eis concessimus quod sint quieti de Bradtol et de
Childwete et de Hieresgive 1 et de Scot tale ita quod
Propositus Norhant. aut aliquis alius BalliMis;
1 Bradtol, Gildwite and Yeresgeve in the charter of 11!
Hen. HI.
26 FIRST CHARTER.
Scottale non faciat. Has predictas consuetudines
eis concessimus et oinnes alias libertates et liberas
consuetudines quas habuerunt aut habent Cives
nostri Londinenses, quum quin meliores aut libe-
riores habuerunt secundum libertates Londinenses
et leges Burgi Norhant. Quare volumus et firmi-
ter precipimus quod ipsi et heredes eorutn liabeant
omnia prsedicta, heredetarie liabeant et teneant de
nobis et heredibus nostris reddendo per annum cen-
tum et viginti libras numero de villa Norhant. cum
omnibus pertinentiis suis ad Scaccarium nostrum
in termino Sancti Micliaelis per manum propositi
Norhant. et Burgenses Norhant. faciant propositum
quern voluerint de se per annum sicut sit idoneus
nobis et eis. Teste Hugone Dunelmensi ; Johanne
Norwicensi: Huberto Sarum: Episcopis. Comite
Albermarle : Comite Willelmo de Arundel : Comite
Bicardo de Clara: Comite Hamelin de Warenne.
Waltero filio Roberti. Datum apud Sanctum Ed-
mundum xviii. die Novembris per manum Willelmi
Electi — Elyensis Cancellarii nostri Begni nostri
anno primo.
^f On the dorse ; ista carta allocata per Johannem
Peche maiorem Civitatis Londonise & Aldermanum
ejusdem civitatis et intratur in camera Gyhalde
ejusdem civitatis videlicet in libro cum littera
FIRST CHARTER. 27
G. folio centesimo. Willelmo de Holbeche &
Jacobo de Tame tunc temporis vicecomitibus
Londonise.
This charter of 1st Eichard L, (1189,) de-
clares,
1. That the burgesses should not be compelled to
plead on any plea without the walls of the borough,
except pleas of outholdings, unless they were the
moneyers and ministers : w r hich was a saving of
considerable expense to all suitors, and productive
of more advantages than would immediately seem
to arise out of such a license, as we shall shortly
see from subsequent events that transpired.
2. That they should have acquittance of murder
within the borough and in portsoken. That is, in
case a person should be murdered within the town,
suburbs, or liberties, they should be free from
amerciament; the laws of Canute having fixed a
fine of forty marcs upon every town where such
offences were committed.
3. That none should make duel. That is, be
compelled to establish his own innocence in a
criminal, or his rights in a civil cause by this per-
sonal hazard, Here again was a considerable ad-
vantage obtained, as all questions in the previous
reign, whether pleas concerning freehold, writs of
28 ANALYSIS OF THE
right, warranty of land, or of goods sold, debts
upon mortgage or promise, the validity of charters,
the manumission of villeins, and all questions of
service, might have been referred to this mode of
trial k .
4. That of pleas appertaining to the crown
they may justify according to the custom of the
citizens of London : which was, that a man could
discharge himself by his oath within the walls of
the city.
5. That no one could take hostellage (lodging)
by force, or be compelled to entertain one of the
king's household.
6. That they should be free from toll and las-
tage ; that is, toll and customs throughout all
England; that no one should be adjudged of
amerciaments of money, but according to the
law of London, which fixed them at a certain
sum.
7. That there be no plea miskenning; that is,
that no one should be called into law unjustly.
That the hustings, or supreme court of the town,
should be held only once in the week.
► 8. That they justly have all their holdings and
lands, to be kept according to the custom of the
k Reeve, i. 83,
FIRST CHARTER. 29
borough, and that all pleas concerning their debts
and pledges should be held at Northampton.
9. That all tolls unjustly taken from the bur-
gesses in other places, if not redressed there, the
provost, {propositus,) has power to do justice within
the town of Northampton.
10. That for the amendment of the town
the inhabitants be quit of brudtol, childwete,
hieresgive, and scottale. These terms involve
some difficulty for exact interpretation, as they
were evidently borrowed from some of the ancient
Saxon laws, and their exact meaning was very soon
lost.
11. That all these privileges should be held as
freely and fully as the citizens of London held
theirs, and the like customs and privileges be
shared by both; that they should be held here-
ditarily by them and their heirs, rendering yearly
to the exchequer at the term of St. Michael by
number, (numero,) that is, by tally, or tale, in the
coin of the realm, £120, by the hands of the pro-
vost of Northampton : and lastly,
12. That the burgesses should make a provost
of themselves, whomsoever they selected as proper
for themselves and the crown. This power of being
permitted to choose its own magistrates has been
30
EFFECTS OF THE
usually accounted by every community one of the
first advances to freedom. The privilege of elect-
ing its own magistrates is the earliest boon granted
to a new settlement, and so highly was it esteemed
by the modern Greeks, that in 1810 the Hydriotes
purchased it from the Sublime Porte for a consider-
able sum. It is an acquisition implying increased
confidence on the one hand, and enlarged powers
on the other, though not political independence.
The period when this charter was granted has
been called by several statutes, and by the common
law of England, the time of prescription, (particu-
larly in the statute de Quo Warranto , 18th Edw.
I., 1289; vid. Stat, of the Eealm, vol. i. p. 107,)
or the time of legal memory : therefore all rights
which can be established at this period, must be
either built upon something previously granted, of
which there was existing tradition, or else upon
what now for the first time had its existence. What
is the inference we are to draw from this legal
argument ? We may see that as there is not any
mention of a corporation made in the grant, or
any allusion to one antecedently, or any notice
whatever of corporate rights, there could not have
been such things in existence at this precise period.
We may further perceive that it was the resident
FIRST CHARTER. 31
inhabitants, the men who should not be compelled
to plead without the walls, who constituted the
burgesses; these men were authorized to choose
their own magistrate, and as soon as he was
elected, the assembly dissolved itself, leaving to the
officer on whom their suffrages had been bestowed,
the uncontrolled management of their affairs for
the rest of the year. He was the interpreter of the
borough charter, and the organ of local legis-
lation. And what effect or influence was wrought
upon the people by this judicial and commercial
code ? It tended to carry them by degrees from a
state of internal disorganization and civic disunion,
into one of social alliance and confederacy; it en-
couraged them in all their struggles against the
difficulties of practical life, taught them to acquire
confidence in their own industrial exertions, and if
they were still too modest, or too much depressed
to think of the possibility of obtaining any honours
beyond their own walls, it bid them aspire to the
distinction of being selected by their townsmen for
chief magistrate.
Five years after Richard had confirmed his fa-
ther's charter, an alteration took place in the
manner by which the fee farm was to be paid, as
we find from the Pipe rolls, that it was not dis-
32 PILEPOSITI.
charged by the reeve, but by Adam de Gurnai,
and Boger the son of Peter, who are called Pro-
positi, or provosts 1 . It has been conjectured, that
whilst the title of reeve was the Saxon name for
the chief municipal officer of the borough, it had
its correspondent synonymes in Norman-French, in
the words prevot, maire, and bailli, and that con-
sequently all these terms having the same signifi-
cation, they were used indiscriminately. But such
a supposition implies a very imperfect knowledge
of etymology, and is by no means agreeable to the
truth. For it is quite certain that the Propositi
just mentioned were merely the fermers of the
town, since the burgesses had suffered a fine of
£100. a year later, and another of £30. two years
after the charter was confirmed, to farm the borough
1 Robertas Revellus red- potumdeauxilio burgi deNor-
dat compotum de firma Burgi hamtona. In thesauro viij.li.
de Norhamtona: in thesauro et iiij.s. Et in pardona per
quater xx. et x. li. et xiiii. s. breve Regis Monachis de
et iii. d. et in liberacionibus Norhamtona xxxxiiij. s. Wil-
constitutis viii. 1. et ii. s. et lielmo de Aleini Britoni ij.s.
i. d. ; et in elemosinis consti- — Mag. Rot. Pip. 5 Stephen,
tutis Monachis de Norham- Adamde GurnaietRogerus
tona xx. s., et eisdem Mona- filius Petri propositi de Nor-
chis iii. s. et viii. d. pro terra hantona reddunt compotum de
sua quam Rex cepit infra cas- c. et xx. li. de firma Burgi de
tellum suum ; et quietus est ; Norhanton. — Mag. Rot. Pip.
et idem Robertus reddat com- 5 Ric. I, Rot. 7. b.
FEE FARM PAID BY THE PROPOSITI. S3
themselves™, and were answerable for the fee farm
in the 10th of John.
m Burgenses de Norhantona
reddunt compotum de c. li. pro
habenda villa sua adfirmam et
pro libertatibus suis habendis.
In thesauro lxx. II., et debent
xxx.li. Radulphus de Buseville
et Jobannes films Nigelli red-
dunt compotum de c. et xx. li.
numerodefirmaBurgi. — -Mag.
Rot. Pip. 2Ric.L
Burgenses de Norhantona
reddunt compotum de xxx. li.
pro babenda villa sua ad fir-
mam et pro libertatibus suis
habendis ; in thesauro libera-
tur, et quieti sunt — Mag. Rot.
Pip. 3 Ric. I.
Henricus filii Hugonis et
Simon de Bedeford reddant
compotum de c. et xx. li. de
firma Burgi de Norhantona.
In thesauro c. et xvij. li. et
vi. s. et viii. d. numero. Et in
elemosinis constitutis Militi-
bus de Templo 1. marca. Et
Roberto filio Hugonis filii
Sewin xx. s. in prato de Chin-
geshala. Et quieti sunt. —
Mag. Rot. Pip. 4 Ric. I.
Richeras Vinitor et Tom as
le Bacheler reddunt compo-
tum de c. et xx. li. numero de
firma Burgi de Norhantona.
In thesauro c. et xvii. li. et
vi.s. et viij. d. numero. — Mag.
Rot. Pip. 6 Ric. I.
Tedbaldus films Rogeri et
Willielmus Passelewe praepo-
siti de Norhantona reddunt
compotum de c. et xx.li. nu-
mero de firma Burgi de Nor-
hantona. In thesauro c. et
xvij.li. et vi. s. et viij. d. nu-
mero. — Mag. Rot. Pip. 7 Ric. I.
Simon de Pateshil reddat
compotum de firma de Nor-
hantescire. Burgenses de Nor-
hantona debent de remanenti
firmse villae de Norhantona de
anno preterite. Idem reddant
compotum de c. et xx. numero,
scilicet Adam de Gurnai et
Henricus filius Conani pro eis
de firma Burgi de Norhanton
de hoc anno. In thesauro c.
et xvij. li. et vj. s. et viij. d.
numero. Etin elemosinis con-
stitutis Militibus de Templo
1. marca. Et Monachis ejus-
dem vtilae xx. s. Et debent
xx. s.— Mag. Rot. Pip. 8 Ric. I.
The different computations
of money in the survey are
by the libra or pound, the
mark, the ora, the shilling,
penny, &c. The librae ad
pensum, or pondus, formed
the payment when the coins
34 JOHN GRANTS A
"Within the first year after John commenced his
reign, he began to grant very profusely new
charters, and confirmations of old ones, to such
places as had obtained them from his brother or
his ancestors. The rolls on which they are entered
are unfortunately very imperfect, six years of his
troublesome reign furnishing none of these im-
portant records. The municipal archives of the
borough only possess a paper transcript of the
document we shall next examine, but the original
enrolment is among the charters at the Tower,
and has been printed in the volume of these in-
struments published under the authority of the
record commissioners 11 .
offered at the exchequer were were made, one by tale, the
defective in fineness as well other blanch. Robertus films
as weight. On this occasion Servini reddat compotum de
the receivers at the exchequer c. et v. s. in bianco de veteri
either melted a sample of the firma de Norhantescire. Idem
money paid, or received six- vicecomes reddat compotum
pence or a shilling over every de c.li. numero de firma Burgi
twenty in lieu of actual com- de Norhantona. — Mag. Rot.
bustion. The money so melted Pip. 18 Hen. II.
was said to be blanched. The This difference betwixt the
ora was valued at twenty pence. county and the borough in the
(See Introd. to Domesday, li. mode of payment occurs on
Hi. liii.) The usual payments other occasions. — Mag. Rot
for the fee-farm were by tale, Pip. 32, 33, 34 Hen. II.
(numero.) In the 18th year n Rot. Chart, pp. 45, 46.
of Hen. II., two payments
charter to northampton. 35
^[ Charter of John*
It commences by reciting the one that has been
just examined, speaks of the burgesses of North-
ampton and the citizens of London as being equally
governed by the laws granted by his father, and
then goes on to declare that the burgesses shall
make a reeve (propositus) from among themselves,
whom they will; in this manner, to wit, that by
the common consent (consilium) of their township,
they shall elect two of the more lawful and discreet
men of the town and present them to the sheriff of
Northampton, who shall present one of them to
the chief justice at Westminster, when he ought to
render his own account, who shall well and faith-
fully keep the reeveship (praposituram) of the
town, and not be removeable so long as they con-
duct themselves well in their jurisdiction (ilia
balliva) unless by the common consent (commune
consilium) of the town : that the burgesses shall
elect four of the more legal and discreet men from
the borough to keep the pleas of the crown, and
all other pleas belonging to it in the same town,
and to see that the reeves (propositi) rightly and
lawfully treat as well the poor as the rich.
In this charter we may observe the power already
36' NATURE OF JOHN'S CHARTER.
acquired of electing a reeve for themselves not
only confirmed, but augmented by permission of
choosing a second, who was to be nominated by
the sheriff. This is the first step, unless we except
the two persons paying the fee farm in the 5th of
Richard I., towards the election of bailiffs, if indeed
these persons did not virtually enjoy that office.
The four who were deputed to keep the pleas of
the crown are functionaries who now appear for
the first time, and the duties entrusted to them
were to collect the forfeitures due to the king when
any offences had been committed, such as homicide,
theft or murder, or any other misdemeanor, or
such as affected his own personal safety, or pleas
concerning the fraudulent concealment of treasure
trove, or civil pleas, such as pleas of debt. In
short it was the power of determining all suits in
the king's name, for offences committed against his
crown and dignity as well as against the peace.
A charter analogous to the one before us was
given to Lincoln , Norwich, Shrewsbury, and Ips-
° In the year 1194, the Northampton. — Mag. Rot.
citizens of Lincoln had ren- Pip. 6 Ric. I., Rot. 8. b.
dered a fine of 500 marcs for And in the 1st of John,
such a confirmation of their 1199, they underwent another
liberties from the king, as he fine of 300 marcs for farming
granted to the burgesses of the city, as they did on occa-
ANALOGOUS TO OTHERS.
37
wich in the same year, and it also served as the
type for the privileges bestowed upon the burgesses
of Grimsby p and Lancaster q . This is all the bur-
gesses of Xorihampton appeared to have gained
in the present reign, unless we include them in the
general advantages ratified by Magna Charta, which
expressly defined burgage tenure as pure socage,,
and that these tenures and holding by fee farm
exempted the tenants from military service'.
Yet we must not pass on to the reign of
Henry III., without making an obseryation regard-
sion of this grant, as well as
for its confirmation. — Mag.
Rot Pip. 1 John, Rot. 11. a.
p Homines de Grimesbi de-
bent vl. mareas et i. palefri-
dum, pro habenda carta Re-
gis de libertatibus suis secun-
dum tenorem Cartas de Xor-
hanton.— Mag. Rot. Pip. 3
John, Rot. 2. b.
The custom of giving pal-
freys in addition to the tine
for confirmation of privi-
leges, was also known to the
burgesses of Northampton ;
thus in the years 1200 and
1215 are the following en-
tries : Burgeuses de Nor-
hantona dant domino Regi
cc. mareas et propter ea xl.
mareas unam G. filius Petri
debet respondere et ii. bonos
palefridos precii de x. mareas
prohabendo villa sua adfirmam
in manu sua, et pro libertati-
bus suis confirmandis. Rot.
de Oblatis 1 John.
Burgenses de Norhamion
xli. Ii. et xv. s. et viii. d. et ii.
palefridos pro habenda villa
sua sicut continetur in Rot.
xiiii. Burgenses de Xorh-
amton debent iiii. palefridos
pro habenda inquisitione sicut
continetur in Rot. xv. — Mag.
Rot. Pip. 17 John.
«* Rot. Chart. 2o. 91.
r Charter of Liberties, p.
71 ; Report 72.
38 John's visit to the town.
ing John's partiality towards the town itself. And
this appears to have been manifested very decidedly
by the frequency with which he made it his abode.
If we except the 3rd and 4th years of his reign,
which he spent exclusively on the continent, and
the 12th, when we can only trace him in the
neighbourhood of Northampton, we shall find that
he paid it annual visits, sometimes four in the
same year, from the time he ascended the throne
until a few months before his death. We can cer-
tainly fix it as his residence for at least sixty-four
days after he became sovereign of England s . It
was probably in consequence of his often-repeated
sojourn, that when he took umbrage at the con-
duct of the citizens of London, he caused the
exchequer to be held here in the 10th of his reign
from Michaelmas to the Nativity, and an allowance
of a hundred and one shillings was accordingly
made to the sheriffs of London and Middlesex for
their charges in conveying hither the rolls and
s In the Mise Roll, of the of Binedon for alms to the
11th of John occur entries of poor on the day when the king
payments made to the poor in eat fish and drank wine at
consequence of the king eat- Northampton, on the day of
ing fish and drinking wine on the adoration of the cross,
fast days, when he visited the xlvi. s. et x. d.
town. Thus, To the ahbot
CHARTER OF HENRY III. 39
exchequer of -the barons, and the exchequer and
rolls of the Jews 1 .
% Charter of Henry III.
When Henry the Third assumed the sovereignty,
the kingdom was in a state of great disorder and
misery. The monarch was too young to take the
direction of affairs himself, and consequently the
government, during the earlier period of his reign,
devolved in great measure upon his kinsman Wil-
liam Mareschall, earl of Pembroke. One of the
first acts of the young king's advisers was to issue
a general charter to his subjects; this was in
great measure a repetition of his father's. It
was confirmed the next year with a few additions
to check the oppressions of the sheriffs. In the
third year of his reign Henry's advisers addressed
a writ to Fulke de Breaute and the bailiffs of
Northampton, appointing bailiffs to keep the fair
and regulate all things pertaining to the crown,
more especially ordering that the merchants should
liberally and freely deliver their wool, hides, and
cloth, to the deputed bailiffs, knowing that the
king would fully satisfy them according to their
* Madox Excheq. 130, 131.
40 DISSIMULATION AIS'D
value". In the 11th of his reign he ratified to the
burgesses of Northampton the privileges obtained
from his ancestors. It might seem strange that so
long a period should have elapsed before the king
shewed this mart of consideration to the town,
especially since we know that he had frequently
been here since his coronation*, had kept his
Christmas here with great state in the 3rdy and
8th years of his reign, (1224,) had held a collo-
quium, or great council of the nobility in the fol-
lowing year, and assembled another in the ensuing
August. But this surprise vanishes upon knowing
that the king was only just come of age, and had
hitherto been incapable of exercising any authority.
No sooner, however, was he invested with supreme
power, than he declared the act of council passed
in the third year of his nonage (which had stated
that no letters patent should be held in perpetuity
until he was of full age) to have ceased, and that
those who wished to enjoy their liberties must
renew their charters under his new seal, since he
regarded ancient ones of no importance. In pur-
u Rot. Pat. 3 Hen. III. 50th, Jan. 8tb, May 6th, June
p. I.m. 6. 10th, (Rymer, i. 468, 9;)
x Henry III. was at North- 52nd, July 20th.
ampton 49th, April 1 1th ; y Matt. West. 278.
RAPACITY OF HENEY III. 41
suance of this, letters were addressed to the sheriff
of Xorthainpton and others, ordering them to ap-
prise all who had had any grant of privileges, to
renew them. Of course there was a fine fixed at
the re-delivery, and the sum procured by means of
this arbitrary conveyance of an inspeximus, raised
throughout England £100,000. As this mode
of obtaining money did not press upon individuals,
after this reign it became common.
Passing over a writ in the 9th (1239) year,
allowing certain customs for three years in aid of
enclosing the town, and another to a similar effect
in the 36th, (1252 z ,) the burgesses acquired no
fresh advantages until the 39th of Hen. III.,
(1255,) when they had freedom of arrest from
debt in ail parts of England, under a penalty of
ten pounds, unless it appeared the debtors and
burgesses were deficient in doing justice to then 1
creditors.
a Another writ to the same villae de termino S. Michaelis
purport was issued in the anno &c. xlvii° sexies viginti
53rd year of this king's libras, quas Rex eisdem Bur-
reign in the following form : gensibus concessit de gratia
Baronibus pro Ballivis et sua speciali, ad reparationem
Burgensibus Xorhamtonae. et emendationemmurisui cir-
Rex mandat quod allocent cumcirgentis villain suam.&c.
Ballivis et Burgensibus Not- — Firma Burgi, p. 289.
hamtonse de firma sua ejusdem
42 VARIOUS GRANTS
The charter of 11th Hen. III. authorizes the
burgesses to choose two of the most legal and dis-
creet men from the burgesses of the town, and
present them by their letters patent to the chief
justice at Westminster, who should well and faith-
fully keep the provostship (praposituram) of the
same town : and also choose four of the most legal
and discreet men of the same town by common
consent to keep the pleas of the crown*.
In the charter of 41st Hen. III. it states "quod
nullus mercator tempore nundinarum ejusdem burgi
hospitetur in eodem burgo cum suis merchandisis
nisi de licentia et voluntate ballorum ejusdem burgi
prout fieri debuit et consuevit in temporibus prede-
cessorum nostrorum regum Anglise." The privi-
leges embodied in this charter are granted to the
burgesses and their heirs in perpetuity b .
Two years later (1257) the former grants were
confirmed, and the burgesses were allowed the re-
turn of all writs within the borough, that is, the
certificate of the sheriff made to the court of what
he had done concerning the execution of any writ
directed to him, was now given to the town, thus
* Tested at Westminster, at Windsor.
16th March, 11 Hen. III., 39 b Tested at Westminster,
Hen. ,111.; 7th April, tested 18th Jan., 41st year.
PROM THE CROWN. 43
placing it by degrees completely independent of
the sheriff, and saving the emoluments he had been
used to receive, whilst his officers were prohibited
from exercising any act within its liberties.
In the 40th of Hen. III., (1255, 1256,) Thomas
Kin, ' mayor' of the town, and John le Spicer came
into the exchequer, and claimed on behalf of the
town to have return of writs. But they could not
shew any warrant for such a claim. Upon which
the sheriff of the county was commanded by writ
to summon the mayor and bailiffs of the town, and
twelve of the better and more discreet men of the
said town, to appear at the exchequer on the mor-
row of St. Martin, to shew to the king for their
whole town by what warrant they claimed to have
return of the king's writs . In the 52nd year of
this reign all the foregoing privileges were con-
firmed, in consequence of their not having been so
fully enjoyed through the late wars.
c Ex Mich. Recordo 40 follows : Villata de Norhan-
Hen. Ill.incip. 41. Rot. 2. a. tonareddit compotum de xxx.
Firma Burgi, p. 159. marcis quod tenuerat placita
By an entry on the Great que pertinebant ad viceco-
Roll of the Pipe of the first of mitem per brevia directa vice-
Richard I. it appears the bur- comiti, In thesauro liberavit
gesses had to restore them et quietus est. — Mag. Rot.
again at that time to the sheriff. Pip. 1 Ric. I.
It is found in the Record as
44 EXTRAORDINARY TRIAL WITH
The charter, however, of the 41st year of the
reign gave rise to a remarkable trial that took
place between the citizens of London and the bur-
gesses of Northampton, which has been detailed
very minutely in a Latin chronicle, containing the
history of the mayors and sheriifs of London.
From the ensuing extract it will be immediately
seen of what great importance some of the privi-
leges we have already mentioned were reputed at
the time they were conceded, especially the pro-
vision of not being compelled to plead without
the walls of their own town.
If Memorandum, that in this year, at the fairs
of Northampton, it happened that in a conflict be-
tween the Londoners and the men of Northampton
certain of the Northampton men were wounded, of
whom one afterwards died, but whether he died
from that wounding or from natural causes is un-
known. But the bailiffs of that town, who always
envy the Londoners, seized four of the Londoners,
imputing that death to them, and they imprisoned
them, and arrested their goods, and the goods of
other of their fellow-citizens. Which being heard,
the mayor and citizens, because no Londoner ought
to plead without the walls of the city, except pleas
THE CITIZENS OF LONDON. 45
of external tenures, sought for royal letters for their
delivery to the mayor, or to his messenger bringing
the foresaid letters, for their standing right before
the king, as they ought according to the laws of
the city; but the aforesaid bailiffs were unwilling
to dismiss them, neither for that writ, nor for
another which the mayor again requested. But
they shut them up closer and more cruelly, against
the precepts of the king and the liberties of the
Londoners, and so they remained there until after
the Purification of the blessed Mary, (Feb. 2,) at
which time the king came to London, and dwelt
at the Tower. And on the morrow of his coming
the mayor and citizens came to the king and re-
quested from him a third writ for delivering the
foresaid prisoners, and another writ directed to
the sheriff of the county of Northampton, that if
the aforesaid bailiffs should be unwilling to dismiss
them, that he should enter within their liberties,
and should deliver them to the bearer of the king's
letters, bringing them before the king to be
punished as they deserved, according to the laws
of the city. Which letters being obtained, be-
hold rumours that the aforesaid prisoners were at
Charing, near Westminster, where the mayor and
bailiffs of Northampton had brought them. Which
46 EXTRAORDINARY TRIAL WITH
being heard, the mayor of London sent to them
certain citizens, bringing the aforesaid writ, which
writ being read and understood, they were still
unwilling to assent that these prisoners should be
liberated to the messengers of the mayor. Then,
indeed, the mayor of London, with an innumerable
multitude of people, approaching the king, shewed
him, heavily complaining, how the bailiffs them-
selves, in despite of royalty, and to the great dis-
honour of his city of London, wished to make his
third writ of no avail, who, moved by anger, sent
Peter de Nevile, a certain marshal of his house-
hold, to Charing, who immediately brought the
prisoners before the king, and they were delivered
to the mayor. But the citizens immediately told
against those of Northampton their transgression,
and their contempt of the royal writ, and they
replied. Upon which relation and answer the
king assigned a day to give judgment on the mor-
row, to give and receive which judgment, to those
intent on deceiving, it was postponed from day to
day for more than five weeks, and afterwards the
third day before the feast of the Annunciation the
mayor and citizens came to the Tower, and the
bailiffs of Northampton, before the king in his
chamber, there being present the chief justice
THE CITIZENS OF LONDON. 47
Philip Basset, John Maunsel, Kobert Walerand,
and others of the royal council. And the men of
Northampton said that they would never answer
to them, but to the king alone, because they were
not bound to plead beyond the walls of their bo-
rough, and then they produced the charter of the
king, which was made in the 41st year of the
king who now occupies the throne ; and the citi-
zens say that that charter ought not to avail them
any thing, because they are not in possession of
many provisions contained in it, and chiefly be-
cause the provisions apply to all the fairs of Eng-
land ; to which they answered, that the fairs of St.
Ive's, St. Botulf s, Winchester, Lynn, and Stam-
ford, and even this, are particularized by their
charter. Afterwards the record of the justices'
roll was read, in which was openly and distinctly
specified the enrolment concerning the answer
made to the king for contempt of his writ; but
regarding the complaint of the citizens and the
answer of the burgesses little or nothing was writ-
ten. And the citizens said that they complained
against them that they had unjustly detained their
free men, against the liberties of the Londoners,
after the receipt of the royal writs, and even still
detain their chattels ; and they complained of other
48 INDEFINITE POSTPONEMENT.
injuries which they had sustained to the value of
ten pounds. To which in turn they so replied that
part they acknowledged and part they defended,
and in tins business placed themselves upon the
record of the bishops and barons who were present
on that day, and then sought judgment. And they
sought judgment concerning the new charter of
the burgesses, which ought to be of no value
against the charters of the citizens which they
produce, namely, those of Hen. II., Richard, John,
and the charter of the reigning monarch, and that
they are in possession of all the liberties contained
in the aforesaid charters d .
At length, after much altercation between them,
a convention and council was held before the king
and his barons, and because the bishops and others
who were present at that day on which the suit
was pleaded were not present, that judgment was
deferred to five weeks after Easter. Afterwards,
when the five weeks after Easter were past, the
judgment was deferred to the quinzaine of the
feast of St. John (May 6 ?), and we hear no more
of the affair e .
d DeAntiquis legibus : Cro- e The burgesses of North-
nica Maiorum et Vicecomitum ampton would however seem
Londoniarum, 1846, pp. 46 — to have been successful in
49. this business, as they were at
DISPUTE LEFT UNSETTLED. 49
The legal question involved in this long dispute
appears to be whether the royal writ or the charter
was of highest authority. The case was left un-
decided, at least the chronicler does not take any
further notice of the litigation, and this constitu-
tional question remained for the judgment of a
later age to determine.
A few things closely connected with the subject
immediately before us demand a slight notice be-
fore we leave the events of the present reign : such
a notice must necessarily be brief, and merely em-
body an allusion to the facts themselves. During
this long reign some regulations were adopted
respecting the fairs. In 1263 there was a large
settlement of students from Oxford made in the
town, so that it became a kind of university. We
a later period, (in the 21 stEdw. merchants should not recover
I.,)whentwooftheirmerchants their damages. At the time
were robhed of their money on prefixed, the merchants and
the king's highway in Glouces- four men from the district
tershire, on which latter occa- where the robbery was com-
sion they sued the hundred, mitted appeared in court,
and a writ issued to the and the jury found a verdict
sheriff of the county, com- for the merchants, who re-
manding him to summon four covered their money from the
good men of the hundred men of the hundred where
wherein the robbery was com- the robbery was committed,
mitted to appear in the court An outline of the pleadings
of King's Bench at a certain is given in Madox, Firma
day, to shew cause why the Burgi, 157, 158.
50 NORTHAMPTON AN UNIVERSITY.
have already seen that in the reign of Hen. II.,
(1176,) little more than a century after the Con-
quest, Northampton had acquired some reputation
as a place of learning, and the number of scholars
who flocked thither on the occasion have been sup-
posed to amount to several thousands. About the
same period several students from Cambridge fol-
lowed their example. The town took part with
the barons in their war with the king, and in 1265
it was invested by the royal army, and subsequently
taken by stratagem. Besides these transactions,
the patent rolls supply us with the following par-
ticulars. Writs direct that all the Jews who dur-
ing the late fight at Northampton had fled to the
castle for protection should return to the town,
and dwell there under that of the burgesses f .
Henry fully intended to have been here during
November of the present year, but was unable to
come. The custody of the priory of St. Andrew
was assigned to Aymo, the prior of Wenlock, be-
cause it was so damaged by the recent battle that
regular discipline could be no longer maintained
within its walls. There might have been two rea-
sons for confiding this religious house to Aymo's
f See the writ addressed to Rymer, vol. i. p. 440, from
twenty-four of the hurgesses Rot. Pat. 48 Hen. III. 1264.
of Northampton, printed in
PECULIAR PRIVILEGE. 51
charge ; one because it was a Cluniac foundation,
like that he presided over in Shropshire, the other
because he was well known to the king for having
entertained him in his own monastery g .
In the 52nd year of his reign Henry confirmed
to the mayor^ and burgesses of Northampton, all
the charters they had previously received, although,
as it was stated in the record, they had not fully
enjoyed them in consequence of the late disturb-
ances. Two years afterwards (1270) the burgesses
received a singular favour from the crown by
being permitted to keep their dogs, both in the
suburbs and the town, without lawing them. u Pro
burgensibus Northamptonse. Rex omnibus, &c. sa-
lutem. Cum Burgenses nostri Northamptonse ab
antiquo quieti esse consueverint de expeditacione
canum suorum tarn in suburbio ejusdem quam infra
eandem villain, volentes eisdem Burgensibus gra-
tiam facere specialem, concessimus eis pro nobis et
hseredibus nostris quod ipsi Burgenses et eorum
homines in perpetuum sint quieti de expedita-
* Henry III. was at Wen- looseness of expression in the
iock June 6th and Nov. 29th, manner of drawing up these
1233. documents. Tested at Wind-
h The compellation is in sor by the king, 6th May,
these words, "Cum dikcti 52nd year. — Rot. Pat. 52
nobis maior et burgenses nos- Hen. III. m. 17.
tri," &c., which shews great
52 LAWING OF DOGS.
cione canum suorum tarn in suburbio predictse
villse quam infra eandem villam. Et quod quieti
sint de fine et misericordia si qua ad nos vel
hseredes nostros ratione hujusmodi expeditacionis
possent pertinere. In cujus &c. T. R. apud
Westmonasterium. xv. die Marcii 1 ." This very
unusual exemption, which will require expla-
nation, they seem from the terms of the grant to
have been entitled to from an ancient period, but
it was now established as a special mark of royal
grace. In the barbarous enactments associated
with the forest laws, there was one decreeing that
no person should keep a dog without cutting off
the three fore claws, or the ball of each foot, in
default of which mutilation the owners were liable
to an amerciament of three shillings. This mode
of effectually preventing dogs running in the forest
originated in the laws of Canute. It was a custom
so fully sanctioned by Henry I., that Ordericus
Yitalis assures us very few of the nobility were
allowed the privilege of hunting at all during his
reign. The Carta de Foresta of 25th Edw. I.,
(1297,) sanctioned it in all the accustomed places;
when the practice fell into disuse it is difficult to
say, but we know that modern refinement has
1 Rot. Pat. 54 Hen. III., m. 19.
FIRST REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT. 53
requited the acts of cruelty formerly inflicted upon
the dogs, by levying a tax upon their owners.
Bearing even date with Henry's confirmation of
the charters in the 52nd year of his reign, there
exists amongst the archives of the borough, a royal
grant of pardon to the men of Northampton, for
their opposition to him during the baronial wars.
They do not appear to have taken a more promi-
nent part in resisting his attacks upon the national
liberties than any other portion of the community,
since his weakness and misconduct produced a
general opposition to his authority throughout
England, but in accordance with the usual custom
of the times, they obtained on the final suppression
of the outbreak, the same as other places, an act
of pardon for their transgressions, and more par-
ticularly for having defended the town against the
royal army.
Northampton remained in possession of the
privileges hitherto mentioned without any further
grants, or any diminution of what it had acquired,
until the 26th year of Edw. I., (1298,) when a
writ from the crown commanded the burgesses to
choose two of the most discreet persons who
should have full and sufficient authority to treat
for themselves and the rest of the burgesses, and to
54 ELECTION OP A MAYOR.
meet the king at York on the feast of Pentecost,,
there to consult on the business of the realm.
This is the first instance of Northampton return-
ing members to Parliament, and also the earliest
instance of the towns being directed to choose
representatives of their feelings in matters con-
cerning the government of the state. It is true
that conventions and councils had previously been
summoned, and several to Northampton, but until
the present moment the legislative assemblies of
England did not assume a constitutional character.
This seems to be the earliest occasion when repre-
sentatives were freely and independently sent forth
to give utterance to the popular voice, and North-
ampton was one of the seventy-six selected to
return members to Parliaments
In the following year (1299) Edward confirmed
his father's charters, with the additional privilege
that the burgesses should for the future elect a
mayor and two bailiffs annually at the feast of
St. Michael 1 .
k It also grants infangthef, Rot. Chart. 27 Edw. I. No.
and the power of inheriting 16.
the property of the deceased. 1 It is during this and the
Charter of Edward given succeeding reign that we find
by his own hand, at Canter- persons deputed to act for the
bury, 27th May, 27th year. — community under their com-
PUBLIC RIGHTS BETTER UNDERSTOOD. 55
This is amongst the very few charters that were
granted during the entire reign, which although
stretching over a period of thirty-five years is
peculiarly deficient in municipal enactments. The
attention of Edward the First was rather engaged
in adjusting upon a firm basis the shattered con-
stitution, and in concentrating his energies on
improving the law. The statutes of the realm
bear such ample testimony in these respects to the
wisdom and extent of his exertions, that it would
be impossible to convey even the faintest idea of
the numerous grievances he redressed. Henry the
Third had defied all the principles of liberty and
justice, and his son seems to have devoted the
whole scope of his comprehensive mind to making
new laws and reforming abuses, especially to
checking the oppressions of the sheriffs, and esta-
blishing those great Public Eights which were now
daily becoming better understood and valued.
Indeed it has been observed by Sir Matthew Hale,
that more was done in the first thirteen years of
his reign to settle and confirm the distributive
mon seal, and to present the not recede from their act or
mayor at the exchequer. The engagement. See the form of
intention of which was to hind presentation as given in Ma-
the principals faster, and to dox, Firma Burgi, p. J53.
give assurance that th ey would
56 queen Eleanor's cross.
justice of the kingdom, than in all the ages since
that time put together 110 . Therefore to have been
selected for any municipal advantages by a mon-
arch so prudent and sagacious must have given
the inhabitants fair reasons for self-gratulation,
nor can their descendants, though living under
altered circumstances and under a changed form
of civil government, now look back upon this act
of royal consideration, if they are worthy of their
heritage, without reflecting similar impressions 11 .
But the name of Edward the First, when re-
garded in connexion with Northampton, is linked
with associations commanding an interest far be-
yond its vicinity, since the sepulchral monument
in the neighbourhood, consecrated by sincere affec-
tion to the memory of his queen, is a work not
only seizing admiration by its just proportions and
purity of design, but one to which all Englishmen
who are imbued with a lofty feeling for art, may
proudly refer, as an evidence, that at this remote
period, their own countrymen were capable of
ra Norton's Commentaries, which the inhabitants were
p. 102. entitled to certain tolls for a
n Edward the First made space of two years. Rot. Pat.,
the town . a grant of pavage 13 Edw. I., tested by the king
in the 13th of his reign, by at Westminster, 8th of May. ;
GRANT OF FAIR FOR A MONTH. 57
conceiving as well as executing the most sublime
ideas of architectural beauty.
In the eleventh year of his reign Edward the
Third granted a charter to the town for a fair to
last for one month, namely, on the Monday next
after the octaves of the Holy Trinity, and for
twenty-seven days next ensuing, unless the said
fair should be an injury to those already established
in the district .
Some years elapsed before any additional benefits
were acquired by the burgesses, and it was not
until the 8th of Richard II., (1385,) when the last
recited charter and that of the 11th and 41st of
Henry III. were confirmed, that any fresh advance-
ment was made. In Richard' s only charter to the
town he conceded to the burgesses,
^f Charter of Eichard II.
That all pleas of assize, and all other pleas
whatsoever happening within the liberties of
Northampton, should be held before the mayor
and bailiffs of the said town in the guildhall of
o Tested at Westminster by their paying the fee farm, in
the king, 18th of March. Rot. answer to a petition presented
Chart. 11 Edw. III. No. 67. to parliament, 8th Edw. III.
This fair seems to have been Pet. Pari. 8 Edw. III. No.
granted as an aid towards 54.
58 EARLY APPLICATION OF SLIDING SCALE.
the same for ever: that the mayor should have
the keeping of the assize of bread, wine and beer,
and of the assize and assay of weights and mea-
sures ; that is, that the mayor and bailiffs should
have the power of trying all writs, pleas and pro-
cesses, and determining the price of bread, wine
and ale, and of fixing the standard weight or
measure by which these articles were to be sold.
A general enactment of the latter kind exists
amongst the statutes of the realm, and has been
supposed to have been passed as early as the
53rd year of Henry III. This sumptuary law is
perhaps the earliest application of the sliding
scale to regulating the price of provisions in pro-
portion to the value of grain, and it is undoubtedly
the origin of the various bye-laws that were subse-
quently made for the government of different trades
exercised within the borough p . Besides this, there
was also delegated the power of taking cognizance of
forestallers and regraters, flesh and fish, within the
liberty of the town.
In the year 1400 Henry IV. made a grant of
Murage to the burgesses, by which they were em-
powered to levy tolls on various kinds of merchan-
dise offered in the town for sale ; amongst other
p Stat, of the Realm, p. 199.
CONFIRMATION OF CHAPTERS. 59
articles, upon linen, canvass, cloth of Ireland, cloth
of silk mixed with gold, samit, diaper, and bau-
dekin q .
We are now arrived at a period when commerce
began to arrest the attention of the legislature, and
nearly all the enactments of this reign have refer-
ence to its growing importance. "We have, for in-
stance, laws relating to navigation, to the wages of
labourers, to the free passage of foreign merchants,
to the circulating medium, and to fraudulent col-
lusion of debtors. And in the statute passed in
the Parliament convened here in this, as well as the
preceding reign, the laws of trade received such
supervision as the increasing imports demanded.
In the 17ft of Henry YI. (1439) r the last four
charters, 11 and 41 Hen. III. (1227, 1257), 27
Edw. I. (1299), 8 Ric. II. (1385), were con-
firmed without any additions; but in the 23rd
9 Rot. Pat. 2 Hen. IV., p. VI. (No. 23.) from the mayor
]. m. 40. and commonalty of the town
r The charter of the 17th relative to paving, in which
of Henry VI. gives to the the names of Berwardstrete,
mayor and the community Seynt Gelystrete, Swynwel-
(communitati) the proceeds of strete, Kyngeswellstrete, Mari-
the royal property to the value strete, Seynt Martynstrete,
of £±0 a year (in eorum rele- and la chemyn, called the
vamen in perpetuum). Market-place, occur. See the
There occurs a petition on Petition printed Rot. Pari. iv.
the rolls of parliament 9 Hen. 374.
60 MAYOR MADE ESCHEATOR.
year (1445) a grant was made by which the mayor
was appointed escheator. This was placing the
chief officer of the borough in a still more respon-
sible situation than he already held, as he was now
constituted receiver of the different revenues accru-
ing to the crown by right of royal tenures, heirship,
or inquisition, so far at least as these forfeitures,
descents, rents and rights, fell within his municipal
jurisdiction. As such duties had previously been
discharged by the sheriff, we may see how the
mayor, who received this appointment solely by
virtue of his office, and not in the present instance
at the appointment of the lord treasurer, as was
customary, was gradually assimilating his own
dignity to that of the chief functionary of the
county 8 .
This charter in a few years became void, as well
as the same grants of the 23rd of his reign, in con-
sequence of several acts of legislation passed after
it was granted, and a new charter 1 , embodying the
like privilege, was received in the 30th year of the
same reign.
Before we proceed to a question upon which
s Madox Exclieq., 657. at Westminster in the 28th
t As the charter expresses year of our reign, and ended
it, hy virtue of a certain act at Leicester.
made in our parliament began
ALL POWER REALLY VESTED IN THE BURGESSES. 61
great misconception has existed, it will be desirable
at this point to review the privileges actually ob-
tained by the burgesses up to the present time.
We have seen how they have slowly advanced from
the possession of simple burgage tenure, to ap-
pointing their own magistrates and administering
commercial laws in their own local court : obtain-
ing exemption from toll and lastage, freedom from
arrest for debt out of then own town, acquiring
the return of all writs within their liberties, and
becoming emancipated from the interference of the
sheriff : farming the town themselves, electing re-
presentatives to Parliament, choosing a mayor and
two bailiffs, holding pleas of assize, and not being
amenable out of their own jurisdiction. These and
other immunities which have been mentioned were
fully granted to the burgesses, that is, to the whole
body of inhabitants, to those residents within the
borough who contributed to its annual expenses.
There is no mention of any select body being em-
powered to vary or limit these common rights : no
provisions are introduced for the creation of bur-
gesses, no notice whatever acknowledges the exist-
ence of a common council, court of aldermen, or a
corporation. There were several charters granted
to different towns during the early part of Henrv
62 VOICE OF THE BURGESSES THE ONLY SAFEGUARD.
YI/s reign, but it is not until the 18th year
(1439-1440) that the word incorporated even
occurs, when it is used for the first time in a
grant to Hull u . The object of its introduction
was evidently to confer additional strength on the
persons already composing what was termed by
the record, "the commonalty/' {communitas,) to
bind them more firmly into one body, since such
a state of union would the better enable them to
« Such is the opinion as
expressed by that sound con-
stitutional lawyer, Mr. Ser-
geant Stephens, in his Hist,
of Boroughs, (vol. ii. p. 859,)
but it must be looked at gene-
rally, since it appears in one
instance, at least, that of Co-
ventry, that this city was in-
corporated as early as the 18th
of Edw. III. In the Trea-
surer's box of that city is a
charter of Queen Isabella, in
French, giving the inhabit-
ants power under her own seal
to elect a sub-bailiff, dated
at Castle Rising, June 10,
15 Edw. III. Another charter
in French is also preserved
among the municipal ar-
chives, tested at Kenynghale,
Oct. 12, 18th of Edw. III.,
conveying from Isabella power^
to the men of Coventry to
elect a bailiff themselves.
The charter of incorporation
was granted on the 20th of
January following. Isabella
conferred many important
privileges upon this city
and was the chief promoter
of its liberties. Since she
held the town for her life
the advantages that were ob-
tained were mainly owing
to this connection. Yet we
must not suppose that all
her concessions to the priory
and city were made disinter-
estedly and freely, since the
former paid a rent of £107
a year for all their land held
under her, and the mayor and
commonalty paid £1000 for
their franchises, besides £50
a year for the fee farm.
OF CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOM. 63
resist the encroachments of the sheriffs, and the
oppressions of the county escheator. The term
made no essential difference in the constitution
of the borough, though the burgesses became
henceforth knit together by a closer bond of alli-
ance. Several towns preceded Northampton in
this new method of supporting their individual
interests, and it was not until the 38th year of
the reign, (1460,) that by fiction of law, this
fellowship was stated by royal grant to endure in
perpetual succession, and Northampton became
incorporated. There was no prescriptive right to
such a privilege, and it comes before us for the
first time under the dynasty of the house of Tudor,
as in fact does the existence of every other
secular corporate body. Such being the com-
mencement of a corporation, we will now enquire
what fresh advantages it produced. From the
very nature of the foundation it necessarily took a
title, and the town was incorporated by the name
of the mayor, bailiffs and burgesses of Northamp-
ton, and by that style it was capacitated to sue and
be sued.
64 COMMENCEMENT OP MUNICIPAL DECAY.
% Charter of Incorporation.
About half a century later these institutions
became more strictly defined, their intrinsic pro-
perties began to declare and develope themselves,
the latent powers they embodied grew expanded,
and the burgesses introduced the practice of de-
manding fines from all strangers who came to
settle within the borough, and share its pri-
vileges. Such a custom seemed fair enough in
the infancy of municipal government, when the
entire expenses of the town had to be met by a
levy upon the inhabitants at large. It was an
equitable and usual mode of placing either the
new resident, or the candidate for admission into
a mercantile gild, upon an equal footing with the
rest of the community. Nor must it be forgotten
that some kind of check was necessary to preserve
the distinction betwixt merchant strangers and
the inhabitants. Indeed the legal enactments on
the statute books during the reign of Edward II.
and his immediate successors fully enforce a usage,
handed down to their days, even from the police
regulations of Canute and Edward the Confessor x .
x Ancient Laws and Constitutions, pp. 393, 452.
MISCHIEVOUS EFFECTS OF MONOPOLIES. 65
Moreover in an age of monopolies it was the pro-
minent object of commercial companies to pre-
serve to themselves the exclusive profits of their
own trade 7 ; although it must be confessed these
practices undoubtedly tended to restrain com-
petition, as well as to impede the progress of in-
dustrial enterprise. At this time, too, the elec-
toral franchise was regarded rather as a burden
than a distinction, so that no grievances or com-
plaints immediately issued from these contribu-
tions. Political corruption was quite unknown,
though the subsequent loss of the municipal rights,
which we have seen hitherto so fully and freely
bestowed upon the inhabitants, may trace its origin
in great measure to these fiscal regulations. It
would be unbecoming the professed object of the
present enquiry, to enlarge upon the depravity
which this custom subsequently engrafted upon
several constituencies. But to suppose the cor-
poration of Northampton did not adopt the uni-
versal method of raising money by these expe-
dients would be attributing to its officers at this
early period either a liberality and disinterestedness
of conduct to which they can lay no claim, or else
imputing to them a neglect of that self protec-
r Nortou, 137, 159.
F
66 UNCERTAIN RULES FOR
tion which was in a measure sanctioned by the
example of other places. In truth, blemishes, like
those plants which overrun the fairest edifices,
and whose roots silently sap their foundations,
will imperceptibly creep over the face of the best
systems human wisdom can frame, and abuses are
of tardy growth, like the laws written by the
forbearing hand of time for their correction.
Illustrations of this mode of admission to com-
mercial and corporate freedom are abundantly sup-
plied by the minutes of the common assembly
books in the archives of the borough. For ex-
ample, in the year 1550 it was settled by the cor-
poration that every shoemaker who was disposed
to set up shop within the town, and should not
have been prentice within the same, should pay at
his setting up 30s., that is to say 13s. 4d. to the
mayor for the time being, 13s. 4d. to the cham-
berlain of the town, and 3s. 4d. to the occupa-
tion, or fraternity. In 1557 it was ordered that
every person who shall be franchised and enjoy
the liberties of the town of Northampton, shall
pay for his franchise £4, and that all prentices
and covenant servants who have served out their
term of years shall pay 10s. according to the old
custom, and likewise freemen's sons and children
ADMISSION TO CORPORATE FREEDOM. 67
born within the town shall enjoy their freedom
by patrimony, paying the officers' fees according
to old ancient custom. In 1564 it was ordered
that all masons, curriers, fullers, carpenters, joiners,
and cutlers, should be free of the liberties for 20 s.
if they followed no other craft, but if they did,
then to pay £4. In 1624 the freedom to one
bred and born in the town cost £2 down, and
a pound a year until the whole amount of £10
was discharged. In 1641 the admission fee rose
to £20, unless the applicant had married a free-
man's widow. The terms fluctuated according to
the trade of the person desirous of the privilege ;
thus in 1664 James Hensman paid £10 down, and
gave a bond of £100 to be forfeited if he followed
any other trade than that of a silk stocking weaver.
In 1673 another person paid 20 marcs, binding
himself by a statute bond to follow no other occu-
pation than a pin maker. In 1680, in considera-
tion of the usefulness of his trade, and there being
no other working goldsmith in the town, an indivi-
dual had the admission fee lowered from £20 to 20
marcs. And thus the practice which these minute
books shew to have existed as early as 1550, went
on, subject only to such capricious modifications as
the common assembly choose to determine.
68 EVILS AEISING FROM
There is no trace of any of these mercantile and
municipal impositions before the deed of incorpo-
ration : but after this period the dangerous doctrine
of usages came into operation, and the broad prin-
ciples so explicitly laid down in the former charters,
became crushed by the power of political intrigue,
and the illegal interference of the court. "What
melancholy testimony do all these extracts bear to the
commercial ignorance of the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries ! What a sad forgetfulness and dis-
regard do they proclaim of the lofty and indefeasible
rights pervading the charters of the Plantagenets !
How much did that selfish system of monopoly and
exclusion, then prevailing, injure the true interests
of trade ! Yet the times when these privileges
^were conferred have usually been stigmatized as
dark and barbarous ; dark and barbarous in many
of their phases they undoubtedly were, but not as
regards the advancement of Popular Liberty. For
if we would wish to catch the earliest dawn of light
as it breaks over the horizon of civil despotism, we
must seek for it in the enlarged perceptions wrought
upon society by the crusades, amid the confusion
of baronial wars and civic insurrections, in the pro-
visions wrested from John on the plains of Runny-
mede, in the proceedings of Henry at the Mise of
DEED OF INCORPORATION. 69
Lewes, or in the statutes planned by the collective
wisdom of the Edwards. This line of monarchs
both kindled and diffused the light of constitu-
tional freedom. 'When the houses of York and
Lancaster ruled the destinies of England, the flame
languished and grew dim, and for a while it was
even extinguished by the excesses and tyranny of
the Stuarts. The main structure however of the
British government is fixed upon ancient and
secure foundations ; the superstructure has been
often added to, embellished, disfigured, deprived of
its fair proportions, shaken by an unjust preponder-
ance, disturbed, overthrown, but the ground-work
has not been changed. If therefore we would
desire to know its primitive and uncorrupt state,
we must, like those diligent antiquaries who search
for concealed treasure among the tombs of the
dead, direct our enquiries below the surface of
fleeting opinions, and dispassionately examine the
simple elements of its plan.
In the same year that Northampton became in-
corporated, Henry VI. made his last effort to retain
possession of the throne. Eour months after he
had given the inhabitants the questionable boon,
(which the preamble sets forth as having emanated
from the great and memorable services they had
70 RELATIVE VALUE OF MONEY
lately performed towards the crown,) the king's
army was defeated in the meadows near De la Pre,
with great carnage among the nobility, who had
espoused his unfortunate cause. The civil war was
continued with sanguinary excesses until Edw. IV.
(of York) obtained in 1461 the victory of Towton.
In the following November, he convened a Parlia-
ment at "Westminster, and among other acts then
agreed upon was a charter of pardon under the
broad seal to the burgesses of Northampton, for
any part they might have taken in the late war.
The following year (July 10, 1462) he confirmed
all the previous charters without additions 8 ; and
in 1478 granted that the mayor should no longer
be sworn into office before the barons of the ex-
chequer, but before the last mayor, the recorder
for the time being, and the four coroners, or two of
them at the least, in the guildhall of his own town.
We must not forget that during the whole of
the period we have passed over, the fee farm was
annually being paid into the exchequer. And when
we consider the relative worth of money during
these three centuries, so large a return must have
pressed very heavily upon the burgesses. Por esti-
mating the sum they had to raise, by the price
• Rot. Pat. part 5. m 25.
IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 71
of wheat, which in average years of good crops stood
at 4s. a quarter, in times of scarcity at much more,
but also in fair seasons at much less, we shall come
to a sufficient idea of the actual rate of the impost.
We shall then find that in the year 1302, which is
a period about midway from the first rent charge
to the reign of Richard III., when it became re-
duced, a hundred and twenty pounds was equiva-
lent to seventeen times that sum, (with wheat at
70 shillings a quarter,) in the current coin of the
realm at the present day. So that in reality the
fee farm must be considered as little below £2040.
But on the other hand, this being a fixed money
payment, as in course of years the necessaries of life,
and the various articles of trade became enhanced
in price, so by degrees it grew less burdensome.
The difference, in short, betwixt those times and ours,
when the value of the circulating medium is taken
into consideration, resolves itself into a simple
question of arithmetical proportion ; and if the pre-
ceding illustration has not made it sufficiently clear,
a comparison shall be instituted as to the value
of manufactured articles. We shall then see that
the cost of a pair of boots for the use of King John,
in the 14th year of his reign (1213), was ninepence ;
of a pair of shoes for the leader of Henry the Third's
n
PEICE OF SHOES AND
greyhounds, fourpence; of the winter shoes of
Win. de Blatherwyk, foxhunter of Edward L, and
those of his two assistants, seven shillings b . Com-
* A few entries from the
Mise Roll of 14th of John
will not inappropriately shew
the cost of other articles of
this monarch's dress.
Pro i pari hoesarum vaccae
(long hose of cow-hide) ad
opus Domini Regis ii. s. vi. d.
Pro i pari sotularium (shoes)
ad opus Dni. R. vi. d. In
duobus paribus caerotecarum
furratis minuto vario (gloves
furred with small vair or
miniver) ad opus Do R. iii. s.
Die Veneris in festo St.
Barthol. apud Kingeshage
Will, de Pavilly, pro i sacco
de cordubano ad faciendam
robam Dni Regis viii. s. et
pro duobus paribus ocrearum
(boots) de corduban, v. s. etpro
iii. paribus estivalium (sum-
mer-boots) v. s. et pro duobus
paribus ocrearum de corduban
v. s. Item pro duobus "forel-
lis vaccinis (cases or sheaths
of cow-hide) furratis" filtro
(lined with felt) ad imponen-
dum duos capellos ferri ad
opus dni R. xxvi. d. Item pro
i capello ferri reparando, v. d.
Item pro urinalibus et chassiis
(cases or frames) ad urinalia
imponenda, ii. sol. Et pro i
pari botarum singularum (of
single or thin boots) ad opus
Dni R. xii. d.
The following entry shews
the price of his breeches :
Pro uno braccali* ad opus
Dni Regis unde tela\ venit
de Garder et argn (de empto)
ponderabat vi. s. et aurum ad
deaurandum constitit ii. s. et
factura xii. d.
In ii scutis dni R. re-
parandis et in guigiis ata-
chiand, et in huciis% illorum
reparandis iii. s. Pro rubi-
gine gladii Dni R. detergenda
iiij. d.
In the 14th year of John's
reign he fed 1000 poor at
Northampton, of whom 500
had bread, meat, and ale, and
500 bread, fish, and ale, at a
• Pair of breeches. f Cloth.
% The 7iuches, cases or coverings for the shields, probablj of leather.
EEGAL WEARING APPAEEL. 73
pare these charges with modern London extor-
tions, or with the equipments of the huntsman and
whippers-in of the Pytchley, or contrast the value
of a horse at two pounds, (such as a knight might
not be ashamed to ride upon,) with a hunter over
the same fields this season, and then the altered
state of monetary payments will be sufficiently
understood. There cannot therefore remain any
doubts that the fee farm was an impost the bur-
gesses had great difficulty in sustaining. No won-
der then that they sought a reduction, and if
they obtained nothing else during the short and
bloody reign of Richard III., by procuring in his
charter an abatement of 50 marks from their
annual rent they gained a relief which was ex-
tremely acceptable.
The town of Northampton shewed very soon that
it adhered to the Protector, a part most probably
taken through the influence exerted by Roger
Wake and Wm. Catesby, both of whom had large
estates in the neighbourhood, whilst the latter was
one of the chief favourites, as well as supporters of
this usurper's cause. Nothing therefore seems more
cost of £5. 14s. 7d. It was ever he had eaten meat twice
the common practice of this on Friday.
King to feed 100 poor, when-
74 ELECTION OE THE EORTY-EIGHT.
natural than that such circumstances should have
united in influencing Richard's mind to grant the
remission.
The battle of Bosworth terminated the contests
between the houses of York and Lancaster, and by
fixing Hen. VII. firmly on the throne, restored the
latter party to power. The enactments of his reign
have been compared by Lord Bacon to those of
Edw. L, but on very insufficient grounds. As a
municipal legislator he is chiefly known by having
confirmed the incorporations previously granted,
and of being the first monarch who created a select
body to restrain the universal voice of the burgesses.
This line of conduct must not however be attributed
entirely to his own suggestions, as in the Parlia-
ment held at Westminster in the 5th year of his
reign, (1489,) the inhabitants of Leicester and
Northampton petitioned, that as " by reason of the
little substance of a multitude who oft in number
exceeded others who were approved and decent
persons, great confusion had been caused as well
in elections as in assessing lawful charges brought
against them," the lords and commons assembled
decreed that the mayor and his brethren for the
time being should choose forty-eight discreet per-
sons who had held office, and who were liable to
NORTHAMPTON CHARTERS A GENERAL TYPE. 75
change as often as was necessary, who should for
the future elect the mayor and bailiffs. It will be
observed that this enactment only relates to the
choice of the mayor and bailiffs, and makes no kind
of alteration in the character and rights of the in-
habitants with regard to other privileges. They
remained burgesses as they were before, and did
not remotely contemplate committing so suicidal
an act as to pray for their own disfranchisement.
The present entry on the rolls of Parliament affords
another proof how completely alike was the general
tone of all contemporary charters. Those of London
were usually taken as the model, and in some in-
stances, as we have before observed, the immunities
of Northampton supplied the pattern and authority
for the guidance of other towns. In the 11th of
his reign, (1495,) Hen. VII. granted a charter for
two fairs, for regulating the administration of jus-
tice within the liberties, and sanctioning the ap-
pointment of a recorder. This was confirmed in
the 16th of James I. (1618). The attorney-general
filed a quo warranto, 2nd Elizabeth, by which the
privileges were all ratified . In the 1st Charles
I., the burgesses set forth a claim of issues and
profits within the town d .
c Michael. Term, roll 117.
d Roll. Hil. Term, 1 Charles I., roll 10.
76 REMISSION OF FEE FARM.
Henry VIII. confirmed all the preceding charters
the 2nd year of his reign, and in the 5th of his
reign, (1514,) remitted £22 annually for ever, of
the fee farm, which, with the previous reduction
of 50 marcs by Richard III., brought it down to
£64. 13s. 4d. ; the sum however now actually paid
is a trifle more. In the 25th of Edw. III., the king
by letters patent granted 100 marcs of the fee farm
of the town to the custos and college of the chapel
of the Virgin Mary and St. George at Windsor,
having previously assigned the same as good ser-
vice money to Roger and Sibilla de Beauchamp
until the crown had given them 100 marcs from
land. Prom this they received 80 marcs and gave
up their letters patent for the first privilege to the
court of chancery e .
Elizabeth, in the 41st of her reign, made other
grants and confirmations, but f after this period the
corporation underwent no change worth mention-
ing until municipal bodies were all placed upon the
system which regulates them at present. With
e Original record in the self at Westminster, 26 Oct.
Chapel of the Rolls. Let- —(Rot. Pat. Edw. III. p. 3.
ters patent for the foundation m. 15.)
of the Chapel were granted f Pat. Rolls, 41 Eliz. parti.
22 Edw. III. Chapel of the Rolls.
Tested by the king him-
DECLINE OF MUNICIPAL FREEDOM.
77
that we have here nothing to do, and the more un-
pleasant task arises of alluding to decay under the
Stuarts, and to the miscarriages of the mayor,
(1661s,) to the removal of aldermen, bailiffs, and
recorder, (1681, 1687 h ,) to the illegal admittance
of freemen, (1661 1 , 1769 k ,) and to the sup-
g In 1661, Mr. Serjeant
Charlton reported many "mis-
carriages" of the mayor of
Northampton, and for which
that officer was committed to
the custody of the serjeant-
at-arms, and reprimanded.
One of these " miscarriages,"
making infants free on the
morning of the election, that
they might vote as he pleased,
strikingly exemplifies the evils
resulting from the mode ge-
nerally adopted hy corpora-
tions in granting freedoms. —
Merewether and Stephens, i.
245.
h In the new charter was
" the illegal clause, vesting the
power of placing and dis-
placing the officers in the
crown." (See the exercise ex-
emplified in the minutes of the
common assembly, amongst
the municipal archives.) "But
the surrender not having been
enrolled, the charter was by
the opinion of Sir Edward
Northey, the then attorney
general, considered not bind-
ing, and therefore the borough
acted upon that of the 15th
Charles II. until 1795, when
the burgesses received another
charter." — Merewether and
Stephens, i. 246.
1 In 1663 the committee di-
rectly negatived the exclusive
right of the select body of the
corporation, by resolving that
the right did not belong to
the mayor, aldermen, and
forty- eight only, but in the
same year the governing body
procured a fresh charter from
the crown, confirming the
former privileges, and rein-
vesting the government of the
town in themselves. In the
same year this Job Charlton
reported that the inhabitants,
being householders, were the
proper electors, the house a-
greeingwith the committee in
that resolution. — Id.
k Rex versus Breton. Burr,
iv. 2260.
78 DESPOTIC CONDUCT OF THE STUARTS.
pression of the charter, (1683.) These events
happened anterior to the present generation, nearly
a century and a half ago; they are the recorded
facts of history, and no longer subjects of political
dispute ; decisions have been pronounced upon some
of them by the supreme courts of judicature, and
the monarchs, who evinced such a total forgetful-
ness or disregard of the many acts of grace emanat-
ing from their ancestors — the monarchs whose duty
it was to punish, rather than to promote electoral
corruption 1 — who with hearts depraved by selfish-
ness, and a love of licentious pleasure, thus became
the unprincipled dispensers of patronage, instead of
the guardians of morality and justice — whose lives
were spent in treacherously forging chains to en-
slave their confiding subjects, and who paid such
melancholy penalties for their duplicity, their weak-
ness, or their abandonment of duty — have long been
justly regarded by the concurrent voice of posterity
1 The charter of the 15th to restore him to his office of
of Charles II. to Northamp- alderman. In the return to
ton, was brought under the the writ, the corporation set
consideration of the court of forth an amoveas, under the
King's Bench, in the twenty- power granted to them by that
first year of that monarch's charter, and the return was
reign, upon an application supported by the court. — Me-
by a person of the name of rewether, i. 246.
Braithwaite, for a mandamus
LEGAL RESISTANCE OF THE BURGESSES. 79
as the arbitrary violators of Constitutional Liberty,
and the most profligate of rulers. They were in-
deed a generous and unostentatious race of men,
who offered from their narrow resources, as she tra-
velled hence in stately progress to Burghley, a
heavy purse of gold to Queen Elizabeth, (1564,)
and surely it betrays no lack of dutiful attachment
to the royal person of Charles I., that their de-
scendants resisted the illegal levy of conduct and
ship-money during the commencement of the civil
war, since they had so recently presented himself
and Henrietta with costly pieces of plate as they
passed through the town from the palace of Hold-
enby, (1634.)
Let us state the thing fairly. The burgesses had
proved their love to the crown by this unani-
mous token of their feelings, but were compelled
to espouse the cause of the Parliament, to main-
tain the existence of representative power, (or
the third estate of the realm,) to protect them-
selves from the insincerity of misguided councils,
from illegal taxation, and a despotic stretch of the
kingly prerogative. We no longer offer to the
sovereign, whom it is our happy privilege to obey,
such mean and antiquated compliments as these,
but have learned how to prove our loyalty and af-
80 TOWN LANDS MORTGAGED.
fection by methods more congenial to her princely
virtues, by the honest admiration of their bright-
ness, and by engraving their acknowledgment on
grateful hearts.
Ij Lastly, Charles II. comes before us in the
double character of a benefactor and the enemy
of corporate freedom; his bounty after the fire,
(1675,) and his first charter, (15th of the reign,
3rd. Aug., 1663,) entitle him to undisputed praise
for trying to advance the religious and civil welfare
of the town ; whilst, on the other hand, his sub-
sequent forfeiture of this, and nearly every other
charter throughout the kingdom, declares that he
was secretly intent upon crushing his subjects.
When he again restored to Northampton (20th
Sept.) the privileges he had forced it to surrender,
(1683,) the borough funds were found so inade-
quate to meet the expense of the new favour, that
the town lands were mortgaged for £170 to pay the
requisite amount.
It is needless to pursue our enquiries beyond
this limit, as all the subsequent charters merely
embody the confirmation of preceding grants.
But, in conclusion, let us for an instant divert
our thoughts from the history of the past, and
bring them forward to the present aspect of the
CONCLUSION. 81
town. We shall then distinctly perceive that
although those early records to which our attention
has been turned, are now little more than the al-
most illegible evidences of a forgotten age, yet that
their spirit is still surviving, pervading and ani-
mating at this day the whole of our civic institu-
tions. And we shall be led to acknowledge that
all the municipal rights, privileges and improve-
ments which have been gained in later years have
in reality sprung out of the concessions granted to
the people by those charters. With equal distinct-
ness we shall also perceive, how slowly the advan-
tages, and how slowly the abuses in the system
have proceeded together ; how they have arisen out
of customs originally free from reprehension, out of
regulations which most societies even still look
upon as pledges of unity and fraternal concord,
nay, as advantages inseparable from their vitality.
The very recommendations subsequently degene-
rated into evils, evils growing to such a magnitude
that the legislature interfered to correct them ;
surely this should incline us to do, though tardy,
yet not unwillingly justice to those who adhered to
a line of policy incompatible with modern opinions.
We stand now as it were in judgment upon the
deeds of our forefathers, and deem ourselves wise in
G
82 CONCLUSION.
our own generation, but the period will also arrive
when the actions of the present day will be sub-
jected to the equally impartial review of futurity,
when the line of conduct w r e adopt, and the sense
we entertain of individual responsibility, will become
in turn a portion of history, and deserve either the
unmixed censure, or the grateful admiration of our
descendants. It will be no insignificant feature of
the present century, if our wisdom shall hereafter
cause it to be appealed to as that happy era, when
the blessings of peace were not restricted to nations
collectively, but were understood by the little com-
munities composing them ; if the angry struggles
for predominance, and the petty jealousies of party
conflict, which so painfully disturb the social por-
gress, were laid at rest and forgotten: and instead
of witnessing the profitless recitals of intestine fac-
tion and civil discord, the energies of men were
seen to be devoted to the intellectual improvement,
and moral enlightenment of their fellow citizens.
And who does not see in the charters to which
our attention has been turned the mutability Ox
human, the permanence of divine government.
Or who does not see as he walks through the town
itself, replete as it is with so many associations of
its ancient importance, that the scene has been
CONCLUSION. 83
changed, and scarcely a fragment remains to indi-
cate its original features. The venerable sanctua-
ries of religion have alone been spared from the
common ruin, and they stand like faithful beacons
to direct our thoughts from the evanescence of all
worldly objects, to that great Being who changes
all things and remains Himself unchanged. Who is
not reminded as he observes the different schools
raised for educating the humbler classes, or as he
beholds those noble structures devoted to healing
the sick and the infirm of their maladies, that new
duties claim our regard — that new opportunities
have sprung up for shewing the feeling with which
we entertain the bounty of God, and that increas-
ing means should only serve to stimulate mankind
to fresh gratitude and more extended charity.
oo
84
EXTRACTS FROM THE
HIS is not an unsuitable
place to introduce before the
reader some extracts from
the Chamberlain's Book of
Minutes. They are contained
in two thick folio volumes
of paper, written in several
hands, and relate to all the business usually occu-
pying the attention of the town assembly. They
are taken in chronological order, as it would be
difficult to attempt any kind of classification of
matter in itself so miscellaneous.
EXTRACTS FROM THE CHAMBERLAIN S BOOKS.
At an assembly holden at the Guildhall in 1552,
it was agreed that every man that from thenceforth
should have any swan or swans swimming on the
town several water, should pay yearly 3s. M. to
the chamberlain for the same, to the use of the
town.
Item, that no franchised man should wear any
other man's or woman's livery.
Item, that all the records shall be put in the
vestry of our lady chapel, in a presse to be locked
with three locks, and to be in several men's keep-
CHAMBERLAIx's BOOK OP MINUTES. 85
ing ; that is to say, in the mayor's for one, in the
keeping of one of the 24 for another, and the third
in the keeping of one of the 48 yearly.
Item, that whosoever shall have from henceforth
any hog or hogs going at large in any part of the
town or liberties, an hour or more before the
hoggard goeth forth, or cometh home, shall pay for
every hog one penny to the pinner as often as they
offend.
Item, that no man shall keep more for his fran-
chise than two beast upon the commons in all, and
that they be his own, or that they be hired for
money without any craft or collusion upon pain of
forty pence for every time, to the use of the chamber;
and that any party suspect in this behalf, shall be
sworn before the mayor for the proof of such beast,
and that the chamberlain may brand every man's
rother beast, but no horse or gelding.
Item, Mark Buckby redeemed the Bailiwick for
ten pounds, and it was granted.
There are other entries to the like effect.
Item, at this assembly was assessment of all fran-
chised men for to sue unto Queen Mary for our
liberties, and to answer a quo warranto that was
brought against the liberties, which assessment
amounted above £36. This quo warranto was begun
86 EXTRACTS PROM THE
in the time of Harry Wall, mayor, and begun again
before this assembly and continued still.
At a common assembly holden at the Guildhall,
on the 30th Jan., in the 4th year of Edw. VI.
That every cordwainer that now dwelleth or here-
after shall dwell within this town, being a master,
and doeth occupy as master in the same craft, shall
pay yearly to the chamber of the same town, 2s. of
lawful money of England.
Item, that every journeyman that now worketh
or hereafter shall work within this town, shall pay
yearly unto the said chamber Id., and although they
work but one week within this town, they shall pay
Id. ; and the master with whom the said journey-
man or journeymen shall happen to work, shall stay
it in their hands off their wage, and answer the
same to the wardens of their corporation.
Item, that every shoemaker that is disposed to
set up shop within this town and shall not been
prentice within the same, shall pay at his setting
up 30s.; that is to say, 13s. 4<d. to the mayor for
the time being, 13s. M. to the chamberlain of the
town, and 3s. M. to the occupation.
Item, that every shoemaker that hath been or
shall be prentize within this town that is disposed
chamberlain's book of minutes. 87
to set up shop and to occupy as master, shall pay
16s. 8d.; that is to say, 10s. to the mayor for
the time being for his franchise and setting up,
3s. 4>d. to the chamberlain, 3s. 4d. to the occu-
pation.
Item, that every shoemaker that is disposed to
set up shop being born within this town, shall pay
for his franchise or setting up to the mayor for the
time being 20^. ; and to the occupation 20d.
Item, if any shoemaker within this town that is
man and doth occupy as man, that doth set an-
other man's servant a work, being of the same
occupation, that hath wrought a fortnight with any
one of them, except he be lawfully parted from his
said master and with his good will, that if any do
offend in the same, to pay 6s. 8d. for every time,
half to the mayor and half to the occupation.
Item, further, if any journeyman of the same
occupation be detected of any untruth, and thereof
due proof made, that then the warden of the same
occupation for the time being, shall give warning
unto them with whom the said offender doth work
that they shall immediately put him forth of his
work, and that he be not set to work by any man of
the same occupation within this town, upon pain of
every time so offending, to pay 6s. 8d. ; that is to
35 EXTRACTS FROM THE
say, 3s. id. to the mayor for the time being, and
3s. id. to the occupation.
Item, that no shoemaker within this town at
any time set forth stall in the market-place or be-
fore his shop to shew and selling shoes or boots,
upon pain for 3s. id. to the mayor and 3s. id. to
the occupation. And that no shoemaker being not
a franchised man take upon them to shew or sell
any boots or shoes within the liberties of this town,
upon pain to forfeit the same half to the mayor
and half to the occupation.
Item, that all the shoemakers within this town
that doth set up and occupy as masters shall assem-
ble themselves together by the consent of the mayor
for the time being yearly upon the 25 th day of
October, and there chuse two discreet men of their
occupation, to view and search all manner of Hides
being barked and sold within any place of this
town, for the entent to know whether they be law-
fully wrought or no ; and that no man put any on
sale before they be searched and sealed upon pain
of forfeiture of all sorry hides so put to sale, half
to the mayor and half to the occupation : and these
being assembled shall yerely choose two discreet men
of their occupation to be wardens, to see good rule
and order kept in their occupation for the year fol-
CHAMBERLAINS BOOK OF MINUTES. 89
lowing, and that the old wardens and surveyors
shall present the wardens and surveyors the next
court day after the election before the mayor for the
time being in the Guildhall, and there to take their
oath, upon pain to pay as well the new surveyors
and wardens as the old that do make default,
Also that the wardens shall collect all fines and
amercements, and yield a true account under like
penalties; and also if any journeyman or master
contend with the wardens, he pay 6s. 8cl.
An inventory made the nineteenth day of January
1559, in the time of Wm, Taylor, mayor, of all the
town Vessell delyvered to Wm. Harpoll, chamber-
layn, by the hands of John Adams, as folows :
First, iij dosen of platters and ii dosen pewter
disshys brode brynkyd.
Item, vij pewter disschys narroo brinkes.
Item, xiii sausers.
Item, iii dosen of ley mettyll.
Item, vii spytts with vij handylls.
Item, ij payre of
Item, iii longe hyngis of yron.
Item, ii payre of gynnis, a old condyt cok, and
iii keys.
90 EXTRACTS EROM THE
% ORDER FOR THE BAKERS, TEMPORE GEORGII COLD-
WELL, MAIORIS, ANNO PRIMO MARIE REGNI. (1553.)
For as much as the number of bakers be en-
creased in the town of Northampton, and that they
do take upon them to serve as well the country as
the town with all kind of bread, by reason whereof
they for the serving of their customers in the
country do lie sore upon the market in this town,
and do buy every market day a great number of
grain to their own great lucre and advantage, and
to the raising of the price of grain and to the
great spoil of several and inhancing of the price
thereof, which is against the common wealth, and
of seven years past newly invented by the said
bakers ; for reformation whereof it is agreed by the
mayor and his brethren that so long as wheat shall
be above vi.s. and viij.J. a quarter and under xii.s.
a quarter, that no manner of baker of this town
shall convey out of the town by craft or collusion
above the weight of two horse load, upon pain of
forfeiting x.s. at every time that any of them shall
so offend, to the use of the chamber of the town.
And when that the quarter of wheat shall be at
xii.s. and above xii.s., then no baker shall convey
91
out of the town above one horse load nor mare
load and nor no man's load, nor by any other craft
or collusion, upon pain to forfeit to the chamber
x.s. for every time so offending. And if the mayor
for the time being do not endeavour himself to levy
the same without favor, then he shall forfeit and
pay for his negligence to the chamber of the town
x.s. for every time that he shall omit the same after
due privity thereof had and known,
It was subsequently ordered that two persons
should pay the fine for transgressing this regula-
tion, and that no baker carry bread out of the
town till the town be first served.
Item, that no franchised man shall wear any
other man's or woman's badge or lyvery, upon pain
of losing of his franchise, except it be the kyng
and queen's lyvery and badge.
Item, that every person that shall be franchised
and enjoy the liberties of the„town of Northampton,
shall pay for his franchise mil. And that all
prentices and covenant servants that have served
out their term of years, shall pay xs. according to
the old custom, and likewise freemen's sons and
children born within the town shall enjoy their
freedom by patrimony, paying the officers' fees
according to old ancient custom.
92 EXTRACTS FROM THE
Item, if any prentice or covenant servant do
agree with his master or mistress for the term of
his years before they be expired, he shall pay to
the chamber mil. for his freedom as though he
had not been prentise.
1564. — In the sixth year of Queen Elizabeth it
was ordered that a purse of a hundred marks ster-
ling be presented unto her in consequence of her
coming to the town.
That all masons, curriars, fullers, carpenters,
joiners, cutlars, shall be made free of the liberties
for xx.s. if they occupy no other craft, but if they
do, then to pay 4£
1574. — Ordered that no man shall buy any
tallow of any butcher either of the town or country,
but that he shall make and convert the same tallow
into candles himself, upon pain of every default xx.s.
shoemakers only excepted, the use of one half to go
to the presenter and the other half to the chamber
of Northampton.
1575. — Ordered that the chandlers shall sell
their candles at M. a pound and the butchers their
tallow at 2*. 2d. the stone.
1624. — The freedom to one bred and born in
the town was now 21. paid down, a pound a year
93
afterwards, the freeman giving security until the
whole sum of 10/. was discharged.
At an assembly held in 1634, it was agreed that
whereas the king's most excellent majesty that now
is, with his gracious queen, do intend to make this
corporation in their course or way from Holdenby,
it is agreed upon and ordered that there shall be
forthwith provided and bought at the chamber
charge two fair pieces of plate of the value of three-
score pounds, and one of the same to be presented
to the king's majesty and the other to the queen's
grace, at their coming in procession through this
corporation, and all the charge of officers and fees
and other cost for the meeting and attending the
king and queen through the liberties, shall be de-
frayed out of the town chamber.
Ordered the same year that certain officers see that
butchers bring nothing but wholesome flesh, and
that fishmongers bring nothing but wholesome fish.
Repeated 1636.
1635. — Ordered that Lord Holland chief jus-
tice in Eyre of the Forests on this side Trent,
being to sit here shortly about the forests, there
shall be bought at the chamber charge one gilt
cup to the value of 15/. or 16/. and presented to
him from the corporation.
94 EXTRACTS FROM THE
1636. — Ordered that the sheriff be sued for serv-
ing process and executions within the liberties.
1636. — Item, that there is a new writ come to the
corporation for the levying of moneys towards the
preparing of a ship for the defence of the sea and
kingdom. Now in regard 200/. imposed on the
town in the last year is a heavy burden that the
inhabitants thereof are not able to bear, it is or-
dered and prayed that the mayor of this town in
case he cannot obtain an abatement of 200/. imposed
upon the town in this behalf again, shall not sub-
scribe or set his hands to an allowance of the rate
of 200/. to be raised again in this liberty.
1637. — Item, whereas there are 500/. part of
the 1000/. given by Mr. Ralph Freeman deceased,
late Ld. Mayor of London, to set the poor on work,
it is agreed and ordered that the same 500/. shall
be employed some part in spinning for clothes,
some part in bond lace making, and some part in
knitting, and the same to be put into good sufficient
undertakers' hands.
1638. — In this year the bailiffs were behind
hand in the payment of the fee farm rent, upon
which it was ordered that counsel should be taken
thereupon, in consequence of which security was to
be given for the future. But as they had had much
chamberlain's book or minutes. 95
hindrance in raising the fee farm rent by reason of
the visitation of the plague, at which time both
fairs and markets were taken away, that they pay
oOl. into the chamber and be discharged from the
rest.
1639. — In answer to a letter from the deputy
lieutenant of the county to the corporation for
raising 14£. 6s. 8d. for conducting and furnishing
soldiers into the North, the assembly refuse to yield
to grant an assessment, but at length being much
importuned it was ordered to be paid out of the
chamber stock.
1640. — A second letter from the deputy lieu-
tenant of this county requiring ?>L 10s. conduct
money to be raised, the corporation now as be-
fore refuse to make any taxation for it, and the
mayor ordered to return for answer that the cor-
poration will not yield to any such assessment,
and that he shall be indemnified for returning such
answer. John Danby, mayor.
1640. — Ordered that every member of the cor-
poration and all others of ability in the town, shall
be forthwith provided with halbeardes, bills, or
clubs, to be ready upon any occasions for use these
dangerous times. Item, that the town gates shall
be properly repaired.
96 EXTRACTS FROM THE
1640. — The mayor being sent for to London
by a messenger for not paying the conduct money
imposed on the corporation by the deputy lieu-
tenant, earnestly importunes the assembly to yield
to an assessment, for raising it : the voices being
taken, it was declared against it, and that they
would not yield to any assessment. Subsequently,
(Sept. 4,) 1640, the deputy lieutenant ordered that
the train bands should be sent out of the liberties
of the county, but upon a poll being taken this was
not obeyed.
These acts of the deputy lieutenant afterwards
formed a complaint to parliament.
1641. — Ordered that no person unless he had
married a freeman's widow, should be admitted to
his freedom under 201.
The town gates ordered to be repaired, and
twenty men put to watch nightly through each of
the four wards.
1641, January 10. — Ordered that all who have
muskets should provide themselves with powder
and bullets — that the stones of St. Catherine's de-.
cayed chapel shall be taken down and used for
the present repair of the breaches of the town walls
— that there be provided at the cost of the chamber
chains and great posts to them to chain up the
bridges, and ten pounds laid out in pikes.
chamberlain's book of minutes. 97
1642. — Ordered that there should be an assess-
ment of 100/. laid out in fortifying the town — that
eight persons out of the bailiffs and forty-eight
then serve by night in turns to oversee the guards
and watch — that every householder should send an
able bodied man every day at one in the afternoon
to be employed on the works for the defence of the
town.
1643. — Orders for fortifying the town, and pro-
viding men equipped and suitable to ride out as
skouts.
Ordered that the fee farm rent of the town and
other monies be laid out in corn and coals to be
put by for the use of the town in case it should
be besieged, which, is much feared; (Aug. 1.)
Another 100/. ordered to be laid out in defence
of the town.
Another order for watching and guarding ;
(November 8.)
1644, July 12. — Ordered that as thirty-six
horses with bridles and saddles were ordered to be
furnished by the corporation and delivered to Sir
"William Waller, knight, to be employed in the ser-
vice of the wars for the king and the parliament,
the charge of which amounts to at least 100/., the
sum shall be raised amongst the inhabitants.
98 EXTRACTS FROM THE
1654. — It was ordered that the shoemakers
shall have a constitution among themselves as other
tradesmen have, and as heretofore they formerly
have had.
1662, September 19. — The names given of all
the corporate officers and burgesses who took the
oath of allegiance and supremacy, and subscribed
the declaration against the solemn league and cove-
nant, appointed by act of parliament for regulating
corporations.
In the same year there is payment ordered to
the town waytes.
1668. — Ordered that the chamberlain take speedy
care for the building of the lazerman's house at the
charge of the town, the same house being driven
down by the wind.
1663.— Ordered that the order of 29th of Feb.
1659, be confirmed, and that for the future the
Aldermen, Bailiffs, and eight and forty, shall attend
the assemblies from time to time upon summons,
and shall come in their Gownes and decent Apparell
and upon failing hereof the Aldermen shall forfeit
2s. Qd. a piece, the Bailiffs 2s., and the 48, twelve
pence a piece.
Ordered that those persons that have entered
into bond for procuring money to defray and pay
chamberlain's book of minutes. 99
the charge of the TJew Charter which amounts to
17 01. or thereabouts, as appears by the bill this day
read unto this house, have the security of this cor-
poration to bear them out therein.
1664. — Ordered that James Hensman be ad-
mitted a freeman of this corporation, he paying
down ten pounds at his admittance, and giving a
bond of a 100^. to be forfeit if he follow any other
trade in this town but a silk stocking weaver.
1673. Ordered that another person pay 20
marks for his freedom, giving also a statute bond
for 1001. on forfeit if they follow any other trade
than a pin maker.
1675. — Order that persons wait upon the com-
missioners for new modelling of the town, and to
assist them as to the conveniency of rebuilding and
setting of the streets.
1678. — Ordered that the Mayor and Bailiffs elect,
and to be elected, shall observe the ancient customs
of this place to treat with wine and cakes as
formerly.
1680. — Whereas Edward Bayley, Goldsmith, by
a former order of this house was to pay 20 1 \ for his
freedom, now upon further consideration of the
matter and the usefulness of his trade in this town,
there being no other person of this town that is a
100 EXTRACTS PROM BOOK OF MINUTES.
working goldsmith, it is ordered that he be admitted,
paying 20 marks down at his admission.
1681. — Lord Montague chosen Recorder, and
subsequently objected to by Charles II., who exer-
cised his power under the Charter — the Earl of
Peterboro' afterwards chosen in his stead and ap-
proved by the Crown.
1683. — Ordered that the Charter be surrendered
and delivered into the hands of his Majesty, and
that money be raised for defraying the expence of a
new Charter, either by mortgage or sale of some
town lands.
1687. — Whereas by the Chapter lately granted
to the town of Northampton a power is reserved to
his Majesty by his order in Council to remove from
their employment any officers in the said town, he
therefore dismisses the Mayor, some of the Alder-
men, the town Attorney, the Bailiffs, and several
Burgesses, — signed Win. Bridgeman.
An order by which several new officers are put
in their places. Signed, Sunderland.
Other persons removed, and others put in
their places in March following; the same acts
repeated in May and September.
MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES.
101
EAV towns have preserved so
manv of tlieir orisrinal charters
as Northampton, as may be
seen from the following cata-
logue of those still remaining
in the possession of the Cor-
poration.
1189. Nov. IS. 1 Ric. I.— Grant to the bur-
gesses of Northampton of several privileges and
immunities, particularly that they should be free
from toll and last age throughout all England and
the sea ports, reserving the yearly rent of £120
payable for the same to the crown. (Printed in
English, in Toll Cause, p. 11.) Seal gone.
Charter of King John, this is not in the posses-
sion of the corporation. (Printed Chart. Rolls
and Toil Cause, p. 202.)
1227. Mar. 16. 11 Hen. III.— Grant whereby
several privileges are made to the burgesses, parti-
cularly that they shall be free from toll and lastage,
reserving the yearly rent of £120. Seal gone.
1255. Apr. 7. 39 Hen. III.— Grant to the
burgesses of Northampton of freedom of arrest from
debt under a penalty of £10. Seal gone.
102 MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES.
1257. Jan. 18. 41 Hen. III.— Grant whereby
among other privileges to the burgesses, the return
of all writs within the liberties of the town, the
sheriff of the county and his officers being pro-
hibited from doing any act appertaining to their
office within the liberties. Seal partially remaining.
1268. May 6. 52 Hen. III.— Confirmation to
the mayor and burgesses of their former privileges,
which had not been so fully enjoyed in consequence
of the war. (Printed in English, Toll Cause,
p. 12.) Part of seal remaining.
1268. May 6. 52 Hen. III.— Charter of pardon
to the men of Northampton.
1299. May 27. 27 Edw. I.— Charter whereby
two of the 11th and 43rd of Henry III. are con-
firmed and fresh privileges granted, namely, that
the burgesses of Northampton for the future shall
elect a mayor and two bailiffs annually at the feast
of St. Michael. Seal in green wax, nearly perfect.
1385. June 14. 8 Rie. II. — Charter whereby
the two charters of the 11th and 41st of Hen.
III. and 27th of Edw. I. are confirmed, and fresh
privileges granted, namely, that all pleas of assize
and other pleas whatsoever happening within the
liberties of Northampton, may be held before the
mayor and bailiffs of the said town, in the guildhall
MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES. 103
of the said town for ever, and that the mayor of the
said town shall have the keeping of the assize of
bread, wine and beer, and of the assize and assay
of weights and measures, and has power to enquire
and take cognisance of forestallers and regraters,
flesh and fish, within the liberty of the town. Seal
in green wax.
1431. Mar. 18. 9 Hen. YL— Exemplification
of an act of parliament for paving and repairing
certain streets and high ways in Northampton. In
French. In this exemplification, Bereward, Kings-
well, St. Giles', St. Mary's Streets, and the Market
Place, are mentioned, and Swinewell and St. Mar-
tin's Streets, both now gone. Seal gone.
1439. May 20. 17 Hen. YI.— Charter whereby
two charters of the 11th (1227) and 41st (1257)
of Hen. in., the 27th (1299) of Edw. I., and
the 8th of Eic. II., (1385,) are confirmed. Seal
partly gone.
1445.— Grant of 23 Hen. YL, whereby it is
granted that the mayor of Northampton for the
time being shall be for ever hereafter escheator.
Seal green wax, broken.
1452. Mar. 3 2. 30 Hen. YI.— Charter whereby
the mayor of Northampton is appointed escheator
de novo, for that a former grant made to the same
104 MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES.
effect the 11th of June, 23 Hen.YL, is become
void by reason of two several acts of parliament
within mentioned to be passed since the making
thereof. Seal partly gone.
1460. Mar. 14. 38 Hen. YL— Charter whereby
the town of Northampton is incorporated by the
name of mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses of that town,
and by that name are capacitated to sue and be
sued. Provision also made in case of the mayor's
death, how to proceed to a fresh election, and it is
granted that no burgess for the future shall be
obliged to collect any tax out of the liberties of the
town. (Printed in Toll Cause, p. 23.) Seal gone.
1462. 20 Feb. 1 Edw. IY.— Charter of pardon
under the broad seal for all treasons, murders, rapes,
rebellions, insurrections, conspiracies, trespasses,
and offences whatsoever committed by the men or
burgesses of Northampton before the 4th of No-
vember last past, certain persons being excepted by
name. Seal of white wax, partially gone.
1478. May 2. 18 Edw. IY.— Charter wherein
is recited the one of 27 Edw. I., and by which
it is granted among other things that the mayor of
Northampton shall for ever hereafter be sworn into
his office within the octave of St. Michael, in the
Guildhall of the said town, before the last mayor
MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES. 105
and the recorder for the time being, and the four
coroners of the said town, or two of them, and not
before the barons of the exchequer as formerly, and
also that the escheator of the said town shall like-
wise take the oath of office at the time aforemen-
tioned within the said town and not elsewhere. Seal
gone. It also remits £20 out of the one hundred
and eighty marks of the fee farm, for 20 years.
1484. Mar. 80. 1 Eic. III.— Grant whereby
Richard III. remits to the corporation of North-
ampton and their successors for ever, fifty marks,
part of their annual fee farm rent of £120.
1-195. Dec. 22. 11 Hen. TIL— Charter for
choosing yearly for ever at the feast of St. Michael.
the recorder of Northampton, and two burgesses,
who with the mayor for the time being are ap-
pointed justices of the peace of the said town for
ever, and they three, or two of them, of which the
recorder is always to be one, have power to enquire
into, hear, and determine all felonies, trespasses,
kc, committed within the liberties. Herein also is
a grant to the corporation and their successors for
ever of all fines, issues, kc. } forfeited before the
said justices : and also a grant of two fairs yearly
for ever, namely, on the feast of St. George the
martyr, and St. Hugh the bishop, and on the day
106 MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES.
next before, and for six days next after each of the
said feasts. (Printed in English, Toll Cause, p. 17.)
Seal perfect.
1514. Mar. 19. 5 Hen. VIII.— Grant by
which Hen. Till, remits to the corporation of
Northampton and their successors for ever, twenty-
two pounds, part of their annual fee farm rent of
£120. (Printed in Toll Cause, p. 20.)
Inspeximus of 27th of October, the 1st year of
Edw. VI. Seal gone.
CHARTERS ON PAPER.
1189. 1 Eic. I.— Latin and English.
1199. 1 John. — Latin and English. (See Hot.
Chart, p. 45.)
1227. 11 Hen. III.— Latin and English.
1255. 39 Hen. III.— Latin and English.
1257. 41 Hen. III.— English.
1268. 52 Hen. III.— English.
1385. Eic. II.— English.
1444. 23 Hen. VI.— English.
1439. 17 Hen. VI.— English.
1484. 1 Eic. III.— English.
MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES. 107
Miscellaneous Becords.
Copy of a grant of Hen. II. of privileges to the
burgesses of Northampton^ reserving the yearly
rent of £120.,, particularly that they shall be free
from toll and lastage throughout all England and
the sea ports.
1225. Dec. 24. 9 Hen. III.— Writ to the
sheriff of the county of Northampton, declaring
grant to the burgesses of certain customs for three
years, in aid of enclosing the town. (Office copy.)
Printed in Toll Cause, p. 203.
1251. 36 Hen. III. — Not in possession of cor-
poration 3 . Printed in Toll Cause, p. 204.
a Henry III. addressed a ger, was paid 10s. for bringing
writ to the mayor, bailiffs, and a writ of great seal directed
other good men of North- to the honest men of North-
ampton, (Feb. 1, 1261,) de- ampton, to elect from amongst
siring them to afford the themselves, and appoint a
scholars proposing to sojourn mayor in the said town, be-
there every protection and cause the former mayor there
accommodation. And at the had been expelled and put
same time assured the mas- out of his office by judgment
ters and scholars how favour- given against him in Chan-
ably he felt affected towards eery. The mayor was after-
them. — Rymer, i. 403. Rot. wards confined for the same
Pat. 45 Hen. III. reasons in Nottingham castle,
In the 16th Ric. II., Nicho- — Issue Rolls, p. 251.
las Auncell, a royal raessen-
108 MUNICIPAL AECHIVES.
1273, 4. 2 Edw. I. — Commission to take Hun-
dred Eolls. (Office copy.) Printed in Toll Cause,
p. 13.
1274.5. 3 Edw. I.— Hundred rolls. (Office
copy.)
1275, 6. 4 Edw. I.— Hundred Eolls. (Office
copy.)
1275, 6. 4 Edw. I. — Grant to the mayor, bai-
liffs, and good men of the town of Northampton,
of certain customs in aid of enclosing their town,
to be taken for five years. (Office copy.)
1284, 1285. 13 Edw. I.— Grant of pavage.
(Office copy.) Printed in Toll Cause, p. 204.
1295.6. 24 Edw. I.— Grant to London. (Office
copy.)
1301. 29 Edw. I.— Grant of murage. Printed
in Toll Cause, p. 205. (Not amongst archives ?)
1301, 2. 30 Edw. L— Grant to London.
(Office copy.)
1329. 3 Edw. III.— Extract from Coroner's
Roll. (Office copy.) An extract printed in Toll
Cause, p. 207.
1335. 9 Edw. III.— Grant of pontage. (Office-
copy.) Printed in Toll Cause, p. 206.
1336. 10 Edw. III.— Confirmation to the
priory of St. Andrew's, Northampton. (Office copy.)
MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES. 109
1376. 50 Edw. III.— Petition from the bur-
gesses amongst others of Xortharnpton touching
their fee farm rent. (Office copy.)
1400. 2 Hen. IV. — Grant to the burgesses of
certain customs in aid of enclosing the town, to
continue for two years. (Office copy.) Oct. 3.
Printed in Toll Cause, p. 206.
1431. 9 Hen. VI. — Exemplification of a petition
to Parliament, with the answer to it, concerning
the paving of the streets of Northampton. (Office
copy.)
1459. Mar. 14. 38 Hen. VI.— Charter. English.
1489. 4 Hen. VII. — Exemplification of act of
Parliament, from rolls of Parliament. (Office copy.)
1514. Mar. 19. 5 Hen. VIII.— Charter.
English.
1585. 27 Eliz. — Exemplification of the privileges
of the hamlets within the manor of Bromsgrove.
June 19.
1599. 41 Eliz. — Quo warranto allowed to mayor,
bailiffs, &c. (Office copy.) Printed in Toll Cause,
p. 22.
1599. Apr. 31. 41 Eliz. — Grant to the mayor,
bailiffs, &c. (Translation.)
1618. Apr. 20. 16 James I.— Grant to the
mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses. Lat. and Eng.
110 MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES.
1554, 1555. — Inspeximus of Philip and Mary.
Inspeximus of Edw.VL, of James and George II.
James II. — Perpetuityto mayor of Northampton.
1702. — Charter of Queen Anne.
Charter of George III. — Printed in Toll Cause.
Claims and petitions relative to the fire. Pol.
paper. Sep. 20, 1675.
Chamberlains' accounts. 1704, 1708, 1691,
1701, 1 688, 1693, 1707, 1692, 1703, 1705, 1698.
Bailiffs' accounts of Hallaughton. 37 Hen. VIII.
Extracts from Pipe Eolls. Office copies.
Deeds relating to St. Leonard's Hospital.
THE CASTLE AND PARLIAMENTS.
Ill
The Castle and Parliaments.
b " Northampton shire, says
the Record, renders the farm of
three nights, thirty pounds by
weight : for dogs forty-two
pounds, blanc, at twenty in
the ora. For a gift for the
queen, and for hay, ten pounds
and five oras. For a hawk,
ten pounds. For a sumpter
horse, twenty shillings. For
alms, twenty shillings. For
a huntsman's horse, twenty
shillings. From the manor
of Queen Edith, forty pounds.
From Clive (Cliff) ten pounds.
The burgesses of Hantone
(Northampton) render to the
sheriff thirty pounds ten shil-
lings a year. This belongs to
the farm thereof. The coun-
tess Judith has seven pounds
out of the issues of the said
HEN the Conqueror's survey
was made the possessions in
the town of Northampton lay
divided betwixt the crown,
some of the abbatial ecclesi-
astics, and other persons
of rank and consequence 13 .
borough."
In the preceding extract
there are some things deserv-
ing explanation, and all the
entries are curiously illustra-
tive of the customs of the age.
I will examine them here
without reference to any bear-
ing they may have upon the
municipal or other institutions
of a more general character
that were then established.
Their significancy in these
respects has already under-
gone examination.
At so early a period as the
one our attention is now di-
rected to, every single entry is
of an important nature. Valu-
able for the statistical infor-
mation it gives us, as shewing
the relative worth of property
112
EARLY PRIVILEGES OE THE CROWN.
Amongst the names of these various proprietors,
that of Countess Judith, a daughter of Odo earl of
or the amount of actual wealth
then in the country ; as shew-
ing who were its possessors,
and in what proportion they
divided the soil and its pro-
duce betwixt them. These
entries, according to their
nature, equally display the
temper in which justice was
administered, personal plea-
sures indulged, or the chari-
ties of the affluent dispensed.
And illustrative of this, we
may see how the county of
Northampton contributed to
these various results.
The farm of three nights
is a custom generally as an-
cient as the time of the Con-
fessor, (1042—1066,) and in
one instance it is mentioned
in Domesday to have existed
as far back as the reign of
Ethelred his father, (979—
1016.) It was a service either
rendered by actual hospitality,
or by furnishing the king with
honey, corn, and malt, as in
his manors in Cambridgeshire,
where his tenants thus paid
the amercement ; or it was
commuted by payment of
thirteen pounds eight shillings
and fourpence in lieu of the
entertainment ; but in Oxford-
shire the same reception was
considered equivalent to the
sum of one hundred and fifty
pounds. — (Domesday, v. i. p.
154.) When the imposition
was satisfied in kind, it would
of course be more onerous in
proportion to the number of
retainers the monarch brought
with him.
The entries respecting
horses, dogs, and hunting, fall
among the inferior, though
not less remarkable notices
occurring in this invaluable
record ; notices so frequent,
that they serve to shew how
completely the sports of the
chace were united with the
feelings of the reigning mo-
narchs. Thus whilst we see
forty- two pounds assigned for
the support of dogs, a sum
four times the whole rental
arising from the town, twenty
shillings were deemed suffi-
cient, even at a period memor-
able for the profuseness of its
benevolence, to be expended
in almsgiving or works of
charity. In the reign of the
Confessor we read of three
thousand cakes of dogs' bread,
HISTORY OF COUNTESS JUDITH. 113
Albemarle, by Adeliza, half sister of William I., is
not the least remarkable, whether regarded in
reference to her dignity and her affinity to the new
sovereign, or in connexion with one of his bravest
supporters. She had been given in marriage to
the Earl Waltheof, a warrior whose prowess greatly
assisted her uncle in the arduous subjugation of
Yorkshire, and probably out of consideration for
this valuable service, as much as with a view of
conciliating a noble whose hereditary influence
might have been dangerous to his ambitious pro-
jects, he loaded him with fresh accessions of terri-
tory in various parts of England.
The history of secular dignities at this early time
is involved in great obscurity, and it would be
foreign to the present enquiry to attempt to eluci-
date a question so pregnant with difficulty. Wal-
theof s father was the Saxon earl Siward, unques-
tionably a name of dignity, both before and after
the Norman invasion, and Waltheof himself has
and of many peculiar services rather a rent roll of the king-
rendered in kind, but which dom than a collection of na-
in the time of the Conqueror tional laws, and it is only in-
became changed for payments ferentially that we shall be
in money. able to extract any constitu-
It must always be borne in tional information from it.
mind, that Domesday Book is
114 HISTORY OP WALTHEOF.
been called earl of Northumberland, Northampton,
and Huntingdon, but of this no sufficient proof has
ever been adduced. Besides this reputed rank, he
however inherited large estates; several of the
tenants held their lands from him during the time
of Edward the Confessor, and the dowry of the
countess considerably augmented them. It may be
readily imagined that the Conqueror would find
himself little at ease in his new kingdom; the
people had scarcely had time to become reconciled
to their slavery, and a sudden endeavour to liberate
themselves from its yoke could hardly have been
unsuspected. In this age of darkness and inhu-
manity, an age when the broad distinction betwixt
might and justice was universally confused, the
slightest cause, whether real or apparent, was suffi-
cient to awaken suspicion, and call forth the exer-
cise of tyranny. From some cause, we know not
what, history has not however exempted the cha-
racter of his wife from the perfidy of betraying
him; the earl suddenly fell under the displeasure
of his royal kinsman, who, after suffering Waltheof
to languish by a long confinement in prison, or-
dered him to be beheaded at Winchester. The
Conqueror now desired to bestow the Countess
Judith's hand on Simon de St. Liz, a Norman in
FIRST ERECTION OE THE CASTLE. 115
his confidence, who had come to seek his fortunes
in England, but whose bodily deformity caused her
to reject him. Indignant at such an unexpected
resistance to his wishes, the king seized her posses-
sions, amongst them sixteen houses in Northamp-
ton, and part of the revenue of the town, and trans-
ferred them, with her eldest daughter Matilda, into
the hands of his favourite. It is to this inheritor
of Waltheof s united rank and estates that the erec-
tion of Northampton castle has been assigned, nor
does there seem to exist any strong reason for dis-
crediting the generally-received opinion c .
After so great a lapse of time, and considering
the distraction and civil war that prevailed within
a century after the castle is reported to have been
built, such structures being the first to suffer in
the general disturbance, it is not surprising that so
little of the first edifice should remain. Enough
however is still traceable to mark the outline of its
bulwarks, to shew where the bastions stood out
from the curtain wall, where the moat separated
the inner from the outer bailey, whilst a postern
gate yet continues. In regarding the general figure
c The authority of John Simon de St Liz. — Chron.,
Brompton expressly states it p. 975.
to have heen the erection of
116 DESCRIPTION OF THE CASTLE.
of the plan, and judging from the existing mounds
of earth, the debris of ancient buildings, the line of
decayed and ruinous walls, and then comparing
these with other buildings of a similar kind which
still remain in a more integral state, for example,
with Pevensey or with Pickering, there appears to
have been a keep within the inner bailey, probably
at the north-east end ; in connection with this, the
enceinte or boundary wall, which was occasionally
flanked with circular towers, the enclosed area
being occupied with erections, usually of wood, of
a more domestic nature. The Nen flowed in its
natural channel to the west, and the waters of the
same river filled the moat, and encompassed the
fortress on every side, though the moat itself is
only visible at present as a dry ditch to the south*
The few existing marks of a strictly architectural
kind exhibit features in perfect accordance with the
characteristics of the period to which its origin has
been already assigned. Before pursuing the history
of this building any further, or bringing in review
the incidents that have tended to invest it with
interest, I will briefly recur to the life of its foun-
der. Under the hope of improving his fortunes,
he had with two friends accompanied the Conqueror
to England; they indeed returned early to their
r r J< :
r ;
-
^^fi^
HISTORY OF SIMON DE ST. LIZ. 117
native country, but the bright prospects of Simon
de St. Liz naturalized him on British soil. Within
a few years after his marriage he founded the neigh-
bouring priory of St. Andrew, and filled it with
Cluniac monks. The order was indeed never nume-
rous in this country, and it is not a little remark-
able that most of the endowments arose out of this
early Norman intercourse. Simon de St. Liz, to-
wards the close of his life, made the common journey
to the Holy Land, and had even entered upon a
second, when death arrested his pilgrimage, and he
was buried within the walls of the abbey of St.
Mary of Charity, in France, upon which his own
recent foundation in Northampton was dependant.
Were it within the scope of this enquiry, we might
here linger to reflect on the contradictory feelings
that actuated the sentiments of the age, contrast
the early life of the soldier, his ambition, rapine,
and thirst for bloodshed, with the remorse and
devotion of his declining years ; we might observe
how the two extremes of human nature became
strangely blended together in the same individual,
how the restless and savage warrior, whose hands
were stained with violence and crime, became trans-
formed, under a happier impulse, into the humble
penitent and the mortified recluse. But for such a
118 COMPARATIVE BEAUTIES OE
retrospect we have not leisure, nor indeed would
the present be a fitting opportunity. Yet we may
not omit the avowal, that it is by such comparisons
history delights to teach her moral lessons, and
that a habit of drawing contrasts whilst instituting
enquiries of any intellectual kind, will unveil its
really philosophical aspect ; and thus too, to carry
out the idea a little further, in estimating the rela-
tive beauties betwixt military and ecclesiastical
architecture, we may observe how, in their inten-
tions so discordant, they mutually engage the at-
tention, the one impressing the mind by its stern
solidity, its severe simplicity and dignified repose ;
the ottier captivating the eye of taste by its ele-
gancy, richness and variety of decoration, and
awakening the deepest feelings of emotion by the
solemn grandeur, the holy symbols, and the sa-
cred purpose of a pile dedicated to the glory of
God.
There is another apparent contradiction betwixt
the two styles, namely, that whilst the age of de-
votional buildings is for the most part wrapt in
obscurity, the builder being seldom known, there
often existing a wide interval between the date
of the foundation and that of its actual erection
or consecration, and therefore the date becomes
ECCLESIASTICAL A>T> MILITARY ARCHITECTURE. 119
merely conjectural, left to the guess of ingenuity
to settle, or to the diligence of induction to esta-
blish, or to fix by analogy, from some peculiar
resemblance to other religious buildings presumed
to be coeval, the mass of information relating to
military structures, unhappily themselves too often
swept away, is afforded to us in minute and con-
tinuous completeness. So that it may be truly
asserted we have, on the one hand, Gothic build-
ings still rearing their lofty heads in pristine
magnificence, proclaiming in notes of harmony the
duties of men, without any record being left us to
indicate whose skill and piety constructed them;
and on the other hand there are military remains,
mere roofless, tottering walls, crumbling, venerable
ruins, whose darkest, dampest nook may be often
explained by an entry on an official document, by
a record of a genuine and undoubted nature laid
up among the national archives. IS T or, whilst they
furnish every needful illustration, is their value less
remarkable for the curious light they frequently
throw upon the manners and domestic usages of
the period, for the political and statistical in-
formation they abound in, for the animated real-
ity and freshness of their facts, as contradistin-
120 HISTORY OF SIMON DE ST. LIZ.
guished from all other sources of contemporane-
ous history d .
Before proceeding to adduce a few extracts from
these evidences, the attention must be re-directed
to the noble family already mentioned. We have
seen how there was united in the same person the
character of warrior, architect, and devotee, and
his son the third earl of Northampton strove with
filial enthusiasm to emulate the actions that have
transmitted his father's name to posterity. He too
in his day became an architect. He assisted in
laying a corner-stone to the honour of St. Guthlac
at Croyland, and placed thereon a gift of a hundred
marks for the workmen : he endowed the abbey of
Sawtry in Huntingdonshire, and terminated his
labours by erecting a similar religious house to
St. Mary de Pratis in the verdant meads of De la
Pre near Northampton. It cannot be said these
virtues perished with the first possessors of the
earldom of Northampton, since a higher amount
of architectural knowledge, a clearer insight into
its principles, and a better appreciation of its
d The Pipe, Clause and whilst the Ministers' accounts,
Liberate rolls have innumer- or Reparation rolls, are exclu-
able entries of this nature, sively devoted to the subject.
early'state of the castle. 121
beauties, attended by more disinterested benevo-
lence, by a self-devotion to the cause of humanity
and the progress of social refinement, seem to have
descended as the indefeasible attributes of the title.
In returning to the immediate consideration of
Northampton castle, I shall not so much restrict
myself to an architectural investigation into what
it actually was, as I shall endeavour to follow those
notices which occur on the rolls relative to its his-
tory as the temporary abode of the English mo-
narchs, and the seat of our early legislative as-
semblies. Architectural notices would indeed be of
little comparative value, the object to which they
refer being laid nearly level with the ground. Nor
again does it seem easy to settle how the building
first came into the hands of the crown, since we
find it enumerated as one of the royal possessions
in 1174, though the grandson of the founder was
still alive. What became of the possessions of this
last earl Simon de St. Liz in Northampton or else-
where, it is now perhaps quite impossible to ascer-
tain; none of his family succeeded him in his
dignity, and the title became extinct after his
death. This happened in the year 1184, yet ten
years previously the castle was in the hands of
Henry II. From this period downwards it is often
12Z
EARLY STATE OF THE CASTLE.
mentioned on the Pipe rolls, as the "turris de
Northampton e " In the Pipe roll of Richard I.
e Item in elemosinis con-
stitutes militibus de Tem-
plo i. marca in Burgo de
Norhamptona. Et monachis
ejusdem villse xx. s. et in
liberacione x. militum resi-
dencium in castello de Nor-
hamtona cum ipso vicecomite
a crastino S« Michaelis anni
praateriti usque ad vincula S.
Petri sequentis anni scilicet
de ccc. et vi. diebus, c. et
liii. per breve Regis. Et in
liberacione c. et viii. mili-
tum solidarum qui fuerunt
cum Humfredo de Bohun
constitutis apud Norhanto-
nam de i. viginti c. et xviii.
per brevia Ricardi de Luci. —
Mag. Rot. Pip. 20 Hen. II.
Et in reparacione Turris
de Norhantona lxiiii. li. et
xiii. d. per breve Regis et per
visum Phillippi filii Jordani
et Willielmi filii Remundi et
debet viii.li. et viii. sol. — Mag.
Rot. Pip. 28 Hen. II.
Et in reparacione Turris
de Norhantona xxxv. li. et
xiii. d. per brevem Regis et
per visum Willielmi filii Rei-
naldi et Phillippi filii Jordani.
—Mag. Rot. Pip. 29 Hen. II.
Et in liberacione servien-
tium de Norhantona xxxvj.
marc35 per breve cancellarii.
Et in operacione castri de
Norhantonae c. s. per idem
breve. — Mag. Rot. Pip. 3
Ric. I.
Besides the castle there
were two other buildings be-,
longing to the crown in the
town, whose repairs are oc-
casionally mentioned on the
Pipe rolls. The one is com-
monly called the ancient fa-
bric, the other the hall.
Perhaps the former may be
the Lardarium mentioned in
the Liberate Roll, 5 John.
Alanus de Covintre reddat
compotum de ii. s. de veteri
fabrica in Burgo de Norhan-
tona. Et pro operanda aula
de Norhantona iii. s. per breve
Regis.— Mag. Rot. Pip. 30.
Hen. II.
Et in reparacione et emen-
dacione murorum turellorum
et domorum castri Northan-
tonae anno liiio. per Williel-
mum Grilly et Simonem
Champeneys tunc ballivos
ejusdem villse xxvi. li. per
breve Regis. — Mag. Rot. Pip.
54 Hen. III.
The civil wars tended to
EAKLY STATE OF THE CASTLE.
123
it is spoken of thus : " Adam de Sanford renders
an account of five marks of Winchester money
which had been deposited in the tower of North-
ampton and lost through bad custody/' The date
of this extract is in the year 1189. Passing over
a few notices of minor importance we reach the
reign of King John f . Both he and his prede-
injure the town greatly, as
we learn from the cotempo-
rary entries on. the Records;
thus in the year 1226, we find
the following entry. Et in
defaltum redditus villas super
domos vastas, x.s. — Mag. Rot.
Pip. 10 Hen. III.
Id the 36th of the same
reign the crown made a grant
of murage, to keep up the
walls, by which writ the bur-
gesses were empowered to
take tolls upon the sale of
brushwood, straw, cloth, tan-
ned hides, sea fish, casks of
ashes, wool, sheep, goats, and
pigs, as they passed through
the town, merchandise coming
by boat, flax, millstones, gar-
lick, &c, for every two thou-
sand onions sold, a toll of a
farthing was required. — Rot.
Pat. 36 Hen. III. m. 12.
1 An order to the sheriff of
Northampton to expend 40
marks in repairing the castle.
— Rot. Clause, 7 John, 1205.
Writs to the barons of the
exchequer, ordering them to
settle with Henry de Bray-
broc his expenditure for re-
pairing and strengthening the
castle from the time it was
in his custody. Exemption
from castle- ward granted to
William, the son of Hamon,
and his soldiers, and order
issued to Henry de Braibroc
not to inconvenience them
about this service. — Ibid., 15
John, 1213.
Ordered to the forester of
Salcey to let Gaufredus de
Marteney, constable of the
castle, take materials and
brushwood from the forest of
Salcey to strengthen the cas-
tle of Northampton.
Writ to Gaufredus de Mar-
teney to deliver up the castle
to Roger de Nevil and come
to the king with his soldiers
and all the garrison of the
124 ILLUSTRATIONS OF MANNERS.
cessors on the throne occasionally visited this dis-
trict for the sake of the hunting if not for weightier
reasons of state, and there can be little doubt that
at such times they made the castle their residence.
In the Chancellor's roll of the third of this king's
reign (1201) we meet with an entry conclusive of
the assertion, and it is so illustrative of the nature
of this description of document, and presents by
its ample details so vivid a picture of the business
habits, the easy spirit and recreations of the time,
that little excuse will be necessary for quoting it.
"In repairing the king's houses in the castle
of Northampton five marks. To Serjeants who
brought the heads of six outlaws, six shillings g .
In repairing the aforesaid castle five marks. For
four carriers bringing the hunting gear of the king
from Northampton to "Westminster half a mark.
In repairing the houses of the king in the castle of
castle, bringing with him all and keeping the fortress in a
his harness, and all his own state of defence. — Ibid., 16
as well as all the royal imple- John, 1215.
ments, such as wooden en- E A similar entry exists on
gines and quarells, (the king the Rotulus Misae, 14th John,
was then at Marlborough.) Willielmo homini Ade Crok
The custody of the castle was qui tulit vj. capita Wallen-
then transferred to Roger de sium servientium Cadewallani
Nevill, and the manor of amputata ad Dominum Re-
Thorp, with all its returns, gem apud Roffam vj. sol.
granted to him for guarding
ILLUSTRATIONS OF MANNERS. 125
Northampton and Silveston forty shillings. To
the chaplain at Geddington fifty shillings of his
salary for the past year. The cost of a carriage
and harness for the use of the queen twenty-eight
shillings and sixpence. For a judge, and doing
justice, three shillings and sixpence. In the pur-
chase of hay for feeding the beasts in the park of
Northampton thirty- seven shillings ; and for the
expense of taking six prisoners from Northampton
to Stamford, and thence to Nottingham, seventeen
shillings and ninepence." Remember we are now
entering into the age of feudalism, a time of igno-
rance, illegitimate force, and moral imperfection,
where we shall observe every thing in the system
discordant to our modern notions, every thing op-
posed to our general ideas of liberty and civiliza-
tion; let us bear this in mind when we examine these
facts, and without measuring them by the standard
of the present day, contrast them with each other.
What is the picture we behold, and what are the
results of our reflections? We see from a single
extract on the sheriff's accounts the manner in
which the revenue was expended, how freely the
personal pleasures of the monarch were gratified;
and with what singularity do these payments stand
in juxtaposition with each other ! The head of an
126 STATE OF ENGLISH FREEDOM
outlaw valued at a shilling, whilst the services of
the king's confessor, with his salary in arrears,
fetched no more than the same price per week h :
again, the keep of the royal deer considered worth
an outlay of seven and thirty shillings, whilst the
remuneration of an officer of justice fell down to
three and sixpence. Any comments of mine would
be superfluous, the facts themselves will elicit their
proper reflections 1 . Let us pass onwards in search
of other information. We are at the commence-
ment of the reign of King John, a period of pure
administrative despotism, when intestine divisions
began violently to convulse the realm: when the
rising energies of the people sought for some con-
sideration of their natural rights, when they finally
freed themselves from political thraldom and ob-
tained a redress of their grievances. The monarch
h It seems to have con- the press of those entering the
tinued such till the sixth of gate, and several wounded and
Edward I. — Rot. Claus. m. 6. killed hy the blows of the
1 An illustration of another vergers ; and he sends Wil-
character offers itself in a liam Tilly, mayor of North-
letter of Fulke de Breaute to ampton, to explain the cir-
Huhert de Burgh, in which cumstance, and begs to be
he states that a number of informed what ought to be
poor begging alms at the done. — Rep. Dep. Keeper. V.
hospital of St. John in North- Append. II. No. 738.
ampton had been killed by
DURING THE REIGN OP JOHN. 127
himself became aware that personal activity, a
quality he never wanted, was more than ever ne-
cessary. We accordingly find him constantly on
the alert, seldom a week together in the same
place : as a proof of his restlessness he visited
Northampton in fourteen different years of his
reign. He placed the royal castles in an effectual
state of defence, and entrusted their custody only
to those persons who were supposed to be attached
to his interests, and upon whose faith he could
place implicit dependence. The office of castellan
or constable of the castle was one of great import-
ance, as it has remained an honour to the present
day. It was an office held during the king's plea-
sure, usually for a year, but among the earliest
appointments in connection with Northampton it
was retained for three. Four of these officers,
Robert de Braybroc, Richard Marshall, Roger de
Neville, and Fulke de Breaute, took a prominent
part in the transactions of this and the succeeding
reign, and will probably again present themselves
to the notice. When the king appointed the last
of these nobles, and impatiently forced him upon
the keeper by a second writ under his private as
well as the public seal, he was little aware of the
vexation he was destined to awaken in his mind,
128 EXPENSES CONNECTED WITH THE CASTLE.
or that one for whose promotion he evinced such
extraordinary solicitude should render him and his
son so ungrateful a return.
Pursuing chronological order, the next account
we meet with deserving attention is a writ on the
Close rolls, (1206,) addressed to the barons of the
exchequer, wherein the engineer is ordered to be
paid at the rate of ninepence a day, with a grant of
thirty shillings for a robe for his wife. Other
entries occur authorizing payments for general
repairs and the transport of military engines, which
may be passed over. In the year 1215 we have
another writ addressed to the barons of the ex-
chequer, ordering them to remunerate Henry de
Braibroc for forty quarters of grain, and twenty-
four hogs, bought for the royal use and placed
within the castle, at the rate of two shillings for
each quarter of grain and the same sum for each
hog. In the middle of this year the custody of
the castle was transferred to Soger de Nevil, and
the manor of Thorpe granted him for keeping it in
a proper state of defence.
We pass on to the next reign, when during the
constableship of Pulke de Breaute (1222) we meet
with the first express mention of the gaol in the
castle, the order given that the verderers of Salcey
SEVERITY OE THE FOREST LAWS. 129
should deliver to him materials for its reparation,
as well as for the royal houses at Silveston and
Brigstock. The troublesome state of public affairs,
the successful resistance and growing power of the
barons, had become by no means diminished
through the accession of Henry III. to the tin-one.
The early age at which he commenced his reign
was also in many respects unfavourable for the
establishment of domestic peace. The separation
of Normandy from the possessions of the English
crown, and the consequent loss to the royal re-
venue, contributed to render him more dependent
for the aid of his subjects than his father had been :
whilst the severity of the forest laws, ever a fruitful
cause of popular discontentment, though mitigated
in some degree by the enactments of the Great
Charter, had by no means lost their force. An entry
in illustration of this occurs on the Close rolls in an
order of release granted to Eadulphus cle Eyneston
from the castle gaol, where he had been confined
for merely leading three greyhounds without a
leash through the royal forest. It may probably
be considered that he underwent an excessive pun-
ishment, but when it is known that the most
trifling infringements of the law were usually visited
by loss of life or bodily mutilation, he seems to
K
130 PREVALENT LOVE OF THE CHACE.
have received but gentle correction for his trans-
gression. The king himself was at this time at
Northampton, and is stated, in the document re-
ferred to, to have exercised this act of clemency at
the suit and for love of master Roger Lacoc the
physician. The same fondness for the pleasures of
the chace pervaded all classes of society alike;
peasants and prelates were equally within its influ-
ence, and sought together the same excitement;
even Richard Poore, bishop of Salisbury, for his
trespasses on the royal hunting ground, called forth
the severe reprehension of his sovereign, and has
left, in this respect, no enviable reputation behind
him k . During this visit, Henry issued various
writs of a local character. As they throw con-
siderable light on the personal habits of the mon-
arch, as well as evidence the minute attention paid
to matters of a public and private nature, a few of
them shall be brought under review. We have a
writ addressed to the barons of the exchequer au-
thorizing them to repay the bailiffs of the town
k Rot. Claus. 6 Hen. III. kennel.— Mag. Rot. Pip. 4
p. 517. And in the same way John. So did Seffride, Bp.
Eustace, Bp. of Ely, rendered of Chichester, pay a fine of
himself obnoxious to the king's ten marcs for hunting in the
displeasure, and gave twelve royal woods without leave. —
dogs and a limer out of his Mag. Rot. Pip. 33 Hen. II.
SIEGE OE BEDFORD CASTLE. 131
eight shillings which they had laid down for the
carriage to London of cloth bought for the royal
use at the fair, and for canvass and wrappering to
pack it up : one to the bailiffs, bidding them pur-
chase for Nicolas the squire, six ells of bleu
at eighteen-pence an ell, and a dressed lamb
skin : one to Hugh de Neville, authorizing him to
give the prior of St. Andrews eight poles for mak-
ing joists for the tower of his church: the king
had previously granted thirty rafters from the royal
forest, to the abbot of St. James, whose buildings
had been burnt down. About two months after
this visit, Henry III. again took up his residence
in the castle of Northampton. He was then in his
eighteenth year, on his way to Bedford, with the
intention of crushing the insurrection of Fulke de
Breaute. It was an arduous undertaking, and the
siege of that castle occupied him little less than
eight weeks, since we find him there from the 21st
of June to the 19th of August, (1224). Immedi-
ately he had proceeded on his journey as far as the
castle then existing at Newport Pagnell, oppressed
perhaps by the heat of the weather, he suddenly
recollected having left behind him the royal store
of wines, and a mandate was forthwith addressed
to the sheriff of the county, desiring him to forward
132 SIEGE OF BEDFORD CASTLE.
without the least delay the four casks that had
been left in his custody at the castle.
Though the legitimate title of Henry III. to the
English crown was undoubtedly clear, yet it can
hardly be said his pretensions to it were undisputed.
He went however through the ceremony of a coro-
nation, though the symbol of royalty itself had been
lost, with the rest of the regalia, whilst being
transported across the Wash. He was youthful,
and inexperienced, but the discretion of his pro-
tector the earl of Pembroke, aided by the activity
and valour of his high, justiciary, Hubert de Burgh,
made some amends for these deficiencies, and en-
abled him to resist for a time the growing power
of his barons, as well as permanently to crush the
danger menacing his possession of the sovereignty
from Louis king of France. A caution has been
already dropped against forming judgments of the
past by the standard of the present age. Such
modes of thinking will often invest facts with an
unreal colouring, and both distort their own fea-
tures, and the consequences they are intended to pro-
duce. The historical enquirer should exercise habi-
tual caution and discretion, duly balancing against
each other the events of the period, estimating
them by the prevalent opinion of that particular
CEUELTY OF HUBERT DE BURGH. 133
time, not being himself unaware that the march of
civilization, and the progress of enlightenment are,
as Christian perfection ought to be, daily advanc-
ing. Without going into the whole transactions
connected with the fall of Bedford castle 1 , I will
briefly state that exasperated by the dilatory nature
of the siege, Hubert de Burgh tarnished the first
great victory of his master by hanging eighty of
the garrison after it fell into his hands. We shud-
der upon reading such an act of barbarity, but in
our detestation of the deed forget that this was the
custom of the age : we forget that the lower as
well as the upper classes, true to the degradation
of fallen humanity, had their minds alike famili-
arized with deeds of cruelty, and looked on if not
1 An extract from the Scu- in capite de wardis et honori-
tage roll in the Tower may bus quae sunt in custodia sua
serve to shew the nature of in balliva tua scilicet de scuto
the military service performed duas marcas, pro exercitu
on this occasion ; it is headed nostro Bedeford in quo fait
Scutagium exercitus domini nobiscum per praeceptum
Henrici regis de Bedeford nostrum. — Episcopus Wigor-
scilicet de scuto duas marcas. niensis qui habet milites suos
— Rex vicecomiti Ebor. Salu- in exercitu habet litteras di-
tem, praecipimus tibi quod rectas vicecomitibus Wigorn.
habere facias R. comiti Ces- Glouc. Warv. de feodis mili-
triae et Lincolniae scutagium turn quae de domino rege tenet
suum de feodis militum quae in capite, &c. — Misc. Roll,
tenet de nobis in capite, et de No. 10. 8 Hen. III.
feodis militum quae tenentur
134 SIEGE OF BEDFORD CASTLE.
as regardless as exulting spectators. No doubt it
was an execrable deed, and the more frightful
mockery of justice from being carried into effect
under the sanction of the highest legal officer of
the realm. Yet modern parallels may readily be
found, and to press the subject homewards to the
feelings, it can scarcely be a point of dispute how
posterity will estimate the humanity and refinement
of a nation which with all these offensive examples
before it as warnings still enforces the same mode
of criminal punishment.
During the blockade just spoken of, the castle of
Northampton rendered considerable relief to the
king, and the town likewise furnished towards it
several carpenters, and other persons whose in-
genuity was serviceable. When at length the for-
tress was taken, several of the engines were dis-
mounted and returned home, whilst the harness of
the king was sent by the sheriff of Bedford to
London m . Of a building that withstood for so
many weeks the most vigorous efforts of Henry to
reduce it to subjection, nothing now remains but a
conical mound of earth, whose base is washed by
ra The various expenses con- methods of attack, are given
nected with this memorable on the Close rolls of the year
siege, an account of the mili- with the utmost minuteness,
tary engines, and the different
PRESENT PROSPERITY OF THE TOWN. 135
the silent waters of the Ouse. On this gentle
eminence originally stood the donjeon, within whose
massive walls the besieged, inspired with all the
hopeless courage of despair, entrusted their last
chance of safety 11 . But whoever seeks for these
vestiges of its former importance in the modern
town, or delights to visit a spot consecrated to
liberty by this unavailing struggle, and rendered
dear to the lovers of national freedom, vainly seek-
ing for the living monuments of its ancient great-
ness, will still be gratefully repaid in beholding
those stately piles, which are devoted, through the
extensive charities of a London citizen, and the
purer philanthropy and patriotism of the present
noble owner of TToburn, to the social improvement
and sanitary wants of the district.
In 1253 Henry directed a survey to be made of
the condition of the castle of Northampton, at the
time John de Grey received the custody of it : his
commissioners found that the park was " decently
kept in vert, venison, and pasture," and that new
n This was not the first as owing xx. marcs for being
occasion in which the bur- in the castle against the king,
gesses of Bedford held out Mag. Rot. Pip. 2 Hen. II. ;
this fortress against the crown, and again they are returned
as we find in the Pipe roll of for the same sum, 4 Hen. II.
2 Hen. II. they are returned
1 36 REPARATION OF NORTHAMPTON CASTLE.
works had been executed in the castle, by the
sheriff of the county, as in walls, houses and other
matters : that all the houses of the said castle
might be maintained at slight cost ; that the same
sheriff had bestowed much expenditure on the great
wall of the castle, which, however, still needed
great repairs, and that there were then in the castle
hewn and unhewn stone, lime and sand, which
might be applied to that work .
o Henricus Dei gratia Rex
Anglias dominus Hiberniae
dux Normanniae, Aquitaniae
et comes Andegavensis Vice-
comiti Northamptonae salu-
tem. Precipimus tibi quod
assumptis tecum dilectis et
fidelibus nostris Rogero de
Whelton, Eustachio de Wat-
ford, Roberto de Plumton,
Willielmo Tilly, Willielmo
Gaugy, Benedicto Dod, Wil-
lielmo de la Funtaine, et
Radulfus Chaunpeneis sub
sigillo tuo et sigillis eorum
sine dilatione nobis scire
facias in quo statu dilectus
et fidelis noster Johannes de
Grey recipit custodiam Castri
Illustri et reverendo do-
mino suo domino Henrico
Regis Angliae domino Hiber-
niae duci Normanniae Aqui-
taniae et Comiti Andegavensi
dilecti et fideles sui Rogerus
de Whelton, Eustacius de
Watford, Robertus de Plump-
ton, Willielmus Tylly, Wil-
lielmus Gaugy, Benedictus
Dod, Willielmus de la Fun-
taine, et Radulfus Champe-
neys salutem. Noverit do-
mine excellencia vestra nos
ad preceptum vestrum cir-
cuisse et diligenter circum-
spexisse castrum vestrum de
Northamptonae et parcum
vestrum ibidem ad certificant
nostri de Northamptonae et vos in quo statu dilectus et
parci nostri ibidem. Teste fidelis vester Johannes de
me ipso apud Sutton xxx. Grey recipit custodiam pre-
die Maii anno regni nostri dictorum castri et parci.
xxxvij. Cujus statum vobis trans-
REBELLION OE SIMON DE MONTFOHT. 137
Towards the close of this reign the castle and
town of Northampton were the scenes of important
events, owing to the rebellion of the barons headed
by Simon de Montfort.
It was on the 5th of April, 1265, that Prince
Edward made his assault upon the town, on which
occasion his councils were assisted by William de
Valence, de Clifford, and others of the nobility.
Much precautionary skill had been used by the
king's adherents to facilitate his admission. The
monks of the Cluniac Priory were greatly attached
to the royal cause, and the same feeling had previ-
ously manifested itself among this religious order
during the disturbances at Lewes. The religious
brethren of the priory of St. Andrew had informed
the king during his stay at Oxford that they had
mittimus inspiciendum. In- levi et decenti custu potuerant
venimus parcum vestrum de sustentari. In magno eciam
Northamptonae bene et de- muro castro ejusdem idem
center custoditum de viridi, W. Vicecomes vester tempore
venaceone et pastura. Inve- suo maximum custum appo-
nimus eciam in castro vestro suit, tamen adhuc magna in-
Northamptonae multas opera- diget emendacione. Prop-
ciones per fidelem vestrum terea invenimus in eodem
W. de Insula vicecomitem castro petram scissam et non
vestrum in comitatu predicto scissam, calcem et sabulonem
de novo factas ut in domicilio unde maxima in eodem muro
muris et omnibus aliis locis poterit fieri emendacio. — An-
ubi necesse fuerat. Ita quod cient Letters in the Tower,
vestra domus castro ejusdem No. 442 a and 442 b.
138 PALL OF THE CASTLE.
undermined the walls of the castle, and concealed
the entrance by timber. Simon de Montfort, who
was amongst the most impetuous defenders of the
town, barely escaped with his life, and was taken
prisoner very early in the siege. Whilst the gar-
rison were invited to a treacherous parley with the
assailants, the monks pointed out the secret pas-
sage, and by this Philip Basset and 40 knights
speedily entered and gained possession of the in-
terior of the castle. Two days after its surrender,
several of the principal baronial supporters gave
themselves up as prisoners. To shew the prevalent
spirit, it might be enough to state that the scholars
from Oxford who had established themselves in the
town were found in arms on the popular side, as
enemies to the royal cause ; they were consequently
placed under the most severe custody, and with
difficulty Henry could be induced to spare their
lives. This was the first grand victory of the civil
war, and the outrageous conduct of the royalists in
sacking the town, together with their rapine and
sacrilege, which was sanctioned by their leader,
greatly inflamed the minds of the people against
the monarchy Such deeds were considered by a
contemporary chronicler, who favoured the side of
p Henr. Knyghton, 2448.
EFFECT PRODUCED ON THE BATtONS. 139
the conquerors, as enough to provoke the divine
retribution for the evils which befel the perpetra-
tors afterwards q . The elder de Montfort received
the intelligence of Henry's advance upon North-
ampton too late to assist the cause of the barons,
but the news of its downfall, and of the dreadful
excesses committed by the victors, only served to
inspire his followers with a deeper hatred for their
enemies, whilst it led them to resolve that the
succeeding month should not pass over without
all the joy of their adversaries being turned to fear
and confusion : a vow fully redeemed by their sub-
sequent actions at Lewes and Evesham 1 ".
9 T. Wykes. to explain the customs and
r After the baronial con- state of society at the time,
flicts, pleas of the crown were as the following extract will
held to enquire into the part sufficiently prove,
different individuals had taken Robertus Rector ecclesiae
during these disturbances. de Bereweby (Barby) dicit
The pleas relating to North- versus Philippam de Paun-
amptonshire have been printed ton quod die S li Clementis
in a volume put forth by the proxima post bellum de Eve-
Record Commissioners under sham venit ad domum suum
the title of Rotuli Selecti, and apud Bereweby cum aliis
they furnish a valuable illus- malefactoribus noctanter et
tration of the manorial history hostia sua et januas suas fre-
of the county at this particular gerunt et ipsum et totam fa-
period, as well as serve to miliam suam depredatur sci-
shew the part taken by the licet i. palefridum cum her-
principal families, besides giv- nesio pretio xl. s. et summa-
ing information which tends rium suum cum toto har-
140 GRANT OF PARDON TO THE INHABITANTS.
Although the burgesses of Northampton had
taken no more active part in the commotions of
this period than the inhabitants of other towns
in the kingdom, yet in accordance with the cus-
tom of the times, they obtained,, on the final
suppression of the rebellion by the king's victory
at Evesham, a general pardon for past transgres-
sions, and more especially for having defended
the town against the royal army, an act to which
they had been compelled by the forcible occu-
pation of it by the adherents of Montfort. Similar
letters of grace were granted by Henry to many
other towns ; the original grant to the men of
Northampton, under the great seal, is still pre-
served among the muniments of the corpora-
nesio suo pretio ij. marcae et pretio vi. s. viii. d. et alios
ij. equos carecarum pretio libros de theologia et de
xxiiij. s. et i. tabarium cum romano pretio xx. s. et am-
quatuor capuciis pretio i. plius et forsarium suum cum
marca, et duo paria botarum omnibus quae infra contine-
et i. par ocrearum cum cal- bantur, pretio xx. s. Item
cario et i. capello pretio vi. s. pannos ad faciendos saccos
et iij. nappas et tria manu- pretio ii. s. Item i. tunicam
tergia pretio v. s. Et i. chip- et i. piccie eboris pretio ii. s.
hum cum hanaperio pretio Et de rebus sororis sue aspor-
ii.s. et i. par barillae pretio taverant, i. capetum, ii. lin-
xii. d. et i. lavatorium pretio theamina, i. rochetum, i. ca-
xii. d. Item i. librum qui vo- pucium et alia minuta quae
catur Portehors pretio xl. s. pertinent ad mulieres pretio
et i. librum de cantu organi, viii. s. — Rot. Select. 175.
GRANT OF PARDON TO THE INHABITANTS. 141
tion s . In the year following the battle of Evesham,
1266, a parliament was held at Northampton,
s See also Rot. Pat 52
Hen. III. ; the document is
as follows :
Henricus dei gratia Rex
Anglias Dominus Hiberniae
et Dux Aquitaniae omnibus
-Ballivis et fidelibus suis ad
quos presentes littere per-
venerint, salutem. Volentes
majori et probis hominibus
nostris de Northampt. gratiam
facere specialem remisimus et
pardonavimus eisdem et toti
communitati ville ejusdem
omiiem indignacionem et
animi rancorem quos erga
ipsos conceperamus occasione
detentionis ville nostre North-
ampton contra nos et captionis
ejusdem, et eciam occasione
transgressionuin et excessuum
»si quos contra nos fecerunt
tempore turbacionis habite in
regno nostro et eis transgres-
siones et excessus hujusmodi
quantum in nobis est similiter
perdonavimus et ipsos ad gra-
ciam et pacem nostram ad-
misimus, nolentes quos ipsi
per nos heredes nostros justi-
ciaries ballivos seu alios minis-
tros nostros occasione predicta
decetero graventur in aliquo
seu molestentur. Ita tamen
quod stent recto in curia
nostra si quis de transgres-
sionibus aliquibus versus eos
loqui voluerit, et erga nos et
heredes nostros bene et fide-
liter se habeant in futurum.
In cujus rei testimonium has
litteras nostras fieri fecimus
patentes. Teste me ipso apud
Windes. sexto die Maii anno
regni nostri quinquagesimo
secundo. — Seal in green wax ;
broken.
The Jews of Northampton,
who had been expelled during
the disturbance there, on the
restoration of peace are ordered
to return to the town and be
under the protection of the
burgesses. — Patent Roils, 48
Henry III.
In the 25th Edw. I., 1297,
in anticipation of approaching
tumults in the town, a writ
was addressed to the sheriff of
the county that he should go
to Northampton without de-
lay and securely guard the
castle there, so as to ward off
both from it and the town the
contemplated danger. Rymer,
ii. 878.
By a writ dated 10th Dec,
50th Hen. III. (1265), the
142 DEFEAT OF THE POPULAR PARTY.
when many of the nobles who had been forfeited
for their participation in Monfort's rebellion were
restored to their estates ; sentence of banish-
ment was pronounced on the younger Simon
de Montfort, and the bishops of Worcester, Win-
chester, and London, were excommunicated by the
papal legate for their adherence to the popular
party. Prom this period downwards, the notices
occurring relative to the castle of Northampton
decrease in value as they descend in the order of
time.
It continued however to be, as before, one of
their principal residences whenever the English
kings visited the county, but improved methods of
warfare gradually began to lessen its importance as
a fortress. The energies of Edward I. were called
into exercise upon a different field ; his anxiety was
directed towards the northern borders, as well as
to subdue the Welsh; he had consequently but
little comparative need of military defences in the
central districts of England. His successor had
enough to do in protecting himself against the in-
cursions of the Scotch, yet the general troubles of
king had ordered all who 13) at latest, to go forth and
owed him service to meet in expel the rebellious barons
array at Northampton, on the from Kenilworth. — Rymer, i.
day of Lucy the Virgin (Dec. 467. Rot. Pat. 50 Hen. III.
SURVEY OF THE CASTLE. 143
his reign rendered it necessary that the royal castles
should be restored, and maintained in an efficient
state. In 1323 another survey of the castle of
Northampton was taken, from which we learn
some most interesting particulars as to its condition
and extent in the early part of the fourteenth cen-
tury. It appears that some time before the date
of this document, the great hall, the two principal
chambers, and the lower chapel had been destroyed
by fire, and the jurors estimated the cost of their
restoration at 702/. They found also that the
chambers of the " new tower" in the said castle,
and also six turrets on the circuit of the wall, were
for the most part destroyed by Nicholas de Segrave,
keeper of the castle, in 1307 : among other dilapi-
dations are enumerated ruined walls, a crazy gar-
den-gate, a ruinous barbican, and a certain "old
tower called Faukestour, which was begun in the
time of King Henry the Elder." This passage
seems to indicate that popular opinion attributed
the erection of this " old tower" to the celebrated
Fulke de Breaute, the terrible "Falkesius" of the
monks of St. Alban's, who, as we have seen, was
warden of the castle in 1216. Although the times
of Fulke and of King Henry the Elder (Henry II.)
were not the same, yet some accidental circum-
144
ESTIMATE OF REPARATION.
stances now unknown, may have led to the associ-
ation of the name of that redoubted foreign mer-
cenary with a work constructed before his arrival
in England. The jurors found that it would re-
quire the sum of 395/. 6s. 8d. to repair the defects
last named : thus it is evident the castle was in a
most decayed state ; the estimated outlay necessary
for its restoration would have exceeded 12,000/. of
the present currency*.
* Edwardus Dei gratia Rex
Anglige dominus Hiberniae et
dux Aquitaniae, dilectis et
fidelibus suis Johanni de
Wylughby et Eustachio de
Burneby salutem. Quia da-
tum est nobis intelligi quod
in castro nostro Northamp-
tonae diversi sunt defectus hiis
diebus ad grave dampnum
nostrum et maximum pericu-
lum ejusdem castri nisi citius
reparentur. Nos volentes cer-
tiori in quo statu dictum cas-
trum nunc existit et qui et
quot defectus in eodem ut in
turribus domibus muris ac
aliis edificiis existunt, et quo
tempore, et pro cujus vel
quorum defectum defectus illi
evenerunt et qualiter et quo
modo, et de quanto dicti de-
fectus valeant reparari, as-
signavimus vos ad inquiren-
dum per sacramentum probo-
rum et legalium hominum de
comitatu Northamptonae per
quos rei Veritas melius sciri
poterit super premissis et ea
tangentibus plenius veritatem.
Et ideo vobis mandamus quod
ad ceteros diem et locum quos
ad hoc provideritis ad castrum
predictum accedentes castrum
illud ac defectus in eodem
supervideatis et inquisicionem
inde faciatis in forma predicta,
et earn distincte et apte fac-
tam nobis sub sigillo vestris
et sigillis eorum per quos facta
fuerit sine dilatione mittatis
et hoc breve. Mandavimus
enim vicecomiti nostro comi-
tatus predicti quod ad ceteros
diem et locum quos ei scire,
facietis venire faci coram vo-
bis tot et tales probos et le-
gates homines de balliva sua
INQUISITION AS TO THE CASTLE.
145
Edward III. was too deeply intent on securing
the precarious advantages obtained by his father,
per quos rei Veritas in pre-
missis melius seiri poterit et
inquiri. In cujus rei testi-
monium has litteras nostras
fieri facimus patentes. Teste
me ipso apud Ebor. viij. die
Maii anno regni nostri sexto-
decimo. Per Thes, nunc Ma-
gistro Johanne de Hyldesle.
In dorso. Nos Johannes
de Wilughby et Eustachius
de Burneby per sacramentum
proborum et legalium homi-
num comitatus Northamp-
ton ae diligenter inquisivimus
quicquid tenor hujus mandati
vestri supponit prout patet
per inquisicionem inde captam
et huic vestro mandato con-
sutam.
Inquisitio capta coram Jo-
hannem de Wilughby, et Eu-
stachium de Burneby, assig-
natis per commissionem do-
mini Regis ad inquirendum
super defectibus castri domini
Regis Northamptonae, apud
Northamptonae die Jovis in
Septuana Pentecostae anno
regni Regis Edwardo filii
Rege Edwardo sextodecimo,
per sacramentum Walteri filii
Roberti de Da ventre militis,
Ricardi Mallore, Henrici de
Bray de Herleston, Walteri
de Mortuo Maui, Gilberti de
Etewell, Johannis Dyne de
Brampton, Roberti de Hau-
ton, Ricardi Hanred de Pis-
seford, Walteri le Carpenter
de Northamptonae, Willielmi
de Bliseworth, Bartholomaei
Barre, et Johannis Barre.
Qui dicunt super sacramen-
tum suum quod in castro
Northamptonae magna aula,
longa camera juxta aulam
versus Austrum et magna
camera juxta aulam versus
Orientem et capella yma ver-
sus Austrum combusta fue-
runt tempore domini Ricardi
de Lemesy quondam custodis
castri predicti. Que possunt
emendari in cementeria de
petra calce sabulo morterio et
in cariagio de cccc. li. Dicunt
etiam quod possunt emendari
videlicet in carpenteria mae-
remio cariagio et cooptura de
shingles et aliis necessaria de
ccl.li. Et quod gutterae ea-
rundem domorum cum cresta
et clavis possunt emendari
cum xxij.li. Et quod hostia
et fenestrae predictarum do-
morum possunt emendari in
ferramento verrura et aliis
146
INQUISITION AS TO THE CASTLE.
and the fairer territories won by his own valour in
France, to bestow much of his attention on this
hujusce necessaria cum xxx.li.
Sm a . dccij.li.
Dicunt etiam per sacra-
mentum suum quod camera
novi turris in predicto castro
et eciam sex parvi turres in
circuitu muri castri predicti
in magna parte fuerunt dirutae
tempore Nicholai de Segrave
nuper custodis castri predicti
et possunt emendari in cemen-
teria cum x. marcis et eciam
in carpenteria maeremio et
cariagio per eisdem cum xl.
marcis. Et cooptura domo-
rum et predicorum sex tur-
rium infra predictum novum
turrim potest emendari de
petra et shingles cum xl.
marcis, et in plumbo pro
eisdem turribus cum xxviii.li.
Dicunt eciam quod due sta-
bule quarum una stat juxta
coquinam et alia juxta vete-
rem turrim dirrutae fuerunt
tempore domini Edwardi
quondam Regis Angliae patris
domini Regis nunc, que pos-
sunt emendari cum xxx. li.
Dicunt eciam quod ceterae
domus predicti castri cum
hostiis et fenestris possunt
emendari cum xl. marcis.
Dicunt eciam quod est ibi
quidam murus super mantel-
lum predicti castri qui potest
emendari cum cc.li. Et eciam
est ibi alius murus debilis
super predictum castrum inter
novam portam et novum tur-
rim, et potest emendari cum
xx. marcis. Dicunt eciam
quod sunt ibi due porte de-
biles una versus gardinum et
alia infra curiam aule et cu-
riam Castri et possunt emen-
dari cum iiij.li. Dicunt eciam
quod est ibi unum barbicanum
debile extra portam castri et
potest emendari cum xl.
marcis. Dicunt eciam quod
est ibi quidam vetus turris
qui vocatur Faukestour qui
inceptus fuit tempore domini
Regis Henrici Senioris set de
quo potest construi vel repa-
rari ignorant. Dicunt eciam
quod est ibi quidam fons
tractabilis ante hostium magne
aule et dirruta fuit tempore
Nicholai de Segrave predicti
et potest emendari cum x.
marcis. Summa ccciiij. xv. li.
vj. s. viij. d. Summa totalis
m e . iiij. xvij. li. vj. s. viij. d.
In cujus rei testimonium
predicti juratores presentisln-
quisicionis sigilla sua appo-
CASTLE USED AS A PRISON. 147
quarter of his dominions. The castle remained as
a prison until nearly the commencement of the last
century, when it fell into private hands. Hitherto
we have only mentioned it as a place of defence, as
one of those unhappy spots where the wretched
felon and suspected violator of the forest laws lay
famishing amid the palatial profuseness of the
proud Plantagenets, and the Christinas luxuries of
de Breaute, or as the occasional abode of the
English kings ; but henceforth it opens upon the
attention with more agreeable as well as more uni-
versal interest. TTe shall now observe it as a
place where laws became agitated, pregnant with
loftier views of responsibility, and where the gene-
ral march of humanity was accelerated by salutary
provisions for the regulation of commerce and the
administration of justice.
Without perplexing ourselves by a long enquiry
into the nature of our early legislative assemblies,
I will merely state as a reason for passing over by
a rapid enumeration the earlier ones convened at
Northampton, that it is not until the latter end of
the reign of Henry III. that we are able to dis-
cover the rudiments of that popular mode of repre-
suerunt die et anno supradictis. — Inquis. ad Quod Damnum,
16 Edw. II. No. 119, apud Turrim.
148 EARLY CONVENTIONS AND
sentation existing at present. During the ante-
cedent period, the spiritual and temporal peers
were the only persons admitted to the royal coun-
cils, and their privileges seem to have been very
indefinitely laid down. On some occasions the
former outnumbered the latter, on others there was
a preponderance on the side of the barons, and as
in the instance of the parliament at Shrewsbury
during the reign of Edward I., sometimes the
bishops were not even summoned. Nor are these
deviations from the general system the only ones
on record, as we find parallel instances in the
Cortes of Castile, to which in 1370 and 1373 nei-
ther the nobles nor the clergy were called. Al-
though the title of 'parliament' has been freely
given to several of these early conventions, we
must not connect them with our modern appli-
cation of the term, nor suppose that the principle
of receiving representatives from the community
was fully recognised. Parliaments were not in
fact identified with the more ancient forms of the
British government. This will enable us at once
to pass over, without discussion, the conferences
held here between Kobert duke of Normandy and
his brother Henry I. ; the settlement of the suc-
cession by the latter prince upon his daughter
COUNCILS HELD AT NORTHAMPTON.
149
Maud; the council held both by Stephen and
Richard I. ; the convention to try the traitorous
a Becket, and the ratification of the Constitutions
of Clarendon. Each of these, historically interest-
ing, deserves more attention than the present oc-
casion will suffice to afford, but none taken by
itself involves directly any point of sufficient con-
stitutional importance for us to pursue its exami-
nation further 11 .
u Of the councils held at
Northampton, the following
are the principal. In 1131,
a great curia, placitum, or
council, at which were present
all the "Principes Angliae."
In 1157, a convention of the
Praesules, Principes regni,
eight bishops, twelve abbots,
and many other foreign and
English nobility, and "infe-
rioris ordinis personae." In
1157, as we are informed by
Gervase, (p. 1378,) the con-
vention at Northampton con-
sisted, besides bishops, of the
principal persons of the king-
dom, of abbots, and of some
persons of an inferior degree.
They heard on this occasion
a cause between the arch-
bishop and the abbot of Can-
terbury, respecting the latter's
profession of obedience to the
former, as the pope had
commanded. In 1164, when
Becket was ordered into ban-
ishment. The parliament was
held within the great hall of
the castle, on Thursday, Oct.
13, when the archbishop was
accused of various crimes,
such as perjury, &c, and all
his moveables were confis-
cated, for not coming to the
king's court when cited there
on the complaint of one who
thought himself injured by
him in his own. The second
day he was accused of having
£500 of the king's money in
his hands, and five persons,
who voluntarily offered them-
selves to be his sureties, were
bound for him. The third
day another larger debt was
laid to his charge. On the
fourth day, Saturday, there
150
BECKERS TRIAL.
It was not until the forty-ninth of Henry III.
(1265), when two knights were first summoned by
was nothing done except hold-
ing a consultation. On Sun-
day Becket did not leave his
chamber. On Monday when
summoned he was sick, and
did not appear. On Tuesday,
after receiving mass, he came
into court, and at the entrance
into the king's chamber within
the castle, where he was to
expect the king, he took the
cross from the bearer, and
carried it into the chamber
with his own hands, which
was highly resented by the
king, because he seemed to
come in with it in defiance,
and this again constituted
another ground of complaint.
The ecclesiastics sat apart
from the nobles, and at last
agreed to accuse the arch-
bishop to the pope of perjury,
engaging themselves before
the king to do their utmost to
bring about his deposition, on
condition that he would ex-
cuse them from passing judg-
ment. To this the king as-
sented, and they then in-
formed the archbishop they
were no longer bound to obey
him, because he was guilty of
perjury in having broken his
faith with the king. On the
following night he secretly
escaped from the town and
got to Sandwich, from whence
he passed over into Flanders.
An event so remarkable has
attracted the attention of seve-
ral annalists, between whose
various statements there exists
much discrepancy. A life of
Becket has recently been writ-
ten by the Rev. J. Giles, and
very succinctly also by Thierry
in his Histoire de la Conquete
de l'Angleterre par les Nor-
mands. In 1176, when the
Constitutions of Clarendon
were ratified : when the king
of Scotland attended, and
besides much other busi-
ness transacted, the whole
kingdom was first divided into
six circuits, and three itine-
rant judges appointed for
each. — (Hoveden, p. 1108.)
In 1177, when Robert earl of
Leicester and others were re-
stored to their lands, and the
canons secular of Waltham
resigned into the archbishop's
hands their prebends, that the
king might there introduce
canons regular. In 1190,1194,
1223, and 1224, when Henry
KNIGHTS FIRST SUMMONED.
151
the sheriffs from the counties, and two burgesses
from the cities or towns, that the outline of our
actual representative system can be distinctly
traced. Before this indeed the spirit of lawless
force was predominant ; the absolute power of the
crown prevented any thing like national develop-
ment, and the varied elements of political life and
freedom had not burst forth into existence. The
kingdom was now undergoing all those intestine
was desirous of ascertaining
the opinion of the kingdom
respecting a war with France.
The archbishop of Canter-
bury and the other pre-
lates anathematised Fulke de
Breaute. There was also a
subsidy granted for making
machines for the siege of Bed-
ford castle, the king granting
a charter that this should not
be considered a precedent. In
1227, when a scutage was as-
sessed of three marcs for each
knight's fee, by advice of the
earls and barons summoned
to Northampton for the pur-
pose. The archbishops and
bishops for certain apparent
reasons were not summoned.
(Madox, Exchequer, p. 422.)
In 1265, about the feast
of, the Apostles Philip and
James, the king held a parlia-
ment at Northampton, to which
were sent solemn messengers,
(solemnes nuncii,) petitioning
the king, that he might restore
them to their former state,
and that they might be able
to choose sheriffs for them-
selves, who should be answer-
able to the exchequer for the
ancient fee farm which was
granted by letters patent,
dated by the king the 1st of
May at Northampton, anno
l mo . — Cronica Maiorum, 85.
In 1266, to confirm the dic-
tum of Kenilworth. In 1268,
1283, 1329, 1336, 1338. At
Clipstone in 1290. At Ged-
dington in 1188, to consult
about a crusade. At the ab-
bey of Pipewell, now entirely
destroyed, in 1189.
152 COUNCIL FAVOUR A CRUSADE.
miseries which sooner or later enforce upon bad
governors the necessity of renovation and cure.
It was in a sadly distracted state when in the
midst of the general distress and confiscation that
prevailed, Henry suddenly convoked a great as-
sembly to meet him at Northampton (1268.) But
it was not to discuss the wretched condition of his
subjects, to adopt remedies for alleviating their
wants, or to conciliate the disaffection of his barons,
that he issued his writs for the convention. It
was not a meeting to be confounded with our ideas
of a parliament, but a mere gathering of the upper
classes, which should afford the papal legate an op-
portunity of preaching a crusade; and judging
from the result, his exertions were far from being
unsuccessful, since the monarch himself, with a
large number of the nobility, took up the cross
and proposed to accompany his sons to the Holy
Land.
We are now arrived at a period when the po-
pular voice was the first time plainly heard in the
councils of the state, and amongst the earliest of
those towns enjoying the privilege of sending their
representatives to parliament, were Northampton
and Bedford, a right acquired in all probability
from their being attached to the royal demesnes.
RISING INFLUENCE OF POPULAR OPINION. 153
Although various modifications and successive
changes were henceforward perpetually arising,
the burgesses appear from the 23rd of Edward I.
to the present day, to have been legally considered
both as constituent as well as necessary parts of
the legislative body. Edward I. died on the 7th
of August, 1307, at Burgh on Sand, in his last
expedition against the Scots, and on the 26th of
the same month, his feeble successor summoned a
parliament to meet him 'for a special purpose' at
Northampton x . One of the ostensible reasons for
the present convention was to make arrangements
for the funeral of his father. Whatever amount of
incapacity or moral obloquy may have attached
itself to the character of Edward of Caernarvon, it
can scarcely be said that filial affection was a
virtue in which he was deficient. The perform-
ance, however, of the melancholy solemnities so
naturally due to the memory of the late king, was
not the sole reason for parliament meeting so im-
mediately after his death, since the writs, our chief
source of information, (the rolls of its proceedings
x On the 6th October, 1307, king's household to provide
an entry occurs on the Issue for his office in the hall of
roll of the Exchequer, of Northampton castle, against
ten marks paid to John de the coming of the king there,
Eggleshale, a valet of the p. 118.
154 NECESSITIES OF THE CROWN
having, like most of those of the reign, become
lost,) further mention, as subjects for discussion,
the new sovereign's coronation, and his espousals
with Isabella of France. There was another latent
motive for its convocation, one involving more
important political rights. The active reign just
ended had left the young prince surrounded with
difficulties, against which he was in every way un-
equal to contend. The discontentment of his
barons, the increasing demands of the pope, the
long and expensive wars in which his ancestors had
been engaged, now bequeathed as a legacy upon
his impoverished exchequer, had to be provided
for, not as formerly from the private revenues of
the crown, but to be supported by extraordinary
grants from the people. The personal resources of
the king had gradually become lavished away, and
we thus trace the earliest causes of the diminishing
power of the royal prerogative, as well as the sub-
sequent influence of the national voice in regulat-
ing taxation. The three estates of Parliament as-
sembled at Northampton on the 13th of October y,
r The Liberate rolls of this orders to bailiffs to pay to
year contain no mention of Nicholas de Segrave the
Northampton whatever, but constable, sixty pounds for
the Close rolls of the same repairs of walls and buildings
time have entries recording of the castle — also to fortify
INDUCE AN EXTENSION OF LIBERTY.
155
four months before the king was actually crowned,
and did not entirely separate until the beginning
the castle, for better security
and safety of the people — also
to repair walls and paling of
the park. (Rot. Claus. 1
Edw. II.) On the Patent
roll 18 John, there is an order
for the payment of arrears
and wages due to the king's
servants in garrison of the
castles of Northampton and
Rockingham, so that they
might have no reason to leave
the king's service.
A grant of murage to
endure for three years had
been previously made in the
9th of Henry, by a deed
tested on the 24th December
at Brackley, but it did not
specify the customs so mi-
nutely as the one just referred
to. These privileges were re-
peated in the 4th and 29th of
Edw. I., as well as in the
2nd of Henry IV. The grant
of 29 Edward I. authorizes
them to endure for live years,
and among many additional
imposts which it permits to be
levied, occur tolls upon every
worsted cloth which is called
coverlit, upon linen web of
Aylesham, garments of cendle
worked quilted, salted fish,
lampreys (one penny per
dozen) and bales of cordovan.
Rot. Pat. 29 Edw. I. m. 1.
It was probably from sup-
posing that because murage
tolls were allowed for only a
limited period, that a few
years ago the right of the
corporation to claim any tolls
was called into dispute. The
result of the trial, Lancum
versus Lovell, in the Court of
Common Pleas, Feb. 21, 22,
1832, before Chief Justice
Tindal, for ascertaining the
right of the mayor, bailiffs and
burgesses, to take certain tolls
in the town, fully established
the custom of the borough.
At so early a period as the
3rd of Edw. III., (1329,) some
of these customs had been dis-
puted, and the bailiffs of the
town were presented for taking
unjust tolls as well at the fairs
as at other times, whereas
' nothing used to be taken
out of fair time, and then
from dealers only, and not
from those who bought cattle
for stock. And they took
from Thomas de Skalford,
who sold one ox, one penny,
and likewise from the pur-
156
PREROGATIVE AND TAXATION
of the following year 2 . It was in the twenty-fifth
year of the preceding reign, about twelve years
before this time, that the laws exacting pecuniary
aids from the subject, first became clearly defined :
chaser thereof they took toll
to the great oppression of the
people.' For these excesses
they afterwards paid a fine to
the crown. Placita Coronse,
3 Edw. III. roll 10. The
same year the inhahitants of
Slipton complained that they
were tolled for carts passing
through their own village,
(Placita Coronae, 3 Edw. III.'
roll 51,) and other complaints
were made by the men of the
county, (id. m. 70.) The
same records also give the
examination of an undue exer-
cise of justice upon male-
factors within the town of
Northampton, under the plea
of having the right of infan-
genthef for the power of exe-
cuting death on malefactors.
Also that there were four
coroners when the mayor and
bailiffs confessed one was in
a general way sufficient. In
consequence of these various
complaints, Robert de Ar-
derne was appointed custos of
the town, by a writ tested by
the king at Kenilworth, 7th
Dec.,(Originalia,3Edw.III.,)
and two coroners and two
bailiffs were deputed to dis-
charge the duties appropri-
ately belonging to each office.
Placita Coronas, 3 Edw. III.
v. 71. Robert de Arderne
to hold the same for the crown,
and for Queen Isabella, Ed-
ward's mother, which farm she
had received at her son's
appointment. (Originalia, 3
Edw. III.)
z It was at this period that
diplomatic and official rela-
tions began to be established
betwixt European and Asiatic
nations; mongols of distinc-
tion visited some of the chief
cities of Spain, France, and
Italy, and during the present
parliament an answer was sent
to the king of Tartary in re-
turn for his friendly embassy.
See Rymer, vol. ii. p. 8. new
edition, and Memoires sur
les Relations Politicoes des
Princes Chretiens avec les
Empereurs Mongols. Vol. ii.
Mem., pp. 154—157.
BECOMING MORE DEFINED. 157
nevertheless they continued for a length of time to
press with unequal force upon the rising energies
of the people, and in illustration of this, we find in
the transactions now under review, that whilst the
clergy and the burgesses contributed in this Parlia-
ment a fifteenth from the towns, the knights
granted from the counties a twentieth of their
moveables, to prosecute the war against the Scots.
Other important matters were for the first time
settled by this parliament; such as the terms of
the coronation oath, and the oath tendered to the
representatives upon taking their seats. By the
general tenor of the latter, more especially in its
fourth and sixth clauses, every precaution seems to
have been taken to support and strengthen the
royal prerogative, whilst the provisions of the for-
mer not only recognised the limitation of the royal
power by existing laws, but that the power of
altering those laws and enacting others, could only
be exercised with the consent of the 'comniu-
naute/ or the lords and commons assembled in
parliament. On the present occasion, then, we
witness the conflicting elements of the English
government balanced against each other with the
nicest appreciation of their relative value, those
mighty parts formerly brought together in such
158 REFERENCE TO ANTIQUITY
discordant and hostile collision, now firmly ce-
mented in peaceful union, and the entire fabric
laid on so wide a basis, that not only may it be
said, the constitution was for the first time securely
established, but that however much corruption in
the elective franchise, municipal abuses, or natural
decay, may have deformed its fair proportions in
the lapse of succeeding ages, a reformation and
cure has always been found for them by recurring
to the pure spirit of these early principles.
The parliament again assembled at Northampton
in the second year of the succeeding reign (1328),
meeting immediately after the one summoned to
York, in consequence of several of the represent-
atives being absent on that occasion. No consti-
tutional questions came under review; these, in-
deed, had been pretty generally fixed in the pre-
ceding reigns as they now stand, but much business
of a momentous character occupied attention. In
the first place, the writs of summons prohibited
tournaments, and the appearance of that tumultuous
retinue of armed men which had usually attended
upon these occasions. The representatives were
thus enabled to carry on their deliberations with-
out distraction, personal fear, or restraint a . Here
a As these exhibitions were extremely popular with the
FAVOURABLE TO MODERN PROGRESS. 159
both the origin and authority is found for that re-
solution of the Long Parliament (1645) forbidding
the appearance of the military at an election, ' as a
high infringement of the liberties of the subject,
and an open defiance of the laws and constitutions
of this kingdom f a resolution subsequently esta-
blished by act of parliament, (8th George II.)
The Scottish convention and a treaty of peace were
confirmed at the present meeting, the preliminary
of a commercial intercourse with Flanders settled,
the first annual payment made of Queen Philippa's
dowry, and power given to the bishops of Worces-
ter and Chester to demand and ask for, in the
king's name, the right and possession of the king-
dom of France. Amongst other business also now
transacted was the custody of the great seal, which
was transferred from the keeping of Master Henry
generality of the nation, they Thus tournaments were pro-
attracted large concourses of hibited in the 4th, 5th, and
people, and consequently oc- 17th of Edw. II. On the
casioned great tumult, and last year however, notwith-
confusion. Hence we find standing the general prohibi-
them frequently prohibited, tion, one was allowed at
and more especially on those Northampton, but after this
occasions when the great peo- tournament, no one should
pie of the realm were called hold another in any part of
together to deliberate on the kingdom. (Rot. Pat. 17
affairs concerning the state. Edw. II. p. 1. m. 16.)
160 FIRST STATUTE OF NORTHAMPTON.
de Clyf and William de Herlaston, to Henry de
Burghersh, bishop of Lincoln. This transfer was
publicly made by the king himself, in the presence
of several of the nobility, immediately after the
celebration of mass, in a certain chapel of the
priory of St. Andrew, and the same document
states that the keeper used it in sealing briefs the
next day. It appears from a subsequent docu-
ment, printed in the Foedera, that the custody of
the great seal was again changed by the king
taking it himself on Sunday the 15th of January
following (1329), in a certain chamber where
Queen Isabella was lodged, in the same priory,
and he retained it till Thursday, when he restored
it to the bishop in the presence of his lords, in the
garden of the prior of Newenham, near Bedford.
In this parliament was enacted the first statute
of Northampton. It commenced by confirming
the Great Charter and the Charter of the Forest.
By subsequent clauses the pardon of felons was
placed on a better system, and the administration
of justice carried on under less restraint, since all
persons were forbidden to present themselves armed
before the royal ministers. Sundry provisions were
made relative to the delivery of writs to the sheriffs;
legal officers were appointed to enquire into rob-
FREE TRADE ESTABLISHED. 161
beries, manslaughter, theft, oppressions, conspira-
cies and grievances, as well by Lke servants of the
crown as by others ; justice was not to be delayed
at the bidding of the great or little seal; the
county cess was put on an improved footing, and
all staples were to cease. In the various pro-
visions of this admirable statute of Northampton,
there is the highest regard evinced for individual
liberty ; the crown itself is limited in its interfer-
ence with the equal course of justice, its powers
being confined, by the terms of the royal oath, to
granting charters of pardon for offenders. The
criminal law was much amended by these and
other regulations; aristocratic influence in gaol-
deliveries was checked; the common rights of the
people were carefully respected. Xor is it unde-
serving observation that in abolishing those mer-
cantile monopolies which had sprung up in the
late reigns, how clearly the parliament understood
their injurious tendency, whilst, to shew how re-
pugnant it thought them to be to the earlier theory
of the constitution, the present statute allowed
" merchants, strangers, and others to go and come
with their merchandise into England after the
tenor of the Great Charter" of the 17th of John.
So jealously watched and guarded indeed was the
M
162 THIRD PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLES.
freedom of commerce during Edward III/s reign,
that, independently of the present statute, a full
recognition of its unfettered principles was set
forth in the preamble and first clause of the tenth
parliament held at York, (9th Edward III. 1335.)
It would be opening the subject far too wide were
I to mention in this enquiry the various occasions
when royalty visited the town of Northampton,
and I have merely noticed the foregoing incident,
amongst many, to shew how frequent those visits
formerly were, and to furnish some kind of idea of
the business habits of the period, and the simple
modes of regal life. The parliament opened its
sittings on April 24th, and did not conclude them
until the 21st of May, during the whole of which
time Edward III. remained here.
In the twelfth year of his reign, when the third
parliament assembled at Northampton, we find him
actively engaged in prosecuting his claims upon
the kingdom of Philip of Valois ; and in pursuing
this favourite object of his ambition he spent much
of the early period of his life on the continent.
He was now on the eve of embarking upon one of
these expeditions, but previously to his departure
he addressed writs to the usual persons, informing
them that he had appointed Edward his eldest son
LAST PARLIAMENT MEETS. 163
keeper of the realm during his absence, and sum-
moned them to attend a great council at North-
ampton on the morrow after St. James the Apostle,
(July 26, 1338.) The writs were tested on the
15 th of June, and the parliament was duly con-
vened at the appointed time; the king himself,
however, sailed for the continent a few days before
it met. One of the monarch's first acts on reach-
ing Antwerp was to address an order to the great
ecclesiastics, revoking the power he had confided
to them to treat of peace with Philip of Valois as
king of France. Meanwhile his son, the Black
Prince, effectually urged the Parliament to supply
the necessary aids for carrying on the campaign
abroad. This, with a few regulations for victual-
ling the royal castles of Scotland, and some acts of
minor consequence, brought the session to a close
at the end of about ten days b .
The last parliament at Northampton was sum-
moned for the 5th of November, in the fourth year
of Richard II. Most of the great officers of state
assembled at the appointed time, by order of the
council, in a chamber of St. Andrew's priory, where
b After the king had sailed, important affairs, which was
a council of merchants, four no doubt concerning the
of the richest and most dis- means of raising supplies for
creet from each county, were the war. — Rymer, vol. ii. p. ii.
summoned to deliberate on p. 105!.
164 DIFFICULTY OF ASSEMBLING.
they heard read the great charter of English liber-
ties, but after waiting in vain for some time the
arrival of the other representatives, who were de-
terred from attending in consequence of the heavy
rain and floods, it was agreed to adjourn the par-
liament until the following Thursday, the members
being permitted to retire in the meanwhile to their
hostels for their ease. The roads had been ren-
dered so impassable by the bad weather that it was
with considerable difficulty the king reached his
manor of Moulton, where he was lodged, in the
immediate neighbourhood to the town.
Richard II., now in his fifteenth year, met the
parliament in person on the 8th of November. It
was not a very numerous convention, as several of
the nobility were still detained on business in the
marches of Scotland. The chancellor, (Simon de
Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury,) on the part of
the king, opened the proceedings by stating the
motives that had induced him to call this parlia-
ment together, how desirous he felt. that the liber-
lies of the Church and the peace of the realm
should be maintained and guarded; he next re-
ferred to the matter with which he was charged by
the king, saying emphatically , " Sirs, it cannot be
c This speech and the proceedings of the parliament are in
Norman French.
chancellor's energetic speech. 165
a tiling unknown to you, how that nobleman the
earl of Buckingham, with a great number of other
great lords, knights, esquires, and other good gen-
tlemen of the realm, whom may God save by His
mercy, are now in the service of our lord the
king and his realm in the parts of France, upon
which enterprise the king has expended as much
as you have granted him in the last parliament,
and beyond this grant, much from his private re-
sources ; and what is more, he has greatly contri-
buted from his own substance for the expedition
against Scotland, and for the defence and succour
of his lieges in Guienne, and for the last debts due
to the earl of March for Ireland, as well as in other
ways ; he has pledged the greater part of his jewels,
which are at the point of being lost, and you may
observe how the subsidy of wool is the cause of the
present riot in Flanders ; nothing, in effect, is re-
served : the wages of the troops in the marches of
Calais, Brest, and Cherbourg are in arrears more
than a quarter and a half, in consequence of which
the castles and fortresses of the king are in such
great peril, that the soldiers are on the point of
departing. Be well assured that neither our lord
the king, nor any other Christian monarch is able
to endure such charges without the aid of the com-
166 chancellor's energetic speech.
munity; and moreover, consider how deeply the
king is indebted, how the crown jewels, as it is
said, are at the point of being forfeited, how he is
bound by covenant to pay the earl of Buckingham
and his companions, what outrageous expenses he
will be put to in guarding the sea-coasts nearest
Prance next season, so that the malice of the
enemy may be better resisted than it was before,
when, as you are well aware, they wrought such
grievous damage and villainy against the state.
Will you counsel our lord the king, and shew him
what better provision can be made to meet these
difficulties, and how the kingdom may be defended
more securely against its enemies by land and sea.
Be pleased to deliberate on this as soon as you are
able, to the end that you may speedily render his
majesty, these nobles, and yourselves, that effectual
assistance which is necessary." With such weighty
arguments the chancellor opened the present par-
liament, adding also, at the close of his speech,
that the king both wished and commanded all
persons who had any grievance which could not be
redressed without the interposition of parliament,
that they should present their petitions to the
clerks of chancery appointed to receive them, who
would hand them over to the prelates for judgment.
RESISTANCE OF THE COMMONS. 167
After this address, they all departed to their re-
spective hostels, and on the morrow consulted to-
gether in the new dormitory of the priory, on the
business he had propounded. A lengthened debate
ensued, in the course of which Sir John Gilders-
burgh, who was deputed by the commons, declared
they were very poor, and unable to bear any fur-
ther charge ; that the present demands of £160,000
were outrageous and insupportable, and prayed
that the prelates and lords would treat by them-
selves, and set forth the ways by which a reason-
able sum, at less distress to the people, might be
levied and collected. After considerable discussion
and mutual conference, the commons proposed that
if the clergy, who occupied one-third of the king-
dom, would support one-third of the charge, they
would grant £100,000, so that the laity should be
rated at 100,000 marks and the clergy at 50,000.
Upon this the clergy replied, with less liberality
than adherence to legal precedent, that their grant
was never made in parliament, neither ought to be ;
that the laity neither ought nor had the power to
bind the clergy, nor the clergy the laity, but that if
any ought to be free, it was themselves ; praying
moreover, that the liberty of Holy Church might
be saved to them entirely, and that what the com-
mons deemed fit to perform, they would certainly
168 SECOND STATUTE OF NORTHAMPTON.
do the like themselves. The commons then im-
posed a capitation tax on all the laity, male and
female, above fifteen years old, of three groats, very
beggars only excepted, which, with the sudden
emancipation of the serfs in the following parlia-
ment, was the occasion of the insurrection under
"Wat Tyler and Jack Straw the next year. The
same kind of revolt had, from a similar enlarge-
ment of their liberties, broken out amongst the
French peasantry some time previously.
This question being at last settled, parliament
proceeded with the minor objects of its meeting.
From these I shall only select three for especial
mention, and two of them are chosen simply from
having a more peculiar local interest than the rest.
The first entitled to notice is the passing of the
second statute of Northampton, an act enforc-
ing the gauging of all foreign wines, and proclaim-
ing the terms of the royal pardon for escaped
felons. The next is the trial of Sir Rauf de Fer-
riers, on suspicion of having entered into a trea-
sonable correspondence with Charles VI., and se-
veral influential persons in the kingdom of France d .
d An entry on the Issue him "before the parliament at
roll of the Exchequer, gives Northampton, there to answer
the expense of seeking out a concerning certain articles,
certain clerk, Ralph de Fer- 10s., (p. 215,) and in the suc-
rers, in London, and bringing ceeding year a payment of
PRIEST OF BRINGTON IMPRISONED. 169
Many letters so addressed, and sealed with his seal,
had been picked up, and upon this supposition of
his treachery the charge was founded. He under-
went numerous examinations, and on all these
occasions firmly declared his innocency. Yet at
length he was recommitted to prison ; and one Sir
Thomas, parson of the church of Brington in the
county of Northampton, and certain others who
were intimately acquainted with him, and the poor
mendicant who found the letters in question, toge-
ther with the mayor of London to whom he had
given them, were summoned to come before par-
liament for examination. It now turned out that
the correspondence was a forgery of the mendi-
cant's, who in his turn was consigned to prison,
and Sir Rauf, who was the patron of the living,
and Sir Thomas, the parson of Brington, were set
at large. The third point that has struck me as
curious, was the issue of a sumptuary writ from
Westminster, a month before the parliament as-
sembled, both to ensure the proper supply and to
regulate the price of provisions betwixt that place
61. 13s. 4d. was made to Ni- was held there, to the priory
cholas Adam, the king's ser- of Durham, to place Sir Ralph
jeant at arms, lately sent by de Ferrers under arrest at the
the king's command from the said priory, and to cause him
town of Northampton, during to appear at the said parlia-
the time the last parliament ment. — Id., p. 219.
170 SUMPTUARY WRIT OF EXPENSES.
and Northampton, when the representatives were
on their journey thither, and writs of this nature
were addressed in anticipation of their wants to
the bailiffs of Barnet, St. Alban's, Dunstable, Wo-
burn, Newport Pagnell and Stony Stratford.
The commons finally besought the king to con-
firm the great charter of liberties, the charter of
the forest, the statutes ordained for peace, and the
statutes of labourers, the statutes of false accusers,
and all the other statutes and good laws ; to lessen
the grievous and insupportable burden of war, and
to expend the present levies solely on the defence
of the realm; and lastly, they prayed for relief
from the payment of those large sums which had
annually been taken by the pope from the English
Church, and begged him to provide a remedy for
such hateful exactions. And thus, having sat for
thirty-two days, the parliament closed its latest de-
liberations within this town, deliberations of which
it may be truly said, that we hardly know upon
which to fix our highest praise, since they are alike
distinguished by wisdom and moderation, by a
jealous regard for the national honour and internal
justice, and for breathing that unselfish and lofty
spirit which is the truest test and safeguard of
English freedom.
CONSTABLES OF THE CASTLE. 171
CONSTABLES OF NORTHAMPTON
CASTLE.
1175. Humphrey de Bohun e .
Simon de Pateshull.
1203. P. de Stokes, appointed constable and
moneyer, in 1206 f .
1206. Walter de Preston *.
1208. Robert de Braybroc \
1215. Richard Marshall 1 .
1215. Roger de Neville k .
1216. Fulke de Breaute 1 . By writ the 2nd of
May, and enforced by a second under the private
and public seal on the 19th of the same month m .
1216. William Aindre 11 .
1253. John De Grey .
1255. William de Insula p.
1278. Thomas de Ardern a .
e Rot. Pip. 20 Hen. II. turn suum Norhamtoniae, cum
f Rot. Pat p. 30. custodia Honoris Peverelli in
S Id. p. 67. eosdem Comilatu custodienda
h Id. p. 84. quamdiu Regi placuerit ; et
1 Id. p. 131. reddet pro proficuo Comita-
* Id. p. 146. tus cxx.l. et custodiet Cas-
1 Id. p. 179. trum ad custum suum pro-
m Id. p. 183. prium, et perficiet Corpus
n Rot. Claus. p. 267. Comitatus, et habebit exitus
Lit. Antiq.in Turr. Lond. praedicti honoris. — Memor. et
442 a. Orig. 40 Hen. III.
? Rex commissit W. de ( i Abbr. Rot. Orig. p. 32.
Insula Castrum et Comita-
172 CONSTABLES OF THE CASTLE.
1279. Robert le Band*.
1307. Pagan Tibetot. Justiciary of the Royal
Forests beyond the Trent, and constable s .
1307. Nicolas de Segrave*.
1315. John de Ashston u .
1316. John de Houby*.
1319. John de Whitelburyy.
1320. Ralph Basset of Drayton 2 .
Richard de Lemesy a .
1323. John Daundelyn b .
1331. Thomas de Button .
William de Pillarton, vallet of the king's
buttery d .
Eustace de Brunneby e .
1331. Thomas Wake of Blisworth f .
1333. William LoveR
1335. Thomas de Buckton h .
1257.
,~^" Ralph Basset of Sapcote 1 .
1262.
1263. John Lovell of Titchmarsh K
1252. John Grey of Wilton*.
r Id. p. 34. c Id. ii. p. 4.
8 Id. p. 154. d Id. p. 10.
1 Id. p. 157. e Id. p. 21.
™ Id. p. 222. f Id. p. 30.
x Id. p. 233. t Id. p. 68.
y Id. p. 252. h Id. p. 83.
z Id. p. 255. * Dugdale's Baronetage, p.
a Inq. ad Q. D., 16 Ed. II., 382.
No. 119. J Id. p. 558.
b Id. p. 278. k Id. p. 712.
1266.
1266.
1268.
1307.
1307.
1320.
1363.
1370.
1380.
1405.
CONSTABLES OF THE CASTLE.
Alan Zouchof Ashby 1 .
Reginald Grey of Wilton m .
Nicholas Segrave n .
Payn Tibetot .
Ralph Basset of Drayton p.
Richard Wy devilled
John Wy deville r .
Richard Wydeville 8 .
173
1 Id. p. 689.
m Id. p. 713.
» Id. p. 675.
° Id. p. 39.
p Id. p. 380.
i Id. p. 230.
r Id. p. 230.
8 Id. p. 230.
Queen Eleanor's Cross.
HE sepulchral monument to
the memory of Queen Eleanor
in the immediate vicinity of
Northampton naturally de-
mands that a section should
be devoted to it in the pre-
sent volume. This beauti-
ful work stands on a well selected spot about a
mile distant from the town, and is placed on an
eminence partially hidden by a grove of silver
beeches on the east, but exposed to the public
road on the opposite side. It pleasantly overlooks
the town, and being readily accessible by a care-
fully constructed causeway, (some portion of which
as will be seen hereafter is coeval,) it becomes an ob-
ject inducing frequent observation, even when per-
sons are not led to examine it with a critical eye
for its fair proportions and intrinsic merits as a
work of architecture. It may however be doubted,
whether or not the casual bystander as he casts his
eyes over the verdant valley of the Nene beneath
does not regard the cheerful landscape rather as
fT i^r^i
S3
Iff
if^ 1 ":
ALL ART REALLY SYMBOLICAL. 175
the mere background of the picture before him,
and strives to concentrate his thoughts upon this
object of human skill alone, viewing it as a labour
of dignified conception, rich in the manifold variety
of its ornaments, and tending by its purity of de-
sign to withdraw his thoughts from the moving
scenes and agitation of life, to the tranquil medi-
tation of the motive which inspired its erection.
There is in truth an inner sight given to the
mind of man by which such creations are to be
viewed, and in proportion as the sensibility is
quickened he will find them exercising a power
over the intellectual faculties ; and our perception
of external beauty, and the emotions awakened by
the refined workings of our silent contemplation,
will become blended with ideas that are devotional.
Such monuments of art are however only thus in-
fluential where there is a general mental cultiva-
tion, or where long study of good models has pre-
disposed the imagination for their reception. The
half clad peasant whilst resting under the morning
shadow cast by its foliated canopies, looks upwards
and sees nothing but a well-wrought pile of stone,
whilst a more trained eye, rising above mere mate-
rial and its forms, perceives a work on which fancy
has left the stamp of elegance and genius. Others,
176 CONJUGAL AFFECTION OF EDWARD I.
unconsciously to themselves, led by nobler sensa-
tions, would detect a still more sacred charm ming-
ling itself with their thoughts.
But any attempt to express the varied impulse
which is given to the mind according to its sus-
ceptibility of pleasure, awe or admiration, must be
tame and lifeless. Since to give appropriate utter-
ance to those feelings to which the sight of Queen
Eleanor's cross gives rise, we should become trans-
formed into the architect who planned, or into the
sculptor who carved her statues, or else seek to
borrow the imagination of the designer, ere we can
faithfully pourtray a monument so peculiarly chaste
and impressive.
One of the most commonly known facts con-
nected with the personal history of Edward the
First, is his affectionate attachment to Eleanor
of Navarre, and as few kings have left behind
them so high a reputation for prudence and valor,
so have none exceeded him in attachment and
tenderness for their queen. No uncertain charm of
endearment bound together these royal hearts ; no
false lustre shone from their union. Whilst the
active spirit of the monarch brings him more pro-
minently forward than any of the Plantagenets,
his virtues also lead us to bestow upon him more
queen Eleanor's character. 177
unvarying regard. Nor is our interest in Eleanor
lessened through the favourable light in which
Edward himself is represented in history. There
is unfortunately but little known of her personal
character; that little is however associated with
no equivocal reputation. She never, says one who
lias carefully studied the concluding period of her
history, swerved from the position which fortune
assigned her, nor failed to perform the gentle and
peaceful duties which belonged to it.
In the year 1254 Edward celebrated his marriage
at Burgos with Eleanor the daughter of Alphonso
king of Castile. She did not immediately come
over to England, the affairs of the sovereignty of
Guienne, which had been quietly conceded by her
brother, requiring her husband's attention, and it
was not until the month of October, 1255, that
she reached London, preceding him a month or
more on his return home. The exigencies of
Henry the Third were so pressing that he could
only settle a small dowry on the new bride. A
thousand pounds a year, arising from the rents of
the castle of Grantham, and Tickill, with those of
the village and castle of the Peak, was all her
marriage portion 1 . Edward it is true now pos-
fc Rymer, vol. i. p. 304.
N
178 prince edward's revenues.
sessed the territory of Guienne, but it is doubtful
whether it produced any revenue. It must rather
be considered therefore as the peaceful restoration
of a long contested prize than as in reality the
source of annual wealth u . He also had assigned
to him nearly the whole of Ireland, the county of
Chester, and his father's conquests on the Welsh
borders x . Even, if received, these possessions were
not calculated to bring in more than fifteen thousand
marks, a trifling sum to support the dignity of a
future successor to the throne. The prince might
therefore have been led by other motives than
merely military glory, or a zeal to drive the infidels
from the holy sepulchre, when he subsequently
espoused the cause of the crusades.
After the conclusion of the baronial wars,
Edward received the cross from the hands of the
papal legate, (1268,) and so intent was he upon
this enterprise, that he mortgaged the revenues
of Guienne for a term of seven years, to accom-
plish the object of his ambition. During the
whole of this absence from England the princess
attended him, and it is no wonder that love so un-
alterable and self denying should find a strong
return from so generous hearted a king. The
u Rymer, vol. i. p. 297. x Ibid.
HAPPINESS OF THE ROYAL PAIR. 179
breath of slander has been silent regarding this
happy union, and there cannot be any reason for
doubting that during a period of thirty- six years
their lives were crowned with perpetual happiness.
Such a course of unmixed felicity is far from being
universal at any time, but at a period when the
wildness of passion received but little reproof
from the guardians of public virtue, this unusual
exception to the general habits of licentiousness
stands out in bright relief from the corruptions
and profligacy of the age y .
We scarcely hear of Queen Eleanor after her
return from the Holy Land. Historians speak
y As a proof of their do- supplies me with this fact,
mestic happiness we learn states that during this union
from a roll preserved in the of thirty- six years they had
Exchequer, that in 1286 Ed- never been separated, except-
ward made her a new year's ing for a few months while
gift, of a cup of gold, weigh- the prince was a prisoner in
ing three marks and a half, the hands of the earl of Lei-
worth twenty-three pounds, cester. The king's letter to
six shillings and eight-pence: the abbot of Clugny desiring
and on the feast of the Cir- prayers for the soul of her
cumcision he presented her a u whom living he loved dearly,
pitcher of gold, enamelled and and whom dead he shall never
set with precious stones, which cease to love," shews the sin-
was purchased of "Wm. Far- cerity of his grief before he
ringdon, goldsmith of London. had commenced those beau-
Manners and Household Ex- tiful memorials of affection
penses of England, p. lxix. which have placed it beyond
The same authority that suspicion.
180 queen Eleanor's death.
of the magnificent ceremony displayed at her
coronation, and then she disappears from the
scene altogether, until within a few days be-
fore her death 2 . This event happened at the
house of Richard de Weston, at Harby, in Not-
tinghamshire, on November 28, 1290. Her bow-
els were interred in the cathedral of Lincoln on
the 2nd of December, and the king, who had set
out from London with the intention of holding a
Parliament at Clipstone, and of afterwards going to
the North, now sorrowfully attended the remains of
his lamented consort, returning by slow stages
towards the metropolis. The account given by the
annalist of Dunstable of the circumstances attend-
ing the arrival of the funeral train at his monas-
tery, represents generally w 7 hat occurred at every
place where the procession halted a . After noticing
z On the 28th Oct. there is king of Arragon had sent over
a payment of one mark to to her. lb. lxxi. The Great
Henry of Montpellier, ' for Roll of the Pipe also mentions
syrup and other medicines Master Simon the Surgeon,
purchased at Lincoln for the who might have been called
queen's use.' Master Leo- in, as he received an annual
pard is also mentioned as her fee of xv. I. for his services,
physician, to whom was be- (Mag. Rot. Pip. 13 Edw. I.)
queathed 20 marks by the a I take this in the lan-
queen's will. She also gave guage of the previous au-
a cup worth 12 marks and a thority, as it would be dim-
half to a doctor whom the cult to represent the facts i»
FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES AT DUNSTABLE. 181
the death of the queen, he says, ' her body passed
through our town, and rested one night. And two
precious cloths, to wit, baudekyns, were given
unto us. Of wax we had eighty pounds and more.
And when the body of the said queen was depart-
ing from Dunstable, the bier rested in the centre
of the market-place until the king's chancellor and
the great men then and there present had marked
a fitting place where they might afterwards erect,
at the royal expense, a cross of wonderful size.
Our prior being then present and sprinkling holy
water/ Eleanor was buried at the feet of Henry
the Third in Westminster Abbey, on the 10th of
December, and on the 12th of the same month her
heart was deposited in the church of the Black
Friars, in London, where a chapel seems to have
been afterwards constructed for its reception 5 .
The monuments of both Edward and Eleanor
display a physiognomy entirely unmarked by any
a more simple and perspicu- ensuing month Edward lived
ous manner, and I feel assured in seclusion at Ashridge, and
the reader will regret with on the 4th of January caused
myself that the valuable In- a precept to be issued to the
troduction to Mr. Botfield's abbot of Clugny, ordering
contribution to the Roxburgh masses to be celebrated for
Club is not more generally the benefit of her soul. See
accessible. the writ in R/ymer, vol. i.
b During the whole of the p. 743.
182
MONUMENTS OF KING EDWAKD
Statues of Queen FJeanor from the
of those disagreeable features peculiar to the coun-
tenances of the haughty and vicious. There is
nothing but dignity and thought, yet thought
mingled with earnestness and penetration, depicted
in the face of the monarch ; nothing but serenity
and gentleness of soul beams in the soft and re-
signed expression of his consort. This same feeling
of gracefulness and repose is observable in all of
Eleanor's statues, and was unquestionably the
faithful reflexion of their reality. The rolls con-
taining the expenditure of the executors to her
will, account both for the excellence of the design
AND QUEEN ELEANOK.
183
Monumental Cross at ^orthainpton.
and tlie similarity of countenance which pervades
all these representations, since there is an entry
for bringing seven hundred and twenty-six pounds
of wax from the house of Torel, who designed
the effigy at Westminster; and from this it may
be inferred that he made a model, from which in
some instances he wrought himself, and as in the
example of the figures on the cross near North-
ampton, employed Alexander of Abingdon, and
William of Ireland, on the work. No account
has been hitherto found of the expenses of erect-
ing the cross at Geddington, but it may be suffi-
184 MONUMENTAL SCULPTURE
cient to state in corroboration of the preceding
remarks, that the three figures of Eleanor upon this
monument exhibit a similar cast of countenance
to the others. There exists the same elegance of
outline, and skilful arrangement of drapery, thus
evidently shewing that all of them, with the four
figures round the cross at Northampton, are copied
from the same common original.
There need not indeed be any scruple in admit-
ting it as a fact, that it was the prevalent custom
of the artists during the middle ages to assimilate
the countenances equally with the costume to that
of the individual whose effigy they produced. The
coins, the bronzes, and the busts of all antiquity,
bespeak the same pervading intention, and it is
inconsistent with the general analogy to suppose
an artist would attempt the delineation of an object
of this nature from the vagrant and uncontrolled
creation of his own thoughts. He w r ould scarcely
attempt anything so unconsidered as to offer to
sorrowing kindred a memorial bearing no kind of
resemblance to the deceased, nor would they on the
other hand set up an imaginary likeness of those
who were embalmed in their fondest recollections.
But we are moreover assured by a careful examina-
tion of a vast number of monumental effigies, that
INTENDED TO BE REPRESENTATIVE. 185
each sculptor worked with the idea of personifica-
tion, and that all his efforts had a ' realistic'
tendency.
In observations upon another subject I have
adduced a strong argument in support of this
opinion, and I will now add a few remarks which
since that time have lent their aid in confirming
more strongly the presumption of monumental art
being designed to pourtray and perpetuate the
living image of the deceased. Thus as illustra-
tive of the fact, the expression of Queen Eleanor's
countenance is precisely the same in the effigy at
Westminster Abbey, and in those of the two
crosses already mentioned, which would scarcely
have happened had the sculptor worked by his own
unguided caprice. And thus too we find a repe-
tition of similar features in prior Crauden's head
on a boss in the cathedral of Ely, and though
taken at a later period of life, on a hood-mould
outside his own private chapel. Thus too are the
very features of John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury,
and Margaret Beauchamp his wife, delineated by a
contemporary hand on stone in the church of
Goodrich, and in their portraits at Castle Ashby,
and thus likewise when the tomb of the earl of
Sunderland in Brington church was opened in the
186 INSTANCES ADDUCED
year 1846, his hair being preserved, was found to
be of the same colour in which it was represented
on his bust. Again, the sepulchral effigy of Dr.
Donne, now lying in the crypt of St. Paul's ca-
thedral, is recorded to have been copied from the
life. The bust of Shakespeare at Stratford was
supposed by Chantrey to have been taken from a
cast made of the poet's head after death, owing to
the peculiar compression of the lips, which are the
first part of the face to sink after animation has
fled. The will of the countess of Warwick (1439)
expressly states, "that my statue be made all
naked, with my hair cast backwards, according to
the design and model which Thomas Porchalion
has for that purpose/' All of these are instances
which go a great way to prove the foregoing hypo-
thesis, and owing to the extreme difficulty of ad-
ducing positive testimony in its support, they are
entitled to careful consideration, before the notion
is rejected. It would be extremely easy to advance
arguments to the same effect, drawn from an exten-
sive personal examination of different works of mo-
numental art, but it may be more conclusive to rest
the question upon the illustrations already given.
I have deemed it necessary to dwell with perhaps
too much diffuseness on this point, from a de-
OF ITS SIGNIFICANT MEANING. 187
sire to excite attention to a subject which has
hitherto received but little, but which, when in-
vestigated in a spirit of impartial criticism, may
cause the study of monumental effigies to ally itself
more closely with our sympathies, and lead us to
consider these works not merely as capricious speci-
mens of art, or worthless blocks of stone, only fit to
be mutilated by the ruthless hands of ignorance,
but as being in truth attempts towards carefully de-
signed portraits, frequently the best which those re-
spective ages were capable of producing, portraits
of monarchs, and warriors, and statesmen, whose
perishing and neglected memorials, equally with
their fame, are consecrated to the protecting regard
of all posterity. Viewing them under this impres-
sion, they immediately cease to be ideal ; they be-
come at once clothed with significancy, and appear
in our eyes as connecting links betwixt the living
and the dead. Thus will all these time-honoured
heir-looms of early days possess as it were a vital
enchantment : instead of being merely abstract,
isolated and unintelligible relics of former toil,
they will begin to speak to our feelings with an
appropriate utterance, grow intimately woven with
our departed ties of affinity, and become associated
with our feelings of patriotism.
188 ERECTION OF CROSSED
But little time appears to have been lost after
Eleanor's funeral before the erection of crosses
was commenced at the several spots at which her
remains rested betwixt Harby and Westminster,
since the payments on the first roll of the executors
begin from the term of St. Michael in the nine-
teenth year of Edward's reign. The queen it is
true was actually living at this precise time, but
this heading is in accordance with the usual man-
ner of drawing up these documents, the accounts
being annually returned to the exchequer from
this period of the year. Only two of the crosses
still remain out of the number mentioned in the
Record, namely, at Northampton and Waltham, for
the one at Geddington is not even alluded to.
Those at Lincoln, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dun-
stable, St. Alban's, Cheap, and Charing, have en-
tirely perished. The existence of crosses at
Grantham and Stamford is at present only tradi-
tionary.
John de Bello or de la Bataille was the architect
of the crosses at Northampton, Stony Stratford,
Woburn, Dunstable, and St. Alban's, and they
were all built between the years 1291 and 1294.
Alexander of Abingdon, and William of Ireland,
were employed on the statues. The payments
EXTRACTS FROM EXPENSE ROLLS. 189
being mixed up with sums owing for works upon
other crosses, it is difficult to apportion the exact
cost of the cross we have more immediately before
us, and the entries are of so varied a character that
it is equally so to throw them together in a regular
classification. It will therefore be expedient to
submit all the entries themselves in their natural
order to the reader's attention, and then offer such
remarks in illustration as they may suggest.
% Liberationes pro Ptegina consorte Regis, factse
per manus J. Bacun et R. de Kancia, de termino
Sti. Michaelis, anno regni Regis Edwardi decimo-
nono finiente. Rotul. Prim.
Item, Roberto filio Henrici, burgensi de North-
amptona, ad opera pavimenti ibidem, xx. li.
Item, Johanni de Bello, pro se (et) sociis suis,
pro cruce Norhamtonse faciendse. xx. li.
Item, Henrico filio Roberti de Norhamtona,
per manus Roberti de Middletone, pro pavimento
ibidem faciendo. xl. marcse.
Item, Johanni de Bello, in partem solutionis pro
crucibus de Norhamtona et Sancto Albano,
xl. marcse.
Item, Roberto filio Henrici, de Norhamtona
pro pavimento ibidem faciendo, xx. marcae.
Item, Roberti filio Henrici, de Norhamtona,
190 EXTRACTS FROM EXPENSE ItOLLS.
pro pavimento ibidem, pro anima Reginee, faciendo,
xx. li.
Item, Jolianni de Bello et Symoni de Pabeham,
cimentariis, pro Crucibus de Norhamtona et
Sancto Albano, faciendis, xxx. li.
Item, Johanni de Bello, pro factura Crucis de
Norhamtona, xx. li.
*Iteni, Roberto de Corf, (A) in partem solutionis
pro iij. flecchiis, iij. capitibus, et iij. agnis, de Mar-
more, ad Cruces de Lincolnia, Norhamtona, et
Wautham, v. marcse.
Item, Jolianni de Bello, in partem solutionis
pro factura Crucium de Norhamtona et Sancto
Albano, xl. marcse.
Item, Willielmo de Hibernia, in partem solu-
tionis xxv. marcas, pro quinque imaginibus fa-
ciendis ad crucem de Norhamtona, et alibi,
v. marcse.
Liberaciones pro Alianora quondam Regina
Anglise, &c. facte post festum Sti. Michaelis, 20th
Edw. I. Rot. Secund.
Inde liberaverunt Johanni de Bello pro fac-
tura Crucium de Norhamtona et Sancto Albano,
xxx. li.
Item, Roberto de Corfe, per manus Willielmi
de Blund fratris sue, in partem solutionis pro iij^
EXTRACTS FROM EXPENSE ROLLS. 1 91
virgis, iij anulis, et iij capitibus pro Crucibus de
Wautham, Norhamtona et Lincolnia, vij. marcse.
Item, Johanni de Bello, per manus Johannis de
Hunte, in partem solutionis, pro factura Crucium
Norhamtona, Dunstaple et Stratforde, x. li.
Item, Willielmo Imaginatori, in partem soluci-
onis xxv. li., pro factura imaginum ad Crucem de
Norkamtona, virgse, capitis et anuli, x. marcse.
Item, Johanni de la Bataille, cimentario, in
partem solutionis, pro factura Crucium de Sancto
Albano, Woburne, Dunstaple, Stonistratford et
Norhamtona, xl. li.
Item, Magistro Willielmo de Hibernia, in partem
solutionis xxv. li., pro factura imaginum, virgse,
capitis, et anuli Crucis Norhamtona, v. marcse.
Item, Magistro "Willielmo de Hibernia in partem
solutionis pro factura imaginum ad Crucem ]\ T or-
hamtona, x. marcee.
Liberationes pro Eegina, post Pascham, anno
Regni Regis Edwardi xxi.
"*Item, Willielmo de Bernak, (B) cementario, pro
cariagio quatuor imaginum ad Crucem Norham-
tonse, et pro cariagio capitis et lancese ejusdem
Crucis, de Londonia usque Norhamtona, lxxiij. s.
iiij. d.
192 EXTRACTS FROM EXPENSE ROLLS.
Item, Johanni de Bello, cementario, ad opera-
tiones Crucis de St. Albano, Donestaple, Wou-
bourne, et Stonystratforde, et calceti de Nor-
hamtona, xl. li.
*Item, MagistroWillielino de Hibernia,(C) cemen-
tario, in partem solutionis pro factura virgse, capitis,
anuli et imaginum Crucis Norhamtona, et etiam
pro factura virgse, capitis, et anuli Crucis Lin-
colnise, iiij. li.
Item, Johanni de Bello, ad operationes calceti
Norhamtonse, c. s.
Liberationes factse de denariis Dominse Alianorse
Reginae consortis de termino Sti. Michaelis 21.
Edw. I. Rot. Tert.
Item, Magistro Willielmo de Hibernia in per-
pacationem pro factura virgce, capitis, anuli et ima-
ginum ad Crucem Norhamtona, et etiam pro
factura virgae, capitis, et anuli Crucis Lincolniae,
vi. marcae.
Item, Johanni de Bello, in partem solutionis
pro Crucibus de Sancto Albano, Dunstable, Wo-
burne, Stonistratforde, et Norhamtona faciendis,
lx. li.
"*Item, eisdem Johannis (D) in perpacationem pro
maeremio ad Schaffoud ad Crucem Norhamtonae,
EXTRACTS FROM EXPENSE ROLLS. 193
et pro virga, capite, et imaginibus ejusdem Crucis
ibidem assidendis, vi. li. iij. s. viij. d.
Item, eodem Johanni, ad operationes ca cet
extra Norhamtonam, lx. &
Liberationes pro Regina consorte, de termino
Sti. Hillarii, anno regni Regis Edwardi xxii.
*"*Item, Willielmo de Hibernia (E), in perpaca-
tionem xxv, marcse, pro factura quinque imaginum
ad Crucem de Norhamtona, per manum pro-
prium, vi. li. iij. s. iiij. d.
Item, Johanni de Bello, cementario, ad opera-
tiones calceti de Norhamtona, x. li.
The earlier entries in the preceding extracts state
the cost of the causeway, from the town to the
cross, (a portion of which still remains in an inte-
gral condition,) to have been forty pounds and sixty
marks. In the last item the work is said to have
been executed for the benefit of Eleanor's soul;
other disbursements were made towards it, but
they are merged in sums for a different work.
The most perplexing entries in the account are
those of payments " pro flecchiis ; pro cariagio ca-
pitis; et lancese; pro factura virgse, et anuli c ,"
terms purely architectural, the real application of
c The entries where these terms occur are marked by corre-
sponding asterisks * *.
194 ARCHITECTURAL NOMENCLATURE.
which can only be surmised. It has been con-
jectured by Professor Willis d that the shafts of
pillars were sometimes called verges, and that in
these entries we have a complete history of a
kind of pillar which appears to be indifferently
termed virga, fleche, lancea, which is made of Pur-
beck marble from Corfe, and is accompanied by a
capital, The rough form seems to have been sent
by Robert de Corf (A), conveyed to Northampton
by William de Bernak (B), wrought and finished
by John de Hibernia (C), and fixed in its place by
John de Bello (D). Upon the former part of this
conjecture I shall offer a few strictures which ap-
pear to me as a more consistent application of the
passages involving the difficulty. The three flec-
chice* mentioned in the roll were most probably
vanes, or arrows for the finials, (capitibus,) which
were supported by the verge (virga) or slender
shaft which rises out of the body of the cross, and
d Architectural Nomencla- Claus. 7 John, p. 56, b.
ture of the Middle Ages, p. Ibidem pacavimus cuidam
40. nuncio qui tulit vi. ligacias
e Lat. Barb. Flecha, sagitta. flecchiorum de Lundon usque
Fr. Fleche. The Clause rolls Colecestre per preceptum dni
have a writ directed to the Regis et qui tulit coria dama-
sheriffof Southampton order- rum et castaneas de Coleces-
ing him to find " fleccas et tre usque Lundon, v. d. — Rot.
pennas ad quarellum." — Rot. Mis. 14? John.
TERMINATION OF THE CROSS. 1 95
the annulus* might have been a gilded foliated
coronal going round the uppermost canopy, under
which it may be presumed there was the fifth
image alluded to (E). Much speculation has
been afloat respecting the way in which the head
of this exquisite work was terminated. It may
perhaps be sufficient to set curiosity entirely at
rest, when it is stated that nothing has hitherto
been discovered to determine this question. How
the upper portion was finished can only be a mere
matter of individual opinion. There can be no
doubt there was another figure of some kind, be-
cause the rolls mention it, but to attempt any fur-
ther restoration would be both unwarranted by
authority, and highly injudicious. Enough has
been done, and prudently done, to preserve Queen
Eleanor's cross from destruction g . It is the fault
of the present age to tamper with what is original,
f In an earlier entry it is (E) ; moreover such an orna-
spelt agnis instead of annulis. ment is so unfrequent in
As we can only deal with medieval architecture that I
words as we actually find cannot call to mind ever
them, this would imply that having seen it used,
there was an Agnus Dei in- s The reader will find an
troduced among the decora- interesting paper by Mr.
tions of the cross, as Professor Hunter, on the death of
Willis supposes, but it is diffi- Eleanor of Castile, and the
cult to reconcile this with the honours paid to her memory,
existence of the fourth image in the Archaeologia, vol. xxix.
196 RESTORATION GENERALLY INJUDICIOUS.
and introduce renovations unsanctioned by anti-
quity. People are much too busy in their desire
to preserve the buildings of their forefathers, and
more is to be feared from their ill-instructed zeal
than from the progress of natural decay.
The Religious Houses in Northampton.
F the various religious esta-
blishments in Northampton,
the Cluniac priory of St.
Andrew^ s, on the north side
of the town, was by far the
most important. The time
of its foundation is uncer-
tain, but there are sufficient reasons for concluding
that if this order of monks was not actually in-
troduced, their monastery was repaired and largely
endowed in 1084, by Simon de St. Liz, earl of
Northampton and Huntingdon. In conjunction
with Maud his wife, this nobleman gave to it all
the churches in the town, and various lands in
Hardingstone, Hackleton, Brayfield, Ecton, and
Yardley. Grimsbold endowed it with the church
and tithe of Moulton, and Bowden : Otger with
the tithe of Horton ; Acard with the tithe of Sprat-
ton. There were many other early grants, which
it will be unnecessary to enumerate, some of
which were confirmed by David, king of Scotland,
and again by Henry I. in the eighth of his reign,
198
ST. ANDREW S.
and by Stephen. Henry I. bestowed upon it the
church of St. Sepulchre 3 .
In the register of St. Andrew's preserved among
the Cottonian manuscripts, it is thus described :
Amongst the followers of William the Conqueror,
who assisted him in obtaining possession of the
a Pro Priore et Monachis
Sancti Andree Norhant. Rex
eisdem archiepiscopis salutem
Inspeximus cartam Celebris
memorie domini H. quondam
regis Angliae progenitoris
nostri in hec verba. H. rex
Angliae et dux Normanniae et
Aquitaniae et comes Andega-
vensis justiciariis vicecomiti-
bus et ministris suis Anglie et
Normanniae et portum maris
salutem. Precipio quod omnes
res monachorum de Norham-
tona quas servientes sui potu-
erint affidare suas esse pro-
prias sint quieti de omni the-
lonio et tallagio et omni con-
suetudine et prohibeo ne quis
eos super hoc disturbet injuste
super x. libras forisfacti. Teste
T. Cancellario apud Norhamt.
Nos autem preceptum et pro-
hibicionem predictam ratam
habentes et quanta ea pro
nobis et heredibus nostris
quantum in nobis est dilectis
nobis in Christo priori et
monachis Sancti Andree Nor-
hant. et eorum successoribus
concedimus et confirmamus
sicut carta predictam rationa-
biliter testatur et prout iidem
prior et monachi et predeces-
sores sui libertatibus predic-
tis hactenus rationabiliter usi
sunt et gavisi. Hiis testibus
venerabilibus patribus I. Ar-
chiepiscopo Cantuariensis to-
cius Angliae primata Cancel-
lario H. Lincolniensis epi-
scopo Thesaurario nostris R.
Dunolmenso episcopo Jo-
hanne Comite Cornubo fratre
nostro carissimo Johanne de
Warenna comite Surreio.
Thoma Wake Willelmi de
Clynton et aliis. Dato per
manum nostram apud villam
Sancti Johannis primo die
Julii per finem unius marce
Norhant. — Inter Recorda Cu-
riae Cancellariae in Turri Lon-
don asservata. — Rot. Chart.
10 Edw. III.
FAMILY OF ST. LIZ. 199
kingdom, were two valiant brothers, Garner and
Simon de Seynlyz, sons of Raundoel the rich.
After the father's death, the eldest returned into
France and succeeded to the paternal heritage,
but Simon remained with the Conqueror in Eng-
land. Soon afterwards one of the nobles, "Waldelf
or Waltheof, earl of Huntingdon, was convicted of
treason and beheaded at Winchester, and leaving
two daughters, William bestowed Maud the elder
with all the honour of Huntingdon, upon «3imon de
Seynlyz. In the eighteenth year after the Conquest
(1084) he founded the monastery of St. Andrew,
and made it dependent upon the house of the
blessed Maria de Caritate. In the reign of Henry
I. he went to the Holy Land, and in returning
died at Charite, where he was buried. Henry had
affianced Maud, the sister of Alexander king of
Scotland, and David, and he gave Maud who was
the widow of Simon de Seynlyz, to David, brother
of this same monarch, together with the custody
of the earl's heir. After his father he took the
name of Simon de Seynlyz, and founded the abbey
of the blessed Maria de Pratis b .
The confirmation of Hugh, bishop of Lincoln,
of the various grants to St. Andrew's, is interesting
b E registro S. Andr,
200 CHURCHES BELONGING TO ST. ANDREW'S.
from the fact of its having preserved amongst some
of the existing churches, the names of others which
are now destroyed. At this time there were the
following belonging to the abbey : All Saints, St.
Giles, St, Michael's, St. Sepulchre, St. Mary, St.
Gregory, St. Peter, with the church of Thorpe and
chapel of Upton, St. Edmund, St. Bartholomew,
and the chapel of St. Thomas.
During the subordination of St. Andrew's to the
Abbey de Caritate, the revenues of the convent, in
time of war with France, were seized by the crown,
and let out to farm at a hundred marks a year.
But in the 1st of Hen. IV. they obtained leave to
retain possession of the temporalities upon paying
twenty shillings annually to the crown during his
wars with France, being the pension (apportus)
they paid abroad in time of peace to the monastery
of Clugni on which they depended. In the 6th
Edward IV. the priory was made denizen, and be-
came discharged from all pensions due to the
crown. By the survey taken of the revenues in
1535 they were rated at £263. 7s. l|d. clear of
all deductions, the gross income being £334
13s. 7d.
From a letter of Dr. Richard Layton to Lord
Cromwell in 1538, it appears that the affairs of the
STATE AT THE SUPPRESSION. 201
house were then in a very unprosperous state. He
says : u At St. Androse in Northampton the Howse
is in dett gretly, the lands solde and morgagede,
the fermes let owte, and the rent recevide before
hand for x, xv, xx yeres. Chauntreys fowndeth
to be paide oute of the londs and gret bods off
forfaitures therupon for non payment. The Howse
is iiij. hundret pownds in revenewys, the king's
foundation thus to be mangellede by the quondam.
Jhane Petie, the prior, now is a bachelor of divin-
itie, a gret husbonde and a goode clerke, and petie
hit is that ever he cam ther. If he were pro-
motede to a better thynge, and the king's grace
wolde take hit into his hands, so myght he recover
all the lands agayne, wliich the prior shall never/'
The same year the prior and convent acknow-
ledged the royal supremacy, and surrendered the
monastery into the king's hands.
Out of St. Andrew's monastery at Northampton,
sprung a hospital at Kingsthorp, founded at the pe-
tition of Peter, son of Adam. Walter, one of the
priors, established it in the thirteenth century, for
the purpose of receiving pilgrims and poor, and
under the care of a procurator, two chaplains, and
six lay brothers, with the restriction of never hav-
ing more than two altars, one in the chapel of the
202 CLUNIAC NUNS AT DE LA PRE.
Holy Trinity, another in the chapel of St. David,
and only one cemetery for burying poor and stran-
gers, and others dwelling at the same place. If,
however, any one from the parishes belonging to
St. Andrew's, whether ill or in good health, should
choose to be buried there, or if they had expressed
a desire to remain there perpetually, it was per-
mitted to receive them in a secular habit as long
as they should live, and then give them burial.
It was further ordered that in the body of the
principal chapel of the Holy Trinity there should
be three kinds of beds joined together endways,
on which the strangers, the poor, and the sick
should be placed, so that they might by that means
more conveniently be enabled to hear mass, and
more devoutly attend to the prayers of the
Church. At the Dissolution it was valued at £32.
4s. 2d. Some slight remains of the foundation
in question still exist, converted into a blacksmith's
shop.
Besides the priory of St. Andrew's, the Cluniacs ,
had an establishment for nuns at De la Pre. This
was founded in the reign of Stephen by Simon
de St. Liz the younger, earl of Northampton. He
endowed it with the churches of Barton, Doding-
ton, and Fotheringhay, with possessions in Hard-
ABBEY OF ST. JAMES. 203
ingstone, and smaller benefactions in Ecton, Wel-
comb, Walebec, and Northampton. Robert de
Chokes gave them the church of Wollaston : Hugh
de Eilgrave the church of Filgrave : Hamon the
church of Eif hide : and Eoger de Clare, earl of
Hertford, the church of Broughton. It is un-
necessary to enumerate all the other donations.
They have been recounted in the Monasticon.
When Edward III. visited Northampton (May
18) in the second year of his reign, he con-
firmed all their possessions. At the survey in
the 26th of Hen. VIII., the clear annual re-
venue amounted to £119. 9s. 7Jd. At the time
of the suppression the house consisted of ten
nuns.
The abbey of St. James, on the extreme part of
the western suburbs of the town, was founded to
the honour of this apostle for Black Canons, by
William Peverel, natural son of the Conqueror.
As the founder died about the latter end of the
year 1112, or the beginning of 1113, the monas-
tery was probably commenced before that time.
The ground allotted to the monks by William
Peverel for their buildings was forty acres, to which
he added the mill and church at Duston. Henry
I., in the 5th year of his reign, (1104,) and
204 ABBOT SUMMONED TO PARLIAMENT.
Henry II., in the 18th, (1172,) confirmed these
donations, with additions. In the 52nd of Henry
III., the monks obtained licence for a fair to be
held at the convent on the eve of the festival
of St. James, and the two following days. The
fair continued to be held in the abbey grounds
some time after the house was dissolved .
In the 12th of Edward II. the abbot of St.
James was summoned to a parliament held at
York, but being infirm he appointed Henry de
Blisworth, one of the canons of the monastery, as
his proxy. Upon searching the rolls it appeared
that the abbot of this convent had been called only
once before to parliament, (49th Hen. III.,) having
however never been enrolled, and holding nothing
of the king in capite, or by barony, but in frank-
almoigne ; and as a parliamentary attendance would
greatly impoverish the convent and monks, the
chancellor permitted his name to be struck out of
the Chancery register d .
At the survey the gross amount of the revenues
was £213. 17s. 2^d. The site of the church-yard
and church contains about two acres, and the abbey
demesnes lie on both sides of the road leading to
Banbury. Going down to the abbey is a causey
c Dugdale, Monast, vol. vi. p. 114. d Ibid.
HOSPITAL OF ST. LEONARD. 205
called Cut-throat -lane, with the old wall on the
left e .
When the hospital of St. Leonard was founded
it is impossible to ascertain: but the following
charter from the municipal archives shews it to
have existed in the reign of Henry II.
% Henricus dei gratia Eex Anglise et Dux
Normanniae et Aquitanise et Comes Andegavensis
Arehiepiscopis, Episcopis Abbatibus, Archidiaconis,
Decanis, Justiciariis, vicecomitibus et omnibus Bal-
livis et fidelibus suis totius Angliae salutem. Per-
cipio nobis quod custodiatis et manu teneatis
leprosis Sti. Leonardi de Xorhamtona et nuncios
eorum et omnes res suas ita quod nullam sit in
ahquo injuriam faciatis vel contumeliam nee fieri
permittatis. ISTec eos disturberis injuste vel dis-
turberi permittatis de elemosinis suis habendis ab
eis quae eis gratis dare voluerint, et si quis eis super
hoc in ahquo forisfacere presumpserit plenariam
suam justiciam sive dilacione fieri faciatis; teste
Godefrido de . . oi apud Norhanton.
Moreover Gaufridus, son of the earl of Essex,
granted to God and the hospital of St. Leonard
at Northampton, and to the leprous serving God
e Dugdale, Monast, vol. vi. Northampton.
p. 115, from Bridges, Hist, of
206 HOSPITAL OP ST. LEONARD.
at that place, for the soul of King Henry, and for
the soul of King Richard, and for the soul of King
John, and for his own soul, and that of Beatrice
his wife, and all his ancestors and successors, in
pure and perpetual alms, the issues of twenty shil-
lings, which he had bought from Henry the son of
Hugh, in Northampton. To wit, the issues of five
shillings and four capons from the tenements of
Hugh de Plompton, and the issues of thirty-two
pence and two capons, and two hens, from the
tenement of Richard, and the issues of eight shil-
lings from a certain shop in the market ring, {in
rengo mercatorum.)
As this deed is written in a hand belonging to
the very end of the 12th, or commencement of the
13th century, the Geoffrey earl of Essex who
makes the grant, must have been either the Gau-
fridus who married Beatrix de Say, a family who
had made a grant to the Cluniac foundation of
Wenlock, or else one of those twenty barons who
were appointed to enforce the observance of Magna
Charta. Another form of compellation is "to God,
the blessed Mary, and the infirm brethren and
sisters of the house of St. Leonard, at North-
ampton, there serving God." Milo de Bello
campo also granted six acres of land in the field
feiaks. st. John's hospital. 207
of Wotton, to the poor brethren and sisters of the
hospital of St. Leonard.
The Friars Minors, not long after their coining
into England, (1224,) endeavoured to form a settle-
ment in Northampton, and hired first a habitation
in the parish of St. Giles, but afterwards fixed
northwards of the Market Place, where they had
the largest and best house of all the Friars in
Northampton, built upon ground given them by
the town f .
The Friars Preachers had a house in the Horse
Market, and were settled there before 124CK
Simon Montfort and Thomas Chitwood founded
a priory of Carmelites, or White Friars, in 1271.
The hospital near the south gate, dedicated to
St. John the Baptist, was founded by Walter,
archdeacon of Northampton, in 1137, for the
benefit of poor and infirm persons. The patronage,
vested in the bishop of Lincoln, still continues in
his hands. It is the only monastic building of
which any traces are now discernible.
Opposite to this hospital of St. John, John
i Humphry, duke of Buck- were interred at St. John's
ingham, killed in the battle of Hospital. — Tanner, Notitia,
Northampton, 38 Hen. VI., is p. 385.
said to have been buried here; g Ibid., p. 386.
others who fell in this conflict
208
RELIGIOUS FRATERNITIES.
Longvile, in 1322, founded a priory for the use of
Augustine Friars, and gave them a messuage, with
the appurtenances, upon which they might build a
chapel and monastery.
Besides these there was also the hospital of St.
Thomas, near the south gate h , and the gilds or
religious fraternities of St. Mary 1 in the chapel of
St. Mary, and the Holy Trinity k , both within the
church of All Saints; the gild of Corpus Christi*,
of St. John the Baptist 1 , of St. George 1 , St. Cross 1 ,
and of St. Catherine the Virgin 111 in the church of
h Grene's will, 1460,
among the municipal ar-
chives.
' Amongst the gild cer-
tificates, 12 Richard II., apud
Turrim.
k Municipal archives.
l Rot. Pat., 38 Hen. VI.,
p. 2. m. 1.
m The following certificate
of St. Catherine's gild, will
serve as a fair example of all
the others.
Northampton. Reverendo
in Christo patri ac domino,
domino Thomae permissione
divina Eboracensi archiepi-
scopo Anglise primati et illus-
trissimi Regis Angliae Can-
cellario Johannes Glasier et
Philippus William Custodes
cujusdam pauperculae frater-
nitatis Sanctae Katerinae Vir-
ginis in Ecclesiae Beatae
Mariae Villa? Northamptone
Oninimodas reverentias tanto
pastori debitas cum honore.
Virtute cujusdam brevis
domini nostri Regis vice-
comiti Northampton in hoc
casu directi et in villa North-
ampton proclamati, modum,
tempus et formam inceptionis
gubernationis et continua-
tions dictae fraternitatis, ves-
trae dominationi reverendae
tenore praesentium declara-
mus prout praedictum breve
exigit et requirit Villa
Northampton est antiquus
burgus domini Regis ettalem
habet consuetudinem a toto
GILD OF ST. CATHERINE.
209
St. Mary, besides the fraternity of St. Clement in
the church of St. Giles.
tempore quo non extat me-
raoria usitatam hactenus et
approbatam, quod omnes
ejusdem villae burgenses in
ultima voluntate sua libere et
sine impedimento possint le-
gare terras tenementa red-
ditus et servitia quae habent
ex adquisitionibus suis qui-
buscumque personis voluerint
tarn regularibus quam secu-
laribus et etiam tarn ecclesiis
aUaribus et luminariis quam
alibi ad inveniendum Capel-
lanos vel aliquod aliud servi-
tium divinum pro animabus
suis vel antecessorum suorum
faciendum. Etista consuetudo
ibidem continue usitata et
approbata existit. Reverendae
insuper dominationi vestrae
intimamus quod anno regni
Regis Edwardi avi domini
nostri regis nunc vicesimo
primo ex devotione quorun-
dam Burgensium villae North-
ampton, ad laudem et hono-
rein Dei Omnipotentis glo-
riosae Virgin is Marias Om-
nium Sanctorum et Beatae
Katerinae Virginis et Martyiis
primitus extitit ordinatum,
quod iidem Burgenses ex
mera eorum devotione et con-
tribution e unum capellanum
ydoneum in ecclesia praedicta
divina celebraturum continue
haberent: orando principali-
ter pro salubri statu, pace et
tranquillitate domini nostri
Regis Angliae reginae proce-
rum et magnatum ejusdem et
omnium benefactorum suo-
rum et contribuentium in hac
parte, et quod idem capellanus
omnibus diebus dominicis et
festis ad altam missam et
omnes horas canonicas in
auxilium personae ecclesia?
praelibatae propter exilitatem
ejusdem et majoris divini ser-
vitii ac devotionis incremen-
tum personaliter interesset in
ecclesia supradicta. Et post
modum crescente devotione
fidelium, quidam alii bur-
genses ejusdem villae hujus-
modi devotioni sic inchoata?
seipsis coadjutores et contri-
butarios voluntarios substitue-
bant, illam devotion em pro
posse eorumdem sustentan-
dam fide sua media promit-
tentes. Et modo consimili
unum alium capellanum in
dicta ecclesia pro salubri statu
pace et tranquillitate praeno-
tatis divina cotidie celebratu-
210
GILD OF ST. CATHERINE.
This is as full an outline of the religious
houses and fraternities established in the town, as
rum providebant. Et ita per
capellanos praedictos divinum
servitium in honore Sanctae
Katerinae sit et augmentatur
in ecclesia praelibata, ubi
prius propter exilitatem per-
sonae ejusdem erat multotiens
praetermissum. Et sic per
contributionem praedictam
fraternitas Sanctae Katerinae
primitus nominabatur. De-
inde iidem burgenses amplio-
rem in hac parte devotionem
habentes, vesperas in vigilia
matutinas horas canonicas et
altam missam annuatim in
festo Sanctae Katerinae Vir-
ginis in ecclesia praefixa cum
nota et maxima Solempnitate
Capellanorum et clericorum
qua fieri poterit ad laudem et
honorem Dei et ipsius Virginis
et Martyris Sanctae Katerinae
dici fieri et celebrari venera-
biliter ordinarunt. Ad quas
quidem missam et horas ca-
nonicas audiendas fratres de-
votionis praedictae ob reveren-
tiam illius festi de una secta
vestiti concurrunt, preces et
orationes suas devote fun-
dentes pro salubri statu et
benefactoribus suis supra-
dictis, etiam post offertorium
missae offerentes et ibidem
consistentes quousque magna
missa illius dici fuerit con-
summata. Et sic solent eodem
die omnes adinvicem mandu-
care sumptibus propriis cujus-
libet eorumdem. Et conve-
nientibus illis eodem die ad
vesperas, et vesperis finitis,
Placebo et Dirige, ac Missa
de Requiem in Crastino pro
animabus benefactorum suo-
rum et fidelium defunctorum,
dictis fratribus in orationibus
suis ibidem interessentibus
cum nota dicuntur. Et in-
super finita Missa de Requiem
in Crastino, omnes fratres
praedicti ad audiendum com-
potum custodurri ejusdem
fraternitatis et ad alios duos
custodes pro anno futuro eli-
gendos insimul consistunt, ut
eis videatur quod devotio suae
prsedicta in omnibus susten-
tetur. Expirante quoque
finaliter quocumque fratrum
praedictorum corpus ipsius
defuncti per reliquos fratres
suos prout decet ecclesiasticae
traditur sepulturae et quilibet
eoium unam missam de Re-
quiem sumptibus suis propriis
eodem die pro salute animae
GILD OF ST. CATHERINE.
211
is compatible with, the
volume. Minuter account
ipsius defuncti facit devotius
celebrari. Et sic millo alio
mode- mint sacramenta libera-
tiones convivia congregationes
vel assemblationes quaecum-
que in fraternitate praedicta,
nee habent aliqua privilegia
libertates usus vel consuetu-
dines ultra formam praeno-
tatam neque habent aliqua
terras tenementa redditus vel
servitia mortificata vel non
mortificata nee habent cartas
domini nostri Regis vel pro-
genitorum suorum. Set dici-
mus quod Ricardus Sadeler
Robertus Spicer et alii seisiti
fuerunt in feodo simplici de
tenementis et redditibus in
Norhampton quag valent per
annum in omnibus exitibus
£7. 13. 4. et aliquando minus
per defectu tenendum. Et
praefati Ricardus Sadeler Ro-
bertus Spicer et alii dederunt
et concesserunt per feoffamen-
tum suum Philippo Porter,
Johanni Belzetter, "Willi elm o
"Whelewright, Johanni Au-
bray et aliis omnia tenementa
et redditus supradicta cum
suis pertinentiis habenda et
tenenda eis hasredibus et as-
signatis eorum imperpetuum,
nature of the present
s of some of the original
de capitalibus dominis feodo -
rum illoram per servitia inde
debita et de jure consueta, ea
intentione ad dispouendum
exitus et proficua inde annua-
tim provenientia in sustenta-
tionem servitii et devotionis
supradictorum. Et quod ces-
sante dicta fraternitate, vel
servitio et devotione praedictis
alio modo subtractis, bene
lie eat praedictis feoffatis hae-
redibus et assignatis eorum
omnia tenementa et redditus
praescripta cum suis pertinen-
tiis dare vendere legare vel
assignare quibuscumque vo-
luerint in sal item animarum
suarum ac primorum donato-
rum feofTantium antecessorum
suorum et omnium fidelium
defunctorum. Nulla vero
bona seu catalla remanent in
manibus nostris seu alioruni
quorumcumque ad usum
dictae fraternitatis praeter
meremium de novo emptum
pro emendatione tenemento-
rum praedictorum quod valet
decern solidos. Et haec est
forma inceptionis guberna-
tionis regiminis et continua-
tionis fraternitatis supradictae.
Data Northampton sub sigil-
212 COLLEGE OF ALL SAINTS.
endowments have been already given by Brydges,
to which the more inquisitive reader is referred
for facts that have now merely an antiquarian
interest 11 .
There is however another document omitted by
him which it is desirable to transfer to the notes,
in an entire state, that the real nature of the col-
lege founded in Northampton may be clearly
understood. There can be no doubt that the
settlement of scholars here in the reign of Henry
III., was essentially a scholastic institution. The
incorporation at this later period, was however of
an ecclesiastical kind, founded (at the request of
William Breton, vicar of All Saints) under letters
patent from the crown, and consolidating the vari-
ous gilds already mentioned. They were thus
placed under the government of a custos and
sixteen priests (parsonarum) , and this corporate
body enabled to purchase lands and tenements to
the value of twenty marcs. These letters were
granted on condition that the college prayed for
lis nostris xviii. die Mensis have been omitted by him,
Januarii Anno regni regis being information inaccessible
Ricardi Secundipostconques- at the period when he wrote
turn duodecimo. — Miscellane- his history of the county, have
ous Rolls, apud Turrim, No. been dwelt upon with suffi-
308. cient prolixity.
n The points however which
COLLEGE OF ALL SAINTS.
213
the souls of Margaret of Anjou, and Edward of
Westminster, together with the king himself when
he died. From this foundation the present Col-
lege-street takes its name .
De Collegio fimdando.
Rex omnibus ad quos &c.
Salutem. Sciatis quod nos
ex pia devotione et devota
intentione Magistri Willielmi
Breton sacrae paginae profes-
soris Vicarii perpetui Eccle-
siaeparochialis Omnium Sanc-
torum in villa nostra North-
ampton intellexisse quod di-
vinum servicium tarn per
ipsum Vicarium et Capel-
lanos Fraternitatum Sanctae
Trinitatis Sanctae Marias vir-
ginis, Corporis Christi, Sancti
Georgii Sanctae Crucis Sancti
Johannis Baptistae et Sanctae
Katerinae Virginis in Villa
praedicta quam per plures
alios presbiteros Stipendia-
ries ibidem ad numerum
quandoque sexdecim parso-
narum vel ultra ad laudem
et gloriam Dei Omnipoten-
tis et gloriosissimae Virginis
Mariae Matris Domini nostri
Jesu Christi ac Omnium Sanc-
torum in eadem Ecclesia co-
tidie digne et laudabiliter
more collegialitemporibustam
nunc ipsius Vicarii ac presbi-
terorum praedictorurn quam
praedecessorum suorum per
tempus non modicum con-
tinuatum extitit, ac Deo dante
de die in diem continuatur et
continuabitur et augmentetur
in futurum. Et quod ipsi
Vicarius et presbiteri non
solum in Ecclesia praedicta
prout convenit, sed etiam in
quodam mesuagio sive fundo
eidem Vicario et Sacerdotibus
Fraternitatum praedictarum
et successoribus suis perti-
nente et spectante le Prestis
house vulgariter nuncupato,
a consortio laicorum moram
suam insimul tarn per diem
quam per noctem honeste ut
consortes collegiales diversa
ordinationes lectiones et sta-
tuta collegialiter conservan-
tes continue ibidem maxime
tamen tempore dicti Vicarii
traxerunt et trahunt in prae-
senti, unde idem Vicarius
nobis humiliter supplicavit
ut de ipso Vicario et presbi-
teris praedictis et eorum suc-
cessoribus quoddam Colle-
gium perpetuum in Ecclesia
214
EARLY DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE.
Within a very short distance of the hospital of
St. John, is a large dilapidated building with
praedicta de uno Custode et
sociis suis facere creare fun-
dare et stabilire perpetue ad
nostram complacentiam dig-
naremur. Nos digna con-
sideratione praemissorum sup-
plicationi ipsius Vicarii in
hac parte favorabiliter incli-
nati volentes quod ea quae ad
eulmen et augmentationem
tarn divini cultus quamhones-
tatis Clericalis habentur et
utuntur multipliciter quan-
tum in nobis est augmentari
et sublimari ad laudem glo-
riam et honorem Sanctissimae
et individuae Trinitatis Patris
et Filii et Spiritus Sancti ac
beatissimae Virginis Mariae
praedictae et Omnium Sane •
torum de gratia nostra spe-
ciali facimus creamus fun-
damus et stabilimus per prae-
sentes unum Collegium per-
petuum in dicta Ecclesia pa-
rochiali Omnium Sanctorum
in Villa nostra Northampton
ac in mesuagio sive fundo
praedicto perpetuis temporibus
in futurum ibidem duraturum
de dicto Vicario et presbiteris
fraternitatum praedictarum et
eorum successoribus Vicariis
et presbiteris fraternitatum
illarum pro tempore existen-
tibus necnon de quibuscum-
que aliis presbiteris qui per
praedictos Vicarium et pres-
biteros fraternitatum praedic-
tarum et eorum successores
pro tempore existentes in
Collegium illud in socios
nominandi eligendi et admit-
tendi in posterum erunt, vo-
lumus et concedimus per prae-
sentes quod praedietus Wil-
lielmus Breton et successores
sui Vicarii Ecclesiae praedictae
pro perpetuo sint et nominen-
tur Vicarij et Custodes Col-
legii illius et quod idem Vica-
rius et successores sui ac
presbiteri fraternitatum et
successores sui necnon omnes
alii presbiteri ut praedictum
est eligendi sint unum corpus
perpetuum et per nomen Cus-
todis et sociorum Collegii
Omnium Sanctorum in villa
Northampton in omnibus et
singulis Curiis et placeis nos-
tris et haeraedum nostrorum
ac aliis Curiis quibuscumque
in omnibus et singulis mate-
riis actionibus placitis et que-
relis realibus personalibus et
mixtis Collegium praedictum
aliquo modo in futurum tan-
EARLY DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE.
215
modern windows, and late additions, but which,
when examined within, shews indisputable marks
gentibus per ipsos vel contra
ipsos in posterum movendis
implacitare et implacitari
possint. Et quod praedictus
Vicarius et Custos Collegii
praedicti et successores sui in
augmentationem beneficii sui
et presbiteri praedicti Con-
sortes et eorum successores
Collegii praedicti in subsi-
dium reparations praedicti
loci et relevamen eorundem
pariter possint perquirere sibi
et successoribus suis in per-
petuum terras tenementa red-
ditus et servitia quae de nobis
non tenentur per servitium
militare ad valorem viginti
marcarum per annum ultra
reprisas absque aliquo fine
proinde et absque aliquo
feodo pro hiis Litteris nostris
patentibus in Cancellaria nos-
tra aut in Hanaperio ejusdem
nobis faciendo vel quovismodo
solvendo. Statuto de terris
et tenementis ad manum
mortuam non ponendis et
aliis Statutis ordinationibus
actibus provisicnibus restric-
tionibus aut materiis qui-
buscumque non obstantibus.
Dum tamen per Inquisitio-
nem in hac parte capiendam
et in Cancellariam nostram
vel haeredum nostrorum rite
retornandam compertum sit
quod id fieri possit ab damno
seu prejudicio nostro, alio-
rum quorumcumque, aliqui-
bus Statutis ordinationibus
actibus provisionibus restric-
tionibus aut aliis materiis
quibuscumque in contrarium
factis non obstantibus. Con-
cessimus ulterius et licentiam
dedimus per praesentes pro
nobis et haeredibus nostris
praefatis Vicario Custodi et
sociis praedictis et successori-
bus suis quod ipsi auctorita-
tem ac plenam potestatem
habeant ad statuta et ordina-
tiones intra se facienda ad
di vina pro divino servitio et
bonis moribus observandis et
malis moribus extirpandis per
ipsos pro bono statu nostro et
carissimae Consortis nostrae
Margaretae Reginae Angliae
ac Edwardi principis filii nos-
tri Carissimi dum vixerimus
et animabus nostris cum ab
hac luce migraverimus et
animabus omnium fidelium
defunctorum celebranda nec-
non ad alia Statuta et ordina-
tiones pro bono et honore
216 EARLY DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE.
of belonging to a time as early as the reign of
John or Henry III. This is sufficiently apparent
from the banded cylindrical shaft in a narrow
pointed window on the first floor on the south
side. The old timber roof is also remarkable,
which presents features at the first glance very
similar to those met with in the forms and mould-
ings of Early English architecture. Had the king-
posts been simply cylindrical instead of being
octagonally chamfered, its claims to belonging to
this early date might have passed undisputed,
aided too as they are by the barrel-shaped vaulting
of the roof, but the existence of straight tie-beams
would seem to militate against the antiquity of this
portion. It is not improbable that these might
have been inserted at a later period, for instance,
when the Tudor panelling of the ceiling beneath
them was added. Without, however, doing more
than mentioning these as the points by which the
age of the timber-work must be decided, it is
enough to have called attention to an extremely
curious and but little known specimen of domestic
Collegii praedicti de tempore per breve de privato sigillo et
in tempus facienda. In cujus de data &c. — Patent 38 Hen.
&c. Teste Rege apud West- VI., p. 2. m. 1,
monasteriura xiij. die Martii,
VARIOUS RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 217
architecture. Conjecture alone can now assign the
building to its primitive intention. The Domus
Regia in Northampton has already been spoken
of in extracts from the Pipe rolls, as well as the
Larderium; it might have been either of these,
or, what is perhaps more near the truth, the resi-
dence of the master of St. John's hospital, especi-
ally as it is contiguous to it, and now belongs to
that eleemosynary establishment.
From an inquisition made by the precept of
Edw. I., in the third year of his reign, we learn
the following particulars respecting the town at
this precise period.
That the county of Rutland was formerly in the
hands of the king, and belonged to the castle and
county of Northampton, but that at this time it
was in the hands of Edward, earl of Cornwall.
Amongst the religious houses and their proprie-
tors, there is mention made of the Prior and
Convent of St. Andrew ; the Master and Hospital
of the Holy Trinity; the Friars Preachers; the
Friars Minors ; and again, 28 Edw. I., the Friars
of Mount Carmel; the Chapel of St. Martin,
where the Prior and Convent of St. Andrew were
bound to support at their own cost, a chauntry for
the souls of the kings of England; the Master
218 KNIGHTS TEMPLAR.
and Hospital of St. John. In the 16th of
Edw. II. the Augustines were established p . Pro-
tection granted to the Prior of the Hermit Brothers,
36 Edw. III., and to the Fraternity of the Holy
Rood in the Wall, 13 Edw. IV.
The streets and places enumerated in the time
of Edw. I., are, Krakeboll street; the Drapery,
Derne street; Derne gate; Salstrete; Nonnes
well ; Cougate ; Gyselgot road.
The Knights Templar first occur on the Pipe
rolls in the 2nd year of the' reign of Henry II. ;
we gather from the following words, that the order
was just constituted. " Et In Elemosinis noviter
constitutis Militibus de Templo j. marca argenti,"
and the same payment continues annually down
to the 50th of Hen. TIL In a similar way there
occurs a fixed annual payment of xx. shillings to
the monks of the town, commencing the 31st of
Hen. I., and continuing to a very late period.
p See other concessions, Edw. III.
Calend. Rot. Pat, 4 and 11
The Mint.
| NTEIES on the Great Roll of
the Pipe, shew that in the
27th of Henry EL, (1181,)
the privilege of minting was
first granted to the town of
Northampton, for which the
nioneyers paid annually into
the exchequer sixty shillings q . In this way the
right went on uninterruptedly until the 1st of
Richard I., after which period the entries vary
in this mode of contributing to the crown revenue.
There were several other places in England where
m
l^Jafj
I M
1 .
||R-:l=i^,^i||§^
iAJP
i Item Vicecomes reddat
Compotum de lx. s. de fabrica
Monetariorum de Norham-
tona de hoc anno, et de xxx. s.
de eadem fabrica de dimidio
anno. In tbesauro liberave-
runt in ii. talliagiis. Et qui-
etus est. — Mag. Rot. Pip.,
28 Hen. II.
Homines de Norhamtona
xxx. s. de exitu fabrice mone-
tariorum. — Mag. Rot. Pip., 17
John.
Homines Norhamton li. Ii.
de exitu fabrice monetariorum
de plurimis annis praeteritis.
Mag. Rot. Pip., 55 Hen. III.
Homines Norhampton li. li.
de exitu fabrice Monetario-
rum de plurimis annis prae-
teritis. — Mag. Rot. Pip., 2
Edw. L
220 COINAGE LAWS OF ATHELSTANE.
mints were thus established, and persons em-
ployed on the coinage of the realm. These officers
were denominated money ers, {monetarily) assay ers,
{examinatores monetce,) and keepers of the dies,
{custodes cuneorum,) all of whom were under the
control and supervision of the chief justiciary, or
the treasurer and barons of the exchequer. The
different modes of making payments into the ex-
chequer, by pensum,, hlanc, and tale, or nurnerus,
have been already described, as well as the methods
by which the royal farms or rents were discharged.
Sometimes the revenue received its dues in military
service, in socage, in provisions, or in necessaries
for the royal household: sometimes in entertain-
ment, in horses, dogs, or hawks. The money, if
blanc, was weighed, and if in tale it was tried at
the exchequer, {comhustione,) and the deficiency
in either case made up by the public debtor.
Athelstane in his ordinances had directed (924
— 941) that there should be but one money over
all the king's dominion, and that if any man
minted out of the assigned jurisdiction, the hand
should be struck off with which he wrought the
offence, and be set up on the money smithy : but
if it were an accusation, and he was willing to
clear himself, then he might go to the hot iron
EAKLY PRIVILEGE OF MINTING. 221
and clear the hand wherewith he was charged to
have done the fraud r . Northampton is one of the
ten places where money was at this time allowed
to be coined. The laws of Edgar 8 , (959—975,)
of EthelredS (978—1016,) and of Canute, (1017
— 1035,) declare the same uniformity. North-
ampton had in fact two mints in the tenth cen-
tury 11 .
The^ laws might have been relaxed even during
these early periods, as they certainly were later,
since the Saxon monarchs derived no inconsiderable
portion of their revenue from the coinage of their
kingdom. Thus Athelstane gave the cities of
London, Canterbury, Winchester, Exeter, and Chi-
chester, the privilege of minting, as well as the
boroughs of Lewes, Hastings, Wareham, Shaftes-
bury, and Northampton, but undoubtedly they de-
rived income from it, reserving the right, and re-
taining the dies in their own hands, and of course
fixing a price, most frequently an arbitrary one,
upon the issue. Thus they were tempted to renew
their money, to call it in, melt it down, and send
it forth for circulation greatly depreciated. This
r Ancient Laws and Insti- * Ibid., p. 323.
tutes, p. 207. u Ibid., p. 208.
■ Ibid., p. 269.
222 DEPRECIATION OF THE METAL
fraudulent tampering with the coinage has always
been the practice of uncivilized and dishonest
governments. Gustavus the Illrd. reduced the
standard of Sweden to a discount of fifty per cent.,
and in the Ottoman empire the same system has
perpetually endured to our own day. In England
the rate of exchange in the time of Henry VII.
was ruinous, and English subjects refused the
current coin of the realm. One of tb$ chief
motives for summoning the parliament at West-
minster, 25 Edw. III., was to prevent the export-
ation of English coin, and the introduction of
Lusseburghs, or money of false assay x . The chief
object of all the early statutes of the realm relating
to this subject seems to have been the prevention
of clipping, or of the introduction of counterfeit
money from the continent, it never being surmised
that the circulating medium would be depreciated
in England. These are, however, topics which
hardly fall within the scope of the present en-
quiry, and must be dismissed without the investi-
gation they invite.
Resuming the subject in which we are more
immediately interested, it appears that in the 7 th
of John, Peter de Stokes gave sixty marcs for the
* Rot. Pari. ii. pp. 225, 239.
MARK OF A DISHONEST GOVERNMENT. 223
privilege of having a mint and four dies at Xorth-
ampton y , and two years afterwards writs were
issued to the moneyers, assayers, and keepers of
the dies at Northampton, as well as other places,
directing them by letters patent to appear at West-
minster to receive there the royal command, and to
bring their dies sealed up with their seals, and to
summon all the workers of money to appear there
at the same time 2 .
Specimens of the money thus coined at the pro-
vincial mints, from being so often renewed, became
extremely scarce, but Euding speaks of it as being
known by the letters xor, nobt, zs'orham, kc,
which are stamped on the face. The trades-
men's tokens of the place, belonging to a much
later period, are better known, and more easily
obtainable.
y Peter de Stokes dat sexa- cimeos illos ei habere faciat,
ginta marcas pro habendis et quod cambium illud eum
iiii. cuneis apud Norhamton habere permittat. Mandatum
et cambio ibidem a Nativitate est etiam "Willi elmo filio
S ti . Johannis Baptistse anno Othonis quod cuneos illos ei
regni Regis septimo in unum habere faciat. — Rot. de Fini-
annum. Et mandatum est bus. 7 John.
Reginaldo de Cornhill quod z Rot. Pat., 9 John, m. 5.
The Fire.
ONNECTED with the his-
tory of Northampton, is a
calamity which befel it in
the seventeenth century, that
has been described in so
interesting and vivid a man-
ner by an eye-witness, that
the incorporation of his narrative into the present
volume, will be the best method of presenting the
account to the reader. It appears to be written
by a clergyman in the neighbourhood, and the
scarceness of the volume will be sufficient apology
for its reprint a .
a The State of Northamp-
ton from the beginning of the
Fire, Sept. 20th, 1675, to
Nov. 5th. Represented in a
Letter to a friend in London ;
and now recommended to all
well disposed persons, in
order to Christian charity,
and speedy relief for the said
distressed town and people.
By a Country Minister. Li-
censed, Nov. 22, 1675. Roger
L'estrange. London, printed
for Jonathan Robinson, at the
Golden Lion in St Paul's
Churchyard, and William
Cockeraine, Bookseller in
Northampton, 1675. 4to.
DIFFICULTY OF WRITING THIS HISTORY. 225
Sir, If I had not expected a true and full ac-
count of the beginning and progress of the dreadful
fire at Northampton, as also of the losses, state, and
relief of that distressed people, from a faithful and
able hand, I should have laboured to have prepared
this, such as it is, sooner for your satisfaction. I
do not pretend to inform you with every circum-
stance and accident, that is not to be looked for ;
because I know none that had so much leisure from
their own or other men's concernments, as to ob-
serve and trace the motions of that terrible ele-
ment, which was that day carried up and down
upon the wings of a strong and violent wind. And
indeed, I find in mine own diligent inquiry, even
of understanding men, that it is as impossible for
a man who employs all his endeavours to save his
own goods and life in one part of a street, to tell
me when and in what house the fire broke out in
another place distant from him, as it is for a soldier,
whose life is engaged in a narrow particular station,
to relate what was out of his sight, done in every
wing, in every regiment, troop or company, much
more in every rank and file of the whole army, at
once engaged and spread over all the field, as this
fire was spread over the body, and all parts of the
town. The all-seeing eye of the Lord of these
Q
226 A DESCRIPTION
mighty hosts of fire and wind, can give an exact
and perfect story of every particular action of that
fatal day. No one man can, nor many men apart,
because they were not in every place, nor observed
all things, but as each one gives in his observation,
which must be gathered together to make a story,
so it must be taken up. And this I assure you,
that I gathered these following passages, as well as
I was able, and from persons as able to inform me,
and as distinctly related, as can be expected from
persons under the disorders of care, fear, and amaze-
ment at the same time.
That I may represent Northampton in its ruins,
it may not be amiss to present the figure and situa-
tion of it as it stood and flourished ; because some
may peruse these lines, that knew it not, and the
better conceive the course of the fire, which I shall
shew you, and the great alteration of it, from a
beautiful town, to pits and rubbish. Northampton
might well contend with the best inland city or
town, that is not seated upon a navigable river, for
sweet and wholesome air, pleasantness of situation,
plenty and cheapness of corn and butchers' meat,
good ancient buildingSj dry and commodious cellar-
ages, broad and cleanly streets, a spacious market-
hill, fine and profitable gardens and orchards, within
the w r alls (while it was beautified and honoured
of the town. :22i
with their standing.) The prospect of it was very
delightful from QueenVcross, which stands upon a
hill in London road, within a mile distance from it,
You come down from that cross to a bottom, called
Cotton-end, and from thence, passing a fair stone
bridge over the river Nen or Xine, you entered the
town on a flat, till you come within the south-gate,
and thence keeping the northern road, you went
out at the north-gate, overcoming three ascents.
The first in the Bridge-street, as somewhat steep,
but was made easy by the diverting sight of good
buildings on either hand, and a neat front on the
top of that street. You might observe the town
divided into east and west ■ to the west-gate through
the Gold-street by St. Peter's church, to the east-
gate fetching a little compass by All-Hallows'
church, through Abingdon-street near St. Giles's
church. From the top of the first ascent, leaving
on the right hand that great and well-built church,
All-Hallows, the chief in the town, you come into
the Drapery, a broad, and for the most part a well-
built street, and finely fronted with graceful houses ;
on the right-hand of which, was one of the best
open market-places in England. This second ascent
was more easy and leisurely than the former, and
turning a little on the left hand, you went through
228 ITS OVERTHROW.
the Sheep-street, up a moderate ascent to the north-
gate, having St. Sepulchre's church on the right
hand. By this description of the town, you imagine
that it stood on a side of a hill, facing the south
sun, and that the middle and lowest part was shel-
tered from the north wind : that it was divided into
four quarters, had four great gates, east, west,
north, and south, and had a church in every quar-
ter, only All-Hallows stood southward, and near
the heart of the town. The civil division of it was
into five wards, distinguished from the four winds
or quarters, and the fifth was the chequer- ward in
the middle.
And now I may say what, and more than the
men of Jericho said to Elisha ; c ' The situation is
pleasant, but the water is naught and the ground
barren." Northampton was beautiful for the situa-
tion, the water good, and the ground about it rich.
It stood above the river, which ran in the south,
beating on both sides upon very rich meadow down
quite to Peterborough : and at which gate soever
you went out, you went out of a sweet town into a
rich and noble champaign b .
But now (alas !) the glory and beauty of it is
more than scorched with fire, it is vanished into
b In the original, champion.
ITS OVERTHROW. 229
smoke. The great and goodly church is become
its own sepulchre, and the cellars the graves and
pits into which the best contrived dwellings are
tumbled and hurried. It was a city upon a hill,
but now God hath turned it into a burning beacon,
to give warning to towns and cities of judgments
that may suddenly invade them, and break in upon
them, except they receive and obey His laws, and
cease to provoke Him by their tolerated disobedi-
ence. God began with London, is come as far as
Northampton to execute His judgments; who knows
whither He will ride next in a burning chariot, and
where He will make an end ? were those citizens
and these townsmen sinners above all men ? " I tell
you nay, but except you repent," kc. Have not
you your sins also ! yea, London sins as rife as
fashions ! nothing hath happened to them but what
may be common to you, whenever God's forbear-
ance is come up to an end. The heart of London,
and the heart of Northampton, were burnt out in
the same month : who can secure themselves till
September come about again from the same, or as
great a judgment, if you slight these warnings ?
God who hath set the bounds of our habitations,
hath set down with Himself the term of our posses-
sion of them. Every man hath his appointed time,
230 THE BAY OP THE FIRE.
which takes in means and ways of coming to his
stated period ; so have societies and corporations of
men their appointed times ; a time to grow, and a
time to decay, (they are subject to consumptions
and fevers ;) thus strong and high they shall grow
in numbers of men, and prosperity ; thus long they
shall continue, and no longer. And what time
soever God speaks concerning a nation, a city, a
palace, yea, a cottage, to pluck up and pull down ;
He speaks to the fire, Burn, to the wind, Blow, and
carry it whither I will: here it shall take, there
burn, and here it shall stop.
The utmost term that God would grant for
Northampton to continue as it was, was the twen-
tieth day of September, 1675. Hundreds of in-
habitants were turned out of their houses, upon a
little or no warning at all. To some the sovereign
Lord would not grant so much as leave to remove
their goods off His ground ; not so much as a bed
to lie on, or a garment to shift them, not a stool to
sit on, nor a dish to eat in. To others He was
pleased to allow a few hours (of terror and distrac-
tion) to remove and begone ; but He would not be
entreated to give His dearest servants, not another
day, not that night, no not that afternoon.
God called for a strong west wind to be ready at
THE PLACE WHERE THE FIRE BEGAN. 231
His command, to carry a dreadful fire whither He
would have it The unhappy instrument of that
destruction was said to be an infamous and com-
mon woman, who lived in the end of St, Mary's-
street, next the castle (in the west.) The manner
thus, (as I am informed upon the place ;) she had
something boiling on a fire, and left the fire care-
lessly, and went to the next house ; when she had
been there a little while, she said to her companion,
I shall go and fetch my child, and in a moment,
finding her house on fire, it seems took up her
bastard, and ran out, and away, crying, I shall be
hanged, I shall be hanged. She is not yet returned,
nor found, to tell us what she did. That street was
full upon the wind, far from help, and the principal
part of the town, which was to be the theatre of
judgment, and consisted of the poorer sort of
houses, thatched with straw, fit matter to kindle a
consuming fire.
The fire brake out about half an hour past eleven,
came on directly to the back part of the Horse-
market, strengthening itself with ricks of corn and
maltings, it spread out its wing to the south, and
lower end of that market. The hideous cry of Fire,
fire, came up post to town : but when some heard
it was so far off, and in meaner dwellings, they
232
ITS PROGRESS;
made the lighter of it, and others hoped it might
spend itself and go out, in a large cherry-ground,
and other orchards in the way.
All-Hallows' bells jangled their last and doleful
knell, presently after the chimes had gone twelve
in a more pleasant tune : and soon after the wind,
which did fly swifter than horsemen, carried the
fire near the Dern-gate, at least half a mile from
the place where it began, and into St. Giles's-street
in the east, and consumed every house therein, save
one (formerly a gate-house) whose end- walls were
higher than the roof, and by them preserved. When
some that were strong and active saw the streams
of fire driven before an impetuous wind, seeing that
nothing was like to stand before it, they made all
haste to shift for themselves, and to save their
goods. All hands and arms were full, all busy in
laying oat, and mislaying what they shall never see
again. Some active men did labour all they could
to save some houses; but what could be done in
such a sudden surprise ? when so many places were
on fire at once, and so many timber buildings were
as fuel dried, and laid in for this dreadful fire.
Some that consider not the confounding circum-
stances that people were under, have been apt to
cast upon them the blame of despair and negligence :
AND ITS VIOLENCE. 233
but they must be silent, when they believe upon the
word of all I spake with, that all that is burnt was
irresistibly gone in three hours' time ; although I
know that every house was not burnt in that time,
for some few did not begin to burn till six o'clock
at night, but it was too strong to be withstood, and
past hope of being saved by that time. Had it
been a leisurely fire, proceeding in order of houses
and streets, then buckets might have quenched the
thirst of a dry and greedy element ; then one house
might have been blown up in sacrifice, to have
saved a street : but this fire would have scorned an
engine, nothing less than the opening of windows
in heaven could have quenched its rage. Houses
were casually blown up by barrels of powder, laid
up for sale, "but the fire kept up its fury and its
way for all that. To talk now of engines, and blow-
ing up of houses, are but suppositions, which could
not then preserve a house any more than now re-
build one. We may as wisely say, had it rained
all that day, the town might have been saved from
burning.
Distracted people ! how busy were they in empty-
ing out their goods, labouring to be beforehand
with the swift destroyer, that came upon some of
them before their fears had notice of it. The fire
234 DESTITUTIONS AND DANGERS
was fled over the town, but did not forget what it
had to do, and therefore brake over the spacious
planted grounds, seized upon the College-lane, and
finding there great quantities of oil and tallow, and
other combustible matter, brake upon the back-
side of the Drapery in a little time. Some threw
their goods into their cellars ; there or no where ;
some into the church, (that had more time and
leisure than the former,) in which they were con-
sumed with it; others into the church-yard, and
were there turned to ashes. The spacious Market-
hill was covered with all sorts of wares and goods ;
these the affrighted owners were forced to leave
one among another, when they were enclosed with
a wall of fire, and only one little door of escape left
them to run out at, by Dr. Danvers' house, the only
house that stands in all that row, having no neigh-
bour-dwelling to bear it company, nor out-offices
to serve its necessities, they being burnt, and itself
hardly preserved. Some had better help, better
conveniencies of orchards and closes than others
had ; some more time than others, or else the loss
had been vastly greater. And although the fire
spoiled and consumed many goods, — it spared neither
cross nor pump, nor timber drawn into the Market-
place for the sessions-house, — yet what the fire
Or A HOUSELESS PEOPLE DESCUIBED. 235
spared in that and other places, cruel thieves, that
come in to spoil the spoiled, were more merciless
than a merciless fire. May the stolen sugars, fruit,
spices, linen, clothes, bedding, or whatever else
these men of prey took by fraud, be bitter, hot,
cold, and uneasy to them, till they have eased their
consciences of so great a guilt. But divine justice
will take a course with them, in a more dreadful
day than that was, except they repent, restore, give
satisfaction, or be forgiven.
Sir, I know you can understand without my
telling you, that this miserable people were loath
to leave their convenient and comfortable dwellings,
but more loath to lose their wares and goods ; but
they were forced to leave the one to a fire that
would have them ; and at last forced to leave both
house, and shop, and goods, to save their lives.
Give me leave to try, if I can make you sensible
of their condition, in a dull and misty and cold
representation of it : for a lively image I cannot
draw, because my bosom cannot hold their passions,
nor my pen weep out their tears. No words can
report the cries, fears, dangers, distractions, care-
fulness, and amazedness of young and old, that
doleful day. Oh ! the roaring of fire and wind,
what a thunder in the air ! what clouds of smoke !
236 DESTITUTIONS AND DANGERS
what tearing cracks of timber! ancient couples,
beams and walls, keeping close to one another till
forced to part, suffering themselves to be burnt
inch by inch before they could be separated ! But
what were these to the more sensible outcries of a
people decreed to ruin ? If you will carry wind and
flames and burning houses up and down to shew
them, then, and not before, will I undertake to
relate what a distracted multitude thought, spake,
and did, who could not tell what to think, speak,
or do, that might prove successful. There were
old men and women, children and infants, women
lying-in, others full of the small-pox, (which had
been much in town,) mothers that gave suck. What
could this helpless multitude do? whither could
they creep or run? The consuming fire itself
brought certain news that it w r as coming. The
fire and wind cried Fire, and did drow r n the people's
cries, and the hideous sound of bells. Oh the con-
fusion of language, thoughts, and actions of a sur-
prised people ! how quiet and secure were they but
a little while before ? Some were calling upon God,
sanctifying themselves and all they had, commit-
ting themselves and their affairs to Him; some
preparing their goods for London, others ready to
sit down to dinner, and behold a cry, Fire, fire :
OF A HOUSELESS PEOPLE DESCRIBED. 237
clouds of smoke, pillars and sheets of fire covering
the face of heaven ! fire in the west, that had left
but few houses or pieces to stand ; fire in the east,
that carried all before it, and in every quarter, and
the body of the town hemmed in with fire ; and the
stately tower of the great church turned into a
chimney sucking and drawing up the fire and smoke
from within it, and discharging them out again in
a mighty body. What a sight was this to have
pleased a Nero ? or such as must be Roman, or
think they are not Christian ?
What a change was here by five, by four, yea,
by three and two of the clock ? how long are many
hands in rearing and adorning one house ? North-
ampton was raised to its late perfection at the ex-
pense of many generations, one adding to another ;
but if the great God speak to the fire, Burn, and to
the wind, Blow it, a few hours are time enough to
demolish it ; how terrible is God in His judgments ?
how impossible is it for me to feel myself in the
condition of a people banished, ah aris et focis,
turned out of doors, and as it were excommunicated
their Church ? but whither were they gone ? into
the fields, and whither else they could, some one
way, and some another. Great was the care of
people over little ones, and such as could not well
238 DESTITUTIONS AND DANGERS
escape themselves ; and the waky providence had
disposed of them in safety, though they knew not
where to find one another. When the worst was
come, the wife's jointure, and the child's portion,
and the estate which was wont to maintain them,
was exhausted that expensive day : how hastily did
they weave up and down, making inquiries after one
another ; some wanting words to tell you who they
sought for, and others at the same loss to tell them
tidings ! how they looked and wrung their hands
they themselves cannot tell us now. What rest
could parents take that night, missing their child-
ren? some had wandered into neighbouring vil-
lages, where they had never been before, and were
not heard of till next day. Who can conceive the
sadness till they found out their relations ? and
when they met, who can express the joy that they
were alive ? although many had not left them
wherewith to refresh them, feed them, clothe them,
or wherein to lodge that night. But God remem-
bered mercy ! the gentry who were preserved in the
town, and near it, and others to their power, turned
their houses into inns and hospitals and ware-
houses, to refresh and comfort their distressed
neighbours. And now after that God had smoked
them out, He was pleased to hive them in, many
OF A HOUSELESS PEOPLE DESCRIBED. 239
families crowded into one house ; and eating that
little the fire had left of their stocks, till the com-
passionate neighbourhood could send in provi-
sions. And now having followed them from their
own, into strange and uneasy lodgings, I shut
up my discourse, and lead you to view the con-
dition of that ruined town as it was found next
day.
Sir, had you seen the dreadful fire that night,
you might have guessed what a place you were like
to find it next morning; but really, I could not
have imagined it to be so soon reduced so unlike
itself ! next morning you might have seen the late
dwellers come to see what was left them. Oh !
how strangely were they changed ! poor frighted,
tired and amazed men, how were their faces
changed ! they looked as if they had come from
under-ground, out of mines and coal-pits. They
looked not only like men that had lost their rest,
but spent with cares and fasting, scorched with
heat, and broken with distractions ! dirty faces,
scalded eyes, and their eye-lashes hung with mortar
made of tears and dust blown into them. In the
afternoon you might see neither town or townsmen
scarce, but ruins instead of orderly piles and streets,
and strangers come in to view them. The inhabit-
240 THE TOWN NEXT MORNING.
ants were gone, some to search suspicious houses
for lost goods, others to get together some ends of
something that was left, or to seek out new lodging
for their afflicted families; others watching their
goods, till help could come to carry them away.
Very few could tell me what was left, besides their
lives, and a charge to maintain.
The first observation I made, was upon the be-
haviour of men, and I found them apt to tears,
sensible of the hand of God, calm, and thankful
for their lives.
My next observation was upon the ruins, and
when I have said all I can say of them, it is this,
that they were ruins. Nothing standing above the
cellars that was combustible, which was not either
burnt or burning down to ashes. No timber left,
from great beams, even to cheeks of doors and
lintels. When God compared His people to an use-
less vine — " Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel,
the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the
midst of it is burnt : is it meet for any work ?"
Even so did He use hundreds of houses, and the
best in the principal streets of Northampton : I
hope He will deal graciously with the men, and
make them a fruitful vine, having pruned and
purged them. "What was to be seen above ground,
WHAT MADE THE LOSS SO GREAT. 241
but a few fronts of stone, partition walls, and
chimneys ? If yon had no sense but eyes, you
might think them to be ruins of an ancient date,
but other senses would persuade you they were
but new, the walls and streets being glowing hot,
&c. And this was noted to them on Michaelmas
day (when the mayor and magistrates, as many as
had a gown, were in a colour suitable to their pre-
sent condition, and not former state), that the upper
lintels were not left for the cormorant and bittern
to lodge in. Zeph. ii.
And for several reasons, they who saw that fire
whose epithet is, The Dreadful Fire of London !
and this, do say, this was the more furious and
destructive in its proportion.
Thus, Sir, in general, you may believe the fire
and losses were very great : but if you will give me
leave, I will shew you what made both so great,
First, the former years being bad for carriage, and
fuel dear, they were almost out of stock, till this
good summer came, and great plenty, at moderate
rates. This was a time to provide for this and
another winter. It was one part of the providence
of Northampton men to lay in something towards
a wet and dear time, in a good summer. They
were crammed full ; and now what was laid up for
it
242 WHAT MADE
future time was consumed in one day, before they
had tamed their heaps.
Secondly, as the town was full of fuel, so trades-
men were full of goods. They had newly furnished
themselves with the commodities of Sturbridge
fair. Besides that, some had taken the advantage
of the cheapness of all sorts of wares and goods,
and of carriage, and laid out as far as their stocks
would reach, in hopes of a stirring market : and
many, if not all or most, had stored themselves for
their winter trade. And as the shopkeeper could
not be fuller, so neither the innkeeper, nor hus-
bandman : and such as laid in their crops for malt
were very full ; and none had any time to make
returns. Prom this consideration some may readily
infer, that others that gave them credit must lose,
or hazard with them. This is not unlikely. But
it will be found that the loss is heavy upon them
alone, and apart. For, 1. As few of them traded
upon credit, as any town can be found to do. 2.
Their trade was but a home trade, (I except the
shoemaker and hosier,) and wary and prudent men
could guess at the compass of it, and their pru-
dence told them that the more credit they had,
the less profit they made. 3. As few men failed
and broke in Northampton, as in any town of its
THE LOSS SO GREAT. 243
dimensions, (and consequently as few lost by deal-
ing with them.) A good argument of their dex-
terity, in ordering comparatively a small trade, to
live so decently and plentifully as they did. 4.
Many of them had plentiful estates in houses, that-
brought in good rent, and many lived in their own,
whereby their losses fall heavily upon themselves :
but the wise God thought no less enough.
Thirdly, The instrumental causes of this sad
desolation, were the dryness of the weather, the
violence of the wind, which was a swift chariot for
the all-subduing fire ; and it is to be noted, that God
planted (pardon the impropriety) the wind to blow
up the heart of the town, to which St. MaryV
street stood level. And of that vehement wind,
it is to be observed, beside that it whirled the fire
at its pleasure up and down ; that it did also beat
down the smoke, and raise up the dust, which was
a great discouragement of all endeavours to save
the town, and afflicted people ! They had dust to
blind them, smoke to stifle them, and fire that
singed and scorched them as they passed up and
down. Sometimes it gave some hopes of sparing,
by turning two points north, (as one scholar tells
me,) but dashed all again, by veering to the w T est.
Another ingenious observer (who took care to save
844 THE DAMAGE.
a neighbour's house near his own) tells me that
the fire fell upon the thatch, struck upon it, took
it and danced for six minutes at least, and by a
sudden turn the wind carried it away, and with a
little labour the house escaped.
Sir, if I have been too large in generals, I will
reward your patience, by giving you satisfaction in
the following particulars.
1. The greatness of the loss, as given in. 2.
The number of houses totally destroyed. 3. The
influence of this loss. 4. The relief. 5. The dis-
posal of it. Conclude with some few remarks.
1. The loss, as given in, amounts to one hun-
dred two thousand and eight pounds odd money,
besides the church, &c, to the value of about fifty
thousand pound ; a vast loss, if we consider how
long an inland town, that hath no manufacture in
it, that drives none of the quickest trades, is grow-
ing up, and how long they must needs be in re-
gaining some part of it. To lose the product of
twenty or thirty years' care and pains, both what
was left them, and added by them, is a very great
affliction. But the Lord gave before He took away.
Hereby many in the middle part of their lives, or the
very latter end of their days, are sent back to begin
the world anew, or driven to end it in a low estate.
NUMBER OF HOUSES BURNT. 245
It may be an injur}' to others that some few are
suspected to give in their losses with a cipher
perhaps too much : if there be any such, I heartily
wish they would blot it out, lest such a cipher
eat out the figure : but again, it is verily thought,
that others have been very scrupulous and sparing.
If men cannot be disproved, we ought to suspend
our censures.
2. The number of houses totally consumed, be-
side outhouses, fee, is about 600, wherein above
700 families did dwell. And these monuments of
sparing mercy stand in the four quarters of the
town, as the arms and legs drawn out in torture,
cut off from the body ; and it is as great a wonder
that here and there a house should escape, as that
the rest should be brought to ruin in so short a
time. Some few houses remain near the church, and
only one tenement in the Drapery, from the street,
hardly seen to the street at this time. The chief
church in town only burnt, the rest untouched.
3. The influence and effects of this sweeping
judgment fall upon many beside the immediate
sufferers. ] . Upon the poor, which stood All-
Hallows'' parish in ten pound the month, the roll
would have been raised to eleven pound this winter.
Bur now the poor are multiplied, who, since the
246 EFFECTS OF THE FIRE; RELIEF SENT.
fire fell into their quarters (poor creatures) lay
within the walls to the open heavens (till now of
late), except such as got into churches. Thither
the fire forced them, whither God's commands, nor
mercy, nor exhortations could invite them. A
judgment fitted to the sin, a judgment all voice, as
in other instances.
Secondly, the citizens will lose their customers,
the countryman will lose his market, and the land-
lord must fall his rent, if Northampton be not re-
lieved : yea, more, many a man must go farther to
seek for an honest man to teach his child a trade ;
and many a one will want a service, that cannot
well be kept and maintained at home.
4. The relief was considerable, as it was season-
able to this impoverished people. Many have told
me, they found tender mercy and compassion, and
that they found more friends than ever they
thought they had. The goodness of God and men
was admired. The kindness of a night's lodging,
of a small benevolence was magnified. The noble
earl of Northampton, who came that fatal evening
to see the fire, was affected with the sight, and sent
great store of provisions the next day. Many
other persons of quality, neighbour towns, and vil-
lages, were very forward and generous. The bold
CONSULTATION IN THE TOWN HALL. 247
and raking poor had a glut, but the modest house-
keeper looked pale and thin, till necessity over-
came their modesty, and then they were respected.
The mayor sent messengers with letters to en-
treat the noblemen and gentlemen to meet in the
Town Hall, to take their distressed condition into
consideration. There appeared the Saturday fol-
lowing the dreadful fire, the right honourable the
earl of Northampton, recorder of the town : three
lords, Sir Richard Rainsford, one of the judges of
the King's Bench. Seven or eight baronets and
knights, and many justices of the peace and gentle-
men. The meeting was principally managed by
the earl. The result of all their discourses, was a
subscription to two papers, to this purpose.
"We the noblemen and gentlemen do promise
to pay the several sums set down over against our
names/' &c. The one was towards the re-building
of the town, and the other was for the payment of
Dr. Conant's salary, (which was 100 L per annum,)
and for the relief of the poor, and other uses of the
town.
They named Robert Haslerig, William Tate,
Henry Edmonds, Richard Rainsford, Esquires, re-
ceivers and treasurers.
Several sums were gathered speedily, upon the
248 DISTRIBUTION OF MONEY, &C.
news of the dreadful fire, in several corporations,
by the university of Cambridge, and already ga-
thered, but not received, by the university of Oxon,
towns, villages, and private persons : all which
come to about £3000.
These several sums of money were paid into the
hands of Robert Haslerig, Esq., living in town;
who with the other gentlemen's consent, made a
very seasonable distribution of a great sum among
the sufferers, wherein they had a respect to their
losses, to their trades, and to their conditions and
disability to go on. This was a timely assistance
given men, that were hard put to it to strike up
sheds and shops, and to take in some winter pro-
visions. In this distribution they designed to
preserve the road, to bring in the market, to set
trade on foot, to help the inferior tradesmen. Be-
sides, they took order to lay in a great stock of
coal, to be served out to the inhabitants at their
need in the approaching winter. They disbursed
money to the officers of the parish to pay their
poor. And lastly, they have, and are fitting up
houses for the poor to live in, who had nothing
left but bare walls without a roof.
The care, and pains, and tenderness of these
worthy gentlemen deserve the grateful acknowledg-
TO THE SUFFERERS. 249
ment of the distressed sufferers ; and indeed they
seem to me to have a humble sense of the mercy
and favour.
I have been the more punctual in these things,
as to rectify the reports of vast sums said to be
flowing in, and besides many other reasons, to en-
courage liberal souls to generous acts of charity,
when they see the treasury so well dispensed ; both
deposited into, and disposed by the hands of per-
sons of quality, estate, and integrity.
There was about sixty pound sent from several
persons of quality, and others, to Dr. Conant,
which was carefully distributed, according to the
intention of the donors.
The forward and noble beneficence of particular
persons, and the kind and Christian expression of
love made by corporations and villages to North-
ampton brought low, though but a small beginning
to a great many, (nor the whole exceeding the loss
of some one or two men,) hath raised the minds of
many, so that there is hope in Northampton ; but
yet there are many discouragements, that threaten
the life of it in some, and keep it from being over-
joyful in the most cheerful temper.
Besides these kindnesses from men, there are
some eminent providences which have brought
250 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES
kind remembrances from heaven, to a people under
a displeasure. The first is, that this calamity is
fallen upon them in a year of plenty. Had it
fallen upon them in one of the years past, many
that were glad of a piece of bread, must have
perished for want of bread. London fire consumed
it, after a plague, in a time of war, the nation
under taxes : Northampton hath the odds in this,
that she is fallen, when a nation may the better
raise her up.
The second sweet and reviving providence is,
that second summer which God was pleased to give
us; He said to an approaching winter, Keep off
awhile. He hath given a midsummer-time after
Michaelmas. He said to the sun, Shine thou still.
What a mercy hath this been to poor North-
ampton ! by the favour of the weather abundance
of coal came in, (even as far as Wedgbury, above
forty miles,) and as cheap as in summer. A dread-
ful fire had done enough to starve them, con-
suming their stacks and heaps ; but the sun con-
tinuing in its strength relieved them, by bringing
firing to them, which I hope will be better spent.
What the fire destroyed the sun restored. Thus
God doth correct and take into His arms ! justice
and fury made quick riddance, but mercy made
TOWARDS THE TOWN. 251
haste after them. Through the goodness of the
season all sorts of materials for buildings came
whistling in/ (the carter meeting with no ruts nor
sloughs to put him out of tune.) Yea, deals came
down from London at as low or lower rates than
country ash. By this means workmen came in,
go on, not being beaten off with weather.
By this means raw walls, new-sawn and un-
seasoned boards, have been aired and seasoned : by
this means full markets have come in, and the
market-man hath not felt the inconvenience of a
bad standing for himself and horses.
And lastly, by this means Northampton is
brought up a little above its ruins, and her new
buildings to imitate Bartholomew fair. And in
this posture I shall leave it, praying heartily, that
God would speak to Northampton, It shall be
built; and take pleasure in the now distressed
people, and their posterity.
And now Sir there remains but the last part of
this trouble, and I will relieve your patience by a
conclusion, namely some observations upon, or
rather drawn from this severe but righteous pro-
vidence, which speaks to other places with a
loud voice.
1. It hath pleased God to strike at all con-
252 OBSERVATIONS
ditions of persons, and all the sins of the town.
He hath in great mercy passed over the houses
of many of the gentry, who lived there for their
own pleasure or conveniency, which hath proved a
great relief to many of the distressed neighbours,
but many of that quality do also bear their share of
loss and trouble : I desire not to be critical or
censorious. God took in all together, the righte-
ous and the wicked fare alike, though for different
ends : it hath happened to the good, to make
them better, with a gracious design no doubt :
and to the wicked God saith, "Why will you die ?"
He stretcheth out His hand to them ; but if they
turn not " He hath whet His sword," &c. The long-
suffering of God, which waited but till the flood,
doth wait for their repentance after the fire. that
they would fly from wrath to come ! There were
and are in Northampton " good figs, very good :"
(such as obey "every ordinance of man for the
Lord's sake, whether the king as supreme," &c.
Such as "feared God and wrought righteousness.")
But as the good figs were to go to captivity, so
now these shall pass through a burning furnace.
And there were very naughty figs, " evil, very evil,
that cannot be eaten." And so much the worse,
because God came long expecting fruit, having
UPON THE FIRE. 253
long been a husbandman to it, and more especially
to that parish that is almost totally destroyed.
God hath diminished two other parishes, (St.
Peter's, "is it not a little one?" is spared entire,)
there was iniquity in those skirts : but why God
should stretch out His hand with a flaming sword
over All-Hallows more than others, I can give no
other reason, but that of the prophet ; " You have I
known of all the families of the earth, therefore
will I punish you for your iniquities." They have
been better taught than others, and made the chief
parish in town. God sent to them prophets, and
wise men, and scribes, He hath been a reprover of
them all. Few parishes perhaps (I am sure I
know but few) that have had such labourers as
they for five successions. Security, luke-warnmess,
and bearing them that are evil, are the sins that
God took worse from magistrates and people, than
from other towns. How hath the Spirit of God
striven with them, and within this year ? They
know the occasion. And fools that make a mock
of sin may now believe that God can be in earnest.
— O Lord, laugh not at their calamity, who have
set at nought Thy counsel, and would none of
Thy reproof; and let them not be as dross in the
furnace. —
254 OBSERVATIONS UPON THE FIRE.
2. God hath dealt with Northampton in this
fire, mixing mercy with judgment, as in other pro-
vidences : here is mercy and judgment, patience
and fury. " How shall I give thee up, Ephraim V 3
&c. He hath made their houses like Admah ; but
to the people He saith, " yet how shall I give thee
up?" Some that were fallen into fellowship with
gross works of darkness, and a long time of
languishing and repentance, and gave signs of it,
discovered and warned others. But their compa-
nions went on. How then ? have some escaped ?
What execution hath God done in the face of the
world, in open streets ? Night-walking, boldness
in sin, swearing and drunkenness punished in open
streets by sudden death. " Remember Lot's wife/'
Remember S's, Fs, O's wife. There was mercy,
and here judgment. Of consorts and* companions,
that grind in the same mill of sin, " one shall be
taken, and another left/'
3. Prom the unhappy hand that kindled this
dreadful fire, I observe that they who escape
deserved punishments, may be justly made the
unhappy instruments of punishing those that should
have been justly severe with them. And it may
give notice to magistrates, to look after the skirts,
the back lanes of their towns, that iniquity lodge
NUMBER OP PERSONS BURNT. 255
not there. — The cages of unclean birds may bring
whole towns to ruin.
4. It is marvellous that a fire breaking out at
noon-day should get so much strength in so short
a time, consume so many goods and houses ; yea,
take away so many lives as eight persons. And on
the contrary, it seems to me a wonderful inercy,
that so few perished in the fire, when I consider
with what a mighty stream and force the fire and
wind came on in some narrow passages ; that many
people were spent and faint, their spirits spent,
their eyes dazzled, or blinded with dust and
smoke ; that some houses fell down when persons
were running by for life; and that many had no
other passage open to fly for their lives, but by
venturing close by raging fire. And here I may
add, what I received from a very worthy friend,
that he saw a country fellow bring up a barrel of
gunpowder out of an apothecary's cellar, when the
Gold-street was burning, and covering it with his
coat, went away with it in his arms, which might
have been his own death, and the death of many
others.
5. "Whereas some may look upon this as casually
begun, and grown to so great a mischief by over-
sights and neglects of people, I cannot but see
256 CONCLUSION.
a great plot of many conspiring circumstances, and
all laid by the holy, just, wise, and absolute Lord,
both for punishment, correction, and trial. I will
sum up those that readily occur. That the wind
should sit so full upon that part of the town,
that the fire should kindle in a street so com-
bustible, far from help speedily to suppress it, so
level upon the principal places of the town : that it
should fly so far as the east in a very little while ;
that the heart of the town should be environed,
and barricaded with flames, that there was no
getting in, no getting out for teams, when they
would have done most good, when the shops and
houses were most emptied, and laid out of doors,
ready to be carried away. How easily might
teams have cleared the Market-hill and church-
yard if the four great avenues and passages had
been passable ? How little did many towns think
Northampton to stand in so much need of help?
These and more being put together make me con-
clude, " Is there evil in the city, and the Lord
hath not done it?" "God is known by the judg-
ments which He executeth. Selah." "Go ye now
unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I set
My name at the first, and see what I did to it for
the wickedness of My people Israel." Jer. vii. 12.
CONCLUSION.
25/
And now, Sir, because I said I will conclude,
I will instead of making an apology for myself,
why so late ? why so long ? or to others why
so short ? or why I ? I will only say, that I
have some feeling of the sufferings of my worthy
and dear acquaintance, pray it may rise higher and
better, that I hope your interest and endeavours
may do good, that I have endeavoured to make
their deplorable condition speak for them, and
that I owe you a far greater service when you
shall command it, if I can perform it. For I am,
Sir,
Your most obliged servant,
E. P.
OXFORD :
PRINTED BY I. SHRIMPTON.
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