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Translations and Reprints 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. 
 
 Voi,. IV. Documents Ii^lustrative of Feudausm. No. 3 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOK 
 
 PART I. THE ORIGINS OF FEUDALISM, A. D., 500-1100. 
 
 I. Personal Dependence. 
 
 1. An Anglo-Saxon Formula of Commendation, 3 
 
 2. A Prankish Formula of Commendation, 3 
 
 3. Acceptance of an Antrustion, 4 
 
 4. A Charter of Guardianship, 4 
 
 5. Capitulary concerning Freemen and Vassals 5 
 
 6. Capitulary of Mersen, 5 
 
 7. Commendation, from Domesday Book, 5 
 
 II. Dependent Land Tenure. 
 
 1. Gift and Return as a Precaria, 6 
 
 2. Grants of Bishop Oswald, 8 
 
 3. Change from Allodial to Feudal Holding, 10 
 
 III. Private Jurisdictions. 
 
 1. Immunity for Lands of a Bishopric, 11 
 
 2. Immunity to a Layman, 12 
 
 3. Anglo-Saxon Grant of Immunity .... 13 
 
 4. Capitulary of Kiersey, 14 
 
 PART II. FEUDAL INSTITUTIONS, A. D., 1100-1400. 
 
 I. Grants and Acknowledgments of Fiefs. 
 
 1. Acknowledgment of Feudal Tenure, 15 
 
 2. Grant of a Fief, A. D. 1210, 15 
 
 3. Grant of a Fief, A. D. 1167, 15 
 
 4. Feudal Holdings, 16 
 
 5. Grant of a Fief of Money, 17 
 
 II. Ceremony of Homage and Fealty. 
 
 1. Count of Flanders, 18 
 
 2. Homage and Fealty of Bernard Atton, 18 
 
 3. Legal Rules for Homage and Fealty, 20 
 
 III. Subinfeudation. 
 
 1. From the Exchequer Rolls, 21 
 
 2. From the Hundred Rolls, 22 
 
 IV. General Duties of Lords and 'Vassals. 
 
 1. Letter from Bishop Fulbert, 23 
 
 2. From an English Code, 24 
 
 V. Authority op Lord over Marriages. 
 
 1. Acknowledgment of Countess of Nevers, 24 
 
 2. From Chronicle of Lambert, 25 
 
 3. Fees for License to Marry, 25 
 
TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 TABI^E OF CONTENTS CONTINUED. 
 
 VI. Wardship, Relief and Aids. 
 
 1. Wardship, from the Exchequer Rolls, 26 
 
 2. Relief, from the Exchequer Rolls, 27 
 
 3. Acknowledgement of Relief, 27 
 
 4. Three familiar Aids, 28 
 
 VII. Military Service. 
 
 1. An Early Summons, 28 
 
 2. Grant to a Knight, 29 
 
 3. Service, according to the Hundred Rolls, 29 
 
 4. AcknowledgmenL of Military Duty, 29 
 
 5. Legal Rules for Service, 30 
 
 6. Instance of Count of Champagne, 30 
 
 7. Answers of Tenants to Summons 31 
 
 VIII. Feudal Justice. 
 
 1. English Customs, 32 
 
 2. Royal Writ to Secure Jurisdiction, ^^ 
 
 3. Legal Rules for Trial, 33 
 
 4. Instance of Condemnation, 33 
 
 IX. Right of Coinage. 
 
 1. Grant of the Mint, 34 
 
 2. Promise of Restriction, 35 
 
 X. Forfeiture. 
 
 I. THE ORIGINS OF FEUDALISM, A.D. 500-1100. 
 
 Feudalism is the name given to that form and degree of organization and system 
 in European society which existed at a period when there were no strong central 
 governments, when there was no civil equality of persons, and no conception of 
 absolute property in land. The absence of these institutions was more or less 
 characteristic of all the countries of western Europe from the ninth to the four- 
 teenth century. Any effort to illustrate such a condition of society by contem- 
 porary documents is necessarily somewhat fallacious, for Europe was above all else 
 disorganized and anarchic, while formal documents always give an impression of 
 order and regularity. 
 
 On the other hand such a mere dominion of force as has been spoken of, which 
 certainly tended to exist when the more orderly conditions of the period of the 
 Roman Empire and of the early barbarian monarchies had passed away, was limited 
 in several respects. It was modified notably by personal alliances of lord and vas- 
 sal, by praedial relations of landlord and tenant, by the exercise of many of the 
 powers of government on their own lands by nobles one or more stages below the 
 national ruler. A vast number of documents, edicts, formulas, and contemporary 
 records illustrate this side of the growth of Feudalism. These documents show 
 that from an early period both among the Romans and the barbarians a habit of 
 forming voluntaiy personal agreements of protection on the one hand and service 
 on the other between a superior and an inferior was prevalent ; secondly, that 
 
COMMENDATION. 3 
 
 the definiteness of the legal Roman idea of private ownership of land was be- 
 coming blunted, and the communal idea of its ownership by the clan was being 
 lost, so that they were both superseded by an ideal of beneficiary or undefined land 
 holding, which was quite satisfied with the profitable superiority over the land by 
 its lord and the practical use of it by its ultimate tenant, without raising the ques- 
 tion of its actual ownership ; and thirdly, that the power of local nobles and the 
 connivance of the weak central government combined to place military, judicial, 
 and even certain legislative and administrative powers in the hands of those whose 
 only claim to them was that they were lords over vassals and holders of lands. 
 
 The documents in Part I, are intended to illustrate these three customs, which 
 are commonly known respectively as commendation, the creation of beneficies, and 
 the grant of immunities. 
 
 I. THE GROWTH OF PERSONAL DEPENDENCE. 
 
 I. AN ANGLO-SAXON FORMULA OF COMMENDATION. 
 Schmidt: Gesetze der Angelsachsen, p. 404. Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 Thus shall one take the oath of fidelity : 
 
 By the Lord before whom this sanctuary is holy, I will to N. be 
 true and faithful, and love all which he loves and shun all which he 
 shuns, according to the laws of God and the order of the world. Nor 
 will I ever with will or action, through word or deed, do anything which 
 is unpleasing to him, on condition that he will hold to me as I shall de- 
 serve it, and that he will perform everything as it was in our agreement 
 when I submitted myself to him and chose his will. 
 
 2. A FRANKISH FORMULA OF COMMENDATION, SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 Rozi^re: Collection de Formules, No. XLIII, Vol. I, p. 69. Latin. 
 Who commends himself in the power of another : 
 To that magnificent lord so and so, I, so and so. Since it is known 
 familiarly to all how little I have whence to feed and clothe myself, I 
 have therefore petitioned your piety, and your good- will has decreed to 
 me that I should hand myself over or commend myself to your guard- 
 ianship, which I have thereupon done; that is to say in this way, that 
 you should aid and succor me as well with food as with clothing, accord- 
 ing as I shall be able to serve you and deserve it. 
 
 And so long as I shall live I ought to provide service and honor 
 to you, suitably to my free condition; and I shall not during the time 
 of my life have the ability to withdraw from your power or guardian- 
 ship; but must remain during the days of my life under your power or 
 defence. Wherefore it is proper that if either of us shall wish to with- 
 
TRANBLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 draw himself from these agreements, he shall pay so many shillings to 
 his peer (pari sao) and tliis agreement shall remain unbroken. 
 
 Wherefore it is fitting that they should make or confirm between 
 themselves two letters drawn up in the same form on this matter; which 
 they have thus done. 
 
 3. ACCEPTANCE OF AN ANTRUSTION, SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Rozidre : Collection de P'ormules, No. VIII, Vol. I, p. 8. Latin. 
 
 It is right that those who offer to us unbroken fidelity should be 
 protected by our aid. And since stich and mch a faithful one of oure, 
 by the favor of God, coming here in our palax^e with his arms, has seen 
 fit to s\vear trust and fidelity to us in our hand, therefore we decree 
 and command by the present precept that for the future siich and such 
 above mentioned be counted with the number of the antrustions. And 
 if anyone perchance should prasume to kill him, let him know that he 
 will be judged guilty of his wergild of 600 shillings. 
 
 4. CHARTER OF GUARDIANSHIP GRANTED BY THE KING. NINTH 
 
 CENTURY. 
 Roziere : Collection de Formules, No. XIII, Vol. I, p. 14. Latin. 
 
 We wish it to be known to all our faithful, dwelling in the parts of 
 Romania and Italy that certain men whose names are such and suchy 
 coming into our presence have begged and prayed us that on account of 
 the injuries of evil men we should take them under the security of our 
 protection, which we have done with willingness. On this account 
 we have ordered this precept of our authority to be made and given to 
 them; by which we require and command that no one of you take any- 
 thing of their property from them against what is right, or presume to 
 prosecute them in any cause unjustly; but it is allowed to them under 
 our defence and protection and without opposition of any kind to live 
 quietly on their own property. And if any causes shall have arisen 
 against them which within their own country cannot be concluded with- 
 out heavy and unreasonable expense, we will that these be suspended 
 and reserved for our presence till they may receive a just and lawful 
 final sentence, and let no one presume to deprive them of the oppor- 
 tunity of coming to us. 
 
COMMENDATION. 5 
 
 5. CAPITULARY CONCERNING FREEMEN AND VASSALS, A. D. 8x6. 
 M. G. LL, I, 196. Latin. 
 
 If anyone shall wish to leave his lord {seniorem,) and is able to 
 prove against him one of these crimes, that is, in the first place, if the 
 lord has wished to reduce him unjustly into servitude; in the second 
 place, if he has taken counsel against his life ; in the third place if the 
 lord has committed adultery with the wife of his vassal, in the fourth 
 place if he has wilfully attacked him with a drawn sword ; in the fifth 
 place, if the lord has been able to bring defence to his vassal after he 
 has commended his hands to him, and has not done so ; it is allowed to 
 the vassal to leave him. If the lord has perpetrated anything against 
 the vassal in these five points it is allowed the vassal to leave him. 
 
 6. CAPITULARY OF MERSEN, A. D. 847. 
 M. G. LL. I, 395. Latin. 
 
 We will moreover that each free man in our kingdom shall 
 choose a lord, from us or our faithful, such a one as he wishes. 
 
 We command moreover that no man shall leave his lord without 
 just cause, nor should any one receive him, except in such a way as was 
 customary in the time of our predecessors. 
 
 And we wish you to know that we want to grant right to our faith- 
 ful subjects and we do not wish to do anything to them against reason. 
 Similarly we admonish you and the rest of our faithful subjects that you 
 grant right to your men and do not act against reason toward them. 
 
 And we will that the man of each one of us * in whosoever king- 
 dom he is, shall go with his lord against the enemy, or in his other 
 needs unless there shall have been (as may there not be) such an inva- 
 sion of the kingdom as is called a landwer, so that the whole people of 
 that kingdom shall go together to repel it. 
 
 7. INSTANCES OF COMMENDATION FROM DOMESDAY BOOK, A. D. 1085. 
 
 The reference to most of these passages is due to Prof. F. W. Maitland, whose 
 *^ Domesday Book and Beyond,^* \iB.s entirely transformed the study of early 
 English Feudalism, as of so many other elements of English mediseval history. The 
 same remark applies to Oswald's Grants, Document II, 2, p. 8. 
 
 Lothar, Lewis and Charles. 
 
6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 In Greenwich were two free men, one commended to King Edward, 
 
 the other to Girth. 
 
 Suffolk, i, 347. 
 
 In the borough* Roger has thirty-three men commended to him 
 whom his predecessor held, in whom he had nothing except commendation. 
 
 Norfolk, i, 173. 
 
 In Wantage hundred the same bishop holds from the king one hide 
 and a half, and Tori from him. The father of Tori held it in the time 
 of King Edward, and was able to go whither he wished, but for his pro- 
 tection he committed himself to bishop Herman, and Tori similarly to 
 
 bishop Osmund. 
 
 Berkshire, i, 58. 
 
 This land Edmund, a man of Earl Harold, held. 
 
 Hertfordshire, i, 133. 
 
 In Munehale a certain Englishman holds from Geoffrey three 
 virgates, which he held as a free man in the time of King Edward ; and 
 in the time of King William he became the man of Geoffrey, of his own 
 free will. 
 
 Essex, i, 62 b. 
 
 In Becham one free man holds by commendation from bishop Almar 
 
 80 acres of land. 
 
 Norfolk, i, 198 b. 
 
 In the borough there were 943 burghers in the time of King Ed- 
 ward. Of these the king has the whole custom. Of these men there 
 were 36 so completely in the domain of King Edward that they were 
 not able to be the men of any one without the license of the king. All 
 the rest were able to be the men of any one, but the custom neverthe- 
 less remained to the king, except heriot. 
 
 Thetford, Norfolk, i, 186 b. 
 
 II. THE GROWTH OF DEPENDENT LAND TENURE. 
 
 I. GRANT OF LANDS TO A MONASTERY, AND THEIR RETURN AS A 
 PRECARIA, SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Rozi^re : Collection de Formules, No. CCCL, Vol. I, p. 433- Latin. 
 
 I, such a one, in the name of God. I have settled in my mind that 
 
 1 Thetford. 
 
DEPENDENT LAND TENURE. 7 
 
 I ought, for the good of my soul, to make a gift of something from my 
 possessions, which I have therefore done. And this is what I hand 
 over, in the district named so and so, in the place of which the name is 
 such and such, all those possessions of mine which there my father left 
 me at his death, and which as against my brothers or as against my co- 
 heirs the lot legitimately brought me in the division ; or those which I 
 was able afterward to add to them in any way, in their whole complete- 
 ness, that is to say the courtyard with its buildings, with slaves, houses, 
 lands cultivated and uncultivated, meadows, woods, waters, mills, etc. 
 These, as I have before said, with all the things adjacent or appurtenant 
 to them I hand over to the church, which was built in honor of such 
 and such a saint to the monastery which is called so and so, where such 
 and such an abbott is acknowledged to rule regularly over God's flock ; 
 on these conditions, viz : That so long as life remains in my body, the 
 possessions above described I shall receive from you as a benefice for 
 usufruct, ^nd the due payment I will make to you and your successoi*s 
 each year, that is so and so much. And my son shall have the same 
 possessions for the days of his life only, and shall make the above named 
 payment ; and if my children should survive me they shall have the 
 same possessions during the days of their life and shall make the same 
 payment ; and if God shall give me a son from a legitimate wife, he 
 shall have the same possessions for the days of his life only, afi;er the 
 death of whom the same possessions with all their improvements shall 
 return to your part to be held forever ; and if it should be my chance 
 to beget sons from a legitimate marriage, these shall hold the same pos- 
 sessions after my death, making the above named payment, during the 
 time of their lives. If not, however, after my death, without tergiversa- 
 tion of any kind, by right of your authority, the same possessions shall 
 revert to you to be retained forever. If any one, however, which I do 
 not believe will ever occur, if I myself or any other person shall wish 
 to violate the firmness and validity of this grant, the order of truth op- 
 posing him, may his falsity in no degree succeed ; and for his bold at- 
 tempt may he pay to the aforesaid monastery double the amount which 
 his ill-ordered cupidity has been prevented from abstracting ; and more- 
 over let him be culpable to the royal authority for such and such an 
 amount of gold ; and, nevertheless, let the present charter remain in- 
 violate with all that it contains, with the witnesses placed below. 
 
 Done in such and such a place, publicly, those who are noted below 
 being present, or the remaining innumerable multitude of people. 
 
8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 In the name of God, I, abbott so and so, with our commissioned 
 brethren. Since it is not unknown how you, such and such a one, by the 
 suggestion of divine exhortation did grant to such and such a mon- 
 astery, to the church which is known to be constructed in honor of such 
 and such a saint, where we by God's authority exercise our pastoral 
 care, all your possessions which you seemed to have in the district 
 named, in the vill named, which your father on his death bequeathed 
 to you there, or which by your own labor you were able to gain there, 
 or which as against your brother or against such and such a co-heir, a 
 just division gave you, with courtyard and buildings, gardens and or- 
 chards, with various slaves, so and so by name, houses, lands, meadows, 
 woods, cultivated and uncultivated, or with all the dependencies and 
 appurtenances belonging to it, which it would be extremely long to enu- 
 merate, in all their completeness ; but afterwards, at your request, it has 
 seemed proper to us to cede to you the same possessions to be held for 
 usufruct ; and you will not neglect to pay at annual periods the due 
 censum hence, that is so and so much. And if God should give you a son 
 by your legal wife, he shall have the same possessions for the days of 
 his life only, and shall not presume to neglect the above named pay- 
 ment, and similarly your sons which you are seen to have at present, 
 shall do for the days of their life ; after the death of whom all the pos- 
 sessions above named shall revert to us and our successors perpetually. 
 Moreover, if no sons shall have been begotten by you, immediately after 
 your death, without any prejudicial contention, they shall revert to the 
 rulers or guardians of the above named church, forever, Nor may any 
 one, either ourselves or our successors, be successful in a rash attempt 
 inordinately to destroy these agreements, but just as the time has de- 
 manded in the present precaria, may that be sure to endure unchanged 
 which we, with the consent of our brothers, have decided to corroborate. 
 
 Done in such and such a place, in the presence of so and so and of 
 others whom it is not worth while to enumerate. Seal of the same ab- 
 bott, who has ordered this precaria to be made. 
 
 2. Oswald's grants of subject-lands, a. d., 970. 
 
 Kemble : Saxons in England, I, 517-19. Latin. 
 
 To my dearest lord Edgar, King of the English, I, Oswald, bishop 
 of the church of Worcester, return thanks before God and men for all 
 the gifts which by your clemency have been granted, to me. Therefore, 
 
OSWALD*S GRANTS. 9 
 
 if the mercy of God will allow, before God and men will I always re- 
 main faithful to you, remembering in my gratitude your abundant good. 
 ness, in granting to me that which I desired so deeply, and taking up 
 my quarrel and that of the holy church of God. This you did through 
 the aid and intervention of my spokesmen, the most reverend archbishop 
 Dunstan, and the venerable Aethelwold, bishop of Winchester, and that 
 magnificent man, Earl Brihtnoth ; and in accordance with the counsel 
 of his wise men and magnates decided it justly, and to the sustentation 
 of the church which he graciously committed to me to rule. Wherefore, in 
 what manner with the lands which were handed over to my power, I 
 have endowed my dependents, for the space of life of three men, that is 
 of two heirs after themselves, with the license and attestation of the 
 same my lord king, it has pleased both myself and my helpei"s and 
 counsellors to explain openly through the form of a chirograph to my 
 brethren and successors, that is the bishops. They will thus know what 
 oughtj ustly to be required from them according to the agreement made with 
 them and with their promise. I have also been careful to compose this 
 letter by way of caution, lest any one in the future, instigated by wicked 
 cupidity, and desiring to change this, should renounce the service of the 
 church. So this agreement was made with them, the same my lord 
 king approving and by his attestation corroborating and confirming the 
 greatness of his munificence, all the wise men and magnates of his court 
 attesting and consenting. 
 
 With this agreement I have conceded to them the lands of holy 
 church to be held under me, that is that all the law of riding which 
 pertains to equites should be fulfilled by them ; and that they should 
 fully perform all those things which justly belong to the right of the 
 same church, that is to say those things which in English are called 
 churchscot and toll (that is theloneum), and tac (that \s swiiisceade,) and 
 other rights of the church, unless the bishop shall wish to pardon any- 
 thing to any one of them ; and they must, moreover, aflSrm with an oath 
 that so long as they hold his lands they will continue humbly in all 
 subjection to the commands of the bishop. Besides this, moreover, they 
 shall provide themselves ready for every need of the bishop ; they shall 
 provide horses, they themselves shall ride ; and for all the burning of 
 lime for the need of the church and for the building of the bridge they shall 
 be found ready ; moreover they shall provide, of their own accord, for 
 building the hunting lodge of the lord bishop, and shall turn their own 
 spears to hunting whenever it shall please the lord bishop. Moreover, 
 
lO TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 for the many other occasions of need which the lord bishop often re- 
 quires, either for his own service or to fulfill that to the king, they 
 should always be subjected in all humility to the governance of that 
 leader and to the will of whomsoever presides over the episcopal office, 
 on account of the benefices which have been granted to them, according to 
 his will and according to the quantity of lands which each one possesses. 
 
 When the aforesaid course of time shall have pa-ssed away, that is 
 to say, the period of life of two heire after those wlio now p<jssess them, it 
 shall re^t with the judgment of the same bishop as to what he wishes, 
 and whatever his will is, so it shall stand, either to retain these to his 
 own need, if so he shall judge it is useful to him, or to grant them for 
 a longer time to any one if it shall so seem gooil to him, so, neverthe- 
 less, that the service of the church shall always, as we have said alwve, 
 be fully provided for. 
 
 But if any of those rights mentioned above shall have failed be- 
 cause of the crime of any one misrepresenting, let him atone for the 
 crime of his misrepresentation according to the right of the bishop, or 
 let him be deprived of that gift and land which he before had control of. 
 If there should be any one, tempted by the devil, (as we should hope not) 
 who, by means of our benefice, should attempt by fraud to deprive the 
 church of God, either of its property or of its due service, let him be de- 
 prived of our benediction and of all blessing of God and his saints, un- 
 less by the most profound repentance, he hastens to correct it aiid re- 
 stores to its original condition what he has defrauded it of; for it is 
 written : "robbers and sacrilegious men shall not reach the kingdom of 
 God." Now, however, for the sake of Grod and Holy Mary, in whose 
 name this monastery is endowed, I advise and require that in no way 
 should any one venture to wrest this, but as by us it has been established, 
 as we have described above, so let it remain forever. He who keeps 
 this let him be filled with all benediction ; he, however, who infringes 
 it let him be cursed by the Lord and all saints, Amen. 
 
 3. CHANGE FROM ALLODIAL TO FEUDAL HOLDING. 
 
 Quantin : Recueil de Pieces du XIII Si^cle, No. 631, pp. 310-11. Latin. 
 
 This instance of the original entrance of a piece of land into feudal relations 
 is of course at a date centuries after feudal tenure had become characteristic of most 
 of the land of Europe, but it seems to be typical of conditions even at this late pe- 
 riod, in the south of France. See discussion in Luchaire and in Boutaric. 
 
PRIVATE JURISDICrriONS. II 
 
 To all who shall see the present letters, the Official of Auxerre, 
 greeting. Let all know, that standing in presence William de la 
 Foret, knight, and Agnes, his wife, asserting firmly that they hold and 
 possess in free allod the property noted below ; viz : the arpent of vines, 
 situated in the vineyard of Chablis, in the place which is called the 
 Close, between the vines of William Berner, on the one side and the 
 
 vines of the late Pariot, on the other, ^ also 
 
 all other things which they possessed and held in free allod, as they said, 
 and still hold and possess within the boundaries of Chablis, of Chichiac, 
 of Milli, of Ponche, of Bena and of Chapelle, the direct and hereditary 
 holdings of the same Agnes wherever they may be within the same 
 boundaries, and whatsoever ; by their common consent and will, after 
 previous deliberation they have placed altogether in the fee of the church 
 of St. Martin of Tours, and in fee, for the future have wished to hold 
 and possess firmly from the said church. 
 
 They promise, on their fealty offered by their bodies, that they hold 
 and will hold the things aforesaid and expressed above, with all other 
 things which they hold and possess within the said boundaries wherever 
 they may be and whatsoever, for the future, from the said church in 
 fee, and to the same church in future, by reason of the same property 
 will provide feudal service as they ought to provide it, just as others 
 holding in fee are accustomed to hold and are bound to give or provide. 
 Given A. D. 1267, Wednesday after the Ascension of the Lord. 
 
 IIL PRIVATE JURISDICTIONS. 
 
 I. GRANT OF IMMUNITY FOR THE LANDS OF A BISHOPRIC. 
 Rozi^re : Recueil de Formules, No. XVI, Vol. I, p. 17. Latin. 
 We believe that it increases the great memorial of our realm, if with 
 benevolent deliberation we concede opportune benefits to the places 
 of the churches or to any one you nmy narney and under the protection 
 of the Lord, write them down to endure in stability. Therefoi-e, may 
 your zeal know that we have seen fit upon petition to grant such 
 a benefit, for our eternal reward, to that apostolic man, lord so and so, 
 bishop of such and such a city; that in the vills of the church of that 
 
 * The charter continues to describe some 20 pieces of vineyard, meadow and 
 arable land, certain houses, and rents in wine and grain, the property being situated 
 apparently in six different villages. 
 
12 TRANSLATIONS AND REFRINT8. 
 
 lord, which in recent times, or in ours, or hy the gift of any one, he i» 
 seen to have, or which in the future godly piety shall wish to amplify in 
 the right of that holy place, no public judge shall at any time presume 
 to enter for the hearing of causes or for the exaction of payments, but the 
 prelate himself or his successors for the name of the Lord shall be able 
 to rule over this under the name of a complete corporation. We require, 
 therefore, that neither you nor your subordinates nor your successors 
 nor any public judicial power should presume at any time to enter into 
 the vills of the same church anywhere in our kingdom, either those 
 granted by royal bounty or by that of private persons or those which shall 
 in future be granted; either for the sake of hearing altercations or 
 to exact fines for any causes, or to obtain sureties. But whatever the 
 Treasury could expect either of fines or other things either from free- 
 men or from servants and other nations who are within the fields or 
 boundaries or dwelling upon the lands of the aforesaid church ; by our 
 indulgence for our future welfere, shall be profitable for the expenses 
 of the same church by the hand of those ruling it, forever. And what 
 we for the name of God and the remedy of our soul and that of our 
 progeny who shall follow us have granted from full devotion, let not 
 the royal sublimity, in the reckless cupidity of any of the judges be 
 tempted to break. And, in order that the present authority may, 
 by the aid of God, remain inviolate in present as in future times we have 
 ordered this to be corroborated below by the subscription of our hand. 
 
 2. GRANT OF IMMUNITY TO A LAYMAN, SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 Roziere : Recueil de Formules, No. CXLVII. Vol. I, p. 185. Latin. 
 Therefore, may your greatness or perseverance know that we have 
 seen fit to concede by our ready will to such and such an illustrious 
 man, the vill named so and so. situated in such and such a district, 
 completely with its whole proper boundary, as it has been possessed by 
 such and such a one or by our treasury, or is possessed at this present 
 time. Wherefore, by our present authority we have decreed what we 
 command shall be kept forever, that the man aforesaid, so and so, 
 should have conceded to him su^h and such a vill as we have said, in its 
 entirety, with the lands, houses, buildings, villeins, slaves, vineyards, 
 woods, fields, meadows, pastures, waters or watercourses, grist mills, ad- 
 ditions, appurtenances, or any kind of men who are subjected to our 
 treasury who dwell there ; in entire immunity, and without the entrance 
 
GRANT OP IMMUNITY. I3 
 
 of any one of the judges for the purpose of holding the pleas of any kind 
 of causes. Thus he may have, hold, and possess it in proprietary right 
 and without expecting the entrance of any of the judges ; and may leave 
 the possession of it to his posterity, by the aid of God, from our bounty, 
 or to whom he will ; and by our permission he shall have free ix)wer to 
 do whatever he may wish with it for the future. And in order that 
 this authority may be held as more firm, we have decreed it to be cor- 
 roborated below with our own hand. 
 
 3. ANGLO-SAXON GRANT OF IMMUNITY, A. D., IO53. 
 
 Thorpe : Diplomatarium Anglicum, p. 368. Anglo-Saxon. 
 Such grants as the following have not usually been recognized as grants of 
 immunity, and our ignorance as to the exact significance of the Anglo-Saxon tech- 
 nical terms employed makes it impossible to decide the extent of the exemptions 
 granted. But there seems to be no doubt that the result of such a grant was to 
 give the recipients the right to all the profits of justice, and exemption from the in- 
 trusion of royal officials, and therefore inferentially the right and duty of holding 
 courts and exercising other forms of jurisdiction. See Maitland : ^*Dofnesday 
 Book and Beyond^ ' ' especially Essay II, sect. 3. 
 
 I, King Edward, greet bishop Wulfwig and earl Gyrth and all my 
 thanes in Oxfordshire amicably, and I make known to you that I have 
 given to Christ and Saint Peter in Westminster, the village in which I 
 was bom, by name Islip, and a half-hide at Mai*sh, scot-free and rent 
 free, with all the things which thereto belong, in wood and in field, in 
 mead and in water, with church and with church socn, as full and as 
 complete and as free as it stood in my own hand, and as Aelfgifu Em- 
 ma, my mother, gave it to me at my birthday, as a first gift, and nat- 
 urally bequeathed it. And I give them, moreover, sac and socn, 
 toll and team, and infangenethe of and bloodwite and wardwite and 
 hamsocu, and foresteal, grithbryce and mundbryce, and all the rights 
 which to me belong. I now greet well my beloved kinsman at Walling- 
 ford, and I enjoin thee that thou in my stead deliver that land into the 
 possession of the saint, for I will on no account allow that any man 
 have any authority there, in any thing or at any times, except the ab- 
 bot and the brethren, for the monastery's necessary requirements. And 
 whoso shall faithfully hold this alms may God and God's mother hold 
 him in everlasting bliss. And whoso shall turn it aside, be he turned 
 aside from God to the rigid tortures of hell's inmates, unless he in this 
 earth the more rigidly make amends. Grod and St. Peter's favor pre- 
 serve you. 
 
14 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 4. FROM THE CAPITULARY OF KIER8EY, A. D., 877. 
 M. G., LL., Vol. I, p. 542. Latin. 
 
 If a count of this kingdom, whose son is with us, shall die, our son 
 with the rest of our faithful shall apfxjint some one of the nearest rela- 
 tives of the same count, who, along with the officials of his province and 
 with the bishop in whose diocese the same province is, shall administer 
 that province until announcement is made to us, so that we may honor his 
 son who is witli us with his honors. 
 
 If, however, he had a minor son, this same son, along with the 
 officials of that province and with the bishop in whose di(x;ese it is, shall 
 make provision for the same province until the notice of the death of the 
 same count shall come to us, that his son may be honored, by our con- 
 cession, with his honors. 
 
 If, however, he had no son, our son along with the rest of the faith- 
 ful, shall take charge, \vho, along with the officials of the same province 
 and with the proper bishop shall make provision for the same province 
 until our order may be made in regard to it. Tlierefore, let him not 
 be angry who shall provide for the province if we give the same pro- 
 vince to anotlier whom it pleases us, rather than to him who has so far 
 provided for it. 
 
 Similarly also shall this be done concerning our vassals. And we 
 will and command that as well the bishops as the abbots and the counts, 
 and any others of our faithful also, shall study to preserve this toward 
 their men. 
 
 II. FEUDAL INSTITUTIONS, A. D. 1 100-1400. 
 
 The relation of lord and vassal, the engagements between lord and tenant, and 
 the feudal possession of political powers, as time passed on, obtained a greater 
 amount of fixedness and uniformity. That is to say, there came to be well-defined 
 feudal institutions in existence. Moreover, in local tradition, in documentary 
 formulas, in charters issued by kings or great feudal lords, and finally in legal 
 treatises, such as the Coutunners of various French provinces, the Sachsenspiegel ^ 
 or the Libri Feudorum^ there grew up a body of established feudal law or 
 custom which could be appealed to as authoritative. Thus by the thirteenth cen- 
 tury Feudalism, as far as it extended, was a tolerably regular system. But by this 
 time also many non-feudal influences were already growing in strength. The cen- 
 tralized monarchies, city life, the system of national estates, commerce, manufac- 
 tures, money capital, were increasing in influence while feudal institutions were 
 both absolutely and relatively losing in importance. Feudalism therefore merely 
 bridges over the chasm lying between one set of orderly institutions, those of the 
 
GRANTS OF FIEFS. I5 
 
 Roman Empire and the early barbarian monarchies, and another, those of the re- 
 viving national monarchies of the thirteenth and subsequent centuries. The docu- 
 ments in Part II are intended to illustrate feudal institutions as they took shape in 
 the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 
 
 I. GRANTS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS OF FIEFS. 
 
 I. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF FEUDAL TENURE, A. D. I220. 
 Quantin, Recueil de Pieces du XIII Si^cle No. 264, p. 1 16. Latin. 
 I, Guy, lord of Maligny, make known to all who shall see this 
 present letter that I hold from the count of Champagne, the chateau 
 of Maligny, and the manors which are subject to the jurisdiction of and 
 liable to revert to the same count at small and great force, and the 
 knights' fees which are held from Maligny, and whatever I have at La 
 Chapelle, near Maligny, and whatever I have at Beine, except Henry 
 and his family, and Sir Guy of Montreal, and whatever I have at 
 Chablis, which is in the name of my wife. And that this may be known 
 for the future I have strengthened the present letter with the support 
 of my seal. Given in the year of grace 1220, in the month of 
 February. 
 
 2. GRANT OF A FIEF, A. D., I200. 
 Quantin: Recueil de Pieces du XIII Si^cle, No. 2. Latin. 
 
 I, Thiebault, count palatine of Troyes, make known to those present 
 and to come that I have given in fee to Jocelyn d'Avalon and his heirs 
 the manor which is called Gillencourt, which is of the castellanerie of 
 La Ferte sur Aube ; and whatever the same Jocelyn shall be able to 
 acquire in the same manor I have granted to him and his heirs in aug- 
 mentation of that fief. I have granted, moreover, to him that in no 
 free manor of mine will I retain men who are of this gift. The same 
 Jocelyn, moreover, on account of this has become my liege man, saving 
 however, his allegiance to Gerard d'Arcy, and to the lord duke of Bur- 
 gundy, and to Peter, count of Auxerre. Done atChouaude, by my own 
 witness, in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord 1200 in the month 
 of January. Given by the hand of Walter, my chancellor ; note of Milo. 
 
 3. GRANT OF A FIEF, A. D., II 67. 
 
 Brussel: Usage des Fiefs, I, 3, note. Latin. 
 
 In the name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Amen. I, Louis, 
 by the grace of God, king of the French, make known to all present as 
 
1 6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 well as to come, that at Maiite in our presence, Count Henry of Cliarn- 
 pague conceded the tiefof Saviguy to Bartholomew, bishop of Beauvais, 
 and his successors. And for that fief the said bishop has made promise 
 and engagement for one knight and justice and service to Count Henry; 
 and he has also agreed that the bishops who shall come after him will do 
 likewise. In order that this may be understood and known to posterity 
 we have caused the present charter to be corroborated by our seal ; done 
 at Mante, in the year of the Incarnate Word 1167 ; present in our 
 palace those whose names and seals are appended : seal of count Thie- 
 bault, our steward; seal of Guy, the butler; seal of Matthew, the cham- 
 berlain ; seal of Ralph, the constable. Given by the hand of Hugh, 
 the chancellor. 
 
 4. FEUDAL HOLDINGS IN ENGLAND, A. D. II 66. 
 
 Red Book of the Exchequer, Rolls Series, Vol. I, pp. 246, 342, 312, 313. Latin, 
 In 1 166 an order seems to have been sent out from the royal Exchequer in 
 England requiring all tenants-in-chief to make formal report to the king of the 
 number and names of the subtenants who had been enfeoffed on their lands previ- 
 ous to 1 135, of those subsequently, and of the number they owed to the king from 
 their lands in addition to these military subtenants. The returns to this summons, 
 which give exceedmgly valuable information for the military side of feudalism, are 
 preserved in the "Red Bookof the Exchequer," lately published in the Rolls Series, 
 and interpreted by Mr. J. H. Round in his work entitled '■^Feudal England^^^ 
 especially pp. 236 fif. 
 
 To his dearest lord Henry, by the grace of God king of the Eng- 
 lish, William of London, greeting : 
 
 Know that I have no knight enfeoffed of old or recently, but I 
 ought to defend my fief with the service of my body. 
 
 To Henry, by the grace of God king of the English, Peter de 
 Mare, greeting: 
 
 Let it be known to you that I hold Lavington, by your grace, in 
 domain, for the service of two knights. But I have no knight enfeoffed 
 there, either by old or recent feoffment. 
 
 To Henry, king of the English, duke of the Normans and Aquita- 
 nians, and count of the Angevins, Roger de Burun, greeting : 
 
 Concerning my knights in the time of king Henry, know this to be 
 true : W. de Heriz holds two knights' fees ; Roger de uordingestoke 
 two knights' fees ; Patrick de Rosel, one knights' fee ; and Albert, whom 
 my father enfeoffed after the death of king Henry, one knights' fee. 
 And I myself fulfill the service of four knights from my domain. 
 
GRANTS OF FIEFS. 1 7 
 
 Earl Walter Giffard * had these knights enfeoffed in old feoffment ; 
 Hugh Boleheche owed the earl the service of twenty knights ; Geoffrey 
 Fitz- William, of twenty-seven knights ; Manasser Bisset, of one knight ; 
 William de Saukeville, of one knight; Hugh de Noers, of one knight; 
 Gerard de Granville, of three knights ; Wido de Rocheford, of three 
 knights ; Richard Talbot, of two knights ; William Passeleue, of three 
 knights; William Buteri, of five knights; Peter Corbuzone, of five 
 knights; Richard Fitz-Mabel, of four knights; Gerard de Reddenham, 
 of two knights ; Walter de Weston, of two knights ; Jordan de Belnair, 
 of two knights ; Pagan de Dertone, of one knight ; Henry de Oyli, of 
 one knight; Hugh de Cresi, of one knight; Elias Giffard, of two knights. 
 Robert de Neville, of one knight ; Ralph de Lucinton, of one knight ; 
 Matilda de Bee, of one knight ; the son of William Fitz-Roger, of one 
 knight; Hamo Fitz-Bener, of half a knight ; Roger de St. Faith, of half 
 a knight ; Robert de Bedford, of half a knight ; Sawalle de Crendon, 
 of half a knight, supported by the earl ; Gerard de Bodingham, of half 
 a knight; Alan de Bodingham, of half a knight; Adam de St. Law- 
 rence, of half a knight : Richar de Witewelle, of half a knight ; Richard 
 Makerel, of half a knight. Of recent feoffment, Hugh de Millville has 
 the fee of half a knight; William Cokerel, of half a knight; William 
 de Bureville, of half a knight 
 
 5. GRANT OF A FIEF OF MONEY, A. D., I380. 
 Boutaric; Institutions Militaires de la France, p. 121. Latin. 
 We, Regnault de Fauquemont, knight, lord of Bournes and of 
 Sitter, make known to all by these presents, that we have become liege 
 man of the king of France, our lord, and to him have made faith and 
 homage because of 1000 livres of Tours of income which he has given 
 to us during our life, to be drawn from his treasury at Paris. And we 
 have promised to him and do promise by these presents to serve him 
 loyally and well in his wars and otherwise against all who can live and 
 die, in the form and manner in which a good and loyal subject ought 
 to serve his sovereign lord. In testimony of which we have put our 
 «eal to these present letters. Given at Paris, the 15th day of June, the 
 year 1380. 
 
 *■ Earl of Buckinghamshire, 
 
1 8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 II. THE CEREMONY OF HOMAGE AND FEALTY. 
 
 I. HOMAGE AND FEALTY TO COUNT OF FLANDERS, A. D., II 27. 
 
 Galbert de Bruges, Chronicle of the Death of Charles the Good, 
 
 Ed. by Pirenne, p. 89. Latin. 
 
 Through the whole remaining part of the day those who had been 
 previously enfeoffed by the most pious count Charles, did homage to 
 the count, taking up now again their fiefs and offices and whatever they 
 had before rightfully and legitimately obtained. On Thursday the 
 seventh of April, homages were again made to the count being com- 
 pleted in the following order of faith and security. 
 
 First they did their homage thus, the count asked if he was willing 
 to become completely his man, and the other replied, "I am willing"; 
 and with clasped hands, surrounded by the hands of the count, they 
 were bound together by a kiss. Secondly, he who had done homage 
 gave his fealty to the representative of the count in these words, "I 
 promise on my faith that I will in future be faithful to count William, 
 and will observe my homage to him completely against all persons in 
 good faith and without deceit," and thirdly, he took his oath to this 
 ujwn the relics of the saints. Afterward, with a little rod which the 
 count held in his hand, he gave investitures to all who by this agree- 
 ment had given their security and homage and accompanying oath* 
 
 2. CHARTER OF HOMAGE AND FEALTY, A. D., IIIO. 
 Teulet: Layettes du Tresor desChartes, No., 39, Vol. I, p. 36. Latin. 
 
 In the name of the Lord, I, Bernard Atton, Viscount of Carcas- 
 sonne, in the presence of my sons, Roger and Trencavel, and of Peter 
 Roger of Barbazan, and William Hugo, and Raymond Mantellini, and 
 Peter de Vietry, nobles, and of many other honorable men, who had 
 come to the monastery of St. Mary of Grasse, to the honor of the festi- 
 val of the august St. Mary ; since lord Leo, abbot of the said monastery, 
 has asked me, in the presence of all those above mentioned, to acknowl- 
 edge to him the fealty and homage for the castles, manors, and places 
 which the patrons, my ancestors, held from him and his predecessors and 
 from the said monastery as a fief, and which I ought to hold as 
 they held, I have made to the lord abbot Leo acknowledgment and 
 homage as I ought to do. 
 
 Therefore, let all present and to come know that I the said Ber- 
 
HOMAGE AND FEALTY. 1 9 
 
 nard Atton, lord and viscount of Carcassonne, acknowledge verily to 
 thee my lord Leo, by the grace of God, abbot of St. Mary of Grasse, 
 and to thy successors that I hold and ought to hold as a fief, in Carcas- 
 sonne, the following: that is to say, the castles of Confoles, of Leocque, 
 of Capendes, (which is otherwise known as St. Martin of Sussagues) ; 
 and the manors of Mairac, of Albars and of Musso ; also, in the 
 valley of Aquitaine, Rieux, Traverina, Herault, Archas, Servians, 
 Villatritoes, Tansiraus, Presler, Cornelles. Moreover, I acknowledge 
 that I hold from thee and from the said monastery as a fief the castle of 
 Termes in Narbonne ; and in Minerve the castle of Ventaion, and the 
 manors of Cassanolles, and of Ferral and Aiohars ; and in Le Rog^s, 
 the little village of Longville ; for each and all of which I make homage 
 and fealty with hands and with mouth to thee my said lord abbot Leo 
 and to thy successoi-s, and I swear upon these four gospels of God that 
 I will always be a faithful vassal to thee and to thy successors and to 
 St. Mary of Grasse in all things in which a vassal is required to be 
 faithful to his lord, and I will defend thee, my lord, and all thy suc- 
 cessors, and the said monastery and the monks present and to come and 
 the castles and manors and all your men and their possessions against 
 all malefactors and invaders, at my request and that of my successors 
 at my own cost ; and I will give to thee power over all the castles and 
 manors above described, in peace and in war, whenever they shall be 
 claimed by thee or by thy successors. 
 
 Moreover I acknowledge that, as a recognition of the above fiefs, 
 I and my successors ought to come to the said monastery, at our own 
 expense, as often as a new abbot shall have been made, and there do 
 homage and return to him the power over all the fiefs described above. 
 And when the abbot shall mount his horse I and my heirs, viscounts of 
 Carcassonne, and our successors ought to hold the stirrup for the honor 
 of the dominion of St. Mary of Grasse ; and to him and all who come 
 with him, to as many as two hundred beasts, we should make the abbot's 
 purveyance in the borough of St. Michael of Carcassonne, the first time 
 he enters Carcassonne, with the best fish and meat and with eggs and 
 cheese, honorably according to his will, and pay the expense of the 
 shoeing of the horses, and for straw and fodder as the season shall require. 
 
 And if I or my sons or their successors do not observe to thee or to 
 thy successors each and all the things declared above, and should come 
 against these things, we wish that all the aforesaid fiefs should by that 
 
20 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 very fact be handed over to thee and to the said monastery of St. Mary 
 of Grasse and to thy successors. 
 
 I, therefore, the aforesaid lord I^o, by the grace of God, abbot of 
 St. Mary of Grasse, receive the homage and fealty for all the liefs of 
 castles and mauoi-g and places which are described above ; in the way 
 and with theagreementaandundei*stauding8 written above ; and likewise 
 I concede to thee and thy heii*s and their successors, the viscounts of Car- 
 cassonne, all the castles and manors and places aforesaid, as a fief, along 
 with this present charter, divided through the alphabet. And I promise 
 to thee and thy heirs and successors, viscounts of Carcassonne, under the 
 religion of my order, that I will be good and faithful lord concerning 
 all those things described above. 
 
 Moreover, I, the aforesaid viscount, acknowledge that the little 
 villages of Caunetis, Maironis, Villamagna, Aiglino, Villadasas, Villa- 
 francos, Villadeuz, Villaudriz, St. Genese, Gauart, Conguste and Mata, 
 with the farm-house of Mathus and the chateaux of Villalauro and Claro- 
 mont, with the little villages of St. Stephen of Surlac, and of Upper and 
 Lower Agrifolio, ought to belong to the said monastery, and whoever 
 holds anything there holds from the same monastery, as we have seen 
 and have heard read in the privileges and charters of the monastery, 
 and as was there written. 
 
 Made in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1110, in the reign 
 of Ijouis. Seal of Bernard Atton, viscount of Carcassonne, seal of Ray- 
 mond Mantellini, seal of Peter Roger of Barbazon, seal of Roger, sou 
 of the said viscount of Carcassonne, seal of Peter de Vitry, seal of Tren- 
 cavel, son of the said viscount of Carcassonne, seal of William Hugo, 
 seal of lord abbot Leo, who has accepted this acknowledgment of the 
 homage of the said viscount. 
 
 And I, the monk John, have written this charter at the command 
 of the said lord Bernard Atton, viscount of Carcassonne and of his sons, 
 on the day and year given above, in the presence and witness of all those 
 named above. 
 
 3. LEGAL RULES FOR HOMAGE AND FEALTY. 
 
 EtablissementsdeSt. Louis, II. c. 19. Ed.by Viollet,Vol. II,pp. 395, ff. OldFrench, 
 
 If any one should hold from a lord in fee, he ought to seek his 
 lord within forty days, and if he does not do it within forty days the 
 
SUB-IN FEUDATION. 21 
 
 lord may and ought to seize his fief for default of homage, and the things 
 which should be found there he should seize without return, and yet the 
 vassal would be obliged to pay to his lord the redemption. When any 
 one wishes to enter into the fealty of a lord, he ought to seek him, as we 
 have said above, and should say as follows: *'Sir, I request you as my 
 lord, to put me in your fealty and in your homage for such and such a 
 thing situated in your fief, which I have bought." And he ought to say 
 from what man, and this one ought to be present and in the fealty of 
 the lord ; and whether it is by purchase or by escheat or by inheritance 
 he ought to explain ; and with his hands joined, to speak as follows : 
 "Sir, I become your man and promise to you fealty for the future as my 
 lord towards all men who may live or die, rendering to you such ser- 
 vice as the fief requires, making to you your relief as you are the lord." 
 And he ought to say whether for guardianship, or as an escheat, or as 
 an inheritance or as a purchase. 
 
 The lord should immediately reply to him : "And I receive you 
 and take you as my man, and give you this kiss as a sign of faith, saving 
 my right and that of others," according to the usage of the various dis- 
 tricts. 
 
 And the lord may take the revenues and the products of the year, 
 if the relief is not paid to him, and also money rents. But no one makes 
 money payments for a guardianship, or for a dowry, or for a partition, 
 or for a report of the extent of the fief, according to the usages of vari- 
 ous districts ; except in the one case that the one who holds in guardian- 
 ship ought to give security to the parties that when the child shall come 
 of age the one who has the guardianship, will do it at his own expense 
 and at his cost, and will guarantee the socage tenants for any payments. 
 It is thus in the case of a fief, but in villenage there is no guardianship. 
 
 III. SUB-INFEUDATION. 
 
 I. FROM THE ENGLISH EXCHEQUER ROLLS, A. D., 1 254. 
 Madox: History of the Exchequer, p. 415. Latin. 
 Commandment is given to the sheriff of Worcester, that if Baldwin 
 de Frivill does not hold from the king in capites but from Alexander de 
 Abetot, and Alexander from William de Beauchamp, and William 
 from the bishop of Worcester, and the bishop from the king in capite, 
 as the same Baldwin says ; then the said Baldwin is to have peace from 
 the distraint which has been made upon him for the aid to make the 
 king's son a knight 
 
22 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 2. FROM THE ENGLISH HUNDRED ROLLS, A. D., 1 279. 
 Rotuli Hundredorum, II, 862, 673, and 681 ff. Latin. 
 
 Robert de Romeny holds one kiiiglit's fee in the vill of Steeple- 
 ton for homage and his service from William de Leybourne, and he 
 shall pay scutage, when it runs, for one shield, viz: forty shillings; and 
 William de Leybourne holds from the countess of Albemarle, and the 
 countess from the lord king in capite, 
 
 Roger of St. Germain holds one messuage from Robert of Bed- 
 ford on the service of paying 3d. to the aforesaid Robert, from whom 
 he holds and of paying 6d. to Richard Hylchester in place of the said 
 Robert, who holds from him. And the said Richard holds from Alan 
 de Chartres, and pays him 2d. a year and Alan from William the But- 
 ler, and the same William from lord Gilbert de Neville, and the same 
 Gilbert from the lady Devorguilla de Balliol, and Devorguilla from the 
 king of Scotland, and the same king from the king of England. 
 
 Sir Adam de Cretinges holds and accounts in the vill of Stough- 
 ton, for four knights' fees from the bishop of Lincoln, and the bishop from 
 the king. The same Adam holds by homage and scutage, when it runs, 
 and has in demesne 1 3 score acres of arable land and 3 messuages of 2 
 acres, and 40 acres of woods and 7 acres of meadow and 10 acres of 
 separable pasture. 
 
 II villeins, each with a virgate of 20 acres, a house, and some meadow, 
 
 and each performing certain weekly works, ploughing, etc. 
 16 cottars, each with a cottage and a rood of land, and each paying 
 
 12 d. a year and performing certain labor. 
 I cottar with a half acre, and 2 with houses only. 
 Sir Anselra de Gyse holds and accounts for two knights' fees, from 
 the same Adam for half a mark a year and for scutage when it hap- 
 pens ; and he has in his garden, with a house and vineyard, 6 acres of 
 land; and of arable land 18 score acres, and in meadows 7 acres, and 
 in separable pasture 10 acres and in woods 8 acres. 
 6 villeins, each with 20 acres, etc., as above. 
 The prior of Bissemede holds one knight's fee from the said Anselm 
 and pays to him scutage when it happens. The same prior has in 
 his garden with the house 8 acres, and 5 score acres of arable land, and 
 8 acres of woods and 8 acres of meadow, and 6 acres of separable pasture. 
 5 free tenants with a total of 63X acres of arable land, etc. 
 3 villeins with a total of Ij^ virgates. 
 5 cottars each with a cottage. 
 
DUTIES O.^ VASSALS AND LORDS. 23 
 
 Geoffrey, son of Everard of Stoughton holds half a knight's fee 
 from the said Anselm for homage and foreign service, and has in de- 
 mesne 6 score acres of arable land, and in garden with a messuage one 
 acre and a half and 4 acres of woods and 2 acres of separable pasture. 
 I free holder with 6 acres. 
 William Schohisfoot holds the twelfth part of one knight's fee from 
 the aforesaid Anselm for homage and foreign service, and has in gar- 
 den with the house one acre and a half, and in arable land 20 acres, 
 and 3 acres of meadow ; and he ought to have common with his beasts 
 in the meadow which is called Mora. 
 
 William Dingle holds from the said William one acre and a half 
 of land, and pays annually 1 d. 
 
 Various free and villein tenants holding immediately and mediately 
 from Sir Adam de Cretinges. 
 
 IV. MUTUAL DUTIES OF VASSALS AND LORDS. 
 
 I. LETTER FROM BISHOP FULBERT OF CHARTRES, A. D., I020. 
 Recueil des Hist, des Gaules et de la France, X, 463. Latin. 
 
 To William most glorious duke of the Aquitanians, bishop Ful- 
 bert the favor of his prayers. 
 
 Asked to write something concerning the form of fealty, I have 
 noted briefly for you on the authority of the books the things which 
 follow. He who swears fealty to his lord ought always to have these 
 six things in memory ; w^hat is harmless, safe, honorable, useful, easy, 
 practicable. Harmless, that is to say that he should not be injurious 
 to his lord in his body ; safe, that he should not be injurious to him in 
 his secrets or in the defenses through which he is able to be secure ; 
 honorable, that he should not be injurious to him in his justice or in 
 other matters that pertain to his honor ; useful, that he should not be 
 injurious to him in his possessions; easy or practicable, that that good 
 which his lord is able to do easily, he make not difficult, nor that which 
 is practicable he make impossible to him. 
 
 However, that the faithful vassal should avoid these injuries is 
 proper, but not for this does he deserve his holding ; for it is not suffi- 
 cient to abstain from evil, unless what is good is done also. It remains, 
 therefore, that in the same six things mentioned above he should faith- 
 fully counsel and aid his lord, if he wishes to be looked upon as worthy 
 of his benefice and to be safe concerning the fealty which he 1 tp « vo -k 
 
24 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 The lord also ought to act toward his faithful vassal reciprocally 
 in all these things. And if he does not do this he will l)e justly con- 
 sidered guilty of bad faith, just as the former, if he should be detected in 
 the avoidance of or the doing of or the c-onsenting to them, would he 
 perfidious and jierjured. 
 
 I would have written to you at greater length, if I had not been 
 occupied with many other things, including the rebuilding of our city 
 and church which was lately entirely consumed in a great fire; from 
 which loss though we could not for a while be diverted, yet by the hope 
 of the comfort of God and of you we breathe again. 
 
 2. FROM AN ENGLISH CODE OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 
 Leges Henrici, LXXXII, 3, 4 : Thorpe : Anc. Laws and Inst. I, 590. Latin. 
 
 And it is allowable to any one, without punishment, to support his 
 lord, if any one assails him, and to obey him in all legitimate ways, 
 except in theft, murder, and in all such things as are not conceded to 
 any one to do and are reckoned infamous by the laws. 
 
 The lord ought to do likewise equally with counsel and with aid ; 
 and he may come to his man's assistance in his vicissitudes in all ways, 
 without forfeiture. 
 
 V. AUTHORITY OF THE LORD OVER THE MARRIAGES 
 
 OF VASSALS. 
 
 I. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTESS OF NEA^ERS, A. D., 1 22 1. 
 Quantin, Recueil de Pieces du XIII Si^cle, No. 274, p. 120. Latin. 
 
 I, Matilda, countess of Nevers make known to all who shall see 
 this present letter, that I have sworn upon the sacred gospels to my 
 dearest lord, Philip, by the grace of God, the illustrious king of France, 
 that I will do to him good and faithful service against all living men 
 and women, and that I will not marry except by his will and grace. 
 For keeping these agreements firmly I have given pledges to the same 
 lord king from my men whom I had with me, on their oaths, in this 
 wise, that if I should fail to keep the said agreements with the lord king, 
 (though this shall not be), these are held to come to the lord king with 
 all their lands and fiefs which are held from me, and shall take their 
 oaths to him against me until it shall have been made good to him to 
 his satisfaction. And whenever the lord king shall ask me I will cause 
 
RIGHT OVER MARRIAGE. 2$ 
 
 him to have similar oaths from my men who were not present with me 
 before the lord kingj that is to say from all whom I may have, in good 
 faith, and without evil intention, and similarly the fealty of my town. 
 And in order that this may remain firm and stable, I have written the 
 present letters supported by my seal. Given at Melun, in the year of 
 the Lord 1221, in the month of February. 
 
 2. FROM THE CHRONICLE OF LAMBERT OF WATERLOO, A. D. II51. 
 Rec. des Hist, des Gaules et de la France, XIII, p. 506. Latin. 
 
 Then the young man Aegidius, son of Gerard Maufilatre^ married 
 a wife. Bertha by name, half-sister of Count Baldwin of Hainault and 
 took her without his assent. The count, extremely angry at this, im- 
 mediately took up arms against him at the beginning of the month of 
 October. Thus from the time in which he had married her till Whit- 
 sunday, with or without consent, he kept her closely by force and arms 
 at his house. But Aegidius having been attacked by a severe fever, 
 which troubled him sharply every day, compelled by the counsel of his 
 friends, who had helped him honorably in all things in his war, dis- 
 missed and openly abjured her; and peace was thus restored with the 
 count, and the land was peaceful which had been long troubled by 
 wars. 
 
 3. FEES FOR LICENSE TO MARRY, A. D. II4O-1282. 
 Eng. Exchequer Rolls ; Madox : Hist, of Exchequer, pp. 320, 322. 
 
 Ralph son of William owes 100 marks as a fine, to be allowed to 
 marry Margery who was wife of Nicholas Corbet who held of the king 
 in capitCy and that the same Margery may be allowed to marry him. 
 
 Walter de Cancy renders account of £15 to be allowed to marry 
 a wife as he shall choose. 
 
 Wiverona wife of Iverac of Ipswich renders account of £4 and 
 1 mark of silver that she may not have to take any husband except the 
 one she wishes. 
 
 Emma de Normanville and Roheisa and Margaret and Juliana, 
 her sisters, render account of 10 marks for license to marry where they 
 wish. 
 
 * Hereditary steward of Hainault and a vassal of the count. 
 
26 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 Roheisa de Doura renders account of £450 to have half of all the 
 lands which belonged to Richard de Lucy, her grandfather, and which 
 the brother of the same Roheisa had afterward as well in England as in 
 Normandy, and for license to marry where she wishes so long as she 
 does not marry herself to any of the enemies of the king. 
 
 Alice, countess of Warwick, renders account of £1000 and 10 pal- 
 freys to be allowed to remain a widow as long as she pleases, and not to 
 be forced to marry by the king. And if perchance she should wish to 
 marry, she shall not marry except with the assent and on the grant of 
 the king, where the king shall be satisfied ; and to have the custody of 
 her sons whom she has from the earl of Warwick her late husband. 
 
 Hawisa, who was wife of William Fitz Robert renders account of 
 130 marks and 4 palfreys that she may have peace from Peter of 
 Borough to whom the king has given permission to marry her; and 
 that she may not be compelled to marry. 
 
 Geoffrey de Mandeville owes 20,000 marks to have as his wife 
 Isabella, countess of Gloucester, with all the lands and tenements and 
 fiefs which fall to her. 
 
 VI. WARDSHIP, RELIEF, AND AIDS. 
 
 I. WARDSHIP. 
 English Exchequer Rolls ; Madox : History of the Excheqner, pp. 221, 222. 
 
 Thomas de Colville renders an account of 100 marks for having 
 the custody of the sons of Roger Torpel and their land until they come 
 of age. 
 
 William, bishop of Ely, owes 220 marks for having the custody of 
 Stephen de Beauchamp with his inheritance and for marrying him where 
 he wishes. 
 
 William of St. Mary's church, renders an account of 500 marks 
 for having the custody of the heir of Robert Young, son of Robert Fitz- 
 harding, with all his inheritance and all its appurtenances and fran- 
 chises ; that is to say with the services of knights and gifts of churches 
 and marriages of women, and to be allowed to marry him to whatever 
 one of his relatives he wishes ; and that all his land is to revert to him 
 freely when he comes of age. 
 
 Bartholomew de Muleton renders an account of 100 marks for 
 having the custody of the land and the heiress of Lambert of Ibtoft, and 
 for marrying the wife of the same Lambert to whomsoever he wishes 
 
RELIEF. 27 
 
 where she shall not be disparaged and that he may be able to confer 
 her (^the heiress; upon whom he wishes. 
 
 2. RELIEF, FROM THE ENGLISH EXCPIEQUER ROLLS, A. D. II40-I23a 
 Madox : History of the Exchequer, pp, 2i6, 218. Latin. 
 
 Walter Hait renders an account of 5 marks of silver for tlie relief 
 of the land of his father. 
 
 Walter Brito renders an account of £66, 13s. and 4d. for the relief 
 of his land. 
 
 Richard of Estre renders an account of £1 5 for his relief for 3 knights* 
 fees which he holds from the honor of Mortain. 
 
 Walter Fitz Thomas, of Newington, ow^es 28s. 4d. for having the 
 fourth part of one knights' fee which had been seized into the hand of 
 the king for default of relief. 
 
 John of Venetia renders an account of 300 marks for the fine of 
 h^s land and for the relief of the land which was his father's and he 
 does homage to the king against all mortals. 
 
 Ralph, son and heir of Ralph of Sullega renders an account of 
 100£ for his relief for the lands which were Ralph his father's which 
 he held from the Idng in capite. 
 
 John de Balliol owes £150 for the relief of 30 knights* fees which 
 Hugh de Balliol his father held from the king in capite, that is 100s. for 
 each fee. 
 
 Peter de Bruce renders an account of £100 for his relief for the 
 barony which was of Peter his father. 
 
 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OP RELIEF, A. D. 1 238. 
 Teulet: Layettes du Tresor des Charles, No. 2777, VoK 2, p. 401. Latin. 
 To all to whom the present writing shall come the nobleman 
 Aimeric, viscount of Chatelherault, greeting. Know that I am held to 
 pay to John de Vineis, bailiff of the lord king, for the rachat and relief 
 of the viscounty of Chatelherault 1500 livres of Tours, to be paid to him 
 in the place of the lord king, that is to say, at the coming Ascension 500 
 iivres, and at the feast of All Saints next following 500 livres and at 
 the Purification next following 500 livres. And unless I make com- 
 plete satisfaction for the said money at the said dates, I agree that he 
 shall seize all my land and all my rents and even my personal property, 
 wherever they may be, until I shall have given complete satisfaction for 
 the above debt 
 
28 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 For the fuller testimony and security of which I have confirmed 
 the present writing with my seal. Given A. D. 1238, in the month of 
 February. 
 
 4. THE THREE CUSTOMARY AIDS. 
 
 (a) Le Grand Coutumier de Normandie, c. 35 ; Bourdot ; Nouveau Coutumier 
 
 General, Vol. IV, p. 18. Old French. 
 
 Next it is proper to see the chief aids of Normandy, which are called 
 chief because they should be paid to the chief lords. 
 
 In Normandy there are three chief aids. One is to make the oldest 
 son of his lord a knight ; the second, to marry his oldest daughter ; the 
 third to ransom the body of his lord from prison when he is taken in 
 the Duke's war. 
 
 (b) Madox; History of the Exchequer, pp. 415, 398, 411, notes. Latin. 
 
 Aid granted to the king (Henry III.) for the knighting of his 
 eldest son, that is to say from each fee 40s.. The sheriff (of Hereford) 
 renders account of 40s. from John de Balun for one fee, and of £30 
 from John de Munemul for fifteen fees ; the bishop of Hereford renders 
 account of £30 for fifteen fees. 
 
 The earl of Clare renders account of £94, lis. lOd. for the aid for 
 the daughter of the king, for 131 knights and two-thirds of a knight, 
 and a third and a fourth and an eighth and a ninth and a tenth of a 
 knight, and two-thirtieths of a knight of his fee ; and for nine knights and 
 the fourth part of a knight of the fee of the countess, his wife. 
 
 The abbot of St. Edmund's renders account of 40 marks for the 
 same aid for 40 knights whom he acknowledges he owes to the king. 
 
 Of the scutage of knights for the ransom of the lord king. Con- 
 stance, countess of Brittany, renders account of 140 knights whom 
 Thomas of Borough, stew^ard of the same countess acknowledges before 
 the barons to pertain to the honor of the count of Brittany in England. 
 
 VII. MILITARY SERVICE OF TENANTS. 
 
 I. AN EARLY FEUDAL SUMMONS, PROBABLY, A. D. IO72. 
 Quoted in J. H. Round : Feudal England, p. 304. Latin. 
 
 W. king of the English to Aethelwig, abbot of Evesham, greeting. 
 I command you to summon all those who are under your charge and 
 jurisdiction to have armed before me by the week after Whitsunday, 
 at Clarendon all the knights which are due to me. And do you also 
 
MILITARY SERVICE. 29 
 
 come to me on that day and bring with you armed those five knights 
 which you owe to me from your abbey. Witness Eudo, the steward, at 
 Winchester. 
 
 2. GRANT BY AN ABBOT TO A KNIGHT, A. D. I I GO. 
 Historia Monasterii de Abingdon, R. S. Vol. II, p. 135. Latin. 
 
 Abbot Faritius also granted to Robert, son of William Mauduit, 
 the land of four hides in Weston which his father had held from the 
 former's predecessor, to be held as a fief. And he should do this ser- 
 vice from it, to wit : that whenever the church of Abingdon should per- 
 form its knight's service he should do the service of half a knight for 
 the same church ; that is to say in castle ward, in military service be- 
 yond and on this side the sea, in giving money in proportion to the 
 knights on the capture of the king, and in the rest of the services which 
 the other knights of the church perform. He also does homage to the 
 same abbot. This land previously did the service of three weeks yearly 
 only. 
 
 3. MILITARY HOLDINGS IN ENGLAND, A. D. 1 279. 
 Rotuli Hundredorum: Vol. II, pp. 711, 710. Latin. 
 
 The jurors say that Robert Fitz Nigel holds the manor of Iftele in 
 chief from the king for doing the service of one knight's fee in the ser- 
 vice of the lord king when he is in the army, at his own cost, and after- 
 ward, if he shall be required, at the cost of the lord king. 
 
 The manor of Hedington with its hamlets and all its appurtenances 
 is of the ancient demesne of the crown of the lord king and is held in 
 chief from the lord king for £20, at the two terms of the year, to be paid 
 to the Exchequer of the lord king, that is to say, at Easter £10 and at 
 Michaelmas £10. And Hugh de Plesens is feudatory of the lord king, 
 since he is responsible to him for one knight's fee when scutage runs, or 
 he must go with the lord king when he is in the army and serve him for 
 forty days at his own cost, for the aforesaid manor, and if he makes a 
 
 longer stay, at the expense of the lord king Hugh 
 
 de Plesens holds the manor of Hedington. 
 
 4. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MILITARY DUTY, A. D. 1 21 2. 
 Quantin : Rec. de Pieces du XIII Sidcle, No. Ii6, p. 53. Latin. 
 
 William, by the grace of God bishop of Auxerre to all who shall 
 
30 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 see these presents, greeting in the Lord. Know that we acknowledge 
 that we owe to our lord Philip, illustrious king of the French, military 
 service, as is the common service of bishops and barons ; and this for 
 the future we will perform through our knights, as others. For the 
 same lord king has released our person from the service of the army so 
 long as we live. 
 
 5. ETABLISSEMENTS DE ST. LOUIS, A. D I27O. 
 Livre I, ch. 65 ; Ed. by Viollet, Vol. II, p. 95. Old French. 
 
 The baron and all vassals of the king are bound to appear be- 
 fore him when he shall summon them, and to serve him at their own 
 expense for forty days and forty nights, with as many knights as each 
 one owes; and he is able to exact from them these services when he wishes 
 and when he has need of them. And if the king wishes to keep them 
 more than forty days at their own expense, they are not bound to re- 
 main if they do not wish it. And if the king wishes to keep them at 
 his expense for the defence of the realm, they are bound to remain. 
 And if the king wishes to lead them outside of the kingdom, they need 
 not go unless they wish to, for they have already served their forty days 
 and forty nights. 
 
 6. SERVICE OF THE COUNT OF CHAMPAGNE. 
 
 Matthew Paris : Chronica Majora, R. S. ; III, 116. Latin. 
 
 Then Louis, king of the French in order to escape from the pesti- 
 lence, which was raging with great severity in the camp (before Avignon), 
 betook himself to a certain abbey called Montpensier, which was not far 
 distant from the siege works, till the city should be captured. There 
 came to him at that place Henry, count of Champagne, who had passed 
 forty days at the siege, asking license to return to his own possessions, 
 according to the custom of France. When the king refused his per- 
 mission the count replied that when his military service of forty days 
 had been performed, he was not bound nor was he willing to remain 
 longer. The king, how^ever, w^as so inflamed by anger at this that he 
 declared with an oath that ifthe count should withdraw then he would de- 
 vastate his whole land with fire. Then the count, as the story goes, pro- 
 cured poison to be placed in the drink of the king, on account of his 
 desire for the queen, for whom he had a guilty love, and was so im- 
 pelled by the incentive of lust that he was not able to brook longer de- 
 
MILITARY SERVICE. 3 1 
 
 lay. When the count had thus gone away the king grew desperately 
 sick, and the poison reaching his vital parts, he came to his end ; although 
 others say that it was not from poison but from dysentery that he died. 
 
 7. FRENCH MILITARY TENANTS SUMMONED TO THE ROYAL ARMY. 
 Kec. des Hist, des Gaules et de la France, XXIII, pp. 753 ff. Latin. 
 
 In the year 1272 the bishop of Paris came to Tours at the citation 
 of the lord king and presented himself in the king's house on the 
 second Sunday after Easter, before Ferrario de Verneuil, knight, 
 marshall of France, saying that he had come at the citation of the lord 
 king prepared to fulfill his duty ; who replied to him that he should 
 come again or send at the first hour of the next day, because in the 
 meanwhile he could not speak or respond to him, since Gregory of St. 
 Martin of Tours was absent, on account of his weakness, and because, 
 moreover, he was expecting new instructions from the king. On the 
 next day and on Tuesday the aforesaid bishop presented himself before 
 the said marshall, saying that he had come ready for the service of the 
 king with three knights, whose names were John de Marchiaco, John de 
 Juliaco and Adam de Blesum. He said that if he was held to send 
 more he was ready to do what he ought ; and if he had furnished more 
 than he owed, that this should not bind either him or the church of Paris 
 for the future. 
 
 The bishop of Troyes appeared for his see, saying that he owed 
 two knights, whose names were Ralph and Droco de Pratellis. 
 
 John de Rouvraye, knight, lord of Yneto, appeared for himself ac- 
 knowledging that he owed one knight by reason of his land of Rouvraye, 
 whom he brought with him, that is to say, John de Caim. 
 
 Reginald Trihan, knight, appeared for himself and goes.^ 
 
 Henry d'Eauville did not appear, but he sent for himself one 
 knight, William de Petra. 
 
 William Bacon, knight, appeared for Geoffrey de Fordt, who owes 
 military service for forty days ; he goes to the army. 
 
 William de Coyndres, knight, sends for himself Thomas Chocquet, 
 for ten days. 
 
 Thomas de Cugry, esquire, appeared, saying that he owes four 
 
 into military service with the army. 
 
32 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 days; he sends instead of himself Richard de St. Germain, who will 
 complete these four days after his own service. 
 
 Nicholas Bourdet, esquire, appeared for himself, and goes to the 
 army ; and he will be a knight there, or will provide another knight. 
 
 John de Chanteleu, knight, appeared saying that he owed ten days 
 for himself, and that he also appeared for Godardus de Godardville, 
 knight, who owes forty days. 
 
 Robert de Morville, knight, appeared for himself, owing military 
 service for twenty days for half a fee. 
 
 The count of Soissons appeared and went to the army with three 
 other knights whom he acknowledges he owes to the king, and led with 
 him six knights besides his service. 
 
 Hugh de Conflans, knight, marshal of Champagne, appeared for 
 the king of Navarre and led with him sixty knights for service owed to 
 the king. 
 
 John Dor^, knight, appeared for the lady of Chapelle, on account 
 of her land of Berry which owes military service ; and he goes in place 
 of her. 
 
 William de Chantelon, knight, appeared for himself saying that he 
 owed military service to the lord king for thirty days, for three-quarters 
 of a knight's fee. 
 
 VIII. FEUDAL JUSTICK 
 
 I. ENGLISH CUSTOMS OF ELEVENTH CENTURY. 
 Leges Henrici Primi, LV. Thorpe : Anc. Laws and Inst., Vol. I. p. 55. Latin. 
 
 To every lord it is allowed to summon his man that he may be at 
 right to him in his court ; and even if he is resident at the most distant 
 manor of that honor from which he holds, he shall go to the plea if his 
 lord summons him. If his lord holds different fiefs the man of one honor 
 is not compelled by law to go to another plea, unless the cause belongs 
 to the other to which his lord has summoned him. 
 
 If a man holds from several lords and honors, however much he 
 holds from others, he owes most and will be subject for justice to him of 
 whom he is the liege man. 
 
 Every vassal owes to his lord fidelity concerning his life and mem- 
 bers and earthly honor and keeping of his counsel in what is honora.ble 
 
FEUDAL JUSTICE. 33 
 
 and useful saving the faith of God and of the prince of the land. Theft, 
 however, and treason and murder and whatever things are against the 
 Lord and the catholic faith are to be required of or performed by no 
 one; but faith shall be held to all lords, saving the faith of the earlier, 
 and the more to the one of which he is the liege. And let permission 
 be given him, if any of his men seek another lord for himself. 
 
 2. WRIT TO SECURE FEUDAL JURISDICTION, AB. A. D. HOC. 
 Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, Vol. II, p. 165, Rolls Series. Latin. 
 
 Henry, king of England, to Ralph Basset, greeting. 
 
 I command you to cause Vincent, abbot of Abingdon to have his 
 court ill Oxford as well and fully as that church of Abingdon ever had 
 it or any one of his predecessors had it best and most fully and honor- 
 ably. And his men shall not plead outside of his court unless the ab- 
 bot has first failed to give right in his court, and as you are able to make 
 inquisition through the legal men of Oxford that he ought to have his 
 court. Witness the chancellor ; at Woodstock. 
 
 '^' 3. ETABLISSEMENTS DE ST. LOUIS. 
 
 Livre l. c. 71 : Ed. by Viollet, Vol. II, p. 124. French. 
 
 If a baron is summoned to the court of the king for any question 
 of an inheritance and shall say, *'I am not willing to be judged in this 
 matter except by my peers," then at least three others ought to be sum- 
 moned, and the king's justice shall try the suit along with these and 
 any other nobles. 
 
 4. CONDEMNATION BY A FEUDAL COURT. 
 Teulet : Layettes du Tresor des Chartes, No. 3778, Vol. 3, p. 70. Latin. 
 
 Raymond by the grace of God count of Toulouse, marquis of 
 Provence, to the nobleman Arnold Atton, viscount of Lomagne, greet- 
 ing. 
 
 Let it be known to your nobility, by the tenor of these presents 
 what has been done in the matter of the complaints which we have made 
 about you before the court of Agen ; that you have not taken the trouble 
 to keep or fulfil the agreements sworn by you to us, as is more fully 
 contained in the instrument drawn up there, sealed with our seal by the 
 public notary ; and that you have refused contemptuously .to appear 
 before the said court for the purpose of doing justice ; and otherwise com- 
 
34 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 mitted multiplied and great delinquencies against us. As your faults 
 have required, the aforesaid court of Agen has unanimously and con- 
 cordantly pronounced sentence against you, and for these matters has 
 condemned you to hand over and restore to us the chateau of Auvillars 
 and all that land which you hold from us in fee, to be had and held by 
 us by right of the obligation by which you have bound it to us for ful- 
 filling and keeping the said agreements. 
 
 Likewise it has declared that we are to be put into possession of the 
 said land and that it is to be handed over to us, on account of your con- 
 tumacy, because you have not been willing to appear before the same 
 court on the days which were assigned to you. Moreover, it has de- 
 clared that you shall be held and required to restore the said land in 
 whatsoever way we wish to receive it, with few or many, in peace or in 
 anger, in our own person, by right of lordship. Likewise it has declared 
 that you shall restore to us all the expenses which we have incurred or 
 the court itself has incurred on those days which were assigned to you 
 or because of those days, and has condemned you to repay these to us. 
 
 Moreover, it has declared that the nobleman Gerald d'Armagnac, 
 whom you hold captive, you shall liberate, and deliver him free to us. 
 We will, moreover, by right of our lordship that you liberate him. 
 
 We call, therefore, upon your discretion in this matter, strictly re- 
 quiring you and commanding that you obey the aforesaid sentences in 
 all things and fulfil them in all respects and in no way defer the fulfil- 
 ment of them. For making the announcement, the demand and the re- 
 ception of these things, we have appointed as our representatives our be- 
 loved and faithful noblemen Gaston de Gontaud and R. Bernard de 
 Balencs, promising that whatever shall be done by them in the afore- 
 said matters, we will hold as settled and firm forever. In testimony of 
 which we have caused these present letters to be corroborated by the 
 strength of our seal. Similar letters, divided through the alphabet, for 
 a perpetual memory of this matter we have caused to be retained with 
 us. Given at Agen, the third of the Kalends of July, A. D. 1 249. 
 
 IX. RIGHT OF COINAGK 
 
 I. GRANT OF THE MINT OF AUXERRE, A. D. 1204. 
 Quantin: Recueil de Pieces du XIII Sidcle, No. 35, p. 17. Latin. 
 
 I, Pierre, count of Auxerre and Tonnerre, make known to all 
 present and to come that since Lambert de Bar possessed by hereditary 
 
COINAGE. 35 
 
 right the dies of the mint of Auxerre and Tonnerre, and on that ac- 
 count was my man ; on his petition I have granted the said dies to my 
 l)eloved and faithful Pierre de Chablis and his heirs to be possessed 
 peacefully and quietly forever. And on this account with the consent 
 and good will of the countess Yoiande, my wife, I have received the 
 aforesaid Pierre as my liege man. For the confirmation of this matter 
 I and Yoiande, the countess, my wife, have given command that the 
 present charter corroborated with the protection of our seals should be 
 delivered to the said Pierre. 
 
 Done in the year of the Incarnation of the Ix)rd 1204, in the 
 mouth of July. 
 
 2. CHARTER OF ODO OF BURGUNDY, A. D. 1 337. 
 Ducange, under the word Moneta regia. Latin. 
 
 We, Odo, duke of Burgundy, count of Artois and Burgundy, pala- 
 tine and lord of Sains make known to all that since we have heard that 
 our dear and famous lord, the king of France, feels hardly toward us 
 because his master of the mint has given him to understand that we are 
 now coining money in our town of Auxerre like his money in imprint 
 and form, that there is little difference between his money and ours, and 
 that many people may be deceived in taking our money as the money 
 of our said lord ; we who would not on any account wish to do anything 
 which should be displeasing to our lord, are willing and do promise to 
 change the imprint in the form which we are now having coined in our 
 town of Auxerre, and to make in our said money such a difference and 
 such a form that each person will be able clearly to distinguish our money 
 from the money of the lord king, so that our said money will have its 
 circulation only in our county of Burgundy and in the land of the Em- 
 pire. Moreover we will command and forbid and cause to be forbidden 
 that money of the kingdom should be minted, and also cause oath to be 
 made that the small coin of the kingdom shall not be received. 
 
 In testimony of which thing we have caused our seal to be placed 
 upon these present letters, made and given at the Bois de Vincennes the 
 third day of October, 1337. 
 
36 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINl-S. 
 
 X. FORFEITURE. 
 
 Rotuli Hundredorum, ii, p. 183. Latin. 
 It is presented by the jurors above named that the manor of Chin- 
 nore along with the hamlet of Sydenham was held of old, from the time 
 of the Conquest, from the lord king of England, by a certain man who 
 was named Walter de Vernon, as one knight's fee ; and because the 
 said Walter de Vernon refused to perform his due service from the said 
 manor to the lord king John in the time of the war which sprang up 
 between the lord king John and the king of France, the lord king John 
 with the advice of his council seized that same manor with its appurten- 
 ances and removed the said Walter de Vernon, on account of his in- 
 gratitude from the possession of the aforesaid manor forever. And the 
 lord king John granted that same manor with its appurtenances for the 
 services that to the same lord king was due from it to Saer de Quincy 
 formerly earl of Winchester, to hold to himself and his heirs in capite 
 from the lord king as one knight's fee ; and the heirs of the said Saer 
 held the aforesaid manor in succession, and still hold it, except the ham- 
 let of Sydenham, which the abbot of Thame holds as a gift from Roger de 
 Quincy. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 
 
 Ch. Mortet : Fdodalite. 
 
 Perhaps the best general treatise on the subject is the article by this au- 
 thor given under the word Feodalite, in La Grande Encyclophdie^ and sub- 
 sequently reprinted as a separate work. 
 
 A. Luchaire : Manuel des Institutions Frangaises, Pt. II. Les Institutions 
 F^odales. 
 
 This is a detailed description of feudal institutions from the nth to the 
 14th century and abounds in bibliographical information. It does not deal 
 with the question of the origins of Feudalism. Upon this last question there 
 has been a very considerable amount of writing, largely polemical in its 
 character. Some of the most conspicuous books on this phase of the subject 
 are the following: 
 
 P. Roth : Geschichte des Beneficialwesens, 1850 ; and Feudalitat und Un- 
 terthanenverband, 1863. 
 
 G. Waitz: Ueber die AnfSnge der Vassalitat, 1856; and Deutsche Verfass- 
 ungsgeschich'e, Vol. IV, 1884. 
 
 Fustel de Coulanges : Les Orig^nes du System e F^odal, 1890. 
 
 Very useful and suggestive outline accounts of Feudalism are to be found 
 in English in Professor E. Emerton's Introduction to the Middle Ages, and 
 Mediceval Europe ; and Professor G. B. Adams' Civilization during the 
 Middle Ages, 
 
Translations and Reprints 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. 
 
 Vol.. IV. Ordeai^, Compurgation, Excommunication, No. 4. 
 
 AND Interdict. 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 I. Compurgation. 
 
 1. Examples of Compurgatorial Oaths, 3 
 
 2. Compurgation of Queen Fredegonda, 4 
 
 3. Compurgation of Adelher's Brothers, 4 
 
 4. Compurgation of Bishop Norgaud, 5 
 
 5. Frisian Law against Perjury, 6 
 
 6. Reform in the Compurgatoripl .System, 6 
 
 n» Judgments of God — Ordeai^. 
 
 1. Ordeal Formula, 7 
 
 2. Ordeal of Hot Water, 10 
 
 3. Ordeal of Cold Water, .A/ il 
 
 4. Ordeal of Red-hot Iron, .". 12 
 
 5. Ordeal of the Glowing Ploughshares, 13 
 
 6. Ordeal of Fire, 14 
 
 • 7. Ordeal of the Cross, 16 
 
 8. Scepticism Regarding the Ordeal, 16 
 
 9. Prohibition of the Ordeal by the Church, 16 
 
 10. Prohibition by Frederic II., 18 
 
 III. Judgments of God — Wager of Batti^e. 
 
 1. Example of Judicial Duel in Germany, 19 
 
 2. Example of Judicial Duel in Spain, 20 
 
 3. Prohibition of Judicial Duel by Frederic II. , 21 
 
 IV. Excommunication. 
 
 1. St. Cyprian on the Unity of the Church, 23 
 
 2. St. Ambrose's Threat against Theodosius, 23 
 
 3. Law of Lothair I., 24 
 
 4. Law of Frederic II., . . • * 24 
 
 5. Excommunication of Frederic II., 25 
 
 6. Example of Excommunication ipso facto ^ ..... 26 
 
 7. Excommunication of Animals, 26 
 
 8. Declaration of Louis XIV. , 27 
 
 V. Interdict. 
 
 1. Canon of the Council of Limoges, 28 
 
 2. Interdictlaid on Normandy, 29 
 
 3. Interdict laid on France, 29 
 
 4. Interdict laid on Venice in 1309, 30 
 
 5. Interdict laid on Utrecht, 31 
 
 6. Failure of the Interdict laid on Venice in 1606. ... 32 
 
TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 MEDIEVAL LEGAL PROCEDURE. 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In the jurisprudence of the Middle Ages we do not find any trial in the mod- 
 ern sense of the word, no careful weighing of testimony followed by a decision in 
 accordance with the evidence. The chief function of the court was to give a fore- 
 judgment — the Beweisurteil — indicating which litigant was to have the privilege 
 of offering proof as to the justice ot his contention. Any form of compromise was 
 unknown. One party was entirely in the right, the other absolutely in the wrong. 
 The methods of proof were compurgation, ordeal, and wager of battle, and the 
 party on whom the burden of proof lay usually had the advantage in the subse- 
 quent proceedings. This was especially the case with compurgation, where com 
 pliance with the minute details of the prescribed forms insured complete success 
 In the ordeal this was less true, the result oftener depending on the attitude of 
 those conducting the ceremony. The judicial duel and one form of the ordeal — 
 that of the cross — were the only methods of procedure in which both sides were 
 given the opportunity of proof. Throughout the Middle Ages the theory of the 
 law placed the burdpfi of proof on the negative side ; and it may be counted a most 
 important step in the progress of European civilization when the Germanic idea 
 finally gave place to the Roman maxim that it is impossible to prove a negative, and 
 that the necessity of producing evidence lies with the accuser. The barbarian sys- 
 tem of negative proofs was worked out by means of oaths and of appeals to the 
 judgment of God through ordeals and single combat. Whatever hardships the 
 Germanic methods of proof may have involved theoretically, the practical outcome 
 was to make easy the escape of bold criminals. A Hungarian manuscript ^ in 
 which a record was kept for the 13th century shows the numbers of convictions and 
 of acquittals in the ordeal of hot iron to be about equal, while in England the accused 
 was in certain cases given the choice whether he or the accuser should bear the 
 iron. Speaking of the condition of things in John's reign Maitland says: ''Crimi- 
 nal justice was extremely ineffectual ; the punishment of a criminal was a rare 
 event ; the law may have been cruel . . . ., but bloody it was not. In Henry 
 Ill's time some satisfactory hanging was accomplished, but the number of present- 
 ments of undiscovered crime is very large. "^ The irrationality of such forms of 
 legal procedure was strongly felt by the most enlightened minds, and from the mid- 
 dle of the 1 2th century we find ecclesiastical as well as secular legislation attempt- 
 ing to bring about a change. This reform did not involve the abandonment of 
 negative proofs, but brought in the worst form of that system, namely, torture, 
 wherein the chances of escape were reduced to a minimum and conviction became 
 practically inevitable. 
 
 1 Cited in Pollock and Maitland's History of English LaWy II. 596, note 5. 
 "^ Select Pleas of the Crown, p. xxiv. 
 
COMPURGATORIAL OATH. 3 
 
 I. COMPURGATION. 
 
 Compurgation — or wager of law as it was more commonly called in England 
 from the legal phrase vadiare legem^ to pledge or wage one's law — consisted in a 
 litigant's furnishing the court satisfactory proof of the justice of his cause by means 
 of his own oath supported by that of helpers or compurgators who swore to the truth 
 of their principal's assertions. This method of proof dates back to remote antiquity 
 among the Germanic tribes, and on their conversion it was adopted by the church, 
 which made such extensive use of it in its efforts to secure immunity of the clergy 
 from secular jurisdiction, that the process finally became known as canonical com- 
 purgation. The compurgators were originally kinsmen who would have had to 
 pay the wer-gild in case the accused had been convicted of the charge, but later 
 custom permitted them to be neighbors or others acceptable to the court. Their 
 number varied according to the gravity of the charge and the character of the ac- 
 cused. It is probable that even in the earliest times compurgation was not resorted 
 to when the proof of the crime was plain and indubitable, and at a later period 
 this rule was carefully enforced, it being left to the discretion of the judge whether 
 the accused should be allowed this form of trial or not. Such permission was 
 almost tantamount to acquittal, yet an effort was made to check the abuses of the 
 system by the provision that compurgators who Avere so unfortunate as to support a 
 losing cause should be punished as perjurers, that is, should have one hand cut off. 
 Some codes, however, permitted the redemption of the hand by the payment of a 
 money fine. At an early period confidence in the system became weakened, but 
 it was not until the revival of the study of Roman law about the middle of the I2th 
 century that compurgation, together with most forms of appeal to the judgment of 
 God, began to lose ground in mediaeval jurisprudence. From that time on it was 
 discouraged by royal legislation. By 1300 it may be said to have disappeared from 
 the king's court in France, though it still lingered for a long time in the provinces. 
 In Germany it seems to have flourished as late as the i6th century, as also in most 
 of the countries of northern Europe ; while in England it was not formally abol- 
 ished until 1833. In ecclesiastical courts the system was employed down to the 
 17th century, though the development of the inquisitorial process in the 13th cen- 
 tury deprived it of most of its characteristic features. 
 
 I. TWO FORMS OF COMPURGATORIAL OATH. 
 
 (a) Form. Turon. M.G. LL. Sec. V. p. 154. Latin. 8th century. 
 
 [Defendant made oath denying the crime.] Likewise, witnesses 
 of his own order, who were eye-witnesses and cognizant of the facts in the 
 case, swore after him that the aforesaid N. had given a true and satis- 
 factory oath in what he had sworn regarding the matter. 
 
 (b) Thorpe's Ancient Laws of England, I. p. 180. Anglo-Saxon. loth 
 century. 
 
 By the Lord, the oath which N. has sworn is clean and without 
 falsehood. 
 
4 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 2. COMPURGATION OF QUEEN FREDEGONDA IN 585. 
 
 Gregory of Tours, Hist. PVanc. Lib. viii. c. 9. M.G. SS. Mer. p. 330. 
 
 On the assassination of Chilperic I. king Gontran became guardian of his 
 brother's infant son. Doubts were entertained as to the child's legitimacy, espe- 
 cially as Chilperic was said to have been murdered by a paramour of queeii Frede- 
 gonda. The latter, however, fully established the paternity of tHe child by a 
 compurgatorial oath and thus prevented the kingdom of Neustria from passing into 
 the hands of Gontran. 
 
 After this the king [Gontran] went to Paris and openly addressed 
 all the people, saying : " My brother Chilperic on his death is said to have 
 left a son, whose governors begged me at the mother's solicitation to 
 stand sponsor for him at the baptismal font on the day of the festival of 
 our Lord's birth ; but they did not appear. Next they asked me to 
 have him baptised at Easter, but the child was not. brought then. For 
 the third time they prayed me that he might be presented for the sacred 
 rite on St. John's Day, but the child was still kept back. And so they 
 have compelled me to leave home at this disagreeable season of the year. 
 Therefore I have come, and behold, the boy is concealed, he is not shown 
 me. For these reasons I feel certain that matters are not as they have 
 been represented, but that the child is, as I believe, the son of some one 
 of our nobles. For, if it had been of our race, it would have been 
 brought to me. Know, therefore, that I will not acknowledge it until I 
 receive satisfactory proofs of its paternity." When queen Fredegonda 
 heard this she summoned the chief men of her kingdom, namely, three 
 bishops and three hundred nobles, and with them made oath that Chil- 
 peric was the father of the child. By this means suspicion was re- 
 moved from the king's mind. 
 
 3. COMPURGATION OF THE BROTHERS OF ADELHER. 
 
 Passio S. Bonifatii, ap. Jafife, Bibliotheca Rer. Germ., III. p. 475. Latin, 
 nth century. 
 
 This story illustrates one of the abuses to which the system of compurgation 
 lent itself, and at the same time shows how the clergy attempted to overcome it by 
 emphasizing the danger of immediate punishment to the perjurer. 
 
 Some time after this it happened that a certain priest named Adel- 
 her was stricken with great weakness. He was indeed deeply devoted 
 to the bishop [Boniface] on account of his noble character, and knowing 
 the latter's secrets he served him truly. And when he perceived the 
 end of life approaching, by the council of the man of God he gave what 
 
COMPURGATION OF BISHOP NORGAUD. 5 
 
 projierty he had inherited to St. Martin of Mainz. After this, his sick- 
 ness increasing, he died. Afterwards his brothers violently seized what 
 he had given to St. Martin in the following places, .... And when 
 they had been summoned and questioned regarding their action, they 
 promised to prove by an oath that the property was rightly theirs ; and 
 the bishop promised to be present. On the appointed day they brought 
 together a large number of their relatives. The man of God was like- 
 wise there, and when the brothers had fetched their compurgators to the 
 altar he is reported to have said: "If ye will swear, swear alone; I do 
 not dedire that ye should cause the damnation of all these." But the 
 brothers took the oath. And immediately the bishop turning to them 
 said ; "Have ye sworn?" "We have," they replied. Then to the elder 
 he said: "Thou wilt shortly be killed by a bear" ; but to the younger, 
 "Never wilt thou see son or daughtej- from thy seed." Both of the 
 prophesies proved true. And so the church of St. Martin received the 
 heritage given to it. 
 
 4. COMPURGATION OF BISHOP NORGAUD OF AUTUN. 
 
 Hugh of Flavigny, Chron. Lib. II. M.G. SS. VIII. p. 494. Latin. 
 
 Norgaud, Bishop of Autun, had been accused of simony by his canons, and 
 had attempted to clear himself by the aid of oath-helpers ; but the compurgators 
 were deterred by fear of the charge of perjury, and Norgaud was deposed. He 
 refused to resign his office, and in the following year succeeded in being reinstated 
 by purging himself in the absence of his enemies. The incident shows another 
 form of abuse of the system. 
 
 In the year of our Lord 1101 John, bishop of Frascati, was sent 
 
 by the pope into England to look after the papal property 
 
 The cardinals had now returned to Rome openly confirming the sen- 
 tence of de|X)sition against the invader of the see of Autun and pro- 
 nouncing it to be canonical by authentic proofs, when the bishop of 
 Lyons began openly and publicly to condemn their action. As he was 
 setting out on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in company with the bishop 
 of Chalons-sur-Saone and the simoniacal bishop of Autun he was met 
 on the way by the aforesaid bishop of Frascati who, in the absence of 
 accusers and outside the boundaries of his province, received the purga- 
 tion of him of Autun. The bishop of Lyons aided and confirmed 
 the oath as follows: "I believe that Norgaud, bishop of Autun, has 
 sworn the truth, so help me God." The bishop of Chalons-sur-Saone 
 also assisted and swore the same thing. I am astonished that the good 
 
6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 judgment of so great a man,^ renowned everywhere for his inborn good- 
 ness and honesty, whose unvarying constancy is venerated by the Galli- 
 can church could be deceived by the man to such an extent that even 
 to the present time he takes his part as a compurgator, cherishes and 
 protects him, and is almost the only one in the world to believe good of 
 him, although an almost univei-sal sentiment condemns such a favorable 
 opinion. 
 
 5. PUNISHMENT FOR PERJURY. 
 
 Lex Fris. xiv., 3. M.G. LL. III. p. 668. Latin. About 800. 
 
 As the efficiency of the whole system of compurgation depended upon the con- 
 fidence that could be placed by the court in the word of the oath-helpers, it was 
 necessary to make the penalty for false swearing as severe as possible. The pun- 
 ishment for perjury varied in different codes. That mentioned in the Frisian law 
 is here given. 
 
 He who seeks the composition for homicide,^ let him swear on the 
 relics of the saints that he will not accuse any one of this except 
 those whom he suspects of the murder ; and then let him accuse of hom- 
 icide one, two, or even three or four or however many there may have 
 been that wounded him who was killed. But, though there were twenty 
 or thirty, yet no more than seven can be accused, and let each one of 
 these who has been accused swear with his twelfth hand,' and aft^r the 
 oath let him show himself innocent by the judgment of God in the or- 
 deal of boiling water. Let the one who swore first go first to the ordeal, 
 and so on in order. He who shall be found guilty by the ordeal, let 
 him pay the composition for homicide, and to the king double his iver- 
 gild; let the others who were his oath-helpers pay the fine for perjury as 
 has been previously enacted.* 
 
 6. REFORM OF INNOCENT III. 
 Corp. Jur. C^n. cc. 5 and 13, Extra, V. 34- Latin. 
 
 Although by the 13th century compurgation had come to be looked upon with 
 suspicion by royal judges, it yet continued for a long time an ordinary method of 
 trial for the clergy. Innocent III. introduced certain reforms which did away with 
 some of the dangers of perjury, but he thereby weakened the force of the oaths and 
 dealt a mortal blow to the system. 
 
 ^i. e., the bishop of Lyons. 
 
 2 In the case of a man killed in a crowd. 
 
 ^i. e., with eleven compurgators. 
 
 *This fine consisted of a single wer-gild each. Vid. Tit. X. eadem lege. 
 
FORMULA FOR CONDUCTING ORDEALS. 7 
 
 We believe you are not ignorant of how many times the bishop of 
 Trent has been accused of simony. But the accusers though producing 
 a writing were unable to bring forward witnesses according to canonical 
 form to prove that he had given the church of St. Peter to the presbyter 
 P. for four measures of corn. We decree to the common council of our 
 brethren that he ought to purge himself of the aforesaid simony with 
 three of his own order and four abbots and regular priests. Now the 
 manner of purgation shall be as follows : First, the bishop shall swear 
 on God's sacred Gospel that, for giving the church of St. Peter to the 
 presbyter P., he has received no price personally or by the hand of a 
 subordinate, nor to his knowledge has anyone accepted anything for 
 him. Then the compurgators shall swear upon God's holy Gospel that 
 they believe he has spoken the truth. 
 
 But those who are brought forward to purge another of infamy are 
 held to affirm this alone by their oaths ; namely, that they believe that 
 he who is being purged speaks the truth. 
 
 II. JUDGMENTS OF GOD— ORDEALS. 
 
 I. FORMULA FOR CONDUCTING THE ORDEAL OF BOILING WATER.^ 
 
 From the breviary of Eberhard of Bamberg, ed. Zeumer in M.G. LL. Sec. V. 
 Formulae, p. 650. Latin. 12th or 13th century. 
 
 Let the priest go to the church with the prosecutors and with him 
 who is about to be tried. And while the rest wait in the vestibule of 
 the church let the priest enter and put on the sacred garments except 
 the chasuble and, taking the Gospel and the chrismarium and the relics 
 of the saints and the chalice, let him go to the altar and speak thus to 
 all the people standing near: Behold, brethren, the offices of the 
 Christian religion. Behold the law in which is hope and remission of 
 sins, the holy oil of the chrisma, the consecration of the body and blood 
 of our Lord. Look that ye be not deprived of the heritage of such 
 great blessing and of participation in it by implicating yourselves in the 
 crime of another, for it is written, not only are they worthy of death who 
 do these things but they that have pleasure in them that do them.' 
 
 Then let him thus address the one who is to undertake the ordeal : 
 I command thee, N., in the presence of all, by the Father, the Son, 
 
 * This may be taken as a fair example of ordeal formulae in general, as they 
 were all of a similar nature. * 
 
 ^'Rom. I. 32. 
 
8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 and the Holy Ghost, by the tremendous day of judgment, by the minis- 
 try of baptism, by thy veneration for the saints, that, if thou art guilty 
 of this matter charged against thee, if thou hast done it, or consented to 
 it, or hast knowingly seen the perpetrators of this crime, thou enter not 
 into the church nor mingle in the company of Christians unless thou 
 wilt confess and admit thy guilt before thou art examined in public 
 judgment. 
 
 Then he shall designate a spot in the vestibule where the fire is to 
 be made for the water, and shall first sprinkle the place with holy water, 
 and shall also sprinkle the kettle when it is ready to be hung and the 
 water in it, to guard against the illusions of the devil. Then, entering 
 the church with the others, he shall celebrate the ordeal mass. After 
 the celebration let the priest go with the people to the place of the or- 
 deal, the Gospel in his left hand, the cross, censer and relics of the 
 saints being carried ahead, and let him chant seven penitential psalms 
 with a litany. 
 
 Prayer over the boiling water: O God, just Judge, firm and pa- 
 tient, who art the Author of peace, and judgest truly, determine what 
 is right, O Lord, and make known Thy righteous judgment. O Omnip- 
 otent God, Thou that lookest upon the earth and makest it to tremble, 
 Thou that by the gift of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, didst save the 
 world and by His most holy passion didst redeem the human race, sanc- 
 tify, O Lord, this water being heated by fire. Thou that didst save 
 the three youths, Sidrac, Misac, and Abednago, cast into the fiery fur- 
 nace at the command of Nebuchadnezzar, and didst lead them forth un- 
 harmed by the hand of Thy angel, do Thou O clement and most holy 
 Ruler, give aid if he shall plunge his hand into the boiling water, being 
 innocent, and, as Thou didst liberate the three youths from the fiery 
 furnace and didst free Susanna from the false charge, so, O Lord, bring 
 forth his hand safe and unharmed from this water. But if he be guilty 
 and presume to plunge in his hand, the devil hardening his heart, let 
 Thy holy justice deign to declare it, that Thy virtue may be manifest in 
 his body and his soul be saved by penitence and confession. And if the 
 guilty man shall try to hide his sins by the use of herbs or any magic, 
 let Thy right hand deign to bring it to no account. Through Thy only 
 begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who dwelleth with Thee. 
 
 Benediction of the water : I bless thee, O creature of water, boiling 
 above the fire, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost, from whom all things proceed ; I adjure thee by Him who 
 ordered thee to water the whole earth from the four rivers, and who 
 
FORMULA FOR CONDUCTING ORDEALS. 9 
 
 summoned thee forth from the rock, and who changed thee into wine, 
 that no wiles of the devil or magic of men be able to separate thee 
 from thy virtues as a medium of judgment; but may est thou punish the 
 vile and the wicked, and purify the innocent. Through Him whom hid- 
 den things do not escape and who sent thee in the flood over the whole 
 earth to destroy the wicked and who will yet come to judge the quick 
 and the dead and the world by fire. Amen. 
 
 Prayer: Omnipotent, Eternal God, we humbly beseech Thee in 
 behalf of this investigation which we are about to undertake here 
 amongst us that iniquity may not overcome justice but that falsehood 
 may be subjected to truth. And if anyone seek to hinder or obscure 
 this examination by any magic or by herbs of the earth, deign to bring 
 it to naught by Thy right hand, O upright Judge. 
 
 Then let the man who is to be tried, as well as the kettle or pot in 
 which is the boiling water, be fumed with the incense of myrrh, and let 
 this prayer be spoken : O God, Thou who within this substance of water 
 hast hidden Thy most solemn sacraments, be graciously present with us 
 who invoke Thee, and upon this element made ready by much purifica- 
 tion pour down the virtue of Thy benediction that this creature, obedient 
 to Thy mysteries, may be endued with Thy grace to detect diabolical and 
 human fallacies, to confute their inventions and arguments, and to over- 
 come their multiform arts. May all the wiles of the hidden enemy be 
 brought to naught that we may clearly perceive the truth regarding 
 those things which we with finite senses and simple hearts are seeking 
 from Thy judgment through invocation of Thy holy name. Let not the 
 innocent, we beseech Thee, be unjustly condemned, or the guilty be 
 able to delude with safety those who seek the truth from Thee, who art 
 the true Light, who seest in the shadowy darkness, and who makest our 
 darkness light. O Thou who perceivest hidden things and knowest 
 what is secret, show and declare this by Thy grace and make the knowl- 
 edge of the truth manifest to us who believe in Thee. 
 
 Then let the hand that is to be placed in the water be washed with 
 soap and let it be carefully examined whether it is sound ; and before it 
 is thrust in let the priest say: I adjure thee, O vessel, by the Father, 
 and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and by the holy resurrection, and by 
 the tremendous day of judgment, and by the four Evangelists, that if 
 this man be guilty of this crime either by deed or by consent, let the 
 water boil violently, and do thou, vessel, turn and swing. 
 
 After this let the man who is to be tried plunge in his hand, and 
 
TO TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 afterwards let it be immediately sealed up. After the ordeal let him 
 take a drink of holy water. Up to the time of the decision regarding 
 the ordeal Mt is a good thing to mix salt and holy water with all his 
 food and drink. 
 
 2. ORDEAL OF HOt WATER UNDERTAKEN BY A PRIEST TO 
 CONFUTE A HERETIC. 
 Gregory of Tours, In Gloria Martyr, c. 80. M.G. SS. Mer. I, p. 542. Latin. 
 
 An Arian presbyter disputing with a deacon of our religion made 
 venemous assertions against the Son of God and the Holy Ghost, as is 
 the habit of that sect. But when the deacon had discoursed a long 
 time concerning the reasonableness of our faith and the heretic, blinded 
 by the fog of unbelief continued to reject the truth, according as it is 
 written, "Wisdom shall not enter the mind of the wicked," the former 
 said: "Why weary ourselves with long discussions? Let acts approve 
 the truth ; let a kettle . be heated over the fire and someone's ring be 
 thrown into the boiling water. Let him who shall take it from the 
 heated liquid be approved as a follower of the truth, and afterwards let 
 the other party be converted to the knowledge of this truth. And do 
 thou also understand, heretic, that this our party will fulfil the con- 
 ditions with the aid of the Holy Ghost ; thou shalt confess that there is 
 no discordance, no dissimilarity in the Holy Trinity." The heretic con- 
 sented to the proposition and they separated aft«r appointing the next 
 morning for the trial. But the fervor of faith in which the deacon had 
 first made this suggestion began to cool through the instigation of the 
 enemy. Rising with the dawn he bathed his arm in oil and smeared it 
 with ointment. But nevertheless he made the round of the sacred 
 places and called in prayer on the Lord. What more shall I say? 
 About the third hour they met in the market place. The people came 
 together to see the show. A fire was lighted, the kettle was placed 
 upon it, and when it grew very hot the ring was thrown into the boiling 
 water. The deacon invited the heretic to take it out of the water first. 
 But he promptly refused, saying, "Thou who didst propose this trial 
 art the one to take it out." The deacon all of a tremble bared his arm. 
 And when the heretic presbyter saw it besmeared with ointment he cried 
 out: "With magic arts thou hast thought to protect thyself, that thou 
 
 ^ A period of three days was allowed to elapse before the hand was examined. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF COLD WATER ORDEAL. II 
 
 hast made use of these salves, but what thou hast done will not avail." 
 While they were thus quarreling there came up a deacon from Ra- 
 venna named lacinthus and inquired what the trouble was about. 
 When he learned the truth he drew his arm out from under his robe at 
 once and plunged his right hand into the kettle. Now the ring that 
 had been thrown in was a little thing and very light so that it was 
 thrown about by the water as chaff would be blown about by the wind ; 
 and searching for it a long time he found it after about an hour. Mean- 
 while the flame beneath the kettle blazed up mightily so that the greater 
 heat might make it difficult for the ring to be followed by the hand ; 
 but the deacon extracted it at length and suffered no harm, protesting 
 rather that at the bottom the kettle was cold while at the top it was just 
 pleasantly warm. When, the heretic beheld this he was greatly con- 
 fused and audaciously thrust his hand into the kettle saying, "My faith 
 will aid me." As soon as his hand had been thrust in all the flesh was 
 boiled off* the bones clear up to the elbow. And so the dispute ended. 
 
 3. HINCMAR's description of THE COLD WATER ORDEAL. 
 
 De Divert. Lotharii c. vi. in Migne : Patrologia, Vol. 125, col. 668, 669. 
 Latin. 
 
 Now the one about to be examined is bound by a rope and cast 
 into the water because, as it is written, each one shall be holden with 
 the cords of his iniquity.* And it is evident that he is bound for two 
 reasons ; to wit, that he may not be able to practice any fraud in con- 
 nection with the judgment, and that he may be drawn out at the right 
 time if the water should receive him as innocent, so that he perish not. 
 For as we read that Lazarus, who had been dead four days (by whom 
 is signified each one buried under a load of crimes), was buried wrapped 
 in bandages and, bound by the same bands, came forth from the sep- 
 ulchre at the word of the Lord and was loosed by the disciples at his 
 command; so he who is to be examined by this judgment is cast into 
 the water bound, and is drawn forth again bound, and is either im- 
 mediately set free by the judgment of the judges, being purged, or re- 
 mains bound till the time of his purgation and is then examined by the 
 
 court And in this ordeal of cold water whoever, after the 
 
 invocation of God, Who is the Truth, seeks to hide the truth by a lie, 
 
 Prov. V. 22. 
 
12 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 cannot be submerged in the waters above which the voice of the Lord 
 God has thundered ; for the pure nature of the water recognizes as im- 
 pure and therefore rejects as inconsistnet with itself such human nature 
 as has once been regenerated by the waters of baptism and is again in- 
 fected by falsehood. 
 
 4. DOOM OF KING AETHELSTAN REGARDING THE ORDEAL OF 
 RED-HOT IRON. 
 
 Thorpe's Ancient Laws of England. I, p, 226. Anglo Saxon, and Latin. Also 
 Concil. Greatanlea. can. vii and viii, in Harduin VI, col. 569. Latin. 928. A. D. 
 
 If anyone shall have given pledge to undergo the ordeal of iron 
 
 , let him go three days beforehand to the priest whose duty it is 
 
 to bless him with the sign of the cross ; and let him live upon bread, 
 water, salt and herbs, and hear mass each one of the three days ; and let 
 him make his offering and go to the holy communion on the day when 
 he is to be examined by the ordeal ; and before he is examined let him 
 
 swear that by the law of the realm he is innocent of the charge 
 
 Concerning the ordeal we enjoin in the name of God and by the com- 
 mand of the archbishop and of all our bishops that no one enter the 
 church after the fire has been brought in with which the ordeal is to be 
 heated except the priest and him who is to undergo j udgment. And let 
 nine feet be measured off from the stake to the mark, by the feet of him 
 
 who is to be tried And when the ordeal is ready let two men 
 
 from each side go in and certify that it is as hot as we have directed it 
 to be. Then let an equal number from both sides enter and stand on 
 either side of the judgment place along the church, and let them all be 
 fasting and abstinent from their wives on the preceding night. And let 
 the priest sprinkle them all with water and let them bow themselves 
 everyone to the holy water and let the holy Gospel and the cross be 
 given them all to kiss. And no one shall mend the fire any longer than 
 the beginning of the hallowing, but let the iron lie on the coals until the 
 last collect. Afterwards let it be placed on a frame, and let no one 
 speak except to pray diligently to God, the Father Omnipotent, to deign 
 to manifest His truth in the matter. And let the accused drink of the 
 holy water and then let the hand with which he is about to carry the 
 iron be sprinkled, and so let him go [to the ordeal.] Let the nine feet 
 that were measured off be divided into three sections. In the first di- 
 vision let him hold his right foot, close to the stake. Then let him 
 
ORDEAL UNDERGONE BY QUEEN EMMA. 1 3 
 
 move his right foot across the second into the third division, where he 
 shall cast the iron in front of him and hasten to the holy altar. Then 
 let his hand be sealed up, and on the third day let examination be made 
 whether it is clean or foul^ within the wrapper. And whoever shall 
 transgress these laws, be the ordeal of no worth in his case, but let him 
 pay the king a fine of twenty shillings. 
 
 5. ORDEAL OF GLOWING PLOUGHSHARES UNDERGONE BY 
 QUEEN EMMA. 
 
 Annales Winton. ann. 1043, in Annales Monastic! II. pp. 23, 24. R. S. 
 Latin. 
 
 This story though evidently apocryphal ^ was probably written about the end 
 of the 1 2th century and gives an idea of the ceremony as it was employed at that 
 time. 
 
 The queen was brought at the king's command from Whewell to 
 Winchester and throughout all the night preceding her trial she kept 
 
 her vigil at the shrine of St. Swithin On the appointed day 
 
 the clergy and the people came to the church and the king himself sat 
 on the tribunal. The queen was brought before her son and questioned 
 whether she was willing to go through with what she had undertaken. 
 .... Nine glowing ploughshares were placed on the carefully 
 swept pavement of the church. After these had been consecrated by 
 a short ceremony the queen's shoes and stockings were taken off; then 
 her robe was removed and her cloak thrown aside, and, supported 
 by two bishops, one on either side, she was led to the torture. The 
 bishops who led her were weeping and those who were much more afraid 
 than she were encouraging her not to fear. Uncontrollable weeping 
 broke out all over the church and all voices were united in the cry 
 "St. Swithin, O St. Swithin, help her!" If the thunder had pealed forth 
 at this time the people would not have heard it, with such strength, with 
 such a concourse of voices did the shout go up to Heaven that St. 
 Swithin should now or never hasten to her aid. God suffers violence 
 and St. Swithin is dragged by force from Heaven. In a low voice the 
 queen offered this prayer as she undertook the ordeal: *'0 God, who 
 didst free Susanna from the wicked elders and the three youths from 
 
 * A blister found on the hand was sufficient for conviction, in some cases at 
 least. See Eng. Hist. Rev. Ill, p. 159. 
 
 2 See Freeman, Norman Conquest II. p. 568. 
 
14 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 the fiery furnace, from the fire prepared for me deign to preserve me 
 through the merits of St. Swithin." 
 
 Behold the miracle ! With the bishops directing her feet, in nine 
 steps she walked upon the nine ploughshares, pressing each one of them 
 with the full weight of her whole body ; and though she thus passed 
 over them all, she neither saw the iron nor felt the heat. Therefore 
 she said to the bishops: ''Am I not to obtain that which I especially 
 sought? Why do you lead me out of the church when I ought to be 
 tried within it?" For she was going out and yet did not realize that 
 she had gone through the ordeal. To which the bishops replied as well as 
 they could through their sobs : "O lady, behold, you have already done 
 it; the deed is now accomplished which you think must yet be done." 
 She gazed and her eyes were opened ; then for the first time she looked 
 about and understood the miracle. "Lead me," she said, "to my son, 
 that he may see my feet and know that I have suffered no ill." 
 
 6. ORDEAL OF FIRE. 
 
 Raimond of Agiles c. xviii. Recueil des Hist, des Crois. Hist. Occ. Vol. 
 Ill, p. 283. Latin. Ct. also, J'ulk of Chartres, c. x., and Ralph of Caen, c. cviii. 
 
 When the Holy Lance was discovered by Peter Bartholomew at Antioch dur- 
 ing the first crusade, doubts as to the genuineness of the relic were expressed by 
 Boemund and his followers. To silence these Peter was compelled to undergo 
 the ordeal of fire to prove that it was really the spear wherewith the side of our 
 Lord had been pierced. Raimond of Agiles was a firm believer in the relic. 
 
 .... All these things were pleasing to us, and having enjoined 
 on him [i. e., Peter Bartholomew] a fast we declared that a fire should 
 be prepared upon that day on which the Lord was beaten with stripes 
 and put upon the cross for our salvation. And the fourth day there- 
 after was the day before the Sabbath. So when the appointed day 
 came round a fire was prepared afler the noon hour. The leaders and 
 the people to the number of 60,000 came together ; the priests were 
 there also with bare feet, clothed in ecclesiastical garments. The fire 
 was made of dry olive branches, covering a space thirteen feet long ; 
 and there were two piles with a space about a foot wide between them. 
 The height of these piles was four feet. Now when the fire had been 
 kindled so that it burned fiercely, I, Raimond, in presence of the whole 
 multitude, spoke: " If Omnipotent God has spoken to this man face to 
 face, and the blessed Andrew has shown him our Lord's lance while he 
 was keeping his vigil, let him go through the fire unharmed. But if it 
 
ORDEAL OF FIRE. 1 5 
 
 is false, let him be burned together with the lance which he is to carry- 
 in his hand." And all responded on bended knees, "Amen." The 
 fire was growing so hot that the flames shot up thirty cubits high into 
 the air and scarcely anyone dared approach it. Then Peter Bartholo- 
 mew clothed only in his tunic and kneeling before the bishop of Albar 
 called God to witness "that he had seen Him face to face on the cross, 
 
 and that he had heard from Him those things above written " 
 
 Then when the bishop had placed the lance in his hand, he kneeled 
 and made the sign of the cross and entered the fire with the lance, firm and 
 unterrified. For an instant's time he paused in the midst of the flames, 
 
 and then by the grace of God passed through But when 
 
 Peter emerged from the fire so that neither his tunic was burned 
 nor even the thin cloth with which the lance was wrapped up had shown 
 any sign of damage, the whole people received him after that he had 
 made over them the sign of the cross with the lance in his hand and 
 had cried, "God aid us!" All the people, I say, threw themselves upon 
 him and dragged him to the ground and trampled on him, each one 
 wishing to touch him or to get a piece of his garment, and each think- 
 ing him near someone else. And so he received three or four wounds in 
 the legs where the flesh was torn away, his back was injured and his 
 sides bruised. Peter had died on the spot, as we believe, had not 
 Raimond Pelet, a brave and noble soldier, broken through the w41d 
 crowd with a band of friends and rescued him at the peril of their lives. 
 , . . . . After this^ Peter died in peace at the hour appointed to him 
 by Grod, and journeyed to the Lord ; and he was buried in the place 
 where he had carried the lance of the Lord through the fire.^ 
 
 ^ Twelve days later. 
 
 2 A great controversy arose as to the cause of his death, his friends ascribing it 
 to his rough treatment after the ordeal, his enemies declaring that it was due to the 
 burns he had received. From the statement of the anonymous author of an 
 abridgement to Fulk of Chartres to the effect that Peter did not live through 
 fifteen days following the ordeal, but died on the twelfth, it would seem that 
 fifteen days was the period fixed by law within which the judgment of God was 
 expected to manifest itself. Gesta Franc. Iherusalem expugnantium, c. XXVI. 
 
1 6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 7. ORDEAL OF THE CROSS. 
 
 (a) Capitulary of Charles the Great. 
 Charta divis. c. 14 Baluze : Capitularia I, col. 309. Latin. 
 In the ordeal of the cross the two litigants were-placed standing before a cra- 
 eifix with their arms outstretched. The one who was able to maintain this position 
 the longer won his case. 
 
 If a dispute, contention, or controversy shall arise between the 
 parties regarding the boundaries or limits of their kingdoms of such a 
 nature that it cannot be settled or terminated by human evidence, then 
 we desire that for the decision of the matter the will of God and the 
 truth of the dispute may be sought by means of the judgment of the 
 cross, nor shall any sort of battle or duel ever be adjudged for the de- 
 cision of any such question, 
 
 (b) Capitulary of Louis le D^bonnaire. 
 Capit. Eccl., ann. 818, c. 27. M.G. LL. vol. I, p. 209. Latin. 
 It is enacted that hereafter no one shall presume to undertake any 
 sort of ordeal of the cross ; lest that which was glorified by the passion 
 of Christ should be brought into contempt through anyone's temerity. 
 
 8. DISTRUST OF ORDEAL SHOWN BY LAW OF HENRY II. 
 Assize of Clarendon, § 14, in Gesta Heinrici II., II. p, clii. R. S. Latin. 
 
 Also the lord king wishes that those who shall make their law' 
 and shall be acquitted by the law, if they be of very bad repute and 
 evilly defamed by the testimony of many legal men, shall abjure the 
 realm, so that within eight days they shall cross the sea unless the wind 
 shall detain them ; and with the first wind they shall have thereafter 
 they shall cross the sea ; and moreover they shall not return to England 
 except by grace of the king ; and there let them be outlawed. And if 
 they return let them be seized as outlaws. 
 
 9. ABOLITION OF ORDEALS. 
 (a) Decree of Innocent III. 
 
 Corp. Jur. Can. c. 9, Extra, III. 50 (Can. 18, Cone. Lateran. IV. ann. 1215.) 
 Latin. 
 
 Also let no ecclesiastic be placed in command of low soldiery, or 
 bowmen, or men of blood of that sort, nor let any subdeacon, deacon, or 
 
 M. e., who shall be admitted to the ordeal. 
 
INSTRUCTIONS OF HENRY III. ABOUT ORDEALS. 1 7 
 
 priest pactice any office of surgery which requires burning or cutting. 
 Nor let anyone pronounce over the ordeal of hot or cold water or glow- 
 ing iron any benediction or rite of consecration, regard being also paid 
 to the prohibitions formerly promulgated respecting the single combat or 
 
 duel. 
 
 I 
 
 (b) Instructions of Henry III. to his judges in 1219. 
 Rymer's Foedera (old ed.) I. p. 228. Latin. 
 
 The king to his beloved and faithful Philip de Ulletot and his fel- 
 low judges traveling in the counties of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and 
 Lancaster, greeting : Since it was doubtful and undetermined at the 
 beginning of your isyre by what sort of judgment they ought to be 
 brought to trial who were accused of theft, murder, incendiarism, and 
 similar crimes, inasmuch as the Roman Church has prohibited the 
 judgment of fire and water, it is enacted by our council that in this 
 your eyre the matter be thus conducted for the present in regard to 
 those accused of such excesses. To wit, that those accused of the afore- 
 said major crimes, who may be strongly suspected of being guilty and 
 regarding whom the suspicion might still be entertained that they would 
 do harm should they be allowed to abjure the realm, that such persons 
 should be retained in our prison and guarded carefully that they may 
 incur no danger of life or limb by occasion of our prison. But those 
 who may be accused of moderate crimes, in whose cases the ordeal of 
 fire or water would have been applicable had it not been prohibited, 
 and who are not suspected of being liable to do harm afterwards if they 
 should abjure our realm, let them abjure the realm. As to those, how- 
 ever, who may be accused of minor crimes, and who are not held in 
 suspicion, let them give sure and sufficient pledge of fidelity and inten- 
 tion to keep the peace and so let them be dismissed. 
 
 Since, therefore, our council has provided nothing more definite in 
 this matter, we leave to your discretion to observe the aforesaid regula- 
 tion, so that you who are better able to recognize the persons of the 
 men, the form of the crime and the truth of the matter itself may pro- 
 ceed in this according to your conscience and discretion. 
 
 (c) Edict of Pope Honorius in 1222 renewing the prohibition of the ordeal. 
 Corp. Jur. Can. (ed. Friedberg) c. 3, Extra, V., 35. Latin. 
 Our beloved sons recently baptized in Livonia have addressed a 
 
t8 translations and reprints. 
 
 serious complaint to us that the Teutonic Knights of Livonia and certain 
 other advocates and judges who exercise temporal power in the country, 
 if ever the inhabitants are accused of any sort of crime, comi^el them to 
 undergo the judgment of red-hot iron ; and if they suffer any burns from 
 this, they inflict civil penalties on them much to the scandal and terror 
 of the converts and of those about to be converted. Sinc^, therefore, 
 this sort of judgment has been utterly forbidden by legitimate and ca- 
 nonical decrees, inasmuch as God appears thereby to be tempted, we 
 command thee that, setting aside any appeal, and warning them by ec- 
 clesiastical censure, thou shouldst compel the said brothel's and others 
 to desist from all similar oppression of the converts. 
 
 lO. LAW OF FREDERIC XL AGAINST THE ORDEAL. 
 
 Const. Sicular. Lib. II., Tit. 31. Huillard-BrehoUes : Hist. Dip. Frid. II, 
 vol. IV, part I, p. 102. Latin. 
 
 The laws which are called by certain ingenuous pei-sons paHUles,^ 
 which neither regard nature nor give heed to the truth, We. who in- 
 vestigate the true science of laws and reject their errors, abolish from 
 our tribunals ; forbidding by the edict published under sanction of our 
 name all the judges of our kingdom ever to impose on any of our faith- 
 ful subjects these parlbiles laws, which ought rather to be called laws 
 that conceal the truth ; but let them be content with ordinary proofs 
 such as are prescribed in the ancient laws and in our constitutions. In- 
 deed, we consider that they deserve ridicule rather than instruction who 
 have so little understanding as to believe that the natural heat of red- 
 hot iron grows mild, nay, (what is more foolish) even turns to coldness 
 without the working of an adequate cause ; or who assert that on ac- 
 count of a troubled conscience alone a criminal does not sink into the 
 cold water, when rather it is the holding in of sufficient air that does 
 not allow of his being submerged.^ 
 
 1 Lex paribilis from a duel or combat of peers or champions. Ducange. 
 
 2 This last clause is supposed to refer to some artifice whereby those conduct- 
 ing the ordeal secured a conviction when they so desired. 
 
EXAMPLE OF JUDICIAL DUEL. 1 9 
 
 III. JUDGMENTS OF GOD— WAGER OF BATTLE. 
 
 The practice of appealing to the judgment of God to settle questions which it 
 transcended man's wisdom to decide is of prehistoric origin. When the Germans 
 invaded the empire a great impetus was given this custom by the resulting compli- 
 cations in legal relations. The theory of the personality of the law made it difficult 
 if not impossible to equitably decide questions arising between subjects of two dif- 
 ferent races by any other method than an appeal to divine justice, and hence we 
 find the ordeal and wager of battle greatly extended and its procedure adopted and 
 systematized by the church. In this way the latter obtained great influence over 
 the minds of the barbarians and added largely to its power and revenues by assum- 
 ing control of the administration of justice. The ordeal continued to flourish until 
 the 13th century, when the developing national monarchies gradually forced it to 
 give way. The papal influence, likewise thrown on the side of the reform, materi- 
 ally aided the movement in spite of the opposition of the local clergy. The wager 
 of battle, however, though even more strenuously opposed by the church, did not 
 meet with the same hostility from the secular authorities, and is to be met with oc- 
 casionally as late as the i6th century. In England it was not formally abolished 
 until i3i9. 
 
 I. 
 
 Wiponis Vita Chuonradi Imp., c. ;^2. ann. 1033. M.G. SS. XI. p. 271. 
 
 The emperor having levied a force in Saxony marched upon the 
 Liiitzes,'' a people who were formerly half Christians but who have 
 wickedly apostatized and are now become thorough pagans. In their 
 district he put an end to an implacable strife in a wonderful manner. 
 Between the Saxons and the pagans at that time fighting and raids were 
 being carried on incessantly, and when the emperor came he began to 
 inquire which side had first broken the peace that had long been ob- 
 served inviolate between them. The pagans said that the peace had 
 been disturbed first by the Saxons, and they would prove this by the 
 duel if the emperor would so direct. On the other side the Saxons 
 pledged themselves to refute the pagans in like manner by single com- 
 bat, though as a matter of fact their contention was unti'ue. The em- 
 peror after consulting his princes permitted the matter to be settled be- 
 tween them by a duel, though this was not a very wise act. T'vvo 
 champions, each selected by his own side, immediately engaged. The 
 Christian, trusting in his faith alone, though faith without the works of 
 
 ^ For a good example of the judicial duel under Otto I. see Widukind, Saxon 
 Chronicle, a7i. 938, trans, in Emerton's Introducti07i to the Middle Ages, p. ?>2,. 
 ^ A Wendish tribe living on the east side of the river Elbe. 
 
20 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 justice is dead, began the attack fiercely without diligently considering 
 that God, who is the Truth, who maketh His sun to shine upon the evil 
 and the good, and the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust, decides 
 all things by a true judgment. The pagan on the other hand resisted 
 stoutly, having before his eyes only the consciousness of the truth for 
 which he was fighting. Finally the Christian fell wounded by the 
 pagan. Thereupon his party were seized with such elation and pre- 
 sumption that, had the emperor not been present, they would forthwith 
 have rushed upon the Christians; but the emperor constructed the 
 fortress Werben in which he placed a garrison of soldiers to check their 
 incursions and bound the Saxon princes by an oath and by the imperial 
 commands to a unanimous resistance against the pagans. Then he re- 
 turned to Franconia.* 
 
 2. THE JUDICIAL COMBAT IN SPAIN. 
 
 Rodencus Toletanus, Lib. VI. c. 26. Bel : Rerum Hispanic. Script. I, p. 241. 
 Latin. 13th century. 
 
 The old Gothic or Mozarabic ritual long preserved its place in the churches oi 
 Spain, but Gregory VIL on his accession determined to substitute the Roman in 
 place of the old national service in Castile and Leon. The supporters of the papal 
 policy were not at first able to carry their point by means of aigument, and resort 
 was had to single combat between champions, one representing the Roman, the 
 other the Gothic ritual.^ 
 
 But before the recall [of the legate Richard] the clergy and peo- 
 ple of all Spain were thrown into confusion by being compelled by the 
 legate and the prince to accept the Gallic ritual. On an appointed day 
 the king, the primate, the legate, the clergy, and a vast multitude of 
 people came together and a long altercation took place^ the clergy, 
 soldiery and people firmly resisting a change in the service, the king, 
 under the influence of the queen, supporting the change with threats 
 and menaces. Finally the demands of the soldiery brought matters to 
 such a crisis that it was decided to settle the dispute by a duel. When 
 two soldiers had been selected, one by the king, who contended for the 
 Gallic ritual, the other by the soldiery and people, who were equally 
 zealous for the ritual of Toledo, the king's champion was defeated on 
 
 ^ For a discussion of this incident see Jahrbucher d. deutschen Geschichte, 
 Konrad IL, II. 94, sq. 
 
 2 See Hefele, Conciliengeschichte V., pp. 158 and 2CX). 
 
LAW OF FREDERIC II. ABOLISHING WAGER OF BATTLE. 21 
 
 the spot to the exultation of the people, because the victor was the 
 champion of the Toledo service. But the king was so far persuaded by- 
 queen Constantia that he did not recede from his demands, adjudging 
 
 the duel to be of no weight And when thereupon a great 
 
 tumult arose among the soldiers and the people, it was finally decided 
 that a copy of the Toledo ritual, and one of the Gallic should be placed 
 in a great fire. When a fast had been imposed upon all by the pri- 
 mate, legate, and clergy, and all had devoutly prayed, the Gallic of- 
 fice was consumed by the fire, while the Gothic leaped up above the 
 flames and was seen by all who stood there praising the Lord to be 
 wholly uninjured and untouched by the fire. But since the king was 
 obstinate and stiff-necked he would not turn aside either through fear of 
 the miracle or through supplication of the people, but, threatening con- 
 fiscation and death against those who resisted, he ordered the Gallic of- 
 fice to be adopted in all his dominions. Whence arose from the grief 
 and sorrow of all the proverb. Quo volunt Reges, vadunt Leges. 
 
 3. LAW OF FREDERIC IL ABOLISHING WAGER OF BATTLE IN SICILY. 
 
 Const. Sicular. Lib. II., Tit. ss- H. Br6holles: Op. cit. vol. IV, part I, p. 
 105. Latin. 
 
 We will that the single combat, or duel as it is commonly called, 
 shall never be adjudged between men subject to our jurisdiction, except 
 in a few specified cases ; for it cannot be called so much a real proof as 
 a sort of divination, which is not in accord with nature but is opposed to 
 universal law and inconsistent with just reason. For it is almost if not 
 quite impossible for two champions to come together so equally matched 
 that the one is not wholly superior to the other in strength or does not 
 excel him in some other way by greater vigor and courage or at least in 
 cleverness. But we exclude from the benefit of this humane edict mur- 
 derers who are charged with having caused the death of others by using 
 poison or some other secret means ; and even against these we do not 
 sanction the wager of battle at the beginning of the trial, but command 
 that ordinary proofs be first adduced against them if there be any such 
 at hand, and that only then, as a last resort, when the crime cannot be 
 fully established by other proofs after a thorough investigation by the 
 officials of the court, resort may be had to the judgment of battle to de- 
 cide the above charges : and we wish all these things to be arranged 
 through the medium of a judge fully cognizant of the proceedings, that 
 
22 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 he may carefully and diligently investigate the proofs brought out by 
 the inquisition. And if the charges shall not be proved as stated let 
 him grant the accuser permission to offer battle, if nothing was brought 
 out in court prejudicial to the accuser's right. But if the accuser should 
 first offer to prove the crime by witnesses and their testimony should be 
 insufficient, the trial shall not take place by the double method of in- 
 quisition and battle, but the defendant, not being convicted of guilt and 
 being presumably innocent, shall be set free ; because we wish the same 
 law to be observed among all, both Franks and Lombards, and in all 
 cases. In our new constitution, indeed, wager of battle has been suffi- 
 ciently recognized in the case of the knights and nobles of our kingdom 
 and of others who are able to offer battle. For we except the crime of 
 treason, respecting which we preserve the judicial duel. Nor 
 is it strange if we subject traitors, secret murderers and poisoners to the 
 duel (though not so much as a method of judgment as to terrify them) ; 
 not because our Serenity deems that just in their case which it has de-' 
 clared unjust in others, but because we desire that such homicides as 
 have not feared to lay secret plots against human life, which God's 
 power alone can call into existence, should be publicly subjected to this 
 terrible method of proof in the sight of all men as a punishment and an 
 example to others. Those also we exclude from the terms of our leni- 
 ency who do not hesitate to plot against our peace in which the peace of 
 all the rest is involved. 
 
 IV. EXCOMMUNICATION. 
 
 The church as a voluntary organization had from the beginning exercised the 
 right of excluding from its membership those who did not conform to its standards, 
 but it was not until Cyprian's time that this came to be generally looked upon as 
 equivalent to exclusion from salvation. As the theory of the church's true mis- 
 sion developed in the minds of its leaders the field of excommunication rapidly ex- 
 panded and the tone of its priesthood grew more certain. This change is well 
 shown by comparing St. Ambrose's mild remonstrance against Theodosius with 
 the haughty attitude of the popes of the I2th and 13th centuries, and by noting how 
 the state was compelled to support by civil penalties the sentence of the church. 
 Finally excommunication came to be looked upon as little more than a ban or 
 curse which could be employed by the clergy to avenge their private wrongs, to 
 strengthen contracts, or even to punish animals or demons. The abuses to which 
 the system gave rise became so great that even before the Reformation the censure 
 had lost much of its force, and since that time it has been less and less employed. 
 
THREAT OF EXCOMMUNICATION AGAINST THEOD08IU8. 23 
 
 I. ST. CYPRIAN ON THE NECESSITY OF MEMBERSHIP IN THE 
 
 CHURCH. 
 De Unitate Ecclesiae, | 6, in Migne, Pat. Lat. vol. IV. col. 502, 503. 
 
 The spouse of Christ cannot be an adulteress, she is uncorrupted 
 and pure. She knows but one house, she watches over the sanctity of 
 one couch with chaste modesty. She preserves us for God; she confers 
 the kingdom on the son whom she has brought forth. Whosoever sep- 
 arates himself from the church and is joined to an adulteress is sepa- 
 rated from the promises of the church ; nor will he attain to the rewards 
 of Christ who deserts Christ's church. He is an alien, he is profane, 
 he is an enemy. He can no longer have God for his father who has 
 not the church for his mother. If anyone could escape who was out- 
 side the ark of Noah, so also may he escape who shall be outside the 
 bounds of the church. 
 
 THEODOSIUS. 
 Epist. LI. §^ I1-13, in Migne : Pat. Lat. vol. XVI, col. 1 162, 1163. Latin. 
 
 I have written these things, indeed, not to confound you, but that 
 the example of these kings might induce you to put away this sin from 
 your kingdom, which you will accomplish by humiliating your soul to 
 God. You are a man and temptation has come to you ; confess it. Sin 
 is not put away except by tears and penitence. Neither an angel can 
 do it nor an archangel; the Lord himself, who alone can say, "I am 
 with you," does not forgive us if We have sinned except we be penitent. 
 I persuade, I beg, I exhort, I admonish; because it is a grief to me 
 that you who were an example of unusual piety, who were the very person- 
 ification of clemency, who would not allow guilty individuals to be 
 brought into danger, that you do not grieve at the death of so many, in- 
 nocent persons. Although you have fought battles most successfully, 
 although in other things also you are worthy of praise, yet the crown of 
 all your work was always piety. This the devil envied you, since it 
 was your ever present possession. Conquer him while as yet you have 
 wherewith you may conquer. Do not add another sin to your sin, that 
 you may practice what it has injured many to practice. 
 
 I, indeed, though in all other things a debtor to your kindness 
 which I can never be ungrateful for, which kindness surpassed that of 
 many emperors and was equalled by the kindness of one only, I, I say. 
 
24 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINl-S. 
 
 have no cause for a charge of contumacy against you, but I have a 
 cause for fear ; I dare not offer the sacrifice if you will to be present. 
 Is that which is not allowed after shedding the blood of one innocent 
 person to be allowed after shedding the blood of many? I do not think so. 
 
 3. LAW OF LOTHAIR I. IN 824. 
 
 Leges Langobard. cap. 15. M.G. LL. IV. p. 542. Latin. 
 
 It had always been the policy of the Carolingians to enforce the decrees of the 
 church, but this is the first general direction to counts to assist the bishops with 
 secular penalties. 
 
 It is our will that, so often as any person shall be brought to trial 
 for any crimes or misdemeanors and his contumacy shall render him 
 liable even to the episcopal excommunication, the bishop shall associate 
 with himself the count of his district so that the obstinate offender may 
 be forced by the united action of both to render obedience to the com- 
 mand of the bishop. If he does not obey let him pay us our fine ; but 
 if he still remains contumacious let him be excommunicated by the 
 bishop. Then if he shall refuse to amend his ways after being excom- 
 municated, let him be bound and imprisoned by the count until we 
 render our judgment against the hardened offender. If, however, it be 
 the count who is the guilty party, let his bishop report him to us ; and 
 if the culprit be an imperial vassal, let the count proceed against him 
 as above directed ; but if he will not hear, let him be reported to us be- 
 fore he is cast into prison. 
 
 4. ENACTMENT OF FREDERIC IL IN I220. 
 Confoederatio cum Princip. Ecclesiast. ^g 6-8. M.G. LL. II. p. 236. Latin. 
 
 Also we will avoid the company of excommunicated persons, as it 
 is right we should do, provided that they are denounced to us by word 
 of mouth or by letters or by messengers worthy of confidence; and un- 
 less absolution be previously granted we will not concede them any 
 standing in our courts : this distinction, however, being made, that ex- 
 communication shall not hinder them from appearing as defendants, 
 though without advocates; but it shall take away from them the right 
 and power of acting as judges or witnesses, or of bringing suit against 
 others. 
 
 And since the temporal sword was made subsidiary to the spiritual, 
 if it be made known to us in any of the foregoing ways that the excom- 
 
EXCOMMUNICATION OF FREDERIC II. 25 
 
 municales have persisted in their contumacy for more than six weeks, 
 our proscription shall be added to the excommunication, nor is it to be 
 withdrawn unless the excommunication be previously recalled. 
 
 So in this manner and in all other ways, that is to say, by just and 
 efficacious judgment, we have solemnly promised to aid and defend 
 them [the clergy], and they on their side have pledged their faith to 
 assist us to the extent of their power against any man who may offer 
 violent resistance to any such judgment of ours. 
 
 5. EXCOMMUNICATION OF FREDERIC II. BY INNOCENT IV. AT THE 
 
 COUNCIL OF LYONS, 1 245. 
 
 Harduin, Concilia VII. col. 385, 386. Latin. 
 
 [Innocent recapitulates the efforts of the popes to maintain peace 
 between the church and the empire and dwells upon the sins of the 
 emperor. Then, after charging him with the particular crimes of per- 
 jury, sacrilege, heresy, and tyranny, he proceeds as follows:] — We, there- 
 fore, on account of his aforesaid crimes and of his many other nefarious 
 misdeeds, after careful deliberation with our brethren and with the 
 holy council, acting however unworthily as the vicar of Jesus Christ 
 on earth and knowing how it was said to us in the person of the blessed 
 apostle Peter, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; 
 We announce and declare the said prince to be bound because of his 
 sins and rejected by the Lord and deprived of all honor and dignity, 
 and moreover by this sentence we hereby deprive him of the same since 
 he has rendered himself so unworthy of ruling his kingdom and so un- 
 worthy of all honors and dignity ; for, indeed, on account of his iniqui- 
 ties he has been rejected of God that he might not reign or exercise 
 authority. All who have taken the oath of fidelity to him we absolve 
 forever from such oath by our apostolic authority, absolutely forbidding 
 anyone hereafter to obey him or look upon him as emperor or king. 
 Let those whose duty it is to select a new emperor proceed freely with 
 the election. But it shall be our care to provide as shall seem fitting 
 to us for the kingdom of Sicily with the council of our brothers, the 
 cardinals. 
 
26 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 6. COMMINATORY CLAUSE FROM A CHARTULARY OF THE ABBEY 
 OF ST. PETER OF CHARTRES. 988 A.D. 
 
 Found in Giry, Manuel de Diplomatique, p. 564. 
 
 It was usual for mediaeval legal documents, and especially for deeds of gift, to 
 contain clauses excommunicating latae sententiae any who might venture to in- 
 fringe in any way upon the provisions contained in the document. 
 
 Now if anyone shall think to infringe on this deed of gift or bring 
 a false action against it, may he be seized with jaundice and smitten 
 with blindness ; may he bring his present life to a miserable ending by 
 a most wretched death and undergo everlasting damnation with the 
 devil, where bound with red-hot chains, may he groan for ever and 
 ever, and may the worm that never dies feed on his flesh, and the fire 
 that cannot be quenched be his food and sustenance eternally. 
 
 7. FORMULA OF EXCOMMUNICATION OF ANIMALS. 
 Found in Du Cange, Glossarium, s. v. Excommunicatio. 
 
 In the name of the Lord, Amen. Complaint having been made in 
 court by the inhabitants of Villenoce in the diocese of Troyes against 
 the locusts and caterpillars and other such animals, called in the vulgar 
 tongue Hurehecs, that have laid waste the vineyards of that place for 
 several years, and continue to do so, as is asserted on the testimony of 
 credible witnesses and by public rumor, to the great detriment of the 
 inhabitants of that and neighboring regions ; and their request having 
 been considered that the aforesaid animals should be warned by us and 
 compelled by threats of ecclesiastical punishment to depart from the ter- 
 ritory of said town, etc. We, by the authority that we exercise in this 
 region, warn the aforesaid locusts, caterpillars and other animals, under 
 whatsoever name known, by these presents, under threat of curses and 
 excommunication to depart from the vineyards and land of the said 
 town of Villenoce by virtue of this sentence within six days from the 
 publication of this warning and to do no further injury either there or 
 elsewhere in the diocese of Troyes. But, if the above mentioned an- 
 imals do not implicitly obey this our warning within the specified time, 
 then at the expiration of the six days by virtue of our said authority 
 we excommunicate them through this document and curse them by the 
 same. 
 
INTERDICT. 27 
 
 8. DECLARATION OF 1 68 2 BY LOUIS XIV. 
 Given in Michaud, Louis XIV. et Innocent XI., T. IV. p. 68. French. 
 
 Inasmuch as St. Peter and his successors, the vicars of Jesus Christ, 
 and even the whole church, have received power from God only over 
 spiritual things which concern salvation, and not at all over temporal 
 and civil affairs, since Jesus Christ Himself teaches that His kingdom is 
 not of this world and that we should render unto Caesar the things 
 which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God^s ; and since, 
 likewise, this precept of the apostle Paul can in no way be altered or 
 called into question : Let every soul he subject unto the higher powers. 
 For there is 710 power but of God : the powers that be are ordained of 
 God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power reslsteth the ordinance of 
 God. Therefore we declare that princes and kings are not subject by 
 God's command to any ecclesiastical power in temporal things ; that 
 they cannot be deposed either directly or indirectly by the authority of 
 the heads of the church ; that their subjects cannot be granted dispen- 
 sation to refuse the allegiance and obedience which they owe, or 
 absolved from the oath of fidelity ; and that this doctrine indispen- 
 sable to public peace and not less advantageous to the church than to 
 the state, must be invariably followed as conforming to the Word of 
 God, to the traditions of the holy Fathers, and to the example of the 
 Saints. 
 
 V. INTERDICT. 
 
 Interdict is a censure that deprives the faithful of the use ot most of the sacra- 
 ments, of participation in the celebration of the divine offices, and of ecclesiastical 
 sepulture. It is differentiated from excommunication in that it does not entail 
 segregation or exc lusion from church membership, so that those on whom it is 
 laid are not thereby handed over to Satan. It was employed especially to coerce 
 princes, as it was the most effective means of exciting public indignation and arous- 
 ing a people against its ruler. The interdict grew out of a wide use of excommuni- 
 cation and was first employed by the clergy of northern France in the turbulent 
 period following the extinction of the Carolingian dynasty. At first it was looked 
 upon with little favor by the popes, but by the beginning of the 12th century they 
 had adopted it as one of their most effective instruments in dealing with the Euro- 
 pean states. The wide range of the papal activity tended to bring the censure 
 more and more into use as a political weapon, and at length it ceased almost en- 
 tirely to be employed as a punishment for immorality. As the censure became 
 thus secularize*! its influence decreased, until finally the state, relying upon the 
 loyalty of its citizens, took advantage of their indifference to spiritual punishments 
 
28 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 and dared openly to defy the papal commands. The last important instance of its 
 use was when the pope laid an interdict on Venice in 1606. By that date it was 
 felt to be an anachronism ; it had not been previously employed for a long time, 
 and owing to its complete failure in this case it was henceforth little used. Since 
 then only a few instances of interdict have been known, occurring mostly in Spain 
 and Spanish America.^ 
 
 I. ENACTMENT OF THE COUNCIL OF LIMOGES IN IO3I.* 
 Harduin, Concilia, VI., col. 885, 886. Latin. 
 
 If they do not keep the peace lay the whole territory of Limoges 
 under a public excommunication' : to wit, in such manner that no one 
 unless a priest or a beggar or a traveler or an infant of two years or 
 less may be buried in all Limoges or be carried into another diocese 
 for burial. Let divine service be celebrated secretly in all the churches, 
 and let baptism be given those that seek it. About the third hour let 
 the bells be sounded in all the churches and let all, throwing them- 
 selves prone on the ground, pour forth prayers for peace because of their 
 tribulation. Let confession and the viaticum be allowed in the extrem- 
 ity of death. Let the altars in all the churches be stripped, as on Good 
 Friday ; and let the crucifixes and ornaments be veiled as a sign of sor- 
 row and mourning to all. Let each priest celebrate the mass behind 
 locked doors, and then only may the altars be decorated, to be stripped 
 again at the close of the service. Let no one marry him a wife during 
 the continuance of this excommunication. Let no one give another a 
 kiss. Let no one in all Limoges, either of the clergy or of the laity, 
 whether sojourners in the land or travelers, eat meat or any other food 
 except what is allowed in Lent. Let no one of the clergy or of the 
 laity have his hair cut or be shaved, until such time as the barons, 
 the leaders of the people, show obedience to the holy council in all 
 things. And if it shall be proved that anyone has violated this law let 
 him not be received except after fitting penance. For the excommuni- 
 cation of the bishops is to be especially observed lest perchance the 
 wrath of the Lord should fall upon us and upon the people. 
 
 1 For a vivid description of the workings of an interdict see Hurter's Innocenz 
 III., I. p. 348 ff. This is not an account of a real interdict but a mosaic made by 
 piecing together the provisions of many censures. 
 
 2 This measure was proposed as a punishment for any infractions of the Peace 
 of God on the part of the nobles. 
 
 ^ It will be observed that the technical use of the word interdict had not yet 
 been adopted. 
 
INTERDICTS OF FRANCE AND NORMANDY. 29 
 
 2. INTERDICT LAID IN NORMANDY IN 1 1 37. 
 
 Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. Eccl. Lib. XIII. c. 28. Ed Le Prevost, vol. V, p. 79. Latin. 
 
 This interdict was laid to '* terrify and restrain the perverse and disorderly in- 
 habitants," who in the anarchy following the death of Henry I. ravaged and plun- 
 dered each other's land to an almost incredible extent. 
 
 And now a still more serious misfortune threatened Normandy 
 with many kinds of evil. In the bishopric of Sedz an anathema ^ was 
 laid on all the lands of William Talvas, and there was no longer heard 
 the sweet chant of divine service, a sound that calms and gladdens the 
 hearts of the faithful. The people were forbidden to enter the churches 
 for the purpose of worshipping God, and the doors were locked. The 
 music of the bells was silenced and the bodies of the dead lay unburied 
 and putrifying, striking the beholders with fear and horror. The 
 pleasures of marriage were denied to those desiring them and the sol- 
 emn joys of the church services were no longer known. In the diocese 
 of Evreux also a like discipline was inflicted, which hardly restrained 
 by its terrors the disorders in the territory of Roger de Toeni. 
 
 3. INTERDICT ON FRANCE IN I200. 
 
 Mart^ne, Thesaurus Anecdot., IV. p. 147. Latin. 
 
 In 1 193 Philip Augustus married Ingeburg of Denmark, but divorced her on 
 the very day following the ceremony. Pope Innocent III. refused to sanction the 
 decree and when, three years later, Philip married Agnes of Meran he found the 
 whole power of Rome directed against him. He refused to yield, and finally in 
 1200 the pope laid all France under the interdict from January to September, 
 when the king was forced to give way. See Geraud, "Ingeburge de Danemark," 
 in Bibliothdque de I'Ecole des Chartes, T. I. 2d series, pp. 1-27 and 93-118. 
 
 Let all the churches be closed ; let no one be admitted to them ex- 
 cept to baptize infanta ; let them not be otherwise opened except for the 
 purpose of lighting the lamps, or when the priest shall come for the 
 Eucharist and holy water for the use of the sick. We permit mass to 
 be celebrated once a week on Friday early in the morning to consecrate 
 the Host for the use of the sick, but only one clerk is to be admitted to 
 assist the priest Let the clergy preach on Sunday in the vestibules of 
 the churches, and in place of the mass let them disseminate the word of 
 God. Let them recite the canonical hours outside the churches, where 
 the people do not hear them ; if they recite an epistle or a gospel let 
 
 ^ In one MS. it is spoken of as papal anathema. 
 
30 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 them beware lest the laity hear them ; and let them not permit the dead 
 to be interred, or their bodies to be placed unburied in the cemeteries. 
 Let them, moreover, say to the laity that they sin and transgress griev- 
 ously by burying bodies in the earth, even in unconsecrated ground, for 
 in so doing they arrogate to themselves an office pertaining to others. 
 Let them forbid their parishioners to enter churches that may be open 
 in the king's territory, and let them not bless the wallets of pilgrims 
 except outside the churches. Let them not celebrate the offices in Passion- 
 week, but refrain even till Easter day, and then let them celebrate in 
 private, no one being admitted except the assisting priest, as above di- 
 rected ; let no one communicate even at Easter, except he be sick and 
 in danger of death. During the same week, or on Palm Sunday, let 
 them announce to their parishioners that they may assemble on Easter 
 morning before the church and there have permission to eat flesh and 
 consecrated bread. Women are expressly forbidden to be admitted into 
 the churches for purification, but are to be warned to gather their 
 neighbors together on the day of purification and pray outside the 
 church, nor may the women who are to be purified enter even to raise 
 their children to the sacred font for baptism until they are admitted by 
 the priest after the expiration of the interdict. Let the priest confess 
 all who desire it in the portico of the church ; if the church have no 
 portico we direct that in bad or rainy weather, and not otherwise, the 
 nearest door of the church may be opened and confessions heard on its 
 threshold (all being excluded except the one who is to confess) so that 
 the priest and the penitent can be heard by those who are outside the 
 church.^ If, however, the weather be fair, let the confession be heard 
 in front of the closed doors. Let no vessels of holy water be placed 
 outside of the church, nor shall the priests carry them anywhere, for all 
 the sacraments of the church beyond these two which were reserved^ 
 are absolutely prohibited. Extreme unction, which is a holy sacra- 
 ment, may not be given. 
 
 4. INTERDICT ON VENICE IN I309. 
 
 Baronius' Annales, sub an. 1309, ^ 6. Latin. 
 
 The Venetians and the church having both laid claim to Ferrara the former 
 proceeded to make good their rights by occupying the city with an armed force. 
 
 1 Geraud remarks that this was almost equivalent to a formal prohibition of 
 confession. 
 
 ^i. e., infant baptism and the viaticum. 
 
INTERDICT OF UTRECHT. 3 1 
 
 The pope replied by laying an interdict on Venice and declaring all debts owing 
 her citizens to be forfeited. Other countries were invited to attack her commerce, 
 and Edward II. of England with other rulers took occasion to repudiate his Vene- 
 tian debts. Owing to the attacks on her trade and banking Venice was forced to 
 yield entirely to the pope's demands. 
 
 And since a just quarrel had arisen because of such great sin on 
 the part of the doge of Venice and the Venetian senate he ^ smote them 
 with the anathema, especially mentioning by name Giovanni Soranzo 
 who had wrested the domain of Ferrara away from the church, and 
 Vitali Michieli who was ruling Ferrara in the name of the republic, 
 and ordered them to restore the rule of the Roman church. He de- 
 prived all the Venetian territory of the use of the sacraments and of the 
 rights of trade ; he branded the magistrates with infamy and pronounced 
 them deprived of the benefits and privileges of the law^ ; and ordered 
 ijcclesiastics to leave the Venetian domains except such as were needed 
 to baptize infants and to receive the confessions of the dying. Finally, 
 if they persisted in their present course beyond the time fixed for sub- 
 mission, be pronounced the doge deprived of his authority and all the 
 property of the Venetians confiscated, and declared that the kings of 
 Europe would be summoned to direct their arms against them until they 
 should restore Ferrara to the church. 
 
 5. INTERDICT OF UTRECHT IN T426. 
 
 Matthaeus' edition of the Cronica de Trajecto, 2d ed., V. p. 456. Latin. 
 
 The growing use of the interdict for purely political purposes is here shown 
 and indicates the chief reason for the declining force of the censure. 
 
 Now it is remarkable that this decree should have been passed 
 notwithstanding the fact that the pope had deprived the city of the 
 sacraments and pronounced an interdict upon it on account of its having 
 received Rudolph ; especially if you consider that not only is nothing 
 severer than a papal interdict, but that nothing is likelier to stir up the 
 common people against their magistrates and superiors. For under 
 such circumstances the churches are closed, there are no divine services, 
 no chants are heard, nor is there mass, nor do the faithful assemble 
 together. There are no sacraments there, or confession, no baptism of 
 any except infants. Even burial is forbidden. All become the prey 
 
 iPope Clement V. 
 
32 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 of Satan. The credulous people are persuaded that it is in the pope's 
 power either to raise them to heaven or cast them down into hell. And 
 yet neither the city nor the clergy paid any attention to these things. 
 The pope's interdict was held in contempt and the clergy continued un- 
 hesitatingly to conduct divine services, especially after both the city 
 and the nobles had promised to guard and protect them against all, 
 even against the pope. 
 
 6. THE doge's reply TO THE INTERDICT LAID ON VENICE IN 1606. 
 
 English translation found in Trollope's '*Paul the Pope and Paul the Friar.'* 
 pp. 381, 382. 
 
 Original Latin text in Magnum Bullarium Romanum, Tom. X. (Ed. Luxem- 
 burgi, 1741) pp. 177, 178. 
 
 In his prolonged quarrel with Venice pope Paul V. attempted to compel the 
 repeal of two obnoxious laws by laying an interdict on the city, but this last serious 
 attempt of the papacy to enforce its decrees by a general censure broke down before 
 the determined opposition of the republic. 
 
 Leonardo Donato, by the Grace of God doge of Venice, etc.', etc., 
 to the most reverend, the patriarchs, archbishops and bishops of all our 
 Venetian dominions, etc., etc., greeting : 
 
 It has come to our knowledge that on the 17th of April last past, 
 by the order of the most holy father. Pope Paul V., there was published 
 and posted up in Rome a so-called brief, which was fulminated against 
 us, our senate, and the w hole of our state ; and that one was addressed 
 to you, the tenor and contents whereof were similar to those of the other. 
 We therefore find ourselves constrained to preserve in peace and tran- 
 quility the state which God has given us to rule ; and, in order to main- 
 tain our authority as a prince, who in temporal matters recognizes no 
 superior saving the Divine Majesty, we, by these our public letters, do 
 protest before the Lord God and the whole world that we have not failed 
 to use every possible means to make his Holiness understand our most 
 valid and irrefragable case ; first, by means of our ambassador residing 
 at the court of his Holiness ; then, by letters of ours in answer to briefe 
 addressed to us by his Holiness ; and, lastly, by a special ambassador 
 sent to him to this effect. But having found the ears of his Holiness closed 
 against us and seeing that the brief aforesaid is published contrary to all 
 right reason and contraiy to the teaching of the divine Scriptures, the 
 doctrine of the holy fathers, and the sacred canons, to the prejudice ot 
 
33 
 
 the secular authority given us by God, and of the liberty of our state, 
 inasmuch as it would cause disturbance in the quiet possession which, by 
 divine Grace, under our government our faithful subjects hold of their 
 properties, their honor and their lives, and occasion a most grave and 
 universal scandal throughout the state ; We do not hesitate to consider 
 the said brief not only as unsuitable and unjust, but as null and void 
 and of no worth or value whatever, and being thus invalid, vain, and 
 unlawfully fulminated, de facto nullo juris ordine servato, we have 
 thought fit to use in resisting it the remedies adopted by our ancestors 
 and by other sovereign princes against such pontiffs as, in using the 
 power given them by God to the use of edifying, have overstepped their 
 
 due limits And we pray the Lord God to inspire him [the pope] 
 
 with a sense of the invalidity and nullity of his brief and of the other 
 acts committed against us, and that He, knowing the justice of our cause, 
 may give us strength to maintain our reverence for the holy apostolic 
 tsee, whose most devoted servants we and our predecessors, together with 
 this republic, have been and ever shall be. 
 
34 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 
 
 Lea, Henry C. : Superstition and Force : Essays on the Wager of Law — the 
 Wager of Battle — the Ordeal — Torture. Philadelphia, 4th ed. 1892. 
 The best concise treatment in any language of the methods of mediaeval 
 legal procedure. The last edition of this work has been greatly enlarged by 
 the author, who has taken into account the researches of other modern 
 scholars in this field, correcting and supplementing their views frpm the 
 wealth of his own learning. No student either of mediaeval life and thought 
 or of legal history can afford to be without this book. 
 
 Patetta: Le Ordalie, Torino, 1890. 
 
 This is a full and judicious treatment of the subject of the judgments of 
 God from primitive Aryan times down, with a full citation of authorities. 
 
 Neilson: Trial by Combat, New York, 1891. 
 
 A popular but accurate discussion of the judicial duel in England and 
 Scotland. The author has drawn his account wholly from the original au- 
 thorities and has enlivened the subject by many picturesque incidents from 
 trials and combats. 
 
 Thayer, James Bradley : A Preliminary Treatise on Evidence at the Com- 
 mon Law, Part I., Development of Trial by Jury. Boston, 1896. 
 The first chapter of this very scholarly work is on Older Modes of Trial, 
 and gives a short but clear description of early English legal procedure. 
 
 Bninner, H. : Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte. Leipzig, 1892. 
 
 Two sections of this work contain much material relating to judgments 
 of God, — § 23, Der Rechtsgang, and § 106, Die Gottesurteile. To the latter 
 section is prefixed a careful bibliography of works dealing with this subject. 
 
 Lea, Henry C. : Studies in Church History. Philadelphia, 1883. 
 
 More than half of this book is taken up by an essay on excommunica- 
 tion, the most complete and satisfactory treatment of the subject that we 
 possess. In it the rise and development of the censure are traced, the abuses 
 that grew out of it are noted, and its gradual decline is explained. 
 
Translations and Reprints 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. 
 Vol.. III. English Manoriai, Documents. No. 5. 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Extents or Surveys. 
 
 1. A Domesday Manor, 3 
 
 2. A Manor of Peterborough Abbey, 4 
 
 3. A Manor of the Hundred Rolls, 4 
 
 4. A Manor of Battle Abbey, 8 
 
 II. COMPOTUS Roi,!,— Account of Cuxham, 14 
 
 III. Manor Court RolIvS. 
 
 1. Rolls of Great Cressingham, 20 
 
 2. Rolls of Durham Priory, 24 
 
 IV. Description of a Manor House, 31 
 
 V. Manumission of a Vili.ein, 31 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The manor was the most fundamental institution of mediaeval society. In 
 the use of the term as a territorial expression, equivalent to villa ^ vill, or township, 
 a manor was a stretch of country occupied by a rural population, grouped in a sin- 
 gle village, or perhaps in several hamlets, each Burrounded by its agricultural lands. 
 Part of the land of the manor, known as the demesne, was cultivated by the lord of 
 the manor through a bailiff or other officers, the remainder was occupied by tenants, 
 free and serf, who cultivated their scattered holdings and, in the form of compuls- 
 ory services, performed most of the labor on the demesne lands. The manor, in 
 this sense, was the agricultural unit of the country, and had its own internal or- 
 ganization based upon the form of distribution of the land, the method of its cul- 
 tivation, and the reciprocal relations of the demesne and the rest of the land. The 
 greater part of England was divided into such manors, either contiguous or separated 
 by unused stretches of moor, fen, or forest. 
 
2 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 Some slight indications of this organization are discoverable from Anglo Saxon 
 documents, from the entries of Domesday Book, and certain other early documents. 
 But the fullest information is to be found in the surveys or Extents of the 13th and 
 later centuries. These were drawn up from time to time for the information of the 
 lord of the manor by a steward or other representative, who obtained his informa- 
 tion from a group of the inhabitants of the manor who were put upon their oath for 
 that purpose. Such a survey, inquisition, or extent usually gives a description of 
 the kind, amount, and value of the demesne lands, a list of the inhabitants of the 
 manor, with the amounts of land which they hold, the payments they make and the 
 services they are bound to perform, with some information in regard to the peculiar 
 local customs. A less formal and complete description of a manor is often spoken of 
 as a Rental or Custurnal. 
 
 For the actual processes of agriculture, in the case of the small farming tenants, 
 we have not much direct information ; but in the case of the demesne farm, full 
 information as to both cultivation and administration is given not only in certain 
 contemporary treatises, but in the bailiffs' accounts or Conipotus rolls. These, 
 of which large numbers exist, but of which only a few have been published, give 
 detailed reports as to income and expenditure upon the manor farm. As this 
 demesne farm was frequently of several hundred acres, besides pasture and woods, 
 careful lords of manors, especially ecclesiastical corporations, insisted on minute 
 reports of all details from the steward, bailiff, reeve, or other official in charge of 
 each of their manors. 
 
 But the manor was not only a territorial and agricultural organization, it was 
 also a political or legal body, a unit of jurisdiction. The same lord of the manor 
 who held the demesne lands and received rents and agricultural services from the 
 tenants, usually possessed also rights of jurisdiction over them. The court leet, 
 court baron, customary court, and view of frank-pledge all habitually, if not necessar- 
 ily, had the single manor as their sphere of action. The lord also had the power, 
 usually, to impose tallages or aids upon his servile tenants at least. The inhabi- 
 tants were therefore bound together into a single social group by this quasi-political 
 subjection to the lord of the manor, no less than by the nature of their associative 
 agriculture. It is this conception and existence of the manor as a separately organ- 
 ized group of people that gives rise to the expression "the custom of the manor," 
 which occurs everywhere in documents connected in any way with local institutions 
 as it dominated everywhere among these institutions. Statements of this custom 
 of the manor, records of the daily life, and indications of the legal relations of the in- 
 habitants of the country districts ex^t in remarkable fullness and detail in the rolls 
 or records of the manor courts. These met at frequent intervals under the steward 
 or other representative of the lord of the manor, and attendance was a general re- 
 quirement from both free and servile tenants. Soon after the middle of the 13th 
 century the proceedings at these meetings of the inhabitants of the manor began to 
 be recorded, and for thousands, probably, of the petty rural communities such rolls 
 exist or have existed, rivalling the records of the great royal courts in fullness, and 
 frequently in interest. Usually a number of different manors were in the pos- 
 session of one person or corporation, a nobleman, a monastery, a college of the 
 University. The steward representing this lord would pass from one manor of the 
 
A DOMESDAY MANOR. 3 
 
 group to another holding a court at each and having the proceedings recorded suc- 
 cessively on one sheet of parchment or a series of sheets sewed together to form a 
 roll. Or all the records of one manor would be preserved on one roll, all those of 
 another on a second ; in either case the rolls remaining in the custody of the lord. 
 The manor courts were occupied with a great variety of matters ; land transfers, 
 enforcement of the rights of the lord and of the custom ol the manor, punishment 
 of offenses, settlement of civil disputes, adoption or promulgation of local statutes. 
 Many characteristics of mediaeval society, the actual status of the villein tenants, 
 the shadowy distinctions between bond and free, the relations of both to the lord 
 of the manor, are to be discovered from these records rather than from formal legal 
 treatises, contemporary though they be. Theoretical law was different even from 
 the practice of the king's courts, far more so from the actual conditions where local 
 custom was all powerful. 
 
 It should be noted that in addition to the two senses already discussed, the 
 word inaneriutn sometimes refers to the actual manor-house or principal building 
 of the manor, occupied regularly or occasionally by the lord of the manor, when it 
 was in the possession of an individual, or by some official if it was, as in so large a 
 number of cases, held by some corporation. 
 
 Lastly, the manor is here treated entirely from the point of view of its internal or- 
 ganization. It may be remarked that in its outward relations the manor was in many 
 ways the unit alike of the early national organization of England and of the later 
 feudal system superimposed upon it. The hundred and county courts had their 
 largest element in the representatives from each manor or township within their 
 borders ; the territories of a feudal noble or a monastery consisted of such and such 
 manors ; and even the king obtained his normal revenue from his income as lord of 
 a vast number of manors. 
 
 Sme typical examples of each of the classes of manorial documents described 
 above are given in the following pages. 
 
 I. EXTENTS, RENTALS, OR CUSTUMALS. 
 
 I. A DOMESDAY MANOR: HECHAM, ESSEX, A. D. IO86. 
 Domesday Book, II, 78 b. 
 
 In the form in which the Domesday record has been preserved, the entries 
 are arranged under each county by landholders, the possessions of the king being 
 named and described first, then those of the largest landholder, and so successively 
 till freeholders are reached who have only a single manor, or sometimes only land 
 in a manor. 
 
 Peter de Valence holds in domain Hecham, which Haldane a 
 freeman held in the time of King Edward, as a manor, and as 5 hides. 
 There have always been 2 ploughs in the demesne, 4 ploughs of the 
 men. At that time there were 8 villeins, now 10; then there were 2 
 bordars, now 3; at both times 4 .sem, woods for 300 swine, 18 acres of 
 meadow. Then there were 2 fish ponds and a half, now there are none. 
 
4 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 At that time there was 1 ox, now there are 15 cattle and 1 small horse 
 and 18 swine and 2 hives of bees. At that time it was worth 60s., now 
 4£. 10s. When he received this manor he found only 1 ox and 1 
 planted acre. Of those 5 hides spoken of above, one was held in the 
 time of King Edward by 2 freemen, and was added to this manor in the 
 time of King William. It was worth in the time of King Edward 10s., 
 now 22s., and William holds this from Peter de Valence. 
 
 2. A MANOR OF THE ABBEY OF PETERBOROUGH, ABOUT A. D. II 25. 
 
 Liber Niger Monasterii Sancti Petri de Burgo, in Chronicon Petroburgense, 
 Camden Society, pp. 160-161. 
 
 The Black Book of Peterborough abbey, the contents of which have been 
 printed as an appendix to the Chronicle of that abbey, contains the oldest manorial 
 surveys, next to Domesday and the preceding Saxon documents. The date of its 
 composition lies between 1125 and 1128. 
 
 In Werminton are 7 hides at the taxation of the king. And of 
 this land 20 full villeins and 29 half-villeins hold 34 virgates and a 
 half; and for these the full villeins work 3 days a week through the 
 year ; and the half tenants as much as corresponds to their tenancies. 
 And all these men have 16 plow^s, and they plow- 68 acres and a half, 
 and besides this they do 3 boonw^orks with their plows, and they ought to 
 bring from the w^oods 34 wagon loads of wood. And all these men pay 
 4£. lis. 4d. And to the love feast of St. Peter 10 rams and 400 
 loaves and 40 platters and 34 hens and 260 eggs. And there are 8 
 socmen who have 6 plows. In the demesne of the court are 4 plows of 
 32 oxen and 9 cows and 5 calves, and 1 riding horse and 129 sheep and 
 61 swine and 1 draught-horse and 1 colt. And there is 1 mill with 1 
 virgate of land and 6 acres which pays 60s. and 500 eels. And Asce- 
 lin the clerk holds the church with 2 virgates of land, from the altar of 
 St. Peter of Borough. Robert, son of Richard, has 2 virgates and a 
 half In this vill 100 sheep can be placed. 
 
 3. A MANOR OF THE HUNDRED ROLLS, A. D. 1 279: ALWALTON, 
 HUNDRED OF NORMANCROSS, COUNTY OF HUNTINGDON. 
 
 Rotuli Hundredorum, II, pp. 658-9. 
 
 The abbot of Peterborough holds the manor of Alwalton and vill 
 from the lord king directly ; which manor and vill with its appurtenances 
 the lord Edward, formerly king of England gave to the said abbott and 
 
EXTENT OF ALWALTON. 5 
 
 couvent of that place in free, pure, and perpetual alms. And the court 
 of the said manor with its garden contains one half an acre. And to the 
 whole of the said vill of Alwalton belong 5 hides and a half and 1 vir- 
 gate of land and a half; of which each hide contains 5 virgates of land 
 • and each virgate contains 25 acres. Of these hides the said abbot has 
 in demesne 1 hide and a half of land and half a virgate, which contain 
 as above. Likewise he has there 8 acres of meadow. Also he has there 
 separable pasture which contains 1 acre. Likewise he has there three 
 water mills. Likewise he has there a common fish pond with a fish-weir 
 on the bank of the Nene, which begins at Wildlake and extends to the 
 mill of Newton and contains in length 2 leagues. Likewise he has there 
 a ferry with a boat. 
 
 Free tenants. Thomas le Boteler holds a messuage with a court 
 yard which contains 1 rood, and 3 acres of land, by charter, paying 
 thence yearly to the said abbot 14s. 
 
 Likewise the rector of the church of Alwalton holds 1 virgate of 
 land with its appurtenances, with which the said church was anciently 
 endowed. Likewise the said rector has a holding the tenant of which 
 holds 1 rood of ground by paying to the said rector yearly 12d. 
 
 And the abbot of Peterborough is patron of the church. 
 
 Villeins. Hugh Miller holds 1 virgate of land in villenage by 
 paying thence to the said abbot 8s. Id. Likewise the same Hugh works 
 through the whole year except 1 week at Christmas, 1 week at Easter, 
 and 1 at Whitsuntide, that is in each week 3 days, each day w^ith 1 
 man, and in autumn each day with 2 men, performing the said w^orks at 
 the will of the said abbot as in plowing and other work. Likewise he 
 gives 1 bushel of wheat for benseed and 18 sheaves of oats for foddercorn. 
 Likewise he gives 3 hens and 1 cock yearly and 5 eggs at Easter. Like- 
 wise he does carrying to Peterborough and to Jakele and no where else, 
 at the will of the said abbot. Likewise if he sells a brood mare in his 
 court yard for 10s. or more, he shall give to the said abbot 4d., and jf 
 for less he shall give nothing to the aforesaid. He gives also merchet * 
 and heriot, and is tallaged at the feast of St. Michael, at the will of the 
 
 ^ Merchet, from Latin rnaritagium, was a payment collected by the lord of the 
 manor, usually from the father of a girl on her marriage, but also frequently from 
 widows remarrying, and even from men of villein status on their marriage. The 
 payment of merchet was one of the most constant tests of villenage. See Sel. PI. 
 in Manorial Courts., Selden Soc. I. 94. 
 
6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 said abbot. There are also there 17 other villeins, viz. John of 
 Ganesoiipe, Robert son of Walter, Ralph son of the reeve, Emma ate 
 Pertre, William son of Reginald, Thomas son of Gunnilda, Eda widow 
 of Ralph, Ralph Reeve, William Reeve, William son of William Reeve, 
 Thomas Flegg, Henry Abbott, W^illiam Hereward, Serle son of William 
 Reeve, Walter Palmer, William Abbot, Henry Serle ; each of whom 
 holds 1 virgate of land in villenage, paying and doing in all things, 
 each for himself, to the said abbot yearly just as the said Hugh Miller. 
 There are also 5 other villeins, viz. Simon Mariot, Robert of Hastone, 
 Thomas Smith, John Mustard, and William Carter, each of whom 
 holds half a virgate of land by paying and doing in all things half of 
 the whole service which Hugh Miller pays and does. 
 
 Cotters. Henry, son of the miller, holds a cottage with a croft 
 which contains 1 rood, paying thence yearly to the said abbot 2s. 
 Likewise he works for 3 days in carrying hay and in other works at the 
 will of the said abbot, each day with 1 man and in autumn 1 day in 
 cutting grain with 1 man. 
 
 Likewise Ralph Miller holds a cottage with a croft which contains 
 a rood, paying to the said abbot 2s.; and he works just as the said Henry. 
 
 Likewise William Arnold holds a cottage with a croft which con- 
 tains half a rood, paying to the abbot 2d.; and he w^orks just as the said 
 Henry. 
 
 Likewise Hugh Day holds a cottage with a croft which contains 1 
 rood, paying to the abbot 8d.; and he works just as the said Henry. 
 
 Likewise Sara, widow of Matthew^ Miller, holds a cottage and a 
 croft which contains half a rood, paying to the said abbot 4d.; and she 
 works just as the said Henry. 
 
 Likewise Sara, widow of William Miller, holds a cottage and a 
 croft which contains half a rood, paying to the abbot 4d. ; and she works 
 just as the said Henry. 
 
 Likewise William Kendale holds a cottage and a croft which con- 
 tains 1 rood, paying to the abbot 8d.; and he works just as the said 
 Henry. 
 
 Likewise Agnes the widow holds a cottage with a croft which con- 
 tains 1 rood, paying thence yearly 12d.; and she works just as the said 
 Henry. 
 
 Likewise Geoffrey Note holds a cottage and croft which contains 
 half a rood; paying yearly 8d.; and he works just as the said Henry. 
 
EXTENT OF A LW ALTON. 7 
 
 Likewise Beatrice the widow holds a cottage and croft which con- 
 tains half a rood, paying to the abbot 8d.; and she works just as the 
 said Henry. 
 
 Likewise Henry of Aylingtone holds a cottage with a croft which 
 contains half a rood, and 1 acre of land, paying to the abbot 2s. 8d.; and 
 he works just as the said Henry. 
 
 Likewise Benedict Atelane holds a cottage with a croft which con- 
 tains half a rood, paying to the abbot 8d.; and he works just as the said 
 Henry. 
 
 Likewise Geoffrey Baker holds a toft and croft, and it contains half 
 a rood, paying to the abbot 4d.; and he works just as the said Henry. 
 
 Likewise Robert Prenk holds a cottage with a croft which contains 
 half a rood, paying to the said abbot 4d.; and he works just as the said 
 Henry. 
 
 Likewise Roger Doket holds a cottage with a croft which contains 
 half a rood, paying to the abbot 4d.; and he works just as the said 
 Henry. 
 
 Likewise Geoffrey Drake holds a cottage with a croft which contains 
 half a rood, paying to the abbot 4d.; and he works just as the said 
 Henry. 
 
 Likewise Sara the widow holds a cottage with a croft which con- 
 tains a rood, and a half acre of land, paying to the abbot 8d.; and she 
 works just as the said Henry. 
 
 Likewise William Drake holds a cottage with a croft which con- 
 tains half a rood, paying to the abbot 6d.; and he works just as the said 
 Henry. 
 
 There are there also 6 other cotters, viz. William Drake Jr., 
 Amycia the widow, Alice the widow, Robert son of Eda, William Pep- 
 per, William Coleman, each of whom holds a cottage with a croft which 
 contains half a rood, paying and doing in all things, each for himself, 
 just as the said William t)rake. 
 
 Likewise William Russel holds a cottage with a croft which con- 
 tains half a rood, paying to the abbot 8d.; and he works in all things just 
 as the said Henry Miller. 
 
 There are moreover there 5 other cotters, viz. Walter Pestel, Ralph 
 Shepherd, Henry Abbot, Matilda Tut, Jordan Mustard, each of whom 
 holds a cottage with a croft which contains half a rood, paying thence 
 and doing in all things to the said abbot just as the said William Russel. 
 
8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 Likewise Beatrice of Hampton holds a cottage and croft which con- 
 tains 1 rood, paying to the abhot 12d.; and she works in all things just 
 as thfe said Henry. 
 
 Likewise Hugh Miller holds 3 acres of land paying to the abbot 
 42d. 
 
 Likewise Thomas, son of Richard, holds a cottage with a croft 
 which contains half a rood, and 3 acres of laud, paying to the abbot 4s. 
 and he works just as the said Henry. 
 
 Likewise Ralph Reeve holds a cottage with a croft which contains 
 1 rood, and 1 acre of laud, paying to the abbot 2s.; and he works just 
 as the said Henry. 
 
 Likewise each of the said cottagers, except the widows, gives yearly 
 after Christmas a penny which is called head-i^enny. 
 
 4. EXTENT OF THE MANOR OF BERNEHORNE, SUSSEX. A. D. I307. 
 Custumals of Battle Abbey, Camden Society, pp. 17-22. 
 
 Extent of the manor of Bernehorue, made on Wednesday next after 
 the feast of St. Gregory the Po})e, in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of 
 King Edw^ard, in the presence of Brother Thomas, keeper of Marley, 
 John de la More, and Adam de Thruhlegh, clerks, on the oath of 
 William de Gocecoumbe, Walter le Parker, Richard le Knyst, Richard 
 the son of the latter, Andrew^ of Estoue, Stephen Morsprich, Thomas 
 Brembel, William de Swynham, John Pollard, Roger le Glide, John 
 Syward and John de Lillingewist, who say etc., that there are there 
 all the following things: 
 
 The juroi-s say that the principal messuage and its garden with the 
 herbage and curtilage are worth yearly 6s. 8d.; and the dovecote is worth 
 yearly 5s. ; and the windmill is worth yearly 20s. 
 
 And there are there 12 acres of thick undergrowth whence the 
 pannage and herbage are worth yearly 2s. 
 
 And there are there 42 acres of maritime^ land in a certain place 
 called Scotsmarsh, each acre of which is worth yearly 12d., the sum 
 being 42s. 
 
 And there are there 7 acres and 1 rood of maritime land in a cer- 
 tain place called Aldithewisse ; and 47 acres and 3 roods of maritime 
 
 ^ Apparently land which was close to the salt marsh but yet capable of being 
 cultivated, since agricultural services of the villein tenants are mentioned subse- 
 quently. 
 
EXTENT OF BERNEHORNE. 9 
 
 laud ill a certain place called Flittermarsh, each acre of which is worth 
 yearly 12d. the sum being 55s. 
 
 And there are there 22 acres of maritime land in two places called 
 Pundfold and Longrech ; and 7 acres of maritime land in a certain place 
 called Wyssh, and 8 acres and 3 roods of maritime land in a certain 
 place called Upcroft marsh, and 3 acres and a half of maritime land in 
 a certain place called Redewysshe; and each acre is worth yearly 12d.: 
 the sum being 41s. 3d. 
 
 And there are there 19 acres, 1 rood of maritime land in a certain 
 place called Berghamsmarsh, and 7 acres in a certain place called 
 Pammai-sh, and 3 acres and 1 rood of maritime land beyond the wall 
 of Flittermarsh and Longreche ; and each acre is worth yearly 12d.: the 
 sum being 29s. 6d. 
 
 And there are there 15 acres of marshy land in a certain place called 
 Swynhamme and 66 acres of marshy land in a certain place called Hoo- 
 brokes, each acre of which is worth now 4d. a year ; and the foresaid 
 marshy lands, if they should be properly drained will be worth lOd. per 
 acre yearly ; the sum being 4£. 4s. 2d. 
 
 And there are there 18 acres of waste land in the fields called 
 Welleland and Hammes, and 21 acres of land in the fields called Panden 
 and Panylond, each acre of which is worth yearly 6d. : the sum being 
 19s. 6d. * 
 
 And there are there 24^ acres in the field of Berghamme, and each 
 acre is worth yearly 6d.: the sum being 12s. 3d. 
 
 And there are there 34 acres of land in a certain place called 
 Swynhamme, and 56 acres of land in a certain field called Hoolonde, of 
 which each acre is worth yearly 3d. and the sum is 22s. 6d. 
 
 And there are there 30 ^ acres of land in the fields called Eldeton 
 and FurneysUand, and 12 acres of land in the fields called Pleme and 
 Schebbecrofl and Robertsmarsh, and each acre is worth yearly 3d.; the 
 sum being 10s. 7^d. 
 
 And there are there 6 acres and 1 rood of meadow in a certain 
 place called Hoolonde, and 6 acres of meadow in a certain place called 
 Robertsmarsh, and 1 acre of meadow near Robertswood, otherwise called 
 Rokeswood, each acre of which is worth 18d. a year; and the sum is 19s. 
 lOR 
 
 The total of the acres of woods is 12 acres. 
 
 The total of the acres of arable land is 444 acres and 3 roods, of 
 
lO TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 which 147 acres 4 roods are maritime land, 101 acres marshy land, and 
 180 acres waste ground. 
 
 The total of the acres of meadow is 1 3 acres 1 rood. 
 The total of the whole preceding extent 18£. 10s. 4d. 
 
 John Pollard holds a half acre in Aldithewisse and owes 18d. at 
 the four terms, and owes from it relief and heriot. 
 
 John Suthinton holds a house and 40 acres of land and owes 3s. 
 6d. at Easter and Michaelmas. 
 
 William of Swynhamme holds 1 acre of meadow in the thicket of 
 Swynhamme and owes Id. at the feast of Michaelmas. 
 
 Ralph of Leybourne holds a cottage and 1 acre of land in Pinden 
 and owes 3s. at Easter and Michaelmas, and attendance at the court in 
 the manor every three weeks, relief and heriot. 
 
 Richard Knyst of Swynhamme holds 2 acres and a half of land and 
 owes yearly 4s. 
 
 William at Knelle holds 2 acres of land in Aldithewisse and owes 
 yearly 4s. 
 
 Roger le Glede holds a cottage and 3 roods of land and owes 2s. 6d. 
 at Easter and Michaelmas. 
 
 Alexander Hamound holds a little piece of land near Aldewisse and 
 owes 1 goose, of the value of 2d. 
 
 The sum of the whole rent of the free tenants, with the value of the 
 goose, is 18s. 9d. 
 
 They say moreover that John of Cayworth holds a house and 30 
 acres of land, and owes yearly 2s. at Easter and Michaelmas ; and he 
 owes a cock and two hens at Christmas, of the value of 4d. 
 
 And he ought to harrow for 2 days at the Lenten sowing with one 
 man and his own horse and his own harrow, the value of the work being 
 4d.; and he is to receive from the lord on each day 3 meals, of the 
 value of 5d., and then the lord will be at a loss of Id. Thus his harrow- 
 ing is of no value to the service of the lord. 
 
 And he ought to carry the manure of the lord for 2 days with 
 one cart, with his own 2 oxen, the value of the work being 8d. : and 
 he is to receive from the lord each day 3 meals of the price as above. 
 And thus the service is worth 3d. clear. 
 
 And he shall find one man for 2 days for mowing the meadow of 
 the lord, who can mow, by estimation 1 acre and a half, the value of the 
 
EXTENT OF BERNEHORNE. II 
 
 mowing of an acre being 6(1. : the sum is therefore 9d. and he is to 
 receive each day 3 meals of the value given above ; and thus that mow- 
 ing is worth 4d. clear. 
 
 And he ought to gather and carry that same hay which he has cut, 
 the price of the work being 3d. 
 
 And he shall have from the lord 2 meals for 1 man, of the value of 
 IJd. Thus the work will be worth lid. clear. 
 
 And he ought to carry the hay of the lord for 1 day with a cart 
 and 3 animals of his own, the price of the work being 6d. And he shall 
 have from the lord 3 meals of the value of 2 id. And thus the work is 
 worth 3 2d. clear. 
 
 And he ought to carry in autumn beans or oats for 2 days with a 
 cart and 3 animals of his own, the value of a work being 12d. And 
 he shall receive from the lord each day 3 meals of the value given 
 above : and thus the work is worth 7d. clear. 
 
 And he ought to carry wood from the woods of the lord as far as 
 the manor^ for two days in summer with a cart and three animals of his 
 own the value of the work being 9d. And he shall receive from the 
 lord each day 3 meals of the price given above, and thus the work is 
 worth 4d. clear. 
 
 And he ought to find 1 man for 2 days to cut heath, the value of 
 the work being 4d. and he shall have 3 meals each day of the value 
 given above ; and thus the lord will lose, if he receives the service, 3d. 
 Thus that mowing is worth nothing to the service of the lord. 
 
 And he ought to carry the heath which he has cut, the value of the 
 work being 5d. And he shall receive from the lord 3 meals at the price 
 of 2H. And thus the work will be worth 2^d. clear. 
 
 And he ought to carry to Battle twice in the summer season, each 
 time half a load of grain, the value of the service being 4d. And he 
 shall receive in the manor each time 1 meal ot the value of 2d. And 
 thus the work is worth 2d. clear. 
 
 The total of the rents, with the value of the hens is 2s. 4d. 
 
 The total of the value of the works is 2s. 3^1.; owed from the said 
 John yearly. 
 
 William of Cayworth holds a house and 30 acres of land and owes 
 at Easter and Michaelmas 2s. rent. And he shall do all customs just as 
 the foresaid John of Cayworth. 
 
 M. e., the manor-house. 
 
12 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 William atte Grene holds a house and 30 acres of land and owes in 
 all things just as the said John. 
 
 Alan atte Felde holds a house and 16 acres of land, (for which 
 the sergeant pays to the court of Bixley 2s. )^ and he owes at Easter and 
 Michaelmas 4s., attendance at the manor court, relief and heriot. 
 
 John Lyllingwyst holds a house and 4 acres of land and owes at the 
 two terms 2s., attendance at the manor court, relief and heriot. 
 
 The same John holds one acre of land in the fields of Hoo and owes 
 at the two periods 2s., attendance, relief and heriot. 
 
 Reginald atte Denne holds a house and 18 acres of land and owes at 
 the said periods 18d., attendance, relief and heriot. 
 
 Robert of Northehou holds 3 acres of land at Saltcote and owes at 
 the said periods attendance, relief and heriot. 
 
 Total of the rents of the villeins, with the value of the hens, 20s. 
 Total of all the works of these three villeins, 6s. 10 2 d. 
 
 And it is to be noted that none of the above named villeins can give 
 their daughters in marriage nor cause their sons to be tonsured, '^ nor can 
 they cut down timber growing on the lands they hold, without license of 
 the bailiff or sergeant of the lord, and then for building purposes and 
 not otherwise. And after the death of any one of the foresaid villein 
 the lord shall have as a heriot his best animal, if he had any ; if however 
 he have no living beast the lord shall have no heriot, as they say. 
 The sons or daughters of the foresaid villeins shall give for entrance into 
 the holding after the death of their predecessors as much as they give of 
 rent per year. 
 
 Silvester the priest holds 1 acre of meadow adjacent to his house, 
 and owes yearly 3s. 
 
 Total of the rent of tenants for life, 3s. 
 
 Petronilla atte Holme holds a cottage and a piece of land and 
 owes at Easter and Michaelmas . . ; attendance, relief, and heriot. 
 
 Walter Herying holds a cottage and a piece of land and owes at 
 Easter and Michaelmas 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot. 
 
 ^ Bixley was a neigboring manor, held by the Bishop of Chichester, having cer- 
 tain claims over some of the land in the manor of Bemehorne. 
 
 '^ That is to let them enter the clergy. This was not only a common prohibition 
 according to the custom of many manors but was enacted in statute law. ' 'Sons of 
 rustics ought not to be ordained without the assent of the lord on whose land they 
 are known to have been born." Constitutions of Clarendon, c. 16. (A. D. 1164). 
 
EXTENT OF BERNEHORNE. 1 3 
 
 Isabella Mariner holds a cottage and owes at the feast of St. Mi- 
 chael 12d., attendance, relief, and heriot. 
 
 Jordan atte Melle holds a cottage and 1 acre of land and a half 
 and owes at Easter and Michaelmas 2s., attendance, relief, and heriot. 
 
 William of Batelesmere holds 1 acre of land with a cottage and 
 owes at the feast of St. Michael 3d., and 1 cock and 1 hen at Christmas, 
 of the value of 3d., attendance, relief, and heriot. 
 
 John le Man holds half an acre of land with a cottage, and owes 
 at the feast of St. Michael 2s., attendance, relief, and heriot. 
 
 John Werthe holds 1 rood of land with a cottage and owes at the 
 said term 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot. 
 
 Geoffrey Caumbreis holds half an acre and a cottage and owes at 
 the said term 18d., attendance, relief, heriot. 
 
 William Hassok holds 1 rood of land and a cottage and owes at 
 the said term 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot. 
 
 The same man holds 3^ acres of land and owes yearly at the feast 
 of St. Michael 3s. for all. 
 
 Roger Doget holds half an acre of land and a cottage which were 
 those of R. the miller, and owes at the feast of St. Michael 18d., attend- 
 ance, relief, and heriot. 
 
 Thomas le Brod holds 1 acre and a cottage and owes at the said 
 term 3s., attendance, relief, and heriot. 
 
 Agnes of Cay worth holds a half acre and a cottage and owes at the 
 said term 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot. 
 
 Agnes of Badlesmere holds 1 acre of land and a cottage and owes 
 at the said term 3s., attendance, relief, and heriot. 
 
 William atte Whaunne holds one acre of land and owes at Easter 
 and Michaelmas 2s., and relief. 
 
 Total of the rents of the said cottagers, with the value of the hens 
 34s. 6d. 
 
 And it is to be noted that all the said cottagers shall do as regards 
 giving their daughters in marriage, having their sons tonsured, cut- 
 ting down timlier, paying heriot, and giving fines for entrance just 
 as John of Cayworth and the rest of the villeins formerly mentioned. 
 
 Note, lines ' and penalties, with heriots and reliefs are worth yearly 5s. 
 
 * A "fine" was a payment made to the lord by anyone who acquired land in the 
 manor in any other way than by inheritance, in which case the payment was relief. 
 The usual word for a penalty was "amerciament," or it was recorded that a person 
 was "in mercy." 
 
14 TRANSLATIONS AND PwEPRINTS. 
 
 XL YEARLY ACCOUNT OF IVIANOR OF CUXHAM, 
 
 A.D. 1316-17. 
 
 Rogers: History of Agriculture and Prices in England, II, 617-622. 
 Compotus of Robert Oldmaii, reeve of Cuxham, from the morrow 
 of St. James, in the 10th year of the reign of king Edward, to the mor- 
 row of St. James in the next following year, that is the beginning of the 
 11th year of the reign of king Edward. 
 
 Arrearages. He is charged with 6£. 19^d. of arrearages from 
 the preceding account. Total 6£. 19 2d. 
 
 Rents of Assize. He is charged with 13s. Id. of rent of the 
 period of St. Michael; and with 11 fd. from the foldage of the animals 
 at the feast of St. Martin ; and with 6s. nd. of rent of the period of St- 
 
 Thomas for the same; and with 5s. Ind. at the period of 
 
 St. John; and with 18d. of new rent for 1 acre of land granted to Rob- 
 ert Taylor. Total 38s. 10 Id. 
 
 Rent. He is charged with 40s. of rent of the water mill : and 
 with 13s. 4d. of yearly rent of the fulling mill. Total 53s. 4d. 
 
 Sale of Wheat. He is charged with 4£. 16s. for 6 quarters of 
 wheat sold Thursday next before the fii*st of August, at 16s. a quarter : 
 and with lOd. for 1 bushel of wheat sold in the autumn to William 
 Walderugge because the keeper granted this to him : and with 6£. 6s. 
 for 9 quarters of wheat sold before the feast of All Saints at 14s. a 
 quarter. And with 4£. 1 6s. for 6 quartei-s of wheat sold on the Thui-s- 
 day next before the feast of St. Michael, at 16s. a quarter. 
 
 Total 15£. 18s. lOd. 
 
 Sale of Peas and Oats. He is charged with 24s. for 2 quartei*s 
 and 2 bushels of peas sold, at 10s. 8d. a quarter. And with 8s. 8d. for 
 1 quarter and 5 bushels of oats sold, at 5s. 4d. a quarter. Total 32s. 8d. 
 
 Sale of Malt. He is charged with 17s. 6d. for one quarter and 
 2i bushels of malted barley sold, at 13s. 4d. a quarter. And with 16s. 
 3d. for 1 quarter and 5 bushels of malted drage sold, at 10s. a quarter. 
 
 Total 33s. 9d. 
 
 Sale of Animals. He is charged with 15s. for 1 work horse 
 sold: and with 40s. for 4 oxen sold : and with 12s. for 1 cow sold in the 
 autumn because she was barren: and w^th lis. for 1 cow sold because 
 she was barren : and with 8s. for 1 cow sold because she was weak and 
 old: and with 4s. 6d. for 1 young bull sold because he was weak: and 
 with lis. Id. for 7 calves sold, the price of each being 19d.; and with 
 18d. for 2 sheep sold in winter before the shearing because they were 
 
COMPOTUS KOLL OF CUXIIAM. 1 5 
 
 weak : and with 5s. 1 1 •] d. for 1 3 geese, the price of each goose being 
 o^d.: and with lis. Id. for 4 score of pigeons sold. Total 7£. 17s. lod. 
 
 Products of the Manor. He is charged with 9d. for swine 
 running in the stubble in the autumn, as shown in the items : and with 
 5 2d. for sheepskins sold: and with 2s. 6d. for works of Richard Est sold 
 in the winter: and with 2s. 6d. for works of Adam Brian sold in the 
 winter: and with lod. for works of Joainia Bonecherche sold in the 
 winter: and with 2s. for 1 perna of bacon : and with 12d. for peas-straw 
 sold: and with lis. 3d. of present bread of the customary tenants sold at 
 the feast of Christmas: and with 18^1. for 308 eggs sold, viz., 16 for Id.: 
 and with 33s. for 5] stone of wool sold, the price of a stone being 6s., 
 that is the stone weighing 16 lbs. and containing 42 fleeces. 
 
 Total 47s. 3d. 
 
 Products of the Dairy. He is charged with 5s. 8d. for 17 
 cheeses of the fourth form sold, the price of each 4d.: and with 18s. 3d. 
 for 73 cheeses of the third form sold, the price of each 3d.: and with 4s. 
 lOd. for 29 cheeses of the second form sold, the price of each 2d.: and 
 with 6d. for 6 cheeses of little form sold : and with 22d. for milk sold 
 from the Thursday next af^er the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle to the 
 morrow of the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary : and with 3s. Id. 
 for butter sold in autumn and in winter : and 6d. for milk sold between 
 the feast of the Annunciation and the Thursday next after the feast of 
 St. John before the Latin Gate: and with lOd. for 5 cheeses of the second 
 form sold within this year : and with 12d. for butter sold in summer, and 
 not more because 3^ jars of butter have been sent to Oxford. 
 
 Total 36s. 6d. 
 
 Fines of Land and Heriot. He is charged with 40s. from 
 Thomas Canon as a fine for the land which was Adam atte Hethe's : 
 and with 30s. from William Burdon as a fine for the land which was 
 Robert Wyte's : and 2s. for a copper pot coming as a heriot from Adam 
 atte Hethe, which was sold. Total 72s. 
 
 Pleas and Perquisites. He is charged with 3s. 7d. of i:)erquisites 
 of the court held Wednesday next after the feast of St. Mary Magdalen. 
 
 Total 3s. 7d. 
 
 Outside Receipts. He is charged with 12d. of perquisites of the 
 court of Il^estane held Thursday next after the feast of St. Mary Mag- 
 dalen : and for 13s. 4d. received from John, son of John Coleman, as a 
 fine for the land which belonged to John the Wyte of Ibestane: and 
 with 13s. 4d. received from Amisia, daughter of John Coleman, as a 
 
1 6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 fine for the land which belonged to John the Baker of Ibestane : and 
 with 37s. 6d. for 51 skins of wool sold in the past year which weighed 
 5 stones, viz., the stone being 16 lbs., the price of a stone being 5s. 6d. 
 
 Total 56s. lOd. 
 Total of all the receipts with arrearages 48£. 17s. 4|d. 
 
 EXPENSES. 
 
 Quittances of his own rent. In quittance of his own 
 rent of Waterilond Id.: and for present bread 2d.: and for saltsilver 
 id. Total 3*d. 
 
 Cost of the plows. For 6 pieces of steel bought for the plows 
 5s. lOd.: for 3 pieces of steel bought for the same 8s. 7d.: for 1 piece of 
 steel bought 15d.: for 6 wheels bought 18d.; for poles bought for the 
 third plow 22d,: for the wages of the blacksmith for repairing the 
 plowshares between the feast of St. James and the feast of St. Michaah 
 2s.: for shoeing the draught horses in the same period 18 ^d. Likewise 
 in payment of the blacksmith for the repair of the plowshares between 
 the feast of St. Michael and the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle 3s.: for 
 shoeing the draught horses during the same time 18d. In payment to 
 the blacksmith for mending the plowshares between the feast of St. 
 Thomas and the feast of the Annunciation 2s. Id.: for shoeing the 
 draught horses during the same time 16d. Likewise in payment 
 to the blacksmith for the repair of the plowshares between the feast of 
 the Annunciation and the feast of St. James, 4s. 6d. For shoeing 
 the draught horses during the same time 17d. For 4 horse-shoes 
 bought, 16d.: for 2 trees for timber for the plows 3s.: for cutting down 
 and hauling the same 4d. Total 34s. 4d. 
 
 Cost of the carts. For 17 clouts bought, 21d.: for 100 clout 
 nails bought, 2 2d.: for 1 pair of packsaddles and 3 collars bought, 3s. 
 For 1 pair of traces bought, 6d.: for leather bought for harness 12d.: 
 for 51bs. of grease, 15d., at 3d. per pound: for 1 pair of wheels without 
 tires bought, 2s. 4d.: for 1 rear cord bought, 1 Jd.: for the shoeing of 2 
 cart-horses between the feast of St. James and the feast of St. Michael 
 18d.: and the feast of St. Michael and the feast of St. Thomas the 
 Apostle 19d.: and between the feast of St. Thomas and the Annun- 
 ciation 20d. For the shoeing of 3 cart-horses from the feast of the An- 
 nunciation to the feast of St. James 2s. lid. Total 17s. 3d. 
 
 Small necessary Expenses. For 2 hair ropes bought, of 
 which one was of 6 fathoms and another of 1 1 fathoms, for keeping the 
 draught horses in the pasture, 9d.: for iron bought at Pyrtone 22s.: for 
 
COMPOTUS ROLL OF CUXHAM. 1 7 
 
 iron bought from Robert Weyloud 1 8cl. : for a dish for meat and 4 other 
 dishes because it was autumn 4d.: for 6 bushels of salt bought, 12s.: for 
 o bushels of salt bought, 3s. 6d.: for the custom of the cotters for carry- 
 ing the fold 2d.: for 7* quarters of drage bought for feeding the swine 
 4s. lOd., at different prices. For brushwood bought for the hearths 3s. 
 6d.: for 3 quarters and 2 bushels of gleanings bought for the swine, of 
 which 5 bushels were sent to Oxford 8s. 8d., the price per quarter being 
 2s. 8d.: for 1 knife bought for cutting the vegetables for the servants: 
 for rods bought for wattling the fold 8d.: for 12 clouts bought for the 
 fold 2s.: for rods bought for the harrows 2^1.: for fines bought 18d.: 
 given for the tithe of 7 calves sold, 13}d.: and for the tithe of 3 calves 
 remaining l*d.: and for the tithe of 1 lamb, sd.: and for the tithe of 4 
 skins sold, M. For milk bought for the lambs 4^.: for washing and 
 shearing the sheep, 6d.: for making 4 halters of horsehair Id.: for ex- 
 penses of the reeve at Henley for 6 days, selling grain, 9d.: for the 
 expenses of the clerk when he made the account 12d.: for parchment 
 bought for the account, IH.: for pasture bought at Pyrtone, 18d.: for hay 
 bought for next year, 22s. 3d. Total 4£. 9s. 8H. 
 
 Cost of the Dairy. For rennet bought, 6d.: for cloth bought 
 for the dairy, 3d.: for pots bought, Sid. Total 122d. 
 
 Purchase of Grain. For 2 quarters and 2 bushels of oats 
 bought on account of the lack of threshing, 9s., the price of a quarter 
 being 4s.: for 5 bushels of vetches bought, 7s. 6d., the price of a bushel 
 being 18d.: fori quarter of barley bought, 10s. 2d. Total 26s. 8d. 
 
 Purchase of Animals. For 1 draught horse bought on St« 
 James' Day 22s. 6 Id.: for 1 draught horse bought in Easter week 14s. 
 4d.: for one cow bought in the autumn, before calvitig, lis. Id. 
 
 Total 45s. ll^d. 
 
 Cost of the Buildings. For one man and his helper hired for 
 22 days to put a roof on 2 barns, a hay-mow, and the kitchen, lis., being 
 6d. a day: for 2 women helping them for 10 days, 3s., being 2d. a day. 
 For 1000 lath-nails bought, lid.: for poles bought for prys, 6d. For 
 one man hired for 4 days to roof 2 cottages of the vill, 16d., at 4d. a day : 
 for poles bought for prys, 2d.: for one woman helping him 4d. For 2 
 quarters of lime bought, 8d. Total 17s. lid. 
 
 Cost of the Mill. For timber bought to renew the water wheel 
 of the mill: for nails bought for the same 6d. Total 3s. lOd. 
 
 Threshing and ^A^innowing. For the expenses of Peter of 
 Wantage while he was having the threshing done, 5s. 2d.: for the thresh-- 
 
1 8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 ing of 9 quarters and 6 bushels of wheat by task, before the feast of St. 
 Michael, os. 8(1., the price of a quarter being 4d.: for 8 bushels of wheat 
 threshed, at task, after the feast of St. ^Michael, 9d. For the winnow- 
 ing of the same 2d., because the dairyman wiiniowed one-half. For the 
 threshing of 12 quarters and 1 bushel of wheat and 21 quarters of 
 peas, in the time of master John of Tube, 8s. Tifd., the price of a quarter 
 being 8d.: for winnowing the same 2^., because the dairyman winnowed 
 one half, being 8 quarters for Id. For the ex})enses of master John of 
 Tube while he was having the threshing done, 7s. 4fd., besides some 
 wheat. For the expenses of John of Odiham while he was having the 
 threshing done, 22d., besides some of the produce of the oats. For the 
 expenses of master Walter of Durton while he was having the thresh- 
 ing done, 3s. 8d., for the same time. . For the expenses of master John 
 of Crofton while he was having the threshing done, 8d., besides some 
 of the wheat. For the threshing of 1 quarter and 8 bushels of wheat in 
 the time of Walter of Durton, 4 Id.: for the winnowing of the same 1 far- 
 thing. Total 27s. 6 Ad. 
 
 Weeding and Mo'wing. For 20 men hired for 8 days to pull 
 bitter weeds and cut thistles in the grain, 18s. 4d., a penny a day to each 
 one. For the custom of the mowers for medsij^e, for hauling hay 2d.: 
 for the custom of 12 cottagei-s stacking hay, 6d. For mowing the gar- 
 den, 2s. Id. Total 16s. 7d. 
 
 Autumn Expenses. For reaping 33 acres and 1 rood of wheat, 
 at task, 22s. lOd., during the time of master William Boliuer, the 
 price of an acre being 8d. For reaping 44} acres of drage and oats at 
 task, 81s. 9 id., the price of an acre being 7d., through the same time. 
 For reaping 6 acres of drage and oats, at task, 3s., during the 
 same time, the price of an acre being 6d. For the expenses of master 
 William Boliner, Peter of Wantage, the reeve, hayward, and dairyman 
 through 4 weel« in autumn, and at the coming of the keeper and others 
 who came after, 15s. Id., through the same time. For 3 men hired at 
 the park of Pyrtone, 6d. Total 73s. 2 id. 
 
 W^ages of Servants. For the wages of 2 hostlers in the winter 
 season, 4s., also for 2 drivers, 3s., also for the carter 2s., also for the 
 shepherd 12d., and not more because he kept the sheep of others; also to 
 the cowherd in winter, 12d., likewise to the dairyman 12d. For the 
 payment to the clerk who drew up the account, 2s., and 2s. as a gratuity. 
 
 Total 16s. 
 
 Expenses of the Steward. For the expenses of the steward 
 
COMPOTUS ROLL OF CUXHAM. I9 
 
 ill holding the courts of Cuxham and Ibstane Monday and Tuesday 
 next after the feast of St. Mary Magdalen, bread from the store-room, 
 for ale 22d., for meat 5d. ^ Total 2s. eSd. 
 
 Expenses of the Keeper. For the expenses of the keeper on 
 his coming from London on the morrow of St. Frideswide's, bread from 
 the store-ro(mi. For ale, 4d., for one sheep given to the servants, 8d., 
 and to the baliff of the king, 12d., and to the hayward of Pyrtone, at 
 the order of the keeper, 12d. For the expenses of the same near Hoke- 
 day, staying 5 days, bread from the store-room; for ale, 2s. lid., for 
 meat lis. 5d.: besides bacon from the store-room, for peas 6d., for bridles, 
 4d.; given to the baliff of the king 6d., and to the servants 4d., and to a 
 man coming from Scotland to the lord king, 6d. Total 10s. 2d. 
 
 Outside Expenses. For the expenses of the bailiffs of Maldon, 
 Ledrede, and Farley, in coming to the account and in returning ; bread 
 and cheese from the store-room, for ale 12d. For the expenses of the 
 carter of Chetindone coming from Oxford and of the carters of Haliwell 
 on their coming to Bredefeld to get timber there, bread and cheese from 
 the store-room ; for ale 8d. For the expenses of the same and of the 
 carter of Cuxham on the way to Bredefeld four times and on the way 
 to Alramanson twice, with the expenses of one man going with him twice, 
 5s. 6d. For 6 clouts with nails bought for the cart from Chetindone) 
 9d. For hay bought on the way for the horses, 12d. For the expenses 
 of the tax collectors of the sixteenth penny, bread and cheese from the 
 store-room, for ale 7 id. ; given to the same 6s. 8d. Given to the lord 
 king for the sixteenth penny 28s. For poles bought as prys for pre- 
 paring timber 3d.: for one man and his helper hired for 3 days at 
 preparing timber 18d.: for one woman helping them for 2 days, 2d. 
 For the expenses of 2 men coming to Maldon to hunt for a pig there, 
 bread and cheese from the store-room, ale, 2d. For eggs Id For the 
 expenses of the 2 men driving a pig to Chetindone, 6d. For the ex- 
 penses of lord Stephen of Chenidant, Friday next before the feast of St. 
 Thomas the A{x>stle, bread and cheese from the store-room, ale 2d. 
 For the expenses of 4 masters coming to Reading for orders and return- 
 ing about the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, bread 5d., beside bread 
 from the store-room, ale 13d., garlic, Id., cheese from the store-room. 
 For shoeing 3 horees of the cart of Chetindone and for mending the 
 broken strakes and hooks of the cart, 15d. For the expenses of master 
 Adam of Hystede coming from London on the morrow of St. Agatha the 
 Virgin, bread from the store-room, ale 4d. For the expenses of a man 
 
20 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 of the king and his servant coming from Oxford to mark the door of the 
 barn, Thursday next after the conversion of St. Paul ; and the same 
 servant remained for 2 days ; and of another servant who came to him 
 and remained 2 days ; bread and cheese from the store-room, ale 8d., 
 meat 3d., eggs Id. Also given to the said men of the lord king, 2s. 
 For hauling 4 casks and 1 pipe from London to Henley 6s. 9d., at 18d. 
 a cask and 9d. for the pipe. For a house hired for storing the said casks 
 at Henley, 6d. : for rolling the said casks into the house and out of the house 
 again when they had to be put into the cart, 7d ; for placing the same 
 in the cart, 9d., for hauling the same from Henley to Cuxham, 18d. 
 For expenses at Cuxham. For 2 men coming from Oxford to get one 
 cask, bread and cheese from the store-room, ale 2d., garlic 2d. For the 
 expenses of the bailiff of Ledrede going to Oxford and returning, about 
 the feast of St. Osyth the virgin, bread from the store-room, ale 2^., 
 eggs Id., cheese from the store-room. For 164 eggs bought for the 
 account, 12d. Total 65s. Id. 
 
 Total of all expenses 22£. 7s. 9H. 
 And he owes 26£. 9s. 7^1. 
 
 III. MANOR COURT ROLLS. 
 
 I. MANOR COURT ROLLS OF GREAT CRESSINGHAM, NORFOLK. 1 328-9. 
 Five Court Rolls of Great Cressingham, Edited and Translated by Henry W. 
 Chandler, Privately Printed, London. 1885. pp. 17-35. 
 
 A Court in the same place (Great Cressingham), on Monday next 
 after the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Mary in the year of the 
 reign of King Edward above mentioned, (i.e., Edward III; Sept 12th 
 1328.) 
 
 Excuse. William of Glosbridge, attorney of Sir Robert de As- 
 pale by the common excuse through W. Prat. (He came afterwards.) 
 
 Order. It was ordered, as before, to distrain Master Firmin to 
 show by what right, etc., concerning the tenement Walwayn. Likewise 
 to distrain Sir John Walwayn for fealty. 
 
 Amerciament, 3d. From Petronilla of Mintling for leave to 
 agree with William Attewente, concerning a plea of trespass. 
 
 Order. It was ordered to distrain Peter the Cooper for lod. 
 which he owed to Roger the Miller, at the suit of William Attestrete, 
 who proved against him four shillings in court. 
 
 Fine, I2d. From Walter Orengil for his term of four years to hold 
 in 6 acres of land rented from Gilbert Cloveleke, for which grant the 
 
COURT ROLL OF CRESSINGHAM. 21 
 
 said Walter is to pay annually, at the feast of All Saints, to the said 
 Gilbert four quartei*s and four bushels of barley, during the said term. 
 
 Pledges Nally and John Buteneleyn. 
 
 Amerciament, 2d. From John Brichtmer because he was sum- 
 moned to do one boon-work in autumn and did not come. Therefore he 
 is to be amerced. 
 
 Amerciament, 2d. From Alice, wife of Richard of Glosbridge, 
 for the same. 
 
 Amerciament, 2d. From William Robyn for the same. 
 
 Order. From Walter Page and Margaret his wife, because they 
 cannot deny that they are keeping back from John of Euston 3d. ; and 
 therefore it was ordered that the said 3d. should be levied from the said 
 Walter to the use of the said John. (Reversed, because he is poor.) 
 
 Fine, 4d. Martin the son of Basil and Alice his wife having been 
 examined by the bailiff, surrendered into the lord's hand one rood of 
 land with a cottage thereon, to the use of Isabel daughter of John Fayr- 
 say and their heirs, to hold in villenage at the will of the lord, doing etc. 
 all rights being saved. And she gives, etc. 
 
 Fine, 4d. Isabel Fayrsay surrendered into the lord's hands one 
 rood and one quarter of a rood of land and one rood of meadow and half 
 of a cottage to the use of Martin Basil's son and Alice his wife and their 
 heirs, to hold in villenge at the will of the lord, doing etc. All rights 
 being saved. And he gives to the lord. 
 
 Fine, 4d. From John Pye for his term of five years to hold in 
 three roods of land rented from Hugh Holer. The term begins at the 
 feast of St. Michael. 
 
 Fine, ^£, It is to be remembered that the lord out of his seisin 
 delivered and gave to Vincent of Lakinham one messuage, 7 acres 2i 
 roods of land of the \nllenage of the lord, which had been taken into the 
 lord's hand after the death of William the son of Hugh because the 
 aforesaid William w^as a bastard son and died without heirs, to hold of 
 him to the aforesaid Vincent and his heii-s, in villenage at the will of 
 the lord, doing thence the services and customs due. All rights being 
 saved. And he gives to the lord for his entry. And saving to Alice 
 who was wife of Hugh the son of Lawrence half of the said tenements 
 to hold in dower for the term of her life. 
 
 Note, I beast; price los. The jury says John Bassissone has 
 died seized of one messuage, 16 acres and 1 rood of land of villenage, 
 and that John his son is his next heir, and is of the age of nine years. 
 
22 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 And because the said heir has not come, therefore it is ordered that 
 seisin be in the whole villenage until, etc. 
 
 Order. To distrain the tenants of the tenement Sovvle for one 
 boon-work witheld in autumn. 
 
 Fine, 40s. All the jury says that Thomas Ode has died seised of 
 a cottage and 5 acres and one rood of land of the villenage of the lord, 
 and that they know him to have no surviving heir, and therefore the 
 whole tenement was taken into the lord's hand. And the lord out of his 
 seisin delivered and gave the whole of the said tenement to a certain 
 Simon Maning of Walton and his heirs to hold in villenage at the will 
 of the lord, doing therefore the service and customs due. Saving all 
 kinds of rights. And he gives to the lord to have entry. 
 
 Order. Ordered to distrain Henry le Cok, John Maggard, chap- 
 lain, and John Ingel, because they withhold from the lord 3d. rent now for 
 five years for the parcel tenement Merchant. 
 
 Likewise to distrain Richard of the River for fealty for the tene- 
 ment formerely of Reyner Attechirche. 
 
 Election. The whole homage elect the tenement of Geoffrey 
 Attechirchgate for the office of reeve this year, and the tenants are Nally, 
 Buteneleyn, Martin, Bassissone, and others. And the said Alexander 
 was sworn. 
 
 Likewise the tenement of Lawrence Smith for the next year. 
 
 Likewise the tenement Ernald for the office of reaper : and the 
 tenants are W. Macurneys, Buteneleyn, W. Pawe, and T. Attenew- 
 house. And the said W. Pawe was sworn and afterward excused. 
 And Prat performs the office for him. 
 
 Order. It was ordered to distrain Alan son of William Attehall- 
 gate and John his brother, for fealty for the tenement which belonged 
 to master Roger de Snetisham, of the fee of the lord. 
 
 Likewise to distrain John Pye to show by what right, etc., and for 
 fealty. 
 
 Likewise to retain the pledges taken from the men of Hilburworth 
 until they have made satisfaction for damages done in the common. 
 
 Amerciament, I2d. From William Hubbard for damage in 
 the lord's meadows. 
 
 Amerciament, 6d. From John Aylemer for damage in the 
 fields in autumn. 
 
 Amerciament, 2d. From Hugh Holer because he did not do 
 his boon-work in autumn, as he was summoned to do. 
 
COURT ROLL OF CRESSINGHAM. 23 
 
 1 2d. From Isabel Syapping for license to have a fold of her own 
 sheep. 
 
 Memorandum. Of 4 bushels of barley taken from Roger the 
 miller, etc., by the Reaper ; and let them be handed over to Thomas 
 Pawe for a debt recovered against the said Roger. 
 
 Total 6£. 4s. lid., besides a heriot valued at 10s. 
 
 Total of all the courts for the whole year, 8£. 16s. 8d. 
 
 CRESSiNGHAM. A Court and Leet there on Monday next after the 
 
 feast of the apostles Peter and Paul, in the third year of the reign of 
 
 king Edward, the Third from the Conquest, (i. e., July 3rd, 1329). 
 
 Fine, i8d. Gilbert de Secheforde surrendered into the hands of 
 the bailiff, in the presence of the whole homage a cottage to the use of 
 John Putneys and his heirs, to hold in villenage at the will of the lord, 
 doing thence the services and customs due ; saving rights of all kinds. 
 And he gives for entry, etc. 
 
 Order. It was ordered to retain in the lord's hand one messuage 
 and one acre of land of which John Belessone was seized when he died, 
 because it is not known of what condition he was ; and therefore the rolls 
 of the 34th and 32nd of king Edward are being examined. 
 
 Amerciament, 3d. From Alice, daughter of Geoffrey Attenew- 
 house, for marrying without leave. 
 
 Amerciament, 4d. From John, son of Martin, for the same. 
 Postponement. A suit between Thomas Attetunesende, plaint- 
 iff, and Adam Attewater, defendant, concerning a plea of agreement, 
 was postponed till the next court by consent of the parties on account of 
 arbitration. 
 
 Postponement. A distraint taken from John Maggard and 
 Henry le Coke for arrears of rent was postponed till the next court. 
 And it was ordered to distrain John Ingil, their joint-tenant, etc. 
 Chief Pledges. John Buteneleyn, John Hardy, 
 
 William Robin, Thomas Hardy, 
 
 Henry Pawe, Nicholas, son of Roger, 
 
 Laurence Smith, Roger Attehallgate, 
 Roger Gurnay, William le Warde, 
 
 William Attestrete, Robert Gemming. 
 These were sworn and say : 
 
 Fine, 3d. From William Hubbard for license to put his grain 
 growing in the lord's villenage, out of villenage. 
 
24 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 Amerciament. From Silvester Smith, for blood drawn from 
 John Marschal. (erased). Because he was elsewhere. 
 
 A. 6d. From John Barun for the same from William, son of 
 Sabine. 
 
 A. 3d. From Margaret Millote for the same from Agnes, 
 daughter of Martin Skinner. 
 
 A. 6d. From the rector for an encroachment on the common at 
 Greneholm, 12 perches long and 2 feet wide. 
 
 A. 6d. From the same rector for an encroachment made at Calde- 
 well, 20 perches long and 1 foot wide. 
 
 A. 3d. From Roger of Draytone because he made an encroach- 
 ment at the Strete 3 perches long and 1 foot wide. 
 
 s|> sl> >]> %A^ v> 0> ^ ^ ^1^ 
 
 A. 6. From Hugh Rolf and Hugh Holer for license to resign- the 
 office of ale-taster. 
 
 Election. Alan le Cok and Alan le Spicer were elected to the 
 office of ale- taster, and sworn. 
 
 A. 2d. From Christiana Punte because she has sold ale and 
 bread contrary to the assize. 
 
 A. 2d. From William, son of Clarissa because he broke into the 
 house of John son of Geoffrey Brichmer. 
 
 A. 2d. From Adam son of Matilda Thomas because he is not in 
 the tything. 
 
 A. 2d. From John son of Thomas Brun for the same. 
 
 A. 6d. From Peter the miller for a hue and cry justly raised 
 against him by the wife of William the Fuller. 
 
 2. EXTRACTS FROM THE HALMOTE COURT ROLLS OF THE PRIOR 
 AND CONVENT OF DURHAM, 1 345-83. 
 Publications of the Surtees Society. Vol. 82. pp 16-179. 
 
 The following items are extracted from the records of the successive courts 
 held by the Steward, Bursar, or Terrar of the Priory of Durham. Three courts a year 
 seem to have been held in each of the fifteen manors belonging to the convent, be- 
 sides more, frequent meetings, at the call of the reeve. The word "halmote" or 
 *'halimote" is frequently applied to the manor court meetings, and is generally con- 
 sidered to be equivalent to a meeting in the hall or manor house. Maitland, Sel. 
 Pleas in Manorial Courts, I, Ixxvi. 
 
 First Tourn of the Halmotes of the Prioty of Durham, beginning at 
 
DURHAM HALMOTE ROLLS. 25 
 
 Fery, July 6th, A.D. 1345, before lords William of Chareton and Rob- 
 ert of Benton, Terrar and Bursar, and Simon Esshe, Steward. 
 
 Spen, 1345. Agnes widow of Adam of Mora has taken a house and 
 50 acres of land which her husband Adam formerly held, paying ann- 
 ually for her life 33s. 4d. And there is remitted to her 16s. 8d. a year 
 from the old rent on account of her age and weakness of mind. 
 
 Billingham, 1345. Agnes daughter of William Nouthird has 
 taken a cottage with the curtilage, which the said William her father 
 formerly held, to be held on payment of 6d. a year and 20 autumn 
 works in the manor of Billingham, provided she has food. Fine, 2s.; 
 pledges J. of Stokton and Alexander son of Gilbert. 
 
 The reeve and jurors complain and present that certain persons 
 named below do not hold land by reason of which they have any right 
 to have part in the common pasture, and yet they feed their cattle on the 
 pasture of the vill to the injury of those who hold land. It is therefore 
 required that they remove their animals from the pasture so that for the 
 future they shall not thus overstock the pasture ; under penalty of half 
 a mark. 
 
 North Pittington, 1358. Bonageus^ Moneyer came here into court 
 and took a messuage and 28 acres of land which had been Christiana 
 Ponchoun's, because no one of the blood of the said Christiana was will- 
 ing to fine for them, to have and hold for the term of his life, on pay- 
 ment for the first 3 years of 13s. 4d. a year, and afterward 20s. a year. 
 And the same Bonageus will repair within a year, at his own cost, the 
 building of the foresaid messuage. And he gives for a fine 20s. of which 
 13s. 4d. is remitted for the repairs of the foresaid buildings. Pledges 
 for the rent and for all other things which are required Robert Thomson 
 and John Ponchoun. 
 
 Bonageus Moneyer came here and took a messuage and 20 acres of 
 a nd formerly in the tenure of Richard of Aucland vicar of Pittington, 
 which were seized into the hand of the lord because he left them and 
 rented them without license of the lord ; to have and hold for the term 
 lof his life, paying the ancient rent and doing for the lord and his neigh- 
 bors what is required ; on the pledge of John Ponchoun and Robert 
 Thomson. And he gives as fine 13s. 4d. 
 
 ^ In 1364, Bonageus, a P^lorentine, was moneyer for the king of Scotland. 
 This was probably the same man. He might have been in 1358 minter for the 
 Bishop of Durham. By 1364 he is recorded as having left his holdings at Pitting- 
 ton. 
 
26 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 West Raynton, 1364. It is reported by the inquisition upon which 
 Hugh Urkyll has placed himself, viz. on the oath of, etc. (8 names) that 
 the said Hugh is a natimis^ of the lord prior and that his father and grand- 
 father were considered as nativi of the said lord prior. And moreover 
 this same Hugh made his fealty here in court just as pertains to a natiims. 
 It is reported by the same inquisition that John Wydowson is a natimis 
 of the lord and of like condition etc ; and besides this, etc. has made his 
 fealty etc. It is ordained and enjoined on all who were on the foresaid 
 inquisition that each of them hold what was said among them as a secret, 
 under penalty of payment of 40d. by the one who is found guilty. It is 
 enjoined on all the tenants of that vill and the vill of East Raynton that 
 no one of them call anyone of those vills "iiativus" of the lord, under 
 penalty of payment of 20s. by the one who is found guilty. 
 
 Billingham, 1364. It is enjoined upon all the tenants of the vill 
 that none of them grind his grain outside of the domain so long as the 
 mill of the lord prior is able to grind, under penalty of 20s. 
 
 Coupon, 1365. It is reported by the jury that Thomas son of 
 Richard of Billingham staying at Melsonby and acting as common herd- 
 man there, is a nativus of the lord. 
 
 Ne\Nlx)n Bewley, 1365. From John of Baumburg for his trans- 
 gression against Adam of Marton, in calling him false, perjured, and a 
 rustic; to the loss of the same Adam of Marton 40d., penalty 13d. 
 
 Mid-Merrington, 1365. From Richard, son of Thomas, because he 
 has not recalled his son from school ^ before the feast of St. Michael as 
 enjoined upon him at the last Halmote, penalty 40d. It is enjoined 
 upon all the tenants of the vill that none of them insult the pounder 
 while fulfilling his duty, nor swear at him. 
 
 West Raynton, 1365. A day is given to all the tenants of the 
 vill to make a law that neither they nor their wives nor their servants 
 shall cut down anything within the woods, nor carry anything green 
 away from the woods ; each of them at the next court six-handed. 
 
 ^That is, a bondman of the lord born on the manor. The word is nsed not in 
 contrast with villanus, but as a more exact term, laying stress on his servile status, 
 at a period when many men in the social position of villeins were no longer person- 
 ally unfree. It is here evidently a term of opprobrium, as well as an indication of sub- 
 jection to the burdens of serfdom. The official who holds the court seems to de- 
 precate any rousing of the resentment of the villein tenants by its open use. 
 
 2 Doubtless a villein who was violating the law by endeavoring to have his son 
 trained to be a priest ; see at Ackley, below. 
 
DURHAM HALMOTE ROLLS. 27 
 
 Couix)n, 1365. From Agnes Postell and Alice of Belasis, for 
 breaking the assize of ale, 12d. From Alice of Belasis, for bad ale, and 
 moreover because the ale which she sent to the Terrar was of no strength, 
 as was proved in court, 2s. 
 
 Ackley, 1365. It is ordained by common consent that no one per- 
 mit colts, calves, young steers or any other animals within the field in 
 which grain is sowed nntil the grain is cut and carried off, under penalty 
 of half a mark. 
 
 Fery, 1365. It is ordained by common consent that Robert Todd 
 should keep his sheep from feeding on the grain of his neighbors and on 
 the cowpasture, under i:)enalty of 40d.; and moreover that each tenant 
 keep his pigs, cows, horses, and other animals from feeding on the grain 
 or treading it, and that the cottagers should keep their cattle within the 
 common pasture, under the penalty foresaid. 
 
 Ackley, 1366. It is required of John, son of Thomas of Chilton, 
 living at Coites that he recall his son from the schools before the feast 
 of the Purification of the Virgin next. 
 
 West Merrington, 1367. It is enjoined on all the tenants of the 
 vill that each of them cause to be plowed the outer parts of the field and 
 then the inner parts, so that none of them . . . . ^ loss on account of lack 
 of plowing. 
 
 Billingham, 1368. It is enjoined upon all the tenants of the vill 
 that none of them cut the balks before the next court. 
 
 Coupon, 1368. John Pulter and Robert Fauks were elected ale- 
 tasters, and were sworn. 
 
 Newton Bewley, 1368. From Alice, servant of Adam of Marton, 
 for leyr,"^ 6d. From Thomas, servant of the same for drawing his knife 
 to strike John Smith, i)enalty 40d., by grace 12d. 
 
 Wallsend, 1368. It is enjoined u[X)n all the tenants of the vill 
 that each of them come on the summons of the reeve to discuss the com- 
 mon business touching the profit of the vill. 
 
 Hesylden, 1368. From Robert, son and heir of John son of 
 Matilda, as a heriot for 1 messuage and 20 acres of land which he holds 
 freely, for homage, and fealty and service of 40d. and a heriot, viz. the 
 best beast; 15s., and nothing for relief. 
 
 * Manuscript illegible. 
 
 '^ Leyr was a fine imposed upon women who had been guilty of incontinence. 
 
28 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 Monkton, 1369. Robert Jakson, nativus of the lord made his fealty 
 to the lord at Jarrow, Thursday next after the feast of St. Luke the 
 Evangelist, in the 69th year. 
 
 Heworths, 1370. It is enjoined u}X)n all the tenants of the vill 
 that they have the common forge and the common oven repaired. 
 
 East Raynton, 1370. From Margaret daughter of Robert Wright 
 for merchet, pledge, Alice, her mother, 2s. 
 
 Fery, 1370. From Margaret Fery woman for leyr, 6d. From 
 Adam Graundorge for his transgression made against Robert Letany by 
 killing his cow to the loss of 7s., 3d. A day is given to the same Adam 
 to make his law against Richard, son of Peter, that he has not broken 
 the leg of his cow. At the next court, with six hands. He has not found 
 a pledge. Therefore let the said Richard recover against him. From 
 Adam Graundorge for 1 cow of Richard, son of Peter, killed, to the loss 
 of 10s., penalty 3d. 
 
 Wallseud, 1370. It is ordained by common consent that each ten- 
 ant should come to the making of the hay of the common meadow when 
 they shall be warned, under penalty of losing their part and even under 
 penalty of heavy fine. 
 
 Harton, 1370. An inquisition w^as taken here Tuesday, the day 
 after St. Simon's and St. Jude's Day, A. D. 1370, before lord John of 
 Heminburg, Terrar, and lord Thomas Surtays, Steward, for inquiring 
 of what condition Adam Diotson and Roger Ward are, on the oath of 
 John Wallas, 80 years old, Thomas Page, Richard of Hertlaw, John 
 Dogeson, John Gray, John, son of Adam of Southwyk, Thomas, son of 
 Alan, and John Reid. Who say on their oath that a certain John 
 Ward, grandfather of the aforesaid Roger Ward, and John Ward, 
 father of the same Roger, were of old held to be natiii of the lord Prior, 
 and never did they hear the contrary till this day. And they say that 
 a certain Thomas Maymond, grandfather of the aforesaid Adam, and 
 John, father of the aforesaid Roger, were brothers by the same father 
 and mother, and they say that the aforesaid Adam and Roger are of the 
 same servile condition as their ancestoi-s were and never did they hear 
 the contrary. 
 
 East Raynton, 1370. Lease of the manor. John Freman, Rob- 
 ert of Coldingham, Elias Pater-Noster, and Thomas Gibson have taken 
 the demesne lands with their buildings, to have and to hold for the term 
 of 15 years, paying yearly at the treasury 8 marks, and to the Terrar 
 half a mark, commencing payment at the feast of Pentecost, A. D., '71. 
 
DURHAM HALMOTE ROLLS. 29 
 
 And they found 54 acres of one cultivation ; and they will manure 10 
 acres in each year. And they will return the building's and land m 
 pro[)er condition because they so received them. Pledges, each of the 
 other, and others of the vill who work part of it on lease from John 
 Freman and his said companions. And they will grind the grain from 
 the said demesnes at the mill of the Prior in the same way as it is ground 
 from the lands of the other tenants. 
 
 Mid-Merrington, 1371. It is enjoined on all the cottars and labor- 
 ers that they work with the farmer of the manor for suitable wages 
 
 Newton-Bewly, 1871. William Raynald was elected to the office 
 of reeve, and was sworn. 
 
 Billingham, 1374. Fealty of a nativus taken. Robert, son of 
 Eustace Fristerlying of Hesilden, nativus of the lord came here on 
 Thursday, the feast of Pope Clement, A. D. '74, in the presence of lord 
 John of Beryngton, Terrar, Alan of Billingham, John of Elvet, 
 Hugh of Corbrigg, and several other tenants of Billingham, Wolveston, 
 Newton, and Coupon, and swore, touching the sacred gospels, that he 
 will be under the jurisdiction of the lord Prior and Convent of Durham 
 and their officers, in his body and his goods, and that he will not remove 
 himself from their land, etc. 
 
 Southwyk, 1374. From Robert Smith because he would not sit 
 down at the command of the Steward. Robert Smith took one holding 
 which was last in the tenure of William, son of Henry, to have aiid hold 
 for the term of his life, paying yearly for all things, viz. for services 
 and other different things, 30s. 
 
 East Merrington, 1367. It is reported by the oath of ffourteen 
 names) in the presence of lord Robert of Wallworth, prior, and many 
 others that Robert, son of Nicolas, who now is called Tomson is free and 
 of free condition and free status, and not a nativus of the said lord Prior. 
 
 Ackley, 1376. John Tailor has come and taken 12 acres of land 
 with the meadow pertaining to the said 12 acres of land, lately in the 
 tenure of William Ibbi and leased by the said William to the said John 
 with the license of the prior ; to have and hold for the term of his life ; 
 paying annually 12s. Fine 3s. 
 
 Hesilden, 1376. It is ordained by common consent that all things 
 collected within the field, as well as herbage, be carried openly through 
 the middle of the vill and not behind the gardens, in secret. It is 
 enjoined upon all the women of the vill that they restrain their tongues 
 and that they do not quarrel nor swear at anyone. 
 
30 , TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 Dalton, 1376. From Joanna, wife of William Smith, for merchet 
 12(1. From Margaret, servant of the former, for leyr with two men, 
 12d. From the wife of John Dawson, for breaking the assize of ale 6d. 
 
 Wolveston, 1376. William May, nativus of the lord has taken 30 
 acres of land with the crop; viz., 5 acres of wheat, price per acre 10s., 3 
 acres of peas and beans and 4 acres of oats price per acre 5s. The 
 same William held these before and on account of his incapacity they 
 were seized into the hand of the lord ; to have and to hold at the will of 
 the lord, paying the ancient rent. 
 
 Billingham, 1378. It is ordained by common consent that at the 
 blowing of the horn of the Reaper, they should come for the gathering 
 of the peas, and when he blows his horn again they all withdraw from 
 the said peas, under penalty of 6d.; and moreover that no one collect 
 except in his own place, unless he is poor. 
 
 West Raynton, 1378. A day is give to that vill that they inquire 
 and present whether John Hunting and Cecilia his wife beat Margaret 
 the widow or not, at the next court, under penalty of half a mark. 
 From John Hunting because he did not close his front, so that his ani- 
 mals trampled and destroyed the cabbagas of Margaret the widow. 
 
 Billingham, 1379. It is ordained by common consent that no one 
 in the time of harvest should have in the day time more that one horse 
 in the grain, for carrying his food, and that at night he should remove 
 the said horse from the grain, under penalty of 4d.; and similarly that 
 no one carry off the grain of another, under the same penalty. 
 
 Monkton, 1379. It is enjoined upon Thomas Lame that because 
 to be rebuilt before the feast of St. Michael, a barn which was burned in 
 his tenure, under penalty of 40s. 
 
 Pittyngton, 1379. It is enjoined upon all the tenants of the 
 vill th^t they heat up the oven, each one of them when his turn shall 
 come, under penalty of paying 12d. 
 
 East Merrington, 1381. It is ordained by common consent that 
 each tenant should keep the animals when his turn comes, and for the 
 day in which he has their custody, he should respond and give satisfaction 
 for injuries made in the grain or herbage' to the one or ones who have 
 had the losses, under penalty of paying 4d. 
 
 Fery, 1383. It is enjoined ujwn all the tenants of the vill that 
 they should have boundary marks, under penalty of half a mark, and 
 moreover that they should pay the common shepherd his wages, and that 
 they should not speak ill to the said shepherd, under penalty of 40d. 
 
villain; 
 
 MANUMISSION OF A VILLKIN^ 3 1 
 
 IV. THE MANOR HOUSE AT CHINGFORD, ESSEX, 
 
 A. D. 1265. 
 
 Hist. Mss. Commission Reports 9. i. pp. 35-6 
 
 The manor of Chingford was granted by the Chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral, 
 London, in 1265, to their Treasurer Robert le Moyne. In the description of the 
 manor and its contents the receipt of which he acknowledged, the following de- 
 scription of the manor buildings is given. 
 
 He received also a sufficient and handsome hall well ceiled with 
 oak. On the western side is a worthy bed, on the ground, a stone chim- 
 ney, a wardrobe and a certain other small chamber ; at the eastern end 
 is a pantry and a buttery. Between the hall and the chapel is a side- 
 room. There is a decent chapel covered with tiles, a portable altar, and 
 a small cross. In the hall are four tables on trestles. There are likewise 
 a good kitchen well covered with tiles, with a furnace and ovens, one 
 large, the other small, for cakes, two tables, and alongside the kitchen a 
 small house for baking. Also a new granary covered with oak shingles, 
 and a building in which the dairy is contained, though it is divided. 
 Likewise a chamber suited for clergymen and a necessary chamber. 
 Also a hen-house. These are within the inner gate. 
 
 Likewise outside of that gate are an old house for the servants, a 
 good stable, long and divided, and to the east of the principal building, 
 beyond the smaller stable, a solar for the use of the servants. Also a 
 building in which is contained a bed ; also two barns, one for wheat and 
 one for oats. These buildings are enclosed with a moat, a wall, and a 
 hedge. Also beyond the middle gate is a good barn, and a stable for cows 
 and another for oxen, these old and ruinous. Also beyond the outer gate 
 is a pigstye. 
 
 V. MANUMISSION OF A VILLEIN. 
 
 Dugdale's Monasticon, I, 394. 
 
 To all the faithful of Christ to whom the j)resent writing shall 
 come, Richard by the divine permission abbot of Peterborough and the 
 Convent of the same place, eternal greeting in the Lord. Let all know 
 that we have manumitted and liberated from nil yrji^^j^f sprvHtndft 
 William, the son of Richard of Wythington whom previously we have 
 held as our born bondman, with his whole progeny and all his chattels, so 
 that neither we nor our successoi*s shall be able to require or exact an y 
 right or claim in the said William, his progeny, or his chattels. But 
 
 / 
 
32 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 T 
 the same William with his whole progeny a nd all his chattels will re- 
 main free and quit and without disturbance, exaction, or any claim on 
 the part of us or our successors by reason of any servitude, forever. 
 We will moreover and concede that he and his heirs shall hold the 
 messuages, land, rents and meadows in Wythington which his ancestors 
 held from us and our predecessors, by giving and performing the fine 
 which is called merchet for giving his daughter in marriage, and tallage 
 from year to year according to our will, — that he shall have and hold 
 these for the future from us and our successors freely, quietly, peace- 
 fully, and hereditarily, by paying thence to us and our successors yearly 
 40s. sterling, at the four terms of the year, namely ; at St. John the Bap- 
 tist's day, 10s., at Michaelmas, 10s., at Christmas, 10s., and at Easter, 
 10s., for all service, exaction, custom, and secular demand; saving to us 
 nevertheless attendance at our court of Castre every three weeks, ward- 
 ship and relief, and outside service of our lord the king, when they shall 
 happen. And if it shall happen that the said William or his heirs shall 
 die at any time without an heir, the said messuage, land, rents, and mead- 
 ows with their appurtenances shall return fully and completely to us and 
 our successors. Nor will it be allowed to the said William or his heirs 
 the said messuage, land, rents, meadows, or any part of them to give, sell, 
 alienate, mortgage, or in any way encumber by which the said messuage, 
 land, rents, and meadows should not return to us and our successors in 
 the form declared above. But if this should occur later their deed shall 
 be declared null and what is thus alienated shall come to us and our 
 successors. In testimony of which duplicate seals are appended to this 
 writing, formed as a chirograph, for the sake of greater security. These 
 being witnesses, etc. Given at Borough for the love of lord Robert 
 of good memory, once abbot, our predecessor and maternal uncle of the 
 said William, and at the instance of the good man brother Hugh of Mut- 
 ton, relative of the said abbot Robert ; A. D. 1278, on the eve of Pen- 
 tecost. 
 
 An admirable bibliography of manorial documents is given in Miss F. G. Dav- 
 enport's **Classified List of Printed Original Materials for English Manorial and 
 Agrarian History," prepared under the supervision of Prof. W. J. Ashley of Har- 
 vard University, and published by that University as Radcliflfe College Monographs, 
 No. 6. Numerous references are also given in Ashley^s English Economic History, 
 Vol. I, pp. 3-5. 
 
Translations and Reprints 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. 
 
 Vol. III. Statisticai. Documents of the Middi^e Ages. No. 2. 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Capitulary "De Villus" OF Charles THE Great, . . . 2 
 
 II. Inventory of an Estate of Charles the Great, . . 4 
 
 III. (a) Instructions for Collection of Domesday Returns, 6 
 (b) Extract from Domesday Book, County of Norfolk 6 
 
 IV. Levy of Troops for Wars in Bohemia, 1422, .... 8 
 
 V. Resources of Venice, 1421, 11 
 
 VI. Memorandum of the Povi^er and Revenues of the 
 
 States of Europe in 142 — , 14 
 
 VII. Taxes of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, 19 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The German publicist von Schlozer writing in 1804 said that "Statistics is his- 
 tory standing still, history statistics in motion." Though to-day the dictum would 
 be rejected by both historian and statistician, it remains true that while history is 
 mainly occupied in describing events, statistics is chiefly concerned in depicting con- 
 ditions. In this broad sense, therefore, we may be allowed to speak of statistical 
 documents in the middle ages. 
 
 It is readily conceded that statistics in the modern sense have not been trans- 
 mitted to us from the antique or mediaeval civilization. In the modem sense statis- 
 tic means to us a comprehensive inquiry into definite facts capable of expression in 
 numerical terms, within a well defined geographical area and in a definite period of 
 time. Such inquiries, ranking among the latest products of a highly developed 
 political and social life cannot be looked for in a period of nascent civilization. 
 
 The carefully organized statistical work of modern governments is the outgrowth 
 of a long developement of It administrative functios and is intimately bound up 
 with the latter. Whenever we find an orderly administration, we find traces of 
 statistics. For without records such administration could not be carried out, and 
 it is only a question of arrangement, whether such records assume a statistical form. 
 We can therefore find in the middle ages, the records of statistical beginnings. It 
 
2 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 is with such beginnings that we are concerned in the present issue. Statistically 
 they are in the crudest fonn of arrangement. Their historical interest in giving a 
 glimpse however incomplete of the time to which they relate, may serve as a justifi- 
 cation for the results, which from the standpoint of statistics must be deemed meagre 
 in the extreme. 
 
 The documents bearing upon the history of statistics which the middle ages 
 have bequeathed to us, may be classed in two fairly distinct groups. The one gives 
 us a record of the execution of various administrative measures involving statis- 
 tic work, and sometimes preserving the instructions or laws upon which such inquiries 
 were based. The second gives us some actual results, oftentimes partial in their 
 scope, yet indicative of the conditions which the measures must have revealed. 
 
 Historians of statistics have recorded the references to a considerable number 
 of administrative undertakings which must have had a statistical interest. In this 
 issue we have selected a few illustrations of the two types of documents above 
 named. The following extracts have been taken direct from the original documents. 
 Especial attention is directed to number IV, V, and VI, which present a very striking 
 Combination of information from different sources, relative the same epoch. Being 
 separately printed the importance of these extracts as a group might pass unobserved. 
 
 I. ARTICLES FROM THE CAPITULARY *' DE VILLIS. " 
 Mon. Ger. Hist. Legum I, 185-186. Latin. 
 In the capitularies of Charles the great the high administrative ability of 
 that ruler is clearly manifested. They contain several ordinances relating to the 
 general affairs of the realm, such as the military service, which indicate the existence 
 of a fairly compact administrative system. The capitulary "de Villis" from which 
 a few extracts are given relates to the royal domains. The first section quoted may 
 be regarded as a statistical instruction to the officials. In it several items, men- 
 tioned specifically in other sections are not enumerated. They are added to show 
 the general character of the domains. They indicate, that the section 62 is merely 
 a general instruction and is not intended as a schedule. The whole capitulary of 
 which only a part is here given throws an interesting light upon the character of the 
 royal revenues of the period. In this translation we acknowledge our indebtedness to 
 the scholarly edition of the **de Villis" by Guerard, in Bibliotheque de L'Ecole des 
 Chartes. In dubious passages we have followed the interpretation of this author. 
 
 62. That each steward shall make an annual statement of all our in- 
 come : an account of our lands cultivated by the oxen which our plough- 
 men drive and of our lands which the tenants of farms ought to plough ; 
 an account of the pigs, of the rents,^ of the obligations and fines ; of the 
 game taken in our forests without our permission ; of the various compo- 
 sitions ; of the mills, of the forest, of the fields, of the bridges, and ships : 
 of the free-men and the hundreds who are under obligations to our treas- 
 ury ; of markets, vineyards, and those who owe wine to us ; of the hay, 
 
 ^ Gu6rard thinks this means the payment for the right to keep pigs in the woods. 
 
CAPITULARY 
 
 fire-wood, torches, planks, and other kinds of lumber; of the waste-lands; 
 of the vegetables, millet, panic ; of the wool, flax, and hemp ; of the fruits 
 of the trees, of the nut trees, larger and smaller ; of the grafted trees of 
 all kinds; of the gardens; of the turnips; of the fish-ponds; of the hides, 
 skins, and horns ; of the honey, wax ; of the fat, tallow and soap ; of the 
 mulberry wine, cooked wine, mead, vinegar, beer, wine new and old ; of 
 the new grain and the old ; of the hens and eggs ; of the geese ; the number 
 of fishermen, smiths [workei*s in metal], sword-makei*s, and shoe-makers 
 of the bins and boxes ; of the turnei-s and saddlers ; of the forges and 
 mines, that is iron and other mines; of the lead mines; of the tributaries ; 
 of the colts and fillies ; they shall make all these known to us, set forth 
 separately and in order, at Christmas, in order that we may know what 
 and how much of each thing we have. 
 
 22. In each of our estates our stew ards are to have as many cow- 
 houses, piggeries, sheep-folds, stables for goats, as possible, and they 
 ought never to be without these. And let them have in addition cows 
 furnished by our serfs for performing their service, so that the cow-houses 
 and plows shall be in no way weakened by the service on our demense. 
 And when they have to provide meat, let them have steers lame, but 
 healthy, and cows and horses which are not mangy, or other beasts 
 which are not diseased and, as we have said, our cow-houses and plows 
 are not to be w^eakened for this. 
 
 34. They must provide with the greatest care, that whatever is 
 prepared or made with the hands, that is, lard, smoked meat, salt meat, 
 partially salted meat, wine, vinegar, mulberry wine, cooked wine, gmvis, * 
 mustard, cheese, butter, malt, beer, mead, honey, wax, flour, all should 
 be prepared and made with the greatest cleanliness. 
 
 40. That each steward on each of our domains shall always have, 
 for the sake of ornament, swans, peacocks, pheasants, ducks, pigeons, 
 partridges, turtle-doves. 
 
 42. That in each of our estates, the chambei*s shall be provided 
 with counterpanes, cushions, pillows, bed-clothes, coverings for the tables 
 and benches ; vessels of brass, lead, iron and wood; andirons, chains, 
 pot-hooks, adzes, axes, augers, cutlasses and all other kinds of tools, so 
 that it shall never be necessary to go elsewhere for them, or to borrow 
 them. And the weapons, which are carried against the enemy, shall be 
 
 ^A kind of fermented liquor. 
 
4 TRANSLATIONS AND KEl'RfNTS. 
 
 well cared for, so as to keep them in good condition; and when they are 
 brought back they shall be placed in the chamber. 
 
 48. For our women's work ihey are to give at the proj)er time, as 
 has been ordered, the materials, that is the linen, wool, woad, vermillion, 
 madder, wool-combs, teasels, soap, grease, vessels and the other obje'^t** 
 which are necessary. 
 
 44. Of the food-]) rod nets other than meat, two-thirds shall be sent 
 each year for our own use, that is of the vegetables, fish, cheese, butter, 
 honey, mustard, vinegar, millet, panic, dried and green herbs, radishes, 
 and in addition of the wax, soap and other small products ; and they 
 tell us how much is left by a statement, as we have said above; and they 
 shall not neglect this as in the past ; because from those two-thirds, we 
 wish to know how much remains. 
 
 45. That each steward shall have in his district good workmen, 
 namely, blacksmiths, gold-smith, silver-smith, shoe-makers, turners, 
 carpentei*s, sword-makers, fishermen, toilers, soajMuakers, men who know 
 how to make beer, cider, berry, and all the other kinds of beverages, 
 bakers to make pastry for our table, net-makers who know how to make 
 nets for hunting, fishing and fowling, and the other who are too numer- 
 ous to be designated. 
 
 II. INVENTOR Y OF AN EST A TE OF CHARLES THE ORE A T. 
 
 Mon. Ger. Hist. LL. I, pp. 178-179. Latin. 
 
 This inventory is a specimen of those required in the capitulary. It refers 
 to a small estate, the location of which is unknown. Rude domestic and 
 agricultural conditions are clearly reflected in this account of an estate destined 
 to harbor temporarily the royal person and his officers. 
 
 We found in the domain estate of Asnapium a royal house built of 
 stone in the best manner, 8 rooms ; the whole house surrounded with 
 balconies, with 1 1 apartments for women ; beneath 1 cellar ; 2 porticoes ; 
 17 other houses built of wood within the court-yard with as many rooms 
 and other appurtenances, well built; 1 stable, 1 kitchen, 1 mill, 1 grana- 
 ry, 8 barns. 
 
 The yard surrounded carefully with a hedge and stone gateway 
 and above a balcony from which to make distributions. An inner yard, 
 likewise enclosed within a hedge, arranged in a suitable manner planted 
 with various kinds of trees. 
 
 Vestments : coverings for 1 bed, 1 table cloth, 1 towel. 
 
 Utensils : 2 brass kettles, 2 drinking cups, 2 brass cauldrons, 1 
 
AN ESTATE OF CHARLES THE GREAT. 5 
 
 iron one, 1 frying-pay, 1 gramalmin, 1 pair of andirons, 1 lamp, 2 
 hatchets, 1 chisel, 2 augers, 1 axe, 1 knife, 1 large plane, 1 plane, 2 
 scythes, 2 sickles, 2 spades tipped with iron. Enough wooden utensils 
 for use. 
 
 Farm produce : old spelt from last year, 90 baskets which can be 
 made into 450 weight of flour; 100 measures of barley. From the pres- 
 ent year, 110 baskets of spelt, planted 60 baskets from the same, the rest 
 we found ; 100 measures of wheat, 60 sown, the rest we found ; 98 
 measures of rye all sown ; 1800 measures of barley, 1100 sown, the rest 
 we found ; 430 measures of oats, 1 measure of beans, 12 measures of peas 
 At the 5 mills, 800 measures, small measures. At the 4 breweries, 650 
 measures, small measures, 240 given to the prebendaries, the rest we 
 found. At the 2 bridges, 60 measures of salt and 2 shillings. At the 4, 
 gardens, 11 shillings. Honey, 3 measures ; about 1 measure of butter ; 
 lard, from last year 10 sides, new sides 200 with fragments and fats, 
 cheese from the present year 43 weights. 
 
 Of cattle ; 51 head of larger cattle, 5 three-year olds, 7 two-year- 
 olds, 7 yearlings ; 10 two-year-old colts, 8 yearlings, 3 stallions; 16 cows; 
 
 2 asses ; 50 cows with calves, 20 young bullocks, 38 yearling calves, 3 
 bulls, 260 hogs, 100 pigs, 5 boars, 150 sheep with lambs, 200 yearling 
 lambs, 120 rams, 30 goats with kids, 30 yearling kids, 3 male goats, 30 
 geese, 80 chickens, 22 peacocks. 
 
 Also concerning the dependencies which pertain to the above man- 
 sion. In the villa of Grisio we found domain buildings, where there are 
 
 3 barns and a yard surrounded by a hedge. There is there 1 garden 
 with trees, 10 geese, 8 ducks, 30 chickens. 
 
 In another villa. We found domain buildings and a yard sur- 
 rounded by a hedge and within 3 barns, 1 arpent of vines, 1 garden 
 with trees, 15 geese, 20 chickens. 
 
 In a third villa, domain buildings. It has 2 barns, 1 granary, 1 
 garden, 1 yard well enclosed by a hedge. 
 
 We found all the dry and liquid measures just as in the palace. 
 We did not find any goldsmiths, silversmiths, blacksmiths, huntsmen or 
 persons engaged in other services. 
 
 The garden herbs which we found were lily, putchuck, mint, par- 
 sley, rue, celery, libesticum, sage, savory, juniper, leeks, garlic, tansy, 
 wild mint, coriander, scullions, onions, cabbage, kohl-rabi, betony. 
 Trees: pears, apples, medlars, peaches, filberts, walnuts, mulberries, 
 quinces. 
 
6 TRAN8LATION8 AND RKPRINT8. 
 
 Ilia. INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLLECTION OF THE DOMESDA Y 
 
 RETURNS. 
 
 Inquisitio Elieiisis. Domesday Book : Additamenta, p. 495. Latin. 
 
 The first approach to a modern assessment roll or cataster is the well known 
 Domesday Book, The existing literature on this remarkable memorial is so 
 extensive, that it has not appeared advisable to quote largely from it. Our first 
 quotation contains the instructions issued to the Commissioners who made the 
 record. The second is a specimen return. There is a wide variety in the returns, 
 though certain factors recur constantly in each statement. The survey is the most 
 extensive document, embracing as it does the entire area of England held by the 
 Conqueror, which we possess in regard to mediaeval times. It is important to 
 note how the feudal power as founded by William is no longer dependent like the 
 Empire of Charles upon the personal estates the crown, but brings the entire land 
 under its influence through the feudals dues, and thus paves the way for the modem 
 state founded upon the obligations of all its citizens. 
 
 Here is subscribed the inquisition of lands as the barons of the king 
 have made inquiry into them ; that is to say by the oath of the sheriff of 
 the shire, and of all the barons and their Frenchmen, and the whole 
 hundred, the priests, reeves, and six villains of each manor ; then, what 
 the manor is called, who held it in the time of king Edward, who holds 
 now ; how many hides, how many plows in demesne, how many belong- 
 ing to the men, how many villains, how many cottars, how many serfs, 
 how many free-men, how many socmen, how much woods, how much 
 meadow, how many pastures, how many mills, how many fish-ponds, how 
 much has been added or taken away, how much it was worth altogether 
 at that time, and how much now% how much each free man or socman 
 had or has. All this threefold, that is to say in the time of king 
 Edward, and when king William gave it, and as it is now ; and whether 
 more can be had than is had. 
 
 Illb. EXTRACT FROM DOMESDAY SURVEY OF THF COUNTY 
 
 OF NORFOLK. 
 Domesday Book, Vol. 2, pp 153-154. Latin. 
 
 The land of Robert Malet. 
 
 Fredrebruge Hundred and half. Glorestorp. Godwin, a freeman, 
 held it. Two carucates of land in the time of king Edward. Then and 
 afterwards 8 villains ; now 3. Then and afterwards 3 bordars ; now 5. 
 At all times 3 serfs, and 30 acres of meadow. At all times 2 carucates 
 in demesne. Then half a carucate of the men, and now. Woods for 8 
 
DOMESDAY SURVEY, NORFOLK. 7 
 
 swiiie, and 2 mills. Here are located 18 socmen, of 40 acres of land. 
 When it wtis received there were 2 r./ now 1. At all times 8 swine, 
 then 20 sheep, and it is worth 60 shillings. 
 
 There is sitnated there, iu addition, one berewick, as the manor of 
 Henseda. In the time of king Edward, 1 carncate of land ; then and 
 afterwards 7 villains, now 5. At all times 12 bordars, and 8 serfs, and 
 40 acres of meadow; 1 mill. Woods^for 16 swine and 1 salt pond and 
 a half. Then 1 r., and now and 14 swine, 80 sheep, and 50 goats. In 
 this berewick are located 8 socmen, of 10 acres of land, and it is worth 80 
 shillings. The two manors have 2 leagues in lengthand 4 firlongs in 
 breadth. Whosoever is tenant there, returns 12 pence of the twenty 
 shillings of geld. 
 
 Scerpham Hundred Culverstestun Edric held it in the time of king 
 Edward. Two carucates of land. At all times there were 4 villains, 
 and 1 bordar, and 4 serfs ; 5 acres of meadow and two carucates in the 
 demesne. Then and afterwards 1 carucate, now one-half. At all times 
 1 mill and one fish pond. Here is located 1 socman of the king, of 40 
 acres of land ; which his predecessors held only as commended and he 
 claims his land from the gift of the king. Then and afterwards there 
 was one carucate, now 2 bovates, and 2 acres of nieadow. At all times 
 two ?\, and 4 geese; then 800 sheep, now 800 less 12; then 16 swine 
 now 8. Then and afterwards it was worth 60 shillings, now 80 ; and 
 there could be one plow. Walter of Caen holds it from Robert. 
 
 Heinstede Hundred. In Sasilingaham Edric, the predecessor of 
 Robert Malet, held 2 sokes and a half, of 66 acres of land, now Walter 
 holds them. Then 9 bordars, now 18. At all timas 8 carucates and a 
 half among all, and 8 acres of meadow, and the eighth part of a mill ; 
 and under these 1 soke of 6 acres of land. At all times half a carucate. 
 Then it was worth 80 shillings, now it returns 50 shillings. 
 
 In Scotessa Ulcetel was tenant, a free man commended to Edric, in 
 the time of king Edward of 80 acres of land. At that time 1 bordar, 
 afterward and now 2. Then half a carucate, none afterward nor now. 
 It was at all times worth 5 shillings and 4 pence; the same. 
 
 ' The word indicated by the contraction r has not been identified. 
 
8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 IV. LEVY OF TROOPS FOR WARS IN BOHEMIA, J422. 
 
 Deutsche Reichstagsakten Bd. VIII (1883) pp. 157-165. 
 
 Reprinted in Altmann und Bernheim : Ausgewahlte Urkunden, Second 
 
 Ed., pp. 174-177. German. 
 
 The levy of troops for the Bohemian wars gives us a picture of the relative 
 size and importance of the various powers of Germany in 1422. The statisticians 
 will note especially the concentration of power in the Rhine lands. The contin- 
 gents to be furnished by the cities, afford an excellent scale of the relative importance 
 of towns in the epoch concerned. 
 
 (The Electors). Archbishops: Mayence 50 with swords, Cologne 
 40 with swords. Treves 40 with swords. The count Palatine 50 with 
 swords. Saxony 20 mounted men-at-arms. Brandenburg 50 with 
 swords. 
 
 The Bishops: The archbishop of Magdeburg 30 swordsmen, 10 
 archei-s. Bishop of Hildesheim 5 swordsmen, 5 archers. That of Wiirz- 
 burg 20 swordsmen. That of Bamberg 20 swordsmen. That of Eich- 
 stiitt 10 swordsmen. That of Strassburg 10 swordsmen. That of Con- 
 stanz 8 sw^ordsmen. That of Basle 2 swordsmen. That of O^ire 2 
 swordsmen. That of Besancon 6 swordsmen. That of Augsburg 2 
 sw^ordsmen. That of Metz 6 svVordsmen. That of Toul 3 swordsmen. 
 That of Verdun 6 swordsmen. That of Lausanne 6 swordsmen. That 
 of Speyer 8 swordsmen. That of Worms 2 swordsmen. That of Ver- 
 den 3 swordsmen, 6 men-at-arms. That of Schwerin 8 swordsmen, 8 
 men-at-arms. That of Halbei-stadt 6 swordsmen, 6 men-at-arms. That 
 of Bremen 10 swordsmen, 10 men-at-arms. That of Kammin 6 swords- 
 men, 6 men-at-arms. That of Regensburg 5 swordsmen. That of Mun- 
 ster 10 swordsmen. 
 
 Dukes and lay princes. Duke of Lorraine 20 swordsmen. Duke 
 of Bar 20 swordsmen. Duke of Savoy 50 swordsmen. Margrave of 
 Baden 10 swordsmen. Landgrave of Hesse 20 swordsmen, 10 men-at- 
 arms. Duke Otto of the Leina 10 swordsmen, 10 men-at-arms. Erich 
 of Brunsw^ick 5 swordsmen, 5 men-at-arms. Duke Otto of Hii-schberg 
 5 swordsmen, 5 men-at-arms. Bernhard and William of Brunswick 
 with their cities namely, Brunswick and Liineburg, 10 swordsmen, 10 
 men-at-arms. John of Mecklenburg 10 swordsmen, 10 men-at-arms. 
 Albrecht of Mecklenburg 10 swordsmen, 10 men-at-arms. Children of 
 Duke Ulrich with the country of Stargardt 10 swordsmen, 10 men-at- 
 arms. Otto and Casimir of Stettin 20 swordsmen, 12 men-at-arms. 
 Vladislaf of Wolgast 15 swordsmen, 12 men-at-arms. Erich of Saxe- 
 
LEVY OF TROOPS FOR THE WARS IN BOHEMIA. 9 
 
 Lauenberg 8 swordsmen, 6 men-at-arms. Louis of Ingoldstadt in 
 Bavaria 16 swordsmen. Ernest and William of Bavaria 10 swords- 
 men. Henry of Bavaria 20 swordsmen. John of Bavaria 10 swords- 
 men. Stephen of Bavaria 5 swordsmen. Otto of Bavaria 5 swordsmen. 
 Adolphus of Cleve 20 swordsmen. Duke of Berg 6 spearsmen. The 
 bishop of Utrecht, with Deventer, Kempten, Zwolle, and Utrecht, 40 
 swordsmen. 
 
 Lords and counts in the Netherlands. The duke of Jiilich, and 
 the knights of Jiilich and Gueldei-s, and the four cities of Romunde, 
 Nymwegen, Arnheim and Zutphen 60 swordsmen. The three cities, 
 of Brabant 100 swordsmen. The cities of Liege 100 swordsmen. 
 Standard bearers, knights, and men of Holland 60 swordsmen. Standard 
 bearers, knights, and men of Hainault, the cities of Hainault, the count 
 of Namurs 20 swordsmen. Lords and knights of Flanders, the cities 
 of Flanders 20 swordsmen. 
 
 Counts and lords. Gerhard, count of Mark 8 swordsmen 
 William count of Ravensburg 2 swordsmen. Count of Teckelnburg 2 
 swordsmen. Count of Riedenburg 1 swordsman. Lord of Lippe 2 
 swordsmen. Lord of Dippoldswald 1 swordsman. Count of Bentheim 
 1 swordsman. Count of Schaumburg 1 swordsman. Count of Olden- 
 burg 1 swordsman. Frederick and William of Henneberg 4 swordsmen, 
 Count of Rheineck 2 swordsmen. Count of Kastel 2 swordsmen. Count 
 of Hohenlohe 2 swordsmen. Count of Weinsberg 2 swordsmen. Count 
 of Heideck 1 swordsman. Otto Erich of the Heust 6 swordmen. Count 
 of Wurttend)erg 20 swordsmen. Count of Schauen 15 swordsmen. 
 Margrave of Rotelen 3 swordsmen. Margrave of Toggenburg 5 swords- 
 men. Conrad of Freiburg 5 swordsmen. Hugo master of the Order 
 of St. John 10 swordsmen. Christopher of Wenden 6 swordsmen, 6 
 men-at-arms. Albrecht and George of Anhalt 5 swordsmen, 5 men-at- 
 arms. Bern hard of Anhalt 4 swordsmen, 4 men-at-arms. Bernhard of 
 Rheimstein, 3 swordsmen, 3 men-at-arms. Count of Wernigerode 4 
 swordsmen, 4 archei*s. Emich of Leinigen 8 swordsmen. Frederick of 
 Leinigen 2 swordsmen. Philipp of Nassau 4 swordsmen. JohnofSpon- 
 heim 5 swordsmen. Frederick of Veldenz 8 swordsmen. John and Fred- 
 erick, counts of the Rhine 2 swordsmen. Philipp and Emich, lords 
 of Oberstein, 2 swordsmen. Lord of Hohenfels 1 swordsman. Nicholas 
 Vogt of Honolstein 1 swordsmen. John of Katzenellenbogen 8 swords- 
 men. Adolphus of Nassau 2 swordsmen. William of Wied 3 swords- 
 men. Philipp and Salentin lord of Ysenburg 3 swordsmen. John of 
 
lO TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 Wied, Reiiihard, lord of Westerburg 2 swordsmen. Dietrick, lord of 
 Ruiikel 1 swordsman. John and Henry, counts of Nassau lord of Bil- 
 stein 2 swordmen. Bernhard and John brothel's, count S(jlms 8 swords- 
 men. John of Wittgenstein 1 swordsman. Rupert of Virneburg 2 
 swordsmen. Gottfried Eberhard, lord of E})pstein 4 swordsmen. Rein- 
 hard, lord of Hanau 3 swordsmen. Dieter, lord of Biidegen 8 swords- 
 men. Michael of Wertheim 1 swordsman. William of Eberstein 1 
 swordsman. Lords of Arbergen 3 swordsmen. William of Blanken- 
 stein 1 swordsman. John, lord of Schleiden 1 swordsman. Frederick 
 ofMoers 4 swordsmen. John, lord of Heimsberg 4 swordsmen. Wal- 
 rave of Moers 1 swordsman. William Craft, lord of Saffenburg 1 
 swordsman. John, lord of Rodemachern 2 swordsmen. John and 
 Gottfried, lord of Ziegenhain 2 swordsmen. Henry of Waldeck, and 
 the others of Waldeck 4 swordsmen. John Henry of Vinstigen 2 
 swordsmen. The lord of Wibelkobeu 1 swordsman. Schenk Eber- 
 hard, Schenk Gonrad and Schenk Conrad the younger, of Ehrenpach 
 
 3 swordsmen. Conrad, lord of Bickenbach 1 swordsman. The lord 
 of Neuenahr 1 swordsman. Eberhard of Lineburg, lord of Harten- 
 burg 2 swordsmen. Count of Limburg 1 sw^ordsman. The lord of 
 Harn 2 swordsmen. John of Saarwerden 1 swordsman. The Brothers 
 of Bitsch 1 swordsman. Count of Salm 1 swordsman. 
 
 The Abbots. The abbot of Fulda 6 swordsmen. The abbot of 
 Weissenburg 2 swordsmen. The abbot of Zelle 1 swordsmen. The 
 abbot 01 Miirbach 3 swordsmen. The abbot of Maulbronn 5 swords- 
 men. The abbot of Einsiedeln 2 swordsmen. The abbot of Bieben- 
 hausen 3 swordsmen. The abbot of Salem 5 swordsmen. The abbot 
 Alb 2 swordsmen. The abbot of Kemptem 2 swordsmen. The abbot 
 of Schaffhausen 2 swordsmen. The abbot of Petershausen 2 swords- 
 men. The abbot of Kinzing 2 swordsmen. The abbot of Weingarten 
 
 4 swordsmen. The abbot of Elchingen 2 swordsmen. The abbot of 
 St. Blasien 2 swordsmen. The abbot of Balbeuren 2 swordsmen. The 
 abbot of Zwiefalten 2 swordsmen. The abbot of Isni 1 swordsman. 
 The abbot of Saint George 1 swordsman. The abbot of Saint John 1 
 swordsman. The abbot of PfaefFers 1 swordsman. The abbot of 
 Konigsbriinn 1 swordsman. Prior of Schussenried 2 swordsmen. 
 
 The cities. The confederates of Berne, Lucerne, Zurich, Freiburg 
 in Vaud 250 horse. Constance, Lindau, Buchhorn, Ravensburg, Ueber- 
 lingen, Zelle am Unter See, Diessenhofen, 50 swordsmen and 200 
 mounted men. Schaffhausen, Waldshut, Lauffenberg, Siickingen, 
 
RESOURCES OF VENICE. II 
 
 Rheinfelden, Winterthiir, Rapperswil, Fraiienfeld 26 men-at-arms. 
 Kempten, Isny, Wangeu, Leutkirch, Memmiiigen, Augshurg, Biber- 
 ach, Pfulleiidorf, Kaiif beureii, Ulm, Gieiigeu, Nordlingeii, Bopfmgeii, 
 Aalen, Gmiiiid, Diinkelsbiihl, Essliugeu, Reutlingeii Rottweil, Weil, 
 Buchau, 100 swordsmen and 100 men-at-arms. Halle 12 swordsmen 
 and 12 men-at-arms. Heilbronn, Wimpfen Weinsberg 24 mounted 
 men armed. Basle 16 swordsmen. Strassburg Muhlhausen, Colmar, 
 Miinster in St. Gregorienthal, Kaisersberg, Diirkheim, Schlettstadt, 
 Oberehnheim, Roshein, Hagenau, Weissenburg, 30 swordsmen. Frei- 
 burg, Neuenberg Breisach, Kenzingen Endingen 10 swordsmen. Ver- 
 den 10 swordsmen. Kaufmansarburg 3 swordsmen. Treves 4 swords- 
 men. Metz 20 swordsmen. Toul 10 swordsmen. Speyer Worms and 
 Mayence 24 swordsmen. Cologne, Aix la Chapelle 30 swordsmen. 
 Dortmund 6 swordsmen. Frankfort 15 swordsmen. Fried berg 2 swords- 
 men. Gelnhausen 3 swordsmen. Wetzlar 2 swordsmen. Nuremberg 
 30 swordsmen, 30 men-at-arms. Rothenburg 12 swordsmen, 12 men- 
 at-arms. Windsheim 6 swordsmen, 6 men-at-arms. Weissenburg in 
 Franconia 5 swordsmen, 5 men-at-arms. Schweinfurt 5 swordsmen, 5 
 men-at-arms. Regensburg 15 swordsmen, 15 men-at-arms. Liibeck 30 
 swordsmen, 30 men-at-arms. Hamburg 15 swordsmen, 15 men-at-arms. 
 Muhlhausen [Saxony] 3 swordsmen, 6 men-at-arms. Nordhausen 15 
 swordsmen, 10 men-at-arms. Aschesleben 10 swordsmen, 6 men-at-arms. 
 Halberstadt 10 swordsmen, 10 men-at-arms. Quedlinburg 10 swords- 
 men, 10 men-at-arms. Sura total, 754 swordsmen and 777 mounted 
 horse from the cities. 
 
 V. RESOURCES OF VENICE. 
 
 From the speech of Thomas Mocemgo hi 1421. 
 
 Muratori, Ker. Ital. Script. XXII, 952-954. Italian. 
 The speech of Mocenigo was made on the occasion of a visit to Venice 
 of a Florentine embassy for the purpose of securing the alliance of Venice in the 
 struggle with the duke of Milan. The war party in Venice, was led Francesco 
 Foscari, to whom this speech is especially addressed. The advantage of peace 
 which Venice had so long enjoyed and to which she owed so much of her prosperity 
 are detailed at length by the Doge Mocenigo. In the passage here quoted especial 
 reference is made to the commerce of Venice. While the figures are all in round 
 numbers and not always consistent (the text of the original is carefully followed) 
 yet they must be regarded as valuable approximation by* one well fitted to form an 
 estimate. It is rather the character than the amount of the commerce which will 
 fasten the attention of the reader. Venice was at the time the great emporium of 
 the Orient. It on its part distributed the textiles enumerated as coming from the 
 interior to the various centres of trade in the East. 
 
12 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 Signor Francesco Foscari, youthful Procurator, if you are able to 
 reply to these questions, reassure the Council by taking up this one which 
 I propose to you. If you found in Venice a garden in such a condi- 
 tion that it produced enough grain every year to furnish sustenance to 
 500 pej*sons, and that besides there were many bushels to be sold ; that 
 the garden produced so much wine, that it furnished sustenance to 500 
 persons, and that there were besides many measures to be sold ; and that 
 it produced every sort of oats and vegetables of considerable value, and 
 that the garden produced moreover every sort of fruit so that 500 per- 
 sons might live from it every year, and that there should be some for 
 sale ; that the garden produced every year beeves, sheep, kids, and birds of 
 all sorts which might furnish sustenance for 500 persons, yet so that 
 some should remain for sale ; and that the said garden produced so much 
 cheese and eggs that it might furnish sustenance to 500 j^ersons, yet so 
 that some should remain for sale ; and that the garden produced so much 
 fish of all sorts for the sustenance of 500 persons, and that besides this 
 fish could be sold for a considerable nundoer of ducats: it would be 
 agreed that such a garden was most noble, producing so many things, 
 not only furnishing goods for the support of 500 persons, but also goods 
 for sale for 500 ducats, the said garden requiring no cost for its main- 
 tenance. And one morning some one should say to you : ''Signor Fran- 
 cesco your enemies have gone to the Piazza to take 500 sailors and havejjaid 
 them to enter your garden : they bear 500 scythes to destroy the trees and the 
 vines, also 100 villains with 100 pairs of oxen and 100 ploughs, paid by your 
 enemies, to destroy all the plants which are in the said garden, to destroy 
 all the animals great and small which are in the said garden," if you 
 were wise, you would not suffer that your garden should be destroyed. 
 You would go to your strong box and take enough gold to hire 1000 
 men to resist those who wish to destroy the said garden. If you should 
 pay, Signor Francesco, these 500 men with scythes and 100 villains with 
 ploughs for destroying the said garden it w^ould be said that you had gone 
 crazy. Let us examine if we are in such a position. We have planned 
 to comprehend all the commerce which Venice at present conducts, which 
 we have known. We will say of the Milanese merchants and of the 
 exchange banks which confirm this, that there comes every week from 
 Milan 17,000 to 18,000 ducats which enter into this city, making every 
 year the sum of 900,000. From Monza 1000 ducats every week, 
 amounting annually to 56,000 ducats. From Como 2000 ducats every 
 week, amounting annually to 104,000 ducats. From Alessandria della 
 
RESOURCES OF VENICE. 1 3 
 
 Paglia 1000 ducats every week, amounting annually to 56,000 ducats. 
 From Tortoua and Novara 2000 ducats every week, amounting annually 
 .to 104,000 ducats. From Favia 2000 ducats every week, amounting 
 annually to 104,000 ducats. From Cremona 2000 ducats every week, 
 amounting annually to 104,000 ducats. From Bergamo 1500 ducats 
 every week, amounting annually to 78,000 ducats. From Parma 
 2,000 ducats every week, amounting to 104,000 ducats. From Pia- 
 cenza 1,000 ducats every week, amounting to 52,000 ducats. 
 
 All these things the banks affirm to be thus on the average, that 
 there is introduced from the countries of the duke of Milan, annually 
 1,612,000 ducats of gold. Does it not appear that this is a beautiful and 
 most noble garden which Venice posesses without cost? Alessandria 
 del la Paglia, Tortona and Novara, place there 6000 pieces of cloth per 
 year at 15 ducats the piece, amounting to 90,000 ducats. Pa via places 
 3000 pieces of cloth at 15 ducats the piece, which is 45,000 ducats. 
 Milan places 4000 pieces of fine cloth at 30 ducats the piece, which is 
 120,000 ducats. Como 12,000 pieces at 15 ducats the piece, which 
 amounts to 180,000 ducats. Monza 6000 pieces at 15 ducats the piece, 
 which amounts to 90,000 ducats. Brescia 5000 pieces at 15 ducats the 
 piece, which amounts to 75,000 ducats. Bergamo 10,000 pieces at 7 
 ducats the piece, which amounts to 70,000 ducats. Cremona places 40, 
 000 fustians, at 40 and a quarter the piece, which amounts to 170,000. 
 Parma 4000 pieces at 15 ducats the piece, which is 60,000 ducats. This 
 amounts in all to 90,000 pieces which makes 900,000 ducats. And w^e 
 have revenues from the lands of Lombardy at one ducat per piece, 
 200,000 duoats, which with this and with the goods amounts to 28,800, 
 000 ducats. Does it not appear that this is the most beautiful garden 
 of Venice? Of these things which the Lombards carry away from you 
 every year the first is cotton 5000 M. ^ for 250,000 ducats, thread 20, 
 000 M. at from 15 to 20 ducats the hundred making 30,000 ducats. 
 Catalonian wool at 60 ducats per M. for 4000 M., 120,000 ducats. 
 French wool at 300 du(;ats per M. for 40 M., making 120,000 ducats. 
 Cloth of gold and of silk per year for 250,000 ducats. 3000 cargoes of 
 pepper at 100 ducats make 300,000 ducats. Cinnamon 400 loads at 160 
 ducats per load, 64,000 ducats. Ginger 200 M. at 40 ducats per M., 
 80,000 ducats. Sugar of one boiling, of two and of three, estimated at 
 15 ducats the hundred, 95,000 ducats. Green ginger for several thou- 
 
 'The original has tnigliaja "thousands" for which we use the abbreviation. 
 
14 . TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 sands of ducats. Other things of all sorts for several thousands of 
 ducats, for embroidery and sewing 30,000 ducats. Dyes 4000 M. at 
 30 ducats per M. per hundral, 120,000 ducats. Emlaclii and grain* 
 for 50,000 ducats. Now in the way of making an estimate for all it will 
 be seen to be 28,000,000 ducats. And this is a beautiful garden for 
 Venice without cost. Soap for 250,000 ducats, slaves for 30,000, and 
 considerable salted goods which are sold every year. And all this draft 
 which the said Lombadry makes upon these lands is a reason to navigate 
 so many ships in Syria, so many galleys in Romania, so many in Cata- 
 lonia, so many in Flanders, in Cyprus, in Sicily, and in other parts of 
 the world, by me^nsof which Venice receives dues and freights, three, two, 
 and a half per cent. Sanserif and Tintoi'i ; freights of vessels and galleys 
 weighers, porters, bargemen, sailors, rowers and captains, with the profits 
 of merchants in the ventures, which gives a sum of 600,000 ducats to us 
 of Venice without cost. From such profits many thousand persons live 
 on the fat of the land. And is this a garden which we ought to undo? 
 In truth no. But it is to be defended against any who wish to desolate 
 it 
 
 VI. MEMORANDUM OF THE POWER AND REVENUES OF 
 THE ST A TES OF EUROPE IN 142- 
 Note to Life of Mocenigo. 
 Muratori. Script, rer. Ital. XXII, pp. 960 et seq. Italian. 
 
 The memorandum here quoted is by an unknown hand. It was affixed 
 to the document from which Muratori derives his information before 1450. It may be 
 regarded in the light of a contemporary estimate of the relative strength of European 
 nations. The excellent system of reports by which the Venetian ambassadors 
 kept the home government informed as to the doings of foreign powers is a guaranty 
 that the statement represents the best available information. The section relating 
 to Venice naturally assumes a higher degree ot probability. While in some respects 
 it is vague and indefinite it yet gives us an excellent idea of the budget of receipts 
 of that commonwealth. 
 
 Income of all the Christian powers and what they are able to do. 
 The king of France with all his force and the feudal services of princes, 
 dukes, marquises, counts, barons, knights, bishops, abbots, canons, 
 priests, and citizens, can in his own country raise 30,000 horsemen skilled 
 in arms. If desiring to send them out of the country the said realm 
 could not, since the costs would be doubled, send more than 15,000 horse. 
 Before the war with their own countrymen, it could have raised 100,000, 
 for that war destroyed both Church and revenues. In the total there- 
 
EUROPEAN STATES IN 1 42 . 1 5 
 
 fore 15,000 horse. The king of Eiighind with the power of his rev- 
 enues, and the feudal services of princes and others as above could, pay- 
 ^ing them every month, raise at home 30,000 horsemen skilled in arms. 
 In making the test of war these powders are equal. They have always been 
 powerful in their undertakings. And if one of these forces had been 
 greater than the other, one would have been destroyed. The English 
 were overcome, after the division occurred in England, and they could 
 not make provision for their forces. This was before 1414. They 
 had 40,000 horse. Wars have weakened these countries, their men and 
 their revenues, so that now wishing to send a force out of the country it 
 is agreed that they have the half, i. e., 15,000 horsemen. The king of 
 Scotland who is lord of a great country, and of a people of so great 
 poverty that he would not be able to maintain with his revenues and the 
 taxes and dues of the clergy and laity, 10,000 horsemen skilled in arms 
 in his own country ; outside of the country on account of the great cost, 
 5000 horse. The king of Norway who is lord of a great country, and a 
 people equally poor could not maintain at home with his revenues and 
 the taxes and dues of clergy and laity 10,000 horemen skilled in arms, 
 abroad 5000 horse. The king of Spain with all his revenues and feu- 
 dal dues of clergy and laity, with all his forces 30,000 horsemen skilled 
 in arms. In 1414 he paid for 20,000. Wishing to maintain them out 
 of the country at double cost they w^ould be 15,000 horsemen. The 
 king of Portugal with all his revenues from clergy and laity, with all 
 his force, would have, if he paid every month, at home 6000 horsemen 
 skilled in arms, abroad 3000 horse. The king of Brittany with all his 
 revenues and feudal dues of clergy and laity, paying every month, 
 could maintain at home 8000 horsemen skilled in arms, abroad 4000. 
 The master of St. James with all his force of men skilled in arms, at 
 home 4000 horsemen, abroad 2000. The duke of Burgundy with all 
 his force as above at home 3000 cavalry. In 1414 he held 1000. 
 But war has destroyed the country. Abroad 5000 men. The king 
 Rene [of Provence] with all his revenues would be able to raise at home 
 6000 horse, abroad 3000. The duke of Savoy with all his revenues 
 would be able to raise at home 8000 horse, abroad 4000. The mar- 
 quis of Montferrat would be able to hold 2000 horse at home, 1000 
 abroad. The count Francesco Sforza, duke of Milan, with all his 
 force could hold as mercenaries 10,000 horse at home and 5000 abroad. 
 The signory of Venice can, with all its force pay for 10,000 horsemen 
 skilled in arms at home, and 5000 abroad. The marquis of Ferrara at 
 
1 6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 home 2000 horsemen, abroad 1000. The marquis of Mantua, at 
 home 2000, abroad 1000. The signory of Bologna 2000 at home, 1000 
 abroad. The community of Siena at home 2000, abroad 1000. The 
 Signory of Florence with all its revenues of 1414 could place 1000. 
 At present through the wars it can place 4000 horsemen at home and 
 2000 abroad. 
 
 The Pope with all his revenues of his States of the Church, and with 
 the profits of churches which he receives, was able in 1414 to raise 
 8000 horsemen ; at present at home 6000 horsemen, abroad 3000. The 
 king of Aragon in the Realm of Naples can raise with all his revenues 
 12,000 horsemen at home and 6000 abroad. The princes of the Realm 
 are able with all their revenues to raise 4000 horsemen at home, 2000 
 abroad. The Community of Genoa were able in 1414 to maintain 
 5000 horsemen. But through their present dissension and the wars 
 they are only able to maintain at present 2000. The Barcelonians with 
 all the community and the lord of Catalonia, counting citizens and 
 knights, can at home paying every month maintain 12,000 horsemen, 
 and abroad 6000. All Germany with the lords temporal and spiritual, 
 the free and the other cities, north and south Germany, and the Emperor 
 who is German, can raise with all their resources and revenues 60,000 
 horsemen at home and 30,000 abroad. The king of Hungary, with all 
 the dukes, lords, princes, barons, prelates, clergy and laity, and with 
 all his resources and revenues can raise at home 80,000 horsemen, 
 abroad 40,000. The grand master of Prussia with all his revenues, 
 30,000 horsemen. In 1414 he had 50,000. But war has weakened 
 him. Abroad 15,000 horsemen. The king of Poland with all his 
 revenues with dukes marquises barons, cities and boroughs can raise 
 at home 50,000 horsemen, abroad 25,000. The Wallachians with all 
 their revenues and feudal service, at home 20,000 horsemen, abroad 
 10,000. Morea with its resources of 1414 could raise 50,000 horse- 
 men. War has weakened them. At present at home 20,000, abroad 
 10,000. All Albania, Croatia, Slavonia, Servia, Russia and Bosnia 
 with all their revenues at home 30,000, abroad 15,000. The king of 
 Cyprus with all his revenues can raise in the Island 2000, abroad 
 1000. The duke of Nicae in the Archipelago with all his power can 
 pay for 2000 horsemen at home, 1000 abroad. The grand master of 
 Rhodes with all his revenues and feudal dues of his liegemen, clergy 
 and laity of the island, would be able to raise 4000 horsemen at home, 
 2000 abroad. The lord of Mitylene 2000 horsemen, abroad 1000. 
 
EUROPEAN STATES IN 1 42 — . 1 7 
 
 The emperor of Trebizonde with all his jwwer could raise at home 25, 
 000 horsemen, abroad 15,000. The king of Georgia with his revenues 
 of 1414 raised 80,000 horsemen. At present he can raise at home 10,000 
 hoi'semen, abroad 5000. The emperor of Constantinople can only 
 raise * * * . Power of the Infidel Monarchs. The Turk can in all 
 his dominions raise 40,000 horsemen, valiant men to defend him against 
 the Christians. The Cararaan with all his power can raise at home 60, 
 000 horsemen, abroad 30,000. Ussun Cassan with all his power can 
 raise at home 20,000 horsemen in the service of Mahomet, abroad 10, 
 000. The Caraifan with all his resources at home 20,000, abroad 10, 
 000. Tamerlane with all his Tartar power can raise at home 1,000, 
 000 horsemen abroad 500,000. The king of Tunis, of Granada and the 
 other cities of Barbary who have galleys and boats to the injury of 
 Christians, at home are 100,000 horsemen abroad, 50,000. 
 
 Revenues of some Christian princes in the year 1423. The king 
 of France in the year 1414 had 2,000,000 ducats ordinary revenues. 
 But the wars which have continued for forty years have reduced the 
 ordinary revenues to 1,000,000 ducats. The king of England had 2, 
 000,000 ducats ordinary revenue. The continued wars have desolated 
 the island. At the present time he has 700,000 ducats revenue. The 
 king of Spain had in 1410, 3,000,000 ducats ordinary revenue, but the 
 continued wars have reduced it to 800,000 ducats. The king of Portu- 
 gal had in 1410, 200,000 ducats revenue. By the wars it is reduced 
 to 140,000 ducats. The king of Brittany in 1414 had 200,000 ducats 
 revenue. By the wars it is reduced to 140,000 ducats. The duke of 
 Burgundy had in 1400, 3,000,000 ducats. By the wars it is reduced 
 to 900,000 ducats. The duke of Savoy as a free country has 150,000 
 ducats revenue. The marquis of Montferrat as a free country has 100, 
 000 ducats revenue. Count Francesco, duke of Milan (in 1423 duke 
 Filippo Maria had 1,000,000 ducats revenue) has at present on account 
 of the wars only 500,000 ducats. The signory of Venice had in 1423 
 1,100,000 ducats ordinary revenue. By reason of great wars which 
 have destroyed commerce it has 800,000 ducats ordinary revenue. The 
 marquis of Ferrara had in 1423, 70,000 ducats ordinary revenue. 
 Through the Italian wars he has by remaining at peace 150,000 ducats. 
 The Marquis of Montferrat had in 1423, 150,000 ducats, to-day 60,000 
 ducats. The Bolognese had in 1423, 400,000 ducats ordinary revenue. 
 But by the wars it has come to 200,000 ducats. Florence in 1423 
 had a revenue of 400,000 ducats. But since then, through the great 
 
1 8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 wars it is reduced to 200,000 ducats. The pope, though formerly he 
 had none, has 400,000 ducats ordinary revenue. The Genuese through 
 the great divison among them are reduced to 180,000 ducats. The 
 king of Aragon, in all his realm with Sicily, though at fii*st he had 
 considerably more, has a revenue of 310,000 ducats, 
 
 Revenues of our signory on the main-land and the cost of these 
 domains. The country of Friuli gives annually 75,000 ducats. Its costs 
 are annually 6330 ducats. There remains net 1170 ducats. Trevigi 
 and suburbs 40,000 ducats, costs 10,100 ducats, remainder 29,900 
 ducats. Padua and suburbs 65,500 ducats, costs 14,000 ducats, re- 
 miander 51,500 ducats. Vicenza and suburbs 34,500 ducats, costs 
 7600 ducats, remainder 26,900. Verona and suburbs 52,500 ducats, 
 costs 18,000 ducats, remainder 34,000 ducats. Brescia and suburbs 
 75,500 ducats, costs 16,000 ducats, remainder 59,500 ducats. Ber- 
 gamo and suburbs, 25,500 ducats, costs 9,500 ducats, remainder 16,000 
 ducats. Crema and suburbs 7400 ducats, costs 3900 ducats, re- 
 mainder 3500 ducats. Ravenna and suburbs 9000 ducats, costs 2770 
 ducats, remainder 6230 ducats. Sum of the above 317,400 ducats, 
 costs 88,200 ducats, remainder 229,200 ducats. Revenues of Venice. 
 The intendants of the revenues levy every year 150,000 ducats. The 
 Salt office levies every year 165,000 ducats. Eight offices connected 
 with the Bureau of Taxes levy per year 233,500 ducats. Offices 
 connected with the Arsenal levy annually 73,280 ducats. From the 
 profits of the Bureau of Taxes per year 150,000 ducats and salaries 
 26,500 ducats, leaving 611,600 ducats. Maritime possessions yield 
 annually 180,000 ducats. Other extroardinary revenues. Revenue of 
 the tithe of houses and possessions in the Duchy 25,000 ducats. For the 
 clergy who pay in cash half the tithe, the other being held by the 
 Bureau of Taxes, 15,000 ducats. Possessions abroad and foreign 
 stations 5000 ducats. Priests, for their revenues 22,000 ducats. Sea- 
 faring Jews two-tenths per year 600 ducats. Land Jews 500 ducats 
 for the tithe, and 1000 ducats for the two-tenths. The tithe of the 
 merchants 16,000 ducats. Revenue of Noli and Gioje 6000 ducats. 
 Poll taxes and exchange 20,000 ducats. Note that we must subtract 
 from these the following namely : for the persons who are unable to pay 
 the tithe of the houses, it cannot be exacted 6000 ducats ; for the half 
 of the tithe of the profit of the Bureau of Taxes, 7500 ducats; for the 
 priests, to be deducted for the Patriarchate 2000 ducats ; for the mer- 
 chandise for the revenues 6000 ducats ; for Noli and Gioje 4000 ducats : 
 for poll-taxes and exchange 12,000 ducats. 
 
TAXES OF JERUSALEM. 1 9 
 
 VII. TAXES OF THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 Assises de Jerusalem. Tome II. Assises de la cour des Bourgeois, p. 
 173. Paris 1843. Old P>ench. 
 The list of taxes of the kingdom of Jerusalem may be regarded as a pendant 
 to the foregoing. The list of articles taxed forms an excellent index of the char- 
 acter of the commerce conducted by the Mediterranean powers of the time. 
 
 1. The old duties command that one should take at the custom 
 house for the sale ot silk for every hundred Besauts, 8 Besants and 19 
 Karoubles, ^ as duty. 
 
 2. For the duties on cotton the rule commands that one should 
 take per hundred, 10 B. and 18 K. as duties. 
 
 3. For the duties of pepper the rule commands that one should 
 take per hundred 11 B. and 5 K. as duties. 
 
 4. For cinnamon the rule commands that one should take per 
 hundred 10 B. and 18 K. as duty. 
 
 5. For wool the rule commands that one should take per hundred 
 B., 11 B. and 10 K. as taxes. 
 
 6. For the duties of alum the rule commands that one should take 
 per hundred, 11 B. and 5 K. as duties. 
 
 7. For the duty on varnish the rule commands that one should 
 take per hundred, 10 B. and 18 K. as duty. 
 
 8. For the duties on nutmegs or on nutmeg leaves, the rule com- 
 mands that one should take as duty per hundred B. 8 B. and \. by law. 
 
 9. Of flax the rule commands that one should take per uundred, 
 8 B. and 8 K. as duty. 
 
 10. For the duties upon cloves and the leaves of cloves the rule 
 commands that one should take per hundred, 9 B. and \ by law. 
 
 11. For the duties on Indian hens one should take the tenth. 
 
 12. For the wares which are brought by sea from the coast of 
 Syria and which cannot be sold the rule is that they can be withdrawn 
 and taken out of the country, but if the merchandise which cannot be 
 sold be taken out beyond the chain they must be paid per hundred for 
 as much as may then be in the country 8 B. per hundred, and for that 
 which may have been sold duty must be paid to the custom house accord- 
 ing that which is established for each kind and which one would have to 
 pay. And be it undei*stood that these duties shall be paid by the Sara- 
 cens and by all the Syrians who may come with wares into this kingdom. 
 
 ' Where these coins are subsequently mentioned they are indicated by B. and K. 
 
20 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 13. For the duties on muse the rule commands that one should 
 take per hundred B, 8 B. and ^ as duty. 
 
 14. For the duty upon aloe wood the rule commands that one 
 should take 9 B. and i per hundred as duty. 
 
 15. For the duties on sugar for that which is imported and 
 exported by land and by sea, the rule commands that one should take 
 per hundred, 5 B. as duty. 
 
 16. For the duties per camel's load of sugar the rule commands 
 that one should take 4 B. as duty. 
 
 17. For the duty on sugar which is brought by beasts of burden 
 the rule commands that one should take 1 raboin per load as duty. 
 
 18. For all things which are exported by land to be taken to 
 the Paynims the rule commands that one should take as duty per Besant 
 IK. 
 
 19. For the duty for the salt fish which is imported from Babylon 
 one should take the quarter, that is of 4 B. one of the four, as duty. 
 
 20. For the duty on flax which is imported from Babylon to 
 Damascus the rule commands that one should take in transit for each 
 camel 1 B. and 2 K. as duty. 
 
 21. For the duty on alcana the rule commands that one should 
 take give for each sack a duty of 18? K. 
 
 22. For the duty on all the spices of retail shop-keepers the rule 
 commands that one should take as duty per besante 1 K. 
 
 23. For the duty of sesamum the rule commands that one should 
 on importation per hundred, 10 B. as duty. 
 
 24. For the duty on oil of Sesamum the rnle commands that one 
 should take per hundred, 11 B. as duty. 
 
 25. For the duty upon incense the rule commands that one should 
 take per hundred, 11 B. and 5 K. as duty. 
 
 26. The rule for cardemoine the law commands that one should 
 take per hundred, 11 B. and 5 K. as duty. 
 
 27. The duty on ivory the law commands that one should take per 
 besante 2 K. as duty. 
 
 28. For the duty on SarcocoU the rule commands that one should 
 take per hundred, 11 B. and 5 K. 
 
 29. For the duty on Galega the rule commands that one should 
 take per hundred 4 B. and 4 K. 
 
 30. For the duty upon the twigs and the leaves of lavender the 
 rule commands that one should take per hundred, 4 B. and 4 K. 
 
TAXK8 OK JERUHAi.EM. 21 
 
 31. For the duty on Myrodolaii the rule coirmiauds that one 
 should take j)er hundred 4 B. and 4 K. 
 
 32. For the duty on cinnamon the rule commands tliat one should 
 take i)er hundred, 4 B. and 4 K. 
 
 33. For the duty on rhubarb the rule connnande that one should 
 take per hundred, 4 B. and 3 K. as duty. 
 
 34. For the duty on ginger the rule connnands that one should 
 take j)er hundred, 4 B. and 4 K. as duty. 
 
 35. For the duty upon camphor the rule commands that one should 
 take per hundred, 11 B. and 8 K. as duty. 
 
 36. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on borage per hundred, 11 B. and o K. as duty. 
 
 37. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on aspic per hundred, 4 B. and 4 K. as duty. 
 
 38. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on gariophylus per hundred, 4 B. and 4 K. as duty. 
 
 39. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on ammonia, internal tax that is to say per hundred, 11 B. and 5 K. 
 
 40. It is undei-stood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on Nabeth sugar, an internal tax. 
 
 41. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on dates, an internal tax. 
 
 42. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on emery per hundred, 10 B. as duty, 
 
 43. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on licorice Saracen and Syrian 1 and i tenths, but of French one should 
 take only 13 B. per hundred as duty. 
 
 44. It is understood that the rule connnands that one should take 
 on sulphur of arsenic per hundred, 11 B. and 5 K. as duty. 
 
 45. It is understood that the rule connnands that one should take 
 on camphor root which is underneath i)er hundred, 11 B. and 5 K. as 
 duty. 
 
 46. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on straps and saddles which are exported from the city per B, 1 K. as 
 duty. 
 
 47. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on yellow sulphur of arsenic, and internal tax. 
 
 48. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on libanotis per hundred 1 B. and 8 K. as duty. 
 
22 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 49. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on all planks and beams which are exported by land, as duty the quarter 
 of what they cost. 
 
 50. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 as duty on planks used to construct threshing floors the tenth of what 
 they cost. 
 
 51. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 upon salt fish exported from the city the quarter of what it cost as duty. 
 
 52. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on fruit per hundred, 14 B. as duty. 
 
 53. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on hens exported from the city and upon ? one should take an internal 
 tax. 
 
 54. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 as duty on rafters per besant, 2 K. 
 
 55. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on olives, 20 B. 
 
 56. It is undei-stood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on wine which is brought from Nazareth and from Saphourie and from 
 Safran, per camel load as duty 12 drachmans. 
 
 57. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 of thread of Damascus an internal tax. 
 
 58. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 of senna per hundred, 20 B. as duty. 
 
 59. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 of red currants per hundred, 8 B. and i which is the amount of the 
 duty. 
 
 60. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 of wine which is imported from Antioch or from Lische or this side per 
 besant, 1 K. as duty. 
 
 61. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 of the shoes which the Saracens purchase as tax of sale the tenth. 
 
 62. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 as duties on wheat, the tenth. 
 
 63. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on eggs the tenth as duty. 
 
 64. It is understood that the rule commands that one should take 
 on hens and pullets as duty the tenth, that is to say per hundred, 10 B. 
 
 65. On the goats which are imported from the Paynims the rule 
 commands that one should take the tenth as duty. 
 
TAXES OF JERUSALEM. 23 
 
 66. On geese which are brought into the city the rule commands 
 that one should take the tenth as duty. 
 
 67. On the oil which comes to the custom-house the rule commands 
 that one should take per hundred, 8 B. and 4 K. as duty. 
 
 68. On nut gall the rule commauds that one should give and take 
 as duty 5 B. and 18 K. per hundred. 
 
 69. On the wool which is imported from various parts the rule 
 commands that one should take by law per hundred 10 B. and 18 K. 
 
 70. On wax the rule commands that one should take per hundred 
 2 B. and 5 K. 
 
 71. On pens the rule commands that one should take as internal 
 tax that is to say 11 B. and 5 K. per hundred. 
 
Translations and Reprints 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. 
 Voi,. I. English Constitutional Documents. No. 6. 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PA03B! 
 
 I. Coronation Oaths and Royal Charters. 
 
 1. Coronation Oath of Bthelred II 2 
 
 2. Coronation Oath of William the Conqueror, .... 2 
 
 3. Charter of William to London, 2 
 
 4. Coronation Charter of Henry 1 3 
 
 5. Coronation Charter of Stephen, 5 
 
 6. Coronation Charter of Henry II 5 
 
 7. The Great Charter, 6 
 
 8. Coronation Oath of Henry III 17 
 
 9. Confirmation of the Charters, ". . . . 17 
 
 10. Coronation Oath of Edward II 19 
 
 II. Judicial Documents. 
 
 1. Provisions for Hundred and Shire Courts, 20 
 
 2. A Shire Moot in the Reign of Cnut, 21 
 
 3. Writ for an Inquisition, 22 
 
 4. Writ for a Recognition, 22 
 
 5. Assize of Clarendon, 22 
 
 6. Constitutions of Clarendon, 26 
 
 7. Typical Criminal Cases in Royal Courts 30 
 
 8. Typical Civil Cases in Royal Courts, 31 
 
 III. Writs of Summons to Parliament. 
 
 1. Writ to the lyords in 1242, 33 
 
 2. Writ to a Bishop in 1295, 33 
 
 3. Writ to a Lay Noble in 1295, 34 
 
 4. Writ to Sheriffs for Commoners in 1295, 35 
 
 IV. Select Bibliography, 36 
 
2 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 I. CORONATION OATHS AND ROYAL CHARTERS. 
 
 At no time in English history has the power of the king been absolute and un- 
 limited. The coronation oath bridged the chasm between the Saxon and the Nor- 
 man kings, being taken by William and his immediate successors in exactly the 
 form recorded as having been used by King Ethelred. The later charters of liber- 
 ties indicate the progressive restrictions on the independence oi the early Norman 
 and Angevin kings, although the occasions for the issue of such charters were ap- 
 parently almost accidental. The charter of Henry I. was granted to strengthen his 
 doubtful claim to the throne ; two successive charters were issued by Stephen with 
 the same object, and that of Henry II. was granted in imitation of these. Magna 
 Charta is known to have been suggested by and based on these preceding grants. 
 The Confirmation of the Charters was in form one of the many regrants of Magna 
 Charta and the Forest Charter, but it obtained its importance from the sixth clause, 
 which was practically new and remained effective. Under another form, in which 
 it appears as the statute de talla^io non concedendo, this grant is frequently re- 
 ferred to in later struggles between king and Parliament. 
 
 I. CORONATION OATH OF ETHELRED II., A. D. 978. 
 Kemble, Saxons in England. II. 36. Anglo-Saxon. 
 In the name of the Holy Trinity, three things do I promise to this 
 Christian people, my subjects ; first, that I will hold God's church and 
 all the Christian people of my realm in true peace ; second, that I will 
 forbid all rapine and injustice to men of all conditions; third, that I 
 promise and enjoin justice and mercy in all judgments, in order that a 
 just and merciful God may give us all His eternal favor, who liveth 
 and reigneth. 
 
 2. CORONATION OATH OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, A. D. IO66. 
 
 Florence of Worcester, under the year 1066. Latin. 
 
 Having first, as the archbishop required, sworn before the altar of 
 St. Peter the Apostle, in the presence of the clergy and people, to defend 
 the holy churches of God and their governors, and also to rule over the 
 • whole people subject to him justly and with royal providence ; to enact 
 and to preserve right law, and straitly to forbid violence and unjust 
 judgments. 
 
 3. CHARTER OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO THE CITY OF 
 LONDON, A. D. IO66. 
 
 Liber Custumarum, Pt. i, pp. 25 and 26. Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 William, king, greets William, bishop, and Gosfrith, portreeve. 
 
CHARTER OF HENRY I. 3 
 
 and all the burghers within London, French and English, friendly ; 
 and I assure you that I will that ye all have rights before the law that 
 had them in King Edward's day. And I will that every child be his 
 father's heir after his father's day. And I will not allow that any man 
 do any wrong to you. God keep you. 
 
 4. CORONATION CHARTER OF HENRY I., A. D. I ICQ. 
 Stubbs' Select Charters, 96-98. Latin. 
 
 In the year of the incarnation of the Lord, 1101, Henry, son ot 
 King William, after the death of his brother William, by the grace of 
 God, king of the English, to all faithful, greeting : 
 
 1. Know that by the mercy of God, and by the common counsel 
 of the barons of the whole kingdom of England, I have been crowned 
 king of the same kingdom ; and because the kingdom has been oppressed 
 by unjust exactions, I, from regard to God, and from the love which I 
 have toward you, in the first place make the holy church of God free, 
 so that I will neither sell nor place at rent, nor, when archbishop, or 
 bishop, or abbot is dead, will I take anything from the domain of the 
 church, or from its men, until a successor is installed into it. And all 
 the evil customs by which the realm of England w^as unj ustly oppressed 
 will I take away, which evil customs I partly set down here. 
 
 2. If any one of my barons, or earls, or others who hold from me 
 shall have died, his heir shall not redeem his land as he did in the time 
 of my brother, but shall relieve it by a just and legitimate relief. Sim- 
 ilarly also the men of my barons shall relieve their lands from their 
 lords by a just and legitimate relief. 
 
 3. And if any one of the barons or other men of mine wishes to 
 give his daughter in marriage, or his sister or niece or relation, he must 
 speak with me about it, but I will neither take anything from him for 
 this permission, nor forbid him to give her in marriage, unless he should 
 wish to join her to my enemy. And if when a baron or other man of 
 mine is dead, a daughter remains as his heir, I will give her in marriage 
 according to the judgment of my barons, along with her land. And if 
 when a man is dead his wife remains, and is without children, she shall 
 have her dowry and right of marriage, and I will not give her to a hus- 
 band except according to her will. 
 
 4. And if a wife has survived with children, she shall have her 
 dowry and right of marriage, so long as she shall have kept her body 
 legitimately, and I will not give her in marriage, except according to 
 
4 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 her will. And the guardian of the land and children shall be either 
 the wife or another one of the relatives as shall seem to be most just. 
 And I require that my barons should deal similarly with the sons and 
 daughters or wives of their men. 
 
 5. The common tax on money* which used to be taken through 
 the cities and counties, which was not taken in the time of King Ed- 
 ward, I now forbid altogether henceforth to be taken. If any one shall 
 have been seized, whether a moneyer or any other, with false money, 
 strict justice shall be done for it. 
 
 6. All fines and all debts which were owed to my brother, I re- 
 mit, except my rightful rents, and except those payments which had 
 been agreed upon for the inheritances of others or for those things 
 which more justly affected others. And if any one for his own inheri- 
 tance has stipulated anything, this I remit, and all reliefe which had 
 been agreed upon for rightful inheritances. 
 
 7. And if any one of my barons or men shall become feeble, how- 
 ever he himself shall give or arrange to give his money, I grant that it 
 shall be so given. Moreover, if he himself, prevented by arms, or by 
 weakness, shall not have bestowed his money, or arranged to bestow it, 
 his wife or his children or his parents, and his legitimate men shall di- 
 vide it for his soul, as to them shall seem best. 
 
 8. If any of my barons or men shall have commited an offence he 
 shall not give security to the extent of forfeiture of his money, as he did 
 in the time of my father, or of my brother, but according to the 
 measure of the offence so shall he pay, as he would have paid from the 
 time of my father backward, in the time of my other predecessors ; so 
 that if he shall have been convicted of treachery or of crime, he shall 
 pay as is just. 
 
 9. All murders moreover before that day in which I was crowned 
 king, I pardon ; and those which shall be done henceforth shall be 
 punished justly according to the law of King Edward. 
 
 10. The forests, by the common agreement of my barons, I have 
 retained in my own hand, as my father held them. 
 
 11. To those knights who hold their land by the cuirass, I yield 
 
 iMonetagium, which is here translated **tax on money," was a payment made 
 to the king or other lord, periodically, on condition that he would not change the 
 standard of value during a given period. It was customary in Normandy. 
 Ducange. 
 
CHARTER OF HENRY II. 5 
 
 of my owu gift the lands of their demesne ploughs free from all pay. 
 ments and from all labor, so that as they have thus been favored by 
 such a great alleviation, so they may readily provide themselves with 
 horses and arms for my service and for the defence of my kingdom. 
 
 12. A firm peace in my whole kingdom I establish and require to 
 be kept from henceforth. 
 
 13. The law of King Edward I give to you again with those 
 changes with which my father changed it by the counsel of his barons. 
 
 14. If any one has taken anything from my possessions since the 
 death of King William, my brother, or from the possessions of any one, 
 let the whole be immediately returned without alteration, and if any one 
 shall have retained anything thence, he upon whom it is found will pay 
 it heavily to me. Witnesses Maurice, bishop of London, and Gundulf, 
 bishop, and William, bishop-elect, and Henry, earl, and Simon, earl, 
 and Walter Giffard, and Robert de Montfort, and Roger Bigod, and 
 Henry de Port, at London, when I was crowned. 
 
 5. CORONATION CHARTER OF KING STEPHEN, A. D. II 35. 
 
 Statutes of the Realm. I, 4. Latin. 
 
 Stephen, by the grace of God, king of the English, to the justices, 
 sheriffs, barons, and all his ministers and faithful, French and English, 
 greeting. 
 
 Know that I have conceded and by this my present charter con- 
 firmed to all my barons and men of England all the liberties and good 
 laws which Henry, King of the English, my uncle, gave and conceded 
 to them, and all the good laws and good customs which they had in the 
 time of King Edward, I concede to them. Wherefore I wish and firmly 
 command that they shall have and hold all those good laws and liberties 
 from me and my heirs, they and their heirs, freely, quietly, and fully ; 
 and I prohibit anyone from bringing any obstacle, or impediment, or 
 diminution upon them in these matters on pain of forfeiture to me. 
 
 Witness William Martel, at London. 
 
 6. CORONATION CHARTER OF HENRY II., A. D. 1 1 54. 
 
 Statutes of the Realm. I. 4. Latin. 
 
 Henry, by the grace of God, king of England, duke of Normandy 
 and Aquitaine and count of Anjou, to all the earls, barons, and his 
 faithful, French and English, greeting. Know that, to the honor of 
 
6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 God and of the holy church and for the advantage of my whole king- 
 dom, I have conceded and granted, and by my present charter confirmed 
 to Grod and to the holy church, and to all the earls and barons, and to 
 all my men all the concessions and grants and liberties and free cus- 
 toms which King Henry, my grandfather, gave and conceded to them. 
 Similarly also, all the evil customs which he abolished and remitted, I 
 remit and allow to be abolished for myself and my heirs. Therefore, I 
 will and strictly require that the holy church and all the earls and 
 barons, and all my men should have and hold all those customs and 
 grants and liberties and free customs, freely and quietly, well and in 
 peace, and completely, from me and my heirs to them and their heirs, 
 as freely and quietly and fully in all things as King Henry, my grand- 
 father, granted and conceded to them and by his charter confirmed them. 
 Witness, Richard de Luci, at Westminster. 
 
 7. THE GREAT CHARTER. 
 
 GRANTED BY KING JOHN, JUNE 1 5, A.D. I215. 
 
 Stubbs' Reprint. Latin. 
 
 John, by the grace of Grod, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke 
 of Normandy and Aquitaine, count of Anjou, to the archbishops, bish- 
 ops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs, reeves, servants, 
 and all bailiffs and his faithful people greeting. Know that by the 
 suggestion of God and for the good of our soul and those of all our pre- 
 decessors and of our heirs, to the honor of God and the exaltation of 
 holy church, and the improvement of our kingdom, by the advice of 
 our venerable fathers Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of 
 all England and cardinal of the holy Roman church, Henry, archbishop 
 of Dublin, William of London, Peter of Winchester, Jocelyn of Bath 
 and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William of 
 Coventry, and Benedict of Rochester, bishops ; of Master Pandulf, sub- 
 deacon and member of the household of the lord Pope, of Brother 
 Aymeric, master of the Knights of the Temple in England ; and of the 
 noblemen William Marshall, earl of Pembroke, William, earl of Salis- 
 bury, William, earl of Warren, William, earl of Arundel, Alan of 
 Galloway, constable of Scotland, Warren Fitz-Gerald, Peter Fitz-Her- 
 bert, Hubert de Burgh, steward of Poitou, Hugh de Nevil, Matthew 
 Fitz-Herbert, Thomas Bassett, Alan Bassett, Philip d'Albini, Robert 
 
THE GREAT CHARTER. 7 
 
 de Roppelay, John Marshall, John Fitz-Hugh, and others of our 
 faithful. 
 
 1. In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our 
 present charter confirmed, for us and our heirs forever, that the English 
 church shall be free, and shall hold its rights entire and its liberties un- 
 injured; and we will that it thus be observed; which is shown by this, 
 that the freedom of elections, which is considered to be most important 
 and especially necessary to the English church, we, of our pure and 
 spontaneous will, granted, and by our charter confirmed, before the con- 
 test between us and our barons had arisen ; and obtained a confirma- 
 tion of it by the lord Pope Innocent III. ; which we will observe and 
 which we will shall be observed in good faith by our heirs forever. 
 
 We have granted moreover to all free men of our kingdom for us and 
 oiir heirs forever all the liberties written below, to be had and holden 
 by themselves and their heirs from us and our heirs. 
 
 2. If any of our earls or barons, or others holding from us in 
 chief by military service shall have died, and when he has died his heir 
 shall be of full age and owe relief, he shall have his inheritance by the 
 ancient relief; that is to say, the heir or heirs of an earl for the whole 
 barony of an earl a hundred pounds ; the heir or heirs of a baron for 
 a whole barony a hundred pounds ; the heir or heirs of a knight, for a 
 whole knight's fee, a hundred shillings at most ; and who owes less let 
 him give less according to the ancient custom of fiefs. 
 
 3. If moreover the heir of any one of such shall be under age, 
 and shall be in wardship, when he comes of age he shall have his inheri- 
 tance without relief and without a fine. 
 
 4. The custodian of the land of such a minor heir shall not take 
 from the land of the heir any except reasonable products, reasonable 
 customary payments, and reasonable services, and this without destruc- 
 tion or waste of men or of property ; and if we shall have committed 
 the custody of the land of any such a one to the sheriff or to any other 
 who is to be responsible to us for its proceeds, and that man shall have 
 caused destruction or waste from his custody we will recover damages 
 from him, and the land shall be committed to two legal and discreet 
 men of that fief, who shall be responsible for its proceeds to us or to him 
 to whom we have assigned them ; and if we shall have given or sold to 
 any one the custody of any such land, and he has caused destruction or 
 waste there, he shall lose that custody, and it shall be handed over to 
 two legal and discreet men of that fief who shall be in like manner re- 
 sponsible to us as is said above. 
 
8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 5. The custodian moreover, so long as he shall have the custody 
 of the land, must keep up the houses, parks, warrens, fish ponds, mills, 
 and other things perta ning to the land, from the proceeds of the land 
 itself; and he must return to the heir, when he has come to full age, 
 all his land, furnished with ploughs and implements of husbandry ac- 
 cording as the time of wainage requires and as the proceeds of the land 
 are able reasonably to sustain. 
 
 6. Heirs shall be married without disparity, so nevertheless that 
 before the marriage is contracted, it shall be announced to the relatives 
 by blood of the heir himself. 
 
 7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall have her mar- 
 riage portion and her inheritance immediately and without obstruction, 
 nor shall she give anything for her dowry or for her marriage portion, 
 or for her inheritance which inheritance her husband and she held on 
 the day of the death of her husband ; and she may remain in the house 
 of her husband for forty days afi^r his death, within which time her 
 dowry shall be assigned to her. 
 
 8. No widow shall be compelled to marry so long as she prefera 
 to live without a husband, provided she gives security that she will not 
 marry without our consent, if she holds from us, or without the consent 
 of her lord from whom she holds, if she holds from another. 
 
 9. Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent, for any 
 debt, so long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient for the payment 
 of the debt ; nor shall the pledges of a debtor be distrained so long as 
 the principal debtor himself has enough for the payment of the debt ; 
 and if the principal debtor fails in the payment of the debt, not having 
 the wherewithal to pay it, the pledges shall be responsible for the debt ; 
 and if they wish, they shall have the lands and the rents of the debtor 
 until they shall have been satisfied for the debt which they have before 
 paid for him, unless the principal debtor shall have shown himself to be 
 quit in that respect towards those pledges. 
 
 10. If any one has taken anything from the Jews, by way of a 
 loan, more or less, and dies before that debt is paid, the debt shall not 
 draw interest so long as the heir is under age, from whomsoever he holds ; 
 and if that debt falls into our hands, we will take nothing except the 
 chattel contained in the agreement. 
 
 11. And if any one dies leaving a debt owing to the Jews, his 
 wife shall have her dowry, and shall pay nothing of that debt ; and if 
 there remain minor children of the dead man, necessaries shall be pro- 
 

 Tin: GREAT ClIARTL^ » . 
 
 vided for them corresponding to the holding of the dead man ; and from 
 the remainder shall be paid the debt, the service of the lords being re- 
 tained. In the same way debts are to be treated which are owed to 
 others than the Jews. 
 
 12. No scutage or aid shall be imposed in our kingdom except by 
 the common council of our kingdom, except for the ransoming of our 
 body, for the making of our oldest son a knight, and for once marrying 
 our oldest daughter, and for these purposes it shall be only a reasonable 
 aid ; in the same way it shall be done concerning the aids of the city of 
 London. 
 
 13. And the city of London shall have all its ancient liberties 
 and free customs, as well by land as by water. Moreover, we will and 
 grant that all other cities and boroughs and villages and ports shall 
 have all their liberties and free customs. 
 
 14. And for holding a common council of the kingdom concern, 
 ing the assessment of an aid otherwise than in the three cases mentioned 
 above, or concerning the assessment of a scutage we shall cause to be 
 summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons 
 by our letters under seal ; and besides we shall cause to be summoned 
 generally, by our sheriffs and bailiffs all those who hold from us in 
 chief, for a certain day, that is at the end of forty days at least, and for 
 a certain place ; and in all the letters of that summons, we will express 
 the cause of the summons, and when the summons has thus been given 
 the business shall proceed on the appointed day, on the advice of those 
 who shall be present, even if not all of those who were summoned have 
 come. 
 
 15. We will not grant to any one, moreover, that he shall take 
 an aid from his free men, except for ransoming his body, for making his 
 oldest son a knight, and for once marrying his oldest daughter ; and for 
 these purposes only a reasonable aid shall be taken. 
 
 16. No one shall be compelled to perform any greater service for 
 a knight's fee, or for any other free tenement than is owed from it. 
 
 17. The common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be 
 held in some certain place. 
 
 18. The recognitions of novel disseisin^ mort d* ancestor, and dar- 
 rein presentment shall be held only in their own counties and in this 
 manner : we, or if we are outside of the kingdom our principal justiciar, 
 will send two justiciars through each county four times a year, who with 
 four knights of each county, elected by the county, shall hold in the* 
 
10 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 county and on the day and in the place of the county court, the afore- 
 said assizes of the county. 
 
 19. And if the aforesaid assizes cannot be held within the day of 
 the county court, a sufficient number of knights and free-holders shall 
 remain from those who were present at the county court on that day to 
 give the judgments, according as the business is more or less. 
 
 20. A free man shall not be fined for a small offence, except in 
 proportion to the measure of the offence ; and for a great offence he shall 
 be fined in proportion to the magnitude of the offence, saving his free- 
 hold ; and a merchant in the same way, saving his merchandise ; and 
 the villain shall be fined in the same way, saving his wainage, if he shall 
 be at our mercy ; and none of the above fines shall be imposed except 
 by the oaths of honest men of the neighborhood. 
 
 21. Earls and barons shall only be fined by their peers, and only 
 in proportion to their offence. 
 
 22. A clergyman shall be fined, like those before mentioned, only 
 in proportion to his lay holding, and not according to the extent of his 
 ecclesiastical benefice. 
 
 23. No manor or man shall be compelled to make bridges over 
 the rivers except those which ought to do it of old and rightfully. 
 
 24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or other bailiffs of ours shall 
 hold pleas of our crown. 
 
 25. All counties, hundreds, wapentakes, and trithings shall be at 
 the ancient rents and without any increase, excepting our demesne 
 manors. 
 
 26. If any person holding a lay fief from us shall die, and our 
 sheriff or bailiff shall show our letters-patent of our summons concerning 
 a debt which the deceased owed to us, it shall be lawful for our sheriff 
 or bailiff to attach and levy on the chattels of the deceased found on his 
 lay fief, to the value of that debt, in the view of legal men, so neverthe- 
 less that nothing be removed thence until the clear debt to us shall be 
 paid ; and the remainder shall be left to the executors for the fulfilment 
 of the will of the deceased ; and if nothing is owed to us by him, all the 
 chattels shall go to the deceased, saving to his wife and children their 
 reasonable shares. 
 
 27. If any free man dies intestate, his chattels shall be distributed 
 by the hands of his near relatives and friends, under the oversight of 
 the church, saving to each one the debts which the deceased owed to 
 him. 
 
THE GREAT CHARTER. II 
 
 28. No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take anyone's grain 
 or other chattels, without immediately paying for them in money, un- 
 less he is able to obtain a postponement at the good-will of the seller. 
 
 29. No constable shall require any knight to give money in 
 place of his ward of a castle if he is willing to furnish that ward in his 
 own person or through another honest man, if he himself is not able to 
 do it for a reasonable cause ; and if we shall lead or send him into the 
 army he shall be free from ward in proportion to the amount of time 
 by which he has been in the army through us. 
 
 30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours or any one else shall take horses 
 or wagons of any free man for carrying purposes except on the per- 
 mission of that free man. 
 
 31. Neither we nor our bailiffs will take the wood of another 
 man for castles, or for anything else which we are doing, except by the 
 permission of him to whom the wood belongs. 
 
 32. We will not hold the lands of those convicted of a felony for 
 more than a year and a day, after which the lands shall be returned to 
 the lords of the iiefs. 
 
 33. All the fish-weirs in the Thames and the Medway, and 
 throughout all England shall be done away with, except those on the 
 coast. 
 
 34. The writ which is called praecipe shall not be given for the 
 future to anyone concerning any tenement by which a free man can lose 
 his court. 
 
 35. There shall be one measure of wine throughout our whole 
 kingdom, and one measure of ale, and one measure of grain, that is the 
 London quarter, and one width of dyed cloth and of russets and of hal- 
 bergets, that is two ells within the selvages; of weights, moreover it 
 shall be as of measures. 
 
 36. Nothing shall henceforth be given or taken for a writ of in- 
 quisition concerning life or limbs, but it shall be given freely and not 
 denied. 
 
 37. If anyone holds from us by fee farm or by soccage or by bur- 
 gage, and from another he holds land by military service, we will not have 
 the guardianship of the heir or of his land which is of the fief of another, 
 on account of that fee farm, or soccage. or burgage ; nor will we have 
 the custody of that fee farm, or soccage, or burgage, unless that fee farm 
 itself owes military service. We will not have the guardianship of the 
 heir or of the land of anyone, which he holds from another by military 
 
12 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 service on account of any petty serjeanty which he holds from us by the 
 service of paying to us knives or arrows, or things of that kind. 
 
 38. No bailiff for the future shall place any one to his law on 
 his simple affirmation, without credible witnesses brought for this 
 purpose. 
 
 39. No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed, or 
 outlawed, or banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon 
 him, nor send upon him, except by the legal judgment of his peers or 
 by the law of the land. 
 
 40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny, or delay 
 right or justice. 
 
 41. All merchants shall be safe and secure in going out from 
 England and coming into England and in remaining and going through 
 England, as well by land as by water, for buying and selling, free from 
 all evil tolls, by the ancient and rightful customs, except in time of 
 war, and if they are of a land at war with us ; and if such are found in 
 our land at the beginning of war, they shall be attached without injury 
 to their bodies or goods, until it shall be known from us or from our 
 principal justiciar in what way the merchants of our land are treated 
 who shall be then found in the country which is at war with us ; and if 
 ours are safe there, the others shall be safe in our land. 
 
 42. It is allowed henceforth to anyone to go out from our king- 
 dom, and to return, safely and securely, by land and by water, saving 
 their fidelity to us, except in time of war for some short time, for the 
 common good of the kingdom ; excepting persons imprisoned and out- 
 lawed according to the law of the realm, and people of a land at war 
 with us, and merchants, of whom it shall be done as is before said. 
 
 43. If anyone holds from any escheat, as from the honor of Wal- 
 lingford, or Nottingham, or Boulogne, or Lancaster, or from other es- 
 cheats which are in our hands and are baronies, and he dies, his heir 
 shall not give any other relief, nor do to us any other service than he 
 would do to the baron, if that barony was in the hands of the baron ; 
 and we will hold it in the same way as the baron held it. 
 
 44. Men who dwell outside the forest shall not henceforth come 
 before our justiciars of the forest, on common summons, unless they are 
 in a plea of, or pledges for any person or persons who are arrested on 
 account of the forest. 
 
 45. We will not make justiciars, constables, sheriffs or bailiffs ex- 
 cept of such as know the law of the realm and are well inclined to ob- 
 serve it. 
 
THE GREAT CHARTER. 1 3 
 
 46. All barons who have founded abbeys for which they have 
 charters of kings of England, or ancient tenure, shall have their custody 
 when they have become vacant, as they ought to have. 
 
 47. All forests which have been afforested in our time shall be 
 disaflTorested immediately ; and so it shall be concerning river banks 
 which in our time have been fenced in. 
 
 48. All the bad customs concerning forests and warrens and con- 
 cerning foresters and warreners, sheriffs and their servants, river banks 
 and their guardians shall be inquired into immediately in each county 
 by twelve sworn knights of the same county, who shall be elected by the 
 honest men of the same county, and within forty days after the inquisi- 
 tion has been made, they shall be entirely destroyed by them, never to 
 be restored, provided that we be first informed of it, or our justiciar, if 
 we are not in England. 
 
 49. We will give back immediately all hostages and charters 
 which have been liberated to us by Englishmen as security for ])eace 
 or for faithful service. 
 
 50. We will remove absolutely from their bailiwicks the relatives 
 of Gerard de Athyes, so that for the future they shall have no bailiwick 
 in England ; Engelard de Cygony, Andrew, Peter and Gyon de Chan- 
 celles, Gyon de Cygony, Geoffrey de Martin and his brothers, Philip 
 Mark and his brothers, and Geoffrey his nephew and their whole retinue. 
 
 51. And immediately after the re-establishment of peace we will 
 remove from the kingdom all foreign-born soldiers, cross-bow men, ser- 
 vants, and mercenaries who have come with horses and arms for the in- 
 jury of the realm. 
 
 52. If anyone shall have been dispossessed or removed by us 
 without legal judgment of his peers, from his lands, castles, franchises, 
 or his right we will restore them to him immediately ; and if contention 
 arises about this, then it shall be done according to the judgment of the 
 twenty-five barons, of whom mention is made below concerning the se- 
 curity of the peace. Concerning all those things, however, from which 
 anyone has been removed or of which he has been deprived without le- 
 gal judgment of his peers by King Henry our father, or by King Rich- 
 ard our brother, which we have in our hand, or which others hold, and 
 which it is our duty to guarantee, we shall have respite till the usual 
 term of crusaders; excepting those things about which the suit has 
 been begun or the inquisition made by our writ before our assumption 
 of the cross ; when, however, we shall return from our journey or if by 
 
14 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 chance we desist from the journey, we will immediately show full jus- 
 tice in regard to them. 
 
 53. We shall, moreover, have the same respite and in the same 
 manner about showing justice in regard to the forests which are to be 
 disafforested or to remain forests, which Henry our father or Richard 
 our brother made into forests; and concerning the custody of lands 
 which are in the fief of another, custody of which we have until now 
 had on account of a fief which anyone has held from us by military 
 service ; and concerning the abbeys which have been founded in fiefs of 
 others than ourselves, in which the lord of the fee has asserted for him- 
 self a right; and when we return or if we should desist from our jour- 
 ney we will immediately show full justice to those complaining in regard 
 to them. 
 
 54. No one shall be seized nor imprisoned on the appeal of a 
 woman concerning the death of anyone except her husband. 
 
 5^. All fines which have been imposed unjustly and against the 
 law of the land, and all penalties imposed unjustly and against the law 
 of the land are altogether excused, or will be on the judgment of the 
 twenty-five barons of whom mention is made below in connection with 
 the security of the peace, or on the jundgment of the majority of them, 
 along with the aforesaid Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he is able 
 to be present, and others whom he may wish to call for this purpose 
 along with him. And if he should not be able to be present, neverthe- 
 less the business shall go on without him, provided that if any one or 
 more of the aforesaid twenty-five barons are in a similar suit they 
 should be removed as far as this particular judgment goes, and others 
 who shall be chosen and put upon oath, by the remainder of the twenty- 
 five shall be substituted for them for this purpose. 
 
 56. If we have dispossessed or removed any Welshmen from their 
 lands, or franchises, or other things, without legal judgment of their 
 peers, in England, or in Wales, they shall be immediately returned to 
 them ; and if a dispute shall have arisen over this, then it shall be set- 
 tled in the borderland by judgment of their peers, concerning holdings 
 of England according to the law of England, concerning holdings of 
 Wales according to the law of Wales, and concerning holdings of the 
 borderland according to the law of the borderland. The Welsh shall do 
 the same to us and ours. 
 
 57. Concerning all those things, however, from which any one of 
 the Welsh shall have been removed or dispossessed without legal judg- 
 
THE GREAT CHARTER. I5 
 
 ment of his peers, by King Henry our father, or King Richard our 
 brother, which we hold in our hands, or which others hold, and we are 
 bound to warrant to them, we shall have respite till the usual period of 
 crusaders, those being excepted about which suit was begun or inquisit- 
 ion made by our command before our assumption of the cross. When, 
 however, we shall return or if by chance we shall desist from our jour- 
 ney, we will show full justice to them immediately, according to the laws 
 of the Welsh and the aforesaid parts. 
 
 58. We will give back the son of Lewellyn immediately, and all 
 the hostages from Wales and the charters which had been liberated to 
 us as a security for peace. 
 
 59. We will act toward Alexander, king of the Scots, concerning 
 the return of his sisters and his hostages, and concerning his franchises 
 and his right, according to the manner in which we shall act toward 
 our other barons of England, unless it ought to be otherwise by the 
 charters which we hold from William his father, formerly king of the 
 Scots, and this shall be by the judgment of his peers in our court. 
 
 60. Moreover, all those customs and franchises mentioned above 
 which we have conceded in our kingdom, and which are to be fulfilled, 
 as far as pertains to us, in respect to our men ; all men of our kingdom 
 as well clergy as laymen, shall observe as far as pertains to them, in re- 
 spect to their men. 
 
 61. Since, moreover, for the sake of God, and for the improve- 
 ment of our kingdom, and for the better quieting of the hostility sprang 
 up lately between us and our barons, we have made all these conces- 
 sions ; wishing them to enjoy these in a complete and firm stability for- 
 ever, we make and concede to them the security described below ; that 
 is to say, that they shall elect twenty-five barons of the kingdom, whom 
 they will, who ought with all their power to observe, hold, and cause to 
 be observed, the peace and liberties which we have conceded to them, 
 and by this our present charter confirmed to them ; in this manner, 
 that if we or our justiciar, or our bailiffs, or any one of our servants 
 shall have done wrong in any way toward any one, or shall have trans- 
 gressed any of the articles of peace or security ; and the wrong shall 
 have been shown to four barons of the aforesaid twenty-five barons, let 
 those four barons come to us or to our justiciar, if we are out of the 
 kingdom, laying before us the transgression, and let them ask that we 
 cause that transgression to be corrected without delay. And if we shall 
 not have corrected the transgression or, if we shall be out of the king- 
 
1 6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 dom, if our justiciar shall not have corrected it within a period of forty 
 days, counting from the time in which it has been shown to us or to our 
 justiciar, if we are out of the kingdom; the aforesaid four barons shall 
 refer the matter to the remainder of the twenty-five barons, and let 
 these twenty-five barons with the whole community of the country dis- 
 tress and injure us in every way they can; that is to say by the seizure 
 of our castles, lands, possessions, and in such other ways as they can 
 until it shall have been corrected according to their judgment, saving 
 our person and that of our queen, and those of our children; and 
 when the correction has been made, let them devote themselves to us as 
 they did before. And let whoever in the country wishes take an oath 
 that in all the above-mentioned measures he will obey the orders of the 
 aforesaid twenty-five barons, and that he will injure us as far as he is 
 able with them, and we give permission to swear publicly and freely to 
 each one who wishes to swear, and no one will we ever forbid to swear. 
 All those, moreover, in the country who of themselves and their own 
 will are unwilling to take an oath to the twenty-five barons as to dis- 
 tressing and injuring us along with them, we will compel to take the 
 oath by our mandate, as before said. And if any one of the twenty-five 
 barons shall have died or departed from the land or shall in any other 
 way be prevented from taking the above-mentioned action, let the re- 
 mainder of the aforesaid twenty-five barons choose another in his place, 
 according to their judgment, who shall take an oath in the same way as 
 the others. In all those things, moreover, which are committed to those 
 five and twenty barons to carry out, if perhaps the twenty-five are pres- 
 ent, and some disagreement arises among them about something, or if 
 any of them when they have been summoned are not willing or 
 are not able to be present, let that be considered valid and firm which 
 the greater part of those who are present arrange or command, j ust as 
 if the whole twenty-five had agreed in this ; and let the aforesaid twenty- 
 five swear that they will observe faithfully all the things which are 
 said above, and with all their ability cause them to be observed. And 
 we will obtain nothing from anyone, either by ourselves or by another 
 by which any of these concessions and liberties shall be revoked or di- 
 minished ; and if any such thing shall have been obtained, let it be in- 
 valid and void, and we will never use it by ourselves or by another. 
 
 62. And all ill-will, grudges, and anger sprung up between us 
 and our men, clergy and laymen, from the time of the dispute, we have 
 fully renounced and pardoned to all. Moreover, all transgressions com- 
 
tX)NFIRMATION OF THE CHARTERS. 1 7 
 
 mitted on account of this dispute, from Easter in the sixteenth year of 
 our reign till the restoration of peace, we have fully remitted to all, 
 clergy and laymen, and as far as pertains to us, fully pardoned. And 
 moreover we have caused to be made for them testimonial letters-patent 
 of lord Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, lord Henry, archbishop of 
 Dublin, and of the aforesaid bishops and of master Pandulf, in respect 
 to that security and the concessions named above. 
 
 63. Wherefore we will and firmly command that the Church of 
 England shall be free, and that the men in our kingdom shall have 
 and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights and concessions, well and 
 peacefully, freely and quietly, fully and completely, for themselves and 
 their heirs, from us and our heirs, in all things and places, forever, as 
 before said. It has been sworn, moreover, as well on our part as on 
 the part of the barons, that all these things spoken of above shall be ob- 
 served in good faith and without any evil intent. Witness the above 
 named and many others. Given by our hand in the meadow which is 
 called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day 
 of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign. 
 
 8, CORONATION OATH OF HENRY III., A. D. I2l6. 
 Matthew Paris, Greater Chronicles. III. I, 2. Rolls Series. Latin. 
 
 Standing there before the high altar, the holy gospels and the rel- 
 ics of many saints having been placed near, Jocelyn [bishop] of Bath 
 dictating the oath, he swore before the clergy and people that he would 
 observe honor, peace, and reverence toward God and holy church and 
 its ministers, all the days of his life ; that concerning the people com- 
 mitted to him, he would preserve right justice; and that he would abol- 
 ish evil laws and unjust customs, if there were such in the realm, and 
 abide by the good ones, and make them to be observed by all good 
 men. 
 
 9. CONFIRMATION OF THE CHARTERS, BY EDWARD I., 1 297. 
 Statutes of the Realm, I, 123, 124. French. 
 
 1. Edward, by the grace of God king of England, lord of Ireland, 
 and duke of Aquitaine to all those that shall hear or see these present 
 letters, greeting : Know ye, that we to the honor of God and of holy 
 church, and to the profit of our realm, have granted for us and our 
 heirs that the Charter of Liberties and the Charter of the Forest, which 
 
1 8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 were made by common assent of all tbe realm, in the time of King 
 Henry our father, shall be kept in eve^-y point without breach. And 
 we will that the same charters shall be sent under our seal as well to 
 our justices of the forest as to others, and to all sheriffs of shires, and to 
 all other officers and to all our cities throughout the realm, together with 
 our writs, in which it shall be contained that they cause the aforesaid 
 charters to be published, and declare to the people that we have con- 
 firmed them in all points, and that our justices, sheriffs, mayors, and 
 other officials which under us have the laws of our land to guide, shall 
 allow the said charters pleaded before them in judgment in all their 
 points ; that is to wit, the Great Charter as the common law and the 
 Charter of the Forest according to the assize of the forest, for the weal of 
 our realm. 
 
 2. And we will that if any judgment be given from henceforth, 
 by the justices or by any other of our officials that hold pleas before 
 them, against the points of the charters aforesaid, it shall be undone and 
 holden for naught. 
 
 3. And we will that the same charters shall be sent under our 
 seal to cathedral churches throughout our realm, there to remain, and 
 shall be read before the people twice yearly. 
 
 4. And that all archbishops and bishops shall pronounce the sen- 
 tence of greater excommunication against all those that by word, deed, 
 or counsel, do contrary to the aforesaid charters, or that in any point 
 break or undo them. And that the said curses be twice a year de- 
 nounced and published by the prelates aforesaid. And if the same pre- 
 lates or any of them be remiss in the denunciation of the said sentences, 
 the archbishops of Canterbury and York for the time being, as is fitting, 
 shall compel and distrain them to make that denunciation in form 
 aforesaid. 
 
 5. iVnd for as much as divers people of our realm are in fear that 
 the aids and tasks which they have given to us beforetime towards our 
 wars and other business, of their own grant and good-will, howsoever 
 they were made, might turn to a bondage to them and their heirs, be. 
 cause they might be at another time found in the rolls, and so likewise 
 the prises taken throughout the realm by our ministers ; we have granted 
 for us and our heirs, that we shall not draw such aids, tasks, nor prises, 
 into a custom, for anything that hath been done heretofore or that may 
 be found by roll or in any other manner. 
 
 6. Moreover we have granted for us and our heirs, as well to 
 
CORONATION OATH OF EDWARD II. 1 9 
 
 archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, and other folk of holy church, as 
 also to earls, barons, aud to all the commonalty of the land, that for no 
 business from henceforth will we take such manner of aids, tasks, nor 
 prises, but by the common consent of the realm, and for the common 
 profit thereof, saving the ancient aids and prises due and accustomed. 
 
 7. And for as much as the more part of the commonalty of the 
 realm find themselves sore grieved with the maletote of wools, that is to 
 wit, a toll of forty shillings for every sack of wool, and have made pe- 
 tition to us to release the same ; we, at their requests, have clearly re- 
 leased it, and have granted for us and our heirs that we shall not take 
 such thing or any other without their common assent and good- will, saving 
 to us and our heirs the custom of wools, skins, and leather granted before by 
 the commonalty aforesaid. In witness of which things we have caused 
 these our letters to be made patent. Witness Edward, our son, at Lon- 
 don, the tenth day of October, the five and twentieth year of our reign. 
 
 And be it remembered that this same charter in the same terms, 
 word for word, was sealed in Flanders under the king's great seal, that 
 is to say at Ghent, the fifth day of November in the twenty-fifth year of 
 the reign of our aforesaid lord the king, and sent into England. 
 
 10. CORONATION OATH OF EDWARD II., A. D. I307. 
 Statutes of the Realm, I. 168. French. 
 
 \_Archbishop.'] Sire, will you grant and observe, and by your oath 
 confirm to the people of England the laws and customs granted to them 
 by the ancient kings of England, your predecessors, just and devoted to 
 God ; and especially the laws and customs and franchises granted to the 
 clergy and to the people by the glorious king, saint Edward, your pred- 
 ecessor? ^King.'] I grant them and promise them. \_Archbishop,'\ Sire, 
 will you keep toward God and holy church, and clergy and people en- 
 tire peace and concord in God, according to your power? IKing.'] I will 
 keep them. I Archbishop. ~\ Sire, will you cause to be made in all your 
 judgments equal and right justice and judgment, in mercy and truth, 
 according to your power? IKing.'] I will do it. \_Archbi8hop.'] Sire, 
 do you grant that the just laws and customs will be observed which 
 the commonalty of your realm have chosen, and do you promise to 
 protect and enforce them to the honor of God, according to your 
 power? lKi7ig.~\ I grant and promise it. 
 
20 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 11. JUDICIAL DOCUMENTS. 
 
 In England, during the Saxon period, the hundred and the shire moots 
 evidently exercised a quite varied jurisdiction, an activity which lasted at least to the 
 thirteenth century. Feudal or private jurisdiction grew up as an intrusion upon 
 these older courts and with the Norman conquest an ecclesiastical jurisdiction was 
 formally separated from them. But it was the judicial powers of the king and of his 
 judges that were destined to predominate over, and eventually to supersede all these 
 other courts. Moreover the centralized government of the Norman and Angevin kings 
 was made effective largely through the agency of royal officials whose principal 
 duties were of a judicial nature. The following documents are intended to illus- 
 trate the continuance of the earliest and the growth and development of the latest 
 of these forms of judicial organization. 
 
 I. PROVISIONS FOR THE HUNDRED AND SHIRE COURTS. 
 
 Thorpe : Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, I. pp. 258, and 268. 
 Anglo-Saxon ; and Stubbs' Select Charters, p. 81. Latin. 
 
 Edgar. This is the ordinance how the hundred shall be held. 
 
 1. That they meet always within four weeks: and that every 
 man do justice to another. 
 
 2. That a thief shall be pursued If there be imme- 
 diate need let it be made known to the hundred-man, and let him inform 
 the tithing-men ; and let all go forth to where God may direct them to 
 go: let them do justice on the thief, as it was formerly the enactment of 
 Edmund. And let the money value be paid to him who owns the 
 cattle, and the rest be divided into two ; half to the hundred, half to 
 the lord, excepting men ; and let the lord take possession of the men. 
 
 5. We have also ordained ; if the hundred pursue a track into 
 another hundred, that notice be given to the hundred-man, and that he 
 go with them. If he neglect this, let him pay thirty shillings to the king. 
 
 7. In the hundred, as in any other court, we ordain that folk- 
 right be pronounced in every suit, and that a term be fixed when it shall 
 be fulfilled. And he who shall break that term, unless it be by his 
 lord's decree, let him make compensation with thirty shillings, and on 
 the day fixed fulfil that which he ought to have done before 
 
 9. Let the iron that is for the three-fold ordeal weigh three 
 pounds ; and for the single, one pound. 
 
HUNDRED AND SHIRE MOOT8. 21 
 
 Edgar, II, 5, And let the hundred court be attended as it was be- 
 fore fixed ; and three times in the year let a borough court be held ; 
 and twice, a shire court, and let there be present the bishop of the shire 
 and the ealdorman, and there let both expound as well the law of God 
 as the secular law. 
 
 William I. 8. Let the hundred and the county be summoned as 
 our ancestors ordered. 
 
 2. A SHIRE-MOOT IN HEREFORDSHIRE, ABOUT A. D. IO36. 
 
 Thorpe, Diplomatarium Anglicum, p. 336. Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 Here is made known in this writing, that a shire-moot sat at Aegel- 
 noth's stone, in the day of King Cnut. There sat Aethelstan, bishop, 
 and Ranig, ealdorman, and Edwin, the ealdorman's son, and Leof- 
 wine, Wulfsige's son, and Thurkil White ; and Tofig Prud came there 
 on the king's errand ; and Bryning, shire-reeve, and Aegelweard of 
 Frome and Leofwine of Frome and Godric of Stoke, and all the thanes 
 in Herefordshire were there. Then came traveling there to the moot Ed- 
 win, Eanwen's son, and there raised a claim against his own mother to a 
 portion of land, namely at Wellington and Coadley. Then asked the 
 bishop, who would answer for his mother. Then answered Thurkil 
 White and said that he would if he knew the claim. Since he did not 
 know the claim, they deputed three thanes from the moot to where she 
 was, which was at Fawley. These were Leofwine of Frome, and 
 Aegelsig the Red, and Winsige Scaegthman And when they came to 
 her they asked what claim she had to the lands for which her son was 
 suing. Then said she that she had no land that in any way belonged 
 to him, and was bitterly angry with her son. Then she called to her 
 Leoflaed, her kinswoman, Thurkil's wife, aud spoke to her as follows, 
 before them all : " Here sits Leoflaed, my kinswoman, to whom I give 
 not only my land, but my gold, and garments, and robes, and all that I 
 own, after my day." And she then said to the thanes : "Do thane-like 
 and well ; announce my errand to the moot before all the good men, 
 and tell them to whom I have given my land and all my property ; 
 and to my own sou never anything, and bid them be witnesses of this." 
 And they then did so, rode to the moot, and declared to all the good 
 men what she had laid ujwn them. Then Thurkil White stood up in 
 the moot and prayed all the thanes to grant to his wife clean the lands 
 
22 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 which her kinswoman had given her, and they did so. And Thurkil 
 then rode to St. Aethelbert's monastery, with the leave and witness of 
 all the folk, and caused it to be set in a Christ's book. 
 
 3. WRIT OF WILLIAM II., FOR AN INQUISITION. 
 Palgrave's English Commonwealth, II, clxxix. Latin. 
 
 The king to William de Cahaunis greeting: I require you to 
 cause the shire of Hampton to meet, and on its judgment to decide 
 whether the land of Isham paid a rent to the monks of St. Benedict, in 
 the time of my father, and if this is found to have been so, let it be in 
 the control of the abbot ; thus if it is found to be demesne land, who- 
 ever holds it let him hold it from the abbot, and acknowledge him. 
 And if he is not willing, let the abbot have it in his control, and see 
 that no further complaint comes to me about it. Witness William, 
 bishop of Durham. 
 
 4. WRIT OF WILLIAM, SON OF HENRY I., FOR A RECOGNITION. 
 Palgrave's English Commonwealth, II, clxxix. Latin. 
 William, son of the king, to William, sheriff of Kent, greeting : 
 I command you to require Hamo, son of Vitalis, and the honest men of 
 the neighborhood of Sandwich, whom Hamo will nominate, to give a 
 verdict [ut dicant veritatein] concerning the ship of the abbot of St. Au- 
 gustine. And if that ship came by sea on the day when the king re- 
 cently crossed the sea then I command that it should now go free, until 
 the king comes into England, and in the meantime that it should be 
 given back to the aforesaid abbot. Witness the bishop of Salisbury and 
 the chancellor, at Woodstock. 
 
 5. THE ASSIZE OF CLARENDON, IT 66. 
 Stubbs' Select Charters, 137-139. Latin. 
 
 Here begins the Assize of Clarendon, made by King Henry II. 
 with the assent of the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls and barons of 
 all England. 
 
 § 1. In the first place, the aforesaid King Henry, with the con- 
 sent of all his barons, for the preservation of the peace and the keeping 
 of justice, has enacted that inquiry should be made through the several 
 counties and through the several hundreds, by twelve of the most legal 
 men of the hundred and by four of the most legal men of each manor, 
 
ASSIZE OF CLARENDON. 23 
 
 upon their oath that they will tell the truth, whether there is in their 
 hundred or in their manor, any man who has been accused or publicly 
 suspected of himself being a robber, or murderer, or thief, or of being a 
 receiver of robbers, or murderers, or thieves, since the lord king has 
 been king. And let the justices make this inquiry before themselves, 
 and the sheriffs before themselves. 
 
 § 2. And let anyone who has been found by the oath of the 
 aforesaid, to have been accused or publicly suspected of having been a 
 robber, or murderer, or thief, or a receiver of them, since the lord king 
 has been king, be arrested and go to the ordeal of water and let him 
 swear that he has not been a robber, or murderer, or thief, or receiver 
 of them since the lord king has been king, to the value of five shilling's, 
 so far as he knows. 
 
 § 3. And if the lord of the man who has been arrested or his 
 steward or his men shall have claimed him, with a pledge, within the 
 third day after he has been seized, let him be given up and his chattels 
 until he himself makes his law. 
 
 § 4. And when a robber, or murderer, or thief, or receiver of 
 them shall have been seized through the above-mentioned oath, if the 
 justices are not to come very soon into that county where they have 
 been arrested, let the sheriffs send word to the nearest justice by some 
 intelligent man that they have arrested such men, and the justices will 
 send back word to the sheriffs where they wish that these should be 
 brought before them; and the sheriffs shall bring them before the 
 justices; and along with these they shall bring from the hundred and 
 the manor where they have been arrested, two legal men to carry the 
 record of the county and of the hundred as to why they were seized, 
 and there before the justice let them make their law. 
 
 § 5. And in the case of those who have been arrested through 
 the aforesaid oath of this assize, no one shall have court, or judgment, or 
 chattels, except the lord king in his court before his justices, and the 
 lord king shall have all their chattels. In the case of those, however, 
 who have been arrested, otherwise than through this oath, let it be as it 
 has been accustomed and ought to be. 
 
 § 6. And the shenffs who have arrested them shall bring such 
 before the justice without any other summons than they have from him. 
 And when robbers, or murderers, or thieves, or receiver of them, who 
 have been arrested through the oath or otherwise, are handed over to 
 the sheriffs they also must receive them immediately without delay. 
 
24 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 § 7. And in the several counties where there are no jails, let such 
 be made in a borough or in some castle of the king, from the money of 
 the king and from his forest, if one shall be near, or from some other 
 neighboring forest, on the view of the servants of the king ; in order 
 that in them the sheriffs may be able to detain those who have been 
 seized by the officials who are accustomed to do this or by their servants. 
 
 § 8. And the lord king moreover wills that all should come to 
 the county courts to make this oath, so that no one shall remain behind 
 because of any franchise which he has or court or jurisdiction which he 
 had, but that they should come to the making of this oath. 
 
 § 9. And there is to be no one within a castle or without a castle 
 or even in the honor of Wallingford, who may forbid the sheriffs to en- 
 ter into his court or his land for seeing to the frankpledges and that all 
 are under pledges ; and let them be sent before the sheriffs under a free 
 pledge. 
 
 § 10. And in cities and boroughs, let no one have men or receive 
 them in his house or in his land or his soc, whom he does not take in 
 hand that he will produce before the justice if they shall be required, 
 or else let them be under a frankpledge. 
 
 § 11. And let there be none in a city or borough or in a castle or 
 without, or even in the honor of Wallingford, who shall forbid the sher- 
 iffs to enter into his land or his jurisdiction to arrest those who have 
 been charged or publicly suspected of being robbers or murderers or 
 thieves or receivers of them, or outlaws, or persons charged concerning 
 the forest ; but he requires that they should aid them to capture these. 
 
 § 12. And if any one is captured who has in his possession the 
 fruits of robbery or theft, if he is of bad reputation and has an evil testi- 
 mony from the public, and has not a warrant, let him not have law. 
 And if he shall not have been accused on account of the possession 
 which he has, let him go to the water. 
 
 § 13. And if any one shall have acknowledged robbery or mur- 
 der or theft or the reception of them in the presence of legal men or of 
 the hundreds, and afterwards shall wish to deny it, he shall not have 
 law. 
 
 § 14. The lord king wills moreover that those who make their law 
 and shall be absolved by the law, if they are of very bad testimony, and 
 publicly and disgracefully spoken ill of by the testimony of many and 
 legal men, shall abjure the lands of the king, so that within eight days 
 they shall go over the sea, unless the wind shall have detained them ; 
 
ASSIZE OF CLARENDON. 2$ 
 
 and with the first wind which they shall have afterward they shall go 
 over the sea, and they shall not afterward return into England, except 
 on the permission of the lord king ; and then let them be outlawed if 
 they return, and if they return they shall be seized as outlaws. 
 
 § 15. And the lord king forbids any vagabond, that is a wandering 
 or an unknown man, to be sheltered anywhere -except in a borough, and 
 even there he shall be sheltered only one night, unless he shall be sick 
 there, or his horse, so that he is able to show an evident excuse. 
 
 § 16. And if he shall have been there more than one night, let 
 him be arrested and held until his lord shall come to give securities for 
 him, or until he himself shall have secured pledges ; and let him like- 
 wise be arrested who has sheltered him. 
 
 § 17. And if any sheriff shall have sent word to any other sheriff 
 that men have fled from his county into another county, on account of 
 robbery or murder or theft, or the reception of them, or for outlawry or 
 for a charge concerning the forest of the king, let him arrest them. 
 And even if he knows of himself or through others that such men have 
 fled into his county, let him arrest them and hold them until he shall 
 have secured pledges from them. 
 
 § 18. And let all sheriffs cause a list to be made of all fugitives 
 who have fled from their counties ; and let them do this in the presence 
 of their county courts, and they will carry the written names of these 
 before the justices when they come first before these, so that they may 
 be sought through all England, and their chattels may be seized for the 
 use of the king. 
 
 § 19. And the lord king wills that, from the time when the sher- 
 iffs have received the summons of the justices in eyre to appear before 
 them with their county courts, they shall gather together their county 
 courts and make inquiry for all who have recently come into their 
 counties since this assize ; and that they should send them away with 
 pledges that they will be before the justices, or else keep them in custody 
 until the justices come to them, and then they shall have them before 
 the justices. 
 
 § 20. The lord king moreover prohibits monks and canons and 
 all religious houses from receiving any one of the lesser people as a 
 monk or canon or brother, until it is known of what reputation he is, 
 unless he shall be sick unto death. 
 
 § 21. The lord king moreover forbids any one in all England to 
 receive in his land or his jurisdiction or in a house under him any one 
 
26 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 of the sect of those renegades who have been excommunicated and 
 branded at Oxford. And if anyone shall have received them, he will 
 be at the mercy of the lord king, and the house in which they have 
 been shall be carried outside the village and burned. And each sheriff 
 will take this oath that he will hold this, and will make all his ser- 
 vants swear this, and the stewards of the barons, and all knights and 
 free tenants of the counties. 
 
 § 22. And the lord king wills that this assize shall be held in 
 his kingdom so long as it shall please him. 
 
 6. THE CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON, A. D. II 64. 
 Stubbs' Select Charters, 131-134. Latin. 
 
 In the year of the incarnation of the Lord, 1164, of the papacy of 
 Alexander, the fourth year, of the most illustrious king of the English, 
 Henry II., the tenth year, in the presence of the same king, has been 
 made this memorial or acknowledgment of a certain part of the customs 
 and franchises and dignities of his predecessors, that is to say of King 
 Henry, his grandfather, and of other kings, which ought to be observed 
 and held in the kingdom. And on account of the discussions and dis- 
 putes which have arisen between the clergy and the justices of our lord 
 the king and the barons of the kingdom concerning the customs and 
 dignities, this acknowledgment is made in the presence of the archbishops 
 and bishops and clergy and earls and barons and principal men of the 
 kingdom. And these customs, acknowledged by the archbishops and 
 bishops and earls and barons, and by the most noble and ancient of the 
 kingdom, Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, and Roger, archbishop of 
 York, and Gilbert, bishop of London, and Henry, bishop of Winchester, 
 and Nigel, bishop of Ely, and William, bishop of Norwich, and Robert, 
 bishop of Lincoln, and Hilary, bishop of Chichester, and Jocelyn, bishop 
 of Salisbury, and Richard, bishop of Chester, and Bartholomew, bishop 
 of Exeter, and Robert, bishop of Hereford, and David, bishop of Man, 
 and Roger, bishoi>elect of Worcester have conceded, and in the word of 
 truth by their living voice have firmly promised to the lord king and 
 to his heirs should be held and observed, in good faith and without any 
 evil intention ; the following being present : Robert, earl of Leicester, 
 Reginald, earl of Cornwall, Conan, count of Brittany, John, count of 
 Eu, Roger, earl of Clare, earl Geoffrey de Mandeville, Hugh, earl of 
 Chester, William, earl of Arundel, Earl Patrick, William, earl 
 Ferrers, Richard de Lacy, Reginald de St. Valery, Roger Bigod, Reg- 
 
CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON. 27 
 
 inald de Warenne, Richer de iVquila, William de Braose^ Richard de 
 Camville, Nigel de Mowbray, Simon de Warfield, Humphrey de 
 Bohuu, Matthew de Hereford, Walter de Medway, Manasses Bisett, 
 steward, William Malet, William de Courcy, Robert de Dunstauville, 
 Jocelyn de Balliol, William de Lanvale, William de Cheyney, Geoffrey 
 de Vere, William de Hastings, Hugh de Moreville, Alan de Neville, 
 Simon Fitz-Peter, William Malduit, chamberlain, John Malduit, eTohn 
 Marshall, Peter de Mare, and many others of the principal men and 
 nobles of the kingdom, as well clergy as laity. 
 
 Of these acknowledged customs and dignities of the realm, a cer- 
 tain part is contained in the present writing. Of this part the heads 
 are as follows : 
 
 § 1. If any controversy has arisen concerning the advowson and 
 presentation of churches between laymen, or between laymen and eccle- 
 siastics, or between ecclesiastics, it is to be considered or settled in the 
 court of the lord king. 
 
 § 2. Churches of the fee of the lord king cannot be given perpet- 
 ually without his assent and grant. 
 
 § 3. Clergymen charged and accused of anything, when they 
 have been summoned by a justice of the king shall come into his court, 
 to respond there to that which it shall seem good to the court of the 
 king for them to respond to, and in the ecclesiastical court to what it 
 shall seem good should be responded to there; so that the justice of the 
 king shall send into the court of holy church to see how the matter shall 
 be treated there. And if a clergyman shall have been convicted or 
 has confessed, the church ought not to protect him otherwise. 
 
 § 4. It is not lawful for archbishops, bishops, and persons of the 
 realm to go out of the realm without the permission of the lord king. 
 And if they go out, if it please the lord king, they shall give security 
 that neither in going nor in making a stay nor in returning will they 
 seek evil or loss to the king or the kingdom. 
 
 § 5. Excommunicated persons ought not to give permanent se- 
 curity nor offer an oath, but only security and a pledge to stand to the 
 judgment of the church, in order that they may be absolved. 
 
 § 6. Laymen ought not to be accused except by definite and le- 
 gal accusers and witnesses, in the presence of the bishop, so that the 
 archdeacon shall not lose his right, nor anything which he ought to have 
 from it. And if there are such persons as are blamed, but no one 
 wishes or no one dares to accuse them, let the sheriff when required by 
 
28 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 the bishop cause twelve legal men of the neighborhood or of the town, 
 ship to take an oath in the presence of the bishop that they will show 
 the truth about it according to their conscience. 
 
 § 7. No one who holds from the king in chief, nor any one of the 
 officers of his demesnes shall be excommunicated, nor the lands of any 
 one of them placed under an interdict, unless the lord king, if he is in 
 the land, first agrees, or his justice, if he is out of the realm, in order 
 that he may do right concerning him ; and so that what shall pertain to 
 the king's court shall be settled there, and for that which has respect to 
 the ecclesiastical court, that it may be sent to the same to be considered 
 there. 
 
 § 8. Concerning appeals, if they should occur, they ought to pro- 
 ceed from the archdeacon to the bishop, from the bishop to the arch, 
 bishop. And if the archbishop should fail to show justice, it must come 
 to the lord king last, in order that by his command the controversy 
 should be finally terminated in the court of the archbishop, so that it 
 ought not to proceed further without the assent of the lord king. 
 
 § 9. If a contest has arisen between a clergyman and a layman 
 or between a layman and a clergyman, concerning any tenement which 
 the clergymen wishes to bring into charitable tenure, but the layman 
 into a lay fief, it shall be settled by the deliberation of a principal jus- 
 tice of the king, on the recognition of twelve legal men, whether the 
 tenement pertains to charity or to a lay fief, in the presence of that jus- 
 tice of the king. And if the recognition shall decide that it belongs to 
 charity, the suit will be in the ecclesiastical court, but if to a lay fief, 
 unless both are answerable to the same bishop or baron, the suit will be 
 in the king's court. But if both shall be answerable concerning that 
 fief before the same bishop or baron, the suit will be in his court, pro- 
 vided that the one who was formerly in possession shall not lose his pos- 
 session on account of the recognition which has been made until it has 
 been decided upon through the suit. 
 
 § 10. If any one who is of a city or a castle or a borough or a 
 demesne manor of the lord king has been summoned by the archdeacon 
 or the bishop for any offence for which he ought to respond to them, 
 and is unwilling to make answer to their summons, it is fully lawful to 
 place him under an interdict, but he ought not to be excommunicated 
 before the principal officer of the lord king for that place agrees, in 
 order that he may adjudge him to come to the answer. And if the of- 
 ficer of the king is negligent in this, he himself will be at the mercy of 
 
CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON. 29 
 
 the lord king, and afterward the bishop shall be able to coerce the ac- 
 cused man by ecclesiastical justice. 
 
 § 11. Archbishops, bishops, and all persons of the realm, who 
 hold from the king in chief, have their possessions from the lord king as a 
 barony, and are responsible for them to the justices and officers of the 
 king, and follow and perform all royal rules and customs; and just as 
 the rest of the barons ought to be present at the judgment of the court 
 of the lord king along with the barons, at least till the j udgment reaches 
 to loss of limbs or to death. 
 
 § 12. When an archbishopric or bishopric or abbacy or priorate 
 of the demesne of the king has become vacant, it ought to be in his hands 
 and he shall take thence all its rights and products just as demesnes. 
 And when it has come to providing for the church, the lord king ought 
 to summon the more powerful persons of the church, and the election 
 ought to be made in the chapel of the lord king himself, with the assent 
 of the lord king and with the agreement of the persons of the realm 
 whom he has called to do this. And there the person elected shall do 
 homage and fealty to the lord king as to his liege lord, concerning his 
 life and his limbs and his earthly honor, saving his order, before he 
 shall be consecrated. 
 
 § 13. If any one of the great men of the kingdom has prevented 
 archbishop, bishop or archdeacon from exercising justice upon himself 
 or his, the lord king ought to bring him to justice. And if by chance 
 anyone has deprived the lord king of his right, the archbishops and 
 bishops and archdeacons ought to bring him to justice in order that he 
 may give satisfaction to the lord king. 
 
 § 14. The chattels of those who are in forfeiture to the king no 
 church or church-yard must detain against the justice of the king, be- 
 cause they are the king's whether they have been found within the 
 churches or without. 
 
 § 15. Suits concerning debts which are owed through the me- 
 dium of a bond or without the medium of a bond should be in the ju- 
 risdiction of the king. 
 
 § 16. Sons of rustics ought not to be ordained without the assent 
 of the lord upon whose land they are known to have been born. 
 
 The acknowledgment of the aforesaid royal customs and dignities 
 has been made by the aforesaid archbishops, and bishops, and earls, and 
 barons, and the more noble and ancient of the realm, at Clarendon, on 
 the fourth day before the Purification of the Blessed Mary, perpetual 
 
30 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 Virgin, Lord Henry being there present with his father, the lord king. 
 There are, however, many other and great customs and dignities of 
 holy mother church and of the lord king, and of the barons of the 
 realm, which are not contained in this writing. These are preserved to 
 holy church and to the lord king and to his heirs and to the barons of 
 the realm, and shall be observed inviolably forever. 
 
 7. TYPICAL CRIMINAL CASES IN THE KING's COURTS, I2OI-I214. 
 Selden Society Publications : Maitland ; Select Pleas of the Crown, pp. i, 14, 
 18, 27, 29, 75. Latin. 
 
 Denise. who was wife of Anthony, summons Nicholas Kam for the 
 death of Anthony, her husband, as having wickedly killed her hus- 
 band; and this she offers to prove against him under award of the court. 
 And Nicholas denies it all. It is adjudged that Denise has no right of 
 summons, because she does not claim in her accusation that she saw it 
 The jurors being asked say that they suspect him of it, and the whole 
 county likewise suspects him. Let Nicholas purge himself by water, 
 according to the assize. He has found sureties. 
 
 Hugh of Ruperes summons John of Ashby because he in the 
 king's peace and wickedly came into his meadows and pastured his cat- 
 tle on them, and this he offers, etc. And John comes and denies it all. 
 And since it has been testified by the sheriff and by the guardians of 
 the pleas of the crown, that he had previously summoned John for the 
 pasturing of his meadows and for the beating of his men, and now is not 
 willing to pursue his accusation concerning the men, but only concern- 
 ing the meadows, and moreover an accusation of the pasturing of meadows 
 does not pertain to the king's crow^n, it is judged that the accusation is 
 of no effect, and therefore let Hugh be in mercy and John be declared 
 quit. Hugh is in custody because he cannot find securities. 
 
 Here ward, the son of William, accuses Walter, the son of Hugh, 
 of assaulting him, in the king's peace, and wounding him in the arm 
 with a certain iron fork, and giving him another wound on the head ; 
 and this he offers to prove on his body, as the court shall approve. 
 And Walter denies it all, on his body. And it is testified by the cor- 
 oners and by the whole county that the same Hereward showed his 
 wounds at the proper time, and has made sufficient suit. And it is 
 therefore adjudged that a battle should be made. The securities of 
 Walter are Peter of Gosberton church and Richard, the son of Here- 
 ward; the securities of Hereward are William, his father, and the 
 
TYPICAL CASES IN THE KINGS COURTS. 3 1 
 
 Prior of Pinchl^eck. Let them come armed, a fortnight from St. 
 Swithin's day, at Leicester. 
 
 Lambert, the miller, complains that Clarice, wife of Lawrence, the 
 son of Walter, sold him beer by a false gallon, and produces testimony 
 which report that they were present when she thus sold by that gallon, 
 that is to say, three gallons for a penny. Clarice comes and denies that 
 she sold by a false gallon, or that she sold by that gallon which he said 
 was hers as being a whole gallon, but as being a half-gallon. Let her 
 defend herself with twelve hands on the coming of the justices. She 
 has given securities. Security for her law, William, son of Ascelin ; 
 securities of Lambert to prosecute, William Sanguinel, Richard, son of 
 Geoffrey, Dennis, son of Lambert, and Walter the miller. 
 
 A certain Lemis is suspected by the jurors of being present when 
 Reinild of Hemchurch was slain, and of having given aid and consent 
 to her death. And she denies it. Therefore let her purge herself by 
 the ordeal of iron ; but as she is ill, let it be postponed until she recovers. 
 
 Walter Trenchebof was asserted to have handed to Inger of Fald- 
 ingthorpe the knife with which he killed Guy Foliot, and is suspected 
 ot it. Let him purge himself by water that he did not consent to it. 
 He has failed and is hanged. 
 
 Simon, the son of Robert, who was captured in company with 
 thieves and was held in prison because he was under age must likewise 
 purge himself by water. He has purged himself and abjured the realm. 
 
 8. TYPICAL RECOGNITIONS ON THE ASSIZES, IN THE KING's 
 COURTS, 1 200-1203. 
 Selden Society Publications, Bailden ; Select Civil Pleas, pp. 25, 51, 63, 61. Latin. 
 John of Kilj)eck demands against the abbot of Hagman the cus- 
 toms and right services, that is, the fifth part of one knight, which he 
 owes him for the free tenement which he holds from him in Beobridge. 
 And the abbot comes and says that he does not owe that service, nor 
 does it appertain to that tenement ; and in this matter he puts himself 
 upon the great assize of our lord the king, and asks that a recognition 
 may be made thereof. Let it be made. Let John have a writ to sum- 
 mon four knights to elect twelve to make a recognition thereof on the 
 coming of the justices. 
 
 The assize of novel disseisin between William Torell, plaintiff, 
 
32 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINIU 
 
 and the abbot of Stratford concerniDg a certain dike thrown down in 
 Little Thurrock to the damage of the free tenement of William Torell 
 in the same town is postponed till the week after St. Hilary's day, be- 
 cause of the recognitors ; of whom some excused themselves, and some 
 came, etc., and Hugh of Boyton and five others made default. And 
 the abbot comes and says that a certain law was made in the time of 
 King Henry the father, concerning the marshes, and he prays that it 
 may be observed. Therefore the sheriff is commanded to provide such 
 recognitors as know the law of the marsh, and who know the truth, to 
 say whether the throwing down of that dike is to William's damage, or 
 not. 
 
 The assize of mort d' ancestor between Alice, daughter of Duke, by 
 William, her attorney, and Alan, brother of Alan, and John, son of 
 Alan, regarding half a messuage with appurtenances in the town of St. 
 Botolph is postponed till the fortnight after Trinity, because some of 
 the recognitors excused themselves, and some came ; and the same day 
 is given to them. Master Roger Grernun, Robert, son of Mussa, Wil- 
 liam Res, and Hamo, son of Hereward, are attached; and let the sheriff 
 appoint six lawful men of the town of St. Botolph who are discreet and 
 who know the truth of the matter and none of whom is related to the 
 aforesaid parties, to be there at the same time. 
 
 The assize of darrein presentement to the church of Weston, be- 
 tween William de Colville, petitioner, and the prior of Lewes, concern- 
 ing the church of Weston, [is postponed] sine die, because William de 
 Colville did not keep the appointed day, and the writ did not mention 
 his wife, who had the inheritance. Wherefore William is in mercy, 
 and also his pledges Roger of the Wood and John Langvillun. 
 
 Sarah Delaware complains that Geoffrey de. Tichesie exacted from 
 her more service than it had been recognized in the king's court was due to 
 him. And Geoffrey comes and declares that there was never any plea 
 between them in the king's court touching the services ; and it was tes- 
 tified by the record of the justices that the plea was in the county court. 
 Let it be again in the county court. 
 
WRITS OF SUMMONS TO PARLIAMENT. 33 
 
 III. WRITS OF SUMMONS TO PARLIAMENT. 
 
 From the earliest period of the Norman rule, the greater tenants-in-chief were 
 summoned, from time to time, by formal writs, to perform their due military ser- 
 vice to the king or to give him their counsel in matters of government. The per- 
 formance of this latter function gave rise to the more or less regular meeting of 
 Parliament, to which the barons and prelates were still summoned by special writs. 
 "When a larger representation of the nation was desired by the king, during the 
 thirteenth century, writs were sent to the sheriffs ordering them to send up to the 
 Parliament representatives of the county and town communities. The following 
 writs represent respectively a summons to the great nobles before the admission of 
 the commons, and to each of the three estates for the "model parliament " of 1295. 
 
 I. A WRIT OF SUMMONS OF THE LORDS, SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL, 
 TO A PARLIAMENT, 26 HENRY IIL (1242.) 
 Lx)rds' Report on the Dignity of a Peer, ii, 7. Latin. 
 
 The King to the venerable father in Christ W. archbishop of York, 
 greeting. We command and require you, as you love us and our honor, 
 and your own equally, and in the faith by which you are held to us, 
 that lapng aside all other business, you be with us at London, fifteen 
 days after St. Hilary's day, to discuss with us, along with the rest of 
 our magnates whom we have similarly caused to be convoked, our ar- 
 duous affairs and those things which more specially touch our state and 
 that of our whole kingdom ; and that you in no way fail to perform this. 
 Witness the king at Windsor, Dec. 14th. 
 
 In the same way it is written to all the bishops, abbots, earls, and 
 barons. 
 
 2. SUMMONS OF A BISHOP TO PARLIAMENT, 1 295. 
 Lords' Report on the Dignity of a Peer, ii, 67. Latin. 
 
 The King to the venerable father in Christ Robert, by the same 
 grace archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England, greeting. As 
 a most just law, established by the careful providence of sacred princes, 
 exhorts and decrees that what affects all, by all should be approved, so 
 also, very evidently should common danger be met by means provided 
 in common. You know sufficiently well, and it is now, as we believe, 
 divulged through all regions of the world, how the king of France frau- 
 dulently and craftily deprives us of our land of Gascony, by withholding 
 it unjustly from us. Now, however, not satisfied with the before-men- 
 tioned fraud and injustice, having gathered together for the conquest of 
 
34 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 our kingdom a very great fleet, and an abounding multitude of war- 
 riors, with which he has made a hostile attack on our kingdom and the 
 inhabitants of the same kingdom, he now proposes to destroy the Eng- 
 lish language altogether from the earth, if his power should correspond 
 to the detestable proposition of the contemplated injustice, which God 
 forbid. Because, therefore, darts seen beforehand do less injury, and 
 your interest especially, as that of the rest of the citizens of the same 
 realm, is concerned in this affair, we command you, strictly enjoining 
 you in the fidelity and love in which you are bound to us, that on the 
 Lord's day next after the feast of St. Martin, in the approaching winter, 
 you be present in person at Westminster ; citing beforehand the dean 
 and chapter of your church, the archdeacons and all the clergy of your 
 diocese, causing the same dean and archdeacons in their own persons, 
 and the said chapter by one suitable proctor, and the said clergy by 
 two, to be present along with you, having full and sufficient power from 
 the same chapter and clergy, to consider, ordain and provide, along with 
 us and with the rest of the prelates and principal men and other inhab- 
 itants of our kingdom, how the dangers and threatened evils of this 
 kind are to be met. Witness the king at Wangham, the thirtieth day 
 of September. 
 
 Identical summons were sent out to the two archbishops and eighteen 
 bishops, and, with the omission of the last paragraph, to seventy abbots. 
 
 3. SUMMONS OP' A BARON TO PARLIAMENT, 1 295. 
 Lords' Report on the Dignity of a Peer, ii, 68. 
 
 The Idng to his beloved and faithful relative, Edmund, Earl of 
 Cornwall, greeting. Because we wish to have a consultation and meet- 
 ing with you and v/ith the rest of the principal men of our kingdom, 
 as to provision for remedies against the dangers which in these days are 
 threatening our whole kingdom ; we command you, strictly enjoining 
 you in the fidelity and love in which 3''ou are bound to us, that on the 
 Lord's day next after the feast of St. Martin, in the approaching win- 
 ter, you be present in person at Westminster, for considering, ordaining 
 and doing along with us and with the prelates, and the rest of the prin- 
 cipal men and other inhabitants of our kingdom, as may be necessary 
 for meeting dangers of this kind. 
 
 Witness the king at Canterbury, the first of October. 
 
 Similar summons ivere sent to seven earls and forty-one barons. 
 
PARLIAMENTARY WRITS. 35 
 
 4. SUMMONS OF REPRESENTATIVES OF SHIRES AND TOWNS TO 
 
 PARLIAMENT, 1 295. 
 
 Lords* Report on the Dignity of a Peer, ii, 66. 
 
 The king to the sheriff of Northamptonshire. Since we intend to 
 have a consultation and meeting with the earls, barons and other prin- 
 cipal men of our kingdom with regard to providing remedies against the 
 dangers which are in these days threatening the same kingdom ; and on 
 that account have commanded them to be with us on the Lord's day 
 next after the feast of St. Martin in the approaching winter, at West- 
 minster, to consider, ordain, and do as may be necessary for the avoid- 
 ance of these dangers ; we strictly require you to to cause two knights 
 from the aforesaid county, two citizens from each city in the same coun- 
 ty, and two burgesses from each borough, of those who are especially 
 discreet and capable of laboring, to be elected without delay, and to 
 cause them to come to us at the aforesaid time and place. 
 
 Moreover, the said knights are to have full and sufficient power for 
 themselves and for the community of the aforesaid county, and the said 
 citizens and burgesses for themselves and the communities of the aforesaid 
 cities and boroughs separately, then and there for doing what shall then 
 be ordained according to the common counsel in the premises ; so that 
 the aforesaid business shall not remain unfinished in any way for defect 
 of this power. And you shall have there the names of the knights, cit- 
 izens and burgesses and this writ. 
 
 Witness the king at Canterbury on the third day of October. 
 
 Identical summons were sent to the sheriffs of each county. 
 
36 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Stubbs, William : Constitutional History of England. 3 vols. Clarendon Press. 
 Fifth Edition just completed. 
 This book covers the whole period of English Constitutional History to the 
 close of the Middle Ages. It remains above all comparison the most learned, most 
 detailed, and most moderate work on the subject. But these very quahties make it 
 rather a work for reference than for continuous study or reading. 
 
 Taswell-Langmead, Thomas Pitt : English Constitutional History, i vol., 
 875 pp. Boston ; Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Fourth Edition, 1890. 
 This is the best single volume work covering the whole period of English Con- 
 stitutional History. That portion which precedes the Norman Conquest is how- 
 ever distinctly inferior to the remaining part of the work, being inadequate in 
 amount and largely incorrect in substance. It is unfortunately quite expensive, 
 the price being $5.50 
 
 Medley, D. J.: A Student's Manual of English Constitutioral History. 
 
 1 vol., 583 pp. Oxford and London, 1894. 
 
 This is a most excellent work, including the most recent investigations and 
 conclusions in the field of English Constitu tonal History in its widest extension. 
 Its arrangement, however, being by subjects, not chronologically, makes it rather 
 a study of the elements of the constitution from an historical standpoint, than a 
 history of constitutional development in any proper sense, and makes it unsuited 
 for use as a text-book on the subject. 
 
 Pollock and Maitland : History of English Law before the Time of Edward I. 
 
 2 vols. Cambridge, England, 1895. 
 
 Although this work professes to exclude all matters of a purely constitutional 
 nature, it necessarily includes much of the organization of jurisdiction, of the dis- 
 tinction of political classes in the community, and of other matters on the borderland 
 between the government and law, and with Prof. Maitlan<i's Domesday and Be- 
 yond is of the utmost interest and value on all those subjects of which it does treat. 
 
 Stubbs, William : Select Charters and other Illustrations of English Consti- 
 tutional History. 
 This is an extremely full collection of documents of constitutional significance, 
 (untranslated), from the earliest times to the close of the reign of Edward I. 
 
 Prothero, G. W. : Select Statutes and other Constitutional Documents Il- 
 lustrative of the Reigns of Elizabeth and James i. i vol. Oxford, 1894. 
 There is no collection of constitutional documents of the period between the 
 accession of Edw^ard II. and that of Elizabeth, excepting as they are to be found 
 in Rymer's Foedera, the Statutes of the Realm ^ and such general bodies of re- 
 cords. But from 1558 to 1660 an almost continuous series of such documents is 
 published in this work and that which follows, viz : 
 
 Gardiner, S. R. : The Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution, 
 1628-1660. I vol. Oxford, 1889. 
 
Translations and Reprints 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. 
 
 Vol. II. Engi,ish Towns and Gii,ds. No. i. 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PA OB 
 
 I. EARI.Y Bodies of Customs of Cities and Boroughs. 
 
 Chester, ....... 2 
 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne, ..... 5 
 
 II. Charters of Cities and Boroughs. 
 
 Lincoln, ...... 7 
 
 Wallingford, ...... 8 
 
 Southampton, ...... 9 
 
 Chester, . . . . . . . 9 
 
 Beverly, ...... 10 
 
 III. Ordinances and other Records of Gii^ds Merchant. 
 
 Southampton, . . . . . . 12 
 
 Lynn Regis, ..... • I7 
 
 IV. Ordinances and other Records of Craft Gii,ds. 
 
 Weavers' Gilds of Oxford, Lincoln, and London, . 21 
 
 Spurriers' Gild of London, ... 21 
 
 White-tawyers' Gild of London, ... 23 
 
 Tailors' Gild of Exeter, .... 26 
 
 Order of Pageants in the Mistery Plays of York, . 29 
 
 V. Ordinances of Sociai, and Rewgious Gii,ds. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Gild of Exeter, . . • • 33 
 
 St. Katherine's Gild of Norwich, . . . 34 
 
 VI. Select Bibwography, ..... 36 
 
2 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 I. TOWN CUSTOMS. 
 
 An English city or borough,' in the early Middle Ages, is to be looked upon, 
 in the greater number of cases, simply as a manor or group of adjacent manors, 
 where facilities for trade or handicraft have led to a larger and more concentrated 
 population than could have subsisted merely on the agriculture of the rural commun- 
 ity. In each of these towns local customs grew up, just as the "custom of the 
 manor " existed in each village in the open country ; but more highly developed, 
 as a consequence of the closer population, mercantile occupation, and more active 
 life of the townspeople. 
 
 Since these local customs existed only as rules traditionally observed and re- 
 membered, they were but seldom made a matter of written record. The few still 
 existing have been preserved by peculiar cicumstances. In some forty-one cases 
 the pecuniary relations to the king involved in the customs of the towns attracted 
 the attention of the commissioners who made the reports for Domesday Book. 
 Those of Chester are given in the greatest detail. The customs of Newcastle were 
 formulated in the time of Henry II, but refer to a period at least as early as the 
 close of the eleventh century. The ''Usages of Winchester," "Ordinances of 
 Worcester " and " Office of the Mayor of Bristol " are collections of city customs 
 similar to those printed and translated here, and are printed in Smith's English 
 Gilds, Early English Text Society, 1870. The last of the three is also in Ricart's 
 Kalendar, Camden Society, 1872. 
 
 CUSTOMS OF CHESTER. 
 Latin : Domesday Book, I, 262, b. ; and Stubbs' Select Charters, 83-95. 
 
 The city of Chester, in the time of King Edward, paid tax as being 
 of fifty hides f three and a half hides of which were outside of the city. 
 That is, one and a half hides were beyond the bridge, and two hides in 
 Newton and Redcliff, and in the bishop*s borough ; these paid tax with 
 the city. 
 
 In the time of King Edward, there were in the city 431 houses pay- 
 ing tax. And besides these the bishop had 56 tax-paying houses. Then 
 the city paid ten and a half marks ' of silver ; two parts belonged to the 
 king and the third to the earl. And the following laws existed there : 
 
 When peace had been granted by the hand of the king, or by his 
 letter or through his bailiff, if any one broke it, the king had 100 
 shillings for it. But if the same peace of the king, at his order had 
 been granted by the earl, if it was broken, of the 100 shillings which 
 were given therefor, the earl had the third penny. If, however, the 
 
 * There seems to be no consistent distinction between cities and boroughs in 
 Domesday and earlier use : later it was customary to call the seat of a bishop a city 
 and all other considerable towns boroughs. ^ A hide was a unit of taxation or of 
 measurement, equalling in the latter case approximately 120 acres. It is here evi- 
 dently the former. ^ The mark of silver was equal to 13s. 4d. ; of gold, jQd, 
 
CUSTOMS OF CHESTER. 3 
 
 same peace was infringed when granted by the reeve of the king or the 
 officer of the earl, it was compounded for by forty shillings, and the 
 third penny belonged to the earl. 
 
 If any free man of the king broke the peace which had been 
 granted and killed a man in his house, all his land and money came to 
 the king, and he himself became an outlaw. The earl had the same 
 concerning his man making this forfeiture. No one, however, except 
 the king, was able to grant peace again to an outlaw. 
 
 He who shed blood between Monday morning and the ninth hour 
 of Saturday compounded for it with ten shillings. From the ninth 
 hour of Saturday to Monday morning bloodshed was compounded for 
 with twenty shillings. Similarly any one paid twenty shillings who did 
 this in the twelve days after Christmas, on the day of the Purification 
 of the Blessed Mary, on the first day of Easter, the first day of Pente- 
 cost, Ascension Day, on the Assumption or Nativity of the Blessed 
 Mary and on the day of All Saints. 
 
 He who killed a man on these holy days compounded for it with 
 £4 ; but on other days with forty shillings. Similarly he who com- 
 mitted burglary or assault, on those feast days or on Sunday £4. On 
 other days forty shillings. 
 
 Any one setting prisoners free^ in the city gave ten shillings. 
 But if the reeve of the king or of the earl committed this offence he 
 compounded for it with twenty shillings. 
 
 He who committed theft or robbery or exercised violence upon a 
 woman in a house compounded for each of these with forty shillings. 
 
 If a widow had illegitimate intercourse with any one she com- 
 pounded for it with twenty shillings ; a girl, however, with ten shillings 
 for a similar cause. 
 
 He who in the city seized upon the land of another and was not 
 able to prove it to be his, was fined forty shillings. Similarly also he 
 who made a claim upon it, if he was not able to prove it to be his. 
 
 He who wished to make relief of his own land or that of his 
 relative gave ten shillings. 
 
 If he was not able or did not wish to do this the reeve took hig 
 land into the hand of the king. 
 
 He who did not pay the tax at the period at which he owed it 
 compounded for it with with ten shillings. 
 
 * The word hangewitham thus translated, has also been considered to mean 
 the offence of hanging a person without warrant of law. Ducange. 
 
4 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 If fire burned the city, he from whose house it started compounded 
 for it with three oras ^ of pennies, and gave to his next neighbor two 
 shillings. Of all these forfeitures two parts belonged to the king and 
 the third to the earl. 
 
 If without the license of the king ships came to the port of the city 
 or departed from the port, from each man who was on the 8hi{)s the 
 king and the earl had forty shillings. If against the peace of the king 
 and after his prohibition the ship approached, as well it as the men, 
 with all things which were upon it, did the king and the earl have. 
 
 If, however, with the peace and license of the king it had come, 
 those who were in it sold what they had in peace ; but when it went away, 
 four pence from each lading did the king and the earl have. If to those 
 having martens' skins the reeve of the king gave orders that to no one 
 should they sell until they had first brought them and shown them to him, 
 he who did not observe this compounded for it by paying forty shillings. 
 
 A man or a woman making false measure in the city, and being 
 arrested, compounded for it with four shillings. Similarly a person 
 making bad ale, was either placed in the ducking stool or gave four 
 shillings to the reeve. This forfeiture the officer of the king and of the 
 earl received in the city, in whosesoever land it had been, either of the 
 bishop or of another man. Similarly also, if any one held the toll back 
 beyond three nights, he compounded for it with forty shillings. 
 
 In the time of King Edward there were in this city seven 
 moneyers, '^ who gave seven pounds to the king and the earl, besides the 
 ferm, ' when the money was turned over. 
 
 There were at that time twelve judges of the city, and these were 
 from the men of the king, and of the bishop, and of the earl ; if any 
 one of these remained away from the hundred court on the day in 
 which it sat, without a clear excuse, he compounded for it with ten 
 shillings, between the king and the earl. 
 
 For repairing the city wall and the bridge the reeve summoned 
 one man to come from each hide of the county. If the man of any one 
 did not come his lord compounded for it to the king and the earl with 
 forty shillings. This forfeiture was in addition to the ferm. 
 
 1 An ora is a number of pennies, varying in different times and places, here pos- 
 sibly sixteen or twenty. 
 
 '^ The moneyers were men who had the contract for coining money, paying a 
 fee for the privilege of reserving to themselves the seigniorage. 
 
 'A ferm was a fixed amount paid as a lump sum in place of a number of 
 smaller or more irregular payments. 
 
CUSTOMS OF CHESTER 5 
 
 This city paid at that time of ferm £45 and three bundles of mar- 
 ten's skins. The third part belonged to the earl, and two to the king. 
 
 When Earl Hugh received it, it was worth only £30, for it was 
 much wasted. There were 205 fewer houses than there had been in the 
 time of King Edward. Now there are just as many there as he found. 
 
 Murdret held this city from the earl for £70 and one mark of gold. 
 He had at ferm for £50 and one mark of gold all the pleas of the earl 
 in the county and in the hundreds, with the exception of Inglefeld. 
 
 The land on which the temple of St. Peter stands, which Robert of 
 Rodelend claimed for demesne land, as the county has proved, never 
 pertained to the manor, outside the city, but pertains to the borough ; 
 and it has always been in the custom of the king and the earl, like that 
 of other burgesses. 
 
 THE CUSTOMS OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, 
 
 Latin : Acts of Parliament of Scotlan<i, I, 33-34 ; and Stubbs' Select 
 Charters, 107-108. 
 
 These are the laws and customs which the burgesses of Newcastle- 
 upon-Tyne had in the time of Henry, king of England, and ought to have : 
 
 Burgesses may make seizure for debt from those dwelling outside, 
 within their market place and without, and within their house and 
 without, and within their borough and without, without the license of the 
 reeve, unless courts are held in the borough, and unless they are in the 
 army or on guard at a castle. 
 
 From a burgess a burgess is not allowed to make seizure for debt 
 without the license of the reeve. 
 
 If a burgess has agreed upon anything in the borough with those 
 dwelling outside, the debtor, if he acknowledges it, must pay the debt 
 himself, or he must grant right in the borough. 
 
 Suits which arise in the borough are to be held and finished there, 
 except those which belong to the king's crown. 
 
 If any burgess is summoned on any prosecution, he shall not plead 
 outside of the borough except for want of a court. Nor must he re- 
 spond without day and term, unless he shall have first fallen into an 
 absurd defense ; except with regard to things which pertain to the 
 crown. 
 
 If a ship has put in at Tynemouth and wishes to depart, it is al- 
 lowed to the burgesses to buy whatever they wish. 
 
6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 If a suit arises between a burgess and a merchant, it shall be 
 settled before the third tide. 
 
 Whatever merchandise a vessel has brought by sea ought to be 
 carried to land, except salt and brine, which ought to be sold on the 
 ship. 
 
 If anyone has held land in burgage for a year and a day justly 
 and without prosecution, he need not make defense against a claimant, 
 unless the claimant has been outside the realm of England, or in the 
 case where he is a boy having no power to speak. 
 
 If a burgess has a son in his house, at his table, the son shall have 
 the same liberty as his father. 
 
 If a villain comes to stay in a borough, and there for a year and a 
 day stays as a burgess in the borough, let him remain altogether, unless 
 it has been said beforehand by himself or by his lord that he is to re- 
 main for a certain time. 
 
 If any burgess makes an accusation concerning any matter, he 
 cannot wage battle against a burgess, but let the burgess defend him- 
 self by law, unless it is concerning treason, when he ought to defend 
 himself by battle. Nor can a burgess wage battle against a villain, un- 
 less he has first departed from his burgage. 
 
 No merchant, unless he is a burgess, may buy any wool, hides, or 
 other merchandise, outside of the town, nor inside of the borough except 
 from burgesses. 
 
 If forfeiture happens to a burgess, he shall give six oras to the 
 reeve. 
 
 In the borough there is no merchet, nor heriot, nor blood fine, nor 
 
 Each burgess may have his oven and hand-mill if he wishes, sav- 
 ing the king's right to the oven. 
 
 If a woman is in transgression concerning bread or concerning ale, 
 no one ought to intermeddle except the reeve. If she shall have trans- 
 gressed a second time, let her be whipped for her transgression. If for 
 a third time she shall have transgressed, let justice be done upon her. 
 
 No one except a burgess may buy clothes for dyeing, nor make, 
 nor shear them. 
 
 A burgess may give his land, or sell it, and go whither he wishes, 
 freely and quietly, unless he is engaged in a suit. 
 
CHARTER OF CITY OF LINCOLN. 7 
 
 11. TOWN CHARTERS. 
 
 During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries many of the cities and boroughs 
 obtained their first charters. These were documents issued and sealed by the king, or 
 by the lord on whose demesne the town had grown up, giving legal recognition to a 
 part or the whole of the body of local customs. In no case was the whole body of 
 customs recited in the charter ; and in most cases probably no new rights were granted 
 to the towns by the charters ; but it was of the greatest value to them to have their 
 more important customary rights defined, legalized and put in a form which could be 
 appealed to in case of subsequent dispute. Moreover, the first grant obtained by any 
 town served as a precedent in obtaining, at favorable opportunities thereafter, new 
 charters extending its powers and privileges. The charter of Southampton, printed 
 below, for instance, was the first of thirty-one such grants to that town between the 
 twelfth century and the seventeenth ; varying in character from mere renewals to 
 considerable additions to the city immunities. Types of three classes of municipal 
 charters are given below ; those granted by the king, those granted by a secular lord 
 to a town on his demesne, and those granted by a prelate. A vast number of char- 
 ters granted to towns are printed in Rymer's Feeder a ; Madox' Firma Burgi, 
 Gross' Gild Merchant, and in local histories. 
 
 CHARTER OF HENRY II. TO THE CITY OF LINCOLN. 
 Latin : Rymer's Foedera^ i. 40 ; and Stubbs' Select Charters, 158-9. 
 Henry, by the grace of God, king of England, duke of Normandy 
 and Aquitaine, count of Anjou, to the bishop of Lincoln, justiciars, 
 sheriffs, barons, officers and all his faithful, French and English, of 
 Lincoln, greeting. Know that I have conceded to my citizens of Lin- 
 coln all their liberties and customs and laws, which they had in the 
 time of Edward and William and Henry, kings of England ; and their 
 gild merchant of the men of the city and of other merchants of the county, 
 just as they had it in the time of our aforesaid predecessors, kings of Eng- 
 land, best and most freely. And all men who dwell within the four 
 divisions of the city and attend the market are to be at the gilds and 
 customs and assizes of the city as they have been best in the time of Ed- 
 ward, William and Henry, kings of England. I grant to them more- 
 over, that if anyone shall buy any land within the city, of the burgage of 
 Lincoln, and shall have held it for a year and a day without any claim, 
 and he who has bought it is able to show that the claimant has been 
 in the land of England within the year and has not claimed it, for the 
 future as before he shall hold it well and in peace, and without any 
 prosecution. I confirm also to them, that if anyone shall have remained 
 in the city of Lincoln for a year and a day without claim on the part of 
 any claimant, and has given the customs, and is able to show by the 
 laws and customs of the city that the claimant has been in existence in 
 
8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 the land of England and has not made a claim against him, for the 
 future as in the past he shall remain in peace, in my city of Lincoln, as 
 my citizen. Witnesses, E., bishop of Lisieux ; Thomas, chancellor; 
 H., constable ; Henry of Essex, constable. At Nottingham. 
 
 CHARTER OF HENRY //. TO WALLINGFORD. 
 Latin : Rymer's Feeder a^ i, 47^ : and Gross' Gild Merchant, II, 244-5. 
 
 Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, Duke of Nor- 
 mandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, I 
 
 command you that my burgesses of Wallingford shall have my secure 
 peace through my whole land of England and Normandy, wherever 
 they may be. And know that I have given and conceded to them for- 
 ever all their liberties and laws and customs well and honorably, just as 
 they had them best and most honorably in the time of King Edward, 
 and in the time of my great grandfather King William, and of his son, 
 the second King William, and in the time of King Henry, my grand- 
 father ; that is to say, that they should have freely the gild merchant 
 with all its customs and laws, so that neither my bailiff nor any justice 
 of mine should meddle with their gild ; but only their own alderman and 
 officer. And if my officers or any justice shall have brought suit against 
 them in any plea or for any occasion or shall have wished to lead them 
 into a suit, I forbid it, and require that they should not make defense 
 in any manner, except in their own proper portmote. And if the reeve 
 himself shall implead them on any occasion without an accuser, they 
 shall not respond, and if on account of any transgression, or by a right 
 judgment any one of them shall have made forfeiture by a right con- 
 sideration of the burgesses, to the reeve shall he pay it. I forbid, more- 
 over, and require that there shall be no market in Crowmarsh, nor any 
 merchant, unless he is in the gild of the merchants ; and if anyone goes 
 out from the borough of Wallingford and lives from the merchandise of 
 the same Wallingford, I command that he should make the right gild 
 of the merchants with the same burgesses, wherever he may be, within 
 the borough or without. Know moreover, that I have given and con- 
 ceded forever to all the men of Wallingford full quittance from my 
 yearly rent, which they were accustomed to pay from the borough of 
 Wallingford ; that is to say, from that which pertains to me in the 
 borough. All these laws and customs and liberties and quittances I 
 give to them and concede forever, and all othei-s which they are able to 
 show that their ancestors had, freely, quietly, and honorably, j ust as my 
 
CHARTER OF WALLINOFORD. 9 
 
 citizens of Winchester ever had them at the best ; and this on account 
 of the great service and labor which they sustained for me in the ac- 
 quisition of my hereditary right in England. I concede to them, more- 
 over, that wherever they shall go in their journeys as merchants, 
 through my whole land of England and Normandy, Aquitaine and 
 Anjou, "by water and by strand, by wood and by land," they shall be free 
 from toll and passage fees, and from all customs and exactions ; nor are 
 they to be troubled in this respect by any one, under a penalty of £10. 
 I forbid, moreover, and require under the same penalty, that the reeve 
 of Wallingford shall not make any fine of scotale or New Year's gift 
 from any one, and that he shall not establish any custom in Walling- 
 ford which shall injure the burgesses of the town. Of this grant and 
 concession, the witnesses are Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury and 
 others. Given at Oxford, the first day before the Ides of January. 
 
 CHARTER OF HENRY II. TO SOUTHAMPTON, 
 Latin : Davies' History of Southampton, 152 ; Gross' Gild Merchant, II, 213. 
 Henry, king of England, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and 
 count of Anjou, to his reeves and ministers of Hampton, greeting ; I 
 ordain that my men of Hampton shall have and hold their gild and 
 all their liberties and customs, by land and by sea, in as good, peaceable, 
 just, free, quiet, and honorable a manner as they had the same, best, 
 most freely and quietly in the time of King Henry, my grandfather ; 
 and let no one upon this do them any injury or insult. Witness, Richard 
 de Humet, constablei; Jocelyn de Baliol, at Winchester. 
 
 CHARTER OF RALPH, EARL OF CHESTER, TO THAT 
 CITY, BETWEEN A, D,, 1190 AND 1211. 
 
 Latin: Report of Historical Mss. Comm. 1881, 356-7 ; and Gross' Gild 
 Merchant, II, 140. 
 
 Ralph, earl of Chester, to his constable and steward, and to all 
 his barons and bailiffs, and to all his men, French and English, as well 
 to come as at present, greeting. Let it be known to all of you that I 
 have given and conceded, and by this my present charter confirmed to 
 all my citizens of Chester their gild merchant with all liberties and 
 free customs which they have had in the aforesaid gild, best, most freely 
 and most peacefully in the times of ray predecessors. And I forbid 
 under forfeiture to me of £10 that any one shall disturb them in it 
 With these witnesses, etc 
 
lO TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 CHARTER OF JOHN, EARL OF CHESTER, BETWEEN 
 
 1217 AND 1277. 
 Latin : Report of Historical Mss. Comm. 1881, 356-7, and Gross' Gild 
 
 Merchant II, 140. 
 
 Know that I have conceded and by this my present charter con- 
 firmed to all ray citizens of Chester that no merchant should buy or 
 sell any kind of merchandise which has come to the city of Chester by 
 sea or by land, except these my citizens of Chester themselves and their 
 heirs, or in accordance with their will ; except in the established fairs, 
 that is on St. John the Baptist's day and at the feast of St. Michael. 
 
 Likewise, I have conceded and by this my present 
 
 charter confirmed to my said citizens of Chester, to have and to hold 
 their gild merchant, as freely, quietly and honorably as they held it in 
 the time of my uncle, lord Ralph, earl of Chester and Lincoln. 
 
 CHARTER OF THURSTAN, ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, TO 
 
 BEVERLY, BETWEEN 11 00 AND 11 35. 
 
 Latin : Rymer's Fcedera, i, 10, and Stubbs' Select Charters, 105-6. 
 
 Thurstan, by the grace of God, archbishop of York, to all the faith- 
 ful in Christ, as w^ell present as to come, greeting and God's benediction 
 and his own. Let it be known to you that I have given and conceded, 
 and by the advice of the chapter of York and of Beverly and by the 
 advice of my barons have confirmed by my charter to the men of Bev- 
 erly all their liberties with the same laws which those of York have in 
 their city. Moreover let it not be hid from you that lord Henry our 
 king has conceded to us the power of doing this of his own good will, 
 and by his charter has confirmed our statutes and our laws according to 
 the form of the laws of the burgesses of York, saving the dignity and 
 honor of Grod and Saint John, and of us and of the canons, in order 
 that he might thus increase the benefactions of his predecessors, and 
 promote them by all these free customs. 
 
 I will that my burgesses of Beverly shall have their hanse house, 
 which I give to them and concede in order that they may there determine 
 upon their statutes to the honor of God and of St. John, and of the 
 canons, and to the advantage of the whole body of citizens, being en- 
 franchised by the same law as those of York in their hanse house. I 
 give up to them, moreover, their toll forever for eighteen marks a year ; 
 besides in those feasts in which toll belongs to us and to the canons, 
 that is to say, in the feast of St. John the Confessor, in May, in the 
 feast of the translation of St. John, and on the day of the birth of St, 
 
CHARTER OF BF.VERLY. II 
 
 John the Baptist ; and on these festivals I have made all the burgesses 
 of Beverly free and quit from all toll. By the testimony of this charter, 
 moreover, I have conceded to the same burgesses as free entrance and de- 
 parture within and without the town, in plain and wood and marsh, in 
 roads and byways, and in other suitable places, except in meadows and 
 grainlields, as any one can ever concede and confirm them most freely 
 and broadly ; and know that they are as free and quit from all toll 
 through the whole of Yorkshire, as those of York are. And I will that 
 whosoever opposes this may be accursed, as the custom of the church of St 
 John asserts and as it has been decreed in the church of St. John. 
 
 These are witnesses : Geoffrey Murdoc, Nigel Fossard, Alan de 
 Percy, Walter Spec, Eustace the son of John, Thomas the reeve, Thurs- 
 tan, archdeacon ; Herbert, chamberlain ; William the son of Toole ; 
 William of Bath ; in the presence of the whole household of the arch- 
 bishop, clerical and lay, in York. 
 
 III. GILD MERCHANT DOCUMENTS. 
 
 An almost invariable provision in the early town charters was the privilege of 
 possessing a gild merchant, or hanse house, as it was called in the charter of Beverly. 
 This universality of the gild merchant indicates its close connection with the munici- 
 pal community itself, as well as the prevailing commercial character of the latter. The 
 existence of the gild merchant has been definitely proved in I02 towns and there is 
 little reason to doubt that it existed in practically all the others. The gild merchant 
 therefore was substantially the embodiment of the trading monopoly of the chartered 
 city or borough. Its principal characteristics are exemplified in the subjoined docu- 
 ments. The difficult questions of its origin as an institution, its connection with the 
 municipal government, its relation to the craft gilds, and its later decadence or disap- 
 pearance, are fully discussed in the standard work on the subject : Gross, The Gild 
 Merchant. The ordinances of the gilds of Southampton and Lynn Regis are 
 almost the only remaining bodies of statutes. The former document belongs to the 
 fourteenth century, but the provisions are evidently of very different dates. The first 
 eleven seem to be the oldest, and perhaps with others extend back to a far earlier 
 period than 1300. The gild merchant of Lynn Regis is mentioned as early as 1205, 
 in a charter granted by King John, and remained in existence until November 4, 
 1547. It was clearly distinct from the town government, though connected with it 
 at many points. It had a large membership: its property brought in at one time an 
 income of some ;^400 a year ; it possessed a gild hall which still exists, and sus- 
 tained in 1389, thirteen chaplains, "daily and yearly to pray as well for the king, 
 his ancestors, and for the peace and welfare of his kingdom, as for the souls of all the 
 aldermen, brethren, and benefactors of the said gild ; also for the souls of all the faith- 
 ful deceased." Six of these chaplains officiated in the church of St. Margaret, four in 
 the chapel of St. Nicholas, and three in the chapel of St. James, all in Lynn. In ad- 
 dition to its religious activity, the gild contributed largely both by money and by ad- 
 ministration to the charities, educational work, and public improvements of the city. 
 
12 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 ORDINANCES OF THE GILD MERCHANT OF SOUTHAMPTON. 
 
 French : Gross' Gild Merchant, II, 214, etc. ; and English : Davies' History of 
 Southampton, pp. 139, etc. 
 
 § 1. *In the first place, there shall be elected from the gild mer- 
 chant, and established, an alderman, a steward, a chaplain, four skevins, 
 and an usher. And it is to be known that whosoever shall be alderman 
 shall receive from each one entering into the gild fourpence, the stew- 
 ard, twopence ; the chaplain, twopence ; and the usher, one penny. And 
 the gild shall meet twice a year : that is to say, on the Sunday next 
 after St. John the Baptist's day, and on the Sunday next after St. 
 Mary's day. 
 
 § 2. And when the gild shall be sitting no one of the gild is to 
 bring in any stranger, except when required by the alderman or stew- 
 ard. And the alderman shall have a sergeant to serve before him, the 
 steward another sergeant, and the two skevins a sergeant, and the other 
 two skevins a sergeant, and the chaplain shall have his clerk. 
 
 § 3. And when the gild shall sit, the alderman is to have, each 
 night, so long as the gild sits, two gallons of wine and two candles, and 
 the steward the same ; and the four skevins and the chaplain, each of 
 them one gallon of wine and one candle, and the usher one gallon of wine. 
 
 § 4. And when the gild shall sit, the lepers of La Madeleine shall 
 have of the alms of the gild, two sesters'^ of ale, and the sick of God's 
 House and of St. Julian shall have two sesters of ale. And the Friars 
 Minors shall have two sesters of ale and one sester of wine. And four 
 sesters of ale shall be given to the poor wherever the gild shall meet. 
 
 § 5. And when the gild is sitting, no one who is of the gild shall 
 go outside of the town for any business, without the permission of the 
 steward. And if any one does so, let him be fined two shillings, and 
 pay them. 
 
 § 6. And when the gild sits, and any gildsman is outside of the 
 city so that he does not know when it will happen, he shall have a gal- 
 lon of wine, if his servants come to get it. And if a gildsman is ill and 
 is in the city, wine shall be sent to him, two loaves of bread and a gal- 
 lon of wine and a dish from the kitchen ; and two approved men of the 
 gild shall go to visit him and look after his condition. 
 
 ^ In the original a rubric is introduced at the beginning of each paragraph, de- 
 scribing its subject, usually in the same terms as the body of the paragraph. They 
 are omitted here on account of their want of especial significance. 
 
 2 Sester, or sextary, apparently equals four gallons : Stubbs ; and see § 4 on 
 page 17 of this pamphlet. 
 
GILD MERCHANT OF SOUTHAMPTON. 1 3 
 
 § 7. And when a gildsman dies, all those who are of the gild and 
 are in the city shall attend the service of the dead, and gildsnien shall 
 bear the body and bring it to the place of bnrial. And whoever will 
 not do this shall pay according to his oath, two pence, to be given to 
 the poor. And those of the ward where the dead man shall be onght 
 to find a man to watch over the body the night that the dead shall lie 
 in his house. And so long as the service of the dead shall last, that is 
 to sa}^ the vigil and the mass, there ought to burn four candles of the 
 gild, each candle of two pounds weight or more, until the body is 
 buried. And these four candles shall remain in the keeping of the 
 steward of the gild. 
 
 § 8. The steward ought to keep the rolls and the treasure of the 
 gild under the seal of the alderman of the gild. 
 
 § 9. And when a gildsman dies, his eldest son or his next heir shall 
 have the seat of his father, or of his uncle, if his father was not a gilds- 
 man, and of no other one ; and he shall give nothing for his seat. No 
 husband can have a seat in the gild by right of his wife, nor demand 
 a seat by right of his wife's ancestors. 
 
 § 10. And no one has the right or power to sell or give his seat in 
 the gild to any man ; and the son of a gildsman, other than his eldest 
 son, shall enter into the gild on payment of ten shillings, and he shall 
 take the oath of the gild. 
 
 § 11. And if a gildsman shall be imprisoned in England in time 
 of peace, the alderman with the steward and with one of the skevins 
 shall go at the cost of the gild, to procure the deliverance of the one 
 who is in prison. 
 
 § 12. And if any gildsman strikes another with his fist; and is 
 convicted thereof, he shall lose the gild until he shall have bought it back 
 for ten shillings, and Uiken the oath of the gild again like a new mem- 
 ber. And if a gildsman strikes another with a stick, or a knife, or any 
 other weapon, whatever it may be, he shall lose the gild and the fran- 
 chise, and shall be held as a stranger until he shall have been recon- 
 ciled to the good men of the gild and has made recompense to the one 
 whom he has injured, and has paid a fine to the gild of twenty shil- 
 lings ; and this shall not be remitted. 
 
 § 13. If any one does an injury, who is not of the gild, and is 
 of the franchise or strikes a gildsman and is reasonably convicted he 
 shall lose his franchise and go to prison for a day and a night 
 
 § 14. And if any stranger or any other who is not of the gild 
 
14 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 nor of the franchise, strikes a gildsmau, and is reasonably convicted 
 thereof, let him be in prison two days and two nights, unless the injury 
 is such that he should be more severely punished. 
 
 § 1 5. And if a gildsmau reviles or slanders another gildsman, and 
 a complaint of it comes to the alderman, and if he is reasonably con- 
 victed thereof, he shall pay two shillings fine to the gild, and if he is 
 not able to pay he shall lose the gild. 
 
 § 16. And if anyone who is of the franchise, speaks evil of a gilds- 
 man, and is convicted of this before the alderman, he shall pay five 
 shillings for a fine or lose the franchise. 
 
 § 17. And no one shall come to the council of the gild if he is 
 not a gildsman. 
 
 § 18. And if anyone of the gild forfeits the gild by any act or 
 injury, and is excluded by the alderman and the steward and the 
 skevins and the twelve sworn men of the city ; and he wishes to have 
 the gild again, he shall do all things anew just as one who has never 
 been of the gild, and shall make amends for his injury according to the 
 discretion of the alderman and the aforesaid approved men. And if 
 anyone of the gild or of the franchise brings a suit against another 
 outside of the city, by a writ or without a writ, he shall lose the gild 
 and the franchise if he is convicted of it. 
 
 § 19. And no one of the city of Southampton shall buy anything 
 to sell again in the same city, unless he is of the gild merchant or of 
 the franchise. And if anyone shall do so and is convicted of it, all 
 which he has so bought shall be forfeited to the king ; and no one shall 
 be quit of custom unless he proves that he is in the gild or in the fran- 
 chise, and this from year to year. 
 
 § 20. And no one shall buy honey, fat, salt herrings, or any kind 
 of oil, or millstones, or fresh hides, or any kind of fresh skins, unless 
 he is a gildsman : nor keep a tavern for wine, nor sell cloth at retail, 
 except in market or fair days ; nor keep grain in his granary beyond 
 five quarters, to sell at retail, if he is not a gildsman ; and whoever 
 shall do this and be convicted, shall forfeit all to the king. 
 
 § 21. No one of the gild ought to be partner or joint dealer in 
 any of the kinds of merchandise before mentioned with anyone who is 
 not of the gild, by any manner of coverture, or art, or contrivance, or 
 collusion, or in any other manner. And whosoever shall do this and 
 be convicted, the goods in such manner bought shall be forfeited to the 
 king, and the gildsman shall lose the gild. 
 
GILD MERCHANT OF SOUTHAMPTON 1 5 
 
 § 22. If any gildsman falls into poverty and has not the where- 
 withal to live, and is not able to work or to provide for himself, he shall 
 have one mark from the gild to relieve his condition when the gild shall 
 sit No one of the gild nor of the franchise shall avow another's 
 goods for his by which the custom of the city shall be injured. And 
 if any one does so and is convicted, he shall lose the gild and the 
 franchise ; and the merchandise so avowed shall be forfeited to the king. 
 
 § 23. And no private man nor stranger shall bargain for or buy 
 any kind of merchandise coming into the city before a burgess of the 
 gild merchant, so long as the gildsman is present and wishes to bargain 
 for and buy this merchandise ; and if anyone does so and is convicted, 
 that which he buys shall be forfeited to the king. 
 
 § 24. And anyone who is of the gild merchant shall share in all 
 merchandise which another gildsman shall buy or any other person, 
 whosoever he is, if he comes and demands part and is there where the 
 merchandise is bought, and also if he gives satisfaction to the seller and 
 gives security for his part. But no one who is not a gildsman is able 
 or ought to share with a gildsman, without the will of the gildsman. 
 
 § 25. And if any gildsman or other of the city refuse a part to the 
 gildsman in the manner above said, he shall not buy or sell in that 
 year in the town, except his victuals. 
 
 § 26. And if any merchant of the town buys wine or grain so that 
 all the risk shall be on the buyer, he shall not pay custom for this 
 merchandise. And if any risk is upon the seller, he shall pay. 
 
 § 27. It is provided that the chief alderman of the towil, or the 
 bailiffs and the twelve sw^orn men, shall give attention to the merchants 
 as well strangers as private men, as often as it shall be required, to 
 see that they have sufficient security for their debts, and recognisance from 
 their debtors ; and the day of this shall be enrolled before them, so 
 that if that day is not kept, on proof by the creditor, the debtor should 
 be then distrained according to the recognisance which he has made, in 
 lands and chattels, to give satisfaction according to the usage of the town, 
 without any manner of pleading, so that the men of the town should 
 not have damage by the default of payment of the debtors aforesaid. 
 
 § 28. And if any gildsman for any debt which he may owe, will 
 not suffer himself to be distrained, or when he has been distrained, shall 
 break through, or make removal or break the king's lock, and be con- 
 victed thereof, he shall lose his gildship until he has bought it again 
 for twenty shillings, and this each time that he offends in such manner. 
 
1 6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS 
 
 And he shall be none the less distrained until he has made satisfaction 
 for the debt he owes ; and if he will not submit to justice as aforesaid 
 and be thereof convicted, he shall go to prison for a day and a night 
 like one who is against the peace ; and if he will not submit to justice let 
 the matter be laid before the king and his council in manner aforesaid. 
 
 § 29. And the chief alderman, and the twelve sworn men, or the 
 bailiffs, each month, or at least four times a year shall see that the assize 
 of bread and ale be well kept in all points according to the price of corn.* 
 
 § 32. Every year, on the morrow of St. Michael, shall be elected 
 by the whole community of the town, assembled in a place provided, to 
 consider the estate and treat of the common business of the town — then 
 shall be elected by the whole community, twelve discreet men to exe- 
 cute the king's commands, together with the bailiffs, and to keep the 
 peace and protect the franchise, and to do and keep justice to all per- 
 sons, as well poor as rich, natives or strangers, all that year ; and to this 
 they shall be sworn in the form provided. And these twelve discreet men 
 shall choose the same day two discreet men from among themselves and 
 the other profitable and wise men to be bailiffs for the ensuing year, 
 who shall take care that the customs shall be well paid ; and they shall 
 receive their jurisdiction the day after Michaelmas, as has been custo- 
 mary. And this shall be done from year to year, so that the bailiffs 
 shall be renewed every year, and the twelve aforesaid, if there is occa- 
 sion. The same shall be done as to clerk and sergeants of the city , in 
 making and removing. 
 
 § 35. The common chest shall be in the house of the chief alder- 
 man or of the steward, and the three keys of it shall be lodged with three 
 discreet men of the aforesaid twelve sworn men, or with three of 
 the skevins, who shall loyally take care of the common seal, and the 
 charters and the treasure of the town, and the standards, and other 
 muniments of the town ; and no letter shall be sealed with the common 
 seal, nor any charter taken out of the common-chest but in the presence 
 of six or twelve sworn men, and of the alderman or steward ; and 
 nobody shall sell by any kind of measure or weight that is not sealed, 
 under forfeiture of two shillings. 
 
 § 63. No one shall go out to meet a ship bringing wine or other 
 merchandise coming to the town, in order to buy anything, before the 
 
 ^The remaining 48 paragraghs, with the exception of § 32, § 35 and § 63, are 
 of comparatively little significance as explanatory of the ordinary gild merchant. 
 
GILD MERCHANT OF LYNN. 1 7 
 
 ship be arrived and come to anchor for unlading ; and if any one does 
 so and is convicted, the merchandise which he sliall have bought shall 
 be forfeited to the king. 
 
 ORDINANCE OF THE GILD MERCHANT OF THE HOLY 
 
 TRINITY OF L YNN REGIS. 
 
 English : Gross' Gild Merchant, II, i6o; and Richard's History of Lynn, 452-458. 
 
 § 1. If any stranger is willing to enter into the fraternity, he 
 ought to pledge into the hands of the alderman 100s. and the aforesaid 
 dues of the house. That is to say, to the alderman 4d. to the clerk 2d. 
 to the dean 2d. and afterward out of the 100s. pledged with the alder- 
 man and his brethren S and shall immediately give 
 
 one sextary of wine, that is lOd. 
 
 § 2. If any brother has a son, or sons, legitimate, who are willing 
 to enter into the said fraternity, each one ought to pay for his entrance 
 4s. the aforesaid dues being excepted. 
 
 § 3. Whoever will enter into the said fraternity, ought on the 
 first day of his admission to wait and serve before the alderman and 
 the brethren honorably, in neat clothes and a coronet of gold or silver. 
 
 § 4. The alderman to have on the day of Pentecost one sextary 
 of wine, and the dean half a sextary, the clerk half and each of the 
 skevins, the same day, half a sextary, and every day after, as long as 
 the drinking shall continue, the alderman shall have half a sextary, 
 the dean, clerk and each of the skevins one gallon, and each of the 
 attendants half a gallon, at evening. 
 
 § 5. If any of the brethren shall disclose to any stranger the 
 councils of the said gild, to their detriment without the assent of the 
 alderman and his brethren, he shall forfeit the sum of 3 2d. 
 
 § 6. If any of the brethren shall fall into poverty or misery, all 
 the brethren are to assist him by common consent out of the chattels of 
 the house or fraternity, or of their proper own. 
 
 § 7. If any brother shall be impleaded, either within Lynn or 
 without, the brethren there present ought to assist him in their council, 
 if they are called, to stand with him and counsel him without any costs ; 
 and if they do not they are to forfeit 3 2d. 
 
 § 8. None of the brethren is to come into the gild before the 
 alderman and his brethren with his cap or hood on, or barefoot, or in 
 any rustic manner ; if he does he is to be amerced 4d. 
 
 ^ Illegible in the manuscript. 
 
1 8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 § 9. If any one should sleep at the gild, either at the general 
 meeting or at their feasts and drinking, he is to forfeit 4d. 
 
 § 10. If any one turns him rudely to his brother, or calls him by 
 any rude name, he is to be amerced 4d. 
 
 § 11. If any is called and cited at a prime^ and does not come 
 before the issue of the first consult, he is to pay Id. by order of the 
 dean ; and if he refuses and sits down he is to be amerced 4d. 
 
 § 12. If any one should be cited to the prime, and shall be 
 found in the town or shall come late to the drinking, and the dean shall 
 say to him to be there at the next prime, and he does not come before 
 they begin to take judgments of defaults, he shall either make some 
 reasonable excuse, or pay 12d., and if he comes before the faults are 
 adjudged, and shall depart without leave he shall pay 12d. 
 
 § 13. If any one of this house shall buy anything and a brother 
 shall come in unexpectedly before the agreement, or at it, he ought to 
 be a partner with him that buys, and if the buyer refuses it, he is to be 
 amerced half a mark. 
 
 § 14. If any servant of the brethren comes at the drinking, or the 
 prime, he is to lay down his cap and cloak, and give it to the janitor to 
 keep, whilst he enters and speaks to his master, and then he is to depart 
 forthwith ; if it is at the drinking, let him drink once or twice, provided 
 he does not sit, and then he is to depart, and if he does not his master 
 is to be amerced. 
 
 § 15. If any one refuse to obey the precept of the alderman or 
 dean, for the honor and profit of the house, he is to be amerced 12s. 
 
 § 16. If any poor brother shall die, the alderman and brethren 
 shall see that his body be honorably buried, of the goods or chattels of 
 the house, or out of alms, if he has not the wherewith to bury himself. 
 
 § 17. If the alderman shall die, none belonging to him, neither 
 son nor any other, can act in anything as alderman, but the brethren 
 may choose a new alderman, whom they please. 
 
 § 18. If any brother shall die, the dean is to summon all the 
 brethren to make their offerings for the soul of the deceased ; and if 
 anyone is absent he is to give M. at the next prime following, for the 
 soul of the defunct, and the dean is to have 4d. of the alms collected, 
 for the citing of the brethren. 
 
 ^Principal or regular meeting. 
 
GILD MERCHANT OF LYNN. 1 9 
 
 § 19. If any brother, or alderman, shall act contrary to the ordi- 
 nances of this house, he is either to forfeit his brotherhood, or pay 
 half a mark for the good of the house. 
 
 § 20. No one shall intrude himself while the drinking continues. 
 
 § 21 . If any brother shall offend another brother, in word or deed, 
 he shall make no complaint but to the alderman first, and the mayor ; 
 if he does not he is to be amerced half a mark. 
 
 § 22. If the skevins shall merchandize with the chattels of the 
 house, no brother shall have any part therein, but the whole profit shall 
 go to the use of the gild. 
 
 § 23. The skevins are to swear, when they receive the chattels of 
 the house, that they will employ the same faithfully to the good of the 
 gild, and will fully account and answ^er for the profit. 
 
 Selections from the USAGES AND CUSTOMS OF THE GILD OF 
 THE HOLY TRINITY OF LYNN. 
 
 If any of the aforesaid brethren shall die in the said town or else- 
 where, as soon as knowledge thereof shall come to the alderman, the 
 said alderman shall order solemn mass to be celebrated for him, at 
 which every brother of the said gild that is in town shall make his 
 offering ; and further, the alderman shall cause every chaplain of the 
 said gild, immediately on the death of any brother, to say thirty masses 
 for the deceased. 
 
 The alderman and skevins of the said gild are by duty obliged 
 to visit four times a year all the infirm, all that are in want, need or 
 poverty, and to minister to and relieve all such, out of the alms of the 
 said gild. 
 
 If any brother shall become poor and needy, he shall be supported 
 in food and clothing, according to his exigency, out of the profits of the 
 lands and tenements, goods and chattels of the said gild. 
 
 If anyone has a desire and is willing for the honor of the Holy 
 Trinity, to be received into the said gild, that he may be partaker of 
 the alms and benefactions thereof, he shall give to the said gild a cer- 
 tain sum of money to the maintenance of the said alms and benefac- 
 tions, according to what shall be agreed upon by the alderman and 
 brethren thereof. 
 
 No born serf or one of such like condition, nor any apprentice can 
 be received, and if any one of such like condition should be received 
 into the said gild, the alderman and his brethren not knowing it, when 
 
20 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 it is truly and lawfully proved, such a one shall lose the benefit of thegild. 
 
 No one until he arrive at the age of twenty-one years, and is of 
 honest fame and condition, can be received into the said gild. 
 
 It was ordained on Wednesday, in the week of Pentecost, in the 
 seventh year of Edward III, (1334), that the brethren should keep a 
 general morwespeche three times a year, to wit ;on Friday in Whitsun- 
 week, on Friday after the exaltation of the Holy Cross, and on Friday 
 in the first week 'of Lent. 
 
 On Friday in the week of Pentecost, in the 23d year of Edward 
 III. (1349), it was provided by common assent forever that no brother 
 should buy or sell any millstones or marble stones, brought to Lynn to 
 be sold, as long as the skevins of this house would buy them for the 
 profit of the gild and pay for them to the full ; and if any one brother 
 should act contrary hereto, he should forever be deprived of the society. 
 
 On Friday next after the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross, 
 in the 81st year of Edward III, (1357), JeflTrey Drew, then being al- 
 derman, it was unanimously agreed by the alderman and his brethren, 
 that as by the grant of the king in his charter, the borough of Bishop's 
 Lynn had this liberty, that the burgesses of the same in all fairs through 
 the kingdom of England were free, and enjoyed that freedom ; when, 
 therefore, anyone of the said burgesses or brethren should go to the fair 
 at Stourbridge, or where any such like fair is held, and has taken his 
 place by the consent of any of the bailiflfs of those places, and marked 
 it out by stakes or pins, by wood or stone ; if any other burgess of 
 Lynn, or brother, either by presents or favors, should deprive of or ex- 
 pel the aforesaid burgess or brother from his place so taken as aforesaid, 
 he is to be looked upon and esteemed as a transgressor of the aforesaid 
 liberty, and to be fined 40s., so that the person so deprived and expelled 
 may have 20s. of it ; and if the transgressor shall happen to be a broth- 
 er of the said gild, he shall be obliged by the alderman to pay 20s. for 
 the benefit of the said gild ; and if the transgressor shall be a burgess, 
 and not a brother of the gild, he shall be obliged to pay 20s. by the 
 mayor of the town, for the benefit of the commonalty of the said town. 
 
 IV. CRAFT GILD DOCUMENTS. 
 
 The earliest mention of an organization made up of the members of some one 
 industry in a town, is to be found in the record of payments from the weavers' gilds, 
 in the exchequer roll of A. D. 1130, printed below. These craft gilds, later, es- 
 pecially in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, became numerous, and in many 
 cases wealthy and influential. Their growth corresponds to the development of 
 
CRAFT GILD OF SPURRIERS. 21 
 
 handicrafts in the towns, as the earlier organizations corresponded to trading. 
 Industries were subdivided to the most minute degree of distinction of occupation for 
 purposes of organization, some cities posessing fifty or more craft gilds. The va- 
 rious branches of trade were similarly subdivided and organized. Ultimately these 
 manufacturing, trading and other industrial organizations quite superseded the gilds 
 merchant. The relations of the craft gilds and other fraternities to the town gov- 
 ernments varied from entire subordination, as in the earlier gilds in London, to a 
 large measure of independent jurisdiction, based in many cases, as in that of the 
 tailors of Exeter, printed below, on a charter obtained directly from the crown. 
 In addition to the functions of the craft gilds in regulating industry, preserving order, 
 serving as beneficial societies, and religious and social organizations, their connection 
 with the production of religious dramas became especially close. The appellation 
 of "mistery plays, " given so frequently to these pageants seems to be derived 
 from their production by the misteries or craft gilds. The list of pageants in the 
 Corpus Christi play at York is given as typical of this form of activity. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM PIPE ROLL OF 30 HENRY /., A, D. 1130. 
 Latin : Record Commission Edition, 1833 ; pp. 109, 2, 144. 
 
 The weavers of Oxford return their account of one mark of gold 
 for their gild. In the treasury, £6 for one mark of gold ; and they are 
 quit 
 
 And the same sheriff returns his account of one mark of gold for 
 the gild of the weavers of Lincoln. In the treasury, £6 for one mark 
 of gold ; and he is quit. 
 
 Robert the son of Lewistan, returns his account of £6 from the 
 gild of the weavei-s of London. In the treasury, he has made his set- 
 tlement ; and he is quit. 
 
 ARTICLES OF THE SPURRIERS OF LONDON, A. D. 1345. 
 Riley's Memorials of London, pp. 226-228. 
 
 Be it remembered, that on Tuesday, the morrow of St. Peter's 
 Chains, in the nineteenth year of the reign of King Edward III, the 
 articles underwritten were read before John Hammond, mayor, Roger 
 de Depham, recorder, and the alderman ; and seeing that the same 
 were deemed befitting, they were accepted and enrolled in these words. 
 
 In the first place, — that no one of the trade of spurriers shall work 
 longer than from the beginning of the day until curfew rung out at the 
 Church of St. Sepulchre, without Newgate ; by reason that no man can 
 work so neatly by night as by day. And many persons of the said 
 
22 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS 
 
 trade, who compass how to practice deception in their work, desire to 
 work by night rather by day ; and then they introduce false iron, and 
 iron that has been cracked, for tin, and also they put gilt on false coi>- 
 per, and cracked. And further, — many of the said trade are wandering 
 about all day, without working at all at their trade ; and then, when 
 they have become drunk and frantic, they take to their work, to the an- 
 noyance of the sick, and all their neighborhood, as well by reason of 
 the broils that arise between them and the strange folks who are dwell- 
 ing among them. And then they blow up their fires so vigorously, that 
 their forges begin all at once to blaze to the great peril of themselves 
 and of all the neighborhood around. And then, too, all the neighbors 
 are much in dread of the sparks, which so vigorously issue forth in all 
 directions from the mouths of the chimneys in their forges. By reason 
 thereof it seems unto them that working by night should be put an end 
 to, in order such false work and such perils to avoid : and therefore the 
 mayor and the aldermen do will, by the assent of the good folks of the 
 said trade, and for the common profit, that from henceforth such time 
 for working, and such false work made in the trade, shall be forbidden. 
 And if any person shall be found in the said trade to do the contrary 
 hereof, let him be amerced, the first time in 40d., one-half thereof to go 
 to the use of the Chamber of the Guildhall of London, and the other 
 half to the use of the said trade ; the second time, in half a mark, and 
 the third time in 10s., to the use of the same Chamber and trade ; and 
 the fourth time, let him forswear the trade forever. 
 
 Also that no one of the said trade shall hang his spurs out on Sun- 
 days, or any other days that are double feasts ; but only a sign indica- 
 cating his business : and such spurs as they shall so sell, they are to 
 show and sell within their shops, without exposing them without, or 
 opening the doors or windows of their shops, on the pain aforesaid. 
 
 Also, that no one of the said trade shall keep a house or shop to 
 carry on his business, unless he is free of the city ; and that no one shall 
 cause to be sold, or exposed for sale, any manner of old spurs for new 
 ones, or shall garnish them or change them for new ones. 
 
 Also, that no one of the said trade shall take an apprentice for a 
 less term than seven years, and such apprentice shall be enrolled accord- 
 ing to the usages of the said city. 
 
 Also, that if any one of the said trade, who is not a freeman, shall 
 take an apprentice for a term of years, he shall be amerced as aforesaid. 
 
CRAFT GILD OF SPURRIERS. 23 
 
 Also, that no one of the said trade shall receive the apprentice, 
 serving-man or journeyman of another in the same trade, during the 
 term agreed upon between his master and him ; on the pain aforesaid. 
 
 Also, that no alien of another country, or foreigner of this country, 
 shall follow or use the said trade, unless he is enfranchised before the 
 mayor, alderman and chamberlain ; and that by witness and surety oi 
 the good folks of the said trade, who will undertake for him as to his 
 loyalty and his good behavior. 
 
 Also, that no one of the said trade shall work on Saturdays, after 
 None has been rung out in the City ; and not from that hour until the 
 Monday morning following. 
 
 ORDINANCES OF THE WHITE-TAWYERS. 
 Riley's Memorials of London, pp. 232-234. 
 
 In honor of God, of Our Lady, and of All Saints, and for the 
 nurture of tranquillity and peace among the good folks the megucers, 
 called white-tawyers,^ the folks of the same trade have, by assent of 
 Richard Lacer, mayor, and of the aldermen, ordained the points 
 under-written. 
 
 In the first place, they have ordained that they will find a wax 
 candle, to burn before our Lady in the church of Allhallows, near 
 London wall. 
 
 Also, that each person of the said trade shall put in the box such 
 sum as he shall think fit, in aid of maintaining the said candle. 
 
 Also, if by chance any one of the said trade shall fall into poverty, 
 whether through old age or because he cannot labor or work, and have 
 nothing with which to keep himself, he shall have every week from the 
 said box 7d. for his support, if he be a man of good repute. And 
 after his decease, if he have a wife, a woman of good repute, she shall 
 have weekly for her support 7d. from the said box, so long as she shall 
 behave herself well and keep single. 
 
 And that no stranger shall work in the said trade, or keep house 
 for the same in the city, if he be not an apprentice, or a man admitted 
 to the franchise of the said city. 
 
 And that no one shall take the serving-man of another to work 
 with him, during his term, unless it be with the permission of his 
 master. 
 
 ^Those who dressed leather with salt, alum and other substances, giving it a 
 white surface. 
 
24 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 And if any one of the said trade shall have work in his house that 
 he cannot complete, or if for want of assistance such work shall be in 
 danger of being lost, those of the said trade shall aid him, that so the 
 said work be not lost. 
 
 And if any one of the said trade shall depart this life, and have 
 not wherewithal to be buried, he shall be buried at the expense of 
 their common box. And when any one of the said trade shall die, all 
 those of the said trade shall go to the vigil, and make offering on the 
 morrow. 
 
 And if any serving-man shall conduct himself in any other man- 
 ner than properly towards his master, and act rebelliously toward him, 
 no one of the said trade shall set him to work, until he shall have made 
 amends before the mayor and aldermen ; and before them such mis- 
 prision shall be redressed. 
 
 And that no one of the said trade shall behave himself the more 
 thoughtlessly, in the way of speaking or acting amiss, by reason of the 
 points aforesaid ; and if any one shall do to the contrary thereof, he shall 
 not follow the said trade until he shall have reasonably made amends. 
 
 And if any one of the said trade shall do to the contrary of any 
 point of the ordinances aforesaid, and be convicted thereof by good 
 men of the said trade, he shall pay to the Chamber of the Gildhall of 
 London, the first time 2s., the second time 40d., the third time half a 
 mark, and the fourth time 10s., and shall forswear the trade. 
 
 Also, — ^ that the good folks of the same trade shall once in the 
 year be assembled in a certain place, convenient thereto, there to choose 
 two men of the most loyal and benefitting of the said trade, to be over- 
 seers of work and all other things touching the trade for that year ; 
 which persons shall be presented to the mayor and aldermen for the 
 time being, and sworn before them diligently to inquire and make 
 search, and loyally to present to the said mayor and aldermen such de- 
 faults as they shall find touching the said trade without sparing anyone 
 for friendship or for hatred, or in any other manner. And if any one 
 of the said trade shall be found rebellious against the said overseers, so 
 as not to let them properly make their search and assay, as they 
 ought to do ; or if he shall absent himself from the meeting aforesaid, 
 without reasonable cause, after due warning by the said overseers, he 
 shall pay to the Chamber, upon the first default, 40d. ; and on the sec- 
 
 1 This and the succeeding paragraphs were added to the earlier ordinances 
 thirty years later, that is in 1376. 
 
CRAFT GILD OF WHITE-TAWYERS. 25 
 
 ond like default, half a mark ; and ou the third one mark ; and on the 
 fourth, 20s., and shall forswear the trade forever. 
 
 Also, that if the overseers shall be found lax and negligent about 
 their duty, or partial to any person for gift or for friendship, maintaining 
 him or voluntarily permitting him to continue in his default, and shall 
 not present him to the mayor and aldermen, as before stated, they are 
 to incur the penalty aforesaid. 
 
 Also, that each year, at such assemblies of the good folks of the 
 said trade, there shall be chosen overeeers, as before stated. And if it 
 be found that through laxity or negligence of the said governors such 
 assemblies are not held, each of the said overseers is to incur the said 
 penalty. 
 
 Also, that all skins falsely and deceitfully wrought in their trade 
 which the said overseers shall find on sale in the hands of any person, 
 citizen or foreigner, within the franchise shall be forfeited to the said 
 chamber, and the worker thereof amerced in manner aforesaid. 
 
 Also, that no one who has not been an apprentice, and has not 
 finished his term of apprenticeship in the said trade, shall be made free 
 of the same trade ; unless it be attested by the overseers for the time 
 being, or by four persons of the said trade, that such person is able and 
 sufficiently skilled to be made free of the same. 
 
 Also, that no one of the said trade shall induce the servant of 
 another to work with him in the said trade, until he has made a proper 
 fine with his first master, at the discretion of the said overseers, or of 
 four reputable men of the said trade. And if any one shall do to the 
 contrary thereof, or receive the serving workman of another to work 
 with him during his term, without leave of the trade, he is to incur the 
 said penalty. 
 
 Also, that no one shall take for working in the said trade more 
 than they were wont heretofore, on the pain aforesaid ; that is to say, 
 for the dyker ^ of Scotch stags, half a mark ; the dyker of Irish stags, 
 half a mark ; the dyker of Spanish stags, lOs. ; for the hundred of goat 
 skins, 20s. ; the hundred of roe leather, 168. ; for the hundred skins 
 of young deer, Ss. ; and for the hundred of kid skins, 8s. 
 
 * A dyker is a package of ten. 
 
26 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 ORDINANCES OF THE GILD OF THE TAILORS, EXETER, 
 
 A. D. 1466. 
 English : Smith's English Gilds, Early English Text Society, 1870, pp. 312-316. 
 
 To the worship of God and of our Lady Saiiit Mary, and of St. 
 John the Baptist, and of all Saints ; These be the ordinances made 
 and established of the fraternity of the craft of tailors, of the city of 
 Exeter, by assent and consent of the fraternity of the craft aforesaid gath- 
 ered there together, for evermore to endure. 
 
 First, it is ordained, by virtue of the charter^ granted by our sov- 
 ereign lord King Edward the Fourth, in the sixth year of his reign, 
 that tlie master of the aforesaid craft for the time being, every Thurs- 
 day shall be at the common hall, or else a deputy for him upon pain of 
 two pounds of wax. And every warden that is absent without reason- 
 able cause shall pay a pound of wax to the use and profit of the afore- 
 said fraternity ; and that the aforesaid master and wardens be there 
 every Thursday at nine of the clock, there to ordain and rule what may 
 be for the welfare of the fraternity and craft aforesaid, and none to act 
 without the other. 
 
 Also, it is ordained by the master and wardens and the conmion 
 council aforesaid that every person who is privileged with the craft 
 aforesaid who is of the value of £20 of goods and above, shall be of 
 the masters' fellowship and clothing. And every person that is of the 
 fellowship and the aforesaid craft shall pay, every year, for his feast, at 
 Midsummer, 12d., and his offering ; and for his clothing as it comes to, 
 within a month from Midsummer day, upon pain of being put out of the 
 aforesaid fraternity and craft for evermore. And every person that is so 
 admitted shall pay a spoon of silver, weighing an ounce, and its 
 fashioning. 
 
 Also, it is ordained that every out-brother,^ that is not privileged 
 of the aforesaid fraternity and gild, shall pay every year 6d. at Mid- 
 summer. And if he refuse to pay this within a month from Midsum- 
 mer, he is to be dismissed from the aforesaid fraternity and gild for 
 evermore. 
 
 ^ A charter granted directly by the king, 17th November, 1466 ; the original 
 with a portion of the great seal attached being still in the archives of the city of 
 Exeter. 
 
 2 •* You te Brodere," apparently means a^ member of the gild who is not by 
 occupation a tailor. 
 
CRAFT GILD OF TAILORS. 27 
 
 Also, it is ordaiued that all the fellowship of the bachelors shall 
 hold their feast on St. John's day, in harvest. And every person that 
 is a shop-holder of the aforesaid fellowship and craft shall pay to the 
 aforesaid feast 8d. and his offering. And every servant^ that receiveth 
 wages shall pay 6d. to the aforesaid feast. And every out-brother that 
 is of the aforesaid fellowship shall pay, every year, 4d. And if any 
 of the fellowship and craft aforesaid, refuse to pay this, then their names 
 shall be certified to the master and wardens, that they may do correction 
 therein, as belongeth to them to do, according to charter granted by the 
 sovereign lord, the King Edward the Fourth, the sixth year of his 
 reign, by assent and consent of the mayor, the bailiffs, and commons of 
 the city of Exeter, for ever to endure. 
 
 Also, it is ordained by the aforesaid master and wardens and fel- 
 lowship of the fraternity and craft aforesaid that every servant 
 that is of the aforesaid craft that taketh wages to the value of 20s. and 
 above shall pay 20d. to be a free sewer, to the use and profit of the 
 aforesaid fraternity ; that no man of the aforesaid craft set any new 
 sewer to work above the space of fifteen days without bringing him be- 
 fore the master and wardens there to pay his 20d. to be made a free 
 sewer, or else to find a surety. 
 
 Also it is ordained by the master and wardens aforesaid that if any 
 person of the aforesaid craft who is bound to pay any debt over to the 
 aforesaid master and wardens, breaks his day by the space of half a 
 year, he shall forfeit his whole bond. Provided, always, that if any 
 person or persons aforesaid have fallen into poverty, and will testify so 
 by his oath, he shall be discharged of his bond and debt and shall have 
 sustenance by the foresaid craft as may be thought, by their discretion, 
 convenient and reasonable. 
 
 Also, it is ordained by the foresaid master and wardens that if 
 any brother of the aforesaid fraternity and craft despise another, calling 
 him knave, or whoreson, or stupid, or any other misname, he shall pay 
 at the first fault, 12d. ; at the second fault, 20d. ; and at the third fault, 
 to be put out of the fraternity and craft for evermore. 
 
 Also, it is ordained by the foresaid master and wardens and the 
 whole fellowship, that if any brother of the aforesaid craft take any 
 
 * There are evidently, in addition to the out-brethren, three classes of mem- 
 bers of the gild: (i) those of ;^20 and above, who wear the livery; (2) 
 the shop-holders or independent craftsmen of less substance than the former ; and 
 (3) the servants, journeymen, or free sewers as they are subsequently called. 
 
28 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 clothing of any lord, knight or gentlemen, outside of the city without 
 leave of the master and wardens, at the lirst fault, 40s., and at the 
 second fault to be put out of the fraternity and craft for evermore. 
 
 Also, it is ordained by the foresaid master and wardens that there 
 shall be four quarter-days that every brother of this craft shall assem- 
 ble at our common-hall. And every shop-holder shall spend 2d. for a 
 breakfast, or send his money by a deputy. And at that the oath and the 
 ordinances and constitutions shall be read. The first day shall be the 
 next Thursday after Twelfth day, and the second day shall be the sec- 
 ond Thursday after Easter, and the third day shall be the second 
 Thursday after the feast of St. John the Baptist, and the fourth day 
 shall he the next Thursday after St. Michael's day. And at every of 
 these foresaid days, after dinner there shall come all free sewers and 
 take the remains of the meat and drink that the aforesaid master and 
 shop-holders leave; and each of them shall spend Id. to the welfare of 
 the aforesaid fraternity and gild. 
 
 Also, it is ordained by the master and wardens that at every coste 
 of ale that is given into the aforesaid fraternity and gild, every shop- 
 holder shall spend thereto Id., and every free sewer one farthing, and 
 he that cometh not shall send his money by the beadle, upon pain of one 
 pound of wax. 
 
 Also, it is ordained by the master and wardens and all the whole 
 craft, that from henceforth no man of the said craft shall hold more 
 than three servants and one apprentice at the most, without license of 
 the master and wardens for the time being, upon pain of 40s. and he 
 that pleadeth for him that doth against this ordinance shall forfeit 20s. 
 
 Also, it is ordained by the master and wardens and all the whole 
 craft, that every person of the said craft that taketh an apprentice shall 
 bring him before the master and wardens, there to have his indenture 
 enrolled, the master to pay 12d. for his enrollment. This is to be done 
 within a twelvemonth and a day or else he is to lose his freedom of the 
 craft for evermore. 
 
 Also, it is ordained by the master and wardens and the craft afore- 
 said that every apprentice of the said craft that is enrolled and truly 
 serveth his covenant shall pay a silver spoon weighing an ounce and its 
 fashioning, and shall give a breakfast to the foresaid master and wardens 
 before the day that he is able to be made freeman of the city aforesaid ; 
 and if he pay not a spoon worth 48., then 4s. in money for the same. 
 
 Also, it is ordained by the master and wardens and the whole fel- 
 
CRAFT GILD OF TAILORS. 29 
 
 lovvship that every person that shall be made free of the craft by 
 redemption shall pay 20s. to his fine v;ithout any pardon ; and 
 when he is enabled, shall give a breakfast to the master and wardens, 
 before he is admitted free man of the city. And every person so enabled 
 from henceforth shall have, the first year, but one servant, the second 
 year, two, the third, three, and an apprentice if he be able. And he 
 that doeth against this ordinance shall forfeit, at the first fault, 20s. at 
 the second offense, 40s., at the third offense, he shall be put out of the 
 fraternity and craft for evermore. 
 
 ORDER OF THE PAGEANTS OF THE CORPUS CHRISTI 
 
 PLAY IN THE CITY OF YORK, A. D. 141 5. 
 
 English : L. T. Smith's **York Plays." Introduction, xix. 
 
 Each fraternity or craft-gild had charge of one scene in the whole series and 
 performed it on a platform on wheels, successively, at each appointed station in the 
 city on Corpus Christi day. As one scene was completed, its players moved on to 
 the next station, their place being taken by the company having in charge the next 
 pageant in the series. 
 
 Tanners. — God the Father Omnipotent creating and forming the 
 
 heavens, the angels and archangels, Lucifer and the angels who 
 
 fell with him into the pit. 
 Plasterers. — God the Father in his substance creating the earth and 
 
 all things which are therein, in the space of five days. 
 Cardmakers. — God the Father forming Adam from the mud of the 
 
 earth, and making Eve from Adam's rib, and inspiring them with 
 
 the breath of life. 
 Fullers. — God forbidding Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of life. 
 Coopers. — Adam and Eve and the tree between them, the serpent 
 
 deceiving them with apples ; God speaking to them and cursing 
 
 the serpent, and an angel with a sword driving them out of 
 
 Paradise. 
 Armorers. — Adam and Eve, an angel with a spade and distaff 
 
 appointing them their labor. 
 Glovers. — Able and Cain sacrificing victims. 
 Ship\vrights. — God warning Noah to make an ark out of planed 
 
 wood. 
 Fishmongers and Mariners. — Noah in the ark with his wife, three 
 
 sons of Noah with their wives, with various animals. 
 
30 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 Parchment-makers and Book-binders. — Abraham sacrificing 
 
 his son Isaac on the altar. 
 Hosiers. — Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, King 
 
 Pharaoh, eight Jews looking on and wondering. 
 Spicers. — A doctor declaring the sayings of the prophets concerning 
 
 the future birth of Christ. Mary, the angel saluting her; Mary 
 
 saluting Elizabeth. 
 Pew^terers and Founders. — Mary, Joseph wishing to send her 
 
 away, the angel telling them to go over to Bethlehem. 
 Tilers. — Mary, Joseph, a nurse, the child born and lying in a manger 
 
 between an ox and an ass, and an angel speaking to the shepherds, 
 
 and to the players in the next pageant. 
 Chandlers. — Shepherds speaking to one another, the star in the East 
 
 an angel announcing to the shepherds their great joy in the child 
 
 which has been born. 
 Goldsmiths, Goldbeaters and Moneyers. — Three kings coming 
 
 from the East, Herod questioning them about the child Jesus, and 
 
 the son of Herod and two counsellors and a herald. Mary with 
 
 the child, and the star above, and three kings offering gifts. 
 (Formerly) The House of St. Leonard, (now) Masons. — 
 
 Mary, with the boy, Joseph, Anna, the nurse, with the young 
 
 doves. Simeon receiving the boy into his arms, and the two sons 
 
 of Simeon. 
 Marshalls. — Mary with the boy and Joseph fleeing into Egypt, at the 
 
 bidding of the angel. 
 Girdlers, Nailers, and Sawyers. — Herod ordering the male 
 
 children to be slain, four soldiers with lances, two counsellors of the 
 
 king, and four women weeping for the death of their sons. 
 Spurriers and Lorimers. — Doctors, the boy Jesus sitting in the 
 
 temple in the midst of them, asking them questions and replying 
 
 to them, four Jews, Mary and Joseph seeking him, and finding 
 
 him in the temple. 
 Barbers. — Jesus, John the Baptist baptizing him, and two angels 
 
 attending. 
 Vinters. — Jesus, Mary, bridegroom with the bride, ruler of the feast 
 
 with his slaves, with six vessels of water in which the water is 
 
 turned into wine. 
 Smiths. — Jesus on a pinnacle of the temple, and the devil tempting 
 
 him with stones, and two angels attending, etc. 
 
ORDER OF THE PAGEANTS OF THE CORPUS CHRISTI PLAY. 3T 
 
 Curriers. — Peter, James, and John ; Jesus ascending into a mountain 
 and transfiguring himself before them. Moses and Elias appear- 
 ing, and the voice of one speaking in a cloud. 
 
 Ironmongers. — Jesus, and Simon the leper asking Jesus to eat with 
 him ; two disciples, Mary Magdalene bathing Jesus feet with her 
 tears and drying them with her hair. 
 
 Plumbers and Patternmakers. — Jesus, two apostles, the woman 
 taken in adultery, four Jews accusing her. 
 
 Pouchmakers, Bottlers, and Capmakers. — Lazarus in the 
 sepulchre, Mary Magdalene and Martha, and two Jews wondering. 
 
 Spinners and Vestmakers. — Jesus on an ass with its colt, twelve 
 apostles following Jesus, six rich and six poor, eight boys with 
 branches of palm, singing Blessed, etc., and Zaccheus climbing into 
 a sycamore tree. 
 
 Cutlers, Bladesmiths, Sheathers, Scalers, Bucklermakers, 
 and Homers. — Pilate, Caiaphas, two soldiers, three Jews, Judas 
 selling Jesus. 
 
 Bakers. — The passover lamb, the Supper of the Lord, twelve apostles, 
 Jesus girded with a towel, washing their feet, institution of the sacra- 
 ment of the body of Christ in the new law, communion of the apostles. 
 
 Cordwainers. — Pilate, Caiaphas, Annas, fourteen armed soldiers, 
 Malchus, Peter, James, John, Jesus, and Judas kissing and 
 betraying him. 
 
 Bowyers and Fletchers. — Jesus, Annas, Caiaphas, and four Jews 
 beating and scourging Jesus. Peter, the woman accusing Peter, 
 and Malchus. 
 
 Tapestrymakers and Couchers. — Jesus, Pilate, Annas, Caiaphas, 
 two counsellors and four Jews accusing Jesus. 
 
 Lfittesters. — Herod, two counsellors, four soldiers, Jesus, and three Jews. 
 
 Cooks and Watercarriers. — Pilate, Annas, Caiaphas, two Jews, 
 and Judas bringing back to them the thirty pieces of silver. 
 
 Tilemakers, Millers, Furriers, Hayresters, Bowlers. — Jesus, 
 Pilate, Caiaphas, Annas, six soldiers holding spears with banners, 
 and four others leading Jesus away from Herod, asking to have 
 Barabbas released and Jesus crucified, and likewise binding and 
 scourging him, and placing the crown of thorns upon his head ; 
 three soldiers casting lots for the clothing of Jesus. 
 
 Shearmen. — Jesus, stained with blood, bearing the cross to Calvary. 
 Simon of Cyrene, the Jews compelling him to carry the cross ; 
 
32 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 Mary the mother of Jesus ; John the apostle then announcing the con- 
 demnation and passage of her son to Calvary. Veronica wiping 
 the blood and sweat from the face of Jesus with a veil on which is 
 imprinted the face of Jesus, and other women mourning for Jesus. 
 
 Pinmakers, Latenmakers, and Painters. — The cross, Jesus 
 stretched upon it on the ground ; four Jews scourging Him and 
 binding Him with ropes, and afterwards lifting the cross, and the 
 body of Jesus nailed to the cross on Mount Calvary. 
 
 Butchers and Poultry Dealers. — The cross, two thieves crucified, 
 Jesus hanging on the cross between them, Mary the mother of Jesus, 
 John, Mary, James, and Salome. A soldier with a lance, a servant 
 with a sponge, Pilate, Annas, Caiaphas, the centurion, Joseph of 
 Arimathea and Nicodemus, placing Him in the sepulchre. 
 
 Saddlers, Glaziers and Joiners. — Jesus conquering hell; twelve 
 spirits, six good, and six evil. 
 
 Carpenters. — Jesus rising from the sepulchre, four armed soldiers, and 
 the three Marys mourning. Pilate, Caiaphas, and Annas. A young 
 man seated at the sepulchre clothed in white, speaking to the women. 
 
 Winedraw^ers. — Jesus, Mary Magdalene with aromatic spices. 
 
 Brokers and Woolpackers. — Jesus, Luke, and Cleophas in the 
 guise of travelers. 
 
 Scriveners, Illuminators, Pardoners and Dubbers. — Jesus, 
 Peter, John, James, Philip, and the other apostles with parts of a 
 baked fish, and a honey-comb ; and Thomas the apostle touching 
 the wounds of Jesus. 
 
 Tailors. — Mary, John the evangelist, the eleven apostles, two angels, 
 Jesus ascending before them, and four angels carrying a cloud. 
 
 Potters. — Mary, two angels, eleven apostles, and the Holy Spirit 
 descending upon them, and four Jews wondering. 
 
 Drapers. — Jesus, Mary, Gabriel with two angels, two virgins and 
 three Jews of Mary's acquaintance, eight apostles, and two devils. 
 
 Lrinen-'weavers. — Four apostles carrying the bier of Mary, and 
 Fergus hanging above the bier, with two other Jews and an angel. 
 
 Woolen- weavers. — Mary ascending with a throng of angels, eight 
 apostles, and the apostle Thomas preaching in the desert. 
 
 Innkeepers. — Mary, Jesus crowning her, with a throng of angels singing. 
 
 Mercers. — Jesus, Mary, the twelve apostles, four angels with trumpets, 
 and four with a crown, a lance, and two whips, four good spirits, 
 and four evil spirits, and six devils. 
 
GILD OF ST. KATHARINE. 33 
 
 V. SOCIAL OR NON-INDUSTRIAL GILDS 
 
 From very early times organizations existed in the nature of semi-religious 
 clubs or benefit societies, the membership being voluntary and quite unconnected 
 with trade or manufacturing interests or responsibilities. The characteristic ten- 
 dency of the Middle Ages to organization found much of its satisfaction in these 
 small social or religious gilds, which existed not only in the larger towns but even 
 in villages. They were moreover among the most permanent of mediaeval institu- 
 tions. We have records of their existence alongside of the "frith-gilds" of Anglo- 
 Saxon times ; a great proportion of the five hundred or more gilds which sent in 
 reports of their ordinances in 1389 ^ were of this class, and many were found among 
 the "corporations, gilds, fjaternities, companies and fellowships" dissolved in 1547. 
 
 RULES OF A GILD AT EXETER, BEFORE THE XL CENTURY. 
 Anglo-Saxon; Thorpe, Dtplomatarium Anglicum, 613, and English ; Kemble, 
 Saxons in England, i. 512, 513. 
 
 This assembly was collected in Exeter, for the love of God and for 
 our soul's need, both in regard to our life here, and to the after days 
 which we desire for ourselves by God's doom. 
 
 Now we have agreed that our meeting shall be thrice in the twelve 
 months ; once at St. Michael's Mass, secondly at St. Mary's Mass, after 
 mid-winter, and thirdly at Allhallow's Mass after Easter ; and let each 
 gild-brother have two sesters of malt, and each young man one sester, 
 and a sceat of honey ; and let the mass-priest at each of our meetings 
 sing two masses, one for our living friends, the other for the dead ; and 
 let each brother of common condition sing two psalters of psalms, one 
 for the living and one for the dead ; and at the death of a brother, each 
 man six masses ; or six psalters of psalms ; and at a death each 
 man five pence ; and at a house-burning each man one penny. And if 
 any one neglect the day, for the first time three masses, for the second 
 five, and at the third time let him have no favor, unless his neglect 
 arose from sickness or his lord's need. And if any one neglect his sub- 
 scription at the proper day, let him pay double. And if any one of 
 this brotherhood misgreet another, let him make boot with thirty pence. 
 Now we pray for the love of God that every man hold this meeting 
 rightly, as we rightly have agreed upon it. Grod help us thereunto. 
 
 ^ Many of these are printed, and others epitomized in Toulrrin Smith's "En- 
 glish Gilds," published by the Early English Text Society in 1870. 
 
34 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS 
 
 REPORT OF WARDENS OF THE GILD OF ST. KATHARINE 
 
 AT NORWICH, A, D. 1389. 
 
 English : Toulmin Smith, English Gilds, pp. 19-21. 
 
 To the most excellent prince and lord, our lord Richard, by the 
 grace of God, king of England and France, and to his council in 
 his chancery, his humble lieges, the guardians of a certain fraternity of 
 St. Katharine the virgin and martyr, in the church of St. Simon and 
 St. Jude in Norwich, all subjection and reverence and honor. By vir- 
 tue of a certain proclamation recently made according to royal com- 
 mand by the sheriff of the county of Norfolk at Norwich, we certify to 
 your excellency according to the form of the aforesaid proclamation, 
 that our aforesaid fraternity was founded in the year 1307, by certain 
 parishioners of the said church, and by others devoted to God, to the 
 honor of the Holy Trinity, and of the blessed Virgin Mary, and of St. 
 Katharine the virgin and martyr, and of all saints, and for keeping up 
 an increase of light in the said Church ; under certain ordinances 
 made and issued with common consent of the brothers and sisters of the 
 aforesaid fraternity. The tenor of these ordinances foil ws in these words. 
 
 In the first place with one assent it is ordained that all the breth- 
 ren and sisters of this gild shall come together to the parish church of 
 St. Simon and St. Jude, in Norwich, on the day of St. Katharine, to go 
 in the procession with their candle, which is borne before them, and to 
 hear the mass of St. Katharine in the aforesaid church ; and at that 
 mass every brother and sister shall offer a half-penny. 
 
 And also it is ordained that what brother or sister shall be absent 
 at the procession aforesaid, or at mass, or at offering, he shall pay 
 to the chattels of the gild two pounds of wax, but they may be 
 excused reasonably. 
 
 And also it is ordained, that where a brother or a sister is dead, 
 and every brother and sister shall come to dirige and to mass ; and at 
 the mass, each shall offer a half-penny, and give a half-penny to alms ; 
 and for a mass to be sung for the soul of the dead, a penny. And at 
 the dirige^ every brother and sister that is lettered shall say, for the 
 soul of the dead, placebo and dirige^ in the place where they shall come 
 together ; and every brother and sister that is not lettered shall say for 
 the soul of the dead, twenty times, the Paternoster y with ave Maria ; and 
 from the chattels of the gild shall there be two candles of wax, of six- 
 teen pounds weight, about the body of the dead. 
 
 And also it is ordained, that if any brother or sister die out of the 
 city of Norwich, within eight miles, six of the brethren that have the 
 
GILD OF ST. KATHARINE. 35 
 
 chattels of the gild in keeping, shall go to that brother or sister that is 
 dead ; and if it be lawful, they shall carry it to Norwich, or else it be 
 buried there; and if the body be buried out ot Norwich, all the breth- 
 ren and sisters shall be warned to come to the foresaid church of St. 
 Simon and St. Jude, and there shall be done for the soul of the dead all 
 service, light and offering as if the body were there present. And what 
 brother or sister be absent at placebo and dirige, or at mass, he shall 
 pay two pounds of wax to the chattels of the gild, unless he be reason- 
 ably excused. And nevertheless he shall do for the dead as it is said 
 before. 
 
 And also it is ordained that, on the morrow after the gild day all 
 the brethren and sisters shall come to the aforesaid church, and there 
 sing a mass of requiem for the souls of the brethren and sisters of this 
 gild, and for all Christian souls, and each offer there a farthing. And 
 whoso is absent he shall pay a pound of wax. 
 
 And also it is ordained that if any brother or sister fall into pov- 
 erty, through adventure of the world, his estate shall be helped by 
 every brother and sister of the gild, with a farthing in the week. 
 
 And also it is ordained by common assent that if there be any 
 discord between brothers and sisters, that discord shall be first showed 
 to other brothers and sisters of the gild, and by them shall accord l^e 
 made, if it may be skillfully. And if they cannot be so brought to 
 accord, it shall be lawful to them to go to the common law, without any 
 maintenance. And whoso does against| this ordinance, he shall pay 
 two pounds of wax to the light. 
 
 Also it is ordained, by common assent, that if any brother of this 
 gild be chosen into office and refuse it, he shall pay two pounds of wax 
 to the light of St. Katharine. 
 
 Also it is ordained, by common assent, that the brethren and sistei-s 
 of this gild, in the worship of St. Katharine, shall have a livery of 
 hoods in suit, and eat together in their gild day, at their common cost ; 
 and whoso fails, he shall pay two pounds of wax to the light. 
 
 Also it is ordained, by common assent, that no brother or sister 
 shall be received into this gild but by the alderman and twelve brethren 
 of the gild. 
 
 And as to the goods and chattels of the said fraternity, we make 
 known to your excellency, likewise, that we the aforesaid guardians, 
 have in our custody, for the use of the said fraternity, twenty shillings 
 of silver. 
 
36 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Gross, Charles : A Bibliography of British Municipal History, including 
 Gilds and Parliamentary Representation, i vol. New York, 1897. 
 
 This is a remarkably complete list of all works on the subjects indicated 
 by the title, accompanied with valuable comments and criticism. 
 
 Gross, Charles : The Gild Merchant. 2 vols. Oxford, 1890. 
 The standard work on the subject. 
 
 Ashley, W. J. : English Economic History. 2 vols. New York, 1892. 
 
 The second chapter of the first volume gives an outline account of the 
 mediaeval towns and gilds ; and the first three chapters of the second volume 
 present a much more detailed and quite original study of the changes of the 
 fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
 
 Cunningham, W. : Growth of English Industry and Commerce. 2 vols. 
 Cambridge, 1890. 
 
 Scattered through these two volumes is much valuable discussion of the 
 subject, especially of the craft gilds. 
 
 Seligman, E. R. A. : Two Chapters on the Mediaeval Gilds. Publications of 
 
 the American Economic Association, Vol. II, No. 5. Baltimore, 
 1887. 
 
 Smith, J. T. : English Gilds. Publications of the Early English Text So- 
 ciety. London, 1870. 
 
 An edition of the original ordinances, statutes, and customs of certain 
 towns and craft and religious gilds, especially of the fourteenth century. 
 
 Brentano, L. J. : On the History and Development of Gilds. 
 
 An introductory essay to the preceding publication, but subsequently 
 published separately. 
 
Translations and Reprints 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. 
 Vol. II. England in the Time of Wycliffe. No. 5. 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 I. The Black Death. i 
 
 1. Thomas Walsingham's Account, . . .2 
 
 2. Robert of Avesbury's Account, . . .2 
 
 3. The King's Ordinance Concerning Laborers, . 3 
 
 II. Statutes of Provisors and Praemunire. 5 
 
 1. Statute of Provisors of 1352, 25 Ed. Ill, Stat. 5, 
 
 c. 22, . . . . . .6 
 
 2. Statute of Praemunire of 1393, 16 Rich. II, c. 5, .9 
 
 III. Wycliffe and the Lollards. 9 
 
 1. Heretical and Erroneous Conclusions, . . 9 
 
 2. Bull of Gregory XI to the University of Oxford, . 11 
 
 3. Reply of Wycliffe to his Summons by the Pope to 
 
 come to Rome, . . . . • ^3 
 
 4. Statute of 1 40 1 against the Lollards, . . .14 
 
 IV. The Peasant Rebellion. 17 
 
 1. Law against Gatherings of Villains, . . • i? 
 
 2. Letter of John Ball, . . . . .18 
 
 3. The King's Grant of Manumission, . . '19 
 
 4. Withdrawal of Manumissions, . . '19 
 
 5. The King's Pardon for Violence of Lords, . . 20 
 
 I. THE BLACK DEATH. 
 
 Contemporary accounts of the great pestilence of 1348-9 are surprisingly few. 
 Several of the chronicles close shortly before that date, and others seem to have been 
 suspended during the period of confusion attendant upon it. Its extent and effects 
 are, however, discoverable from a large mass of ecclesiastical and manorial records, 
 and from the appearance on the Statute-book of the Statutes of Laborers. Theldocu- 
 ment (3) printed below is not properly a law, but a royal ordinance, issued apparently 
 in the summer of 1349, while the plague was still raging. It was transformed into a 
 law, with closer definition of the rate of wages, at the first subsequent meeting of 
 Parliament, in 135 1 ; (25 Ed. iii. Stat. 2.) This law was frequently reenacted in 
 various forms until it came to be embraced in the great Statute of Apprentices ; 
 
2 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 (5 Eliz. c. 4.) There are some inconsistencies in the address of the document, as it 
 has been preserved, but in the form here adopted it seems to have been issued to 
 all the sheriffs and the officials of large towns, with instructions for its immediate 
 proclamation. 
 
 I. walsingham's account. 
 
 Historia Anglicana, I, 273, Rolls Series. Latin. 
 
 In the year of grace 1349, which was the tweuty-third year of 
 king Edward, the third since the Conquest, a gfeat mortality of man- 
 kind advanced over the world ; beginning in the regions of the north 
 and east, and ending with so great a destruction that scarcely half of 
 the people remained. Then towns once full of men became destitute of 
 inhabitants ; and so violently did the pestilence increase that the living 
 were scarce able to bury the dead. Indeed, in certain houses of men of 
 religion, scarcely two out of twenty men survived. It was estimated by 
 many that hardly a tenth part of mankind had been left alive. A mur- 
 rain among animals followed immediately upon this pestilence ; then rents 
 ceased ; then the land, because of the lack of tenants, who where nowhere 
 to be found, remained uncultivated. So great misery followed from these 
 evils that the world was never afterward able to return to its former state. 
 
 2. ROBERT OF AVESBURY's ACCOUNT. 
 
 Chronicle, A. D. 1348-9, pp. 406, 407, Rolls Series. Latin. 
 
 The pestilence which had first broken out in the land occupied by 
 the Saracens became so much stronger that, sparing no dominion, it visited 
 with the scourge of sudden death the various parts of all the kingdoms, 
 extending from that land to the northward, including even Scotland, des- 
 troying the greater part of the people. For it began in England in 
 Dorsetshire, about the feast of St. Peter, called ad mnc^ila, in the year 
 of the Lord 1348, and immediately advancing from place to place it 
 attacked men without warning and for the most part those who were 
 healthy. Very many of those who were attacked in the morning it car- 
 ried out of human affaire before noon. And no one whom it willed to 
 die did it permit to live longer than three or four days. There was 
 moreover no choice of persons, with the exception, at least, of a few rich 
 people. In the same day twenty, forty or sixty corpses, and indeed many 
 times as many more bodies of those who had died, were delivered to 
 church burial in the same pit at the same time. And about the feast 
 
THE KING S PROCLAMATION CONCERNING LABORERS. 3 
 
 of All Saints, reaching London, it deprived many of their life daily, and 
 increased to so great an extent that from the feast of the Purification till 
 after Easter there were more than two hundred bodies of those who had 
 died buried daily in the cemetery which had been then recently made 
 near Smithfield, besides the bodies which were in other graveyards of 
 the same city. The grace of the Holy Spirit finally intervening, that 
 is to say about the feast of Whitsunday, it ceased at London, proceed- 
 ing continuously northward. In these parts also it ceased about the 
 feast of St. Michael, in the year of the Lord 1349. 
 
 3. THE king's PROCLAMATION CONCERNING LABORERS. 
 Statutes of the Realm, I, 307, 308. Latin. 
 
 The king to the sheriff of Kent, greeting. Because a great part of 
 the people, and especially of workmen and servants, have lately died in 
 the pestilence, many seeing the necessities of masters and great scarcity of 
 servants, will not serve unless they may receive excessive wages, and 
 others preferring to beg in idleness rather than by labor to get their 
 living ; we, considering the grievous incommodities which of the lack 
 especially of ploughmen and such laborers may hereafter come, have 
 upon deliberation and treaty with the prelates and the nobles and 
 learned men assisting us, with their unanimous counsel ordained : 
 
 That every man and woman of our realm of England, of what con- 
 dition he be, free or bond, able in body, and within the age of sixty years, 
 not living in merchandize, nor exercising any craft, nor having of his 
 own whereof he may live, nor land of his own about whose tillage he 
 may occupy himself, and not serving any other ; if he be required to 
 serve in suitable service, his estate considered, he shall be bound to serve 
 bim which shall so require him ; and take only the wages, livery, meed, 
 or salary which were accustomed to be given in the places where he 
 oweth to serve, the twentieth year of our reign of England, or five or six 
 other common years next before. Provided always, that the lords be 
 preferred before others in their bondmen or their land tenants, so in 
 their service to be retained ; so that, nevertheless, the said lords shall 
 retain no more than be necessary for them. And if any such man or 
 woman being so required to serve will not do the same, and that be 
 proved by two true men before the sheriff, bailiff, lord, or constable of the 
 town where the same shall happen to be done, he shall immediately be 
 taken by them or any of them, and committed to the next gaol, there to 
 
4 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS 
 
 remain under strait keeping, till he find surety to serve in the form aforc-said 
 
 If any reaper, mower, other workman or servant, of wliat estate 
 or condition he be, retained in any man's service, do depart from 
 the said service without reasonable cause or license, belbre the term 
 agreed, he shall have pain of imprisonment ; and no one, under the same 
 penalty, shall presume to receive or retain such a one in his service. 
 
 No one, moreover, shall pay or promise to pay to any one more 
 wages, liveries, meed, or salary than was accustomed, as is before said ; 
 nor shall any one in any other manner demand or receive them, u\)Ou 
 painofdoublingof that which shall have been so paid, promised, required 
 or received, to him who thereof shall feel hmself aggrieved ; and if none 
 such will sue, then the same shall be applied to any of the people that 
 will sue ; and such suit shall be in the court of the lord of the place 
 where such case shall happen. 
 
 And if lords of tow^ns or manors presume in any point to come 
 against this present ordinance, either by them or by their servants, then 
 suit shall be made against them in the form aforesaid, in the counties, 
 wapentakes, and trithings, or such other courts of ours, for the penalty 
 of treble that so paid or promised by them or their servants. And if 
 any before this present ordinance hath covenanted with any so to serve 
 for more wages, he shall not be bound, by reason of the said covenant, 
 to pay more than at another time was wont to be paid to such a i)erson ; 
 nor, under the same penalty, shall presume to pay more. 
 
 Itein. Saddlers, skinners, white tawyers, cordwainers, tailors, smiths, 
 carpenters, masons, tilers, shipwrights, carters, and all other artificers 
 and workmen, shall not take for their labor and workmanship above 
 the same that was wont to be paid to such persons the said twentieth 
 year, and other common years next preceding, as before is said, in the 
 place where they shall happen to work ; and if any man take more he 
 shall be committed to the next gaol, in manner as before is said. 
 
 Item. That butchers, fishmongers, hostelers, brewers, bakers, poul- 
 terers, and all other sellers of all manner of victuals, shall ])e bound to 
 sell the same victuals for a reasonable price, having respect to the price 
 that such victuals be sold at in the places adjoining, so that the san)e 
 sellers have moderate gains, and not excessive, reasonably to be required 
 according to the distance of the place from which the said victuals be 
 carried ; and if any sell such victuals in any other manner, and thereof be 
 convicted, in the manner and form aforesaid, he shall pay the double of 
 the same that he so received to the party injured, or in default of Iiim, 
 
STATUTES OF PROVISORS AND PRAEMUNIRE. 5 
 
 to any other that will sue in this behalf. And the mayors and bailiffs 
 of cities, boroughs, merchant towns, and others, and of the ports and 
 maritime places, shall have power to inquire of all and singular, which 
 shall in any tiling offend against this, and to levy the said penalty to 
 the use of them at whose suit such offenders shall be convicted. And 
 in case the same mayoi-s and bailiffs be negligent in doing execution 
 of the premises, and thereof be convicted before our justices, by us to be 
 assigned, then the same mayors and bailiffs shall be compelled by the 
 same justices to pay the treble of the thing so sold to the party injured, 
 or in default of him, to any other that will sue; and nevertheless 
 they shall be grievously punished on our part. 
 
 And because many strong beggars, as long as they may live 
 by begging, do refuse to labor, giving themselves to idleness and vice, 
 and sometimes to theft and other abominations ; none upon the said 
 pain of imprisonment, shall, under the color of pity or alms, give any- 
 thing to such, who are able to labor, or presume to favor them in their 
 idleness, so that thereby they may be compelled to labor for their 
 necessary living. 
 
 II. STATUTES OF PROVISORS AND PRAEMUNIRE. 
 
 A consistent effort was made by the Popes, from the latter part of the thirteenth 
 century to the middle of the fifteenth, to gain an increased control over ecclesiastical 
 patronage in England. Not only was the old right of appointment in various irregu- 
 lar cases extended, but the system of papal reservations was developed. The Pope 
 formally reserved to himself the future appointment to certain benefices when they 
 should become vacant. In the meantime he appointed some one to the future va- 
 cancy by giving him letters which were made public only when the actual incumbent 
 died. Provision was thus made for an occupant of the benefice, and, by a curious 
 misuse of the termination, such persons, appointed beforehand by the Pope, were 
 called ''provisors of benefices." Suits in regard to such appointments seem to have 
 brought up the question of the limits of papal jurisdiction in England, which was the 
 subject of the Statutes of Praemunire, as that of patronage was the subject of the 
 Statutes of Provisors. It is not possible to dissociate entirely in the laws the 
 limitation of papal patronage and the restriction of papal jurisdiction, the two terms 
 mentioned above being often used almost interchangeably. The Statutes of Provisors 
 and of Pramunire are as follows: 35 Ed. I; 25 Ed. Ill, Stat. 4; 25 Ed. Ill, Stat. 
 5. c. 22; 27 Ed. Ill, c. 1; 38 Ed. Ill, Stat. 2; 3 Rich. II, c. 3; 7 Rich. II, c. 12; 
 12 Rich. II, c. 15 ; and 16 Rich. II, c. 5. The following are given as typical. The 
 second document, the Statute of Praemunire of 1393, was the first to become really 
 effective. 
 
6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 I. STATUTE OF PROVISORS OF 1 35 2. 
 25 Ed. Ill, Stat. 5, c. 22. Statutes of the Realm, I, 323, 324. Latin. 
 
 Because that some do purchase in the court of Rome provisions to 
 have abbeys and priories in England, in destruction of the realm, and 
 of holy religion ; it is accorded, that every man that purchaseth such 
 provisions of abbeys or priories, that he and his executors and procura- 
 tors which do sue and make execution of such provisions, shall be out 
 of the king's protection ; and that a man may do with them as of 
 enemies of our sovereign lord the king and his realm ; and he that 
 offendeth against such provisors in body or in goods, or in other posses- 
 sions, shall be excused against all people, and shall never be impeached 
 nor grieved for the same at any man's suit. 
 
 2. STATUTE OF PR^MUNIRE OF 1 393. 
 16 Rich. II, c. 5, Statutes of the Realm, II, 84. Latin. 
 
 Whereas, the Commons of the realm in this present Parliament 
 have showed to our redoubted lord the king, grievously complaining, 
 that whereas the said our lord the king and all his liege people ought 
 of right and of old time were wont to sue in the king's court, to recover 
 their presentments to churches, prebends, and other benefices of holy 
 church to the which they had right to present, the cognisance of plea 
 of which suit belongeth only to the king's court of the old right of his 
 crown, used and approved in the time of all his progenitors, kings of 
 England ; and when judgment shall be given in the same court upon 
 such a plea and suit, the archbishops, bishops, and other spiritual 
 persons which have institution of such benefices within their jurisdiction 
 be bound, and have made execution of such judgments by the king's 
 commandments, for all the time aforesaid without interruption, (for 
 another, a lay person, is not able to make such execution), and also be 
 bound of right to make execution of many other of the king's command- 
 ments, of which right the crown of England hath been peaceably seized, 
 as well in the time of our said lord the king that now is, as in the time 
 of all his progenitors till this day. 
 
 But now of late divei*s processes be made by the holy father the 
 Pope, and censures of excommunication upon certain bishops of England, 
 because they had made execution of such commandments, to the open 
 disherison of the same crown and destruction of the regalty of our said 
 
STATUTES PR^.MUNIRE OF 1 393. 7 
 
 lord the king, his law, and all his realm, if remedy be not provided. 
 And also it is said and a common clamor is made that the said holy 
 father, the Pope, hath ordained and purposed to translate some prelates 
 of the same realm, some out of the realm, and some from one bishopric 
 into another within . the same realm, without the king's assent and 
 knowledge, and without the assent of the prelates which are to be so 
 translated, wliich prelates be much profitable and necessary to our said 
 lord the king, and to all his realm ; by which translations, if they should 
 be suffered, the statutes of the realm should be defeated and made void ; 
 and his said liege sages of his council, without his assent and against 
 his will carried away and gotten out of his realm and the substance and 
 treasure of the realm should be carried away, and so the realm destitute 
 as well of council as of substance, to the final destruction of the same 
 realm. So the crown of England which hath been so free at all times 
 that it hath had no earthly sovereign, but is immediately subject to God 
 in all things touching the regalty of the same crown, and to none other, 
 would be submitted to the Pope, and the laws and statutes of the realm 
 by him defeated and avoided at his will, in perpetual destruction of the 
 sovereignty of the king our lord, his crown, his regalty, and of all his 
 realm, which God forbid. 
 
 And moreover, the Commons aforesaid say, that the things so 
 attempted be clearly against the king's crown and his regalty, used and 
 approved in the time of all his progenitors; wherefore, they and all the 
 liege commons of the same realm will stand with our said lord the king. 
 and his said crown and his regalty, in the cases aforesaid, and in all 
 other cases attempted against him his crown and his regalty in all 
 points, to live and to die; and moreover, they pray the king and require 
 him, by way of justice, that he would examine all the lords in the 
 Parliament, as well spiritual as temporal severally, and all the estates 
 of the Parliament, how they think of the cases aforesaid, which be so 
 openly against the king's crown, and in derogation of his regalty, and 
 bow they will stand in the same cases with our lord the king in uphold- 
 ing the rights of the said crown and regalty. 
 
 Wherefore, the lords temporal so demanded have answered everyone 
 by himself, that the cases aforesaid be clearly in derogation of the king's 
 crown and of his regalty, as is well known, and hath been of a longtime 
 known, and that they will be with the same crown and regalty, in 
 these cases sjxicially, and in all other cases which shall be attempted 
 against the same crown and regalty in all points, with all their power. 
 
8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 And, moreover, there was demanded of the lords spiritual being 
 there and the procurators of others, being absent, their advice and will in 
 all these cases ; which lords, that is to say, the archbishops, bishops, and 
 other prelates, being in the said Parliament severally examined, (making 
 protestations that it is not their intention to say nor to affirm that our 
 holy father the Pope may not excommunicate bishops and that he 
 may not make translations of prelates according to the law of holy 
 church ;) answered and said, that if any executions of processes made 
 in the king's court, as before, be made by any, and censures of excom- 
 munications be made against any bishops of England, or any other of 
 the king's liege people, for that they have made execution of such 
 commandments, and that if any executions of such translations be 
 made of any prelates of the same realm, which lords be very profitable 
 and necessary to our said lord the king, and to his said realm, or that 
 his sage lieges of his council, without his assent and against his will, be 
 removed and carried out of the realm, so that the substance and treas- 
 ure of the realm may be consumed, that the same is against the king 
 and his crown, as is contained in the petition before named. And like- 
 wise the same procurators, every one by himself examined upon the 
 said matters, have answered and said, in the name and for their lords, 
 as the said bishops have said and answered ; and that the said lords 
 spiritual will and ought to stand with the king in these cases loyally in 
 maintenance of his crown, and in all other cases touching his crown 
 and regalty, as they are bound by their allegiance. 
 
 Whereupon, our said lord the king, by the assent aforesaid, and at 
 the request of his said Commons, hath ordained and established ; that 
 if anyone purchases or pursues or causes to be purchased or pursued in 
 the court of Rome or elsewhere any such translations, processes, and 
 sentences of excommunications, bills, instruments, or any other thing 
 whatsoever which touches the king our lord, against him, his crown 
 and regalty, or his realm, as before is said, and those who bring them 
 within the realm, or receive them, or make thereof notification, or any 
 other execution whatsoever, within the same realm or without ; that 
 they, their notaries, procurators, maintainers, abettors, favorers, and 
 counsellors, shall be put out of the protection of our said lord the king, 
 and their lands and tenements, goods and chattels, shall be forfeited to 
 our lord the king ; and that they shall be attached by their bodies, if 
 they may be found, and brought before the king and his council, there 
 to answer to the cases aforesaid, or that process be made against them 
 
wycliffe's conclusions. 9 
 
 by pramimire facias, in manner as it is ordained in other statutes of 
 
 provisors and others who sue in the court of another, in derogation 
 of the regalty of our lord the king. 
 
 III. WYCLIFFE AND THE LOLLARDS. 
 
 Of the three forms of the movement for church reform in the last half of the 
 fourteenth century, the attack on the unworthy lives of the clergy, the introduction of 
 new doctrine, and the propaganda for a more devout life among the laity through the 
 institution of the "poor priests," and the translation of the Bible ; the last two only 
 are here represented. The teachings of Wycliffe were certainly in conflict with much 
 of the teaching and with more of the practice of the catholic church. If the doc- 
 trines here attributed to him were not exactly his, as he claimed, yet their general 
 conformity to his views is unquestionable. The statute of 1401, usually described as 
 ^^de /lerelico cumdurendo," was an amplification of a statute against unauthorized 
 preachers, passed in 1382. It gave the first statute authority for the infliction of 
 the death penalty for heresy, though heretics had been burned before this under 
 the common law. 
 
 I. WYCLIFFITE CONCLUSIONS, TEN CONDEMNED AS HERETICAL AND 
 FOURTEEN AS ERRONEOUS. 
 
 Fasciculi Zizaniorum, pp. 277-282. Rolls Series. Latin. 
 
 I. — That the material substance of bread and of wine remains, 
 after the consecration, in the sacrament of the altar. 
 
 II. — That the accidents do not remain without the subject, after 
 the consecration, in the same sacrament. 
 
 III. — That Christ is not in the sacrament of the altar identically, 
 truly and really in his proper corporal presence. 
 
 IV. — That if a bishop or priest lives in mortal sin he does not or- 
 dain, or consecrate, or baptize. 
 
 V. — That if a man has been truly repentant, all external confes- 
 sion is superfluous to him, or useless. 
 
 VI. — Continually to assert that it is not founded in the gospel that 
 Christ instituted the mass. 
 
 VII. — That God ought to be obedient to the devil. 
 
 VIII. — That if the pope is foreordained to destruction and a 
 wicked man, and therefore a member of the devil, no power has been 
 given to liim over the faithful of Christ by any one, unless perhaps by 
 the Emperor. 
 
lO TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 IX. — That since Urban the Sixth, no one is to be acknowledged as 
 pope; but all are to live, in the way of the Greeks, under their own laws. 
 
 X. — To assert that it is against sacred scripture that men of the 
 church should have temporal possessions. 
 
 XI. — That no prelate ought to excommunicate any one unless he 
 first knows that the man is excommunicated by God. 
 
 XII. — That a person thus excommunicating is thereby a heretic or 
 excommunicate. 
 
 XIII. — That a prelate excommunicating a clerk who has appealed 
 to the king, or to a council of the kingdom, on that very account is a 
 traitor to God, the king and the kingdom. 
 
 XIV. — That those who neglect to preach, or to hear the word of 
 God, or the gospel that is preached, because of the excommunication of 
 men, are excommunicate, and in the day of judgment will be considered 
 as traitoi*s to God. 
 
 XV. — To assert that it is allowed to any one, whether a deacon or 
 a priest, to preach the word of God, without the authority of the apos- 
 tolic see, or of a catholic bishop, or some other which is sufficiently 
 acknowledged. 
 
 XVI. — To assert that no one is a civil lord, no one is a bishop, no 
 one is a prelate, so long as he is in mortal sin. 
 
 XVII. — That temporal lords may, at their own judgment, take 
 away temporal goods from churchmen who are habitually delinquent ; 
 or that the people may, at their own judgment, correct delinquent lords. 
 
 XVIII. — That tithes are purely charity, and that parishioners may, 
 on account of the sins of their curates, detain these and confer them on 
 others at their will. 
 
 XIX. — That special prayers applied to one person by prelates or 
 religious persons, are of no more value to the same person than general 
 prayers for others in a like positien are to him. 
 
 XX. — That the very fact that any one enters upon any private 
 religion whatever, renders him more unfitted and more incapable of ob- 
 serving the commandments of God. 
 
 XXI. — That saints who have instituted any private religions what- 
 ever, as well of those having possessions as of mendicants, have sinned 
 in thus instituting them. 
 
 XXII. — That religious persons living in private religions are not 
 of the Christian religion. 
 
BULL OF POPE GREGORY XI, AGAINST WYCLIFFE. II 
 
 XXIII. — That friars should be required to gain their living by the 
 labor of their hands and not by mendicancy. 
 
 XXIV. — That a person giving alms to friars, or to a preaching 
 friar, is excommunicate ; also the one receiving. 
 
 2. BULL OF POPE GREGORY XL, AGAINST JOHN WYCLIFFE. 
 
 Fasciculi Zizaniorum ; pp. 242-244. Rolls Series. Latin. 
 
 Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved 
 sons the chancellor and University of Oxford, in the diocese of Lin- 
 coln, grace and apostolic benediction. 
 
 We are compelled to wonder and grieve that you, who, in consid- 
 eration of the favoi-s and privileges conceded to your university of 
 Oxford by the apostolic see, and on account of your familiarity with 
 the Scriptures, in whose sea you navigate, by the gift of God, with 
 auspicious oar, you, who ought to be, as it were, warriors and champ- 
 ions of the orthodox faith, without which there is no salvation of souls, 
 — that you through a certain sloth and neglect allow tares to spring up 
 amidst the pure wheat in the fields of your glorious university afore- 
 said ; and what is still more pernicious, even continue to grow to ma- 
 turity. And you are quite careless, as has been lately reported to us, 
 as to the extirpation of these tares ; with no little clouding of a bright 
 name, danger to your souls, contempt of the Roman church, and injury 
 to the faith above mentioned. And what pains us the more is that 
 this increase of the tares aforesaid is known in Rome before the remedy 
 of extirpation has been applied in England where they sprang up. 
 By the insinuation of many, if they are indeed worthy of belief, de- 
 ploring it deeply, it has come to our ears that John de Wycliffe, rector 
 of the church of Lutterworth, in the diocese of Lincoln, Professor of 
 the Sacred Scriptures, (would that he were not also Master of Errors,) 
 has fallen into such a detestable madness that he does not hesitate to 
 dogmatize and publicly preach, or rather vomit forth from the recesses 
 of his breast certain propositions and conclusions which are erroneous 
 and false. He has cast himself also into the depravity of preaching 
 heretical dogmas which strive to subvert and weaken the state of the 
 whole church and even secular polity, some of which doctrines, in 
 
12 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 changed terms, it is true, seem to express the perverse opinions and 
 unlearned learning of Marsilio of Padua of curse(^l memory, and of 
 John of Jandun, whose book is extant, rejected aiid cursed by our 
 predecessor. Pope John XXII, of happy memory. This he has done in 
 the kingdom of England, lately glorious in it« power and in the abun- 
 dance of its resources, but more glorious still in the glistening piety of 
 its faith, and in the distinction of its sacred learning ; producing also 
 many men illustrious for their exact knowledge of the holy Scriptures, 
 mature in the gravity of their character, conspicuous in devotion, de- 
 fenders of the catholic church. He has polluted certain of the faith- 
 ful of Christ by besprinkling them with these doctrines, and led them 
 away from the right paths of the aforesaid faith to the brink of perdi- 
 tion. 
 
 Wherefore, since we are not willing, nay, indeed, ought not to be 
 willing, that so deadly a pestilence should continue to exist with our 
 connivance, a pestilence which, if it is not opposed in its beginnings, 
 and torn out by the roots in its entirety, will be reached too late by 
 medicines when it has infected very many with its contagion ; we com- 
 mand your university with strict admonition, by the apostolic authority, 
 in virtue of your sacred obedience, and under penalty of the depriva- 
 tion of all the favors, indulgences, and privileges granted to you and 
 your university by the said see, for the future not to permit to be 
 asserted or set forth to any extent whatever, the opinions, conclusions, 
 and propositions which are in variance with good morals and faith, even 
 when those setting them forth strive to defend them under a certain fanci- 
 ful wresting of words or of terms. Moreover, you are on our authority 
 to arrest the said John, or cause him to be arrested and to send him 
 under a trustworthy guard to our venerable brother, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and the Bishop of London, or to one of them. 
 
 Besides, if there should be, which God forbid, in your university, 
 subject to your jurisdiction, opponents stained with these errors, and if 
 they should obstinately persist in them, proceed vigorously and earnestly 
 to a similar arrest and removal of them, and otherwise as shall seem 
 good to you. Be vigilant to repair your negligence which you have 
 hitherto shown in the premises, and so obtain our gratitude and favor, 
 and that of the said see, besides the honor and reward of the divine 
 recompense. 
 
 Given at Rome, at Santa Maria Maggiore, on the 31st of May, the 
 sixth year of our pontificate. 
 
REPLY OF WYCLIFFE TO HIS SUMMONS BY THE POPE. 1 3 
 
 3. REPLY OF WYCLIFFE TO HIS SUMMONS BY THE POPE TO COME 
 
 TO ROME, 1384. 
 
 Arnold's Select Eng. Works of Wycliff, III, 504-6, English, modernized in spelling. 
 
 I have joy fully to tell what I hold, to all true men that believe 
 and especially to the Pope ; for I suppose that if my faith be rightful and 
 given of God, the Pope will gladly confirm it ; and if my faith be 
 error, the Pope will wisely amend it. 
 
 I suppose over this that the gospel of Christ be heart of the corps 
 of God's law ; for I believe that Jesus Christ, that gave in his own 
 person this gospel, is very God and very man, and by this heart passes 
 all other laws. 
 
 I suppose over this that the Pope be most obliged to the keeping 
 of the gospel among all men that live here ; for the Pope is highest 
 vicar that Christ has here in earth. For moreness of Christ's vicar is 
 not measured by worldly moreness, but by this, that this vicar follows 
 more Christ by virtuous living ; for thus teacheth the gospel, that this 
 is the sentence of Christ. 
 
 And of this gospel I take as believe, that Christ for time that he 
 walked here, was most poor man of all, both in spirit and in having ; 
 for Christ says that he had nought for to rest his head on. And Paul 
 says that he was made needy for our love. And more poor might no 
 man be. neither bodily nor in spirit. And thus Christ put from him 
 all manner of worldly lordship. For the gospel of John telleth that 
 when they would have made Christ king, he fled and hid him from 
 them, for he would none such worldly highness. 
 
 And over this I take it as believe, that no man should follow the Pope, 
 nor no saint that now is in heaven, but in as much as he follows Christ. 
 For John and James erred when they coveted worldly highness ; and Peter 
 and Paul sinned also when they denied and blasphemed in Christ ; but 
 men should not follow them in this, for then they went from Jesus Christ. 
 And this I take as wholesome counsel, that the Pope leave his worldly 
 lordship to worldly lords, as Christ gave them, — and move speedily all 
 his clerks to do so. For thus did Christ, and taught thus his disciples, 
 till the fiend had blinded this world. And it seems to some men that 
 clerks that dwell lastingly in this error against God's law, and flee to 
 follows Christ in this, been open heretics, and their iautors been partners. 
 
 And if I err in this sentence, I will meekly be amended, yea, by 
 the death, if it be skilful, for that I hope were good to me. And if I 
 
14 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 might travel in mine own person, I would with good will go to the Pope 
 But God has needed me to the contrary, and taught rne more obedience 
 to God than to men. And I suppose of our Pojie that he will not he 
 Antichrist, and reverse Christ in this working, to the contrary of Christ's 
 will ; for if he summon against reason, by him or by any of his, and 
 pursue this unskilful summoning, he is an open Antichrist. And merci- 
 ful intent excused not Peter, that Christ should not clepe him Satan ; so 
 blind intent and wicked counsel excuses not the Pope here ; but if he 
 ask of true priests that they travel more than they may, he is not ex- 
 cused by reason of God, that he should not be Antichrist. For our be- 
 lief teaches us that our blessed God suffers us not to be tempted more 
 than we may ; how should a man ask such service ? And therefore pray 
 we to God for our pope Urban the sixth, that his old holy intent be not 
 quenched by his enemies. And Christ, that may not lie, says that the 
 enemies of a man been especially his home family ; and this is sooth of 
 men and fiends. 
 
 4. LAW AGAINST THE LOLLARDS. 
 2 Henry IV., c. 15, Statutes of the Realm, II, 125-128. Latin. 
 
 Whereas, it is shown to our sovereign lord the king on the behalf 
 of the prelates and clergy of his realm of England in this present 
 Parliament, that although the catholic faith builded upon Christ, and 
 by his apostles and the holy church sufficiently determined, declared 
 and approved, hath been hitherto by good and holy and most noble 
 progenitors and predecessors of our sovereign lord the king in the said 
 realm amongst all the realms of the world most devoutly observed, and 
 the church of England by his said most noble progenitors and ances- 
 tors, to the honor of God and the whole realm aforesaid laudably en- 
 dow^ed and in her rights and liberties sustained, without that the same 
 faith or the said church was hurt or grievously oppressed, or else 
 perturbed by any perverse doctrine or wicked, heretical, or erroneous 
 opinions. Yet, nevertheless, divers false and perverse people of a cer- 
 tain new sect, of the faith of the sacraments of the church, and the 
 authority of the same damnably thinking, and against the law of God 
 and of the church usurping the office of preaching, do perversely and 
 maliciously in divers places within the said realm, under the color of 
 dissembled holiness, preach and teach these days openly and privily 
 divers new doctrines, and wicked heretical and erroneous opinions 
 contrary to the same faith and blessed determinations of the holy 
 
LAW AGAINST THE LOLLARDS. I5 
 
 church, and of such sect and wicked doctrine and opinions they make 
 unlawful conventicles and confederacies, they hold and exercise schools, 
 they make and write books, they do wickedly instruct and inform people, 
 and as much as they may excite and stir them to sedition and insurrection, 
 and make great strife and division among the people, and other enor- 
 mities horrible to be heard daijjr do perpetrate and commit, in subversion 
 of the said catholic faith and doctrine of the holy church, in diminution 
 of divine worship, and also in destruction of the estate, rights, and liber- 
 ties of the said church of England ; by which sect and wicked and false 
 preachings, doctrines, and opinions of the said false and perverse people, 
 not only most greatest peril of the souls, but also many more other hurts, 
 slanders, and perils, which God prohibit, might come to this realm, unless 
 it be the more plentifully and speedily holpen by the king's majesty in this 
 behalf; especially since the diocesans of the said realm cannot by their 
 jurisdiction spiritual, without aid of the said royal majesty, sufficiently 
 correct the said false and perverse people, nor refrain their malice, be- 
 cause the said false and perverse people do go from diocese to diocese and 
 will not appear before the said diocesans, but the same diocesans and their 
 jurisdiction spiritual, and the keys of the church with the censures of the 
 same, do utterly condemn and despise ; and so their wicked preachings and 
 doctrines do from day to day continue and exercise to the utter destruc- 
 tion of all order and rule of right and reason. Upon which novelties 
 and excesses above rehearsed, the prelates and clergy aforesaid, and 
 also the Commons of the said realm being in the same Parliament, have 
 prayed our sovereign lord the king that his royal highness would vouch- 
 safe in the said Parliament to provide a convenient remedy. The same 
 our sovereign lord the king, graciously considering the premises, and 
 also the laudable steps of his said most noble progenitors and ancestors, 
 for the conservation of the said catholic faith and sustentation of the said 
 divine worship, and also the safeguard of the estate, rights and liberties 
 of the said church of England, to the laud of God and merit of our said 
 sovereign lord the king, and prosperity and honor of all his said realm, 
 and for the eschewing of such dissensions, divisions, hurts, slanders, and 
 perils, in time to come, and that this wicked sect, preachings, doctrines, 
 and opinions, should from henceforth cease and be utterly destroyed ; 
 by the assent of the great lords and other noble persons of the said realm, 
 being in the said Parliament, hath granted, stablished, and ordained, 
 from henceforth firmly to be observed, that none within the said realm, 
 or any other dominions subject to his royal majesty, presume to preach 
 
1 6 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 openly or privily, without the license of the diocesan of the same place 
 first required and obtained, curates in their own churches and persons 
 hitherto privileged, and other of the canon law grant-ed, only excepted ; 
 nor that none from henceforth anything preach, hold, teach, or instruct 
 openly or privily, or make or write any book contrary to the catholic 
 faith or determination of the holy church, nor of such sect and wicked 
 doctrines and opinions shall make any conventicles, or in any wise hold 
 or exercise schools ; and also that none from henceforth in any wise favor 
 such preacher or maker of any such and like conventicles, or persons hold- 
 ing or exercising schools, or making or writing such books, or so teaching, 
 informing, or exciting the people, nor any of them maintain or in any 
 wise sustain, and that all and singular having such books or any 
 writings of such wicked doctrine and opinions, shall really with effect 
 deliver or cause to be delivered all such books and writings to the 
 diocesan of the same place within forty days from the time of the 
 proclamation of this ordinance and statute. 
 
 And if any person or persons of whatsoever sex, estate, or condi- 
 tion that he or they be, from henceforth do or attempt against the said 
 royal ordinance and statute aforesaid in the premises or any of them, 
 or such books in the form aforesaid do not deliver, then the diocesan of 
 the same place in his diocese such person or persons in this behalf 
 defamed or evidently suspected and every of them may by the 
 authority of the said ordinance and statute cause to be arrested and 
 under safe custody in his prison to be detained till he or they of the 
 articles laid to him or them in this behalf do canonically purge him or 
 themselves, or else such wicked sect, preachings, doctrines and heretical 
 and erroneous opinions do abjure, according as theiaws of the church 
 do demand and require. 
 
 * >fc * He * * * 
 
 And if any person within the said realm and dominions, upon the 
 said wicked preachings, doctrines, opinions, schools, and heretical and 
 erroneous informations, or any of them be before the diocesan of the 
 same place or his commissaries convicted by sentence, and the same 
 wicked sect, preachings, doctrines and opinions, schools and informations, 
 do refuse duly to abjure, or by the diocesan of the same place or his 
 commissaries, after the abjuration made by the same person be 
 pronounced relapsed, so that according to the holy canons he ought to 
 be left to the secular court, (upon which credence shall be given to the 
 diocesan of the same place or to his commissaries in this behalf), then the 
 
LAW AGAINST EXCESSES OF THE VILLAINS. 1 7 
 
 sheriff of the county of the same place, and mayor and sheriffs, or sheriff, 
 or mayor and bailiffs of the city, town, and borough of the same county 
 next to the same diocesan or the said commissaries, shall be personally 
 present in preferring of such sentences, when they by the same diocesan 
 or his commissaries shall be required ; and they the same persons and 
 every of them, after such sentence pronmlgate shall receive, and them 
 before the people in an high place cause to be burnt, that such punish- 
 ment may strike fear into the minds of others, whereby no such wicked 
 doctrine and heretical and erroneous opinions, nor their authors and 
 fautors, in the said realm and dominions, against the catholic faith, 
 Christian law, and determination of the holy church, which God pro- 
 hibit, be sustained or in any wise suffered in which all and singular 
 the premises concerning the said ordinance and statute, the sheriffs, 
 mayors, and bailiffs of the said counties, cities, boroughs and towns shall 
 be attending, aiding, and supporting to the said diocesans and their 
 commissaries. 
 
 IV. THE PEASANT REBELLION. 
 
 A general disintegration of society and increase of strained relations between 
 social classes seems to have been in progress during the whole of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury, especially after the Black Death. This is indicated by the increasing severity of 
 the Statutes of Laborers, the repeated complaints of the Commons in Parliament, and 
 by the statute of 1377, printed below. Its culmination was in the great rising of 1381. 
 The immediate result was a close union of the king and the conservative classes. 
 This brought about the withdrawal of the charters of manumission, the pardon of 
 those who had violated the law in the putting down of the rebellion, and provision for 
 the reissue of documents destroyed by violence. The supposed connection of the 
 Lollards with the insurrection was utilized by the reactionary party in the church and 
 by the king to increase the severity and the energy with which they were prosecuted. 
 
 I. LAW AGAINST EXCESSES OF THE VILLAINS. 
 
 I Rich. II, c. 6, Statutes of the Realm, II, 2, 3. 
 
 At the grievous complaint of the lords and commons of the realm, 
 as well men of holy church as other, made in this Parliament, of that 
 in many lordships and parts of the realm of England, the villains and 
 land tenants in villainage, who owe services and customs to their said 
 lords, have now late withdrawn and do daily withdraw their services 
 and customs due to their said lords; by comfort and procurement of 
 other their counsellors, maintainers and abettors in the country, which 
 have taken hire and jirofit of the said villains and land tenants by color 
 of certain exemplifications made out of the book of Domesday of the 
 
1 8 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 manors and towns where they have been dwelling, and by virtue of the 
 same exemplifications and their evil interpretations of the same, they affirm 
 them to be quit and utterly discharged of all manner of serfdom, due as well 
 of their body as of their said tenures, and will not suffer any distress or 
 other justice to be made upon them ; but do menace the servants of their 
 lords of life and member, and, which is more, gather themselves together 
 in great routs, and agree by such confederacy, that every one shall aid 
 other to resist their lords with strong hand; and much other harm they do 
 in sundry ways, to the great damage of their said lords and evil example 
 to others to begin such riots ; so that if due remedy be not the rather pro- 
 vided upon the same rebels, greater mischief, which God prohibit, may 
 thereof spring through the realm. It is ordained and established that the 
 lords which feel themselves grieved, shall have special commission under 
 the great seal to the justices of the peace, or to other sufficient persons, to 
 inquire of all such rebels, and of their offences, and their counsellors, 
 procurers, maintainors and abettors, and to imprison all those that shall be 
 thereof indicted before them, as well for the time past as for the time to 
 come, without delivering them out of prison by mainprise, bail or other- 
 wise, without assent of their lords, till they be attainted or acquitted thereof ; 
 and that the same justices have power to hear and determine as well at 
 the king's suit as at the suit of the party. hs * * 
 
 And as to the said exemplifications, made and purchased as afore 
 is said, which were caused to come in the Parliament, it is declared in 
 the said Parliament that the same may not nor ought to avail, or hold 
 place to the said villains or land tenants, as to the franchise of their 
 bodies ; nor to change the condition of their tenure and customs of old 
 time due ; nor to do prejudice to the said lords, to have their services and 
 customs as they were wont of old time ; and it is ordained that upon 
 this declaration the said lords shall have letters patent under the great 
 seal, as many and such as they shall need, if they the same require. 
 
 2. LETTER OF JOHN BALL TO THE COMMONS OF ESSEX. 
 
 Thomas Walsingham, Historia Anglicana, II., ^^^ 34; Rolls Series. English. 
 
 John Schep, som tyme Seynt Marie prest of York, and now of 
 Colchester, greteth welle Johan Nameles, and Johan the Mullere, and 
 Johan Cartere, and biddeth hem that thei ware of gyle in borugh, and 
 stondeth togiddir in Goddis name, and biddeth Peres Ploughman go to 
 his werke, and chastise welle Hobbe the robber, and taketh with you 
 
WITHDRAWAL OF MANUMISSIONS. 1 9 
 
 Johan Trewman, and alle his felaws, and no mo, and loke schar{)e you 
 to on heved, and no mo. 
 
 Johan the Muller hath ygrownde smal, smal, smal ; 
 
 The Kyngis sone of hevene shalle pay for alle. 
 
 Be ware or ye be wo, 
 
 Knoweth your frende fro youre foo, 
 
 Havetli ynowe, and seythe *'Hoo;" 
 
 And do welle and bettre, and fleth synne, 
 
 And seketh pees, and holde therynne. 
 
 And so biddeth Johan Trewman and alle his felawes. 
 
 3. CHARTER OF MANUMISSION AND PARDON TO THE REBELS 
 OF HERTP^ORDSHIRE. 
 
 Thomas Walsingham, Historia Anglicana, I., 467, Rolls Series. Latin. 
 
 Richard, by the grace of God, king of England and France, and 
 lord of Ireland, to all his bailiffs and faithful ones, to whom these 
 present letters shall come, greeting. Know that of our special grace, 
 we have manumitted all of our lieges and each of our subjects and others 
 of the county of Hertford; and them and each of them have made free 
 from all bondage, and by these presents make them quit. And more- 
 over we pardon our same lieges and subjects for all kinds of felonies, 
 treasons, transgressions and extortions, however done or perpetrated by 
 them or any of them, and also outlawry, if any shall have been pro- 
 mulgated on this account against them or any of them ; and our most 
 complete peace to them and each of them we concede in these matters 
 In testimony of which thing we have caused these our lettei-s to be made 
 patent. Witness, myself, at London, on the fifteenth day of June, in 
 the fourth year of our reign. 
 
 4. WITHDRAWAL OF MANUMISSIONS. 
 
 5 Rich. II, Stat, i, c. 6. Statutes of the Realm, II, 20. Latin. 
 
 It is ordained that all manner of manumissions, obligations, re- 
 leases, and other bonds made by compulsion, duress and threat, in the 
 time of this last rumor and riot against the laws of the land and good 
 faith shall be wholly quashed, annulled and holden for void ; and they 
 which have caused to l^ made or do yet withhold such manumissions, 
 obligations, releases, bonds and other deeds, so made by duress, shall be 
 sent before the king and his council, there to answer of their deed ; and 
 further, shall be constrained to make delivery and restitution of the 
 said deeds to them that made the same against their good will, with the 
 
20 TRANSLATIONS AND REPRINTS. 
 
 copies of the same, if perchance they have thereof made any before in order 
 to use or renew the effect of the same another time, if they may. And 
 likewise, it is accorded that all entries made in lands or tenements, and 
 also all feoffments made in the time of the same rumor by compulsion 
 and menace, or otherwise with force of people, against the law, shall be 
 void and holden for none. And the king straitly forbiddeth to all 
 manner of people, upon pain of as much as they are able to forfeit to 
 him in body and goods, that none from henceforth make nor begin 
 again, in any manner, such riot and rumor, nor other like them. And 
 if any do the same, and this be duly proved, it shall be done concerning 
 him as of a traitor to the king and to his said realm. 
 
 5. PARDON OF THE KING TO THE LORDS. 
 
 5 Rich. II, Stat. I, c. 5. Statutes of the Realm, II, 20. 
 
 Our sovereign lord the king, perceiving that many lords and gen- 
 tlemen of his realm, and others with them in the rumor and insurrection 
 of villains, and of other offenders, which now of late did traitorously rise 
 by assemblies in outrageous numbers in divers parts of the realm, against 
 God, good faith, and reason, and against the dignity of our sovereign lord 
 the king and his crown, and the laws of his land, made divers puniiyh- 
 ments upon the said villains and other traitors, without due process of the 
 law, and otherwise than the laws and usages of the realm required, 
 although they did it of no malice prepense, but only to appease and cease 
 the evident mischief, and considering the great diligence and loyalty of 
 the lords and gentlemen in this behalf, which were not learned of the said 
 laws and usages, and though at that time they had been learned, a man 
 might not upon those punishments have tarried the process of the law, 
 and that this they did with good intent, of their advice and of their good 
 discretions, and willing therefore to do them grace, according as they have 
 the same greatly deserved, of the assent aforesaid hath pardoned and re- 
 leased to the said lords and gentlemen, and all others being in their aid at 
 the same deed, and to every of them, as much as to him thereof per- 
 taineth, or to him and to his heirs may pertain ; so that hereafter for what- 
 soever thing that was done by them upon the said punishments in resist- 
 ance, they shall never be impeached nor grieved in body, goods, nor their 
 heritages and possessions, in any way, by our sovereign lord the king, his 
 heirs or ministers, nor none other in time to come, but utterly shall be 
 thereof quit for ever by this grant and statute without having thereof 
 other special charter or pardon. 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
GENERAL LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA— BERKELEY 
 
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 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the 
 
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