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EDITED BY
G. W. KITCHIN, D.D.
Z3«a« <?/" Winchester.

Xonoon :
GRIFFITH, FARRAN, OKEDEN, AND WELSH, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD.
Mtncbcster :
WARREN AND SON, PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS, 85, HIGH STREET.
1886.

Carta Regis Edwardi de Feria Sti. Egidii,
Anno Domini, 1349.

gntaitiucttom

THVAIRS in our day have become so commonplace
¦*- and childish that we can scarcely understand how
great was their importance in the early history of com
merce. Abroad, as at Frankfort on the Main, or Leipzig,
or Nijni-novgorod, the Jahrmarkt retains much of its
original interest, and is still the centrepoint towards which
merchants flock from every quarter. Yet even these
great marts are doomed to wither away under the
influence of the modern conditions of trade and transit ;
and in course of time these, too, may in their turn be
reduced to travelling shows, and rough amusements,
and the sale of buns and toys.
Fairs may be traced back to high antiquity. Held by
use and wont, they are found in the infancy of European
commerce, and mark the earliest attempts to render easier
the transfer of goods from hand to hand. The oldest
known Fair was that of Dagobert, the Neustrian King,
held at St. Denys near Paris, on the feast day of that
Saint and on several days following. For every Fair
was from the beginning bound up with some Saint ; was
held on the high day of that Saint, in the Church or

Churchyard dedicated to him. On that day all the
population flocked to the Church, and it was but
natural that, after service held, the people should linger in
the Churchyard to gossip and chaffer a bit, and make
exchange of their goods, before they went home again.
It is to this connexion with a Saint's Feast Day that
we owe the word Fair ; for it is the Latin feria, the
Holy day of the Saint. Similarly, in South Germany,
a Fair is sometimes called a Dult, from the indultus,
the indulgence or privilege granted to all traders fre
quenting the Saint's Fair ; so, too, we have Messen,
from the Mass on that day, and in Brittany the Kermesse
is the Kirk or Church Mass. Thus began the Fair.
After a while, not the local people only, the parishioners
or citizens, but strangers also were attracted; hither came
merchants from many quarters, natives or foreigners,
and for their sake the Fair-time was lengthened out for
several days.
It will easily be seen that such noisy meetings in
Church or Churchyard soon became a scandal. We are
told that St. Basil complained that his Church was thereby
profaned ; and, later, the Churchyard was forbidden to
Fair-people by Henry II I and Edward I : " e comaunde
le rey et defend qe feire ne marche desoremes ne soient
tenuz en cimeter pur honur de Seinte Eglise." In early
times, however, the Churchyard was just as much the
proper place for a display of merchandise as the town-
square was for the political meetings of the citizens ; and

the shops and booths and stalls, which crowd round the
buttresses and chapels of many a foreign cathedral at the
present day, bear testimony to the continuance of the
custom. At first, in the days before the Norman Conquest,
these Fairs were simple gatherings, matters of use and
wont, and whatever rights they enjoyed were held
by prescription ; but when the Normans came in,
bringing with them their strong and masterful spirit of
organisation, they moulded these greater markets every
where into shape, and by Royal Charters gave them a
legal footing. In Alfred's day foreigners used to come
to " the four fairs," and had leave to abide for forty days
and no more ; we find also from Magna Carta that the
foreign merchant was a familiar figure, coming and going
with his wares without let or hindrance from anyone, and
welcomed as an important element in the prosperity of the
the country. Mr. Fox Bourne, in his work on English
Merchants (p. 6), asserts that commerce flourished more
vigorously in England under Edward the Confessor than
under the Norman Kings ; he holds that the Conquest
threw back the life of trade, and that "for the half century
following it we know little of the history of commerce, and
it is probable that little progress was made in it. In the
Charters," he adds, "granted by the two Williams and
Henry I no reference is made to merchandise." Although
there may be some truth in this strong statement, as the
English had by the eleventh century made considerable

8
advance in the comforts of life, and the sudden overthrow
of their polity, with the establishment of a fiercer race as
lords, no doubt for a time did much to check their natural
progress, still it is untrue to say that the Norman kings
paid no attention to commerce ; the existence of the
Charter of William Rufus for St. Giles' Fair at
Winchester is by itself enough to dispose of this sweeping
negative. And, indeed, in the main, the intimate con
nexion with Normandy and other continental countries, in
which art and letters and trade were far in advance of any
thing known in England, must have had a decided and
favourable influence on English commerce. No doubt
some forms of industry were at first shaken and weakened,
as is always the case in great changes ; but this was the
upshot of the general current of commerce, which
naturally, like language or water, seeks the channel of
easiest distribution, rather than the consequence of any
malign influence of Norman lords. At all events, the
trade and prosperity of Winchester gained rather than
suffered from the attentions of the Norman kings ; nor
did it begin to flag till towards the end of the thirteenth
century. The loss of importance was then in large
measure due to the steady growth of London. Before
the Conquest London and Winchester had been rivals
on an equal footing ; the population of our city is said to
have been almost, if not quite, as large as it is to-day ;
the Winchester Mint and Standards had an authority
equal to those of the later Capital of England, as we may
see from a phrase in one of the Ordinances of King Edgar

(a.d. 959-975) " Let one measure and one weight pass
[throughout the King's dominions] such as is observed at
London and at Winchester." London, in those early
days, was a thriving port of entry, and Winchester was
noted throughout the country for its cloth manufacture
and trade in wines of both native and foreign production ;
so much so that some votaries of the wine-cup were fain
to believe that the city got its name of Winton as being
"the Town of Wine"; and Henry of Huntingdon has a
Latin hexameter on the subject, which may be regarded
as a prophecy of the rise of the one city and fall of the
other : —
" Testes Londonice ratibus, Wintonia Baccho."
For a city which bases its prosperity on shipping is in the
highway of the world's traffic, and will succeed, whereas
the manufacture of second-rate wines (and those of home
growth could not have been good) was but a poor founda
tion for a lasting prosperity. The other ingredient in
the Winchester trade, cloth-making and selling, had more
solidity. From very early days Winchester was the home
of makers of a rude native cloth, and the industry dates
back to Roman, and even to British, days. This manu
facture, however, also began to flag and fail when the
cloths of Flanders were found to be better than those made
at home. The vigorous wool-trade carried on between
East Anglia and the opposite shores contributed not a little
to the discomfiture of Winchester ; and when Henry I,
wishing to improve the home manufacture by the newer

10
and better methods of the Low Countries, brought over
Flemish colonists, and settled them in England, he placed
them in other centres of industry, so that Winchester lost
rather than gained by the enlightened efforts of the king.
Of little avail was the prosperity of the Merchant Guild
of this City, to which, early in his reign, Henry II had
granted freedom from all toll, passage, or custom, in all
places, the Charter being addressed to the King's
ministers throughout England and at every port of the
sea ; a Charter which was confirmed, and yet further
enlarged in scope, by Richard I. Winchester, which
was at the height of her prosperity in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, gradually and without a murmur
yielded up her old pre-eminence, and sank into the peaceful
condition of a quiet country town. The Liber de
Winton Book tells us, in the words of Cooper (Public
Records, I. 226), that "the opulence of the inhabitants
in the reign of Henry I may possibly be gathered from
the frequent recurrence of the trade of Goldsmith in
it, and the populousness of the town from the enumeration
of its streets." With the ruin caused by the civil wars,
when the Empress Maud besieged the Bishop in his
Castle of Wolvesey, and was at the same time herself
besieged by Stephen's army, our city began to lose ground ;
for the combatants set fire right and left to the town, a large
part of which, with many churches and two abbeys, was
burnt to the ground. From that time onward the popula
tion was much diminished, and many of the streets lay
desolate and without inhabitant.

II

In the thirteenth Century the Statute of Winchester
(which in 1285 carried out in a practical way the Acton
Burnell Statute De Mercatoribus of 1283) aimed at
enabling traders to recover their goods, encouraged trade,
and made careful arrangements for the safety of merchants
on the road. These Statutes, however, were general in
their operation, and Winchester could only take advantage
of them in common with, and in competition with, other
great cities, such as London, Bristol, or York. In the
following century Edward III was much interested in
the welfare of Winchester, and not only granted the
Bishop our Charter for the Fair, but also made the place
one of his ten great staple-towns, with privilege for the
sale of wool, woolfells, and leather. But it was all in
vain. The wool-staple was transferred hence to Calais
in 1363, and cloth-making appears to have died out
completely by the time of Henry VI.
It was. after the best of the trade had left our City
that Edward III, in 1349, issued to the Bishop of Win
chester the Charter here printed, securing to him the
privileges and profits of this Fair on St. Giles' Down.
Yet, though the Charter bears witness to the continued
importance of this great gathering, it was just as powerless
as the other enactments to arrest the commercial decline
of the City. Towns on more central or auspicious sites,
or standing on larger and more navigable rivers, or better
suited through the geological conformation of their
district for the production of manufactures, or less liable

12

to the fatal ravages of war, had by degrees taken the
place of Winchester ; and in the end our little City, after
having shrunk to the size of a country town of some
eight or ten thousand inhabitants, has never till our day
reached a population comparable with that which thronged
her streets in the days of her highest prosperity. Hallam
{Middle Ages, III) declares that there were in the City
from nineteen to twenty thousand inhabitants in the
reign of Henry I ; while at the last census in 1881 the
population was returned as under nineteen thousand.
At the outset everything was favourable to the pros
perity of this great Fair. Winchester was more central,
in the matter of Roman roads and convenient transit, than
any city of the south except London ; for centuries it
was the capital first of Wessex, and then of all England ;
Southampton, but twelve miles off, was the chief English
port for Normandy, and secured for the Fair a large
attendance of foreign traders ; an active coasting-trade
also took natural shelter in the Solent and Southampton
Water ; and from thence the Itchen was navigable for
small craft to the very foot of St. Giles' Hill. It was
therefore natural that our Fair should become a very
favourite resort, and one which rivalled most of the
celebrated gatherings of merchants at home or abroad.
Indeed, it is said to have been surpassed in England only
by the Sturbriclge Fair at Cambridge, which, in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, gathered up all the
trade of the wealthy East Anglian district and of the

i3
Flemings and others who dealt with the merchants of
Norfolk and Suffolk for their wools and fells.
In different parts of England there are not a few
St. Giles' Fairs ; and the reason of it is not far to seek.
Fairs were naturally held just outside a city's gates, in
or near a churchyard. Now, it was very common to
find a church or chapel dedicated to St. Giles', the
Hermit-Saint, not far from the gates, nestling in some
woody thicket ; for the good man disliked society, and
refused to go within the walls. Thus, in London,
now embedded deep within the town, was St. Giles'
in the Fields, where there was in old days a lazar-house
outside the city, and St. Giles' Cripplegate, also just out
side, sheltering a refuge for cripples ; for the leper, the
maimed, and the crippled, were the special care of the
good Athenian Saint. It was therefore natural that as
St. Giles' Church stood just where it would be most con
venient to hold a fair, there should be many fairs called
by his name and held on and about his day. Here
merchants and traders from distant parts encamped, and
shewed their wares, until the Churchyard became a mart,
and on the first of September in each year a busy Fair
was held. At Winchester St. Giles' Chapel and grave
yard stood on the hill-top, overlooking the eastward
Roman road as it descends rapidly towards St. Swithun's
Bridge over the river Itchen, and the East Gate of the
City. On this broad open brow, with an unrivalled
prospect over the City across the smiling valley to the

14
downs beyond, handy of access by land or by water, safe
from sudden attack, and protected by an ancient fosse,
where the point of high land runs back to the higher
ground of Magdalen Down, the merchants contentedly
settled down and built their booths, and held the Fair.
Soon after the Norman Kings had made Winchester
one of their capital cities, they set themselves to control
this great gathering of traders by means of Charters
granted to the Bishops of the See. There seems, indeed,
to be no foundation whatever for the statement, copied
by writer after writer, that the first Charter was granted
by William the Conqueror, providing for a yearly one-
day Fair on St. Giles' Day (September ist). No such
Charter is known to exist, nor is there any allusion
to a grant by William I in any of the later documents.
The Inspeximus of Edward II (10 Edw. II, No. 3) recites
the Charter of William Rufus as the earliest ; and as this
document grants " to God, to the Monastery of St. Peter,
and to Walchel the Bishop, a Fair at the Church of St.
Giles," it was more than probable that this mention of
Walkelin has misled careless writers into thinking that
his name could not be coupled with that of any other
monarch except his old friend and cousin the Conqueror,
and that consequently it was by the first William that this
Charter was granted. There is no other ground whatever
for saying that William the Conqueror ever made any
such grant.
The Charter of William Rufus granted the Fair on

i5
" the eastern hill " for three days (Aug 31., Sept. 1 and 2)
with all rents pertaining to the King in Winchester, and
was confirmed at Hastings, just as William was setting out
for Normandy to confer with his brother Robert concerning
the conquest of Jerusalem, and this would be two years
before Walkelin's death. The object of it evidently was
to help the Bishop in completing his great Norman
Church, of which such noble portions still remain to us in
the Cathedral Crypt and the North and South Transepts.
Parts of the proceeds of the Fair were at a later time
assigned to Hyde Abbey, to St. Swithun's Priory, and to
the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen.
To these three days granted by Rufus, other five
(Sept. 3-7) were presently added by his brother, Henry I,
who similarly gave them to the then Bishop, William
Giffard ; then Stephen in like manner granted to
his brother Henry of Blois, the Bishop, six more days
(Sept. 8-13) ; and Henry II added yet two more days,
bringing the tale of days up to sixteen (Aug. 31 to Sept.
15). These grants were confirmed by a Charter of
Edward II, and finally, the rights of the Fair having some
how fallen into dimness through want of exercise, Edward
III granted, in our Charter of 1349, to Bishop Edyndon
all the liberties, immunities, and customs enjoyed by his
predecessors for these sixteen days. It appears that in
the days of Edyndon's predecessor the Fair had lasted
for four-and-twenty days, as we see from an Inspeximus of
Richard II, which cites the Charter of Edward II, and

i6
extends the Fair for eight days longer; this extension how
ever having entirely fallen into disuse, Edward 1 1 1 does not
see fit to renew it, and limits the period, as we have said,
to sixteen days. That the object of these grants was to
raise money by which the fabrics of the great churches
might be built or repaired, is well shewn by an Inspeximus
and Confirmation of the 9th of Edward III (preserved
among the Archives of Winchester Cathedral), which
recites a Charter of Edward II, confirming one of John
Sendale, Bishop of Winchester (13 16-13 19), which in its
turn confirms letters of Henry Woodlock (1304-1316) ;
this Charter grants 30 marks yearly out of the proceeds
of this Fair to the Priory of St. Swithun, to be spent
on the repairs of the fabric. And when we remember
that Edyndon originated here the Perpendicular style of
Architecture, and purposed to rebuild the Cathedral after
the new taste, we are convinced that the King must have
had his special needs in view when he granted him the
far-reaching privileges of this Charter. And, as we have
seen, William Rufus first gave the tolls to Walkelin for
the building of the Norman Church. Though some of
the tolls were apportioned to other places, still by far the
largest part of the proceeds was reserved for the Bishop,
who accordingly was charged with all the jurisdiction and
responsibility of the Fair itself and the surrounding dis
tricts during the sixteen days of its continuance. It was
partly the desire of keeping alive a market which was
very profitable, and partly a desire to escape the burden
of these tolls to the Bishop, that tempted traders from a

i7
distance to linger at Winchester long after the sixteen
days had elapsed ; and consequently we find Bishop John
of Pontissara, in a document dated from Wolvesey in Fair-
time, 1 30 1 (7 Idus Sept. mccci) strictly forbidding, under
pain of excommunication, this evil habit of hanging on at
the Fair. He saw it would be a grave loss to all ; to the
Bishop who lost his tolls, and to the citizens as disturbing
and taking their trade ; it would also entirely alter the
time of the Fair ; for merchants, if they knew they could
stay on, would not arrive, as they should, by St. Giles'
Day. These causes, and especially the irritation of the
citizens, who were naturally inclined to resent the slights
done them by the Fair-regulations, made the Bishop take
up a firm position respecting the duration of the Fair.
The Fair itself was a kind of wooden town, which sprang
up at the end of August on the brow of St. Giles' Hill.
As the gathering grew in popularity, this town grew with
it, until it appears to have covered the whole open space
on the hill-top, and to have descended the steep slope
towards the East Gate of the City. For we read in the
Annals of Winchester, 1162, " Nundince Sancti Egidii
cum mu/tis mercimoniis et cum Chushulle combustce sunt ";
and it is hardly likely that the suburb of Cheesehill would
have caught fire, had the frail booths stood only on the
hill-top. We learn from our document that the whole
space occupied by it was surrounded by a palisading, with
only one gate, or at most two, pierced in it, one towards
the country, and one towards the town. This palisade

i8
was not merely a defence against thieving at night, but it
hindered traders from bringing their goods into the market
without paying toll ; the temptation to such smuggling
being so strong that men sometimes digged through the
wall, and so evaded the gates. Inside this great fence the
Fair was laid out in streets, which were named from the
commodities sold in them ; these were assigned to
Flemings, to men of Caen, of Limoges, of Bristol, of
Cornwall, to artificers, such as Goldsmiths and others ;
there was also a Drapery, a Pottery, a Spicery, in which
wares of different kinds were exposed for sale ; also a
place for the sale of birds and beasts. St. Swithun's
drove a fine trade in wine and spiceries ; and other
religious houses in the neighbourhood had their stalls,
which they held under the Bishop, paying rent for them
year after year. The Bishop himself appears not to have
been above a little trading; for in the year 1191, on St.
Birinus' Night, we read that the Fair and the church of
St. Giles were burnt to the ground, with the exception of
the Bishop's stalls (exceptis solummodo seldis Episcopi) ;
and indeed the revenue from the Fair was a large and
separate item in the Bishop's accounts, which we may
find year after year under the head of Feria, as the
"Comptttus Fericz Sancti Egidii. The names of the
streets indicate clearly enough that it was a great place
of resort for foreign as well as English traders ; among
them were those mysterious merchants from foreign
parts called " Dynamitters," who sold brazen vessels and
pots, and were bound by ancient custom yearly to present

19
to the Justiciaries of the Pavilion and to the Treasurer at
Wolvesey four brazen basins and ewers.
We learn from our Charter how great were the
Bishop's precautions for the safety of the Fair ; he had to
guard carefully against fire (and in spite of all regulations
it was several times burnt down) ; he had to provide a
proper Piepowder Court at the Bishop's Pavilion (the
Pavilonis Aula, now contracted curiously enough into
Palm Hall, the name of a house standing just between the
brow of the hill and the ancient Churchyard of St. Giles) ;
he had to watch against roguery, both of those who would
evade tolls, and of those who sold unsound goods; he was
bound as far as he could to assist merchants coming
and going ; and last, and most important of all, he had to
take complete charge of the City of Winchester, setting
his own guards and keeping watch and ward in the
place of the Mayor and Bailiffs ; he had to send officers
to the different posts at which his toll-collectors were
stationed throughout a circuit of seven leagues, and also
to Southampton. For these purposes the Bishop had his
Justiciaries and other officers of the Pavilion Court ;
he appointed his own Mayor and Bailiffs to administer
the affairs of the City during the sixteen Fair-days ; a
Coroner also to do the duty of that office in the City on
citizens and outsiders alike ; a Marshal to execute all
decrees and judgments ; also a small number (three or
four, more or fewer) of his own tenants who were to keep
order and do whatever was necessary throughout the

20
" seven-league circuit," and at Southampton ; as well as
other ministers and guards set at Stockbridge, at Romsey,
Redbridge, Crabwood, Hursley, Mainsbridge, Otter-
bourne, Kingbridge, Curbridge, and Alresford, and at
other places, to take toll and custom of merchants passing
through these points,
On the Eve of St. Giles', at sunrise, these Justiciaries
with their following took horse ; they descended the hill
into the suburb on the south-east side of the City, crossed
the river near one of the mills, and rode on to either
King's Gate or the South Gate, where, by appointment, the
Mayor, Bailiffs, and Citizens of Winchester met them, and
handed over to them the keys of that gate. The Justices
then displaced the City warders, and set their own
men in charge. Thence they rode to the West Gate, the
civic authorities bearing them company, and similarly
yielding up their keys ; thence they took possession of
the Wool Staple (the site of the wool market is shewn to
be close to the West Gate by the street now called
Staple Gardens) ; they also proclaimed the opening of the
Fair there and elsewhere ; thence round to the North
Gate ; thence to the East Gate, where the tolls and
customs of the Abbess and Convent of St. Mary of
Winton were reserved. Through the East Gate they
passed out of the city, having left their men at every
entrance, and still escorted by the Mayor, Bailiffs, and
Citizens, rode up to the Pavilion. At this point they
dismissed the civic authorities, who were then and there

21

suspended from office ; and the Justiciaries proceeded to
appoint a Mayor and Bailiffs of their own for the City, and
a Coroner. One can imagine with what feelings the good
citizens, shorn of all power and dignity, rode back again
into the town, and how great a grudge there must have
been between them and the Bishop's people, especially
when some overbearing Prelate raised the irritation to
burning point. Such an occasion arose in the course
of the reign of Edward I. That King issued Letters
Patent reciting the complaint of John of Pontoise, Bishop
of Winchester, who had found John le Devenische and
others obstructing the episcopal officers in taking the
issues and profits of the Fair ; and it is clear that there
must have always been a simmering of indignation and
ill-will of the lay folk against these great clerical lords,
mitred or unmitred. For the regulations of the Fair
were on every hand arbitrary and oppressive ; and if it
relieved the city from royal exactions, it at the same time
destroyed its independence ; all trade was forbidden in
the city and in the " seven-league circuit";, no man might
buy or sell aught except at the Fair ; the civic authorities
had no jurisdiction, even over their own citizens ; nor
indeed could any lord of a manor hold his court-baron
within the circuit of the seven leagues, except by special
leave from the Pavilion Court. The tolls taken at the
gates of the Fair were a considerable burden on the
traders and buyers, and were levied on the goods of
Englishmen or foreigners alike. A load of firewood or
charcoal was charged a halfpenny (perhaps sixpence or

12
eightpence of our money) ; a cartful of hay twice as much ;
a cartload of corn twice as much again (say from two to
three shillings) ; a woolpack, fivepence; a pack of mercer's
wares, twopence ; for a falcon sold or a ferret, an ape or a
bear, fourpence (say from four to five shillings), and so on
through the list.
Whatever might have been the feeling down in the
aggrieved City, up on the hill all went merrily enough ;
even the rough weather of the time of year could not
damp the spirits of the traders, the buyers, the sightseers ;
and, though Holinshed complains rather dolefully that
these things were done " not without great trouble and
pains to the citizens, which had not room there but in
booths and tents, to their great disquieting and disease,
for want of necessary provision were turmoiled too
pitifully in mire and dirt, through occasion of rain that fell
in that unseasonable time of year," still the scene must
have been singularly varied and picturesque. The road
ways lined with booths and stalls : at one a Pole selling
furs, at another a Norman merchant, at a third a Celtic
dealer from Cornwall, at a fourth the representative of one
of the monasteries ; the bright throng gazing, chatting,
chaffering ; some from distant parts of England, gravely
fulfilling their commissions, as when the steward of a great
country-house, or the Cellarer from some Priory, came
here to purchase household stores for the whole year;
others, agents of kings and princes, bought silver or jewels,
or necessary spices from the famed St. Swithun's stall ;

23
as when in 1234 the Fermier of the City paid ^20 to
Ailward, the Chamberlain of Winchester Castle, to buy a
robe for the King's son and sundry silver vessels for the
Chapel in the Castle. One might see a great lady
tempted to buy an ape ; a nobleman's falconer scanning
the hawks for sale ; the officers of the Fair on horseback
riding through the crowd ; some cheating rascal suddenly
arrested ; for the medieval Fair, as Piers Plowman tells
us in the passage which alludes to the Winchester Fair,
was an evil place for such doings, and the " Grace of
Guile" was never lacking to those who cultivated it.
Some one was always coming or going ; and there were
the country folk, round-eyed, looking at the wonders
of the show, the strange dresses, the unwonted speech
odd faces and gestures of the foreigners, or watching
with delight the antics of a monkey, or the sober move
ment of a bear. So ran the Fair through all the ages
from before the Norman Conquest to the great civil wars
of the Roses ; and then it was seen to be much decayed.
In the Revenue Roll of William Wayneflete for 1471
we hear of the Cornish Street being unoccupied, and the
receipts of the Fair had largely fallen off : as we have said,
the times and the growth of larger marts were against it ;
the conditions of trade were also changing : — shops in
towns grew stronger as the Fair grew weaker ; civic
independence fought against the special privileges of the
gathering. Above all, the Fair suffered from the greater
prominence of the middle-man ; for the development of
this very important factor in trade, whose day may

24
perhaps be already waning, was soon fatal to a system
under which the maker or producer came into
direct contact with the purchaser. The improvement
in communications had also no little effect in pulling
down the Fair ; when people found that they could get
from place to place, buy what they wanted from hand to
mouth, instead of purchasing once a year and packing
away their goods in store rooms, in which they ran all
the risks of rats and mice, of damp and staleness, they
soon ceased to arrange their commissariat by the Fair,
and learned to deal for what they needed with the shop
man in the town. Then by degrees, as the City grew
stronger and the Fair weaker, it slid clown St. Giles' Hill
towards the gates, until at last it entered into the town,
and abandoning the old site altogether, camped for a day
or two in the broad High Street, where still its noisy
ghost holds revel once a year.
The Charter of St. Giles' Fair, of which a transcript
and shortened translation are here given, is a well-written
document of the year 1349 by the hand of a practised
legal scribe : it is not seriously contracted, and hardly in
any point offers difficulty to the reader. The Seal is
unfortunately gone. The MS. is on one sheet of parch
ment, written closely throughout in long lines, 71 in
number, stretching all across it ; it is two feet eight
inches broad by one foot nine deep. The Latinity
of the Charter, though tiresomely long-winded and
iterative after the legal fashion, is tolerably grammatical
throughout.

25
It is remarkable that though this Charter was issued
at the time when the " Black Death " was raging in
England, it contains no allusion to it, nor any precautions
against the spread of infection at so great a gathering.

Carta Regis Edwardi de Feria Sti. Egidij. — A.D. 1349.

EDWARDUS, Dei gratia Rex Anglise et Franciae et Dominus
Hiberniae, Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Prioribus Comi-
tibus Baronibus Justiciariis Vicecomitibus1 Praepositis Ministris
et omnibus Ballivis et fidelibus suis Salutem.
Sciatis quod cum Celebris memorise dominus Willelmus
olim Rex Angliae progenitor noster per cartam suam dedisset
et concessisset Deo et Sancto Petro veteris monasterii2 Wyntoniae,
et tunc Wyntoniensi Episcopo3 unam feriam ad ecclesiam | Sancti
Egidii quae sita est in monte orientali Wynton !4 et omnes redditus
suos et justicias suas quae ad ipsum pertinuerunt in Wyntoniensi
civitate! per tres dies integros, scilicet diem proximum ante
festum, et diem ipsius festi, et diem subsequentem post festum,
ita plenarie et quiete cum omnibus consuetudinibus sicut earn
haberet, si sua propria esset : Ac postmodum inclitae memorise
dominus Henricus dudum Rex Angliae frater | praedicti regis
Willelmi per cartam suam dedisset et concessisset Deo et Sancto
Petro et Sancto Swythuno veteris monasterii Wyntoniae et Willel-
mo Giffard6 tunc Episcopo loci praedicti! unam feriam ad
ecclesiam Sancti Egidii praedictam ! et omnes redditus suos et
justicias suas quae ad ipsum pertinuerunt in dicta V/yntoniensi
civitate ! per octo dies integros, (tres videlicet dies quos frater suus
Rex Willelmus eis concessit et post illos tres dies quinque | dies)
ita plenarie et quiete cum omnibus consuetudinibus, sicut idem
Rex earn haberet ! si sua propria esset. — Subsequenterque clarse
memoriae dominus Stephanus quondam Rex Angliae progenitor
noster! per cartam suam etiam concessisset Deo et praedictaa

27
ecclesiae Wyntoniensi ! et Henrico tunc dicti loci Episcopo fratri
suo,6 et omnibus successoribus suis sex dies continuos! de accre-
mento ad dictam feriam Sancti Egidii Wyntoniensis Ita quod in-ter
totum '. haberet | quatuordecim continuos dies, Volens et Praeci-
piens quod praedicta feria omnibus hiis quatuordecim diebus!
haberet omnes consuetudines et quietancias, et libertates, quas
solebat habere infra civitatem praedictam et extra ! tempore Regis
Henrici antedicti. — Posteaque bonse memoriae dominus Henricus
quondam Rex Angliae successor dicti Regis Stephani progenitor
noster ! per cartam suam concessisset Deo et ecclesiae Wyntoniensi
supradictae, ac tunc | Episcopo7 dicti loci octo dies ad accrementum
feriae praedictae; Ut! quae tempore prsedicti Henrici Regis avi
sui octo diebus tantummodo durabat! extunc sexdecim diebus
duraret! prout in cartis prsedictis quas dominus E. nuper Rex
Angliae pater noster per cartam suam confirmavit! concedens pro
se et heredibus suis Johanni nuper Episcopo8 dicti loci ! quod licet
ipse aut praedecessores sui ! libertatibus prsedictis usi antea non
fuissent! idem tamen Episcopus et successores sui eis extunc
plene gaud | erent et uterentur! Ac in eadem confirmatione
plenius continetur Nosque nuper ad prosecutionem venerabilis
patris Willelmi de Edyngton9 ipsius loci nunc Episcopi nobis
suggerentis ! ipsum et praedecessores suos ejusdem loci Episcopos !
virtute cartarum prsedictarum et verborum generalium in eis
contentorum ! ac feriae supradictae a tempore confectionis earun-
dem cartarum et alias a tempore quo non extat memoria
Justiciaries suos qui vocantur Justiciarii Pavilonisi10 cognitiones
placitorum11 et aliorum negociorum eadem | feria durante! necnon
claves portarum et custodiam praedictae civitatis nostrae Wyntoni
ensis pro certo tempore feriae illius ! et nonnullas alias libertates
immunitates et consuetudines habuisse, et eis ! quamvis in dictis
cartis plene minime exprimantur ! libere et inconcusse usos fuisse,
et nobis supplicantis ! ut libertates immunitates et consuetudines
hujusmodi quas constare posset dictum Episcopum et prsede-

28
cessores suos virtute cartarum confirmationum ac verborum
generalium prsedictorum ! | seu alias a tempore quo non extat
memoria! habuisse! Vellemus13 per expressam specificationem
verborum sub forma cartae ! redigi facere in scripturam ! et conce-
dere quod prsefatus Episcopus et successores sui prsedictis
libertatibus immunitatibus et consuetudinibus quiete imperpetuum
uterentur— Volentes inde plenius informari! assignavimus dilectos
et fideles nostros Willelmum de Shareshull, Johannem de Sancto
Paulo, Willelmum de Fifhide et Willelmum de Overton,13 tres et
duos eorum | ad inquirendum per sacramentum proborum et
legalium hominum de Comitatu Suthamptonise, per quos rei
Veritas melius sciri posset de praemissis omnibus et singulis et
eorum circumstantiis ac aliis quibuscumque quae in hac parte
necessaria vel oportuna fuerinti plenius veritatem. — Ac per
inquisitionem per prsefatos Willelmum et Willelmum de man
date nostra hujusmodi captam ! et in cancellaria nostra retorna- _
tam! sit compertum! quod prsefati Willelmi nunc Episcopi
praedecessores! Episcopi dicti loci! virtute concessionum regiarum
| praedictarum ac generalium et regalium verborum in eisdem
contentorum! et alias! a tempore quo non extat memoria!
habuerunt! et idem nunc Episcopus habet praedictam feriam in
praedicto loco in cartis prsedictis nominato, qui modo Seyntgyles
Doune nuncupatur ! per prsedictos sexdecim dies duraturam, et
ratione feriae illius, ac virtute verborum generalium et regalium
prsedictorum et alias a tempore quo non extat memoria, ut est
dictum ! Idem nunc Episcopus et praedecessores sui praedicti
hucusque usi fuerunt libertatibus et consuetudinibus | subscriptis !
Videlicet quod Episcopus loci praedicti ! qui pro tempore fuerit !
habet et habere debet Justiciarios suos qui vocantur Justiciarii
Pavilonis ipsius Episcopi feriae illius ! per commissionem ejusdem
Episcopi assignatos Qui Justiciarii ! quolibet anno in principio
feriae praedictae videlicet in Vigilia Sancti Egidii ante ortum solis
vel in ortu vel statim post ! ad portam australem Civitatis prse-

29
dictse vel ad portam ejusdem Civitatis quae vocatur Kyngeyate '. pro
voluntate sua equitabunt, et Civitatem | illam ibidem ingredien-
tur, ad quam quidem portam australem Major, Ballivi, et Cives1*
ejusdem Civitatis! eisdem Justiciariis obviabunt, et claves et custo-
diam ejusdem portae australis eis nomine praedicti Episcopi, et
tanquam ejus ministris ! liberabunt et tradent. — Et iidem Justiciarii
Custodes sive Janitores! pro voluntate sua ibidem ponent Et exinde
usque ad portam occidentalem15 ejusdem civitatis ! simul equita
bunt! ubi praedicti Major, Ballivi et Cives eisdem Justiciariis claves
| et custodiam ejusdem portae ! ac tronum16 lanarum dictse Civita
tis ! praefatis Justiciariis in forma prsedicta tradent, et liberabunt,
et iidem Justiciarii Custodem seu Janitorem ad eandem portam
constituent, et ibidem feriam praedictam in forma qua! sequitur!
proclamari facient ! Videlicet quod nullus mercator nee alius per
praedictum tempus sexdecim dierum ! per septem leucas in circuitu
placeae feriae illius!17 mercandisas aliquas alibi! quam in eadem
feria ! vendat, emat, nee vendicioni ex | ponat ! sub forisfactura18
earundem mercandisarum ad opus praedicti Episcopi ! qua pro
clamation sic facta! iidem Justiciarii, Major, Ballivi ac Cives
ad portam borialem ejusdem civitatis simul equitabunt, et ibidem
claves et custodiam ejusdem portae! eisdem Justiciariis in forma
praedicta tradent et liberabunt, Et iidem Justiciarii! Custodem
vel Janitorem ibidem pro voluntate sua ponent. Et postea
iidem Justiciarii! ibidem et alibi in Civitate ilia! quociens
voluerint! consimilem proclama | tionem facient et facere pos-
sunt et solebant pro voluntate sua. Et exinde iidem Justiciarii,
Major, Ballivi, ac Cives usque ad portam orientalem ejusdem
Civitatis simul equitabunt et claves et custodiam ejusdem portae
eisdem Justiciariis in forma praedicta liberabunt! exceptis
Theoloniis19 et custumis Abbatissae et Conventui beatae Marise
Wynton20 et eorum successoribus et ecclesise suae de eadem
porta orientali debitis sive pertinentibus. Et iidem Justiciarii,
Major, Ballivi | ac Cives exinde! usque Pavilonem praedicti

3°
Episcopi feriae illius, super Montem sancti Egidii extra Civita^
tem praedictam ! simul equitabunt, et extunc ! idem Major, Ballivi
et Cives recedere et ad Civitatem prsedictam pro voluntate sua
redire possunt. Et iidem Justiciarii eligent et constituent Majorem
et Ballivos ad deserviendum in hujusmodi officiis, in Civitate prae
dicta! durante feria praedicta. Necnon unum Coronatorem21 ad
faciendum ea quae ad officium Coronatoris | pertinent infra Civi
tatem praedictam durante feria praedicta, et hoc de homfnfbus
forinsecis, sive de prsedicta Civitate! pro voluntate eorundem
Justiciarlorum. Et habebunt quendam Marescallum23 ad execu-
tiones faciendum et eis deserviendum prout deceti tarn infra
Civitatem quam extra. Et praedictus Episcopus a tempore quo
claves et custodia portarum, ut prsemittitur ! liberatae fiierint!
per Justiciarios et alios ministros suos ! habebit custodiam totius
Civitatis praedictae et cognitionem omnium placitorum de | trans:
gressionibus debitis et aliis contractibus quibuscumque, tarn
homines et tenentes Civitatis praedictse! quam alios quoscunque
pertinentium per septem leucas in circuitu placeae feriae illius
adjacentium ! Necnon omnes alios homines sive mercatores
quoquo modo contingentium et quovis loco seu tempore tam
videlicet citra mare quam ultra hujusmodi contractus sive con-
ventiones facti fuerint, ad Pavilonem praedictum placitandum
et tenendum ! absque hoc ! quod aliquis de | civitate praedicta,
seu partibus illis infra spatium praedictum ! se inde intromittere
debeat per tempus praedictum. Et omnia placita personalia
ab initio feriae illius! usque vigiliam Nativitatis beatae Mariae
coram eisdem Justiciariis inchoata! deduci debent et regu-
lari primo ! per summonitionem seu attachiamentum ! et postea
per districtiones ! ~s prout in Curia nostra regia usitatum est ! et
prout casus exigunt et requirunt. Et a Vigilia Nativitatis bcatse
Mariae usque finem sexdecim | dierum prsedictorum ! processus
omnes hujusmodi placitorum et querelarum extunc motarum
qt motorum! per antiquam consuetudinem feriae praedictae, a

3i
tempore quo non extat memoria ut praemittitur usitatam !
incipient per districtionem ! et semper per districtionem con-
tinuentur de hora in horam ! vel de die in diem ! secundum
discretionem Justiciariorum praedictorum ! pro celeriori remedio
querentibus exhibendo. Et tam homines Civitatis praedictae, quam
alii quicunque! per eundem processum justi | cientur et regulen-
tur. Et si partes aliquae in inquisitionem se posuerint ! 24 coram
iisdem Justiciariis in hujusmodi placitis, vel in aliis quibuscunque
placitis de quibus Justiciarii Pavilonis praedicti cognitioncm
habent ! prsecipietur Marescallo, quod venire faciet coram eisdem
Justiciariis inquisitiones tam de hominibus Civitatis praedictae
quam de forinsecis, sive de Soka,25 vel de feria, vel de Mercatori-
bus in feria ilia inventis ! sive fuerint de Civitate praedicta sive de
Civitate Londoniensi, vel de alio loco | quocunque citra mare vel
ultra! prout necesse fuerit. Et cum juratores per processum
venerint ! tunc in prsesentia partis vel partium ! jurare cogentur
super hiis de quibus per Justiciaries onerari debent : Videlicet
per pcenam imprisonamenti26 vel alio modo per pcenam pecuniae
secundum discretionem Justiciariorum ! prout in Curia nostra regia
coram Justiciariis nostris usitatum est : et hoc, sive sint homines
de Civitate praedicta, sive de Londoniensi, sive forinseci. Et post-
quam aliquis convictus | fuerit per inquisitiones hujusmodi! vel
per cognitionem suam ! in quocunque placito personali fuerit i
statim per judicium et praeceptum Justiciariorum attachietur
per corpus suum'-'7 et liberabitur Marescallo salvo custodiendum
quousque sa'tisfactum fuerit parti et Curiae. Et similiter omnes qui
rescussum faciunt28 super Ministros praedicti Episcopi vel Jus
ticiariorum suorum vel ministrorum eorundem ! in feria praedicta,
seu Pavilone prsedicto deservientium vel infra septem leucas prae-
dictas, vel apud Suthampton29 | et eos impediunt ad executiones et
praecepta Justiciariorum facienda ! sive sint homines de Civitate
prsedicta ! sive forinseci, sive de villa Suthampton, sive aliunde !
statim per eorum corpora attachientur et ducentur Paviloni et

32
ibidem morentur, quousque finem30 prsedicto Episcopo pro trans-
gressione ilia et rescussu ! fecerint. Et si ipsi, seu alii quicunque
ad sectam partium seu partis! convicti31 et custodiae commissi, ut
praedictum est! infra praedictos sexdecim dies! finem Episcopo et
satisfac | tionem partibus seu parti prout decet ! facere noluerint !
statim post sextumdecimum diem ducentur apud Wolveseye,33 et
ibidem detinebuntur in custodia praedicti Episcopi! quousque
finem fecerint ! et satisfecerint in forma praedicta. Quodque omnia
placita debitorum inter mercatores quoscunque! durante feria prae
dicta! tenebuntur,et totis temporibus retroactis teneri consueverunt
coram praefatis Justiciariis per probationes talliarum33 secundum
legem mercatoriam ! 31 si pars | querens hoc voluerit. Et si aliquis
attachiatus vel districtus coram praefatis Justiciariis ad sectam
cujuscunque querentis! et comparere noluerit! ne se justiciari
coram eisdem Justiciariis infra praedictos sexdecim dies! tunc
in fine sextaedecimae diei feriae praedictae! bona et catalla33 sic
attachiata districta vel arestata ! per sacramentum proborum et
legalium hominum de Soca Wyntoniensi appretiari debent ! et par
tibus querentibus pro debitis suis, et pro dampnis suis secundum
discre | tionem Justiciariorum liberabuntur, si districcio hujus
modi sufficiat. Et si valor districcionis non attingat ad summam
debiti et dampnorum ! tunc pro portione debiti ! liberabuntur
secundum quod districcio ilia fuerit major vel minor. Et isto
modo usitatum est tam de hominibus Civitatis Wyntoniensis et
Londonensis! quam de aliis quibuscunque personis, et quorum-
cunque locorum fuerint. Et omnia placita coram praefatis
Justiciariis inchoata et quae non sunt infra praedictos sexdecim |
dies terminata! in fine sextaedecimae diei ajornabuntur ibidem!
usque Vigiliam Sancti Egidii tunc proxime futuram. Et idem
dies detur partibus eorundem placitorum. Et quod habentur
quamplures tenentes praedicti Episcopi ! qui terras et tenementa
sua tenent de eodem Episcopo per servitium faciendi sectam
ad dictum Pavilonem! et venient ibidem quolibet anno in

33
Vigilia Sancti Egidii ante horam primam ad sectam suam
faciendam, et parati erunt cum equis et armaturis suis ! quotiens
necesse fuerit. De quibus | Justiciarii praedicti pro voluntate sua
eligent tres, vel quatuor, vel plures vel pauciores! prout viderint
fore necesse ad deserviendum et commorandum in feria praedicta
ipsa durante! et executiones faciendum et praccepta eorundem
Justiciariorum exequendum ubique ! infra prsedictas septem leucas,
et apud Suthampton ! quotiens necesse fuerit ! pro salva custodia
pacis et feriae praedictae, et hoc sumptibus ipsius Episcopi
consuetis Ita videlicet ! quod tenentes praedicti redeant, et parati
sint ad praemissa fa | cienda ! quotiens et quando per Justiciaries
praedictos fuerint prsemuniti. Et erunt ibidem durante feria ilia !
quidam servientes et Ministri ad scribendum placita, querelas
recipiendum, et executiones Judiciorum exercendum et perse-
quendum, Videlicet, Camerarius, Marescallus, Ostiarius36 et
alii diversi servientes ejusdem feriae ; qui ! de illis hominibus, qui
querelas prosecuntur, vel distringuntur, seu coram eisdem Justici
ariis in placitis convincuntur ! et in aliis pluribus casibus praemia
seu feoda capi | ent consueta : moderanda tamen ! ex causa
rationabili! per discretionem Episcopi vel Justiciariorum suorum,
et a tempore quo non extat memoria hujusmodi feoda ceperunt
ratione officiorum suorum. Et quod districtiones fieri debent
rationabiles et non nimis graves ! secundum discretionem Justicia
riorum et secundum exigentiam negociorum coram eis emergen-
tium. Et praedictus Marescallus quolibet die ! durante feria ilia !
statim post occasum solis equitabit per medium feriae prsedictse |
et publice proclamari faciet, quod quilibet Mercator in continenti
claudet seldam suam!37 post quam proclamationem sic factam!
nullus ! mercandisas aliquas vendere potest nee venditioni expon-
ere ; quod si fecerit ! et inde convictus fuerit ! finem faciet prsedicto
Episcopo pro transgressione ilia secundum discretionem Justicia
riorum. Et post eandem proclamationem factam ! usque ortum
solis diei crastini! nullus alius quam Ministri praedicti Episcopi

34
vel Justiciariorum suorum praedictorum | in feria praedicta vagari
debet ! quod si fecerit ! statim per Ministros attachietur et usque
Pavilonem praedictum ducetur, et finem faciet in forma praedicta.
Et nullus Mercator ignem aliquem infra feriam praedictam noc-
tanter habebit, nee tenebit, nisi sit in lampade vel in mortario. Et
si quis aliter fecerit ! per amerciamentum punietur.38 Et si domus
alicujus infra barram ferise praedictae ! confracta sit vel diruta ! per
quod aliquis per hujusmodi domos cum | rebus venalibus emptis
vel venditis ! subito evadat ! vel evadere possit sine custuma et
Tolneto39 solvendis! ille! cujus domus ilia fuerit! punietur per
grave amerciamentum secundum discretionem Justiciariorum, et
nihilominus res illse sic sine custuma et tolneto asportatse ! dicto
Episcopo forisfiant. Et praedicti Justiciarii et Thesaurarius praedicti
Episcopi de Wolveseye qui pro tempore fuerit! ac clericus
placitorum praedictorum ! quatuor pelves cum lavatoriis annuatim
nomine | feodi*0 percipient ut antiquitus percipere solebant,
videlicet de illis Mercatoribus alienigenis vocatis Mercatoribus
Dynamittersil qui vasa aenea in feria praedicta vendunt. Quodque
praedicti Major et Ballivi Civitatis praedictae ! postquam per
praedictos Justiciarios, ut prsemittitur! electi fuerint ! summoni-
tiones, attachiamenta, districtiones, et omnimodas executiones
omnium querelarum et placitorum coram eisdem Justiciariis ad
dictum Pavilonem placitatorum ! videlicet de rebus infra Civi
tatem | praedictam emergentibus ! sine occasione vel impedimento
quorumcunque hominum Civitatis illius ! de mandate eorundem
Justiciariorum ! facient et facere tenentur, ac Cives praedicti coram
praefatis Justiciariis ad Pavilonem praedictum quandocunque
summoniti vel prsemuniti fuerint ! dicto tempore sexdecim dierum
durante ! sine contradictione aliqua ad ea quae secundum leges et
consuetudines feriae illius pertinent facienda ! venient ! Necnon
Aldermanni et omnes | Decenarii42 de omnibus decenis in circuitu
ferise illius per septem leucas adjacentes! ad quemlibet clamorem
et hutesium levatum43 et sanguinis effusionem '. venire tenentur !

35
et si quicquid aliud! contra pacem nostram in Alderman-
riis et decenis suis44 emerserit! transgressores attachient, et
securitatem ab eis in casu ubi capienda existit! ad standum legi
et consuetudinibus feriae illius! capient! et ad Pavilonem ilium
venient, et de die in diem! | durante feria praedicta! hujusmodi
casus cum emerserint ! coram praefatis Justiciariis praesentabunt.
Et iidem Justiciarii ulterius! secundum leges et consuetudines
procedent. Et idem Episcopus habebit omnia animalia bona et
catalla quae dicuntur Weyf et Stray^ infra dictos limites septem
leucarum inventa. Et praedicti Justiciarii ! in principio feriae prse-
dictse ! quendam virum discretum de tenentibus praedicti Episcopi
qui sectam debent ad Pavilonem praedictum ! | in Coronatorem
eligent, et sacramentum suum recipient ad faciendum et exequen-
dum omnia et singula quae ad officium Coronatoris pertinent ! tam
infra feriam praedictam ! quam in partibus septem leucarum
adjacentium. Qui quidem Coronator eisdem Justiciariis sicut
Justiciariis nostris ! intendet. iidemque Justiciarii omnia placita
Coronse tenebunt, tam per appella quam per indicamenta de
factis emergentia ! infra praecinctum praedictum ! et inde Judicia
facient et executiones eorundem, | dicta feria sic durante! adeo
plene ! sicut Justiciarii nostri faciunt alibi in regno nostra
Angliae in hujusmodi casu. Et praedicti Justiciarii licet villa de
Suthampton distet a praedicta feria plus! quam per septem
leucas ! unum Ministrum dicti Episcopi Pavilonis praedicti ! vide
licet Marescallum, ad eandem villam de Suthampton ! singulis
annis in Vigilia Nativitatis beatae Mariae, vel ante vel post!
prout eis placuerit ! mittent ad proclamandum ibidem quod
nullus venditiones nee emptiones | rerum venalium nee mercan-
disarum tronagium vel pesagium40 earundem rerum venalium
durante feria Sancti Egidii praedicta i in eadem villa Suthamp
ton, exceptis victualibus, teneri faciat ! sub forisfactura earundem
rerum venalium et mercandisarum ad opus, ipsius Episcopi!
set omnes Mercatores cum rebus suis venalibus et mercandisis

36
prsedictis ! ad dictam feriam venient, prout in quadam composi-
tione inter Adomarum quondam Wyntoniensem Electum47 et Com-
munitatem villae Suthampton praedictae facta ! et per cartam |
domini Henrici quondam Regis Angliae confirmata! plenius con-
tinetur. Et iidem Justiciarii ad Pontem de Stokbrigge, Romeseye,
Rodbrigge, CrabbeWode, Hursele, Mamesbrigge, Oterbourne,
Kyngbrigge, Curbrigge et Alreford,48 et ad plura alia loca!
custodes sive ministros constituent! qui Theolonia et custumas
de mercandisis et rebus venalibus per praedictos Pontes et per alia
loca transeuntibus ! colligent et capient ad opus praedicti Episcopi !
eisdem modo | et forma ! sicut in feria et Civitate prsedictis ac
partibus septem leucarum adjacentium durante feria praedicta.
Et quod nullus de Civitate Wyntoniensi mercator ! nee alius! mer-
candisas nee merces aliquas in eadem Civitate dicta feria sexdecim
dierum durante ! vendet, nee vendere potest, nee venditioni ex-
ponere. Et si fecerint ! erunt dicto Episcopo forisfacta. Nee aliquis
in eadem Civitate per idem tempus seldam apertam tenebit, nee
Mercator aliquis de minutis | mercimoniis, utpote bursarum ciro-
tecarum cultellorum et aliarum mercium minutarum ! absque fine
turn eodem Episcopo ad voluntatem ipsorum Justiciariorum vel
aliorum per ipsum Episcopum deputatorum facienda! pakella49sua
ad merces illas vendendas sive ostendendas ! aperire debeat ! iidem-
que Justiciarii seu alii per ipsos ad hoc deputati ! mercatores victua-
lium de Civitate praedicta ! primo die feriae praedictae ! de locis ubi
hujusmodi victualia in eadem Civitate vendere solebant! | ad alia
loca extra civitatem ad hoc ordinata ! cum victualibus suis ibidem
et non alibi vendendis ! transferent et venire facient. Et omnes
pistores, carnifices, et piscenarii ejusdem Civitatis ad Pavilonem
praedictum in principio feriae praedictae ! venient, de quibus ! prae
dicti Justiciarii magis sufficientes et legaliores et discretiores ad
deserviendum hominibus ad feriam illam venientibus ! de sanis,
utilibus, et competentibus victualibus eligent, et sacramenta sua
super hoc | capient Ita quod si aliqua victualia non sana inventa

37
fuerint! illi! quibus extiterint ! ea omnino amittent, Et nichilo-
minus per Justiciaries graviter amercientur. Et quod praedictus
Episcopus habebit cognitionem placitorum forisceforciae60 et
mtrusionum de tenementis in Civitate praedicta, et tenebit
placita per breve nostrum de recto patens ! de terris et tenementis
tam infra Civitatem praedictam, quam infra praedictas septem
leucas existentibus. Et habebit cognitiones eorundem placitorum
coram praefatis Justiciariis | ad sectam quarumcunque partium !
quae coram eis prosequi ! seu conqueri voluerint, et Judicia et
executiones, prout casus exigunt et requirunt ! facient. Et quod
omnes domini et alii qui Curiam Baronum51 infra praedictas
septem leucas habent ! in principio feriae praedictae venire debent
et antiquitus venire solebant coram praefatis Justiciariis ad
Pavilonem praedictum ! et de eisdem Justiciariis licentiam petent
ad Curias suas et placita in eisdem tenendas! durante feria
praedicta. | Qui quidem Justiciarii eis licentiam praestabunt per
finem faciendum vel alio modo pro voluntate eorundem Justiciari
orum. Et nullus dominus nee alius ! alio modo Curiam aliquam
infra prsecinctum praedictum durante feria praedicta! tenebit,
nee unquam a tempore quo non extat memoria ! tenuit, absque
licentia in forma praedicta optinenda. Et si fecerint ! amercientur
per discretionem Justiciariorum. Quodque quamvis nos vel
Senescallus Hospicii nostri52etMareschalcia nostra! durante feria
| praedicta ! infra prsecinctum praedictum venerimus, vel venerint !
praedicti tamen Justiciarii omnia placita et alia quaecunque ad
libertates praedicti Episcopi et feriae suae praedictae pertinentia !
tenebunt et exercebunt! non obstante quod feria ilia et prae-
cinctus praedictus infra virgam63 tunc extiterint. Ita ! quod quam-
cito Senescallus et Marescallus praedicti vel illi qui placita
Marescalchiae tenent! per praedictos Justiciaries praemuniantur.!
extra prsecinctum praedictum recedent ! et nichil quod ad officium
Marescalchiae | pertineat ! infra eundem prsecinctum facient, nee
exercebunt, durante feria praedicta. Et iidem Justiciarii nomine

38
praedicti Episcopi assisam panis vini et cervisise54 et aliorum
victualium ponent et stabilient in Civitate praedicta et in feria
praedicta, et ubicunque infra praedictas septem leucas per sex
decim dies praedictos. Et Ministri ipsius Episcopi mensuras,
balanceas, pondera, et ulnas ejusdem Civitatis et ferise, et infra
praedictas septem leucas durante feria praedicta ! capere ! et ea ad
Pavilonem | praedictum deferre, et coram praefatis Justiciariis pro-
bare, et assisam inde facere. Necnon mensuras, balanceas, et
pondera et ulnas, quae extra assisam reperiri contigerit! comburere,
et homines qui eisdem utuntur tempore ferise illius ! amerciare ! et
amerciamenta ilia ad opus ipsius Episcopi levare debent et sole-
bant. Et quod nullus Civis Civitatis illius nee alius qui in Gilda
Mercatoria55 ejusdem Civitatis non fuerit! feriam illam cum
Mercandisis seu Mercimoniis suis post | diem Nativitatis beatse
Mariae absque fine cum eodem Episcopo pro voluntate ipsorum
Justiciariorum faciendo! ingredi debet! iidemque Justiciarii
quacunque hora vel die ! eis ! durante feria sexdecim dierum
placuerit! praedictam Civitatem ingredientur et omnia dolia
vinorum venalium in eadem Civitate qualitercunque inventa!
possunt probare et assaiare,56 et eadem singillatim tastare,
et si quae reperierint mixta, putrida, vel non sana vina conti-
nentia, a selariis57 extra | hent, et capita eorundem doliorum frangi
facient, et tabernarios seu dominos viniorum illorum ad opus
ipsius Episcopi graviter amercient Et quod Corvesarii58 Sutores
seu alii operarii sive artifices quicunque in preedicta Civitate!
alibi ! quam in eadem feria ! operationes seu opera sua sub foris-
factura eorundem ! non exercebunt nee vendere possunt, nee
aliqui ea emere debent. Justiciariique praedicti ad Civitatem
illam de Ministris ipsius Episcopi quociens per idem tempus
volue | rint! ad capiendum de quolibet genere panis venalis in
eadem civitate! unum vel duos panes et eos usque dictum
Pavilonem portandum mittent! iidemque ministri panem seu
panes sic captos ponderare, et si defectus in eodem vel eisdem

39
repertus fuerit ! panis hujusmodi praefato Episcopo erit forisfactus,
et pistor ejusdem! judicium Pillorii59 subibit, seu alias finem faciet!
secundum discretionem Justiciariorum. Et praedictus Episcopus !
per idem tempus sexdecim [ dierum ad omnes portas ejusdem
Civitatis Theoloneum sive custumam00 de qualibet videlicet
carectata buscae61 sive carbonum venalium ! quandam portionem
consuetam, et de quolibet summagio bladi02 venalis ducti per
equum! obolum, et de quolibet summagio bladi per hominem
portato ! quadrantem, et de qualibet carectata bladi duos denarios,
et de qualibet carectata foeni sive straminis venalis! unum dena-
rium, et de quolibet trusso63 hujus foeni sive straminis | venalis !
quadrantem, et de qualibet alia carectata quarumcumque rerum
venalium ad eandem civitatem et feriam venientium per tempus
praedictum sexdecim dierum ! duos denarios ; de quolibet stallo
panis in summo vico64 ejusdem Civitatis qualibet die Dominica
durante feria praedicta ! obolum ! de quolibet sacco lanae per licen
tiam Justiciariorum infra muros dietae Civitatis vendito! pro
pesagio Episcopi quatuor denarios, et pro feudo Pesarii65 per prae
dictum Episcopum ad hoc constituti! unum denarium de | emptore
et de venditore! unum denarium, ac etiam! de omnibus artificibus,
et mercimoniis minutis in eadem Civitate venditis ; tolneta et custu-
mas inde debita et consueta! percipiunt infra Civitatem et percipere
solebant durante feria praedicta. Prseterea de omnibus mercan-
disis et rebus venalibus quae veniunt vel ducuntur ad dictam
feriam ante festum Nativitatis beatae Mariae ! dictus Episcopus
tolneta et custumas sequentes percipit, et percipere solet, | vide
licet, de una bala cujuslibet Avoirdepoys,66 et de quolibet pacco
mercerise ! duos denarios, de qualibet pecia67 cerse integrse ! duos
denarios, de quolibet summagio per hominem portato! unum
denarium, de quolibet pakello portato, ut de panno et Avoir-
depoys'. obolum. Et si duo habeant unam balam hujusmodi
mercimonii! quilibet dabit duos denarios. De qualibet carec
tata mercandisse in balis non contentse ! utpote | de pisce, coreo,

40
ferro, vel alia re! sive de una bala cujuscumque mercimonii
ducti per carectam ! quatuor denarios ; de falcone vendito !
quatuor denarios ; de furetto vendito ! quatuor denarios. De
simea quatuor denarios. De ursa quatuor denarios. De ponder-
ante sive ponderatore ! 08 duos denarios. De claiis ductis per
summagium ! 09 obolum. De quolibet doleo vini et ciserae ! quatuor
denarios. De carectata fceni | vel bladi ! obolum. De quolibet
tapenario70 per totum tempus feriae! unum denarium. De coreo
crudo! obolum. De quolibet Tannatore!71 quatuor denarios.
De tresdecim aucis venditis! unam aucam. Et quod nulli
quieti sint de hujusmodi Theoloneo, nisi Mercatores ac Cives
Civitatum Londoniensis et Wyntoniensis ac honoris Walyngford,72
et hoc ! a principio feriae ! usque ad festum Nativitatis beatae
Marise. Et quando | contingit dictos Mercatores ac Cives London-
ienses et Wyntonienses vel aliquem hominem seu Mercatorem
cujuscunque villse vel partis fuerit! post dictum festum
Nativitatis beatae Marise! aliquas mercandisas seu mercimonia
per dictam feriam adducere vel portare! causa venditionis aut
emptionis in dicta feria de illis faciendse ! quod tunc pro prse
dictis mercandisis vel mercimoniis ibidem sic adducendis vel
deferendis '. coram prsedictis Justiciariis | finem facient, et ad hoc
faciendum ! quando recusant ! per hujusmodi mercandisas suas
destringentur et compellentur. Et quod dictus Episcopus
Wyntoniensis ac omnes praedecessores sui ! Episcopi loci illius ;
virtute cartarum praedictarum vel alias ! a tempore quo non
extat memoria! tam omnimodis consuetudinibus et libertatibus
supradictis per praedictos sexdecim dies feriae praedictae! quam
aliis libertatibus et consuetudinibus quam pluribus ! quae superius
non specificantur | nee memorise occurrebant ! ad eandem feriam
pertinentibus ! hucusque in,tegre et pacifice usi sunt ! sine aliqua
contradictione vel impedimento quocunque. Quodque licet prse-
fatus pater noster per aliam cartam suam concessisset praefato
Johanni nuper Episcopo Wyntoniensi73 prsedecessori dicti nunc

4i
Episcopi, quod ipse et successores sui imperpetuum haberent apud
locum praedictum ! unam feriarn ! singulis annis per viginti et
quatuor dies duraturam, | videlicet per praedictos sexdecim dies,
et per octo dies proxime sequentes de incremento ! cum libertatibus
et liberis consuetudinibus, ad hujusmodi feriam pertinentibus !
dictus tamen nunc Episcopus et praedecessores sui per eosdem
octo dies sic de incremento concessos ! non usi fuerunt aliis liber
tatibus et consuetudinibus in feria ilia ! nisi talibus quae ad feriam
spectant, et pertinent et in regno Angliae ratione feriae constanter
usitantur NOS pia in | tentione ducti ! ad laudem Dei et decorem
dictse Wyntoniensis ecclesiae ! et ob sinceram devoti'onem ! quam
ad Sanctos Petrum et Paulum Apostolos in quorum honore ipsa
consecratur ecclesia ! optinemus ! Ac eo magis et libentius ! tem
pore praefati Willelmi de Edyngton nunc Episcopi dicti loci et ejus
contemplatione personae, eidem et ipsi ecclesiae suo commissae
regimini ac successoribus suis de securitate quieta et tranquillis
successibus providere cupimus ! quo ipsum in nostris regiis | et
regni etiam negociis ! continuos ac studiosos labores prudenter et
utiliter subiisse, et fidelia obsequia in dirigendis nostris negociis
diutius praestitisse novimus i Dictaque Wyntoniensis Ecclesia ! per
progenitores nostros fundata ! de nostra existit etiam patronatu !
de gratia nostra speciali ! omnes et singulas libertates, immunitates,
et consuetudines supradictas, quae sic in inquisitione praedicta
anotantur, et per earn compertae sunt ! acceptamus, approbamus,
et | confirmamus ! et ne excrescente hominum malitia, labenteque
memoria ! revccentur in dubium ! aut in disceptationem seu dis-
putationem exquisitam imposterum deducantur! immo certe et
indubie imperpetuum permaneant et perdurent! concessimus ex
habundanti pro nobis et heredibus nostris, et hac carta nostra
confirmavimus praefato Willelmo nunc Episcopo et ecclesiae suae
praedictae! quod ipse Episcopus et successores sui universas et
singulas libertates | immunitates et consuetudines praedictas
superius ut praemittitur expressatasi durante dicta feria sex-

42
decim dierum! imperpetuum habeant, et eis libere quiete et
integre, sine impedimento, inquietatione, seu contradictione
nostri aut heredum nostrorum, Justiciariorum, Vicecomitum, seu
Ministrorum nostrorum aliorum quorumcumque ! gaudeant et
utantur. Volumus insuper et concedimus pro nobis et heredibus
nostris, quod idem Episcopus et successores sui omnes alias liber
tates [ et consuetudines quibus ipse et praedecessores sui virtute
cartarum prsedictarum ac verborum generalium in eis conten-
torum, et feriae praedictae ! usi sunt ! quae non supra specificantur,
set forsan in captione inquisitionis praedictae neglectae fuerant
et omissse ! habeant et utantur eisdem ! prout praedictus nunc
Episcopus et praedecessores sui ! eis usi sunt hactenus et gavisi.
Hiis testibus venerabilibus patribus I. Menevensi Episcopo
Cancellario nostra.74 R. Londonensi,75 et T. Dunelmensi,76
Episcopis, Willelmo de Bohun Northamtonise et Willelmo de
Clynton Huntingdoniae77 Comitibus, ac Radulfo Barone de
Stafford,78 et Johanne de Grey de Rotherfeld Seneschallo
Hospitii nostri,79 et aliis.
Datum per manum nostram apud Westmonasterium decimo
die Novembris anno regni nostri Angliae vicesimo tertio, regni
vera nostri Francise decimo.
PER BREVE DE PRIVATO SIGILLO.

Cranslatum*

The Charter of King Edward III concerning St.
Giles Fair, A.D. 1349.
EDWARD by the grace of God King of England and
France and Lord of Ireland, to the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots,
Priors, Earls, Barons, Justiciars, Sheriffs, Provosts, Ministers and
all other his faithful Bailiffs, Greeting :
Ullufoj gf> that whereas the Lord William of renowned
memory, erst King of England Our Ancestor, did grant
by Charter unto God and St. Peter of the Old Minster
of Winchester, and to the then Bishop of Winchester,
a Fair at St. Giles' Church, on the hill to the east of the
City, with all revenues and jurisdictions appertaining to himself
within the City of Winchester, for three whole days : — viz., on
St. Giles' Day, and the day before and after — to be held by him,
with all its customs, as fully and freely as the King would
hold it, were it his own And afterwards Henry of glorious
memory, King of England, brother of King William, granted by
Charter to God and St. Peter and St. Swythun of the Old
Minster, and to William Giffard, then Bishop of Winchester,
a Fair at the aforesaid church of St. Giles, with all revenue and
jurisdictions belonging to him in Winchester, for eight whole
days : — viz., for the three days granted by King William with
five days subsequent ; — to hold it with all customs as fully
and freely as the King would hold it, were it his own And

44
subsequently the Lord Stephen of famous memory, formerly
King of England, Our Ancestor, also by Charter granted
to God and to the Church of Winchester, and to Henry his
brother, then Bishop of that See, and to all his successors, six
full days additional to the Fair, so that in all it should last four
teen days ; Desiring and Enjoining that the Fair for all these
fourteen days should have all customs, quittances, and liberties it
used to enjoy within and without the City in the days of Henry I
And the Lord Henry of good memory, formerly King of
England, successor to King Stephen, Our ancestor, afterwards
by Charter granted to God and to the said Church and to the
then Bishop of the See eight days in augmentation of the Fair ;
so that while in the time of his grandfather, Henry I, it lasted but
eight days, it should thenceforth last sixteen, as it is in the said
Charters which the Lord Edward, late King of England, Our
Father, confirmed by his Charter, in which, for himself and his
heirs, he granted to John, late Bishop, that although he and
his predecessors might not have before used the said liberties,
still he and his successors should thenceforth fully enjoy and
use them, as is more fully set forth in the said Confirmation :
And We also, at the instance of the venerable Father William
of Edyndon, now Bishop of Winchester, who has represented
to Us that he and his predecessors in the bishopric, by virtue
of the above-named Charters and their general terms, and
from the time the said Charters for the Fair were made and
otherwise from time immemorial, had had their own Justiciars
(styled the Pavilion -Justices, "Justiciarii Pavilonis") with
cognisance of pleas and other business during the Fair, and
the keys of the gates and watch and ward in Our City of
Winchester throughout the period of the Fair, and also
certain other liberties, immunities, and customs, and had
exercised the same (however expressed, with fulness or not,
in the Charters) freely and without challenge ; And We

45
having been prayed by him to be graciously pleased to
reduce to writing- in express language in a Charter such
liberties, immunities, and customs as he and his predecessors
had clearly enjoyed from time immemorial by virtue of
these said Charters, confirmations, and general terms, and
to grant to him and his successors, the exercise of these
liberties for ever without let or hindrance : SISEe, therefore,
desiring to be more fully informed thereon, appointed as
Commissioners our trusty and beloved William of Shareshull,
John of St. Paul, William of Fifhide, and William of Overton, or
any two or three of them, to get more completely at the truth of
the matter by examining on oath good and lawful men of the
county of Southampton, through whom the truth might be the
better known : And as by means of this inquiry, made at our
command by the Williams aforesaid and returned into our
Chancery, it appears that the Bishops of Winchester, predecessors
of the present Bishop, by virtue of the aforesaid royal grants, and
of their general and kingly terms, and otherwise, have from time
immemorial held, and this present Bishop doth now hold, this
Fair on St. Giles' Down, during the said sixteen days ; and
as by reason of this Fair, and in virtue of the general and
kingly terms aforesaid, this present Bishop and his prede
cessors have up to this time exercised the liberties and
customs described hereafter, viz., that the Bishop for the time
being has and ought to have his own Justiciaries, styled the
Justiciaries of his Pavilion of the Fair, assigned by his
Commission ; and that these Justiciaries, year by year, at the
opening of the Fair on the Vigil of St. Giles' Day, before or
at or immediately after sunrise, are to ride to the Southgate of
the City or to Kingsgate, as they think best, and are there to
enter the City: and that at the Southgate the Mayor, Bailiffs,
and Citizens shall meet them, and deliver over to them, as acting
for the Bishop and as his officers, the keys and custody of that

46
gate ; and the Justiciaries shall, at their pleasure, set their own
warders or porters there : thence they are to ride, all together, to
the Westgate, and there the Mayor, Bailiffs, and Citizens shall, as
above, deliver over to the Justiciaries the keys and custody of that
gate, and the " Tron " of wool of the city ; and the Justiciaries
shall set a warder or porter at this Gate, and shall cause the
Fair to be proclaimed there in the following form : viz., Let no
Merchant or other for these sixteen days, within a circuit of seven
leagues round the Fair, sell, buy, or set out for sale, any merchan
dise in any place other than the Fair, under penalty of forfeiture
of the goods to the Bishop : Then, after proclamation thus made,
the Justiciaries, Mayor, Bailiffs, and Citizens are to ride to the
Northgate, and there they shall deliver up the keys and custody
of that Gate to the Justiciaries, as above : and the Justiciaries shall
at their pleasure set there a warder or porter : and after this the
Justiciaries shall make, at will, a similar proclamation there and
elsewhere in the City, as often as they choose : and thence the
Justiciaries, the Mayor, and the others are to ride together to the
Eastgate, and the latter shall, in form as above, deliver up the
keys and custody of that gate to the Justiciaries, saving the tolls
and customs thence due and pertaining to the Abbess and
Convent of the B. V. M. in Winchester and their successors
and their church ; and thence the Justiciaries, Mayor, Bailiffs,
and Citizens shall ride out together to the Bishop's Pavilion of
the Fair on St. Giles' Hill outside the City ; after which, the
Mayor, etc., can withdraw, and return as they please to the
City : and thereon the said Justiciaries shall elect and appoint
a Mayor and Bailiffs to serve in those offices in the City during
the Fair, and also a Coroner to perform the duties of Coroner
within the City during the Fair, who may be an alien or a citizen, at
the pleasure of the said Justiciaries, and a Marshal to execute their
decrees and to serve them as is fitting within and without the City.
And the Bishop from the time that the keys and custody of the

47
Gates, as is aforesaid, have been delivered to him, shall, by
his Justiciaries and other Ministers, have custody of the
whole City, and cognisance of all pleas between the men and
tenants of the City and all other persons, within a circuit of seven
leagues round the Fair, regarding breaches of law, debts, and all
contracts ; and also of pleas anyhow relating to all other men or
merchants, whenever or wherever, at home or over sea, such
contracts or agreements have been made, to be heard and held
at the aforesaid Pavilion, provided however that some citizen
or inhabitant of the aforesaid district must interpose in such
suit within the specified period of time. And all personal suits
begun before the Justiciaries from the opening of the Fair down
to the Vigil of the Nativity of the B. V. M. (7th September)
are to be carried on and regulated first by summons or
attachment, and afterwards by distraints, as is usual in our
Royal Court, and as occasions require, and from the Vigil of the
Nativity of the B. V. M. to the end of the sixteen days aforesaid
the process in regard of all such pleas and plaints, in accordance
with ancient custom of the Fair from time immemorial, as is
aforesaid, shall begin by distraint, and shall ever be continued by
distraint from hour to hour and from day to day, at the dis
cretion of the Justiciaries aforesaid, for swifter remedy to the
complainants. And let both citizens and others be justiced and
regulated in the same manner ; and if any parties submit them
selves to inquest of office before the Justiciaries in causes of this
kind or of any other kind within the cognisance of the Justiciaries of
the Pavilion, orders shall be given to the Marshal to bring before
the said Justiciaries such inquests, in case of both citizens and
aliens, whether men of the Soke, or of the Fair, or merchants
found in the Fair, whether citizens of Winchester or of London,
or of any other place on this or that side of the sea, as may be
needful. And when the jurors have come by due procedure, then,
in the presence of the party or parties, they must take oath as

48
to those things concerning which they are to be charged by
the Justiciaries : viz., by penalty of imprisonment or otherwise
by fine, at the discretion of the Justiciaries, as is usual in our
Royal Court before our Justiciaries ; and this, whether they be
citizens of Winchester or of London, or aliens. And after any
one has been convicted in such inquests, or by his own cogni
sance, in any personal cause, he shall by judgment and precept of
the Justiciaries be arrested and delivered over to the Marshal to
be kept in custody, until satisfaction has been made to the other
party and to the Court : And similarly, any who attempt rescue
from the officers of the Bishop or his Justiciaries or their officers
serving in the Fair or at the Pavilion, or within the seven-league
circuit, or at Southampton, and who hinder them in carrying out
the executions and precepts of the Justiciaries, be they men of
Winchester or aliens, or men of Southampton or elsewhere, shall
forthwith be arrested and taken to the Pavilion, where they
shall be detained till they have paid a fine to the Bishop for
their misconduct and for the rescue. And if they or any other
persons are convicted and taken into custody, as aforesaid, at
suit of any party or parties within the sixteen Fair days, and
shall refuse to pay fine to the Bishop, and to make satisfaction
to the party or parties as is fitting, then directly the sixteen
days are over they shall be carried to Wolvesey, and there be
detained in the Bishop's custody, till they have paid the fine and
have made satisfaction, as aforesaid. And all actions as to debts
between traders during the Fair, shall be held (and ever have
been held) before the Justiciaries, by way of testing of tallies,
in accordance with the Merchant Law, should the complainant
desire it. And if any one whose goods are attached or distrained
on before the Justiciaries at suit of any complainant, refuse to
appear and to be justiced by them within the sixteen Fair days,
then at the close of the sixteenth day, the goods and chattels thus
attached distrained on or arrested, shall be appraised by good and

49
lawful men of the Soke of Winton on their oath, and shall be
delivered over to the complainants in lieu of their debts and
damages, at the discretion of the Justiciaries, if such distraint
suffices ; if not, then the distraint shall be paid over for a portion
only of the debt, more or less, according to the value of the
goods distrained on. And this is customary for the men of
Winchester and of London, and all other persons of whatever
place. And all pleas begun before the Justiciaries and not
concluded within the sixteen Fair days, shall at the close of the
sixteenth day be adjourned to the Vigil of St. Giles' day in the
following year. And let the same day be assigned for all parties
in the same suit. And very many of the Bishop's tenants, who
hold lands and tenements of him by service of making suit at
the Pavilion, are bound to come, and shall come thither on each
Vigil of St. Giles, before six in the morning, to make their suit
of service at the Pavilion, and shall be prepared with horses and
arms as often as may be needful. From among them the Justi
ciaries shall, at their pleasure, select three or four (or more or
fewer, as they may see it will be needful) to serve and tarry in the
Fair during its continuance, and to carry out the executions and
precepts of the said Justiciaries in all places within the seven
leagues, and at Southampton, as often as shall be needful for
the safeguard of the peace and the Fair, and this at the wonted
charges of the Bishop : So that, in fact, the said tenants may
return and be prepared to do as is aforesaid as often as and
whenever they are forewarned by the Justiciaries ; and while the
Fair lasts, certain servants and officers shall be there, charged
with the duty of writing down the pleas, receiving the plaints,
and carrying out executions ordered by the Justiciaries ; these
are the Chamberlain, Marshal, Porter, and divers other servants
of the Fair, who,, from all men who prosecute, or are distrained
on, or are convicted in causes before the Justiciaries, and in
many other cases also, shall take the usual rewards or fees

50
reducible on reasonable cause at the discretion of the
Bishop or his Justiciaries ; as from time immemorial these
officers have taken such fees by reason of their offices. And
distraints ought to be reasonable and not too severe, at the
discretion of the Justiciaries, and as the business coming before
them may require. And during Fair-time the Marshal shall
daily ride, immediately after sunset, through the midst of the
Fair, and proclaim publicly that every trader is forthwith to shut
his stall ; and after this proclamation no one may sell, or offer
for sale, any merchandise, and if he does so and is convicted, he
shall pay a fine to the Bishop for it, at the discretion of the
Justiciaries. And after this proclamation till the rising of the
next day's sun, none but the Bishop's officers or his Justiciaries
ought to move about in the Fair ; and if anyone do so, forthwith
he shall be taken by the officers and brought to the Pavilion, and
pay fine as aforesaid. And no trader shall have any fire within
the Fair by night, unless it be in lamp or mortar ; and if anyone
do otherwise, he shall be fined. And if any house within the
barrier of the Fair be broken into or thrown down, so that any
one can pass thereby with goods for sale or purchase without
paying of custom and toll, the man whose is the house shall be
fined heavily at the discretion of the Justiciaries, and the goods
thus removed without toll shall none the less be forfeited to the
Bishop : And the Justiciaries and the Treasurer of the Bishop
at Wolvesey for the time being, and the Clerk of the pleas
shall yearly receive four basins and ewers, by way of fee (as
they have received them of old time), from those traders from
foreign parts, called "Dynamitters," who sell brazen vessels in the
Fair : And the Mayor and Bailiffs of the City, after election as
aforesaid by the Justiciaries, shall, at the mandate of the Justici
aries, make and are bound to make, summons, attachments of
goods, distraints, and all manner of executions of all plaints and
pleas tried in the Pavilion before the Justiciaries touching matters

5i
arising within the City, without interference or hindrance from
any citizen : And when citizens are summoned to the Pavilion
before the Justiciaries during the sixteen Fair days, they shall not
refuse, but shall come to do the things they are bound to do by
the laws and customs of the Fair : So also the Aldermen and all
Tithingmen of all tithings in the seven-league circuit are bound
to come to every hue and cry and case of bloodshed, and if
anything else occurs to break our peace within their wards and
tithings, they shall arrest the culprits, and take from them (when
ever such can be had) security as to their abiding by the law
and customs of the Fair, and they shall come to the Pavilion,
and from day to day during Fair-time shall present to the
Justiciaries such cases as may come up ; and the said Justiciaries
shall proceed further by law and custom. And the Bishop
shall have all such animals, goods, and chattels, styled Waifs
and Strays, as may be found within the seven-league circuit.
Also the Justiciaries at the opening of the Fair shall elect as
Coroner some discreet man from among the Bishop's tenants
who owe suit at the Pavilion, and shall take oath of him,
that he will perform whatever pertains to the office of Coroner
both within the Fair and in the seven-league circuit ; And
this Coroner shall obey the orders of the said Justiciaries just
as if they were Our Justiciaries : And the said Justiciaries
shall hold all the pleas of the Crown, whether by appeals or by
indications arising out of the facts, within the aforesaid precinct,
and shall pass judgment thereon and take execution during the
Fair, as Our Justiciaries do in like case elsewhere in our realm
of England. And though Southampton is more than seven
leagues distant from the Fair, still the Justiciaries shall send an
Officer of the Bishop's Pavilion, the Marshal, thither each year
on the Vigil of the Nativity of the B. V. M., or before or after,
as they will, to proclaim there that no man shall at that time
sell or buy goods or weigh or poise merchandise or goods

52
for sale in Southampton, excepting victuals, under pain of
forfeiture of the goods and merchandise to the Bishop, but that
all traders shall bring their goods and merchandise to the Fair,
as is more fully laid down in a certain composition between
Aymer, formerly Bishop-Elect of Winchester, and the Community
of the town of Southampton, and confirmed by Charter of Henry,
King of England. And these Justiciaries shall place guards or
officers at Stockbridge bridge, at Romsey, Redbridge, Crab-
wood, Hursley, Mainsbridge, Otterbourne, Kingbridge, Curbridge,
Alresford, and at divers other places, to levy tolls and customs
on the merchandise and saleable goods passing over these bridges
and other places, for the benefit of the Bishop, in such manner
and form as they are levied in the Fair, in the City, and in the
seven-league circuit, during Fair-time. And no tradesman of
Winchester or other man shall sell or offer for sale any mer
chandise or goods in the City during the sixteen days of the
Fair ; and, if they do, such goods shall be forfeited to the Bishop.
Nor shall any one keep open stall during this period in the City,
and no pedlar of small goods, such as purses, gloves, knives,
etc., shall, without paying such fine to the Bishop as the Justici
aries or other the Bishop's deputies may think fit, open his pack
to sell or show such goods : and the Justiciaries or their deputies
shall, on the first day of the Fair, move all sellers of food in the
City with their victuals from their usual places to other appointed
spots outside the City, and there, and nowhere else, shall they
sell ; And all bakers, butchers, and fishmongers of the City shall
in the beginning of the Fair repair to the Pavilion, and from
among them the Justiciaries shall appoint the most competent
lawful and discreet men to serve those who come to the Fair
with wholesome, useful, and sufficient victuals, and shall take their
oaths thereunto : So that if any food be found to be tainted,
its owners shall forfeit it entirely, and be none the less heavily
fined by the Justiciaries. And the Bishop shall have cognisance

53
of all pleas of fresh force and of intrusions from houses within
the city, and shall under authority of our Letter Patent hold
courts of pleas as to lands and houses in the City and within
the seven leagues, and shall have cognisance of the said pleas
before the Justiciaries at suit of any who may desire to prosecute
or lodge complaint with them, and they shall give judgments and
make executions as the cases demand. And all Lords and others
who have the right to hold Court Baron within the seven leagues
are bound to come and have of old been wont to come and
appear at the beginning of the Fair before the Justiciaries in the
Pavilion, and ask leave of the Justiciaries to hold their own Courts
and Pleas therein during the Fair. And the Justiciaries shall
grant them leave, on fine or otherwise, as shall seem good to
them : and no Lord or other shall hold Court in any other way in
the district in Fair-time, nor has ever done so from time
immemorial, without leave thus granted. And if they do, let them
be fined at the discretion of the Justiciaries. And though We
Ourselves or the Seneschal of Our Household and Our Marshals
were to come within the said precinct in Fair-time, still the
Justiciaries shall hold all Pleas and whatever else pertains to the
liberties of the Bishop and his Fair, even though the Fair and
its precinct were at the time within our royal Virgate : So
that directly our Seneschal and Marshal, or those who hold the
Marshal's Court, are forewarned by the Justiciaries, they shall with
draw from the precinct, and shall forbear to do or exercise
anything pertaining to the Marshal's office within that precinct
during the Fair : And the Justiciaries, acting in the name of the
Bishop, shall set up and establish an Assize of bread, wine, beer,
and other victuals in the city and Fair and seven-league circuit
during the 'sixteen days : And the Bishop's servants shall take
and carry to the Pavilion, and in presence of the Justiciaries
prove and assay all measures, balances, weights, and ell-wands
of the City, of the Fair, and the seven-league circuit : And more-

54
over they shall burn all measures, balances, weights, and ell-wands
which may be found unassayed, and shall fine, to the Bishop's
benefit, the men who have used such at Fair-time. And no
Citizen of Winchester or person not a member of its Merchant
Guild, may enter the Fair with his merchandise and wares after
the Nativity of the B. V. M. without a fine to be paid to the
Bishop, at the pleasure of the Justiciaries : And the Justiciaries,
on whatever day or hour they may please within the sixteen days
of the Fair, may enter the city and prove, assay, and taste one by
one all casks of wine for sale in the city, be they where they may,
and, if they find any mixed or stale or unwholesome, they shall
draw them out of the cellars, knock off their heads, and heavily
fine the innkeepers or owners, the fine being paid to the Bishop :
And no cobblers, tailors, or other craftsmen or artificers of
the City, shall ply their trade or sell elsewhere save within the
Fair, under penalty of forfeiture. And the Justiciaries shall
during the same period send the Bishop's servants, as often as
they will, into the city to take a loaf or two of every kind of bread
for sale there, and send them up to the Pavilion, where the ser
vants shall weigh them : and, if they prove short, they shall be
forfeited to the Bishop, and the baker be put in the Pillory, or
otherwise be fined, at the discretion of the Justiciaries. And the
Bishop, during the sixteen Fair-days, shall take toll or custom at
all the city gates of every cartload of firewood or charcoal for
sale, taking a certain established portion of the same, and a
halfpenny for every horseload of corn for sale, and a farthing
for every burden of corn carried by a man, and for every cart
load of corn two-pence, for every cartload of hay or straw
for sale a penny, and for every truss of such hay or straw for
sale a farthing, and for every other cartload of goods for sale
coming to the City and the Fair during the sixteen days two
pence ; for every stall for the sale of bread in the top of the High
Street of the City on the Sundays in Fair-time, a halfpenny ; for

53
every bale of wool sold by license of the Justiciaries within the city
walls, for the Bishop's weigh-money, four-pence, and for the
weigher's fee, a penny from the seller and a penny from the buyer,
and from all workmanship and small wares sold in the city they
take and during Fair-time have ever taken in the City the usual
tolls and customs. Moreover, the Bishop levies and has ever
levied the following tolls and customs from all merchandise and
goods for sale which are brought to the Fair before the feast of
the Nativity of the B. V. M., viz., for one bale of Avoirdepoys, and
every pack of mercery, two-pence ; for every piece of whole
wax, two-pence ; for every burden borne by a man, one penny ;
for every small pack of cloth and Avoirdepoys carried by a man,
a halfpenny ; and if two have one bale of such wares, each
shall pay two-pence : For every cartload of merchandise not
in bales, such as fish, leather, iron, or any other goods, or for one
bale of any kind of wares carried in a cart, four-pence ; for a
falcon sold, four-pence ; a ferret, four-pence ; an ape, four-pence ;
a bear, four-pence ; a dealer, two-pence ; for hurdles brought as a
load, a halfpenny ; for a cask of wine and cider, four-pence : for
a load of hay or corn, a halfpenny ; for a carpet-maker, for the
whole of the Fair, a penny ; for a raw hide, a halfpenny ; for a
tanner, four-pence ; if thirteen geese be sold, one of them : And
none shall be quit of such toll, save the merchants and citizens
of London, Winchester, and the Honour of Wallingford, and this
from the beginning of the Fair to the Nativity of the B. V. M.
And if these merchants and citizens of London and Winchester,
or any other man or merchant, take any goods through the Fair
for sale after that day, they shall pay fine before the Justiciaries for
such wares, and if they refuse, their wares shall be distrained on,
and they shall so be compelled. And whereas the Bishop of
Winchester and his predecessors by virtue of the aforesaid Charters
or otherwise from time immemorial have hitherto fully and quietly,
without contradiction or hindrance, enjoyed during the sixteen

56
Fair days all the customs and liberties above named, as well as all
other liberties and customs belonging to the Fair, not above speci
fied or remembered ; And although Our Father [Edward II] by
another Charter had granted to John, Bishop of Winchester,
predecessor of the present Bishop, leave for himself and his suc
cessors for ever to hold yearly in the aforesaid place a Fair for
four and twenty days, viz., for the above sixteen days, and
the eight days next following, with the liberties and free customs
belonging thereto, but neither the present Bishop nor his pre
decessors have exercised any other liberties and customs during
the additional eight days in that Fair, save those belonging to the
Fair and commonly in use in respect to Fairs in this realm of
England : WHtt guided by our pious desire for the glory of God
and the honour of the Church of Winchester, and from our sincere
devotion towards SS. Peter and Paul, in whose honour the Church
is consecrated, and all the more willingly in the days of this
present Bishop William of Edyndon, and after contemplation
of his person, do desire to secure to him, and to this Church
entrusted to his rule and to his successors, all quietude and tran
quil prosperity, seeing we have known that for a long time past
he has prudently usefully and with ceaseless and careful toil
laboured at our royal and national affairs, and has with all faithful
service and obedience conducted our business ; And seeing that
the Church of Winchester, founded by our progenitors, is of
our patronage, We of Our peculiar grace do accept, approve,
and confirm all and singular the liberties, immunities, and
customs aforesaid, which are noted down and have appeared on
the aforesaid enquiry ; And lest through growth of human badness
and lapse of memory, these should hereafter become doubtful or
be challenged and subtly disputed, and rather that they may
surely and indubitably remain and last for ever, We for our
selves and our heirs have fully granted, and by this our Charter
have confirmed to the said Bishop William and to his Church

57
the perpetual enjoyment during the sixteen Fair-days for himself
and his successors of all and singular the liberties, immunities,
and customs aforesaid ; which he shall enjoy and exercise freely,
quietly, and completely, without let or disturbance or contra
diction of Ourselves or Our heirs, Our Justiciaries, Sheriffs, or
Officers of any kind. We moreover will and grant, for Ourselves
and Our heirs, that the said Bishop and his successors shall
enjoy all other liberties and customs, which he and his prede
cessors, by virtue of the aforenamed Charter and of the general
terms of the same, and of the Fair aforesaid, have exercised,
though not specified above, but neglected perchance and omitted
in the above-mentioned Enquiry ; and that they shall exercise
the same even as the present Bishop and his predecessors hare
hitherto exercised and enjoyed them,
Witnesses : the Venerable Fathers J. Bishop of St. David's,
Our Chancellor ; R. Bishop of London ; T. Bishop of Durham ;
William of Bohun, Earl of Northampton ; William of Clynton,
Earl of Huntingdon ; Ralph, Baron of Stafford ; and John of Grey
of Rotherfield, Seneschal of Our Household, and others.
Given under Our hand at Westminster, this ioth day of
November, in the year of Our reign in England the twenty-third,
and of Our reign in France the tenth.

By Writ of Privy Seal,

The vertical lines which occur in the text indicate the divisions of the lines in
the original MS.
I have followed the punctuation of the MS., which is rather peculiar. The
scribe apparently used five marks, in a rather arbitrary fashion : (i) the
point (.), placed either at the bottom or in the middle of a line; (2) the
colon (:), which occurs very rarely, being perhaps only one or two faint
examples of (3) a kind of semi-colon, the commonest mark of all (J), a
point with a flourish above it ; I have represented this in the text by a
semi-colon reversed (!) ; (4) a straight vertical line between two words ( | ),
occurring only in enumerations of things, as "Justiciarii | Major | Ballivi";
this I have rendered by a comma, and lastly (5) a faint bracket (() at the
beginning of parenthetical sentences ; the answering bracket appears not to
have been used. Before the word " Episcopus" the scribe usually makes two
dots, (thus, - - Epus,) as a mark of respect, in lieu of the Christian name.
1. Vicecomitibus: — Sheriffs. The dignity, of "Viscount" in England
did not appear till late, and "was a novelty in the fifteenth century;
the first English peer who bore the title being the Viscount of
Beaumont, John, a lineal descendent of that Henry of Beaumont,
who took so prominent a part in the history of Edward II." Even in
his case the title was not English, but that of the French Viscounts of
Beaumont in Maine. Bp. Stubbs, C. H., Ill, pp. 471, 472. The Office
of Vicecomes was in existence much earlier, the word being used for
the representative of the Comes, or for the royal officer (as here)
appointed yearly to be a Sheriff in town or county. Fortescue gives
us a long definition of his place and duties. (De Laudibus, ch. 24.)
2. Sancto Petro veteris monasterii: — The old Minster was dedicated
to St. Peter and St. Paul, to SS. Birinus and Swithun, and afterwards
in 1541 was named the Church of the Holy Trinity by Henry VIII.
3. Tunc Wyntoniensi Episcopo : — This was Bishop Walkelin, cousin
of William the Conqueror, to whom William Rufus first granted the
proceeds of this Fair in 1096.

59
4- Ad ecclesiam Sancti Egidii quce sita est in monte orientali Wynton:
Toe Church of St. Giles stood a little distance back on the very top of
the hill, and the Churchyard sloped somewhat towards the north, not
towards the city. It was apparently first a Parish Church, and later,
perhaps after the great fire of 1231, only a Chapel. It must have
always been a small place, for it does not appear in the list of Churches
or Chapels in the Register of John of Pontoise, nor is it in the list of
taxed or untaxed Churches of the time of Pope Nicholas IV. It was
still standing in the reign of Henry VIII ; for Leland, quoted by Milner,
says, " The Chapelle of St. Gyles sumtyme, as apperith, hath been a far
bigger thyng" {/tin. iii. 101). There being little or no population
attached to this ancient place, it was allowed to fall into ruin, and
finally suffered the fate of many interesting pieces of architecture in
Winchester : building materials, especially stone, being valuable, it was
entirely taken away, and used up in some other construction. Nothing
has been so great an enemy to ancient Winchester as the unfortunately
high value of stone and lead.
5. Willelmo Giffard : — He was Bishop Walkelin's successor.
Walkelin died in 1098, and the See lay vacant till the accession of
Henry I. No sooner was that prince seated on the throne than he
named Giffard, his Chancellor, a man of excellent parts and character,
to the bishopric, as we find it in the A.S. Chronicle (anno 1100) "and
sytSpan he bebyrged waes. ]>a witan J>e pa neh handa waeron. his broker
Heanrig to cynge gecuran. and he faer rihte |>at bisc'rice on Win ceast'
Will'me Giffarde geaf." Seven years, however, passed before the new
bishop was able to get firmly into his seat, to receive consecration, and
exercise his proper jurisdiction as Bishop. The great Investitures'
controversy was then at its height; and Giffard, the King's friend
and nominee, was not likely to be regarded with much favour by the
Pope or by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, who took the clerical
against the royal side in this hot controversy. Henry ordered Giffard to
receive his consecration from Gerard, Archbishop of York, who would
have been well pleased to gratify his master, and to have an excuse for
exercising authority within the jurisdiction of Canterbury. But Giffard

6o
refused to obey, and in 1103 he had to leave the country, and take
refuge at Rome. Thence he returned, the Annals of Winchester tell
us, and resumed his bishopric, though it was despoiled of all its wealth,
within and without. It was not till 1107 that Giffard and the Bishop of
Sarum were consecrated by Anselm, in the same year in which, somewhat
later, Walkelin's tower fell. Giffard was a strong man, and did not
always live at peace with his neighbours. The monks of St. Swithun in
1 1 22 had good reason to "turn the heads of their crucifixes in the
Cathedral down and the feet up" — their weapon of war! — and to
make processions (in the triforium of Walkelin's Church, no doubt)
bare footed, and "against the sun," the full force of which terrible
act can be appreciated only by old Portwine drinkers. The cause of
quarrel was the high handed way in which the Bishop had seized on
nine churches on the manors of St. Swithun. In this dispute, the king
supported the Priory, while almost all the great lords went with the
Bishop, as one of their class. Not till 1124 was the quarrel made up,
by mediation of the king; both parties met in the Chapter-house; when
the Bishop came in alone (so as to show no signs of fear), the monks
shuffled off their sandals and fell prostrate at his feet ; and he in
turn fell at theirs ; and " being a man of perfect piety and most gentle
spirit, restored to them all they demanded, and confirmed by his
Charter to them these churches and many other good things in
perpetual possession." These things we are told in the Annals of
Winton. So the monks completely won the day. Four years or so
later (in 1129) Giffard died, and was succeeded by Henry of Blois.
It was in large part through Giffard's action that the New Minster
was moved, in n 10, from the Cathedral Churchyard to its new home
at Hyde. 6. Henrico tunc dicti loci Episcopo fratri suo : — Henry of Blois, King
Stephen's brother, was Abbot of Glastonbury when Giffard died, and was
at once promoted to this rich bishopric. In the bad days of the strife
between the Empress Maud and King Stephen, the Pope named him his
Legate, and he seems to have tried to make peace. After the defeat and
capture of Stephen in 1141, Maud came down to Winchester, and the

6i
Legate and most of the great men of England did homage to her.
London, however, was never really reconciled to her ; and shortly after
disagreement broke out between the Empress and the Legate. She
held the Castle and the northern and east side of the City, while
Henry of Blois was in Wolvesey and was helped by the western and
southern side of the town and the Londoners : so that the High Street
was (roughly speaking) the dividing line, the North and East side going
with the Empress, the South and West with the Bishop. The destruction
by fire of everything north of the High Street was the immediate conse
quence ; Hyde Abbey, too, was burnt down, and King Cnut's famous
silver and gold Cross, the picture of which is preserved to us in one
of the illuminations of the Hyde Register. Had it not been for the
intervention of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the Annals of Winchester tell
us, the Church of St. Swithun would have also perished : for "he spared
it, when, had he chose, he might easily have burnt it." Soon after
achieving all this mischief, the ambitious Prelate, in constant variance
with the See of Canterbury, went off to Rome to see whether he could
persuade the Pope to raise Winchester into an Archbishopric, with a new
Bishopric at Hyde Abbey. The death of the Pope brought this scheme
to naught. In his later years the turbulence of Bishop Henry was
tamed down, and he became notable for self-denial and charity ; so
that as a man regards the earlier or the later period of his episcopate,
so he will draw him as quarrelsome, fierce, and ambitious, or as a pious,
virtuous, and beneficent prelate. He died in 1171. "Never was there
a more chaste or prudent man, never one more pitiful, or more anxious
to beautify and enlarge the property of the Church ; he migrated to the
Lord whom he had loved with all his heart, and whose ministers, that
is to say, the monks and religious persons, he had honoured as the
Lord himself; his soul doth lie in Abraham's bosom." The Monk who
pens these lines had seen the later years of the Bishop's life, and had
let them, as with a kind of sunset light, gild the harsh features of the
earlier day.
7. Actunc Episcopo dicti loci: — During the reign of Henry II
there were only two Bishops of Winchester: — Henry of Blois, n 29 —

62
1 17 1, and Richard Toclive, 1174 — n 88. It is therefore probable (in
the absence of any date to the Charter) that the grant of the additional.
eight days; was: made to Bishop Richard: he lies buried, am fee nsatfe
side of the Cathedral Choir.
8. Johanni nuper Episcopo: — There were two Johns, Bishops of
Winchester in the reign of Edward II, John Sendale (from 1316 to 1319)
and John Stratford (1323 — 1348)-; and as we know from one of the
Winchester MSS. (quoted in the Introduction) that John Sendale was
active in the matter of the Fair, it was probably to him that it was
granted. John Sendale had been a Canon of York, then Treasurer,
then Chancellor, of England. " He is recorded," says Milner, " not for
anything that he performed in the Diocese, but only for what he
neglected to perform." He was little here, was overwhelmed with
debts, contracted to help the King in his Scottish War ; the Diocese
had to take care of itself; and as he had lived in London, so he was
buried there in St. Mary Overy Church.
9. Willelmi de Edyngton: — This was the famous Prelate, who
holds a special place in the history of Architecture as the father of
the Perpendicular Style. He was an ecclesiastic of probity and ability,
who had been Treasurer to Edward III ; and, as we gather from this
Charter, highly esteemed by the King for his faithful and provident
management of the royal affairs. He was made Bishop in 1346, first
Prelate of the new Order of the Garter in 1350, raised in 1357
to the dignity of Chancellor, and in 1366 elected Archbishop of
Canterbury, though he refused to desert Winchester ; in that same year
he died. He refashioned, and in great part rebuilt, the west front
of the Cathedral, and the first and second bays of the Nave ; and at
his death left a large sum of money to carry on the work, which was
nobly continued, on lines of greater dignity and power, by William of
Wykeham. His Chantry, containing his effigy, is between two of the
piers of the Nave on the south side, hard by the entrance into
the Choir.

63
io. Justiciarii Pavilonis: — The Justiciaries or Justices of the
Pavilion on the top of the Hill. The name for the Justiciar in the Laws
of Edward the Confessor is the abstract "Justitia": — "adsit ad placitum
Justitia regis " ; " minister episcopi cum clericis suis, et Justitia regis cum
legalibus hominibus provincise illius." So also in Stephen's time : —
"Stephanus, Dei gratia rex Anglorum, Juslitiis, Vicecomitibus, Baronibus."
Henry II employs the verb "jusliciare," and the subst. "justiciarius,"
using the latter term of Ranulf Glanville; he has also "Justitia" for a
judge. The Norman Kings, finding themselves often across the seas,
appointed an officer to act as regent or lieutenant of the realm in their
absence, and he is also styled the Justiciary : thus Roger of Salisbury
was Justiciary from 1107 to his death. The word is rather obscure of
application : it was used in a general way, apparently including all
landowners who possessed courts of their own ; it is also applied to the
Sheriffs, though here it rather takes the form justicia ; also to officers
in the King's Court; as when Stephen calls Miles of Gloucester his
"baro et justiciarius."— See Bp. Stubbs, C. H. I, pp. 392 — 398, and note
to p. 440. — (Ed. 1880.) The King's Justiciary, the Justiciarius Capitalis,
was in the beginning, the supreme Judge, who heard the King's proper
causes, in the King's stead, and all cases which ought to be heard
before the King. Under him were the other " Justiciarii," the Judges
who went on circuit in the King's name. From them the title was
granted to these Judges of the Bishop's Fair-Court.
The word " Pavilion " is one of those incarnate metaphors which are
not uncommon in the history of languages : from a fancied resemblance
between an outspread tent and the wings of a butterfly, the word
" papilionem," corrupted to " pavilionem," came in the twelfth century
to signify a tent in the French form paveillun or pavilion, whence it
crossed over to England, as pavilion.
The Pavilion Court, Pavilonis Aula, on St. Giles' Hill stood where
" Palm Hall," a name corrupted from it, now stands ; and was a tent
in which the Bishop's Justiciaries dispensed summary, or well-nigh
summary, justice in all cases which came before them during Fair-time
from the Fair itself, the City of Winchester, Southampton, or any

64
part within the "seven-league circuit," whether between natives or
strangers. Our Charter gives directions for the work of this Court.
The Justiciaries were to follow the procedure of the Royal Courts;
any case still pending at the close of the Fair was to be adjourned
till the following year on the eve of St. Giles' Day. The Justiciaries
had also to nominate the temporary Mayor and Officers ; to appoint a
Coroner, a Marshall, and to set some of the tenants to keep order;
to assay wine, beer, and bread, in Fair-time; to appoint trusty men
to be sellers of victuals in the Fair ; to take the tolls and customs ;
to fine or imprison ill-doers, and generally to keep order within
and without. Their Court was a proper " Piepowder Court." The
word " Piepowder " is a relic of Norman Law-French ; it is the old
" Cour des pieds poudreux"; so styled from its summary jurisdiction
over the dusty-footed pedlars, Fair-folk and countrymen. That this is
the real origin of the term, as the name for " the lowest and at the
same time the most expeditious Courts of Justice known to the law
of England" (as Blackstone calls it, in, iv, i), is shewn by the phrase
we find, used of a Pedlar, " Anent ane fairand man or Dustifute": and
Fosbrooke authoritatively says that our Justiciaries of the Fair held
a Piepowder Court. It is interesting to note that Plutarch, in the opening
of his Problemata Grseca, tells us that a similar phrase existed in Greece,
rives iv 'ETriBavpw KovLirohes kciI aprvvot, — the latter being the
Senators, the KoviiroZes the country-folk. Bailey's Dictionary has " Pie
powder Court [pies poudreux, i. e., Dusty-foot Court], a Court held in
Fairs (particularly at Bartholomew Fair in West Smithfield, London) to
do Justice to Buyers and Sellers, and to redress Disorders committed in
them." Or as Blackstone phrases it, " a court of record, incident to
every fair or market." No such Court exists now.
n. Cognitiones placitorum : — "Cognisance of pleas," conusance de
plk, is a term of English Law, signifying the privilege enjoyed by a city
or town, or (as in this case) a Fair, of holding its own Court within its
precinct, for decision of all questions as to contracts or business done
within the limits of such town or fair. The exact power was that of
claiming (as the Universities still do) to hear cases affecting their own

65
members in their own Courts. The word "placita" came to be used
in the sense of " pleas," because in Low Latin the form in which the
edicts of a king ran was " quia tale est placitum nostrum," in the French
" car tel est nostre plaisir," " Such is our good pleasure." Thence the
word came to mean a public assembly ; as in a Charter of King
Hlothair (847), "In conventu venerabilium Episcoporum — in generali
Placito hanc Epistolam roboravimus." The Placita Coronae were the
suits of which the King's Justiciaries took cognisance, as appertaining
to the King alone, and a Bishop's Placita were the suits the judgment
in which pertained to his office. These were the "pleas" which were
delegated by the Bishop of Winchester to his Justiciaries of the
Piepowder Court. The Servitium Placiti is the vassal's service due to
his feudal lord, when the latter holds his court of pleas or assizes. The
medieval "placitum" never took the sense of the modern English
conversational term "plea," which is come to mean simply a legal
argument, and even an appeal for mercy.
12. Vellemus : — This subjunctive is ruled by the "suppticantis ut "
above. 13. Willelmum de Shareshull, Johannem de Sancto Paulo, Willelmum
de Fifhide, et Willelmum de Overton : — Sir William of Shareshull was born
at Shareshull, in Staffordshire; he was a judge of the King's Bench in
x333 ; ar»d his name occurs twice in a Roll of the Receiver of St.
Swithun's Priory for 1334, 1335, as being then the King's Justiciar at
Winchester. In 1344 he was Chief Baron of the Exchequer; in 1350
he was advanced to the head of the Court of King's Bench, over
which he presided till 1357.
John of St. Paul was made Master of the Rolls in 1337, in
1346 Archdeacon of Cornwall, and elected in 1349, the year of our
Charter, Archbishop of Dublin, though he was not consecrated (by
Edyngton) till 1350.
William of Fifhide was an important personage in the county
during the reign of Edward III, and held several manors in Hants,

66
Sir William of Overton, Knight, was also an important Hampshire
man. In 1343 he was one of the Knights of the Shire ; in 1344 Sheriff
of the county and Constable of Winchester Castle: he held a number
of manors in the county. Like his fellow commissioner, William of
Fifhide, he fell a victim to the second great pestilence in 1361.
14. Major, Ballivi, et Cives: — The Civic constitution under the
Norman Kings had been by a propositus (provost, wic-reeve, or port
reeve), burgenses, or more fully, burgenses boni, boni cives, or probi
homines —{this latter phrase appearing in our Charter, line 10, "per
sacramentum proborum et legalium hominum") and guilds, of which the
most distinguished was the Merchant Guild. The first authentic notice
of a Mayor is in the reign of King John ; though for a long time the
title was still Propositus (with two bailiffs) : as was the case in the year
1269. (See Woodward's Hampshire 1. p. 275.) So that the form we
have in our Charter is in essence the same with that of King John's
Letters Patent, in which he speaks of " Mayor and Citizens " only — the
Bailiffs being simply the successors and representatives of the propositi,
while the Mayor was a more dignified officer, later in origin than Norman
times. It is possible that the office may date from the year 1184.
15. Ad portam occidentalem : — to Westgate :— Westgate and Kings-
gate are the only gates now standing. Westgate is said to have been
built in the reign of Henry III, so that the Justiciaries and the Civic
authorities of our Charter must have visited this very gate.
16. Tronum lance: — The "Tron" or weighing-beam. Tronum
is a low-Latin form of " trutina," a scale, or measure.
17. Per septem leucas in circuitu feria illius: — for a circuit round
the Fair of which the radius is seven " leagues " long, as is shewn by
the list of places at which guards were placed; see below, note 48.
Leuca, or leuga, a league, was and is a French measure of distance, of
Gallic origin, says Hesychius, Xevyrj, /lirpov rt TaKarucov. Jornandes
gives its length ; " Leuga autem Gallica mille et quingentorum pas-
suum quantitate metitur" — or "Miliarius et dimidius apud Gallos

67
Lewam facit " : this was in some sense " a mile and a half," though,
probably, it was something under that. Our Charter expressly says that
Southampton, which is twelve miles away from Winchester, was outside
the " seven-league " circuit, and if we take the " leuca " at a mile and
a half, the circuit would have a radius of io| miles.
18. Forisfactura : — means "anything done outside what is right,"
a crime, offence. As a feudal law-term, it specially signified the violation
by a vassal of his faith and homage; whence it came to mean the penalty
of forfeiture, or loss of one's position or goods through such misconduct.
19. Theloniis : — Toll. Theloneum=tolnetum : "A payment in
markets, towns, and fairs, for goods and cattle bought and sold. Also,
any manner of custom, subsidy, impost, or fine taken of the burgher for
importing or exporting wares." It is of Greek origin, probably scriptural,
from TeKcoveiov : Te\mvr]<s is the "Publican" of the A.V., the man
who levies the reXr), dues.
20. Abbatissce et conventui B.M. Wynton : — This was the ancient
Nunna-menstre, which was founded, with the New Minster, by Alfred
the Great and Elswitha, his Queen, and completed by his son, Edward
the Elder. This house had the curious fortune of being refounded, a.d.
1536, by a Charter of Henry VIII: the new life thus granted lasted
about four years. It was a Benedictine Convent, and stood a little to
the north of east of the Cathedral, between the Close and the river : the
site is still marked by the " Abbey Mills."
21. Unum coronatorem : — a Coroner; so called because originally
the Coroner had to do with, and in the King's absence to keep, the
Placita Coronce, the Crown Pleas, and " in this light," says Blackstone
(I., 341, Ed. Kerr), following Spelman, "the Lord Chief Justice of the
King's Bench is the principal Coroner of the Kingdom." It was a
specially English office, having authority to make Inquest as to death and
also jurisdiction over questions of shipwreck, treasure-trove, etc. Cities
and counties elect their own Coroners, and this privilege of the Justi
ciaries of the Fair-Court was another hardship inflicted on the town,

68
Coroners were first regularly instituted by Richard I in the "Iter"
of 1 1 94.
22. Marescallum: — a Marshal, the ancient hors-thegn, from mar,
a horse (of which we retain the feminine mare) and scale, a servant.
The Marshal was one of the four necessary servants or officers of
the ancient Frankish Kingdom; he had charge of the horses. The office
became hereditary, and therefore sank into insignificance ; for as Bishop
Stubbs says (C.H. 1, p. 391) " only those offices which escape the dangers
of hereditary transmission continue to have a real constitutional import
ance." The Marshal and the Constable (comes stabuli, the Earl of the
Stables) or Staller seem to have had almost identical duties. In later
times the Marshal's functions appear to have been ill-defined, and were
often resisted and protested against. He held a half-private, half-public
court, existing for certain specific causes ; matters of Heraldry, etc.,
came before it. Originally, it was a distinct jurisdiction, administering
justice between the King's domestic servants, lest by being drawn into
other Courts they should be lost to the King's service. The Marshal
of our Justiciaries had, no doubt, somewhat similar duties, being however
rather an Executive Officer entrusted with the duty of carrying out the
judgments of the Pavilion Court, with no court of his own.
23. Per summonitionem et attachiamentum et postea per dis-
trictiones : — by summons and attachment, and after these by distraint.
In legal parlance, it is a "writ of summons," i.e., a document warning
and ordering a person to appear, and then leaving it to the person so
"summonitus" to neglect it at his peril; and this summons was
given by the proper officer verbally. "Attachiamentum" was actual
seizure, by legal process, of either goods or persons, and followed after
disobedience to the summons. The defendant was obliged to find
safe pledges or sureties, who were fined if he failed to appear. If,
however, the defendant was still obdurate and failed to appear, he
not only forfeited his security, but was next compelled by writ of
"distringas," or "distress infinite," the proper officer being thereby
empowered to distrain on his lands or goods, which by the common

69
law he forfeited. This process of the King's Courts was ordered to
be specially followed in the Pavilion Court, "prout in Curia nostra
regia usitatum est."
24. Si partes aliquce in inquisitionem se posuerint: — and if any party
in a case shall have submitted to an inquest of office; i.e., to an
enquiry (see Kerr's Blackstone, in, 266) made by the proper officer for
the case concerning any matter which may concern the Bishop in the
Fair, " as to lands or tenements, goods or chattels. This is done with
a jury of no determinate number; being either twelve, or less, or more.'
25. DeSoka: — of the Soke. A Soke was originally a liberty,
privilege, or franchise, granted by the King to a subject, whence
it came to signify the area within which such franchise, etc., might be
exercised. At Winchester, a large part of the town (as may be shewn
by Rolls of the Soke in the possession of the Dean and Chapter) lying
to East and South was called "the Soke"; and that portion of the
district which was nearest the Fair-ground, the East Soke, was a long
and narrow suburb, confined between the river and St. Giles' Hill;
through it Cheesehill Street runs. The rest of the Soke was
beyond the College, Kingsgate Street, etc. ; in fact it was everything
outside the City-walls. It comprised the parishes of St. Michael
and St. Swithun, with part of St. Faith and St. Thomas, part of
Chilcomb, the " Vill of Milland," St. Peter's Cheesehill, St. John's, and
part of St. Bartholomew Hyde. The name of East Soke is still
sometimes employed.
26. Imprisonamentum: — Imprisonment, a low Latin law term. The
French prison is a form of the Latin " prehensionem "; the "-amentum"
termination is formed naturally on the lines of all other words with that
ending. 27. Attachietur per corpus suum : — he shall be personally arrested.
The origin of the word attachietur is altogether uncertain : Littre'
suggests the Gaelic lac (a nail, tin-tack).
28. Qui rescussum faciunt : — who rescue a prisoner. Rescussus is a
derivative, of Low Latin rescutere, i.e., re-excutere, to drive away again.

70
Du Cange has an appreciative note on it : "Rescussus, Anglicis practicis
est tumultuosa et violenta ereptio arestati e manibus ejus qui licite
eundem cepit."
29. Vel apud Suthampton : — Southampton was from very early days
a seaport of the highest importance, both from its splendid advantages of
harbourage and shelter, and also from its position over against the Norman
coast. The town was the natural port of Winchester, its Piraeus in old
times : and it is therefore clear that, with a view to St. Giles' Fair, the traffic
of the town had to be regulated carefully, even though it was outside the
" seven-league circuit."
30. Quousque finem fecerint : — till they have paid the penalty or
fine. Finis is defined as " a payment made to procure the end of a suit,
(not a pecuniary mulct), or a payment for leave to sell goods at a Fair."
Here, however, it bears the modern English sense. In the Law Books
a Fine in the proper legal sense is described as " an acknowledgment of
a feoffment on record," and was so called because it brought to an end
all suits, actual or possible, respecting any matter. In the case of land
the word was specially used of the fine sur done, grant, et render, after
payment of which freehold land was again surrendered to the tenant
who went on occupying it as before for another period of years.
3 1 . Ad sectam partium seu partis convicti: — convicted at the suit of
any party or parties. Secfa is a technical term of the English Law.
Thus " Secta Curiae " is a suit at or to Court, the feudatory being bound
to attend his Lord's Court ; also the right of prosecuting anyone, or
bringing against him a suit, and so in this place. There is another
curious usage of the word, which has survived in our "Suit of clothes."
It is taken for the livery or distinctive dress which marks one class of
society from another. Thus Fortescue has " ultra hos ipsi dant annulos
aliis amicis suis, similiter et libratam magnam panni unius Secta.'" (Also
of other things beside clothes, as in " duo potella, unum de una Secta,"
" two pottles of one set") In all these things it is a specially English
usage. There are examples of Secta=livery, in our Charter. In line
29 we have "Servitium faciendi sectam"=duty of making suit, attend
ance on the Court of the Pavilion,

7'
32. Apud Wolveseye : — at Wolvesey {i.e., Ulf's-isle), the palace
and castle of the Bishops, standing hard by the river in the S.E. corner
of the city, and forming the angle of the walls. It was a place of
very considerable strength and splendour in late Norman days ; having
been built in the time of the great outburst of English Castle-building,
by Henry of Blois, in 1138. Giraldus Cambrensis affirms that the
Bishop was allowed to take for it great part of the remains of the Castle
of William the Conqueror, on the other side of the Cathedral. The
main gateway looked north and communicated probably with Colebrook
Street, so that the distance (over the Soke bridge) to the Fair must have
been very short. The Annals of Winchester (anno 1138) tell us it was
strong; "fecit Henricus Episcopus aedificare domum quasi palatium
cum turri fortissima in Wintonia." Here the bishop's treasurer and
others had their head-quarters, and in the " turris fortissima " no doubt
those who were turbulent were shut up after the close of the Fair.
33. Per probationes talliarum :— by testing of tallies — {tallia here
is quite different in sense from that "tallia," or taxation, which a lord
could levy from his tenants or vassals, whence the French tattle and the
Low Latin talliagium). A "tally," was a piece of wood some inches
long, notched first and then split down the middle ; the one part being
given to the buyer and the other part kept by the seller. And these
" probations of tallies " meant the bringing the two parts together, and
seeing whether they corresponded exactly, or had been tampered with.
The word is not entirely obsolete as a substantive ; the verb is still in
general use.
34. Secundum legem mercatoriam: — after the usage of merchants,
in the matter of testing tallies. There is apparently no reference here
to the " Merchant Law" or Charter of 1303.
35. Bona et catalla : — goods and chattels. Sir Edward Coke
affirms that "chattels" and "goods" are the same thing, chattels being
the French word and goods the English. It is personal estate of whatever
kind, as opposed to real estate. In the Law Books we find (1) Chattels
real, used of things which "concern, or savour of, the reality, such, e.g.,

72
as wardship in chivalry, presentation to a church— things which issue out
of, but are not, real estate ; (2) Chattels personal, or moveable, as animals,
money, garments, etc. " Catallum (says Du Cange), idem, quod capitate,
bona omnia quae in pecudibus sunt." And this original sense of "head
of cattle " is still retained, only the word has split, becoming what is
called a " Doublet," into cattle, live-stock, and chattel, the legal term
for things possessed in ownership. The Latinised capital is a third form
of the word.
36. Ostiarius .-—the door-keeper, or Usher of the Pavilion Court.
37. Claudet seldam suam : — shall shut up his booth. " Selda " is
an old Anglo-Latin word formed straight from the A.S. Seld, a seat.
38. Per amerciamentum punietur: — shall be punished by fine.
Amerciamentum is a law-term peculiar to England and Scotland ; and
signifies a money-penalty, answering to the A.S. Wite, as in blod-wite.
39. Tolneto : — toll, another form of Theloneum, see above, Note 1 9.
40. Nomine feodi: — by way of fee. The word is here used in quite
the modern sense of "fee." Feodum, "wealth in Cattle," fee-od,
vieh-od, cattle-goods, became both a "feud," as in the adjective "feudal,"
and a " fee " : (" feud" signifying a quarrel is a secondary use). See also
below in the Charter, line 57.
41. Mercatoribus alienigenis vocatis Dynamitters: — foreign mer
chants, styled " Dynamitters." These foreigners were sellers, we are
told, of brazen vessels of all kinds. The word may be connected with
Dinant near Namur, where there was a great manufacture of Dinanderie,
i.e., metal-work (chiefly in copper). A friend suggests Dinant-batteurs
as the origin. Batteur was the proper title of these workers in metal. •
See Commines II, 1, " une marchandise de ces ceuvres de cuivre, qu'on
appelle Dinanderie, qui sont en effet pots et pesles."
42. Aldermanni et omnes Decenarii: — Aldermen and all Tything-
men, The Alderman in A.S, times was the elected head-man of a

73
Hundred, who represented his Hundred in the Shire-moot; and the
tything-man was the head-man, or Dean, of his tything, the original
Germanic organisation being formed as an arrangement of the tribe into
" Hundreds " and " Tens " (whether the Hundred and Ten were house
holds, or representative fighting-men). Besides this earlier Ealdorman,
there was a higher officer of the same name, who was the princeps of
Tacitus, the subregulus of Bede, who ruled over one shire or more : he
was lost in the Comes of Norman days. The title, however, survived,
and still exists in towns. Each Guild had its Alderman ; and in time,
when the civic organisation took form, we arrive at the system of Mayor,
Aldermen, and Common Councillors, which is now universal in England.
Towns were divided into Wards, over each of which an Alderman presides.
"The Major and jurati (Bp. Stubbs, C.H. i, 401) were the framework of
the Communa, as the Alderman and brethren constituted the guild, and
the reeve and good-men the magistracy of the township." This threefold
distinction is now happily merged in one : and the functions are divided
among the different members of the Corporation. Winchester was
definitely incorporated by Queen Elizabeth, in a Charter dated 1587.
It was not till that time, apparently, that the Aldermen were included
among the governing body. The six Wards or "Aldermanries" said
"to have prevailed as early as the commencement of the fifteenth
century" (Woodward 1, p. 276 and Note 2) certainly existed in 13491
as in this passage of our Charter we find " in Aldermanriis et decenis
suis." See below, Note 44. Bishop Stubbs thinks that the " decenae "
in this passage may mean the frankpledges with their headman.
43. Ad quemlibet clamorem et hutesium levatum : — to whatsoever
hue and cry. This was the way of expressing the process by which the
ordinary citizen called for the help of the civil arm on the commission
of a felony. "A hue and cry," says Blackstone (Kerr's B. iv, 346), " is
the old common law process of pursuing, with horn and with voice, all
felons, and such as have dangerously wounded another" (which answers
to the "sanguinis effusionem" of our Charter). The hue and cry
might be begun by the people, but it had to be carried on to arrest of
the felon by the proper authorities. "Hue and cry" properly raised

74
dispensed with the necessity for a justice's warrant. The word hutesium
or huesium is said to have come either from the cry, " Hu ! Hu ! " or
from a Frankish form, " Hutz, Hutz ! " signifying " Out, Out." The
English word "hut," in this sense, is only used in connexion with "cry."
44. In Aldermanriis suis :— in their wards. I find this word in
Du Cange as " Praepositura, praefectura castri vel villae," of such places as
were under Monasteries, as early as the year 1278, "concessit etdimissit
cuidam magistro Nicolao Doge Aldermanniam de Westgate." Will.
Thorn, in Chr. a. 1278.
45- Weyf et Stray:—" Waifs, bona waviata, are goods stolen and
waived or thrown away by the thief in his flight " (Kerr's Blackstone, 1, 292).
These fall to the Crown, if seized for its use ; but if the party robbed
can seize them first, the Crown has no claim. The word, however, was
not originally limited, as in law, to stolen goods ; it included all
things derelict and not claimed by anyone. Hence our "waiving an
argument "• — we leave it alone, do not set it up. It is used also of cattle,
of sheep that have wandered, and are in no man's charge. The word is
Scandinavian, having come in with the strong legal tastes of that race,
Icel. veifi anything moving, vibrating; veifa, to vibrate, wave about.
Strays or eslrays are " such valuable animals as are found wandering in
any manor or lordship, and no man knows the owner of them": after
certain formalities, and lapse of time and use of the " pound," strays
belong to the Crown, " though most commonly (Blackstone adds) to the
lord of the manor by special grant from the Crown." Ferce naturae
cannot be claimed as strays, nor animals of no value in the eyes of the
law, as dogs or cats ; and swans only among birds have this honour,
vvhence-they are said to be "royal fowls." — Kerr's Blackstone, 1, 292, 293.
46. Tronagium vel pesagium : — Weigh-money. " Tronagium " is
the fee demanded for the weighing of wool, at the "tronum lanae" (see
above, note 16). Pesagium (=pesadura) is the Fr. poisage, a similar
fee for any kind of weighing of goods.

75
47- Inter Adomarum quondam Wyntoniensem Electum .-—between
Aymer, formerly Bishop-elect of Winchester. This was Aymer or
Ethelmar of Lesignan (1249— 1260). He was half-brother to Henry III.
His " election " was a curious scene ! On the death of the well-known
Peter des Roches, "de Rupibus," in 1238, a violent conflict broke
out between Henry III and the Monks of St. Swithun, in which
the Churchmen have all our sympathy. Henry was determined to
have William of Valence (a "man of blood" says the Chronicler
Mathew Paris) as Bishop: the Monks refused to elect him, and
chose first William of Raley, Bishop of Norwich, and next Ralph
Nevil, Bishop of Chichester, to the see; but the King, though
both these men had been his ministers and favourites, got the
Pope to refuse to ratify the translation. Even though William of
Valence had died, the King still opposed the freedom of choice
claimed by the Monks, and when they re-elected Bishop William of
Raley, who in 1243 obtained the papal ratification for his translation
from Norwich, Henry had all the gates shut against him; and the
struggle lasted for a year. In 1250 Bishop William died at Tours ; and
Henry having got early notice of the fact, sent down two of his
chaplains in hot haste to the Cathedral to stop proceedings, himself
following fast on their footsteps. He called together the Monks in the
Chapter-house, and there preached to them, taking as the text of his
sermon the words " Justice and peace have kissed each other." In this
discourse, preserved to us by Matthew Paris, he endeavoured by threats
and promises to compel the Monks to elect his half-brother Adomar, or
Aymer, as their Bishop : a man of no fitness or rather of every unfitness
for the sacred office. With " assenting voice, rebelling hearts," the poor
Monks, feeling themselves powerless, elected this unworthy stranger,
who fully justified their repugnance, and, with the insolence of youth,
treated them shamefully. William of Taunton, the Prior, whom the
Bishop ejected, laid his case before the Pope, and received back
from him his insignia of office, with full and honourable reinstatement ;
and Aymer with his two brothers, being regarded by the English
nobles as among the most intolerable of the foreign favourites of the
weak King, were driven abroad. Aymer, all this time, had deferred his

76
consecration, probably at the command of the Pope ; and so is
rightly styled " Wyntoniensem Electum " ; for he was such till he went
to Rome in 1260, and was favoured by the then Pope Alexander IV,
who consecrated him Bishop of Winchester. As he was moving towards
England, at the end of the same year, he died at Paris, and was buried
in St. Genevieve. His heart was sent over to Winchester — no prelate's
heart was ever less with the place in his life-time — and rests in the
Cathedral to this day.
48. Ad pontem de Stokbrigge . . . A Ireford .-—These were guards at
all the approaches of the seven-league circuit, some within, others
without ; they had to take tolls and customs from all merchants coming
to the Fair, and to protect them from robbery and violence. Stock-
bridge was a bridge over the Test, a little over eight miles from
Winchester, as you go towards Salisbury ; Romsey, another bridge over
the same river, lower down, ten miles off; Redbridge, still lower down
the same river, where it joins the Southampton Water, twelve miles
away ; Crab Wood is close to Winchester, and the station here must
have been intended to command the Roman road to Old Sarum (a road
still used) at a point where the woodland gave plentiful shelter to
robbers ; Hursley, five miles off, is on the main road to Romsey, at the
point of its junction with a road to Southampton ; Mamesbrigge is still
the name of a Hundred near Southampton, about twelve miles off,
including in it Millbrook and the Stonehams, or it may be, and probably
was, a bridge over the Meon, not far from Swathling. In King Athelstan's
Charter of 932 this is styled Mannysbrygge, also " Mainsbryggc" or
bridge over the Meon. The guards had to be thick on this side because of
the great importance of the trade from the West of England, and of the
sea-traffic. Oterbourne is about four miles and a half away, on the direct
Southampton road, the ancient Roman way to Clausentum (Bitterne) ;
Kingbridge is probably a bridge over the Test, now called Kimbridge.
Curbridge is Curdridge, near Botley, on the Hamble ; and lastly
Alreford is Old Alresford, between seven and eight miles off, a little
to the North of East. It is singular that there should apparently have
been no pickets or stations throughout the circumference almost from
West to East, while the posts were multiplied in the South and

n
South-west : The Charter, however, says there were stations also " ad
plura alia loca." The income arising to the Bishop from the Fair was so
considerable that he could well afford all these expenses. In the 24th
and 25th of Henry III, Bishop William of Raley is credited with this
item,—" Foyra — De exitibus foyre Sci. Egidii Wyntton, per idem tempus,
cclxxviij//. xiiijj. iijd. qr.," which represents a large sum of money.
49. Pakella sua : — the little packs of the pedlars in small wares.
Du Cange, who recognises paccus, a pack, is not aware of this diminutive.
The word has a French diminutive of another form, paquet, whence our
packet or pacquet. The origin is Celtic, and it is one of the few British
words which have survived ; Gaelic, pac, a pack, a close-pressed company
or mob, as in "a pack of thieves."
50. Forisceforcice .-=" frisca forcia," "fresh force," or violent
disseisin in towns and cities ; see Du Cange, s.v. fortia : it is like
"novel disseisin" in case of land.
51. Curia Baronum: — Court-Baron. "The Court-baron" says
Blackstone (Kerr's B. in, 34) " is a court incident to every manor in the
kingdom, to be holden by the steward within the said manor." It was
composed of the lord's tenants, held anciently once in three weeks;
settled matters of domestic justice, and disposed of all controversies as to
the right of lands within the manor,
52. Senescallus Hospicii nostri: — the Seneschal of our Household.
As the marshal was the horse-servant, so the Seneschal means the senior-
servant : he was one of the chief persons in a royal household. In England
the Seneschal was understood to have important judicial duties, and to
have held assizes for the King. See Note 53.
53. Infra virgam: — within our virge or verge. This was specially
the district under the care of the Seneschal of the Household of the
English King ; and takes its name from the baton granted to that officer
in sign of his jurisdiction. This Virga moved with the King, and had
a circumference of which the centre was the King's person, from which
light and influence were supposed to radiate for a distance of twelve
leucae, or about eighteen miles. Fleta says " Dicitur virga, quae sequitur

7B
Regem ubicumque fuerit in Anglia, spatium continens 12 leucas " : it was
usually styled the " Virgata regia." Our modem sense of verge, as limit,
comes no doubt from the edge or circumference of this jurisdiction.
54. Assisam panis vini et cervisim : -the assize of bread, wine, and
beer. The Low Latin assisa was used to signify the just quantity or
allowance of an article. This kind of Assise is styled " assisa (or assisia)
rerum venalium " ; and took its name from the fact that at the period of
Assise or Court-sitting the Bailiffs and Justiciaries had to define the
quality, quantity, weight, measure, and price of articles to be exposed
for sale ; it may have also owed its name to the testing and trying of the
weights and measures of the traders. A man was said to commit the
offence of breaking the assise, if he adulterated his goods, sold bad or
stale things, used false weights, eta A baker who did this with his
bread had to stand in the Pillory (see our Charter line 55) and a brewer
was sentenced to the dung-cart,
55. /n Gilda Mercatoria: — the Merchant Guild was a very
important body, who were in full life when its first Charter was granted
to Winchester in the earlier part of the reign of Henry II (between 1158
and 1 162). In this the King says "Praecipio quod cives mei Wintonienses
de gilda mercatorum cum omnibus rebus suis sint quieti de omni thelonio
passagio et consuetudine." Richard I widely extended the privileges of
this Guild, and protected its members from all actions without the city
walls. 5 6. Assaiare : — to assay or test ; from late Greek ifjaycov, a weight :
used of assay of money (in which sense the word is still employed),
also of wine and beer,
57. A selariis .- — from their cellars ; a mis-spelling of cellariis.
58. Corvesarii :— cobblers, who work in leather, "qui coreo veteri
utuntur," says Du Cange s. v. Cp. the O. Fr. courvoisier.
59. Judicium Pillorii .-— the sentence of Pillory : for the similar
penalty for the " breaking of assise " in the case of beer the dung-cart

79
was the penalty. The word is of unknown origin : it has several
forms, Spilorium, Pillaurium. The most plausible conjecture is that it is
connected with pila, pillar, etc., from the post to which the culprit's
neck was fastened; the dropped .f however seems to point to some quite
different parentage for the word. The actual punishment was very
severe. An upright pole was fastened into a stage a little above the
ground, with a cross-bar near the top. At the top there was a hoop of
iron, large enough when screwed together to go comfortably round the
prisoner's neck : his arms were tied over the cross-bar. Thus unable to
protect himself, he was placed in the square or market-place to face the
jeers and mud and rotten eggs of the crowd; his offence being duly
described and set forth on the machine.
60. Custuma : — a late and corrupt form of consuetudinem.
61. Carectata buscce : — a cart-load of firewood : carecta, carrecta, (a
form of carrus, carra), was a two-wheeled cart. With it are the Fr.
charrette, and our chariot (in a very different sense). Du Cange, sv.
busta, quotes the Monasticon Angl. 1, 473. " Ex dono Alexandri . . ,
unam carectatam busta singulis septimanis," and explains that the word
is the same as L. Lat. busca, roots for firewood; and this, with L. L.
boscus, Fr. bois, Engl, bush, comes probably from a Germanic root of
which the modern form is Bosch.
62. De quolibet summagio bladi : — for every load (carried on a
horse) of wheat : Summagium (sumtna), a load or burden, then a measure,
a bushel, is from the Gr. a-dyp,a, through a supposed a-ajfiariKop.
The word has an immense number of forms, occupying in Du Cange
nearly five folio pages. The form summagium is more generally em
ployed in medieval writers of certain feudal duties or services, to be
executed by carrying the lord's property out on horseback, which process
was styled summage: " vavassouries qui sont tenues par Sommage, et
par service de cheval " : the word remains in French in the phrase " bete
de somme " and sommier, a pack-horse ; cp. our Sumpter-mule.

§0
Bladum is a late Latin word formed from Lat. ablatum, and from
it come our blade (of corn, and then, by metaphor, of a knife) and
the P'r. M'e, we taking it for the growing green leaf, and they (in the
more proper sense) for the ripened grain. For ablatum is what has
been gathered in and carried off, the garnered grain.
63. Tnisso .-—a truss. The word is perhaps taken, by metathesis,
for torsum, from torquere (there may be a low Lat. tortiare, whence Fr.
trousser). The idea of it is a bundle of hay or straw twisted up with a
hay-band. 64. Stallo panis in summo vico : — a bread-stall in the head of the
street. This seems to have been up by the West-gate. Stallum is a
contracted form olstabulum ; so that we have here an English " doublet "
in stall and stable.
65. Pro feudo Pesarii : — for the weigher's fee. For feudum see
above, Note 40. The "pesarius," "poiser," is for "pensarius," from
pesare, pensare, to weigh. The fee paid was called " pesagium " (see
Note 46) from a supposed " pensaticum." I do not find the name of
this officer recorded anywhere.
66. Una bala cujuslibet avoir de poys .-—A bale of dry goods. Bala,
or bulla, is a bale or ball of goods wrapped up. The French word is
ballot, a diminutive. The origin of it is Germanic, O. H. G. balla.
Avoir depoys is a term of French commerce, afterwards applied in English
trade to the " pound Avoir de poys " or pound of sixteen ounces, used for
weighing dry goods. We find the word in Joinville's St. Louis (ch. xl),
where he describes what those on the Upper Nile can fish out of the river
with a net, " getent leur royz deslides parmi le flum, au soir ; et, quant
ce vient au matin, si treuvent en leur royz eel avoir de poiz que Ten
aporte en ceste terre, c'est a savoir gingimbre, rubarbe, etc.," meaning
" they find in their nets that kind of 'goods of weight.'" There is also a
medieval form of it, " averium ponderis," interpreted by Du Cange as
meaning all wares which are sold by the "pondus" or pound or by the
scale-weight ; thence it came to mean, as in our Charter, spices, etc., as
distinguished from mercery, etc.

8i
67. Pecia : — a piece, a word of uncertain origin, probably Celtic
Gael, pet., or portion.
68. De ponderante seu ponderatore : — It is not certain what is here
meant. It probably signifies " a person who deals in such goods as are
sold by weight, a general dealer." Or it may be only another term for
the " Pesarius," the weigher.
69. De claiis ductis per summagium : — For hurdles brought in as a
load. Claia is a later form of the Late Latin cleda, or clida, a word of
Celtic origin, Ir. cliath, a hurdle. For summagium, see above, Note 62.
70. Tapenario: — "A worker in, or seller of, tapestry or table
cloths " seems to be the meaning of this word, which is not in DuCange.
Tapinum is found in one passage, " Mercatores Remenses qui vendunt
telas et tapina debent in nundinis pro qualibet, quae fuerit aperta cotidie,
unum denarium." So that this Winchester "tapenarius" was less heavily
taxed than the Merchants of Rheims.
71. Tannatore: — a tanner. A Celtic word in origin, from Bret.
iann, an oak, and also tan ; whence French tan, the bark of a young oak,
wherewith leather is tanned.
72. Mercatores . . . honoris Walyngford : — Why should the Honour
of Wallingford be excepted in this specially select company of the men
of London and Winchester ? This Honour is frequently mentioned by
name in documents of the highest value— thus we find it treated in an
exceptional way in the Assise of Clarendon (9 and 11), as retaining its
own corporate existence, much as if it had been a separate Shire ; it
being an escheat in the King's hand. Wallingford was an ancient
border-town, and place of passage over the Thames. We find, too, that
in 1 144 when Brian Fitz-Count, Lord of Wallingford, maintained the
castle there, (one of the strongest of the places holding for the Empress
Maud,) and sent out from thence numerous parties to forage and
plunder, Henry of Blois enjoined him not to molest any who were

82
coming to his Fair at Winchester, under pain of excommunication.
(MSS. Dodsworth, Vol. 89, f. 76, Bibl. Bodl.) This shows that in
King Stephen's time there was a frequent and recognised passage
of merchants and others by way of Wallingford.
73. Johanni nuper Episcopo Wyntoniensi : — This will be John
Stratford, who became Bishop of Winchester in 1323, and was trans
lated to Canterbury in 1333. He was not the immediate predecessor of
Edyngton, as Adam Orlton was Bishop between them.
74. J. Menevensi Episcopo : — This is John Thoresby, who was
consecrated to the see of St. David's in 1347, afterwards translated to
Worcester (1350) and York (1352); he was at this time High
Chancellor of England.
75. R. London .- — Ralph Stratford, consecrated in 1340.
76. T. Dunelmensi : — Thomas Hatfield, consecrated in 1345.
77. Willelmo de Bohun Northamptonia et Willelmo de Clynton
Huntingdonia comitibus: — William of Bohun, Earl of Northampton,
was a man of note in the reign of Edward III. He was one of the
Lords who prosecuted Mortimer; he commanded the second line of
battle at Crecy, and died in 1360.
William of Clynton, as Dugdale says, " one of the chiefest worthies
of that age," was summoned to Parliament early in the reign of
Edward III, and was made Lord Admiral of the seas in the 7th of
Edward III, from the Thames westward ; he was also engaged in the
Scottish wars. In the nth of Edward III he was created Earl of
Huntingdon; his titles died with him in 1354.
78. — Radulfo Barone de Stafford: — Ralph, Lord Stafford, was
made Earl of Stafford in 1351, and died in 1372.
79. Johanne de Grey de Rotherfeld V— he made proof of his age in
1321, and had livery of his father's lands. We find him in the retinue of
William of Clynton in the French wars of Edward III ; he died in 1359.

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