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diff --git a/19004.txt b/19004.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e65f6fb --- /dev/null +++ b/19004.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9663 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Customs of Old England, by F. J. Snell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Customs of Old England + +Author: F. J. Snell + +Release Date: August 7, 2006 [EBook #19004] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CUSTOMS OF OLD ENGLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Pryor, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Uniform with this Volume + + 1 The Mighty Atom Marie Corelli + 2 Jane Marie Corelli + 3 Boy Marie Corelli + 231 Cameos Marie Corelli + 4 Spanish Gold G. A. Birmingham + 9 The Unofficial Honeymoon Dolf Wyllarde + 18 Round the Red Lamp Sir A. Conan Doyle + 20 Light Freights W. W. Jacobs + 22 The Long Road John Oxenham + 71 The Gates of Wrath Arnold Bennett + 81 The Card Arnold Bennett + 87 Lalage's Lovers G. A. Birmingham + 92 White Fang Jack London + 108 The Adventures of Dr. Whitty G. A. Birmingham + 113 Lavender and Old Lace Myrtle Reed + 125 The Regent Arnold Bennett + 135 A Spinner in the Sun Myrtle Reed + 137 The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu Sax Rohmer + 143 Sandy Married Dorothea Conyers + 212 Under Western Eyes Joseph Conrad + 215 Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo E. Phillips Oppenheim + 224 Broken Shackles John Oxenham + 227 Byeways Robert Hichens + 229 My Friend the Chauffeur C. N. & A. M. Williamson + 259 Anthony Cuthbert Richard Bagot + 261 Tarzan of the Apes Edgar Rice Burroughs + 268 His Island Princess W. Clark Russell + 275 Secret History C. N. and A. M. Williamson + 276 Mary All-alone John Oxenham + 277 Darneley Place Richard Bagot + 278 The Desert Trail Dane Coolidge + 279 The War Wedding C. N. and A. M. Williamson + 281 Because of these Things Marjorie Bowen + 282 Mrs. Peter Howard Mary E. Mann + 288 A Great Man Arnold Bennett + 289 The Rest Cure W. B. Maxwell + 290 The Devil Doctor Sax Rohmer + 291 Master of the Vineyard Myrtle Reed + 293 The Si-Fan Mysteries Sax Rohmer + 294 The Guiding Thread Beatrice Harraden + 295 The Hillman E. Phillips Oppenheim + 296 William, by the Grace of God Marjorie Bowen + 297 Below Stairs Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick + 301 Love and Louisa E. Maria Albanesi + 302 The Joss Richard Marsh + 303 The Carissima Lucas Malet + 304 The Return of Tarzan Edgar Rice Burroughs + 313 The Wall Street Girl Frederick Orin Bartlett + 315 The Flying Inn G. K. Chesterton + 316 Whom God Hath Joined Arnold Bennett + 318 An Affair of State J. C. Snaith + 320 The Dweller on the Threshold Robert Hichens + 325 A Set Of Six Joseph Conrad + 329 '1914' John Oxenham + 330 The Fortune Of Christina McNab S. Macnaughtan + 334 Bellamy Elinor Mordaunt + 343 The Shadow of Victory Myrtle Reed + 344 This Woman to this Man C. N. and A. M. Williamson + 345 Something Fresh P. G. Wodehouse + 36 De Profundis Oscar Wilde + 37 Lord Arthur Savile's Crime Oscar Wilde + 38 Selected Poems Oscar Wilde + 39 An Ideal Husband Oscar Wilde + 40 Intentions Oscar Wilde + 41 Lady Windermere's Fan Oscar Wilde + 77 Selected Prose Oscar Wilde + 85 The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde + 146 A Woman of No Importance Oscar Wilde + 43 Harvest Home E. V. Lucas + 44 A Little of Everything E. V. Lucas + 78 The Best of Lamb E. V. Lucas + 141 Variety Lane E. V. Lucas + 292 Mixed Vintages E. V. Lucas + 45 Vailima Letters Robert Louis Stevenson + 80 Selected Letters Robert Louis Stevenson + 46 Hills and the Sea Hilaire Belloc + 96 A Picked Company Hilaire Belloc + 193 On Nothing Hilaire Belloc + 226 On Everything Hilaire Belloc + 254 On Something Hilaire Belloc + 47 The Blue Bird Maurice Maeterlinck + 214 Select Essays Maurice Maeterlinck + 50 Charles Dickens G. K. Chesterton + 94 All Things Considered G. K. Chesterton + 54 The Life of John Ruskin W. G. Collingwood + 57 Sevastopol and other Stories Leo Tolstoy + 91 Social Evils and their Remedy Leo Tolstoy + 223 Two Generations Leo Tolstoy + 253 My Childhood and Boyhood Leo Tolstoy + 286 My Youth Leo Tolstoy + 58 The Lore of the Honey-Bee Tickner Edwardes + 63 Oscar Wilde Arthur Ransome + 64 The Vicar of Morwenstow S. Baring-Gould + 76 Home Life in France M. Betham-Edwards + 83 Reason and Belief Sir Oliver Lodge + 93 The Substance of Faith Sir Oliver Lodge + 116 The Survival of Man Sir Oliver Lodge + 284 Modern Problems Sir Oliver Lodge + 95 The Mirror of the Sea Joseph Conrad + 126 Science from an Easy Chair Sir Ray Lankester + 149 A Shepherd's Life W. H. Hudson + 200 Jane Austen and her Times G. E. Mitton + 218 R. L. S. Francis Watt + 234 Records and Reminiscences Sir Francis Burnand + 285 The Old Time Parson P. H. Ditchfield + 287 The Customs of Old England F. J. Snell + + A short Selection only. + + + + +THE CUSTOMS OF OLD ENGLAND + +BY + +F. J. SNELL + + +METHUEN & CO. LTD. +36 ESSEX STREET W.C. +LONDON + +_First Issued in this Cheap Form in 1919_ + +_This Book was First Published (Crown 8vo) February 16th, 1911_ + + + + ++-------------------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcribers Note: In this book superscript is represented by| +|the carat "^" | ++-------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +PREFACE + + +The aim of the present volume is to deal with Old English Customs, not +so much in their picturesque aspect--though that element is not wholly +wanting--as in their fundamental relations to the organized life of the +Middle Ages. Partly for that reason and partly because the work is +comparatively small, it embraces only such usages as are of national +(and, in some cases, international) significance. The writer is much too +modest to put it forth as a scientific exposition of the basic +principles of mediaeval civilization. He is well aware that a book +designed on this unassuming scale must be more or less eclectic. He is +conscious of manifold gaps--_valde deflenda_. And yet, despite +omissions, it is hoped that the reader may rise from its perusal with +somewhat clearer conceptions of the world as it appeared to the average +educated Englishman of the Middle Ages. This suggests the remark that +the reader specially in view is the average educated Englishman of the +twentieth century, who has not perhaps forgotten his Latin, for Latin +has a way of sticking, while Greek, unless cherished, drops away from a +man. + +The materials of which the work is composed have been culled from a +great variety of sources, and the writer almost despairs of making +adequate acknowledgments. For years past admirable articles cognate to +the study of mediaeval relationships have been published from time to +time in learned periodicals like "Archaeologia," the "Archaeological +Journal," the "Antiquary," etc., where, being sandwiched between others +of another character, they have been lost to all but antiquarian experts +of omnivorous appetite. Assuredly, the average educated Englishman will +not go in quest of them, but it may be thought he will esteem the +opportunity, here offered, of gaining enlightenment, if not in the full +and perfect sense which might have been possible, had life been less +brief and art not quite so long. The same observation applies to books, +with this difference that, whereas in articles information is usually +compacted, in some books at least it has to be picked out from amidst a +mass of irrelevant particulars without any help from indices. If the +writer has at all succeeded in performing his office--which is to do for +the reader what, under other circumstances, he might have done for +himself--many weary hours will not have been spent in vain, and the +weariest are probably those devoted to the construction of an index, +with which this book, whatever its merits or defects, does not go +unprovided. + +Mere general statements, however, will not suffice; there is the +personal side to be thought of. The great "Chronicles and Memorials" +series has been served by many competent editors, but by none more +competent than Messrs. Riley, Horwood, and Anstey, to whose +introductions and texts the writer is deeply indebted. Reeves' "History +of English Law" is not yet out of date; and Mr. E. F. Henderson's +"Select Documents of the Middle Ages" and the late Mr. Serjeant +Pulling's "Order of the Coif," though widely differing in scope, are +both extremely useful publications. Mr. Pollard's introduction to the +Clarendon Press selection of miracle plays contains the pith of that +interesting subject, and Miss Toulmin Smith's "York Plays" and Miss +Katherine Bates's "English Religious Drama" will be found valuable +guides. Perhaps the most realistic description of a miracle play is that +presented in a few pages of Morley's "English Writers," where the scene +lives before one. For supplementary details in this and other contexts, +the writer owes something to the industry of the late Dr. Brushfield, +who brought to bear on local documents the illumination of sound and +wide learning. A like tribute must be paid to the Rev. Dr. Cox, but +having regard to his long and growing list of important works, the +statement is a trifle ludicrous. + +One of the best essays on mortuary rolls is that of the late Canon Raine +in an early Surtees Society volume, but the writer is specially indebted +to a contribution of the Rev. J. Hirst to the "Archaeological Journal." +The late Mr. Andre's article on vowesses, and Mr. Evelyn-White's +exhaustive account of the Boy-Bishop must be mentioned, and--lest I +forget--Dr. Cunningham's "History of English Commerce." The late Mr. F. +T. Elworthy's paper on Hugh Rhodes directed attention to the Children of +the Chapel, and Dom. H. F. Feasey led the way to the Lady Fast. Here and +often the writer has supplemented his authorities out of his own +knowledge and research. It may be added that, in numerous instances, +indebtedness to able students (e.g., Sir George L. Gomme) has been +expressed in the text, and need not be repeated. Finally, it would be +ungrateful, as well as ungallant, not to acknowledge some debt to the +writings of the Hon. Mrs. Brownlow, Miss Ethel Lega-Weekes, and Miss +Giberne Sieveking. Ladies are now invading every domain of intellect, +but the details as to University costume happened to be furnished by the +severe and really intricate studies of Professor E. G. Clark. + + F. J. S. + + TIVERTON, N. DEVON, + _January 22, 1911._ + + + + + CONTENTS + + + ECCLESIASTICAL + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. LEAGUES OF PRAYER 11 + II. VOWESSES 18 + III. THE LADY FAST 27 + IV. CHILDREN OF THE CHAPEL 32 + V. THE BOY-BISHOP 39 + VI. MIRACLE PLAYS 51 + + + ACADEMIC + + VII. ALMS AND LOANS 61 + VIII. OF THE PRIVILEGE 71 + IX. THE "STUDIUM GENERALE" 91 + + + JUDICIAL + + X. THE ORDER OF THE COIF 115 + XI. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD 127 + XII. OUTLAWRY 150 + + + URBAN + + XIII. BURGHAL INDEPENDENCE 167 + XIV. THE BANNER OF ST. PAUL 187 + XV. GOD'S PENNY 195 + XVI. THE MERCHANT AND HIS MARK 200 + + + RURAL + + XVII. RUS IN URBE 204 + XVIII. COUNTRY PROPER 216 + + + DOMESTIC + + XIX. RETINUES 238 + + + INDEX 249 + + + + +THE CUSTOMS OF OLD ENGLAND + + + + +ECCLESIASTICAL + +CHAPTER I + +LEAGUES OF PRAYER + + +A work purporting to deal with old English customs on the broad +representative lines of the present volume naturally sets out with a +choice of those pertaining to the most ancient and venerable institution +of the land--the Church; and, almost as naturally it culls its first +flower from a life with which our ancestors were in intimate touch, and +which was known to them, in a special and excellent sense, as religious. + +The custom to which has been assigned the post of honour is of +remarkable and various interest. It takes us back to a remote past, when +the English, actuated by new-born fervour, sent the torch of faith to +their German kinsmen, still plunged in the gloom of traditional +paganism; and it was fated to end when the example of those same German +kinsmen stimulated our countrymen to throw off a yoke which had long +been irksome, and was then in sharp conflict with their patriotic +ideals. It is foreign to the aim of these antiquarian studies to sound +any note of controversy, but it will be rather surprising if the beauty +and pathos of the custom, which is to engage our attention, does not +appeal to many who would not have desired its revival in our age and +country.[1] Typical of the thoughts and habits of our ancestors, it is +no less typical of their place and share of the general system of +Western Christendom, and in the heritage of human sentiment, since +reverence for the dead is common to all but the most degraded races of +mankind. That mutual commemoration of departed, and also of living, +worth was not exclusive to this country is brought home to us by the +fact that the most learned and comprehensive work on the subject, in its +Christian and mediaeval aspects, is Ebner's "Die Klosterlichen +Gebets-Verbruederungen" (Regensburg and New York, 1890). This +circumstance, however, by no means diminishes--it rather heightens-the +interest of a custom for centuries embedded in the consciousness and +culture of the English people. + +First, it may be well to devote a paragraph to the phrases applied to +the institution. The title of the chapter is "Leagues of Prayer," but it +would have been simple to substitute for it any one of half a dozen +others--less definite, it is true--sanctioned by the precedents of +ecclesiastical writers. One term is "friendship"; and St. Boniface, in +his letters referring to the topic, employs indifferently the cognate +expressions "familiarity," "charity" (or "love"). Sometimes he speaks of +the "bond of brotherhood" and "fellowship." Venerable Bede favours the +word "communion." Alcuin, in his epistles, alternates between the more +precise description "pacts of charity" and the vaguer expressions +"brotherhood" and "familiarity." The last he employs very commonly. The +fame of Cluny as a spiritual centre led to the term "brotherhood" being +preferred, and from the eleventh century onwards it became general. + +The privilege of fraternal alliance with other religious communities was +greatly valued, and admission was craved in language at once humble, +eloquent, and touchingly sincere. Venerable Bede implores the monks of +Lindisfarne to receive him as their "little household slave"--he desires +that "my name also" may be inscribed in the register of the holy flock. +Many a time does Alcuin avow his longing to "merit" being one of some +congregation in communion of love; and, in writing to the Abbeys of +Girwy and Wearmouth, he fails not to remind them of the "brotherhood" +they have granted him. + +The term "brother," in some contexts, bore the distinctive meaning of +one to whom had been vouchsafed the prayers and spiritual boons of a +convent other than that of which he was a member, if, as was not always +or necessarily the case, he was incorporated in a religious order. The +definition furnished by Ducange, who quotes from the diptych of the +Abbey of Bath, proves how wide a field the term covers, even when +restricted to confederated prayer: + +"Fratres interdum inde vocantur qui in ejusmodi Fraternitatem sive +participationem orationum aliorumque bonorum spiritualium sive +monachorum sive aliarum Ecclesiarum et jam Cathedralium admissi errant, +sive laici sive ecclesiastici." + +Thus the secular clergy and the laity were recognized as fully eligible +for all the benefits of this high privilege, but it is identified for +the most part with the functions of the regular clergy, whose leisured +and tranquil existence was more consonant with the punctual observance +of the custom, and by whom it was handed down to successive generations +as a laudable and edifying practice importing much comfort for the +living, and, it might be hoped, true succour for the pious dead. + +In so far as the custom was founded on any particular text of Scripture, +it may be considered to rest on the exhortation of St. James, which is +cited by St. Boniface: "Pray for one another that ye may be saved, for +the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." St. +Boniface is remembered as the Apostle of Germany, and when, early in the +eighth century, he embarked on his perilous mission, he and his company +made a compact with the King of the East Angles, whereby the monarch +engaged that prayers should be offered on their behalf in all the +monasteries in his dominion. On the death of members of the brotherhood, +the tidings were to be conveyed to their fellows in England, as +opportunity occurred. Not only did Boniface enter into leagues of prayer +with Archbishops of Canterbury and the chapters and monks of Winchester, +Worcester, York, etc., but he formed similar ties with the Church of +Rome and the Abbey of Monte Cassino, binding himself to transmit the +names of his defunct brethren for their remembrance and suffrage, and +promising prayers and masses for _their_ brethren on receiving notice of +their decease. Lullus, who followed St. Boniface as Archbishop of +Mayence, and other Anglo-Saxon missionaries extended the scope of the +confederacy, linking themselves with English and Continental +monasteries--for instance, Salzburg. Wunibald, a nephew of St. Boniface, +imitating his uncle's example, allied himself with Monte Cassino. We may +add that in Alcuin's time York was in league with Ferrieres; and in 849 +the relations between the Abbey and Cathedral of the former city and +their friends on the Continent were solemnly confirmed. + +Having given some account of the infancy or adolescence of the custom, +we may now turn to what may be termed, without disrespect, the machinery +of the institution. The death of a dignitary, or of a clerk +distinguished for virtue and learning, or of a simple monk has occurred. +Forthwith his name is engrossed on a strip of parchment, which is +wrapped round a stick or a wooden roll, at each end of the latter being +a wooden or metal cap designed to prevent the parchment from slipping +off. After the tenth century, at certain periods--say once a year--the +names of dead brethren were carried to the scriptorium, where they were +entered with the utmost precision, and with reverent art, on a mortuary +roll. + +The next step was to summon a messenger, and fasten the roll to his +neck, after which the brethren, in a group at the gateway, bade him +God-speed. These officials were numerous enough to form a distinct +class, and some hundreds of them might have been found wending their way +simultaneously on the same devout errand through the Christian Kingdoms +of the West, in which they were variously known as _geruli_, _cursores_, +_diplomates_, and _bajuli_. We may picture them speeding from one church +or one abbey to another, bearing their mournful missive, and when +England had been traversed, crossing the narrow seas to resume their +melancholy task on the Continent. At whatever place he halted, the +messenger might count on a sympathetic reception; and in every monastery +the roll, having been detached from his neck, was read to the assembled +brethren, who proceeded to render the solemn chant and requiem for the +dead in compliance with their engagements. On the following day the +messenger took his leave, lavishly supplied with provisions for the next +stage. + +Monasteries often embraced the opportunity afforded by these visits to +insert the name of some brother lately deceased, in order to avoid +waiting for the dispatch of their own annual encyclical, and so to +notify, sooner than would otherwise have been possible, the death of +members for whom they desired the prayers of the association. + +Mortuary rolls, many examples of which have been found in national +collections--some of them as much as fifty or sixty feet in +length--contain strict injunctions specifying that the house and day of +arrival be inscribed on the roll in each monastery, together with the +name of the superior, the purpose being to preclude any failure on the +part of the messenger worn out with the fatigue, or daunted by the +hardships and perils, of the journey. The circuit having been completed, +the parchment returned to the monastery from which it had issued, +whereupon a scrutiny was made to ascertain, by means of the dates, +whether the errand had been duly performed. "After many months' +absence," says Dr. Rock, "the messenger would reach his own cloister, +carrying back with him the illuminated death-bill, now filled to its +fullest length with dates and elegies, for his abbot to see that the +behest of the chapter had been duly done, and the library of the house +enriched with another document." + +One of the Durham rolls is thirteen yards in length and nine inches in +breadth. Consisting of nineteen sheets of parchment, it was executed on +the death of John Burnby, a Prior of Durham, in 1464. His successor, +Richard Bell, who was afterwards Bishop of Durham, and the convent, +caused this roll, commemorating the virtues of the late Prior and +William of Ebchester, another predecessor, to be circulated through the +religious houses of the entire kingdom; and inscribed on it are the +titles, orders, and dedications of no fewer than six hundred and +twenty-three. Each had undertaken to pray for the souls of the two +priors in return for the prayers of the monks at Durham. The roll opens +with a superb illumination, three feet long, depicting the death and +burial of one of the priors; and at the foot occurs the formula: _Anima +Magistri Willielmi Ebchestre et anima Johannis Burnby et animae omnium +defunctorum per Dei misericordiam in pace requiescant._ + +The monastery first visited makes the following entry: _Titulus +Monasterii Beatae Mariae de Gyseburn in Clyveland, ordinis S. Augustini +Ebor. Dioc. Anima Magistri Willielmi Ebchestre et anima Johannis Burnby +et animae omnium defunctorum per misericordiam Dei in pace requiescant. +Vestris nostra damus, pro nostris vestra rogamus._ The other houses +employ identical terms, with the exception of the monastery of St. Paul, +Newenham, Lincolnshire, which substitutes for the concluding verse a +hexameter of similar import. It is of some interest to remark that, +apart from armorial or fanciful initials, the standing of a house may be +gauged by the handwriting, the titles of the larger monasteries being +given in bold letters, while those of the smaller form an almost +illegible scrawl. The greater houses would have been in a position to +support a competent scribe--not so the lesser; and this is believed to +have been the reason of the difference. + +Almost, if not quite, as important as the roll just noticed is that of +Archbishop Islip of Westminster recently reproduced in _Vetusta +Monumenta_. + +After the tenth century it appears to have been the custom in some +monasteries, on the death of a member, to record the fact; and at +certain periods--probably once a year--the names of all the dead +brethren were inscribed on an elaborate mortuary roll in the +scriptorium, before being dispatched to the religious houses throughout +the land. + +The books of the confraternities are divisible into two +classes--necrologies and _libri vitae_. The former are in the shape of a +calendar, in which the names are arranged according to the days on which +the deaths took place; the latter include the names of the living as +well as the dead, and were laid on the altar to aid the memory of the +priest during mass. Twice a day--at the chapter after prime and at +mass--the monks assembled to listen to the recitation of the names, +singly or collectively, from the sacramentary, diptych, or book of life. +The most famous English _liber vitae_--that of Durham--embraces entries +dating from the time of Edwin, King of Northumbria (616-633), and was +compiled, apparently, between the devastation of Lindisfarne in 793 and +the withdrawal of the monks from the island in 875. In the first +handwriting there are 3,100 names, a goodly proportion of them belonging +to the seventh century. As has been already implied, various degrees are +represented in the rolls of the living and the dead--notably, of course, +benefactors, but recorded in them are bishops and abbots, princes and +nobles, monks and laymen, and often enough this is their only footprint +on the sands of time. The name of a pilgrim in the confraternity book of +any abbey signifies that he was there on the day mentioned. + + + + +ECCLESIASTICAL + +CHAPTER II + +VOWESSES + + +Not wholly aloof from the subject treated in the previous chapter is the +custom that prevailed in the Middle Ages for widows to assume vows of +chastity. The present topic might possibly have been reserved for the +pages devoted to domestic customs, but the recognition accorded by the +Church to a state which was neither conventual nor lay, but partook of +both conditions in equal measure, decides its position in the economy of +the work. We must deal with it here. + +Before discussing the custom in its historical and social relations, it +will be well to advert to the soil of thought out of which it sprang, +and from which it drew strength and sustenance. Already we have spoken +of the heritage of human sentiment. Now there is ample evidence that the +indifference to the marriage of widows which marks our time did not +obtain always and everywhere. On the contrary, among widely separated +races such arrangements evoked deep repugnance, as subversive of the +perfect union of man and wife, and clearly also of the civil inferiority +of females. The notion that a woman is the property of her husband, +joined to a belief in the immortality of the soul, appears to lie at the +root of the dislike to second marriages--which, according to this view, +imply a degree of freedom approximating to immorality. The culmination +of duty and fidelity in life and death is seen in the immolation of +Hindu widows. The Manu prescribes no such fiery ordeal, but it states +the principles leading to this display of futile heroism: "Let her +consecrate her body by living entirely on flowers, roots, and fruits. +Let her not, when her lord is deceased, ever pronounce the name of +another man. A widow who slights her deceased lord by marrying again +brings disgrace on herself here below, and shall be excluded from the +seat of her lord." + +A similar feeling permeated the early Church. "The argument used against +the unions," says Professor Donaldson, "was that God made husband and +wife one flesh, and one flesh they remained even after the death of one +of them. If they were one flesh, how could a second woman be added to +them?" He alludes, of course, to the re-marriage of the husband, but the +argument, whatever it may be worth, applies equally to both parties. An +ancient example of renunciation is afforded by Judith, of whom it is +recorded: "She was a widow now three years and six months, and she made +herself a private chamber in the upper part of the house, in which she +abode shut up with her maids and she wore hair-cloth upon her loins, and +fasted all the days of her life, except the Sabbaths and new moons, and +the feasts of the house of Israel; and on festival days she came forth +in great glory, and she abode in her husband's house a hundred and five +years." + +An order of widows is said to have been founded or confirmed by St. +Paul, who fixed the age of admission at sixty. This assertion, one +suspects, grew out of a passage in the First Epistle to Timothy, in +which the apostle employs language that would, at least, be consonant +with such a proceeding: "Honour widows that are widows indeed.... Now +she that is a widow indeed and desolate trusteth in God and continueth +in supplications and prayers night and day." Simple but very striking is +the epitaph inscribed on the wall of the Vatican: + + + OCTAVIAE MATRONAE VIDVAE DEI. + +The order of deaconesses appears to have been mainly composed of pious +widows, and only those were eligible who had had but one husband. This +order came to an end in the eleventh or twelfth century, but the +vowesses, as a class, continued to subsist in England until the +convulsions of the sixteenth century, and in the Roman Church survive as +a class with some modifications in the order of Oblates, who, says Alban +Butler in his life of St. Francis, "make no solemn vows, only a promise +of obedience to the mother-president, enjoy pensions, inherit estates, +and go abroad with leave." Their abbey in Rome is filled with ladies of +the first rank. + +The chief distinction between deaconesses and widows was the obligation +imposed on the former to accomplish certain outward works, whereas +widows vowed to remain till death in a single life, in which, like nuns, +they were regarded as mystically espoused to Christ. Unlike nuns, +however, vowesses usually supported the burdens entailed by their +previous marriage--superintending the affairs of the household and +interesting themselves in the welfare of their descendants. St. +Elizabeth of Hungary, though she bound herself to follow the injunctions +of her confessor and received from him a coarse habit of undyed wool, +did not become a nun, but, on his advice, retained her secular estate +and ministered to the needs of the poor. But instances occur in which +vowesses retired from the world and its cares. Elfleda, niece of King +Athelstan, having resolved to pass the remainder of her days in +widowhood, fixed her abode in Glastonbury Abbey; and as late as July 23, +1527, leave was granted to the Prioress of Dartford to receive "any +well-born matron widow, of good repute, to dwell perpetually in the +monastery without a habit according to the custom of the monastery." Now +and then a widow would completely embrace the religious life, as is +shown by an inscription on the brass of John Goodrington, of Appleton, +Berkshire, dated 1519, which states that his widow "toke relygyon at y^e +monastery of Sion." + +The position of vowesses in the eyes of the Church may be illustrated in +various ways. For example, the homilies of the Anglo-Saxon AElfric +testify to a triple division of the people of God. "There are," says he, +"three states which bear witness of Christ; that is, maidenhood, and +widowhood, and lawful matrimony." And with the quaintness of mediaeval +symbolists, he affirms that the house of Cana in Galilee had three +floors--the lowest occupied by believing married laymen, the next by +reputable widows, and the uppermost by virgins. Emphasis is given to the +order of comparative merit thus defined by the application to it of one +of our Lord's parables, for the first are to receive the thirty-fold, +the second the sixty-fold, and the third and highest division the +hundred-fold reward. Similarly, a hymn in the Sarum Missal for the +festival of Holy Women asserts: + + Fruit thirty-fold she yielded, + While yet a wedded wife; + But sixty-fold she rendered, + When in a widowed life. + +And a Good Friday prayer in the same missal is introduced with the +words: "Let us also pray for all bishops, priests, deacons, sub-deacons, +acolytes, exorcists, readers, door-keepers, confessors, virgins, widows, +and all the holy people of God." + +In the pontifical of Bishop Lacy of Exeter may be found the office of +the Benediction of a Widow. The ceremony was performed during mass, and +prefixed to the office is a rubric directing that it shall take place on +a solemn day or at least upon a Sunday. Between the epistle and gospel +the bishop, seated in his chair, turned towards the people, asked the +kneeling widow if she desired to be the spouse of Christ. Thereupon she +made her profession in the vulgar tongue, and the bishop, rising, gave +her his blessing. Then followed four prayers, in one of which the bishop +blessed the habit, after which he kneeled, began the hymn "Veni Creator +Spiritus," and at the close bestowed upon the vowess the mantle, the +veil, and the ring. More prayers were said, wherein the bishop besought +God to be the widow's solace in trouble, counsel in perplexity, defence +under injury, patience in tribulation, abundance in poverty, food in +fasting, and medicine in sickness; and the rite ended with a renewed +commendation of the widow to the merciful care of God. + +It is worthy of note that in these supplications mention is made of the +sixty-fold reward which the widow is to receive for her victory over her +old enemy the Devil; and also, that the postulant is believed to have +made her vow with her hands joined within those of the bishop, as if +swearing allegiance. + +Several witnesses were necessary on the occasion. When, for instance, +the widow of Simon de Shardlowe made her profession before the Bishop of +Norwich, as she did in 1369, the deed in which the vow was registered, +and upon which she made the sign of the cross in token of consent, was +witnessed by the Archdeacon of Norwich, Sir Simon de Babingle, and +William de Swinefleet. In the same way the Earl of Warwick, the Lords +Willoughby, Scales, and others, were present at the profession of +Isabella, Countess of Suffolk. This noble lady made her vow in French, +as did also Isabella Golafre, when she appeared for the purpose on +Sunday, October 18, 1379, before William of Wykeham, Bishop of +Winchester. Notwithstanding the direction in Bishop Lacy's pontifical, +the vow was sometimes spoken in Latin, an instance of which is the case +of "Domina Alicia Seynt Johan de Baggenet," whose profession took place +on April 9, 1398, in the chapel of the Lord of Amberley, Sussex. + +That the vow was restricted to the obligation of perpetual chastity, and +in no way curtailed the freedom and privileges which the vowess shared +with other ladies, is demonstrated by the contents of various wills, +like that of Katherine of Riplingham, dated February 8, 1473. Therein +she styles herself an "advowess"; but, having forfeited none of her +civil rights, she devises estates, executes awards, and composes family +differences. This is quite in the spirit of St. Paul's words: "If any +widows have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at +home, and to requite their parents, for that is good and acceptable to +God." + +Allusion has been made to the ring as the symbol of the spiritual +espousal. As such it was the object of peculiar reverence, and its +destination was frequently specified in the vowess's will. Thus in +"Testamenta Vetusta" we find the abstract of the will of Alice, widow of +Sir Thomas West, dated 1395, in which the lady bequeaths "the ring with +which I was spoused to God" to her son Sir Thomas. In like manner +Katherine Riplingham leaves a gold ring set with a diamond--the ring +with which she was sacred--to her daughter Alice Saint John. To some +vowesses the custody even of a son or daughter appeared unworthy of so +precious a relic; and thus we learn that Lady Joan Danvers, by her will +dated 1453, gave her spousal ring to the image of the Crucifix near the +north door of St. Paul's, while Lady Margaret Davy presented hers to the +image of Our Lady of Walsingham. + +In certain instances the formality of episcopal benediction was +dispensed with, a simple promise sufficing. As a case in point, John +Brackenbury, by his will dated 1487, bequeathed to his mother certain +real estate subject to the condition that she did not marry again--a +condition to which she assented before the parson and parish of +Thymmylbe. "If," says the testator, "she keep not that promise, I will +that she be content with that which was my father's will, which she had +every penny." But, in compacts or wills in which the married parties +themselves were interested, the vow seems to have been usually exacted. +Wives sometimes engaged with their husbands to make the vow; and the +will of William Herbert, Knight, Earl of Pembroke, dated July 27, 1469, +contains an affecting reminder of duty--"And, wife, that you may +remember your promise to take the order of widowhood, so that you may +be the better maistres of your owen, to perform my will, and to help my +children, as I love and trust you," etc. + +Husbands left chattels to their wives provided that they took the vow of +chastity. The will of Sir Gilbert Denys, Knight, of Syston, dated 1422, +sets out: "If Margaret, my wife, will after my death vow a vow of +chastity, I give her all my moveable goods, she paying my debts and +providing for my children; and if she will not vow the vow of chastity, +I desire my goods may be divided and distributed in three equal parts." +On like terms wives were appointed executrices. William Edlington, Esq., +of Castle Carlton, in his will dated June 11, 1466, declares: "I make +Christian, my wife, my sole executor on this condition, that she take +the mantle soon after my decease; and in case she will not take the +mantle and the ring, I will that William my son [and other persons +named] be my executors, and she to have a third part of all my goods +moveable." + +Such is the frailty of human nature that even when widows accepted the +obligation of faith and chastity in the most solemn manner, the vow was +occasionally broken. This will hardly excite surprise when we consider +the youth, or comparative youth, of some of the postulants. Mary, the +widow of Lewis, King of Hungary, was only twenty-three at the time of +her profession. Our English annals yield striking instances of promises +followed by repentance. Thus Eleanor, third daughter of King John, "on +the death of her first husband, the Earl of Pembroke, 1231, in the first +transports of her grief, made in public a solemn vow in the presence of +Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, that she would never again become a +wife, but remain a true spouse of Christ, and received a ring in +confirmation, which she, however, broke, much to the indignation of a +strong party of the laity and clergy of England, on her marriage with +Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester." Another delinquent was Lady +Elizabeth Juliers, Countess of Kent. When her first husband died, in +1354, she took a vow of chastity before William de Edyndon, Archbishop +of Canterbury. Six years later she was wedded privately and without +licence to Sir Eustace Dabridgecourt, Knight. As the result, the +Archbishop of Canterbury instituted proceedings against her, and she was +condemned to severe penance for the remainder of her life. In the light +of these examples it is unnecessary to observe that the infraction of a +vow so strict and stringent brought the utmost discredit on any widow +who might be guilty of it. + +The question has been raised why widows did not, instead of making their +especial vow, enter the third orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis, +both of them intended for pious persons remaining in the world. The +answer has already, in some degree, been given in what was said +regarding the extinct order of deaconesses. Followers of St. Dominic and +St. Francis were bound to recite daily a shortened form of the Breviary, +supposing that they were able to read, or, if they were not able, a +certain number of Aves and Paternosters. They were further expected to +observe sundry fasts over and above those commanded by the Church, and +thus they became qualified for all the benefits accruing to the first +two orders, Dominican and Franciscan. With the vowesses it was +different. The one condition imposed upon them was that of chastity, as +tending to a state of sanctification. They took upon themselves no other +obligation whatever, and consequently acquired no title to the blessings +and privileges flowing from the strict observance of rules to which they +did not subscribe. Even after the Reformation the custom did not +absolutely cease. At any rate, Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, who +died in 1676, is stated, after the death of her last husband, to have +dressed in black serge and to have been very abstemious in the matter of +food. + +Here and there may be found funeral monuments containing representations +of vowesses. Leland remarks, with reference to a member of the Marmion +family at West Tanfield, Yorkshire: "There lyeth there alone a lady with +the apparill of a vowess"; and in Norfolk there are still in existence +two brasses of widows and vowesses. The earlier and smaller, of about +the year 1500, adjoins the threshold of the west door of Witton church, +near Blofield, and bears the figure of a lady in a gown, mantle, barbe +or gorget, and veil, together with the inscription: + + ORATE ANIMA DOMINE JULIANE ANGELL + VOTRICIS CUJUS ANIME PROPRICIETUR DEUS. + +The other example is in the little church of Frenze, near Diss, which +contains, among a number of other interesting brasses, that of a lady +clothed, like the former, in gown, mantle, barbe, and veil. This figure, +however, shows cuffs; the gown is encircled with an ornamental girdle, +and depending from the mantle on long cords ending in tassels. +Underneath runs the legend: + + HIC JACET TUMULATA DOMINA JOHANNA + BRAHAM VIRDUA AC DEO DEDICATA. OLIM UXOREM + JOHANNIS BRAHAM ARMIGERI QUI OBIT XVIII DIE + NOVEMBRIS ANNO DOMINI MILLINO CCCCXIX CU + JUS ANIME PROPICIETUR DEUS. AMEN. + +Below are three shields, of which the dexter bears the husband's arms, +the sinister those of Dame Braham's family, and the middle the coats +impaled. In neither of these examples is the ring--the most important +symbol--displayed on the vowess's finger. This omission may be +explained, perhaps, by the fact that it was not buried with her, being, +as we have seen, sometimes bequeathed as an heirloom and sometimes left +as a gift to the Church. + +Notwithstanding the desire of so many husbands that their widows should +live "sole, without marriage," it is well known that second and even +third marriages were not uncommon in the Middle Ages, and, provided that +they did not involve an infraction of some solemn engagement, do not +appear to have incurred social censure any more than at present. + + + + +ECCLESIASTICAL + +CHAPTER III + +THE LADY FAST + + +It was pointed out as one of the distinctions between vowesses and +members of the third orders of the Dominican and Franciscan brotherhoods +that the latter were pledged to the observance of fasts from which the +former were exempt. Tyndale complains of the "open idolatry" of +abstinences undertaken in honour of St. Patrick, St. Brandan, and other +holy men of old; and he lays special stress on "Our Lady Fast," which, +he explains, was kept "either seven years the same day that her day +falleth in March, and then begin, or one year with bread and water." +Whatever fasts a vowess might neglect as non-obligatory, it seems +probable that she would not willingly forgo any opportunity of showing +reverence to the Blessed Virgin, who, in the belief of St. Augustine, +had taken vows of chastity before the salutation of the Angel. + +It is not a little curious that the Lady Fast, in the forms mentioned by +Tyndale, was so far from being enjoined by the Church as to be actually +opposed to the decree of the Roman Council of 1078, which indicated +Saturday as the day of the week appropriated to the honour of the +Blessed Virgin. This usage was as well understood in the British Isles +as elsewhere. Thus, in "Piers Plowman": + + Lechery said "Alas!" and on Our Lady he cried + To make mercy for his misdeeds between God and his soul, + With that he should the Saturday seven year thereafter + Drink but with the duck, and dine but once. + +Bower, the continuator of Fordun's "Scotichronicon," makes it a reproach +to lax prelates that they suffer the common people to vary after their +own pleasure the days kept as fast days in honour of Mary. In doing so +he recalls that on Saturday, the first Easter Eve, she abode unshakenly +in the faith, when the apostles doubted. Good reason, therefore, why +Saturday should be dedicated to her as a fast. "But now," he continues, +"you will see both men and women on a Saturday morning make good +dinners, who, on a Tuesday or a Thursday, would not touch a crust of +bread, lest they should break the Lady Fast kept after their own fancy." + +Tyndale seems to have erred in intimating that the Lady Fast, if of an +annual character, was regulated of necessity by the feast of the +Annunciation, or, in the happier, more affectionate phrase of our +forefathers, "the Gretynge of Our Ladye." The Blessed Virgin had no +fewer than six festivals--those of the Conception, Nativity, +Annunciation, Visitation, Purification, and Assumption--any one of which +might be made the starting-point of the fast either by the choice of the +votary or by the cast of the die. A third method is instanced in the +"Popish Kingdom" of Barnabe Googe (1570), actually an English metrical +version of a truculent German satire by one Thomas Kirchmeyer, who was +scholar enough to Latinize, or Graecize, his homely patronymic into the +more imposing correlative "Naogeorgus." The passage is as follows: + + Besides they keep Our Lady's fast at sundry solemn times, + Instructed by a turning wheel, or as the lot assigns. + For every sexton has a wheel that hangeth for the view, + Mark'd round about with certain days, unto the Virgin due, + Which holy through the year are kept, from whence hangs down a thread + Of length sufficient to be touched and to be handled. + Now when that any servant of Our Lady cometh here + And seeks to have some certain day by lot for to appear, + The sexton turns the wheel about, and bids the stander-by + To hold the thread whereby he doth the time and season try, + Wherein he ought to keep his fast and every other thing + That decent is and longing to Our Lady's worshipping. + +Although, as has been said, the "Popish Kingdom" had a German original, +it is an extraordinary fact that no Continental example of the Lady Fast +wheel is known to exist. Two English wheels have been preserved--both of +them in East Anglian churches: viz., those of Long Stratton, Norfolk, +and Yaxley, Suffolk. Of the two the former is the more perfect. That at +Yaxley consists of a pair of wheels, cut out of sheet iron, which +measure a little over two feet in diameter, and are similar and +concentric, but separate. The Long Stratton wheels, on the other hand, +have a pin passing through the centre which holds them together, and +around which they revolve, each of them independently. To the same pin +is attached the forked end of a long pendent handle, which was held by +the sexton. Each wheel is pierced with three holes through which strings +were passed, the total number coinciding with that of the six feasts +sacred to Mary, or possibly to the six days of the week excluding +Sunday, which did not rank as a fast day. + +The instrument was worked in the following manner. Should a devout +person desire to keep a Lady Fast, he or she repaired to the church to +determine by the aid of the wheel which of the days or anniversaries +should be observed. Thereupon the sexton took the wheel, which he either +hung up or held at arm's length by means of a ring at the termination of +the handle. He then set the wheel in motion, and the votary, standing +by, caught at the strings as they spun round. Whichever string was +caught decided the question on what day the fast was to be begun, +whether on the feast of the Annunciation or that of the Assumption, or +any other of the six feasts, or days of the week, of which the several +strings were emblematical. The feast of the Assumption was known as Lady +Day in Harvest, being observed on the fifteenth of August. + +The compromise, which we style the Reformation, at first inclined to the +retention of the Saturday fast; and, indeed, the legislature interfered +to enforce its more regular observance. In 1548 a remarkable measure +was enacted with this object, not so much, it is to be feared, out of +any genuine concern for religion as for the benefit of the fishing +community, whose interests had been injuriously affected by recent +ecclesiastical changes. + +"Albeit," it recites, "the King's subjects now having a more perfect and +clear light of the Gospel and true word of God, through the infinite +cleansing and mercy of Almighty God, by the hand of the King's Majesty +and his most noble father of famous memory, promulgate, shewed, declared +and opened, and thereby perceiving that one day or one kind of meat of +itself is not more holy, more pure, or more clean than another, for that +all days and all meats be of their nature of one equal purity, +cleanness, and holiness, and that all men should by them live to the +glory of God, and at all times and for all meats give thanks unto Him, +of which meats none can defile Christian men or make them unclean at any +time, to whom all meats be lawful and pure, so that they be not used in +disobedience or vice; yet forasmuch as divers of the King's subjects +turning their knowledge therein to satisfy their sensuality, when they +should thereby increase in virtue, have in late time more than in times +past, broken and contemned such abstinence which hath been used in the +Realm upon the Fridays _and Saturdays_, the Embering days, and other +days commonly called Vigils, and in the time commonly called Lent and +other accustomed times: the King's Majesty, considering that due and +godly abstinence is a means to virtue, and to subdue men's bodies to +their soul and spirit, and considering also especially that Fishers, and +men using the trade of living by fishing in the sea, may thereby the +rather be set on work, and that by eating of fish much flesh shall be +saved and increased, and also for divers other considerations and +commodities of this realm, doth ordain 'that all statutes and +constitutions regarding fasting be repealed, but that all persons +neglecting to observe the ordinary fast days--Fridays, _Saturdays_, +Ember days, and Lent--be subject to a fine of ten shillings and ten +days' imprisonment for the first offence.'" + +This measure, so inconsistent with the spirit of the age and so +contradictory in its terms, was re-enacted at various dates during the +reigns of Elizabeth and James I. It is perhaps the last "word" as +regards the Lady Fast, but the legislature by no means suspended its +vigilance in enforcing abstinence at the proper season. Discussion of +post-Reformation fasting, however, or fasting in general, forms no part +of our present undertaking. + + + + +ECCLESIASTICAL + +CHAPTER IV + +CHILDREN OF THE CHAPEL + + +The fact may not have escaped notice that Domina Alicia Seynt Johan de +Baggenet "took the vow of widowhood in the chapel of the Lord of +Amberley." Possession of a private chapel was, as it still is, a mark of +social distinction. "It was once the constitution of the English," runs +a law of King Athelstan, "that the people and their legal condition went +according to their merits; and then were the councillors of the nation +honoured each one according to his quality, the earl and the ceorl, the +thane and the underthane. If a ceorl throve so as to have five hides +booked to him, a church, bell-tower, a seat in the borough, and an +office in the King's court, from that time forward he was esteemed equal +in honour to a thane." Again, the laws of King Edgar relating to tithe +ordain "that God's church be entitled to every right, and that every +tithe be rendered to the old minster to which the district belongs, and +be then so paid, both from the thane's inland and from geneat land, as +the plough traverses it. But if there be any thane who on his boc-land +has a church at which there is a burial-place, let him give the third +part of his own tithe to his church. If anyone hath a church at which +there is not a burial-place, then of the same nine parts let him then +give to his priest what he will." + +Domestic chapels were extremely common all through the Middle Ages. In +the parish of Tiverton, Devon, there were at least seventeen, some of +them within less than a mile of each other. Allusions to these oratories +are found in the registers of the Bishops of Exeter, by whom they were +severally licensed for the convenience of the owner, his family, and his +tenants. As a rule, they were in rooms of the house or castle, not +separate buildings. Andrew Boorde, in his directions for the +construction of a sixteenth-century mansion, remarks: "Let the privy +chamber be annexed to the great chamber of estate, with other chambers +necessary for the building, _so that many of the chambers may have a +prospect into the chapel_." + +Great nobles of the post-Conquest period were not content with the +services of a priest only. They maintained an establishment of singing +men and boys analogous to the vicars-choral and choristers of the +present time, who were described as "the gentlemen and children of the +chapel." From the household books of the Earl of Northumberland +(A.D. 1510-11) we learn that he had "daily abidynge in his +household--Gentillmen of the Chapel, ix; viz., the maistre of the +Childre, j; Tenors, ij; Counter-tenors, iiij; the Pistoler, j; and oone +for the Orgayns; Childer of the Chapell, vj." + +Particulars are recorded of the daily allowances of bread, beer, and +fish during Lent. On Scambling Days it was usual not to provide regular +meals, each having to scramble or shift for himself, but things were +otherwise ordered in the mansion of the Percy, where the service of meat +and drink "upon Scambling Days in Lent yerely" was properly seen to. Not +only are we furnished with the "Ordre of all suche Braikfasts that shall +be lowable daily in my Lordes hous thorowte the yere as well on Flesche +days as Fysch days in Lent, and out of Lent," but accounts are supplied +of the liveries of wine, white wine, and wax, and also of wood and coal, +of which the Master and the Children of the Chapel were entitled to one +peck _per diem_. The cost of the washing of surplices, etc., was not to +exceed a stated sum. "Then shal be paid for the Holl weshing of all +manner of Lynnon belonging to the Lordes Chappell for a Holl yere but +xvij_s._ iiij_d._ And to be weshed for every Penny iij Surplesses or iij +Albes. And the said Surplesses to be weshed in the yere xvj tymes +against these Feasts following," &c. + +The salaries of the choir were paid at definite intervals, and formed a +charge on his lordship's property in Yorkshire. The scale of +remuneration was as follows: + +"Gentillmen of the Chappell x (as to saye, Two at x marks a pece, iij at +iiij_l._ a pece, Two at v marks a pece, Oon at iiij marks, Oon at xx_s._, +and Oon at xx_s._; viz., ij Bassis, ij Tenors and vj Counter-tenors). +Childeryn of the Chappell vj, after xxv_s._ a pece. And so the whole somme +for full contentacion of the said Chappell wagies for oone hole yere +ys--xxxv_l._ xv_s._" + +The gentlemen slept two in a bed, as seems to have been the custom for +priests also; the children, three in a bed. ("There shall be for vj +Prests iij Beddes after ij to a Bedde; for x Gentillmen of the Chapell v +Beddes, after ij to a Bedde; for vj Children ij Beddes after iij to a +Bedde.") + +Not only noblemen, but the Princes of the Church had their private +chapels, for which the services of children were retained. George +Cavendish, in his "Life of Wolsey," gives a glowing account of the +Cardinal's palatial appointments, in the course of which he observes: +"Now I will declare unto you the officers of his chapel and singing men +of the same. First he had there a dean, a great divine, and a man of +excellent learning; and a sub-dean, a repeater of the choir, a gospeller +and epistler of the singing-priests, and a master of the children +[therefore, of course, children]; in the vestry a yeoman and two grooms, +besides other retainers that came thither at principal feasts.... And as +for the furniture of the chapel it passeth my weak capacity to declare +the number of the costly ornaments and rich jewels that were occupied +in the same, for I have seen in procession about the hall forty-four +rich copes of one settle worn, besides the candlesticks and other +necessary ornaments to the furniture of the same." Such were the +sumptuous surroundings in which "children of the chapel" were wont +sometimes to perform their office. + +An element of distinction enjoyed by peer and prelate was not likely to +be absent from the first estate of the realm; and, in point of fact, the +phrase "children of the chapel," so far as it is known, is more commonly +associated with the King's court than any of the castles or episcopal +palaces of the land. Certain of the King's "Gentlemen of the Chapel" +seem to have received payment in money, including extraordinary fees, +and provided for themselves, whilst others had board and lodging. The +following table, though less complete than the Northumberland accounts, +throws light on the rate of requital: + + _L s. d._ + + Master of the children, for his wages + and board wages 30 0 0 + + Gospeller, for wages, 13 6 8 + + Epistoler, " " 13 6 8 + + Verger, " " 20 0 0 + + Yeomen of the Vestry {10 0 0 + {10 0 0 + + Children of the Chapel, ten 56 13 4 + +Another ordinance states that "The Gentlemen of the Chapell, Gospeller, +Episteller, and Sergeant of the Vestry shall have from the last day of +March forward for their board wages, everie of them, 10_d._ per diem; +and the Yeomen and Groomes of the Vestry, everie of them, 2_s._ by the +weeke." When not on board wages, they had "Bouche of Court," like the +physicians. "Bouche of Court" signified the daily livery or allowance of +food, drink, and fuel, and this, in the case of the Master of the +Children, exceeded that of the surgeons to the value of about L1 1_s._ +per annum. Thus it will be seen that the style "Gentlemen," as applied +to the grown-up members of the choir, was not merely complimentary, but +indicative of their actual status. + +Meals were served at regular hours. "It is ordeyned that the household, +when the hall is kept, shall observe certyne times for dinner and souper +as followeth: that is to say, the first dynner in eating dayes to begin +at tenn of the clock, or somewhat before; and the first souper at foure +of the clock on worke dayes." + +The duties of the choir also are plainly laid down: "Forasmuch as it is +goodly and honourable that there should be alwayes some divine service +in the court ... when his grace keepeth court and specially in riding +journeys: it is ordeyned that the master of the children and six men ... +shall give their continual attendance in the King's court, and dayly in +the absence of the residue of the chappell, to have a masse of our Lady +before noone, and on Sundayes and holy dayes masse of the day besides +our Lady masse, and an anthem in the afternoone." + +It was part of the business of the Master of the Children to instruct +his young charges in "grammar, songes, organes, and other vertuous +things"; and, on the whole, the lot of the choristers might have been +deemed enviable. It is evident, however, that it was not always regarded +in that light, for a custom existed of impressing children. This +practice was authorized by a precept of Henry VI. in 1454, and one of +its victims was Thomas Tusser, afterwards author of "Five Hundred Points +of Good Husbandry," who thus alludes to the matter: + + There for my voice I must (no choice) + Away of force, like posting horse; + For sundry men had placards then + Such child to take. + +Moreover, it has been shrewdly suspected that the whipping-boy, who +vicariously atoned for the sins of a prince of the blood--in other +words, was thrashed, when he did wrong--was picked from the Children of +the Chapel. Certainly Charles I. had such a whipping-boy named Murray; +and judging from this instance the expedient was not commended by its +results. + +Members of the choir were expected to be persons of exemplary life and +conversation, to ensure which state of things there was a weekly +visitation by the Dean. Every Friday he sought out and avoided from +office "all rascals and hangers upon thys courte." The tone of +discipline, to conclude from the poems of Hugh Rhodes, was undoubtedly +high; and, whatever difficulties he may have encountered in training the +boys to his own high standards, his "Book of Nurture" must always +possess considerable value as a reflex of the moral and social ideals of +a Master of the Children in the sixteenth century. + +Rhodes's successor in the days of Elizabeth was Richard Edwards, a man +of literary taste and the compiler of a "Paradise of Dainty Devices." +The Master had now a salary of forty pounds a year; the Gentlemen +nineteen pence a day, in addition to board and clothing; and the +Children received largesse at high feasts and on occasions when their +services were used for purposes apart from their ordinary duties. In +this way the Chapel Royal is closely connected with the rise of the +English drama. Edwards wrote light pieces for the children to act before +Her Majesty, and, encouraged by success, fell to composing set comedies, +which were also performed by the boys, under his instructions, in the +presence of the Court. + +We have limited our retrospect mainly to the Tudor period. As an +extension of the subject would call for more space than we have at our +disposal, those who desire more information concerning the "Children of +the Chapel" will do well to consult a recent work entitled "The King's +Musick" (edited by H. C. de Lafontaine: Novello & Co.), which carries on +the record into the age of the Stuarts. Entries cited in this excellent +compilation relate to eminent English composers. In December, 1673, for +example, there was a "warrant to pay Henry Purcell, late one of the +children of his Majesty's Chappell Royall, whose voyce is changed and +gone from the Chappell, the sum of L30 by the year, to commence +Michaelmas, 1673." This was in consequence of the sensible custom of +retaining as supernumeraries boys who had given evidence of musical +ability. Such is certainly true of Purcell, who, at the early age of +eleven, had shown promise of his future career by an ode called "The +Address of the Children of the Chapel Royal to the King and their +Master, Captain Cooke, on His Majestie's Birthday, A.D. 1670, composed +by Master Purcell, one of the Children of the said Chapel." + + + + +ECCLESIASTICAL + +CHAPTER V + +THE BOY-BISHOP + + +Mention has been made of Hugh Rhodes and his "Book of Nurture." It is +pretty evident that this master of music was attached to the older form +of faith, since he published in Queen Mary's reign a poem bearing the +extravagant title: "The Song of the Chyld-Bysshop, as it was songe +before the Queen's Maiestie in her priuie chamber at her mannour of +Saint James in the feeldes on Saynt Nicholas' Day and Innocents' Day +this yeare now present by the chylde bisshop of Poules church with his +company. Londini in aedibus Johannis Cawood typographi reginae, 1555." +This effusion Warton derides as a "fulsome panegyric" on the Queen's +devotion; and the censure is not wholly unjust, since the author, +without much regard for accuracy, likens that least lovable of our +sovereigns to Judith, Esther, and the Blessed Virgin. Meanwhile, who or +what was the "Chyld-Bysshop," or, as he is usually styled, the +Boy-Bishop? + +In the first place it may be noted that the Latin equivalent of the +phrase was not, as might be expected, _Episcopus puerilis_, but +_Episcopus puerorum_, suggesting that the boy, if boy he was, was +elevated above his compeers and possessed perhaps some jurisdiction over +them. There is no question of the access of dignity, but the amount of +authority enjoyed by him would have depended on the humour of his +fellows, and boys are not always docile subjects even of rulers of +their own election. This, however, is a minor consideration, since the +Boy-Bishop, when we first make his acquaintance, has already emerged +from the obscurity of school and playground, and made good his claim to +the homage of superiors in age and station. Hence the term "Boy-Bishop" +appears to define more accurately than its Latin analogue the rank and +privileges of the immature prelate. + +It seems to lie in the nature of things that the Boy-Bishop was +originally an institution of the boys themselves, the chief figure in a +game in which they aped, as children so commonly do, the procedure of +their elders, and that, in course of time, those elders, for reasons +deemed good and sufficient, extended their patronage to the innocent +parade, and made it a constituent of their own festal round. + +In tracing the migration of the custom from the precincts to the +interior of the church we must not forget the tradition of the Roman +Saturnalia, with the season and spirit of which it accorded, and to +which the Christian festival, with its greater purity and decorum, may +have been prescribed as an antidote. The pagan holiday was held on +December 17th, and as the Sigillaria formed a continuation of it, the +joyous celebration endured a whole week. The Boy-Bishop's term of office +was yet longer, extending from St. Nicholas' Day (December 6th) to Holy +Innocents' Day (December 28th). + +The distinctive feature of the Saturnalia was the inversion of ordinary +relationships; the world was turned upside down, and the licence that +prevailed, by dint of long usage and inviolable sentiment, imparted to +the merry-making a rough and even immoral character. Slaves assumed the +position of masters, and masters of slaves; and the general nature of +the observance is aptly described by the patron deity in Lucian's play +on the subject: "During my reign of a week no one may attend to his +business, but only to drinking, singing, playing, making imaginary +kings, playing servants at table with their masters." + +The advent of Christianity was impotent to arrest the annual scenes of +disorder; and, in some form or another--sometimes tolerated, sometimes +the object of the Church's anathema--the tradition held its own down +through the Dark Ages, and we meet with the substance of the Saturnalia, +during the centuries immediately preceding the Reformation, in the +burlesque festivals with which the rule of the Boy-Bishop has been often +identified. We shall see presently how far this judgment is correct. An +example will, no doubt, readily recur to the reader from a source to +which we owe so many impressions of the Middle Ages, some true, others +false or at least exaggerated--we mean the historical romances of Sir +Walter Scott. That writer has introduced into "The Abbot" an Abbot of +Unreason, and he explains in a note that "The Roman Catholic Church +connived at the frolics of the rude vulgar, who, in almost all Catholic +countries, enjoyed, or at least assumed, the privilege of making some +Lord of the Revels, who, under the name of the Abbot of Unreason, the +Boy-Bishop, or the President of Fools, occupied the churches, profaned +the holy places by a mock imitation of the sacred rites, and sang +indecent parodies of the hymns of the church." The last touch, at any +rate, may be safely challenged as untrue, and the whole picture has the +appearance of being largely overdrawn. This is certainly the case as +regards England, though there is evidence that on the Continent the +Boy-Bishop celebration was, at certain times and in certain places, not +free from objectionable features. In 1274 the Council of Salzburg was +moved to prohibit the "noxii ludi quos vulgaris eloquentia Episcopus +puerorum appellat" on the ground that they had produced great +enormities. Probably this sentence referred to the accessories, such as +immoral plays, but it is quite possible that the Boy-Bishop ceremonies +themselves had degenerated into a farce. As the _Rex Stultorum_ +festival was prohibited at Beverly Minster in 1371, we must conclude +that similar extravagance and profanity had crept into Yuletide +observances in this country. The festival of the Boy-Bishop, however, +was conducted with a decency hardly to be expected in view of its +apparent associations. It would seem, indeed, to have been an impressive +and edifying function, and that reasonable exception can be taken to it +only on the score of childishness, and the absence of any warrant from +Scripture, apart from the rather doubtful sanction of St. Paul's words, +"The elder shall serve the younger." + +There are weighty considerations on the other side. The mediaeval Church +derived stores of strength from its sympathetic attitude towards women +and children and the illiterate; and there was a sensible loss of +vitality and interest when the ministry of the Church was curtailed to +suit the common sense of a handful of statesmen, scholars, and +philosophers. At the time the festival was abolished, opinion was +divided even among the leaders of reform. Thus Archbishop Strype openly +favoured the custom, holding that it "gave a spirit to the children," +and was an encouragement to them to study in the hope of attaining some +day the real mitre. Broadly speaking, then, the Boy-Bishop festival is +evidence of the tender condescension of Holy Mother Church to little +children, and it does not stand alone. At Eyton, Rutlandshire, and +elsewhere, children were allowed to play in church on Holy Innocents' +Day, possibly in the same way as at the "Burial of the Alleluia" in a +church at Paris, where a chorister whipped a top, on which the word +"Alleluia" was inscribed, from one end of the choir to the other. As Mr. +Evelyn White points out, this "quickening of golden praise," by its +union of religious service and child's play, exactly reproduces the +conditions of the Boy-Bishop festival. Certain it is that the festival +was extraordinarily popular. There was hardly a church or school +throughout the country in which it was not observed, and if we turn to +the Northumberland Book cited in the foregoing chapter we shall find +that provision was made for its celebration in the chapels of the +nobility as well. The inventory is as follows: + + "_Imprimis_, myter well garnished with perle and precious stones + with nowches of silver and gilt before and behind. + + "_Item_, iiij rynges of silver and gilt with four redde precious + stones in them. + + "_Item_, j pontifical with silver and gilt, with a blew stone in + hytt. + + "_Item_, j owche broken silver and gilt, with iiij precious stones + and a perle in the myddes. + + "_Item_, A Crosse with a staf of coper and gilt with the ymage of + St. Nicholas in the myddes. + + "_Item_, j vesture redde with lyons of silver with brydds of gold + in the orferores of the same. + + "_Item_, j albe to the same, with stars in the paro.[2] + + "_Item_, j white cope stayned with cristells and orferes redde sylk + with does of gold and white napkins about their necks. + + "_Item_, j stayned cloth of the ymage of St. Nicholas. + + "_Item_, iiij copes blue sylk with red orferes trayled with whitt + braunches and flowers. + + "_Item_, j tabard of skarlett and a hodde thereto lyned with whitt + sylk. + + "_Item_, A hode of Scarlett lyned with blue sylk." + +There is an entry in the book showing upon what terms the custom was +observed in the house of a great noble. When chapel was kept for St. +Nicholas--St. Nicholas was, of course, the patron saint of boys--6_s._ +8_d._ was assigned to the Master of the Children for one of the latter. +When, on the contrary, St. Nicholas "com out of the towne where my lord +lyeth and my lord kepe no chapel," the amount is reduced to 3_s._ 4_d._ + +Abbeys, cathedrals, and parish churches were equally forward in their +recognition of the custom, and strove to celebrate it on a scale of the +utmost splendour and magnificence. A list of ornaments for St. Nicholas +contained in a Westminster inventory of the year 1388 comprises a mitre, +gloves, surplice, and rochet for the Boy-Bishop, together with two albs, +a cope embroidered with griffins and other beasts and playing fountains, +a velvet cope with the new arms of England, a second mitre and a ring. +In 1540 mention occurs of the "vj^th mytre for St. Nicholas bisshope," +and "a great blewe cloth with kyngs on horsse back for the St. Nicholas +cheyre." At St. Paul's Cathedral twenty-eight copes were employed not +only for the Boy-Bishop and his company, but for the Feast of Fools. The +earliest inventory of the church--that of 1245--speaks of a mitre, the +gift of John de Belemains, Prebendary of Chiswick, and a rich pastoral +staff for the use of the Boy-Bishop. At York Minster were kept a "cope +of tissue" for the Boy-Bishop, and ten for his attendants, while an +inventory made in 1536 at Lincoln refers to "a coope of rede velvett +with rolles and clowdes ordeyned for the barne bisshop with this +scripture THE HYE WAY IS BEST." Typical of many other places, +the custom was observed at Winchester, Durham, Salisbury, and Exeter +Cathedrals; at the Temple Church, London (1307); St. Benet-Fynck; St. +Mary Woolnoth; St. Catherine, near the Tower of London; St. Peter Cheap; +St. Mary-at-Hill, Billingsgate; Rotherham; Sandwich, St. Mary; Norwich, +St. Andrew's and St. Peter Mancroft; Elsing College, Winchester; Eton +and Winchester Colleges; Magdalen College, Oxford, and King's College, +Cambridge; Witchingham, Norfolk (1547); Great St. Mary, Cambridge +(1503); Hadleigh, Suffolk; North Elmham, Norfolk (1547). When the goods +of Great St. Mary, Cambridge, were sold, in May 1560, among the rest +were the following: "_It._ ye rede cote and qwood yt St. Nicholas dyd +wer the color red. _It._ the vestement and cope yt Seynt Nicholas dyd +wer. Also albs for the children." + +Recapitulating, the vestments and ornaments of the Boy-Bishop and his +attendants, as gleaned from these and similar sources, were: (i) Mitre; +(ii) Crosier or Pastoral Staff; (iii) Ring; (iv) Gloves; (v) Sandals; +(vi) Cope; (vii) Pontifical; (viii) Banner; (ix) Tabard; (x) Hood; (xi) +Cloth for St. Nicholas' Chair; (xii) Alb; (xiii) Chasuble; (xiv) Rochet; +(xv) Surplice; (xvi) Tunicle; (xvii) Worsted Robe. + +Usually the Boy-Bishop was chosen from the choristers of the cathedral, +collegiate or other church by the choristers themselves; but at York, +after 1366, and possibly elsewhere, the position fell, as of right, to +the senior chorister. The date of the election was the Eve of St. +Nicholas, when the boys assembled for an entertainment, and gloves were +presented to the Boy-Bishop. On St. Nicholas' Day the boys accompanied +the youthful prelate to the church; and we learn from the Sarum Use that +the order in which the procession entered the choir was as follows: +First the Dean and Canons, then the Chaplain, and lastly the Boy-Bishop +and his Prebendaries, who thus took the place of honour. The Bishop +being seated, the other children ranged themselves on opposite sides of +the choir, where they occupied the uppermost ascent, whilst the Canons +bore the incense and the Petit Canons the tapers. The first vespers of +their patron saint having been sung by the boys, they marched the same +evening through the precincts, or parish, the Bishop bestowing his +fatherly blessings and such other favours as were becoming his dignity. + +The statutes of St. Paul's Cathedral show that, as early as 1262, the +rules underwent some modification. It was thought that the celebration +tended to lower the reputation of the church; so it was ordained that +the Boy-Bishop should select his own ministers, who were to carry the +censer and the tapers, and they were to be no longer the Canons, but +"Clerks of the Third Form," i.e., his fellow-choristers. But the +practice remained for the Boy-Bishop to be entertained on the Eve of St. +John the Evangelist either at the Deanery or at the house of the +Canon-in-residence. Should the Dean be the host, fifteen of the +Boy-Bishop's companions were included in the invitation. The Dean, too, +found a horse for the Boy-Bishop, and each of the Canons a horse for one +of his attendants, to enable them to go in procession--a show formally +abolished by proclamation on July 25, 1542, but, nevertheless, retained +for some years owing to the attachment of the citizens to the ancient +custom. + +The question has been raised--Did the Boy-Bishop say mass? The +proclamation of Henry VIII. distinctly affirms that he did, but there is +reason to suspect the truth of the statement. In the York Missal, +published by the Surtees Society, there is a rubric directing the +Boy-Bishop to occupy the episcopal throne during mass--a proof that he +cannot have been the celebrant. But the Boy-Bishop, if he did not +officiate at the altar, unquestionably preached the sermon. The statutes +of Dean Colet for the government of his school enjoin that "all the +children shall every Childermas Day come to Paule's Churche, and heare +the chylde bishop sermon, and after be at hygh masse and each of them +offer 1_d._ to the chylde bysshop." Specimens of the sermons preached on +Holy Innocents' Day have come down to us from the reigns of Henry VIII. +and Mary, and are of extreme interest. They, indeed, go far to justify +the custom as a mode of inculcating virtue and, particularly, reverence +in the minds of the auditors. The earlier discourse appears to have been +prepared by one of the Almoners of St. Paul's, and the "bidding prayer" +contains a quaint allusion to "the ryghte reverende fader and +worshypfull lorde my broder Bysshop of London, your dyocesan, also my +worshypfull broder, the Deane of this Cathedral Churche." The later +discourse was pronounced by "John Stubs, Querester, on Childermas-Day at +Gloceter, 1558," and, most appropriately, based on the text, "Except you +be convertyd and made lyke unto lytill children," etc. Referring to the +"queresters" and children of the song school, the preacher remarks, with +a touch of delightful humour, "Yt is not so long sens I was one of them +myself"; and, in explaining the significance of Childermas, adverts to +the Protestant martyrs, who, alas! are without "the commendacion of +innocency." It may be added that, according to the testimony of the +Exeter _Ordinale_, the Boy-Bishop, on St. Nicholas' Day, censed the +altar of the Holy Innocents, recited prayers, read the Little Chapter at +Lauds "in a modest voice," and gave the Benediction. + +We have seen that Dean Colet required his scholars to contribute, each +one, a penny to the Boy-Bishop. At Norwich annual payments were made by +all the officials of the cathedral church to the Boy-Bishop and his +clerks on St. Nicholas' Day, and the expenses of the feast were defrayed +by the Almoner out of the revenues of the chapter. An account of +Nicholas of Newark, Boy-Bishop of York in 1396, shows that, besides +gifts in the church, donations were received from the Canons, the +monasteries, noblemen, and other benefactors. On the Octave he repaired, +accompanied by his train, to the house of Sir Thomas Utrecht, from whom +he obtained "iij_s._ iiij_d._"; on the second Sunday he went still +farther afield, including in his perambulation the Priories of Kirkham, +Malton, Bridlington, Walton, Baynton, and Meaux. _En route_, he waited +on the Countess of Northumberland at Leconfield, and was graciously +rewarded with a gold ring and twenty shillings. + +These "visitations" seem to have been characterized by feasting and +merriment and some undesirable mummery. Puttenham, in his "Arte of +Poesie" (1589), observes: "On St. Nicholas' night, commonly, the +scholars of the country make them a Bishop, who, like a foolish boy, +goeth about blessing and preaching with such childish terms as make the +people laugh at his foolish counterfeit." In some quarters regulations +were in force to preclude such levity. At Exeter, for example, one of +the Canons was appointed to look after the Boy-Bishop, who was to have +for his supper a penny roll, a small cup of mild cider, two or three +pennyworths of meat, and a pennyworth of cheese or butter. He might ask +not more than six of his friends to dine with him at the Canon's room, +and their dinner was to cost not more than fourpence a head. He was not +to run about the streets in his episcopal gloves, and he was obliged to +attend choir and school the next day like the other choristers. + +It may be remarked that the Boy-Bishop proceedings had their counterpart +in the girls' observance of St. Catherine's Day; and the phrase "going +a-Kathering" expressed the same sort of alms-seeking as attended the +ceremonies in honour of St. Nicholas. + +In its palmy days the festival of the Boy-Bishop was favoured not only +by the people, but by the monarch. Edward I. and Henry VI. gave their +patronage to the custom, and the latter is said to have followed the +example of his progenitors in so doing. + +However, in 1542, Henry VIII. "by the advys of his Highness' counsel," +saw fit to order its abolition, which he did in the following terms: + +"Whereas heretofore dyuers and many superstitions and chyldysh +obseruances haue been used, and yet to this day are obserued and kept, +in many and sundry partes of this realm, as vpon St. Nicholas, Saint +Catherine, Saint Clement, the holie Innocents, and such-like holie +daies, children be strangelie decked and apparayled to counterfeit +Priests, Bishopes, and Women, and so be ledde with Songes and dances +from house to house, blessing the people and gathering of money; and +boyes do singe masse and preache in the pulpitt, with other such +onfittinge and inconuenient vsages which tend rather to derysyon than +enie true glorie of God, or honour of his Sayntes: the Kynges maiestie, +therefore, myndynge nothinge so muche as to aduance the true glory of +God without vain superstition, wylleth and commandeth that from +henceforth all such superstitious obseruations be left and clerely +extinguished throu'out all his realme and dominions for as moche as the +same doth resemble rather the vnlawfull superstition of gentilitie than +the pure and sincere religion of Christ." + +The allegation that boys dressed up as women is confirmed by a Compotus +roll of St. Swithin's Priory at Winchester (1441), from which it appears +that the boys of the monastery, along with the choristers of St. +Elizabeth's Collegiate Chapel, near the city, played before the Abbess +and Nuns of St. Mary's Abbey--attired "like girls." + +The custom was restored by an edict of Bishop Bonner on November 13, +1554, much to the satisfaction of the populace; and the spectacle of the +Boy-Bishop riding _in pontificalibus_--this was in 1556--all about the +Metropolis gave currency to the saying--"St. Nicholas yet goeth about +the city." Foxe tells us that at Ipswich the Master of the Grammar +School led the Boy-Bishop through the streets for "apples and +belly-cheer; and whoso would not receive him he made heretics, and such +also as would not give his faggot for Queen Mary's child." (By this +expression, which was common during this reign, was intended the +Boy-Bishop; the Queen had, of course, no child of her own.) Amidst the +sundry and manifold changes that marked the accession of Elizabeth the +Boy-Bishop again went down; and the memory of the festival lingered only +in certain usages like that at Durham, where the boys paraded the town +on May-day, arrayed in ancient copes borrowed from the Cathedral. + +On one or two points connected with the subject there prevails some +degree of misapprehension, and thus it will be well--very briefly--to +touch upon them. It is not now believed that the effigy in Salisbury +Cathedral--"the child so great in clothes"--which led to the +publication, in 1646, of Gregorie's famous treatise, is that of a +Boy-Bishop, who died during his term of office and was buried with +episcopal honours. There are similar small effigies of knights and +courtiers. Nor, again, does it seem correct to state that the +Boy-Bishop might present to any prebend that became vacant between St. +Nicholas' and Holy Innocents' day. This usage, if it existed at all, was +apparently confined to the Church of Cambray. + +On the other hand, the Eton Ad Montem ceremony has the look of genuine +descent from the older festival, with which it has numerous features in +common. The Boy-Bishop custom, it will be remembered, was observed at +the College. + +Finally, reference may be made to the coinage of tokens, some of them +grotesque, which bore the inscription MONETA EPI INNOCENTIUM, +or the like, together with representations of the slaughter of the +innocents, the bishop in the act of giving his blessing, and similar +scenes. Opinions differ as to the purpose for which these tokens, which +date from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, were struck, but it is +extremely probable that they were designed to commemorate the Boy-Bishop +solemnity. Barnabe Googe's _Popish Kingdom_ tells of + + "St. Nicholas money made to give to maidens secretlie," + +and in the imperfect state of human society this may have been, at +times, their incongruous destiny. + + + + +ECCLESIASTICAL + +CHAPTER VI + +MIRACLE PLAYS + + +There is a palpable resemblance between the subject just quitted and +that most characteristic product of the Middle Ages--the miracle play. +It may be observed at the outset that instruction in those days, when +reading was the privilege of the few, was apt to take the form of an +appeal to the imagination rather than the reasoning faculty, and of all +the aids of imagination none has ever been so effective as the drama. +The Boy-Bishop celebration was not only the occasion of plays which +sometimes necessitated the strong hand of authority for their +suppression--it was distinctly dramatic in itself. Miracle plays +represent a further stage of development, in which a rude and popular +art shook itself free from the trammels of ritual, outgrew the austere +restrictions of sacred surroundings, and yet kept fast hold on the +religious tradition on which it had been nourished, and which remained +to the last its supreme attraction. + +The liturgical origin of the miracle play may almost be taken for +granted, and the single question that is likely to arise is whether the +custom evolved itself from observances connected with Easter, or +Christmas, or both festivals in equal or varying measure. Circumstances +rather point to Paschal rites as the matrix of the custom. The Waking of +the Sepulchre anticipates some of the features of the miracle play, +while the dialogue may have been suggested by the antiphonal elements +in the church services, and specifically by the colloquy interpolated +between the Third Lesson and the Te Deum at Matins, and repeated as part +of the sequence "Victimae paschalis laudes," in which two of the choir +took the parts of St. Peter and St. John, and three others in albs those +of the Three Maries. In the York Missal, in which this colloquy appears +at length, its use is prescribed for the Tuesday of Easter Week. + +Springing apparently from these germs, the religious drama gradually +enlarged its bounds until it not only broke away from the few Latin +verses of its first lisping, but came to embrace a whole range of +Biblical history in vernacular rhyme. The process is so natural that we +need scarcely look for contributory factors, and the influence of such +experiments as the Terentian plays of the Saxon nun Hroswitha in the +tenth century may be safely dismissed as negligible, or, at most, +advanced as proof of a broad tendency, evidence of which may be traced +in the "infernal pageants" to which Godwin alludes in his "Life of +Chaucer," and which, as regards Italy, are for ever memorable in +connexion with the Bridge of Carrara--a story familiar to all students +of Dante. These "infernal pageants" were concerned with the destiny of +souls after death, and their scope being different from that of the +miracle plays, they are adduced simply as marking affection for +theatrical display in conjunction with religious sentiment. + +As far as can be ascertained, the earliest miracle play ever exhibited +in England--and here it may be observed that such performances probably +owed their existence or at least considerable encouragement to the +system of religious brotherhood detailed in our opening chapter--was +enacted in the year 1110 at Dunstable. Matthew Paris informs us that one +Geoffrey, afterwards Abbot of St. Albans, produced at the town aforesaid +the Play of St. Catherine, and that he borrowed from St. Albans copes in +which to attire the actors. This mention of copes reminds us of the +Boy-Bishop, and is one of the symptoms indicating community of origin. +To this may be added that miracle plays were at first performed in +churches, and, as we shall hereafter see, in some localities were never +removed from their original sphere. The clergy also took an active share +in the performances, as long as they were confined to churches; but on +their emergence into the streets, Pope Gregory forbade the participation +of the priests in what had ceased to be an act of public worship. This +was about A.D. 1210. From that time miracle plays were regarded +by the straiter sort with disfavour, and Robert Manning in his "Handlyng +Sinne" (a translation of a Norman-French "Manuel de Peche") goes so far +as to denounce them, if performed in "ways or greens," as "a sight of +sin," though allowing that the resurrection may be played for the +confirmation of men's faith in that greatest of mysteries. Such +prejudice was by no means universal; in 1328--more than a hundred years +later--we find the Bishop of Chester counselling his spiritual children +to resort "in peaceable manner, with good devotion, to hear and see" the +miracle plays. + +We saw that the earliest religious drama known to have been performed in +this country was one on St. Catherine. William Fitzstephen, in his "Life +of St. Thomas a Becket," written in 1182, brings into contrast with the +pagan shows of old Rome the "holier plays" of London, which he terms +"representations of the miracles wrought by the holy confessors or of +the sufferings whereby the constancy of the martyrs became gloriously +manifest." Thus we perceive how the term "miracle" attached itself to +this species of theatrical exhibitions. Probably, towards the +commencement of the twelfth century, French playwrights fastened on the +miracles of the saints as their special themes, and, by force of habit, +the English public in ensuing generations retained the description, +though subjects had come to be chosen other than the marvels of the +martyrology. Dr. Ward would limit the term "miracle play" to those +dramas based on the legends of the saints, and would describe those +drawn from the Old and New Testaments as "mysteries" in conformity with +Continental usage. The distinction is logical, but its acceptance would +practically involve the sacrifice of the former term, since the +Dunstable play of St. Catherine, the plays founded on the lives of St. +Fabyan, St. Sebastian, and St. Botolph, which were performed in London, +and those on St. George, acted at Windsor and Bassingbourn--no others +are recorded--have all perished. + +According to the "Banes," or Proclamation, of the Chester Plays, at the +end of the sixteenth century, the cycle of plays acted in that city +dates from the mayoralty of John Arneway (1268-76), and the author was +Randall Higgenet, a monk of Chester Abbey. These statements are, for +various reasons, open to impeachment. For one thing, Arneway's term is +incorrectly assigned to the years 1327-8--a far more probable date for +the plays, though there is no sort of certainty on the subject, and, in +the nature of things, a cycle of plays is more likely to have grown up +than to have been the work of a single hand. The later date is more +probable, because the re-institution of the Corpus Christi festival by +the Council of Vienne in 1311 has an important bearing on the annexation +of the miracle play by the trade-gilds, and it was only on their +assumption of responsibility that performances on the scale of a cycle +of plays could have been contemplated, or possible. + +There are four great English cycles--those of Chester, York, Wakefield, +and Coventry. By a cycle is meant a series of plays forming together +what may be termed an encyclopaedia of history; it was attempted to crowd +into one short day "mater from the beginning of the world." This +ambitious programme bespoke the interested co-operation of many persons, +and the gilds, embracing it with enthusiasm, transformed the Corpus +Christi festival into an annual celebration marked by gorgeous pageants. +The word "pageant," which appears to be etymologically related to the +Greek [Greek: pegma], is technical in respect of miracle plays, and, in +this connexion, is thus defined, by Archdeacon Rogers: + +"A high scafolde with two rowmes, a higher and a lower, upon four +wheeles. In the lower they apparelled them selves, and in the higher +rowme they played, beinge all open on the tope, that all behoulders +might heare and see them." + +The pageants were constructed of wood and iron, and so thoroughly that +it was seldom that they needed to be renewed. In the floor of the stage +were trap-doors covered with rushes. The whole was supported on four or +six wheels so as to facilitate movement from point to point; and as the +miracle plays were essentially peripatetic--within, at least, the bounds +of a particular town, and sometimes beyond--this was a very necessary +provision. + +Each pageant had its company. The word "company" here is not exactly +synonymous with "gild," for several gilds might combine for the object +of maintaining a pageant and training and entertaining actors, and the +composition of the company varied according to the wealth or poverty, +zeal or indifference, of different gilds. Thus it came to pass that the +number of pageants, in the same city, was subject to change, companies +being sometimes subdivided, and at other times amalgamated; and in the +latter event the actors undertook the performance of more scenes than +would otherwise have fallen to their share. Commonly speaking, there was +probably no lack, whether of funds or players, at any rate as regards +the principal centres. The cycles were the pride of the city, and it +would have been a point of honour with the members of the several +companies not to allow themselves to be outclassed by their competitors. + +To enumerate the gilds taking part in the miracle plays is tantamount to +making an inventory of industrial crafts at the close of the Middle +Ages. The "Order of the Pageants of the Play of Corpus Christi at York," +compiled by Roger Burton, the town clerk, and comprising a list of the +companies with their respective parts, yields the following analysis: +Tanners, plasterers, card-makers, fullers, coopers, armourers, gaunters +(glovers), shipwrights, pessoners (fishmongers), mariners, +parchment-makers, book-binders, hosiers, spicers, pewterers, founders, +tylers, chandlers, orfevers (goldsmiths), marshals (shoeing-smiths), +girdlers, nailers, sawyers, spurriers, lorimers (bridle-makers), +barbers, vintners, fevers (smiths), curriers, ironmongers, +pattern-makers, pouchmakers, bottlers, cap-makers, skinners, cutlers, +bladesmiths, sheathers, sealers, buckle-makers, horners, bakers +cordwainers, bowyers, fletchers (arrow-featherers); tapisers, couchers, +littesters (dyers), cooks, water-leaders, tilemakers, millers, twiners, +turners, tunners, plumbers, pinners, latteners, painters, butchers, +poulterers, sellers (saddlers), verrours (glaziers), fuystours (makers +of saddle-trees), carpenters, wine-drawers, brokers, wool-packers, +scriveners, luminers (illuminators), questors (pardoners), dubbers, +tallianders (tailors), potters, drapers, weavers, hostlers, and mercers. + +The subjects of the plays were the story of the Creation, the Fall, the +Deluge, the Sacrifice of Isaac, the incidents preceding the Birth of +Christ, the Nativity, and in pretty regular sequence the chief events of +our Lord's life to the Ascension; and, finally, the Assumption of the +Blessed Virgin. As a rule it is hard to discern any connexion between +the nature of a scene and the craft or crafts representing it, but the +assignment of the pageant in which God warns Noah to make an ark to the +shipwrights, and of its successor, in which the patriarch appears in the +Ark, to the "pessoners" and mariners has an obvious propriety, and must +have conduced to the--not historical, but conventional--realism which +was the aim of the miracle artists. + +The whole town was made to serve as a huge theatre, and the many +pageants proceeded in due order from station to station. "The place," +says Archdeacon Rogers--he is speaking of Chester--"the place where they +played was in every streete. They begane first at the abay gates and +when the first pagiant was played, it was wheeled to the highe crosse +before the mayor, and so to every streete; and so every streete had a +pagiant playinge before them at one time, till all the pagiantes for the +daye appoynted weare played; and when one pagiant was neere ended word +was broughte from streete to streete, that soe they might come in place +thereof excedinge orderlye, and all the streetes have their pagiantes +afore them all at one time playeing togeather, to se which playe was +greate resorte, and also scafoldes and stages made in the streetes in +those places where they determined to playe their pagiantes." + +Should the supply of pageants be limited, different scenes were acted in +different parts of the same stage; and actors who were awaiting or had +ended their parts stood on the stage unconcealed by a curtain. In more +elaborate performances a scene like the "Trial of Jesus" involved the +employment of two scaffolds, displaying the judgment-halls of Pilate and +Herod respectively; and between them passed messengers on horseback. The +plays contain occasional stage directions--e.g., "Here Herod shall rage +on the pagond." We find also rude attempts at scene-shifting, of which +an illustration occurs in the Coventry Play of "The Last Supper:" + +"Here Cryst enteryth into the hous with his disciplis, and ete the +Paschal lomb; and in the mene tyme the cownsel hous beforn seyd xal +sodeynly onclose, shewynge the buschopys, prestys, and jewgys sytting in +here astat, lyche as it were a convocacyon." + +And again: + +"Here the Buschopys partyn in the place, and eche of hem here leve be +contenawns resortyng eche man to his place with here meny to take Cryst; +and than xal the place that Cryst is in sodeynly unclose round abowt, +shewynge Cryst syttyng at the table, and hise dyscypulis eche in ere +degre. Cryst thus seyng." + +The outlay on these plays was necessarily large, and the accounts of +gilds and corporations prove that not only were considerable sums +expended on the dresses of the actors, but the latter received fees for +their services. The fund needed to meet these charges was raised by an +annual rate levied on each craftsman--called "pageant money"--and +varying from one penny to fourpence. The cost of housing and repairing +the pageant, as well as the refreshment of the performers at rehearsals, +would also come out of this fund. As the actors were paid, they were +expected to be efficient, and the duty of testing their qualifications +was delegated either to a pageant-master or to a committee of +experienced actors. A York ordinance dated April 3, 1476, shows that +four of "the most cunning, discreet, and able players" were summoned +before the mayor during Lent for the purpose of making a thorough +examination of plays, players, and pageants, and "insufficient persons," +in whatever requirement--skill, voice, or personal appearance--their +defect lay, were mercilessly "avoided." No single player was allowed to +undertake more than two parts on pain of a fine of forty shillings. + +From the York proclamation of 1415 we learn that the players were +expected to be in their places between 3 and 4 a.m., while the prologue +of the Coventry plays contains the lines: + + At Sunday next yf that we may + At six of the belle, we gynne our play + In N---- towne. + +This is interesting, as proving that pageants were sometimes acted in a +number of places, somewhat in the style of strolling players. It is +known for a fact that the Grey Friars of Coventry had a cycle of Corpus +Christi plays; and it has been conjectured that they were forced by the +competition of the Trade Gilds to exhibit them outside the town. +Whatever may have been the case with the players, it is certain that +such plays were not confined to the centres of which we have spoken. We +read of a lost Beverly cycle, and of another at Newcastle, of which one +play--"The Building of the Ark"--has fortunately been preserved. Like +performances took place at Witney and Preston, at Lancaster, Kendall, +and Dublin. The relative perfection of Chester and Coventry, and +probably of York, were bound to influence those and other towns, which +looked to them as the capitals of the dramatic art. Evidence of the +popularity of miracle plays in places near and remote is forthcoming in +the shape of literary remains or parochial records. Cornwall is famous +for its religious drama, to which are due the best monuments of its dead +tongue; but other counties were not backward in zealous attachment to +the Miracle Play. A few excerpts from Church-wardens' and other accounts +may be given by way of showing the extent of the custom: + + + ASHBURTON, DEVON + +1528-9. "ix^s ix^d for painting cloth for the players and making their + tunics, and for 'chequery' for making tunics for the aforesaid + players, and for making staves for them, and crests upon their + heads for the festival of Corpus Christi." + +1533-4. "ij^d rewardyd and alowyd to the pleers of Cryssmas game, that + pleyd in the said churche." + +1537-8. "j^d for a pair of silk garments (_seroticarum_) for King Herod + on Corpus Christi day." + +1542-3. "ij^s i^d ij devils' heads (_capit. diabol._) and necessary + things in the clothes for the players." + +1547-8. "ij^s to the players on Corpus Christi day." (During the reign + of Edward VI. the plays were discontinued, to be revived in that of + his successor.) + +1555-6. "ij^d payd for a payr of glouys for hym that played God Almighty + at Corpus X^pi daye." "vj^d payd for wyne for hym that played Saynt + Resinent." + +1558-9. "ij^d for a payr of glouys to him that played Christ on Corpus + X^pi daye." + + + ST. MARTIN'S, LEICESTER + +1546-7. "Item p^d for makynge of a sworde & payntynge of the same for + Harroode viij^d." + +In the Corporation MSS. of Rye, Sussex, are the following entries: + +1474. "Payed to the players of Romeney, the which pleyed in the churche + 16^d" + +1476. "Payed to the pleyers of Winchilse, the whiche pleyed in the + churche yerde, vppone the day of the Purification of our Laday + 16^d" + +The performance of the York miracle plays went on until 1579. The +Newcastle celebration outlasted them by about ten years. The Chester +plays were acted till the end of the sixteenth century, and those of +Beverley till 1604. What killed the Miracle Play? This is a deeply +interesting speculation, but one with regard to which it is difficult to +form a conclusion owing to the co-existence of rival influences, the +relative strength of which cannot well be estimated. We have seen that +Puritan opinion suspended the miracle play at Ashburton during the reign +of Edward VI., and it would be natural to look for the same result from +the accession of Elizabeth, whereas, at Beverley it was maintained all +through the period of her rule. It is quite possible, however, that all +this time efforts were being made by extreme Reformers to bring about +its abolition, and that ultimately they were successful. Meanwhile the +growth of the secular drama, which was hardly more to the liking of the +Puritans, must have proved a powerful counter-attraction, and possibly +it is to this rather than religious opposition that the extinction of +the Miracle Play was actually due. At any rate, we need feel no surprise +that with two such antagonistic forces at work the ancient and pious +custom vanished from the land. + + + + +ACADEMIC + +CHAPTER VII + +ALMS AND LOANS + + +We wound up our first part with a draft on parochial records; and we +enter on our second part with a further taxation of the same fruitful +and unimpeachable source. Those familiar with the life of our ancient +universities only in its more modern and luxurious aspects may prepare +for revelations of the most startling character, for Oxford and +Cambridge were nurtured not only in poverty, but in authorized +mendicancy and--a learned phrase may be excused--regulated +hypothecation. That clerks in those early days were not ashamed to beg +is susceptible of various sorts of proof, one of which consists in the +help so frequently afforded them by generous churchwardens. Let us +glance at some sixteenth-century books of accounts: + + + ASHBURTON, DEVON + + 1568. "In gyft to too scolers of Oxenford iiij^s iiij^d" + 1575. "To a skoler of Oxeford vj^d" + + 1578. "To a skoler of Oxford iij^s iiij^d" + + TAVISTOCK + + 1573. "Geven to a skoler of Oxford xij^d" + + WOODBURY, DEVON + + 1581. "P^d to tow skolowers of Oxford vij^d" + + 1588. "P^d to a Scholar that came fro + Oxford named Edward Carrow viij^d" + + 1589. "P^d to Richard Crokhey a scholar vj^d" + +(According to the "Alumni Oxon." Edward Carrow was elected Student of +Christ Church, 1575, from Westminster School; and Richard Crocker, +B.A., from Exeter College, 1594.) + + + PLYMOUTH + + 1583. "P^d to two schollers the xj of June iij^s iiij^d" + "Geven to a scholler to bringe hym + to Oxenford vj^s viiij^d" + + +BARNSTAPLE + + 1583. "Paid as a gift to a scholar at + Oxford 1^s" + + 1603. "Given to a poore scholler by the + consent of Mr. Moore, vicar 0 0 6" + +It is worthy of note that the amounts bestowed on this deserving class +were in excess of the sums meted out to ordinary "travellers." It is +also a fact that, while mention is often made of Oxford scholars, the +reverse is the case with Cambridge men. On referring to Willis and +Clark's "History of the University of Cambridge" we find that although +notices occur of scholars in menial employment there is no indication +that begging licences were granted them. Still, the following entries +prove that occasionally incipient Cambridge men received public +assistance. + + + SHEFFIELD + + 1573. "Gave to William Lee, a pore + Scholler of Sheffield, towards the + settynge him to the universitye + of Cambridge and buyinge him + bookes and other furnyture vij^s iiij^d" + + + CAWTHORNE, YORKSHIRE + + 1663. "Collected in y^e parish church of + Cawthorne, for Thomas Carr, a + poor scholler, who was going to + Cambridge, and borne in y^e parish + of Ecckesfield, the sum of 6s. 6d." + +From the beginning of the reign of James I. there are few entries +relating to scholars "of Oxford." Those of other places, however, are +named to the time of Charles II., and some of them must have belonged to +Oxford, their native place being recorded in lieu of the university. + + + YOULGREAVE, DERBYSHIRE + + 1623. "To a poore scholler of Bakewell 0 1 0" + + + HEAVITREE, DEVON + + 1667. "Given towards the maintenance + of one Laskey, a poor Scholler for + Oxforde L4" + +(This was one Nicholas Laskey, who was a son of Henry Laskey, of +Heavitree, and was entered in the books of Wadham College as "filius +pauperis." He matriculated May 23, 1667, at the age of seventeen; and +was rector of Eggesford in 1674, and of Worthington in 1687.) + +These examples are all comparatively late, but we may be certain that +the practice to which they bear testimony had existed at a much earlier +period, when contributions had been sought, not only from custodians of +church funds, but from private persons, to whose charitable instincts or +devout inclinations necessitous clerks successfully appealed. Chaucer +says of his clerk of Oxenford: + + Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre: + But al that he myghte of his frendes hente, + On bokes and on lerning he it spente, + And bisily gan for the soules preye + Of hem that gaf him wher-with to scolaye. + +This diligent and conscientious student "loked holwe," and his +"courtefy" was threadbare. + +In MS. Lansdowne 762 is a poem wherein a husbandman is represented as +complaining of the many charges of which he is the subject--taxes to the +court, payments to the church, and exactions in the name of charity. +Included in the last of these categories is alms to scholars: + + Than cometh clerkys of Oxford and make their mone; + To her schole-hire they must have money. + +It is hardly likely, perhaps, that such "scholar-gypsies" always +procured licences, but such were issued, and, when obtained, were +doubtless efficacious in promoting the object which the applicant had in +view. The following is a specimen in English dress, the original being +in Latin, and dated July 15, 1467: + +"To the whole of the sons of Holy Mother Church, to whom the present +letter may come, Thomas Chaundler, Professor of Sacred Theology, and +Chancellor of the University of Oxford, greeting in the Saviour of all. + +"Know the whole of you that we, with full affection, recommend to your +worships by reason of his deserts N., a scholar of this University, a +peaceable, and honest, and praiseworthy student, strongly beseeching you +that when he shall chance to traverse your places, lands, castles, +towns, fortresses, lordships, jurisdictions, and passages, ye freely +suffer him to cross them without let, trouble, arrest, or injury, with +his goods and chattels, or to make halt in his expeditions; and if at +any time it shall befall that wrong be done him in person, chattels, or +goods, ye deign to remedy the same as may behove in remembrance of the +aforesaid University. Further, deign to assist him, when need press, +with your charitable favours, receive him whom we recommend, and succour +him with the protection of charity, devoutly considering that him who +pitieth shall God also pity in meet and acceptable time. + +"Given at Oxford, under the Seal of the Office of the Chancellery of the +aforesaid University on the fifth day of the month of July in the +fourteenth hundred and sixtieth year of our Lord." + +From the wording of this letter-testimonial it would be a reasonable +inference that it was granted to enable the recipient to travel to his +home or some other place, but in certain cases the object may have been +to replenish an exhausted purse and aid the distressed scholar to +complete his academic course. + +"Many," remarks Mr. A. Clark, "were in a condition of extreme poverty, +which it is now difficult to recognize or even to imagine.... [They] +were exempted from University and College dues, and lived from what they +received from colleges or individual graduates in payment of the +different menial services which they rendered." He gives a list of +fifteen Oxford scholars to whom licences were accorded between 1551 and +1572, their duration varying from seven weeks to eight months. In the +sixteenth century such passports had become necessary, or, at least, the +absence of them, where scholars resorted to begging for a livelihood, +was attended with serious risk. By the 4th section of the Act of 22 +Henry VIII. c. 12: "Scolers of the Universities of Oxford & Cambrydge +that goo about beggyng, not being aucthorysed under the Seale of the +sayde Universities," were to be punished as idle rogues, and that +punishment was far from light. This section was included in the Act of +Elizabeth of 1571-2, but omitted from that of 1596-7. + +Scholars were often reduced not only to beg, but to borrow; and as this +method of raising money might not always have been easy, even where +security was offered, a system of pledging was devised by the +authorities for the benefit of impecunious members of the University, +both high and low. In all essentials this department is hardly +distinguishable from a pawnbroking establishment conducted under +respectable auspices, but we should go sadly astray if we suffered our +views of the institution to be tinged by the associations of a dingy +shop in some back street in which hopeless penury plays its last shift. +We should rather turn our eyes to the beatific vision of the Mons +Pietatis as pictured by Botticelli--a hillock of florins, with the +kneeling forms of worthy suppliants and the cloud-borne founder crowned +by angelic hands. The poor scholar did not part definitely with his +cherished possession; he might hope to recover it in sunnier days, and +meanwhile he was enabled to tide himself over an awkward emergency. At +the same time the brokers took care to make the transaction a source of +profit to the University. + +The earliest benefaction for the support of scholars at Oxford consisted +in the annual payment of forty shillings by the townsmen in atonement +for the execution of certain clerks. In the year 1219 this charge was +undertaken by the Abbey of Eynsham, by which the fine was punctually +disbursed to the period of its dissolution. A similar but smaller +contribution was made by the Abbey of Oseney, but nothing is known as to +its origin. Irregularities in the application of these funds induced the +Chancellor, Robert Grosseteste, in 1240, to frame an ordinance which +resulted in the creation of the "Frideswyde Chest." This treasury was +the parent of many others--at the close of the fifteenth century there +were as many as twenty-four--and it long remained the typical, as it was +the earliest, form of scholastic benefaction, existing side by side with +the foundation of colleges, to which it gave an important impetus. The +management of these chests was, in all cases, practically identical. The +preamble of the ordinance, by which the administration of the funds was +regulated, first stated the name of the donor, and then proceeded to +announce the desire of the University to requite his liberality by +annual masses and celebrations. The beneficiaries also were enjoined to +repeat so many "Pater Nosters" and "Aves" for the repose of his soul. + +Next followed particulars of the sums that might be borrowed and those +to whom they might be advanced, always on condition that a pledge of +equal or greater value was first deposited by the borrower. The term +within which the pledge might be redeemed was specified, as also the +time at which an unredeemed pledge was to be sold after due notice had +been given by public proclamation. It was usual to appoint as guardians +a North and a South countryman, so as to obviate any complaints as to +the allocation of the funds, and provision was made for the registration +of loans and the audit of the accounts. The last chest to be +founded--this was in the latter half of the sixteenth century--placed at +the disposal of the University a sum raising the total amount to not +less than two thousand marks; and the capital, not merely the interest, +was available for the relief of embarrassed scholars. The pledges were +valued by the sworn stationer of the University, and that they were +expected to exceed in value the amount of the loan is shown by the terms +of ordinances, in some of which the guardians are required to submit to +the auditors an account of the capital and increase. In spite of +precaution, however, cases of peculation were not unknown, for, on more +than one occasion, guardians were accused of embezzlement, and there are +statutes complaining of the "marvellous disappearance" of funds, the +property of the University, and safeguarding their future +administration. + +The chests were divided into two categories--the "Summer" and the +"Winter." This distinction seems to have been due to the date of the +election of the guardians. In this matter, however, there was +considerable variation, and in later ages the stipulations of the +ordinances, in which the bequests were embodied, ceased to be observed. +Another circumstance which deserves notice is that in the reforms +instituted in the time of Archbishop Laud nearly all traces of this +benevolent system were obliterated, and the names of founders--John +Pontysera, Bishop of Winchester, Gilbert Routhbury, Philip Turville, +John Langton, W. de Seltone, Dame Joan Danvers, etc.--consigned to the +shades of academic oblivion. During the period when the funds were +employed in conformity with the testator's design, the authorities, in +their wisdom, ignored limitations of age, birth, and neighbourhood, and +thus any member of the University, sophist or questionist, bachelor or +master, was entitled to a share of the benefit. This wide charity cannot +have met with unanimous approval. Large as the fund was, it would hardly +have sufficed for the needs of every ill-clothed and ill-fed scholar; +and, in the distribution of the money, it would be only in accord with +common experience of human nature if an enterprising official, whose +eagerness had outstripped his resources, should be preferred to some +pinched, obscure stripling, and receive a wholly disproportionate share +of the eleemosynary grant. + +As an illustration of what sometimes occurred, we may take the case of +Master Henry Sever, Warden of Merton Hall. He had carried out certain +repairs of the buildings, and, in order to discharge the bill, had +borrowed from Seltone chest the maximum amount permitted by the +ordinance--sixty shillings. To obtain this advance he had pledged an +illuminated missal of considerably greater value, and now he had come +prepared to redeem it. He finds that the missal had been lent to some +client for the purpose of inspection, a silver cup, estimated by the +stationer to be worth even more, being deposited in its stead. This is +not precisely what Master Sever had wanted. However, he takes the cup, +assured that he will presently be able to negotiate an exchange with the +person in possession of his missal. + +This serves as a reminder that, if money was scarce, books--the +mainspring of intellectual activity--were yet scarcer; and it is of the +utmost interest to inquire how this famine of the arts was mitigated. +Oral lectures were the rule, but books could not be entirely dispensed +with; and even Wardens might not always be in a position to procure all +the works of which they stood in need. The obvious remedy was a library +or libraries; and such collections--they arrived in good time, chiefly +through the bequests of virtuosi--constituted an invaluable resource to +that vast horde of scholars whose scanty means would not allow them to +purchase books. As the result of Mr. Blakiston's research, the famous +library with which Richard Aungerville is said to have endowed Durham +College, and, according to Adam de Murimuth, filled five carts, turns +out to be a myth or rather a pious intention. The good Bishop died deep +in debt, and the books, if preserved as a collection, went, it is now +certain, elsewhere. Thirty-five years later, however, another bishop, +Thomas Cobham, of Worcester, who died in 1327, bequeathed to the +University a mass of books, and the statute referring to them provides +that they shall be chained in convenient order in the "soler" over the +old Congregation House, where all the property of the University was +stored. The books were to be in the custody of a chaplain, who was to +pray for the soul of the donor. + +Another statute relates to a "chest of four keys," from which it appears +that books were kept in coffers and lent upon indenture or security, +exactly as was done in the case of money. It was also a by no means +infrequent occurrence for persons to give or bequeath books on condition +that they were chained in the chancel of the church for the use of +scholars and periodically inspected by the chancellor and proctors. By +far the greatest benefactor of the University in the matter of books was +Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who made many valuable presents during his +lifetime, and on his death, in 1447, a final large instalment was added +to the store. Of these only one remains in the Bodleian Library, but in +contemporary letters there are many notes expressing gratitude for, and +appreciation of, this splendid munificence, which advanced the cause of +learning more perhaps than any other donation recorded in the annals of +the University. + +The well-being of the librarian was, very properly, a subject of +concern. By an ordinance of 1412 his stipend was raised, and he became +recognized as one of the chief officers of the University. Lest "hope +deferred" should produce slackness in the performance of his duties, the +proctors were bound to pay his salary regularly, and, as a further +encouragement, every beneficed graduate, on his inception, was required +to make him a present of clothes. A similar custom prevailed with regard +to the bedels, and it is sententiously remarked that it would be absurd +for one adorned with superior dignity to be endued with inferior +privileges. + +The ordinance of 1412 brought about other changes. At the outset the +library was accessible to all scholars at stated times; permission was +now confined to graduates or religious, and, in the case of the latter, +to those who were of eight years' standing _in philosophia_. Thus a monk +named Hardwyke, who did not possess this qualification, had to sue for a +"grace," and even then the privilege was limited to one term. The +reasons for these restrictions probably were that the undergraduate +constituency in those days was composed, in a great degree, of careless +and dirty boys, who would be apt to soil the manuscripts, while the +monks had their own libraries, to which they could resort without +encroaching on the slender resources of masters and bachelors. All +graduates on admission were required to take a solemn oath that they +would handle the books _modo honesto et pacifico, nulli librorum per +turpitudinem aut rasuras abolitionesque foliorum, praejudicium +inferendo_. + +The librarian was granted a month's vacation, and the library was closed +on Sundays and holy days, unless it should chance that a distinguished +stranger desired to visit it, when leave was given him from sunrise to +sunset, subject to the condition that he was not followed by a loud +rabble. At all other times, the hours during which the library was open +were from nine to eleven o'clock a.m., and from one to four o'clock p.m. +Suspended on the wall was a large board inscribed with the names both of +the books and the donors "lest oblivion, the stepmother of memory, +should pluck from our breasts the remembrance of our benefactors." To +the same intent thrice every quarter a solemn mass of the Holy Ghost, +and once every quarter a requiem mass, were said at the altar of St. +Katherine in the Church of the Blessed Virgin. Every night the books and +the windows of the library were closed, and, with certain rare +exceptions, books were not permitted to be removed. + + + + +ACADEMIC + +CHAPTER VIII + +OF THE PRIVILEGE + + +While money and books were the twin bases on which the fabric of the +University reposed, it is plain that a great institution of the sort +would involve the employment of numerous agencies not strictly concerned +with the work of instruction, but engaged upon the not less necessary +functions of maintaining order and ministering to the needs of the body. +All persons so occupied were accounted as "of the privilege of the +University," and were subject to the jurisdiction of the Chancellor. +From an indenture between the University of Oxford and the Town, dated +1459, we find that the Privilege embraced: + +"The Chaunceller, alle doctours, maistres, other graduats, alle +studients, alle scholers, and alle clerkes, dwellyng within the precint +of the Universite, of what condicion, ordre or degree soever they be, +every dailly continuell servant to eny of theym bifore rehersed +belonging, the styward of the Universite wyth their menyall men, also +alle Bedells with their dailly servants and their householdes, all +catours, manciples, spencers, cokes, lavenders, povere children of +scolers or clerkes, within the precinct of the said Universite, also +alle other servants taking clothing or hyre by the yere, half yere, or +quarter of the yere takyng atte leste for the yere vi. shillings and +viij. pence, for the half iii. shillings and iv. pence, and the quarter +xx. pence of any doctour, maister, graduat, scoler or clerc without +fraud or malengyne; also, alle common caryers, bryngers of scolers to +the Universite, or their money, letters, or eny especiall message to eny +scoler or clerk, or fetcher of eny scoler or clerk fro the Universite +for the tyme of such fetchyng or bryngyng or abidyng in the Universite +to that entent." + +Parchment-makers, illuminators, scribes, barbers, and tailors were also, +by convention, members of the Privilege. + +Before going farther, it will be well to inquire what is intended by the +"precinct of the University." There appears to have been some amount of +uncertainty as to the radius included. In 1444 Henry VI. granted +authority to the Chancellor to banish any contumacious person from the +precinct of the University, which was taken to mean a circuit of twelve +miles. On the other hand, on March 17, 1458, David Ap-Thomas swore on +the Holy Gospels that he would keep the peace towards the members of the +University, would inform the authorities of any plot against them which +might come to his knowledge, would not assist in rescuing Richard Lude +from prison, and would leave Oxford on the following day, nor presume to +come within _ten_ miles of the University for twelve weeks. + + +THE BEDELS + +Of all the persons named as of the Privilege the bedels, as the +executive officers, most distinctly represent its character and extent. +The office of bedel was, of course, not confined to the Universities. In +London, for example, the wards had their bedels, who were sworn, _inter +alia_, to suffer no persons of ill repute to dwell in the ward of which +they were bedels, and to return good men upon inquests. They were also +to have a good horn and loud sounding. At Oxford the bedels were bound +to make summonses for scholars at their request, and to arrest +wrong-doers. The latter duty was naturally attended with some peril; and +in 1457, one Richard of the Castle, flying from the hands of Came, +Bedel, with drawn dagger, because he refused to go to prison, was +banished from the University. Fines also were levied by the bedels, and +they played a conspicuous part in the ceremonies of Congregation and +similar assemblies. As the position was liable to abuse, they were bound +by certain restrictions. Thus, they were forbidden to ask or receive +[extraordinary?] fees from inceptors[3] and to carry anything away with +them from the feasts at inceptions. They were required to attend +funerals, but might not ask for a share of the offerings, nor for any +present from the executors of the dead. And they had to give up their +maces at the first congregation after Michaelmas, but were eligible for +reappointment. + +The bedels were of two grades--higher and lower; and the superior bedels +were bound by immemorial usage to provide the inferior bedels with board +and lodging and ten shillings a year for shoes. In 1337 the latter, on +resigning their office in congregation, according to custom, complained +that the superior bedels had neglected to furnish them with board. +Thereupon the University decreed that the inferior bedels should be +granted the option of standing at meals with the superior or receiving a +weekly allowance of sevenpence as compensation. This allowance was to be +suspended during the absence from Oxford of any inferior bedel, whether +occasioned by his own affairs or those of the University. The annual +payment of ten shillings for shoes was confirmed. Failure to observe +these regulations subjected superior bedels to the loss of their office +when the time came for the maces to be resumed. + +The question will naturally arise--From what source, or sources, did the +superior bedels obtain the means not only to provide for their +necessities, but also to feed, house, and, to some extent, clothe their +hungry and dissatisfied dependents? Light is thrown upon this subject +in a way which shows that the superior bedels themselves may not have +been without a grievance. At any rate, about seventy years later--in +1411--an ordinance draws attention to omissions on the part of the +students, evidently inconvenient at the time, in the following words: + +"The charity of students has in these latter days grown cold, so that +they no longer make collections for the Doctors and Masters of their +several faculties, nor _make due presents to the Bedels_; therefore it +is decreed that henceforth all scholars, on receiving notices from a +Doctor, Master, or Bedel of their respective faculties shall pay regular +contributions according to the ancient statutes on pain of losing the +current year of their academical course, and of forfeiting their +privilege; and all principals of halls, at the notice of the Doctors, +Masters, or Bedels, shall within a month from the commencement of such +collection, take care that the members of their societies contribute, +and send in the names of those who fail to do so to the Chancellor under +a penalty of twenty shillings: and every Doctor or Master shall pay the +Bedel honestly within a month from the commencement of the collection." + +From a notice of the year 1432 it transpires that the bedels received +one-twelfth of all fines inflicted for misdemeanours; and, in 1434, +prior to the admission of inceptors, the Chancellor announced that each +inceptor would be required to pay the ordinary fee of thirty shillings +and a pair of buckskin gloves for each bedel, or, in lieu of gloves, +five shillings to be divided among the bedels. Two licentiates protested +against such payment, stating that it was contrary to the statutes, +whereupon an inquiry was held, by which it was established that these +fees had been paid to the bedels from time immemorial and were therefore +due. + +The appointment of the bedels rested with the Regent Masters, and was +one of their most jealously guarded prerogatives. Mention has been made +of John Came, who for many years held the office of bedel. When he was +elected, in 1433, by four Regent Masters and the two Proctors in +congregation, an attempt was made by the Chancellor and the Doctors of +the four faculties to substitute a nominee of their own, one Benedict +Stokes, on the ground that they were the senior members of the +University, and represented a majority of their faculties. Realizing +that the supremacy of the Faculty of Arts was menaced, the Proctors +resisted this claim and demanded the admission of Came, with the result +that the Chancellor reluctantly gave way. An appeal was entered by +Richard Cauntone, a doctor of laws, and the candidate, Benedict Stokes, +but three days later was renounced by both of them as frivolous, and +their cautions were forfeited. Even then the matter did not end. Two +days afterwards, information came to the Proctors that one of the +doctors had given his scholars to understand that the election would +have been invalid but for a vote recorded by a doctor. Thereupon the +Proctors, in order to settle the question once for all, summoned a +congregation, by which it was determined that the phrase "major part" +imported a numerical majority. + +The election of bedels was conducted in the same way as that of the +Chancellor. Every such election was preceded by three proclamations made +within eight "legible" days after the office had become vacant. + +The relations between the University and the Town will be dealt with +presently. Here it may be noticed that the bedels exercised some control +over the proceedings of the townsmen which concerned the interests of +students. As an illustration, when the goods and chattels of Harry Keys, +a scholar, which had been left in the house of Thomas Manciple, were +"presyd" betwixt Thomas Smyth and Davy Dyker, the valuers were sworn +before John Wykam, Bedel. + +If the bedels, as public officials, were necessarily and conspicuously +of the Privilege, the remark is not less true of those humbler +functionaries, the personal attendants of the scholars. As we have seen, +the payment of the bedels depended in part on collections, and the gains +of the scholars' servants were derived from the same source. Every +master was compelled by statute to exact contributions from his scholars +at the end of term at what was called "collection." At the present time +the expression is applied to terminal examinations, and this use of it +originated from the circumstance that fees were paid by the scholars +varying in accordance with the subject of study. For grammar the +statutable amount was eightpence, for natural philosophy fourpence, and +for logic threepence per term, and it was usual to reckon four terms to +the year. To each scholar were allotted two servants--a superior and an +inferior; the former receiving threepence, and the latter one penny per +term. There was no evading these charges; even the poorest student had +to pay "scot and lot" towards the support of both classes of menials, +some of whom were doubtless better off than himself. The division of +these servants into orders, resembling those of the bedels, has +descended to modern days, most Oxford colleges having their upper and +under "scouts." This, it has been well observed, "is a curious instance +of the vitality of insignificant customs, which exist while the greater +give place to new." + +At the commencement of the chapter, a list was furnished of various +occupations--more or less connected with the work of the University--the +professors of which were regarded as of the Privilege. The term +"privilege," in this and similar contexts, denotes administrative +autonomy and special jurisdiction; and members of these trades were +amenable to the Chancellor, while the Chancellor had to answer for their +good behaviour to the King and Parliament. In the Middle Ages the +Chancellor was not, as he is to-day, a permanent and ornamental +figure-head, the duties properly pertaining to the office being +discharged by the Vice-Chancellor. He was the active and dominant +centre of University life, and, as such, took cognizance of numerous +details which would now be deemed too petty, and even ridiculous, for a +personage of his dignity and importance. So great, however, was the +pressure of judicial and other business that it was necessary that he +should be relieved of part of the burden, and thus we often find +commissaries sitting in his room and stead. + + +THE MINISTRY OF TRADE + +The powers of the Chancellor were very considerable. They did not extend +to questions of life or death, but he could fine, he could imprison, he +could banish, and, being an ecclesiastic, he could excommunicate; and +these methods of reproof and coercion were constantly employed by him as +ex-officio justice of the peace and censor of public morals. The +privilege of the University was of a dual nature. It protected the +scholars in any court of first instance but a University court; on the +other hand, the University obtained full control over its scholars, who +were forbidden to enter a secular court. Litigants were allowed to +appeal, and very frequently did appeal, from the Chancellor's decision +to Congregation, and, if they were still not satisfied and the matter +was sufficiently grave, to the Pope--that is, in spiritual causes. In +temporal causes an appeal lay to the higher tribunals of the realm and +the King. The Chancellor, also, might appeal to the King, invoking the +secular arm in cases where the voice of the Church proved ineffectual in +dealing with rebellious subjects, and the letter addressed to the +sovereign for this purpose was called, in technical language, a +_significavit_. + +Sometimes the King, moved perhaps by a petition from his lieges in one +or other of the University towns, admonished the Chancellor to be more +alert in the performance of his duty. In June, 1444, the head of the +University of Oxford was in receipt of the following missive from Henry +VI.: + +"Trusty and welbeloved, we grete you wel, and late you wyte that we have +understanden by credible report of the greet riotts and misgovernance +that have at diverse tymys ensued and contynelly ensue by two circuits +used in oure Universite of Oxon in the vigile of St. John Baptist and +the Holy Apposteles Peter and Paule to the gret hurt and disturbance of +the sad and wol vituled personnes of the same Universite, wherefore We, +wolling such vices and misgovernaunce to be suppressyd and refused in +the said Universite and desiring the ease and tranquillite of the said +peuple in the same, wol and charge you straitly that ye see and ordeyne +by youre discretione that al such vices and misgovernaunce be left and +all such as may be founde defective in that behalve be sharply punished +in example of all other; and more over We charge you oure Chancellor, to +whom the governance and keeping of our paix within oure said Universite +by virtu of our privilege roial is committed that in eschewing of all +inconvenience, ye see and ordeyne that oure paix be surely kepe within +oure Universite above said, as wel in the saide vigiles as at all other +tymes; and for asmuch as We be enformed that the sermons in latin which +ever before this tyme, save now of late, be now gretly discontynued, to +the gret hurt and disworship of the same, We therefore, desiring right +affecturusely the increse of vertu and cunning in oure said Universite, +wol and commande you straitly that ye with ripe and suffisant maturite, +advise a sure remede in that party, by the which such sermons may +thereafter be continued and inviolably observed, wherein ye shal do unto +Us right singulier pleisir.--Geven under oure signet at Farneham the 20 +day of Juyn." + +The reader will no doubt be interested to learn the occasion of this +reprimand. The concluding portion invests it with a somewhat general +character, and may be interpreted as pointing to a lamentable decline +from a previous high standard of piety and learning, which only +incessant preaching was calculated to rectify. Neglecting this +postscript, it is pretty evident that the scandal arising from the +observance of vigils was produced by the inconsiderate carousals of +craftsmen included in the Privilege, and was therefore obnoxious to the +magisterial notice of the Chancellor. It will be sufficient to refer to +the riots on the Eve of St. John Baptist. + +As was the custom in mediaeval towns, different trades had different +stations assigned to them, and the tailors, who must have driven a +flourishing business in caps and gowns, had their shops in the +north-west ward of St. Michael's Parish. In ancient days these +satellites indulged at certain seasons--more particularly on the Eve of +St. John Baptist--in unseemly demonstrations. They waxed very jovial, +and, after eating, drinking, and carousing, "took a circuit" through the +streets of the city, accompanied by sundry musicians, and "using certain +sonnets" in praise of their profession and patron. As long as they kept +within these limits there seems to have been no complaint, but the thing +increased more and more. People were disturbed and alarmed, the watch +beaten, and from blows the outrageous tailors passed to murder. And so +it came about that their revelling, with the "circuit" of another +profession on the Eve of St. Peter and St. Paul, was prohibited first by +Edward III. and then by Henry VI. in the letter above cited. + +Another trade closely associated with the University was that of the +barbers. In the twenty-second year of Edward III. (1348) the whole +company and fellowship of the barbers within the precincts of Oxford +appeared before the Chancellor and announced their intention of "joining +and binding themselves together in amity and love." They brought with +them certain ordinances and statutes drawn up in writing for the weal of +the craft of barbers, and requested the Chancellor to peruse and correct +them, and, afterwards, if he approved, attach to them the seal of the +University. The regulations having been seriously considered by the +Chancellor, the two proctors and certain doctors, it was resolved to +comply with the petition on the day following and constitute the barbers +a society or corporation. + +The first article stipulated that the said craft should, under certain +penalties, keep and maintain a light before the image of our Lady in our +Lady's Chapel, within the precincts of St. Frideswyde's Church; the +second, that no person of the said craft should work on a Sunday, save +on market Sundays and in harvest-time, or shave any but such as were to +preach or do a religious act on Sunday all through the year; while a +third provided that all such as were of the craft were to receive at +least sixpence a quarter from each customer who desired to be shaved +weekly in his chamber or house. One shave per week does not coincide +with our modern notions of what is attractive and presentable in the +outer man, but the same rule prevailed at Cambridge. The statutes of St. +John's College in the latter university affirmed: "A barber is very +necessary to the college, who shall shave and cut once a week the head +and beard of the Master, Fellows, and Scholars, as they shall severally +have need." + +In the statutes of New College, Oxford, there is an injunction against +the mock ceremony of shaving on the night preceding magistration. It is +called a _ludus_ (or play), and is believed to have been affined to the +ecclesiastical mummeries so popular in the Middle Ages, in one of which +the characters were a bishop, an abbot, a preceptor, and a fool shaved +the precentor on a public stage erected at the west end of the church. +There was also a species of masquerade celebrated by the religious in +France, which consisted in the display of the most formidable beards; +and it is recorded by Gregory of Tours that the Abbess of Poitou was +accused of allowing one of these shows, called a _Barbitoria_, to be +held in her monastery. + +The only men of religion permitted to wear long beards were the +Templars; and, speaking generally,[4] the presence or absence of hair +was one of the marks of cleavage between the clergy (_tonsi_) and the +laity (_criniti_). Even those privileged to wear long hair--we refer, of +course, to the male portion of the community--were required to be shorn +so far that part of their ears might appear, and that their eyes might +not be covered. At first it may seem strange that the question of +trimming the hair should come under the cognizance of the Church--the +person himself or his barber might have been deemed at liberty to +consult his own taste. The canon, however, which regulated the usage was +based on the apostolic challenge: "Doth not nature itself teach you +that, if a man hath long hair, it is a shame unto him?" + +This ordinance applied a fortiori to priests, who had to be content with +very little hair. At a visitation of Oriel College by Longland, Bishop +of London, in 1531, he ordered one of the Fellows, who was a priest, to +abstain, under pain of expulsion, from wearing a beard and pinked shoes, +like a laic. It would seem that this spiritual person had been +accustomed to ridicule the Governor and Fellows of the college, since he +was commanded to abjure that bad habit also. + +The correct explanation of the custom condemned by the New College +statutes is doubtless that already furnished. Hearne, however, had an +idea that it was a reflexion on the Lollards. Wiclif is always +represented with a beard, and, as most of his followers were lay-folk, +it was possibly a symbol of the sect, which may have recollected the +text: "Neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard." + +The interest of the University in expert tonsure is now well understood, +but the craving for the subjugation of falsifying hair must have been +quite secondary to that for the sustenance of the bodily powers, and +accordingly the cooks stood very near to the purveyors of intellectual +aliment. Nor did the Chancellor concern himself merely with the +ratification of their ordinances; as the natural sequence, he, or his +deputy, saw to it that they were properly respected, and formed a court +of appeal for the settlement of internecine differences. Thus, on August +19, 1463, two persons, proctors of the craft of cooks of the University +of Oxford, petitioned the Commissary against one of the members who had +declined to contribute to the finding of candles, vulgarly called +"Coke-Lyght," in the church of St. Mary-the-Virgin, and to a certain +accustomed feast on the day of the Cooks' Riding in the month of May. A +day was appointed for investigating the matter, when the defendant did +not appear, but several witnesses were produced to confirm the +plaintiffs' assertions. Robert, the cook of Hampton Hall, deposed that +all the cooks of Colleges and Halls had been used to contribute to the +annual feast; that he had been a cook for six years, and that the cooks +had always nominated two of their number to gather contributions. His +testimony was corroborated by Stephen, the cook of Vine Hall, as also by +Walter, another cook, and John, the cook of "Brasenos." It is worthy of +note that in the record of these proceedings the names are entered as +"Stephanus Coke," "Walterus Coke," and "Johannes Coke," thus throwing +light on the formation of one of our commonest surnames. + +Not only were questions of public policy and "constitutional usage" +determined by the Chancellor's court, but delinquents of all +descriptions were brought up for judgment. Here we shall do well to +remember that this was an ecclesiastical court, and therefore offences +against good morals as well as the law of the land were dealt with. A +person unjustly defamed as guilty of incontinence could clear himself by +a voluntary process of compurgation--that is, by the sworn testimony of +reputable friends. If, unhappily, he was guilty, he might rehabilitate +himself by formally abjuring his indiscretions. Both scholars and others +of the Privilege frequently appeared before the Chancellor in the +character of penitents. In 1443 a certain Christina, laundress of St. +Martin's parish, swore that she would no longer exercise her trade for +any scholar or scholars of the University, because under colour of it +many evils had been perpetrated, wherefore she was imprisoned and freely +abjured the aforesaid evils in the presence of Master Thomas Gascoigne, +S.T.P., the Chancellor. In 1444 Dominus Hugo Sadler, priest, swore on +the Holy Gospels that he would not disturb the peace of the University, +and would abstain from pandering and fornication, on pain of paying five +marks on conviction. In this case four acted as sureties, singly and +jointly. In 1452 Robert Smyth, _alias_ Harpmaker, suspected of adultery +with Joan Fitz-John, tapestry-maker, dwelling in the corner house on the +east side of Cat-strete, abjured the society of the same Joan, and swore +that he would not come into any place where she was, whether in the +public street, market, church, or chapel, on pain of paying forty +shillings to the University. On August 22, 1450, Thomas Blake, +_peliparius_, William Whyte, barber, John Karyn, _chirothecarius_, +"husbundemen" (householders), presented themselves before the +Chancellor, and, touching the Holy Gospels, abjured the game of tennis +within Oxford and its precinct. + +At this point it will be convenient to refer to a custom not by any +means confined to the Universities, about which there appears to be some +degree of misconception. "Love-days," as they are called, have been +strangely confused with _law_-days, whereas the very essence of the +institution was the avoidance of litigation with all its expense and +ill-feeling. The practice of submitting disputes to friendly arbitration +was seemingly founded on the text: "Dare any of you having a matter +against another go to law before the unbelievers and not before the +saints?" In these circumstances it is not surprising that the clergy +bore a great part in such proceedings; and thus we find Chaucer +avouching of his Frere: + + In love-dayes ther coude he mochel helpe, + For ther he was nat lyk a cloisterer, + With a thredbare cope, as is a poore scoler, + But he was lyk a maister or a pope. + +The University, being a microcosm of the entire kingdom, an _imperium in +imperio_, by virtue of the "privilege roiall," cases occur in which +deplorable misunderstandings were referred to the decision of one or +more graduates of position--either in the first instance, or, it might +be, ultimately, to the Chancellor or Commissary--by persons subject to +academic tutelage. When the affair had been adjudicated, forms of +reconciliation were prescribed, the parties being required to shake +hands, go on their knees to one another, give each other the "kiss of +peace," and provide a feast at their mutual expense, the menu of which +was sometimes determined by the arbiter. + +This interesting and admirable feature of old English life receives such +copious illustration from the annals of Oxford that it seems worth while +to specify examples. Thus, on November 8, 1445, a dispute between John +Godsond, stationer, and John Coneley, "lymner," having been referred to +two Masters of Arts and they having failed to compose it within the time +stipulated, the Chancellor intervened and decided that John Coneley +should work for John Godsond for one year only; that his wages should be +four marks, ten shillings; that he should himself fetch his work and +return it to his employer's abode; that he should be thrifty in the use +of his colours; and that his employer should have free ingress to the +place where he sat at work. On July 7, 1446, four arbitrators, having in +hand a quarrel between Broadgates and Pauline Halls, imposed the +following conditions: That the Principals should implore reconciliation +from each other for themselves and their parties; that they should give, +either to other, the kiss of peace, and swear upon the Holy Gospels to +have brotherly love toward each other for the future, and bind +themselves to its observance under a bond to pay one hundred shillings +for the violation thereof. The bond was to be in the keeping of the +Chancellor, and he was to deliver it, should hostilities be renewed, +into the hands of the aggrieved party. David Philip, alleged to have +struck John Coneley, was commanded to kneel to him, and ask and receive +his pardon. It is worthy of remark that the invariable phrase applied to +past quarrels is "ab origine mundi," which left no loophole for the +revival of ancestral feuds, however remote in point of time. + +On July 21, 1452, Master Robert Mason, having delivered judgment in the +case of Thomas Condale, a servant of New College, and John Morys, +tailor, required both parties, as a pledge of goodwill, to invite their +neighbours to an entertainment, and provide at their joint charges two +gallons of good ale. + +On January 10, 1465, Thomas Chaundler, S.T.P., Commissary-General of the +University of Oxford, having been chosen as arbitrator between the +worshipful Sir Thomas Lancester, Canon-regular and prior of the same +order of students, and Simon Marshall, on the one part, and John Merton, +pedagogue, and his wife, on the other, decreed that none of them should +abuse, threaten, or make faces at each other, and that they should +forgive all past offences. None of them was to institute further +proceedings, judicial or extra-judicial, and within fifteen days of the +date thereof they were to furnish an entertainment at their joint +charges--one party to furnish a goose with a measure of wine, and the +other bread and beer. + +Finally, on February 6, 1465, Dr. John Caldbeke, arbiter between certain +members of "White Hall" and "Deep Hall," ordered the parties to pardon +each other and commence no ulterior proceedings. He imposed perpetual +silence on them, and as to a certain desk, the _causa teterrima belli_, +reserved the decision to the Chancellor. The disputants, accompanied by +four members of each hall, were to meet at a time and place to be named, +wine was to be provided for their mutual entertainment, and, before +parting, they were to shake hands. + +The question has been deferred too long--Against whom did the University +maintain its privilege? In part, no doubt, against the King's officers, +but, mainly, against the Mayor and Burgesses of Oxford, between whom and +the scholars there was a simmering hostility bursting into periodical +melees answering to, but infinitely more sanguinary than, the "town and +gown rows" of more recent days. The general result of these +disturbances, assumed to be acts of aggression on the part of the +citizens, but more probably provoked by the insolence of the +undergraduate portion of the University, of which there is abundant +evidence, was to fortify the authority of the Chancellor and extend his +powers. We have seen that the townsmen, at an early period, were mulcted +in an annual tribute, of which they were afterwards relieved, for +hanging certain clerks. This might have served as a sufficient warning +of the inviolability of the erudite persons in their midst, but it +failed of effect. Altogether there were three capital riots in the later +Middle Ages, which we shall proceed to notice, together with the +consequences. + +Of these three great conflicts between townsmen and scholars the first +occurred in 1214. This was ended by a compromise brought about by the +Bishop of Tusculum, the Papal Legate, the King granting jurisdiction to +the University in all cases where one of the parties was a scholar or a +scholar's servant. The second tumult, which took place in 1290, induced +the King to confer upon the University the custody of the peace, the +custody of the assize of victuals, and the supervision of weights and +measures jointly with the Mayor, who had hitherto borne full sway in +matters of police. The third battle was in 1357. This was the famous +riot of St. Scholastica's day--_satis periculosa_--which resulted in +the excommunication of the Mayor, while he and the commonalty of the +town of Oxford were laid under an interdict by John, Bishop of Lincoln. +The Mayor, who was a vintner and drawn into the quarrel through it +having arisen in his tavern, is stated in one account to have been +originally in the service of the University--protected by the +Privilege--and this, of course, was regarded as an aggravation of his +offence. The end of it was that the rights before mentioned were +confirmed with certain extensions--namely, the supervision of the +pavement, and the custody of the peace as well between laics as +scholars, while the Mayor was excluded from the custody of the peace +between scholars. + +As a species of penance the Mayor and his fellows were enjoined by the +Bishop of Lincoln to attend an anniversary mass at St. Mary's on St. +Scholastica's Day; and the scholars were forbidden, on pain of a long +term of imprisonment, to inflict on any layman of the town, whilst on +his way to the church, during the celebration of the mass, or in the +course of his return, any injury or violence, lest he should be deterred +from the observance of the duty. This caution was proclaimed through the +schools year by year on the "legible day" immediately preceding the +festival. Good relations were hard to restore, and as long after as 1432 +the authorities were reduced to publishing the following edict in the +hope of abating the scandal: + +"Whereas there are no more suitable means of allaying the lamentable +dissensions between the University and the Town, which are a sign of the +wrath of the Almighty, than the devout supplications of priests walking +in procession, therefore this ordinance is made for the regulation of +such processions. First shall walk the Chancellor, after him the Doctors +by two and two, in the rank of their several faculties, then Masters of +Arts, then Bachelors in Theology, then Non-Regents, then beneficed +Bachelors, then all other Bachelors, then secular priests non-graduates, +then scholars, all by two and two, and all silently praying for the +King and other benefactors living and dead, and for the peace and +prosperity of the University. Priests non-graduates shall be bound to +attend on pain of a fine of sixpence, but no licentiates of any faculty +soever may in any wise be present at the act." + +It would not be fair to conclude this account without giving the +townsmen's version of the way in which the Privilege was exercised. This +can be conveniently presented in the terms of two petitions, one of +which certainly, and the other probably, dates from the second year of +Edward III. (1328). If there be any truth in the allegations, it must be +owned that the Chancellor abused his judicial position to a degree quite +intolerable to the victims. + + +I + +"To the King and Council; the Burgesses of Oxford complain, whereas the +Chancellor and University of Oxford have cognizance of contracts, +covenants, and trespass between clerk and clerk, or clerk and lay, they +encroach on the franchise of the town, and draw to them these contracts, +etc., between laymen, especially in certain gifts and actions brought +before the Chancellor, wherein a clerk has some concern, who, by covine, +are made to incur large sums which were not due, and thus the defendants +are condemned and afterwards excommunicated in all the churches of the +town, unless they agree thereto; and if they are not absolved of the +sentence before the Chancellor, they are despoiled even to their +breeches, and must give all their goods to the clerk. In the same way a +plea of trespass in which there has been a cession to a clerk is made to +terminate in a plea of debt, and thus charges of rent upon free +tenements are proved, against law and in great burden to the tenements +of the town. Thus the Chancellor encroaches on the franchises of the +town, to the damage of the King's profits on writs and issues on pleas +of debts, &c., pleadable before the Justices, or before the Mayor and +bailiffs of the town. And with such proceedings taken before the +Chancellor concerning merchants and other strangers passing through, as +well as residents, the merchants will not repair thither on account of +such evil doings, and the town is thereby greatly impoverished." + + +II + +"To the King and Council: Walter de Harewell, burgess and inheritor in +Oxford, showing that whereas the Chancellor of the University has +cognizance of offences and contracts between clerk and clerk, and clerk +and lay, in the town, but nowhere else, one William de Wyneye, clerk, +impleaded him before the Chancellor for offences done out of his +jurisdiction in a foreign county; the said Walter justified himself +before the Chancellor, but the said Chancellor, notwithstanding, +condemned him to prison and kept him in prison in Oxford till he +contented the said William with a large sum of money, and made an +obligation of L20 to be at the will of the said University, and still he +had to find mainprise before he could be set free. And because when he +was taken and led to prison by the bedels of the University, he entered +his house and shut his coffers and chests and the door of his room for +the safety of his goods and chattels, the said Chancellor banished him +out of the town, and had it proclaimed everywhere, as though he were an +outlaw, and sequestered all his goods and chattels, threatening if he +entered the town to imprison him again for six days. No one ever had +such franchise or power thus to outlaw, destroy, and banish the King's +burgesses in the said town. Prays a remedy for charity."[5] + +Owing perhaps to their peculiar position as the King's chattels, neither +the chartered rights of the citizens nor the Privilege of the University +could be directly asserted against the Jews, of whom a considerable body +appears to have been settled at Oxford, but the unbelievers were not +allowed to do as they pleased. A critical instance occurred at +Ascensiontide, 1268, in connexion with a solemn procession to St. +Frideswyde's, when certain horrible Jews, _demoniaco spiritu arrepti_, +seized a cross from the bearer, broke it, and trampled it under foot. +Complaint was made to the King, who happened to be at Woodstock, and he +issued an order for the making of two crosses at the expense of the +Jews, one of which was to be of silver gilt and portable, and the other +of marble and stationary. These were to be preserved for the perpetual +remembrance of the outrage; and the silver cross was presented to the +Chancellor, masters, and scholars, to be borne before them in their +solemn procession. An ordinance states that "since the relics of the +Blessed Frideswyde repose in the borough of Oxford, and more especially +ought to be deservedly honoured as well by the University as by others, +particularly by all who dwell in the aforesaid town, that the said +University may obtain, through the intervenient merits and prayers of +the same, more abundant tranquillity and peace for the future, a solemn +procession be made in the middle, to wit, Lent term, to the church of +the same virgin, for the peace and tranquillity of the University, and +that solemn mass be held there in respect of the above-said virgin." + + + + +ACADEMIC + +CHAPTER IX + +THE "STUDIUM GENERALE" + + +We have expounded with some particularity the conditions of University +life; we have now to deal with University life in its more intimate +relations. And first we must say something of the title, the Latinity of +which is not above suspicion, though its convenience and expressiveness +are beyond question. The term _studium generale_ was applied, in +mediaeval times, to an academy in which instruction was imparted on all +subjects, and which was thus differentiated from grammar schools and +schools of divinity, in the former of which the curriculum was +restricted to Latin, and in the latter to theology. The phrase connoted +also a place of common resort, as distinct from mere local foundations, +the advantages of which were confined to the immediate neighbourhood. +According to Mr. Froude, no fewer than thirty thousand students +"gathered out of Europe to Paris to listen to Abelard"; and the +traditions of Oxford and Cambridge were equally hospitable. + + +THE "NATIONS" + +Before discussing the system of degrees, it is desirable to speak of the +"men"--the candidates for graduation; and, in this connexion, stress +must be laid on the cosmopolitan character of our older universities, +which welcomed with open arms students of various races and of all ranks +of society. The Oxford statutes contain a provision for the +proclamations being made in Latin, that language being, as it is stated, +intelligible to the different nations represented by the scholars. In +addition to the native youth, Welshmen, Irishmen, and Scots were +accustomed to repair to the banks of the Isis and the Cam, and the two +former of these classes--at any rate at their first coming--might have +been totally ignorant of English. + +The reader will hardly fail to have been struck with the occurrence of +Welsh names in the foregoing pages; and the records of judicial +proceedings mention the case of a Cambrian scholar, who stole a horse +from the stable of an Oxford inn and decamped with it, in the company of +several compatriots, to the Welsh mountains, in consequence of which the +unhappy innkeeper had to defend a suit brought against him by the +horse's owner! Notices of the Irish and the Scots are no less +characteristic of their imputed traits. Of the presence of the former +there is interesting testimony in petitions to the Crown on the part of +scandalized townsmen, in one of which they set forth that "there have +been murders, felonies, robberies, and riots, &c., lately committed in +the counties of Oxford, Berks, Wilts, and Bucks, by persons coming to +the town under the jurisdiction of the University, some of whom are the +King's lieges born in Ireland and the others his enemies called 'Wylde +Irisshmen'; and that these misdeeds continue daily to the scandal of the +University and the ruin of the country round about; the malefactors +threaten the King's officers and the bailiffs of the town, so that these +last, for fear of death, dare not do their duty and collect the +fee-farm, &c. Pray therefore that all Irish be turned out of the realm +between Christmas and Candlemas next, except graduates in the schools, +beneficed clergy in England, those who have English father or mother, or +English husband or wife, and many other exceptions, persons of good +repute. And that graduates and beneficed men find surety for their good +behaviour." + +The Scots were cordially hated. Tryvytlam's poem "De Laude Oxoniae" has +the following stanzas, which, in the opinion of some, may be still +apposite to the circumstances of University and national life: + + Iam loco tercio procedit acrius + Armata bestia duobus cornibus. + Hanc Owtrede reputo, qui totis viribus + Verbis et opere insultat fratribus. + Hic Scottus genere perturbat Anglicos, + Auferre nititur viros intraneos. + Sic, sic, Oxonia, sic contra filios + Armas et promoves hostes et exteros. + +By "Owtrede" is intended Uthred de Bolton, a celebrated English +Benedictine, whose cognomen was probably derived from the manor of +Bolton in Northumberland. It was a risky thing to hail from the border, +as another instance is recorded in which a North-countryman found it +necessary to purge himself of the imputation of being a Scot--one of the +King's enemies. + +The amazing part of the matter is that national distinctions and +prejudices did not, as far as the British Isles were concerned, end +here. In point of fact, when the word "nations" occurs in this +connexion, the allusion is generally not so much to genuine differences +of descent, government, customs, and language, as to an artificial +separation of the inhabitants of England into North and South +countrymen. The authorities deplored this division into Boreals and +Australs--"diverse nations, which, in truth, be not diverse"--but they +could not ignore it, and thus it became the established rule that of the +two proctors--officials supremely responsible for the peace--one should +be of the North and the other of the South. As we have seen, a similar +practice obtained with regard to the University chests. Just as, at the +present time, Welshmen and Scotsmen gravitate towards particular +colleges, so in the early days "nations" seem to have favoured certain +halls, and as few of the latter were provided with chapels, they appear +also to have fixed upon certain churches for the purpose of devotion of +partisan display. Accordingly, about the year 1250, the following edict +was fulminated with a view to checking the exuberance of the "national" +spirit in sacred buildings: + +"By the authority of the Lord the Chancellor and the Masters Regent, +with the unanimous consent of the Non-Regent, it is decreed and resolved +that no festival of any nation soever be celebrated henceforth in any +church soever with the accustomed solemnity and calling together of +Masters and Scholars or other acquaintances, save in so far as any may +desire to celebrate the festival of any saint of his own diocese with +devotion in his own parish, where he lives, but not calling the Masters +and Scholars of a second parish or his own, as also is not done at the +festivals of St. Katherine, St. Nicholas, and the like. This also, +decreed by the authority of the same Chancellor, we enjoin to be +observed, on pain of the greater excommunication, that none lead dances +with masks or any noise in churches or streets, or go anywhere wreathed +or crowned with a crown composed of the leaves of trees, or flowers, or +what not: on pain of excommunication, which we inflict from now, and of +long imprisonment do we forbid it." + +In 1252 a great disturbance arose between the Northern and Irish +scholars, and it was resolved that twelve persons should be chosen on +either side to draw up conditions of peace. These were that thirty or +forty of each party should bind themselves not to disturb the peace of +the University themselves nor comfort others in doing so, and they were +to give secret information to the Chancellor if they should hear of any +other person transgressing. If anyone was injured, he was to appear +before the Chancellor; and if the Chancellor was suspected of +partiality, there were to be associated with him two assessors from +either side. + +In 1313 a statute was issued that no one was to stir up any nation on +account of some personal injury by conspiracies, leagues, or meetings in +public or private with the name or title of nation; and that when the +Chancellor or his Commissary inquired concerning a breach of the peace, +none was to appear with other than the witnesses needful to him; nor was +any Master or other to thrust himself in, coming with a party or sitting +beside the Chancellor or his Commissary, save such as the Chancellor +should hold it right to summon forth, if at any time it seemed to him +fit. Seeing that the names of delinquents could be better learned +through the Principals of Houses, who moved continually among their +associates, it was determined that every Principal, resident or acting, +as well of Halls as of Chambers, should, at the beginning of every year, +within fifteen days or sooner, as should seem fit to the Chancellor and +Proctors, come and make corporal oath, that if they knew of any of their +society holding such assemblies, or consenting with those who held them, +or commonly and often naming different nations with evil zeal, or +disturbing the peace of the University, or practising the art of +bucklery, or keeping a whore in his house, or bearing arms or in any way +promoting discord between Northerns and Southerns, he should within +three days inform the Chancellor or one of the Proctors, and all such +disturbers of the peace were to be punished with imprisonment. This oath +the servants were bound to take at the same time; and the Chancellor and +Proctors, as touching their part, acknowledged themselves to be equally +bound by virtue of the statute. + +In order that such distinction of nations might henceforth be detestable +and hateful to all, it was resolved that the following clause should be +added to the oath of every incepting Master with respect to the +observance of peace. + +"_Item_, Master, especially shall you swear that you will not hinder, as +between Australs and Boreals, peace, concord, and affection; and if +there shall have arisen any dissension between them, as between diverse +nations, which in truth be not diverse, you will not foment or kindle it +to the utmost, nor must you be present at assemblies, nor tacitly or +expressly consent to them, but rather hinder them in such ways as you +shall be able." + +By the same statute the University was bound to intimate to the diocesan +the names of all persons, whether Masters or others, who should disturb +the peace of the University, and particularly as between the Northern +and Southern students. + +In 1428 fresh legislation was found to be necessary, and took the +following form: + +"Whereas there is no better way of punishing the disturbers of the peace +than by a pecuniary fine, which in these days is more dreaded than +anything else, therefore the following graduated scale of fines is put +forth by the University. For threats and personal violence, twelve +pence; for carrying of weapons, two shillings; for pushing with the +shoulder or striking with the fist, four shillings; for striking with a +stone or club, six shillings and eightpence; for striking with a knife, +dagger, sword, axe, or other weapon of war, ten shillings; for carrying +of bows and arrows, twenty shillings; for gathering of armed men and +conspiring to hinder the execution of justice, thirty shillings; for +resisting the execution of justice, or going about by night, forty +shillings. And no Master or scholar shall take part with any other +because he is of the same country, nor against him because he is of a +different country; and if he be convicted of doing so, he shall incur an +additional penalty graduated according to his pecuniary circumstances." + +That the scholars indulged freely in the pleasant custom of hunting may, +after this, be almost taken for granted. In a petition of the year 1421 +complaint was made against them that they hunted with dogs and harriers +in divers warrens, coningries, parks, and forests in the counties of +Oxford, Berks, and Bucks, night and day, taking deer, hares, and +rabbits, and menacing the wardens and keepers. Sometimes they contrived +to combine their love of hunting with their love of street-fighting, as +on the memorable occasion in Queen Elizabeth's reign, when the Magdalen +men went deer-stealing in Shotover Forest, and one of them was sent to +prison by Lord Norris, the Lord Lieutenant of the county. In revenge, +the next time my Lord came to Oxford they set upon him at the Bear Inn, +and, in the skirmish, several of the scholars were hurt, and "Binks," +his lordship's keeper, sustained a severe wound. The Vice-Chancellor, +intervening at this juncture, ordered the scholars to be confined to the +college, while Lord Norris was requested to quit the University. +Thereupon the former "went up to the top of their tower, and waiting +till he should pass by towards Ricot, sent down a shower of stones they +had picked up upon him and his retinue, wounding some and endangering +others of their lives. It is said that upon the foresight of this storm +divers had got boards, others tables on their heads to keep them from +it, and that if the Lord had not been in his coach or chariot, he would +certainly have been killed." In the sequel, the culprits were banished, +and the Lord Lieutenant placated, albeit "with much ado by the sages of +the University." + +How on earth serious study could be pursued amidst these perpetual +broils, to the engendering of which so many prejudices contributed, +would be an insoluble mystery but for the probability, suggested by +experience of University life in our own day, that the disturbances were +confined, in the main, to the wilder spirits, though it may well be that +occasionally peaceable persons were sucked into the vortex by the +accident of their being abroad at the time, and on the scene of the +affray, where their pacific character would receive scant consideration +from the angry combatants. Esprit de corps also was a powerful incentive +to action, and one from which even Masters were not exempt. To this must +be added that the course of study itself seemed expressly devised to +foster the belligerent temper. The air was laden with the breath of +strife, as the Cambridge term "wrangler," which has survived to our day, +plainly testifies. + +THE HIGHWAY OF LEARNING + +Let us follow the "poor boy," a technical expression at Oxford, through +the stages of his academic career in that University. At the outset two +courses were open to his parents or guardians: either he might be sent +to a religious foundation like Durham College, where he would be under +no obligation to take vows, but an oath would be required of him to +honour the monks and assist the electing Church, to whatever station of +life it might please God to call him. Or, as was infinitely more usual, +he might be settled in a secular school of grammar in charge of a +recognized master. + +Before the rise of colleges, the vast majority of scholars resided in +halls, some of which were kept by laymen. In 1421 the King, incensed at +the constant breaches of the peace, commanded that all scholars and +their servants should be under the governance of some sufficient +principal approved by the Chancellor and Proctors, and should not be +suffered to abide in laymen's houses. In 1432 a statute set forth that, +whereas the principals of halls, fearing to lose their profits, did not +punish the members of their societies, still less did they dismiss them, +when it was their duty to do so; nay, even provoked disturbances--the +consequence, it was believed, of illiterate persons and non-graduates +keeping halls--it was ordained that henceforth all principals and their +deputies must be graduates. In the preamble of another statute of the +same date it was complained that grave crimes were committed by +so-called scholars, who, _nefando nomine_ "chamberdekenys," lived in no +hall, but slept away their days, and passed their nights in riot and +debauchery, crime and violence. This irregularity it was found difficult +to suppress, for on May 13, 1447, two persons feigning to be scholars +and guilty of violence, having been summoned according to law throughout +the schools and not appearing, were banished. The form of banishment was +as follows: "_A_, _B_, _C_, _D_, frequently convicted of a monstrous +disturbance of the peace, and, according to the manners and forms +accustomed to be observed in this University, duly cited, publicly +cried, lawfully awaited, and in no wise appearing, but contumaciously +refusing to obey the law, alike on account of their contumacies and +offences we do ban from this University, and from neighbouring places, +admonishing firstly, secondly, and thirdly, peremptorily, that none do +receive, cherish, or protect the aforesaid _A_, _B_, _C_, _D_, on pain +of imprisonment and the greater excommunication to be fulminated not +unjustly against all who contravene." + +Matriculation involved nothing more than an oath to keep the peace, +which oath had to be taken also by the servant of the scholar, supposing +him to have one. If the scholar chose a non-graduate teacher, he was +compelled to enter his name in the books of some master of arts, and +neglect to fulfil this requirement subjected the delinquent to the loss +of the protection and privileges of the University _tam morte quam in +vita_. At the commencement of every term as well as at the end, and at +other times, when need was, the grammar masters held a _convenite_ for +the purpose of arranging the course of study. Each of them had to obtain +a licence, and, as a test of his qualifications, he submitted to an +examination in versification, dictation, and so forth, lest, as the +statute quaintly expresses it, the language of Isaiah should be +verified--_Multiplicasti gentem, non auxisti laetitiam_. + +The masters were charged with the training of their scholars in religion +and morals--an onerous duty in too many cases imperfectly performed. +This is shown not only by the lawlessness prevalent in the University, +but by the low views and low practices that characterized methods of +instruction in secular subjects. The term "lecture," as commonly +understood in the Middle Ages, implied or included a catechetical system +of teaching, in which the master asked and the scholar answered a series +of questions. This laborious but effective mode of ascertaining and +accelerating progress in knowledge was left irksome by both parties, and +"ordinary" lectures--or, as we should term them, lessons--were +threatened with supersession by a seductive invention known as "cursory" +lectures. These appear to have been neither more nor less than lectures +in the modern sense. The master delivered his discourse, and the scholar +was left to gather from it what degree of enlightenment he could or +would. The statute referring to the subject taxes teachers with +favouring scholars in this way, for the "hope of gain," which points to +corrupt dealing between them. In both its moral and intellectual aspects +the practice met with scant countenance from the authorities, and, save +in special cases, any master indulging in it was liable to be punished +with deprivation and imprisonment for so long a period as the +Chancellor, in his discretion, deemed fit. One learns from an undated +statute, which, however, is probably of the thirteenth century, that +grammar scholars were expected to construe in both English and French, +the object being that the latter language might not be utterly +forgotten. When we recall that our ancient pleadings were in +Norman-French, and that a sensible proportion of the students embraced +that most conservative of professions, the law, the wisdom of this +course is at once evident. + +The grammar schools may be regarded as the nursery of the University, +but not a few of the scholars, educated in monastic and other local +schools, arrived with a knowledge of Latin sufficient to dispense them +from preliminary instruction in that language, for that is what is meant +by "grammar." It is not perhaps quite clear whether a schoolmaster's +house ranked as a hall, but, as soon as a scholar was equipped with an +adequate stock of Latin to enter upon his Artist's career, he would +naturally move to one of the halls tenanted by his equals in learning, +thus making room for another and younger person more strictly _in statu +pupillari_. The age at which students began their academic course in +earnest averaged from twelve to fifteen--needless to say, much earlier +than at present. They were required to devote four years to qualifying +for the degree of bachelor; and during the former part of this period +they went by the curious name of "general sophist." This, the initial, +stage of University existence was terminated by an examination, then and +still called Responsions, which might not be taken in less than a year, +after which the student became known as a "questionist." The occasion of +responding was a high day with scholars, and celebrated with such +extravagant feasts that we find the Chancellor intervening to limit the +expense attending them to sixteen pence. The meaning of the term +"Responsions" is explained by the formula of the testamur: _Quaestionibus +magistrorum scholarum in Parviso respondit_. The parvise, or porch, may +have been symbolical of the initial stage--the early provisions of our +universities are full of symbolism. By way of preparation for his +examination the sophist was required to be diligent in attending +disputations in the parvise, and when he presented himself for his own +ordeal he had to make oath that these exercises had been duly performed. + +The third stage was reached when the "questionist," as he was now, stood +for his bachelor's degree. This was known as Determination, because the +candidate had to determine questions in which his recent acquisitions in +logic should have enabled him to appear to advantage. According to the +rule, this function took place either on Ash Wednesday or on some day +between Ash Wednesday and the following Tuesday. However important +Responsions may have been in the eyes of the youthful student, they +paled before the elaborate ceremonies of Determination. In all the +two-and-thirty schools of School-street sat the Masters Regent in full +academical attire, their desks before them, it having been enacted that +the exercises should be carried out in the schools, not in private +dwellings or in churches. The statutes forbade unfairness in proposing +questions or in the manner of examining, but the candidate was, to some +extent, forearmed in this matter, since he might, apparently, select +his own judge. As a good audience was considered a primary necessity by +the masters, in order that their talents might obtain the widest +possible recognition, well-wishers seem to have gone so far as to drag +into the schools reluctant passers-by--a nuisance of such frequent +occurrence that it was forbidden by statute. An attempt was made also to +prevent fees or robes being given to the masters, but the statute +doubtless proved inoperative, and was afterwards repealed. Another +custom, which the authorities vainly prohibited, and was plainly +incongruous at the season of Lent, was the holding of feasts by +bachelors on admission. + +Before a scholar was permitted to determine, six masters at least had to +testify on oath in congregation regarding his fitness in knowledge, +morals, age, stature, and personal appearance. They were bound to +secrecy as to the nature of their testimony, the sufficiency of which +was decided by four Regent Masters of Arts, two of the North and two of +the South, eight days before Ash Wednesday. On the following Sunday, +Monday, or Tuesday masters and scholars appeared before the four members +of the Committee; and if the testimony had been satisfactory the +scholars made oath that they had completed the necessary studies, and +were "admitted" to determine. Determination itself was largely a show, +and had nothing to do with the attainment of the degree, of which it was +rather the outward and visible sign. If the student failed to acquit +himself with distinction, the only penalty to which he exposed himself +was the censure or ridicule of friends and foes. Discomfiture was +extremely probable, as the affair was intellectual game, in which either +the master laid himself out to pose the scholar, or a brace of scholars +argued (or, as the phrase then ran, "disputed") by turns, under the +supervision and correction of the master. + +In conformity with modern usage, we have spoken of the status of +Bachelor as a degree, but originally it is doubtful if the description +would have been deemed accurate. Like the Master, the Bachelor might be +a teacher, but his lectures were, for the most part, of an +"extraordinary" or "supernumerary" character, and not allowed to compete +with the "ordinary" lectures of the Master or Doctor. The number of +bachelors so privileged--instances even occur of such half-finished +clerks officiating as Principals of Halls--was probably very small, and +much would have depended on age. As a rule, bachelors went on with their +studies as before, attending the lectures of others, until three more +years had elapsed, when they became eligible for Inception. At first it +seems as if the terms "Determination" and "Inception" had somehow got +transposed. In reality the latter word contemplates a state or condition +which was only possible or usual when the scholar, having accomplished +the full course of study, finally and definitely assumed the rights and +duties of Master. + +The fundamental distinction underlying all academic order was that of +teacher and pupil. The licentiate, it is true, may be regarded as a +hybrid, and the Doctor as an overgrown master--a master and something +more; but the existence of these classes only obscures what was, +nevertheless, the vital and essential principle on which University +discipline was organized. + +We have heard of licentiates once before--as excluded from University +processions. This clearly implies no small amount of prejudice against +them, but ere an attempt can be made to account for it, we must +understand what, exactly, a licentiate was. A licentiate, then, was a +bachelor who had attended lectures for some time, had given lectures, +and had been privately examined by members of his faculty. Having been +presented by one of them, he had obtained from the Chancellor licence to +perform certain exercises before the _conventus_, or meeting of the +faculty, by which the degree was finally bestowed. The Chancellor's +licence authorized the candidate to incept, to read (lecture), to +dispute, and to do all that belonged to the rank of master as soon as +he had taken the necessary steps for the purpose. The licentiate +lectured in the schools, precisely like the master, for whom indeed he +acted. The fee for the licence was one commons, which may represent a +shilling--in any case, it was trivial. The cost of Inception, on the +other hand, was very great on account of the feasts, etc., which +accompanied it; and as the licentiate already enjoyed some of the +privileges of the master, there was an evident temptation to put off the +evil day. Security was therefore demanded from the licentiate that he +would incept within a year; and, if he omitted to do so, he was fined. +Nevertheless, students often remained in this category--neither fish nor +fowl--beyond the allotted term, in fact, for years; and they probably +furnished a considerable quota of the vagabond scholars, whose exactions +have been recorded, and who certainly did not consist wholly and solely +of "poor boys." One of the Cambridge statutes deals expressly with this +baneful _materia vagandi_. These two reasons together fully explain the +disfavour with which licentiates were regarded, and which ultimately led +to the abolition of the status. At Cambridge it had ceased before Bedel +Stokys' time (1574), for, when he wrote, the licence was given by the +Proctors at the vespers, or exercises, on the day preceding Inception. + +We come now to Inception, or the degree of Master of Arts. The candidate +was first presented to the Chancellor and Proctors by his master, who +was called upon to make oath that he believed his pupil to be qualified +for admission by his morals and learning. This testimony, however, was +not enough. No fewer than fourteen masters had to depose, nine that they +knew, and five that they believed the candidate to be fit. He was then +presented to the Chancellor and Proctors in congregation, and, with hand +laid upon the Bible, swore, in a kneeling posture, that he would keep +the statutes, would actually incept--we shall see what this means +presently--within a year, that he would not spend more at his inception +than the sum allowed, that he would neither lecture nor hear lectures at +Stamford[6]--_nefandum et detestabile nomen_--and that he would handle +the books of the library with becoming care. Having assented to these +and other conditions, he received the Chancellor's licence. + +It is to be noted that the Chancellor merely _admitted_; he did not +_create_. This was, and at Cambridge still is, the work of the +faculty--the Proctors, as representative of the Arts, or the several +"fathers" in the three superior faculties, for whom the Regius +Professors are now substituted, in the junior University. At Oxford, +since the promulgation of the Laudian statutes, the duty has been +discharged by the Vice-Chancellor. In the faculty of Grammar--the +Cinderella of the faculties, which apparently did not of necessity +involve any previous academical training--the Master was presented with +a palmer and a rod. In Arts a cap was placed on his head, and in the +higher faculties the Master or Doctor was installed in a chair and +received the hat, together with the book, the ring, and the kiss of +peace--the three last, perhaps, in theology alone. + +Inception properly signified the commencement of an active career as a +teacher; and thus the new master would have taken precautions to secure +a school as well as the articles of attire appertaining to his degree, +including "pynsons," a kind of boot or shoe. He was also obliged to +visit all the schools, invite the masters to be present on the day of +inception, and provide them, one and all, with a suit of clothes. This +was such a serious incubus that statutes were passed limiting such +perquisites to kinsmen or members of the same hall; and it probably +explains the custom of incepting for others--the rich acting for the +poor. From every inceptor the bedels were entitled to a gratuity of +twenty shillings and a pair of buckskin gloves, or an equivalent sum of +money; and inceptors whose income amounted to forty pounds a year were +compelled to feast all the Regent Masters or forfeit twenty marks to the +University. The main distinction between Regent and Non-Regent Masters +seems to have been that the former were perforce teachers, in which +condition they were obliged to remain during the remainder of the year +in which they incepted and for a twelvemonth afterwards. In the case of +the Non-Regents, who had exceeded this period of probation, lecturing +appears to have been optional. The Regent Master was required to devote +forty days of his novitiate to disputation. + +Inception feasts were apt to degenerate into occasions of riot, and in +1432 the following statute was passed with a view to regulating them: + +"Whereas at the feasts held at graduations there occur such disorderly +scenes and violence that more annoyance and disgrace than pleasure is +caused to the host himself and all his guests, the University, for the +prevention of such disorders for the future, hereby orders that no one +shall stop the ingress and egress of any master or his servants to or +from the hall or tent or other place where the feast is being held; and +that no one, except the servants of the University, or of the host, +shall enter the said hall, until after the masters, who have been +invited, have entered with their servants; and after they have sat down, +no one shall sit down, except by the appointment of the Chancellor and +in proper order according to rank; and no one shall beat the doors, +tables, or roof, or throw stones or other missiles so as to disturb the +guests, on pain of imprisonment, excommunication, and a fine of twelve +pence." + +As these convivialities were so unpleasant, and even dangerous, it may +seem that it would have been the obvious course to prohibit them +altogether, as in the case of determining bachelors; but the University +clung to its feasts, and in 1478 fresh rules were made, this time with +the special aim of bleeding or mulcting the intrusive friars and the +wealthy monks: + +"Every mendicant friar shall, on the day of his inception, feast the +Regent Masters according to ancient custom, or forfeit ten marks to the +University; and every such incepting friar must be a regent for +twenty-four months from his inception. And every religious possessing +private property, and not being an abbot or prior or other governor of a +conventual house, the rents of whose society amount to two hundred +pounds yearly, must on the day of inception feast the Regents or pay +twenty pounds to the University in lieu of a feast. And every secular, +who can spend forty pounds a year at the University, must, in default of +such feast, forfeit twenty marks; and, if he can afford to spend one +hundred pounds, must forfeit twenty pounds." + +Brief reference must here be made to the relations between the mendicant +orders and the University in general, if only because the memory of the +former was so perpetuated, long after the disappearance of the +fraternities, in the famous term "Austins." Those relations were, for a +considerable time, the reverse of friendly. The friars complained that +degrees in theology were refused them; the University accused the +friars, among other enormities, of "stealing children." To prevent such +abduction, in 1358 the following statute was passed: + +"The nobles and people generally are afraid to send their sons to +Oxford, lest they should be induced by the mendicant friars to join +their order; it is therefore hereby enacted that if any mendicant friar +shall induce or cause to be induced any member of the University under +eighteen years of age to join the said friars, or shall in any way +assist in the abduction, no graduate belonging to the cloister or +society of which such friar is a member shall be permitted to give or +attend lectures in Oxford or elsewhere for a year ensuing." + +This enactment was repealed eight years later; but in 1414, when +forty-six articles were drawn up by the University of Oxford, addressed +to the Council of Constance, it was urgently represented that the friars +should be restrained from granting absolution on easy terms, from +_stealing children_, and from begging for alms in the house of God. +Their adversaries also warmly denounced the nefarious conduct of +"wax-doctors," or ignorant friars, in seeking to obtain graces for +degrees by means of letters from influential persons; and in 1358 their +indignation bore fruit in a very stringent statute bearing upon the +subject. + +It is difficult not to think that a large part of this antagonism was +caused by envy of the friars. For one thing, they were excellent +grammarians, and eventually almost all elementary instruction passed +into their hands with the full approval of the authorities, who ordered +that payment should be made to them, as the actual teachers, and no +longer to the idle grammar masters. This, however, is only a tithe of +the service rendered by the friars to the University, which owed an +immense obligation to them. The Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, and +Austins, all settled at Oxford, and rendered invaluable service to the +cause of learning. The most erudite were perhaps the Franciscans, who +arrived in 1224 and established themselves in St. Ebbe's parish in +houses and lands assigned to them by Richard le Mercer, Richard le +Miller, and others; and their possessions were enlarged and confirmed by +Henry III., their chief benefactor. + +Such was the fame of the Franciscan friary that in 1353 Bishop +Grosseteste, of Lincoln, left all his books to the brotherhood, whilst +Bishop Hugo de Balsham, founder of Peterhouse, Cambridge, in his +statutes, dating about 1280, directed that some of the scholars should +annually repair to Oxford for improvement in the sciences under +Franciscan and other readers. It was in this seminary that Roger Bacon, +so renowned for his devotion to science and mathematics in the barbarous +ages, received his education. The priory, with the fine chapel and large +enclosures belonging to it, was granted in the thirty-sixth year of +Henry VIII. (1534) to two persons named Richard Andrews and John Howe, +who sold it the same year to one Richard Gunter. + +We are, however, chiefly concerned with the Austins, whose priory had a +similar history. In 1351 Pope Innocent IV. empowered the Friars Eremites +of St. Austin to travel into all lands, found houses, and celebrate +divine service. Here in England they were first domiciled in London, but +certain of the brethren were deputed to journey to Oxford, where they +hired a small house near the Public Schools. Their attainments in +divinity and philosophy having attracted the attention of a rich +Buckinghamshire knight, Sir John Handlove, or Handlow, of Burstall, he +bought a piece of ground for them, and this was afterwards enlarged by a +gift from Henry III. Upon this they erected a splendid college and +chapel, in which, before the Divinity School was built, the University +Acts were deposited, and exercises in Arts performed. It was +particularly enjoined that every Bachelor of Arts should dispute once a +year, and answer once a year, in this house--a rule enforced until the +dissolution. The disputations were then removed to St. Mary's, and +afterwards to the Schools, but they still retained the name they had so +long borne--"disputations in Austins." + +Candidates for degrees in the higher faculties--Law, Medicine, and +Theology--had to undergo the same experiences as were prescribed for the +faculty of Arts; that is to say, they had to respond, to dispute, to +determine, and to incept. Regents from other universities were permitted +to lecture at Oxford after determining in the schools of their +respective faculties, and those "resuming," as the phrase was, in Arts +were required to determine at least thrice in the schools of the Masters +Regent, once in grammar and twice in logic. This liberal spirit was +tempered by common sense, since only those were admitted whose _almae +maters_ received Oxford graduates on equivalent terms. At Paris and +elsewhere the sons of Oxford were, it was complained, maliciously shut +out from academic privileges, and accordingly those proceeding from such +places had the same measure meted out to them at Oxford. + +In a chapter like the present it seems fitting to furnish an account of +a typical round in a mediaeval university. Ample material exists for this +reconstruction as regards Oxford, but that University--the senior of the +two, and the model of the other, as Paris was of it--has already +absorbed a large share of our attention[7]. We will therefore turn our +eyes to Cambridge, and to a period somewhat later than the times on +which we have mainly dwelt--i.e., that which followed the institution of +colleges. + +At both Universities the colleges were closely associated with the +Church, but if any may be pointed out as pre-eminently designed for the +study of theology, it was surely St. John's College, Cambridge. + +Three of the scholars were appointed by the Deans _ministri sacelli_ +(servants of the sanctuary), of whom one had to act as sub-sacrist at +morning mass and ring the bell at certain hours, whilst the two others +were clock-keepers and bell-ringers. + +The first act of the day was the ringing of the great bell at four +o'clock in the morning--a duty which devolved on the third of the +_ministri sacelli_. "Let the third ring the great bell of the College +every day, except on Good Friday and Easter Eve, as was wont to be done +before the College was founded. Let it ring at the fourth hour, that +those throughout the whole University, who wish to rise at that hour and +apply themselves to their studies, may more easily rouse themselves at +the sound of the bell." + +The earliest Chapel service--morning mass--was over before six, after +which three lecturers were engaged for two hours in teaching and +examining the scholars and bachelors and hearing their recitations. + +Disputations in philosophy were held on Mondays, and on Wednesdays and +Fridays similar exercises took place in theology, each disputation +lasting two hours, and two questions from Duns Scotus being discussed. + +Each priest was obliged to celebrate mass four times a week, a fine of +fourpence being imposed if he failed to celebrate three times; and each +fellow and scholar had to say daily the psalm _De Profundis_, the +suffrages, and a prayer for the souls of the foundress and other +departed benefactors. These constituted quite a long list, and included +Henry VI., Henry VII., Henry VIII., Cardinal Wolsey, and James Stanley, +Bishop of Ely, who gave the old hospital to the college. Another +benefactor was Bishop Fisher, who established two fellowships and two +scholarships; and priests on this foundation were required to say four +masses weekly for his soul and the soul of Lady Margaret, his "second +mother." Those who were not priests had to say daily the psalm _De +Profundis_, the suffrages, and the prayer _Fidelium Deus omnium +conditor_. + +"Also on all Sundays and other festivals the Masters, Fellows, and +Scholars shall say Matins, Sprinkling of Holy Water, Procession, Mass, +and Vespers and Compline, according to the ancient use of the Church of +Sarum, at convenient times, as the Master shall appoint." + +A fourth part--that is, seven--of the fellows were told off to preach to +the people in English, and at least eight sermons were delivered in the +course of the year, one in the college chapel. Should this last be +omitted, the defaulter lost his fellowship. On the other hand, preaching +was encouraged by the concession of various privileges, such as the +salary of a mark, exemption from college office and disputations, a +week's commons for every sermon, leave of absence from college, and the +right of holding benefices. Each preacher, besides the delivery of +sermons, had to expound the Bible lessons read in hall daily, except on +particular festivals. By the way, the reading aloud of the Bible in hall +during meals was inflicted by the Master on disorderly scholars as a +punishment and an alternative to feeding alone in hall on bread and +water. + +Six monitors were chosen from among the scholars by the Deans, and of +these two put bad marks against those who absented themselves from +chapel or lecture, whilst four reported misbehaviour in hall or the use +of any language other than Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, or Arabic. +Breach of the latter rule subjected the offender to the fine of a +halfpenny, if a fellow, and a farthing if a scholar. Every week seven +scholars were appointed to wait in hall, and an eighth to read the Bible +aloud during dinner--not always as a penal and ignominious task. + +The statutes, in a general way, permitted no dallying in hall after +meals--a prohibition for which the following reasons are advanced: +"Abuse, slander, strife, scandal, wordiness, and other faults of the +tongue rarely accompany an empty but often a well-filled stomach." It +was therefore ordained that after grace had been said and the loving-cup +had gone round, the fellows and scholars should, without long delay, +betake themselves to their studies. But the rule was not to be unduly +pressed. "If in honour of God or of His glorious Mother, or one of the +saints, a fire is lighted in hall, for the comfort of those who dwell in +the college ... then we allow them to remain for the sake of moderate +recreation and amuse themselves with singing or repeating poetry or +tales, or with other literary pastime." Conversely, "excessive noise, +laughter, singing, dancing, and the beating of musical instruments in +the bedrooms" were sternly denied. + + +ON PARADE + +We have now embodied in this and the two preceding chapters practically +all the information relating to University life that can be conveniently +included in a small volume. It is unnecessary to state that, +were more space at our disposal, many other features might be +incorporated--notably University costume, which was the subject of +endless regulations. As the topic is so large and complex, we must +reluctantly forgo any proper discussion of it, but it seems needful to +subjoin a few remarks designed to throw light on the picture, "New +College on Parade," which appears in "Archaeologia," vol. liii., part i. + +In the middle, fronting the spectator, is the Warden--none other than +the worshipful Thomas Chandler, whose name has been several times +mentioned in these pages. He wears a cassock, and over that what may be +a sleeved cope or tabard. Over that again is a tippet, a development of +the almuce, or worn over it. No hood is visible. On his head is the +_pileus_ with tuft or point. The common meaning of these terms, still +less their emblematic significance, will not be universally understood. +A sleeved cope, then, was the distinctive garb of a canonist not in holy +orders, and as Thomas Chandler became S.T.P. in 1450, the _capa +manicata_ would be obviously out of place on his person. The tabard, +generally associated with heralds, was a sleeveless garment, worn with +and probably over the gown, with which it was afterwards combined, and +the sleeves of which, at that period, came through the armholes. This +garment, a dress of dignity, might be worn by undergraduates, and was +compulsory in the case of bachelors lecturing in the schools. The +scholars of Queen's College, Oxford, are still officially styled +Tabarders. + +The tippet was an academic adaptation of the ecclesiastical almuce, and +was not the same as the hood, although the almuce seems to have been in +the first place nothing but an ordinary hood with a lining of fur to +keep out the cold. The original meaning of "typet" was the poke of the +cowl, in which, the reader may happen to remember, Chaucer's Frere was +in the habit of carrying his knives and pins. Academically, it was a +distinct article of dress, lined with fur, and formed part of the +insignia of the doctor or master. + +The _pileus_ was the hat of honour, evolved from the ecclesiastical +skull-cap, and was distinctive of the higher degrees, particularly of +that of doctor. Indeed, it has been thought that this class alone is +designated by the term _pileati_ found in our old statutes. From the +thirteenth century onwards _pilei_, and the overtopping tufts, were of +various colours according to the faculties which it was intended to +distinguish. It may be added that red, and even green, gowns were worn +by the higher graduates, as appears from wills proved in the +Chancellor's Court at Oxford. + +Next to the Warden, on each side, are two figures in sleeveless copes, +tippets and _pilei_, without hoods--doctors in theology or degrees. More +in the background are other _pileati_, wearing both tippet and hood; and +through the armholes of their outer garments show the tight sleeves of +the cassock. These may be secular doctors, or they may be bachelors of +divinity or masters of arts. Five on the extreme right have no _pileus_. +Following them are persons wearing hoods and tippets over what may be a +tabard, to which are attached loose sleeves or flats, with the tight +sleeves of the cassock appearing underneath. This is the most numerous +class represented in the picture, and seems to have comprised masters +and bachelors of the faculties, with the exception, probably, of +theology. + +Facing the Warden are younger persons, attired similarly to the last, +who may be bachelors of arts; and to the right and left of these are +older individuals, severely tonsured, the majority of whom wear +surplices. If Mr. Clark's conjecture be correct, they are the clerical +members of the choir. Two of them have a scarf over a surplice or, as is +more likely, a loose-sleeved cassock. Lowest in rank are the surpliced +choristers wearing hoods, with, in some instances, a liripipe depending +from them behind. + + + + +JUDICIAL + +CHAPTER X + +THE ORDER OF THE COIF + + +Between the Universities and the Judiciary of England in ancient times +there existed a close link, which is to be found in the _serviens ad +legem_ or Serjeant-at-Law. He was at once a graduate and a public +official concerned with the administration of justice either as a +recognized pleader or as a judge, for, whether in the higher or lower +grade, he owed his credentials to the Crown. + +We will consider the Serjeant-at-Law in the first place in his academic +character, in which he might rank as a B.C.L. or as a Doctor Legum, +though this is not quite what we intended by graduation. Law, like the +other liberal professions, has always been regardful of outward and +visible signs. This being so, we trust we have committed no very serious +sin of plagiarism in borrowing as the heading of this chapter the title +of a well-known work by Serjeant Pulling, one of the last survivors of +the order. At any rate, the plagiarism is open and avowed. + +Though the most significant, the coif was not the only exterior note of +the Serjeant, in contradistinction to the laymen; and, in order to show +how he appeared, when in full professional attire, we think we cannot do +better than quote from a fifteenth-century lawyer, one of our greatest +authorities on such matters--Serjeant Fortescue. Writing about 1467, he +says of his class that they were "clothed in a long robe, priest-like, +with a furred cape about the shoulders; and therefrom a hood with two +labels, such as Doctors use to wear in certain Universities, with the +above-described quoyf." The "long robe"--the proverbial emblem of the +legal profession--evidently corresponds with the cassock, the "furred +cape" to the tippet, and the "labels" probably belonged, not, as +Fortescue seems to intimate, to the hood, but were rather the strings of +the coif, which were the attribute of Doctors of Laws. Here we have all +the marks of graduation--that is, the process necessary for the lawful +exercise of a learned calling--and graduation might be equally +accomplished in the schools of Oxford and Cambridge and the Inns of +Court. + +As regards the remainder of his dress, the Serjeant-at-Law might pass +for a Master of Arts or a Bachelor of Divinity. The distinguishing +feature is the coif, and, wherever it is discovered, it may be safely +accepted as a criterion. Thus in Gosfield Church, Essex, there is an +interesting brass of Thomas Rolf (d. 1440), who is represented as +wearing a cassock, sleeved tabard, tippet, hood, and coif. The +last-mentioned forms a circle round the head, and attached to it are two +loops or lappets, which appear below the hood. Boutell has figured this +brass, which he states to be that of a serjeant-at-law. The inscription, +which has the words _legi professus_, already pointed to that +conclusion, Rolf being devoted to law, as, under the circumstances, he +might have been devoted to religion. + +To anyone interested in the study of origins the symbolic value of the +coif is very considerable. Like the _pileus_, it may be traced back to +the ecclesiastical skull-cap, the corollary of tonsure. In the Dark Ages +the lawyers were almost invariably clergy, in the modern sense of the +term. By the thirteenth century the original skull-cap, while retaining +its general shape, had developed into a head-dress of ampler +proportions, and as such, might, and did, serve as a complete disguise +of the clerical calling. For that reason it was forbidden to the clergy +by Othobon's Constitutions (1268), except as a night or travelling cap. +Like the Serjeant's coif of more recent date, it was white in colour; +and, as an appanage of the legal profession, it was worn by judges and +pleaders alike. The strings were used to tie the coif to the head, and +were fastened under the chin. It has been plausibly suggested that the +Black Cap which judges assume, when passing sentence of death, was a +device for concealing the coif, ecclesiastical justices being debarred +from pronouncing capital sentence; and in this connexion we may recall +the constitutional tradition, which requires the Bishops to withdraw +when issues involving life or death come before the Parliamentary +Courts. + +We have spoken of _graduation_ in relation to law. As an explanation of +the phrase, nothing could be more apt than a passage in Coke's "Third +Report," which, although somewhat lengthy, deserves to be cited _in +toto_: + +"As there be in the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford divers degrees, +as general Sophisters, Bachelors, Masters, Doctors, of whom be chosen +men for eminent and judicial places, both in the Church and +Ecclesiastical Courts, so in the profession of the law there are +Mootemen [i.e., students], which are those that argue readers' cases in +houses of Chancery, both in terms and grand vacations. Of Mootemen, +after eight years' study or thereabouts, are chosen Utter-barristers; of +these are chosen Readers in inns of Chancery. Of Utter-barristers after +they have been of that degree twelve years at least, are chosen Benchers +or Ancients; of which one, that is of the puisne sort, reads yearly in +summer vacation, and is called a Single Reader; and one of the Ancients +that had formerly read reads in Lent vacation and is called a Double +Reader, and commonly it is between his first and second reading about +nine or ten years. And out of these the King makes choice of his +Attorney and Solicitor General, his Attorney of the Court of Wards and +Liveries, and Attorney of the Duchy; and of these Readers are Serjeants +elected by the King, and are, by the King's writ, called _ad statum et +gradum servientis ad legem_; and out of these the King electeth one, +two, or three, as please him, to be Serjeants, which are called the +King's Serjeants; of Serjeants are by the King also constituted the +honourable and reverend Judges and sages of the law. For the young +student, which most commonly cometh from one of the Universities, for +his entrance or beginning were first instituted and erected eight Houses +of Chancery, to learn there the elements of the law, that is to say, +Clifford's inn, Lyon's inn, Clement's inn, Staple's inn, Furnival's inn, +Thavie's inn, and New inn; and each of these consists of forty or +thereabouts; for the Readers, Utter-barristers, Mootemen, and inferior +Students are four famous and renowned Colleges or Houses of Court, +called the Inner Temple, to which the first three Houses of Chancery +appertain; Gray's Inn, to which the next two belong; Lincoln's Inn, +which enjoyeth the last two but one; and the Middle Temple, which hath +only the last; each of the Houses of Court consists of Readers above +twenty; of Utter-barristers above thrice so many; of young Gentlemen +about the number of eight or nine score, who there spend their time in +study of law and in commendable exercises fit for gentlemen; the Judges +of the law and Serjeants, being commonly above the number of twenty, are +equally distinguished into two higher and more eminent Houses, called +Serjeant's Inn; all these are not far distant from one another, and +altogether do make _the most famous university for profession of law +only_, or of any one human science, that is in the world, and advanceth +itself above all others _quantum inter viburna cupressus_. In which +Houses of Court and Chancery the readings and other exercises of the law +therein continually used are most excellent and behoofful for attaining +to the knowledge of these laws; and of these things the taste shall +suffice, for they would require, if they should be treated of, a +treatise by itself." + +This passage has been cited for the special purpose of exhibiting the +close affinity between the Universities and the Law, for which, it will +be generally conceded, it is admirably suited. It is necessary, however, +that it should be pointed out that the learned Coke was writing at and +of a period when the system was fullblown. In the early period when +"hostels" for apprentices of the law began to be, no distinction +obtained into Inns of Court and Inns of Chancery. These apprentices +were, originally, just what the term implies, but their importance +became greater until their representative is now the ordinary +barrister-at-law. + +In the year 1292--a date of some significance for us, not only in the +immediate context, but with reference to other portions of the work--the +King (Edward I.) promulgated an ordinance "De Attornatis et +Apprenticiis" in which he enjoined on John de Metingham and his fellows +that they should, at their discretion, "provide and ordain from every +county certain attorneys and lawyers of the best and most apt for their +learning and skill, who might do service to his court and that people, +and those so chosen only, and no other, should follow his court and +transact the affairs therein, the said King and his council deeming the +number of seven score sufficient for that employment, but leaving it to +the discretion of the judges to add to or diminish the number, as they +should see fit" (Dugdale's Tr.). + +Serjeant Pulling is somewhat perplexed concerning the precise position +of the _apprenticii ad legem_ at the time of this edict. He, however, +hazards the conjecture that "by the apprentices were meant the advanced +students, or learners of the law, who, as pupils or assistants to the +Serjeants of the Coif, had obtained an insight into practice, and +perhaps also there were included the more irregular followers of the +law--the dilettante practitioners and Cleri Causidici, who continued to +follow the law in the secular courts in spite of repeated prohibitions +and objections." + +With the foundation and growth of the Inns of Court, the +apprentices--the better sort at least--obtained full recognition as +practitioners; and at the close of the fourteenth century their +reputation had become so considerable that the great apprentices had +formed themselves into a distinct order, in which they stood next to +serjeants-at-law, the gradation being as follows: + + (i) Serjeants-at-law. + (ii) Nobiliores, or great apprentices. + (iii) Other apprentices who followed the law. + (iv) Apprentices of less estate, and attorneys. + +The term "apprentice-at-law" yielded to _apprenticius ad barros_, and +that again to "utter-barrister," corresponding to the modern +"barrister-at-law." Not all the students admitted at an inn were +"called" to the bar, the truth being that only a small proportion +received that distinction. In 1596 an arrangement was made by the Judges +and Benchers of the four Inns of Court, by which it was agreed: + +"That hereafter none shall be admitted to the Barr but only such as be +at the least seven years' continuance, and have kept the exercises +within the House and abroad in Inns of Chancery, according to the orders +of the House: + +"_Item_, that there be in one year only four Utter-Barristers called in +any Inne of Court (that is to say) in Easter Term, two, and, in +Michaelmas Term, two," etc. + +Again, certain orders, made for the better government of the Inns of +Court and Chancery in 1624 provided that not more than eight members of +any one inn should be called to the Bar in any one year, and that no +Utter-Barristers, except such as had been Readers in Houses of Chancery, +should begin to practise publicly at any bar at Westminster until they +had been three years at the bar. + +As regards the Inns of Court, their precise origin cannot be clearly +ascertained. We hear of them in the reign of Edward III., mention being +made in the Year Book of 1354 of "les apprentices en Hostells." In the +opinion of Lord Mansfield they were at the outset "voluntary societies," +for they "are," he says, "not corporations and have no charter from the +Crown." Serjeant Pulling holds that the smaller houses were hired by the +apprentices, and then by lease or purchase possession became permanent. +The greater houses, he thinks, had a similar history. This belief is +borne out by what happened in the case of the Temple. In 1324, when the +King granted the Knights Hospitallers the New Temple, the latter let the +Temple to "divers apprentices of the law that came from Thaveis Inn in +Holborn." This was evidently in existence at the time. How long it had +existed prior to 1324 cannot be stated, but in his will dated 1348, and +enrolled in the Court of Hustings of the City of London, John Tavye, +citizen and armourer, devised to his wife Alicia "illud hospitium, in +quo apprenticii legis habitare solebant." In all probability, +therefore, the existence of the inn did not go back farther than the +lifetime of the armourer. The notice seems to show also that the inns +received their names not from Serjeants, as fathers of the apprentices, +but from the actual owners. + +Till about the commencement of the sixteenth century we are wholly in +the dark as to the management of the inns. We then hear of governors, +treasurers, and the control of affairs in the different houses +lay with the senior members of the societies, who were styled +ancients or benchers. The apprentices may be regarded as inchoate +Serjeants--Serjeants in the making, persons on the way to become +Serjeants. The Serjeants had their own inns; and, on joining the +brotherhood, the newly-appointed dignitary was rung out of the inn to +which he had previously belonged by the chapel bell. + +From Fortescue's "De Laudibus Legum Angliae," written in France after his +withdrawal to that country with Queen Margaret in 1463, we learn that +the rule was, when the degree of serjeant-at-law was to be conferred, +for the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, with the consent of the other +justices, to nominate for the purpose seven or eight of the most +experienced professors of the common law. Thereupon the Lord Chancellor +issued a writ to each of them, summoning them to appear under a heavy +penalty, and take upon themselves the state and degree of +serjeant-at-law. On duly presenting themselves they affirmed on oath +that they would be ready on a day and at a place, which were then +determined, to assume the said state and degree, and that they would +_give gold_ according to custom of the realm in such cases ("dabit aurum +secundum consuetudinem regni in hoc casu usitatam"). + +On the date in question a feast was begun, which continued for seven +days, and this, with other ceremonies, involved an expenditure, on the +part of each debutant of some 1,600 nobles or 400 marks. A portion of +this amount went to the purchase of gold rings, and Fortescue tells us +that, when he was called to the degree of serjeant, the rings he gave +away cost him L40. These differed in value in proportion to the dignity +of the persons to whom they were presented. The most costly were those +of the value of 26_s._ 8_d._, which were given to every prince, duke, +and archbishop attending the ceremony, as also to the Lord Chancellor +and Treasurer of England. The Keeper of the Privy Seal, the Chief +Justices, the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and every earl and bishop +present received one of the value of 20_s._; while every baron of +Parliament, every abbot, every distinguished prelate (_notabili +prelato_), and every eminent knight there present had one of 13_s._ +4_d._ Similar gifts were made to the Keeper of the Rolls of the King's +Chancery, and to each of the justices. Rings of inferior value were +presented to every baron of the Exchequer, chamberlain, officer, and +principal person serving in the King's courts, according to their rank; +and thus almost every clerk, especially if he were of the Common Pleas, +obtained a share of the new Serjeant's liberality. His private friends +were not forgotten, rings being distributed among them also. It has been +computed that the sum of 400 marks in 1429 would be equivalent to L2,660 +of our present money; hence we need not wonder that lawyers either too +poor or too economical to welcome this heavy burden sought to evade the +honour. In the time of Henry V. six grave and famous apprentices +respectfully declined the elevation, but in vain. They were called +before Parliament, and there bidden to take upon them the state and +degree of Serjeant. Eventually they did so, and certain of them, as we +learn from Sir Edward Coke, worthily served the King in the principal +offices of the law. + +The reader will not fail to have observed the expression "give gold." +This, with the particulars adduced respecting the worth of the rings, +suggests that the articles were esteemed, not for their commemorative +character or artistic interest, but for their sheer pecuniary value. +That this was the case is pretty evident from the fact that, in the +reign of Charles II., Lord Chief Justice Kelynge, addressing one of the +new Serjeants, rebuked them for their gift of rings _weighing_ no more +than 18_s._ each; and he cited Fortescue as saying, "The rings given to +the Chief Justices and the Chief Baron ought to weigh 20_s._ a-piece." +To prevent misunderstanding, he added that he "spoke not this, expecting +a recompense," but that it might not be drawn into a precedent. In point +of fact, Fortescue refers to value, not weight; but it appears to have +been customary to calculate the value of the rings by the worth of their +weight in gold. + +The creation of Serjeants took place in the hall of the Serjeants' Inn, +of which the Lord Chief Justice for the time being was a member. The +newly called arrived in a black robe, attended by his clerk, who +brought with him on his arm a scarlet hood and a coif. The Chief +Justice, having solemnly addressed the Serjeants, began the ceremony of +investiture, first placing the coif on the head of each of them and +tying it under his chin; and then putting the hood upon his right side +and over his right shoulder. The Serjeant thereupon departed, and +doffing his black robe assumed a parti-coloured robe of black and murrey +(dark red) and hood of the same colours. Thus arrayed he proceeded to +Westminster, his man carrying before him the scarlet hood and cornered +cap upon it. + +Cornered caps were worn by the judges and Serjeants when they attended +church in state. Down to the time of the Reformation it was the practice +for them to visit St. Thomas of Acons in Cheapside, and, having made +their offerings there, to go on to St. Paul's, where they offered at the +rood of the north door at St. Erkenwald's shrine. This custom was always +observed on the admission of new Serjeants, who set forth on this pious +errand after dining. At St. Paul's each of them was appointed to his +pillar in the nave of the cathedral by the steward and controller of the +feast. It was at the parvise, or porch, of old St. Paul's, or at their +allotted pillars, that Serjeants met their clients for consultation. +They assisted the rich _pur son donaut_ and the poor for nothing, and +there appears to have been no question of any intervention by attorneys. +In this connexion it may be worth while to cite the ancient oath which +was taken by members of the order: + +"You shall swear well and truly to serve the King's people as one of the +serjeants-at-law; and you shall truly counsel them that you be retained +with after your cunning; and you shall not defer, or delay their causes +willingly, for covetousness of money, or other things that may turn you +to profit, and you shall give due attendance accordingly; so help you +God." + +A few months before the Great Fire of London, in which old St. Paul's +was consumed with its parvise and pillars, Dugdale wrote: "At St. +Paul's each lawyer and serjeant at his pillar heard his client's cause +and took notes thereof upon his knee, as they do at Guildhall at this +day." He adds: "After the Serjeants' feast ended they do still go to +Paul's in their habits, and there choose their pillar whereat to hear +their client's cause (if any come) in memory of that old custom." + +Naturally, the Order of the Coif was jealous of its distinctions and +privileges; and the following incident, for which we are indebted to the +late Mr. Serjeant Ballantine, will serve to illustrate the point. + +"I have now," he says, "taken my readers back to my old inn. I will +venture to surround it with all the halo to which it is entitled. We +were, and had from time immemorial been, connected with the Corporation +of the City of London, and inasmuch as the greatest compliment +appreciated by that august body was annually paid to us, we were +doubtless once upon a time of no small importance ourselves. We received +an invitation to dine at the Lord Mayor's on November 9, and arrayed in +robes that gave us as much claim to notice as men in armour, and, +preceded by a personage known as the City Marshal, we were assigned +seats amongst the principal guests at that great festival, and it was +really a sight worthy of notice.... + +"Upon this occasion it was the office of one of the high officers of the +Corporation, no less a dignitary than the Common Serjeant[8], personally +to convey to us the invitation on the first day of Michaelmas term at +our inn. Sir Thomas Chambers, when he occupied this office, was +accustomed to commit a most amusing blunder. Whether moved by some idea +of his own dignity, or acting under civic instruction, I am unable to +say, but when he came to perform his task he addressed himself solely to +the Judges, not even naming the Serjeants, although the former were +asked only in that capacity, and were included with the Lord Chancellor +and the Equity Judges specially in their official capacity, and invited +by the Lord Mayor himself personally. The Common Serjeant was not, +probably, aware that, whilst it in no respect derogated from his dignity +to convey a message from one great corporation to another, he was +performing the duty of a butler in conveying an invitation to +individuals belonging to it. There was a worthy member of our body, Mr. +Serjeant Woolrych, who had written a most exhaustive book upon the +sewers, and was very learned about City customs, and who exercised his +mind greatly upon the blunder into which the Common Serjeant had +tumbled, and wanted me, as treasurer, to call attention to it. He +considered that this was due not only to common humanity, but to our +dignity. I was, however, deaf to his entreaties. I do not remember +dining upon more than one occasion in my official capacity. On this +occasion the scarlet robes and heavy, cumbrous wig, necessary to be +worn, destroyed all possibility of enjoyment." + +Serjeant Ballantine alludes to himself as treasurer. He was the last to +fill that office, and it fell to his lot, as such, to wind up the +affairs of the ancient society, and so, in a sense, to perform its +obsequies. The fiat had gone forth that no judge should be required +henceforth to take or to have taken the degree of serjeant-at-law (36 +and 37 Vict., c. 66, s. 8), and, as this was tantamount to the abolition +of the order, it was resolved to sell the property of the inn. The last +meeting was held on April 27, 1877. + + + + +JUDICIAL + +CHAPTER XI + +THE JUDGMENT OF GOD + + +Ancient judicial theory and practice comprehended not merely trials +before a regular tribunal, in which the merits of a case were duly +ascertained by the joint efforts of judge, counsel, and assize, but also +an alternative method of arriving at the same result--namely, a solemn +appeal to the bar of Almighty God. This reference was most common in +criminal cases, but by no means restricted to them; resort was had to it +in pleas respecting freehold, in writs of right, in warranty of land or +of goods sold; debts upon mortgage or promise, denial of suretyship by +sureties, validity of charters, manumission, questions concerning +services, etc. All such quarrels might be submitted to the issue of the +_duel_, which was pre eminently the means of invoking the judgment of +God. To us no proceeding appears less effectual or more cruel, but even +so wise a man as Dante admitted the fairness of it. + +Before treating of the duel it is expedient to deal with some +Anglo-Saxon customs, which survived the Norman Conquest, and were +founded on the same principle as the duel. The simplest of these +processes was purgation by oath. Let us take the case of a person +accused of theft. If he was a freeman and had hitherto borne a good +name, all that was necessary was that he should purge himself by his +oath. Suppose, however, that he had been previously inculpated. In that +case he had to clear himself with what was termed his twelfth hand--that +is to say, twelve lawful men had to be nominated, who would swear to his +innocence. Should they refuse, there was nothing for it but some form of +the ordeal--a subject which will engage our attention presently. +Meanwhile it may be pointed out that purgation by oath was itself a +distinct appeal to the Almighty. It was believed that perjured persons +incurred the danger of becoming dwarfs, or of their hands remaining +attached to the Gospels or relics on which they swore. Persons guilty of +this offence were compelled to purge themselves by the ordeal. + +The system, resting on the sanctions of religion and honour, was not +suited for general application, and there is no doubt that it was +abused. Confining ourselves to University experience, the bad effects of +the practice are exposed in a protest entered by Dr. Gascoigne in the +Chancellor's Court-book at Oxford, wherein he cautions his successors to +exercise the greatest care in admitting people to the privilege, and +counsels them to withhold the name of the accuser from the accused. He +states that cases have come under his notice in which individuals have +not only perjured themselves, but in private have not blushed to +acknowledge it; and he shows very plainly the futility of the system by +affirming that if a townsman objected to anyone claiming compurgation, +he ran a risk of being assaulted, maimed, and even murdered. The date of +this entry is 1443. It may be added that the majority of the cases were +those of incontinence; and among other charges mention is made of +embezzlement and attachment of a new document to an old seal. + +For details of procedure we may glance at the very full accounts +preserved in the records of the City of London, where there were in +operation three sorts or forms of compurgation, by which persons +appealed, impleaded, and accused might obtain acquittal. The first was +termed the Great Law, and had respect to murder and homicide. The +second, the Middle Law, regarded the crime of mayhem, or corporal hurt, +by which a man lost the use of any member that was or might be any +defence to him in battle. The third law applied to insults, batteries, +wounds, blows, torts, effusion of blood, and similar injuries inflicted +at the season of the Nativity, the week of Pasque, and at Pentecost. + +An accused person desiring to purge himself by the Great Law was +required to observe the following order: He had to make an oath in his +own person that he was innocent touching the felony and breach of the +King's peace, and the entire crime laid to his charge--"So help me God +and these hallows!" (i.e., the Gospels on which he was sworn). After +that six men had to swear that, according to their privity and +knowledge, he had made a sound oath. Then the accused repeated the oath, +and was supported by the sworn testimony of six more witnesses. So it +went on until thirty-six sworn men had testified in his favour. + +With regard to the impanelling of this body it was the custom in London +to choose one of the number from the part of the city east of Walbrook +and the other half from the part west of Walbrook. They were to be of +the liberty of the city, honourable men not kinsmen of the accused; and +the selection was made in his absence. He was then summoned, and the +list of names having been read over to him, he might indicate to the +Mayor and Aldermen any that he held suspect. If he produced reasonable +grounds, the names were erased and others substituted for them. When, at +length, he was content, he placed himself in the hands of this jury as +regarded the purgation of the charge. The names of the thirty-six +persons were delivered to the Justices of the King, before whom the +accused had subsequently to appear and wage his law. + +The same rules were observed in the case of the Middle Law, except that +the accused had to make only three oaths and a panel of eighteen +sufficed. In the Third Law the accused made no more than one oath and +the panel was reduced to six. These were to be of his vicinage, but not +bound to him by the tie whether of blood or marriage. Where a +non-freeman was charged with homicide, forty-two compurgators were +required, this disadvantage being due to the prejudice of the citizens +against "foreigners," of which further evidence will be adduced later. +On the other hand if the prosecution were on the part of the Crown, +seven compurgators were deemed enough, the reason being that the King +had not the personal interest in bringing a criminal to justice of a +private appellor. + +The date of the election of the compurgators was fixed, at the will of +the Justices, and on that day fortnight the accused had to answer the +appeal, unless the Justices chose to assign a longer term. That is, +according to one statement. Another version sets forth that, by the law +and liberty of the city, a term of forty days was given for answer to an +appeal in a particular case; and this may mark the extreme limit usual. +Probably also it may be connected with the period during which a +criminal was commonly allowed to avail himself of the right of +sanctuary. If the accused did not appear on the day named for the trial, +he was outlawed at the folkmoot. Meanwhile he was delivered in bail to +twelve men, provided that there was some surety sufficient for the +payment of a hundred shillings in case they did not produce him at the +appointed time. Anyone appealed and attached for homicide could not +demand "recognition" until he had acquitted himself of the appeal made +against him; and meanwhile, if he could not find sureties, he was +committed to prison. If the accused was outlawed and abjured the realm, +the sureties were acquitted out of respect for the Church. + +By the word "recognition" in the above description is apparently +intended an inquisition into the circumstances by an assize or jury of +twelve sworn men under the presidency of the Justices. In the case of an +appeal--that is, where there was a private prosecutor, who was bound to +have some interest in the matter, e.g., as a blood-relation--this was +not allowed, and the onus of proving his innocence was thrown on the +accused. + +It was otherwise when a man was taxed with homicide by the voice of +public fame. He was then attached either by pledges or by imprisonment; +and the Justices held a very strict and careful inquisition into the +case, as the result of which the accused might be wholly absolved, or he +might be compelled to resort to compurgation. The compurgators, few or +many, were at once judge, jury, and witnesses; and the final issue of +the proceedings lay with them and the accused himself, the Mayor and +Alderman making the preliminary arrangements and the King's Justices +seeing that the forms were duly observed. + +We saw at the outset that purgation by oath was a privilege only +permitted to persons of good reputation, and that failure to secure the +testimony of his neighbours to his innocence, where his reputation had +been damaged, subjected a man to the judgment of water or fire. In Saxon +times every freeman had his _borh_ or surety, who presented him, if he +was accused. Should he be _tyht bysig_, of evil repute, he was forced to +undergo the triple ordeal without more ado; but if his lord gave him a +good character and seven of his neighbours came forward and swore that +oath had never failed him and that he had never paid _theof gyld_ (fine +for thieving), then he might make his election between a pound-worth +oath or single ordeal. If the seven persons summoned declined to take +the oath, the triple ordeal was inevitable, and if the guilt of the +accused was established by this process, he had to restore to the +accuser twofold, pay a fine to his lord, and find sureties that he would +abstain from evil for the future. If he absconded and avoided the +ordeal, the _borh_ was obliged to pay the _ceap-gyld_ or monetary value +of the article stolen to the accuser and the fine to the lord. If the +accused happened to be _theow man_ (servant), and he failed in the +ordeal, the law was that he should be branded the first time; the +second time, there was no _bot_, or reparation, but the head! Finally, +the appellor was obliged to swear by seven lawful men, who were to be +named, that he had laid upon the accused the necessity of the ordeal +neither from hatred nor from any other cause but that he might acquire +his right. + +There were various forms of ordeal. A man might be tried by fire or +water, and there was a cold-water as well as a hot-water test. Moreover, +the ordeal might be single or triple, according to the degree of +immersion or the weight of the iron employed. The laws of Athelstan +prescribe that in the hot-water ordeal, if single, the hand should dive +after the stone up to the wrist; if triple, up to the elbow. Similarly, +by the laws of King Edgar, the weight of the iron for the single ordeal +was to be one pound, and for the triple ordeal three pounds. + +The ordeal, being the Judgment of God, was distinctly a religious +ceremony, and the whole of the proceedings were in the hands of the +clergy. The three days following the accusations were spent in prayer +and fasting, and the rite, varied according to the nature of the ordeal, +was performed in a church. + + +THE JUDGMENT OF THE GLOWING IRON + +The iron was placed before the altar, whence the priest, clad in full +canonicals with the exception of the cope, removed it with a pair of +tongs to the fire, singing as he did so the hymn of the Three Children, +_Benedicite, Omnia, Opera_. Over the place where the fire was he then +recited the prayer: "Bless, O Lord God, this place, that there may be +for us in it sanctity, chastity, virtue, and victory, and sanctimony, +humility, goodness, gentleness, and plenitude of law, and obedience to +God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost."[9] + +We learn from the laws of Athelstan that no man was permitted to enter +the church, after the fire had been borne in wherein the ordeal was to +be heated, with the exception of the mass priest and the accused; and +the latter had to measure with his feet nine feet from the stake to the +mark. When the ordeal was ready two men were admitted on either side, +who certified that the iron was of the required heat; and then an equal +number of witnesses on either side having been summoned, were ranged +along the church on each side of the ordeal. All were to be fasting and +abstinent from their wives on the previous night. The mass priest then +sprinkled them with holy water, let each of them taste the holy water, +and gave them the book of the Gospels and the image of Christ's rood to +kiss. + +Whilst the iron was heating the priest celebrated mass, and after he had +taken the Eucharist, he adjured the person who was to be tried, and made +him also take the Communion. From the time the hallowing was begun no +one was allowed to mend the fire, but the iron rested on the hot embers +until the last collect. It was then laid on the _stapula_, and the +priest, having sprinkled holy water over it, recited the prayer: "The +blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, descend upon +this iron for the discerning of the right judgment of God." Meanwhile +all were enjoined to observe complete silence "except that they +earnestly pray to Almighty God that He make manifest what is soothest." + +The accused then proceeded to the ordeal and carried the iron the +measured distance--nine feet, divided into three equal parts, over which +the person had to pass in as many steps regulated by signal. His hand +was thereupon enclosed in an envelope under seal, and so remained until +the expiration of three days, when the envelope was removed and an +examination took place to see whether the hand was foul or clean within. +If festering blood was found in the track of the iron, the accused was +judged to be guilty; if otherwise, he stood acquitted. An infraction of +the rules not only rendered the ordeal void, but was punishable by a +fine of 120 shillings. + + +THE JUDGMENT OF THE PLOUGHSHARES + +Instead of carrying iron of a given weight a stipulated distance, an +accused person might traverse barefoot a certain space in which nine hot +ploughshares were laid lengthwise. To this species of judgment Queen +Emma, mother of Edward the Confessor, is alleged to have submitted, when +charged with adultery with Alwyn, Bishop of Winchester. The precise +nature of this trial is more than usually obscure, and there is some +reason for doubting whether Blackstone's account is accurate. He states +that the accused person was blindfolded and that the ploughshares were +placed at irregular intervals--evidently with the design that the person +might escape contact with some of the irons: possibly all. Blackstone's +authority, Rudborn, in his story of the trial of Queen Emma, conveys a +totally different impression of the proceedings--at any rate, on that +occasion. He says distinctly that she was _not_ blindfolded, and that +she pressed each ploughshare with the whole weight of her body: "Emma +vero nullam mamphoram sive pannum ante oculos habens--super novem +vomeres novem passus faciens et singulos eorum totius corporis pleno +pressens pondere." + +On such occasions the following collect was in use: "Lord God Omnipotent +... we invoke Thee, and, as suppliants, exhort Thy majesty, that in this +judgment and test Thou wilt order to be of no avail all the wiles of +diabolical fraud and ingenuity, the incantations either of men or of +women; also the properties of herbs; so that to all those standing +around, it may be apparent that Thou art just and lovest justice, and +that there is none who may resist Thy majesty. And so, O Lord, Ruler of +the heavens and the earth, Creator of the waters, King of Thy whole +creation, in Thy holy name and strength, we bless these ploughshares, +that they may render a true judgment; so that, if it be so that that +man is innocent of the charge in this matter which we are discussing and +treating of amongst us, who walks over them with naked feet; Thou, O +omnipotent God, as Thou didst deliver the three youths from the fiery +furnace, and Susanna from the false charge, and Daniel from the den of +lions--so that Thou mayest see fit, by Thy potent strength, to preserve +the feet of the innocent safe and uninjured. If, moreover, that man be +guilty in the aforesaid matter; and, the Devil persuading, shall have +dared to tempt Thy power, and shall walk over them; do Thou, who art +just and a Judge, make a manifest burn to appear on his feet, to Thy +honour and praise and glory; to the constancy and confidence in Thy +name, moreover, of us Thy servants; to the confusion and repentance of +their sins of the perfidious and blind; so that, against their will, +they may perceive, what willingly they would not--that Thou, living and +reigning from ages to ages, art the judge of the living and the dead. +Amen." + + +THE JUDGMENT OF THE BOILING WATER + +When the ordeal was by boiling water, the priest first performed mass +and then descended to the place of trial, bearing a cross and a book of +the gospels. After he had chanted a litany, he exorcized and blessed the +water, which was to be boiled. He then stripped the accused of his +clothes and arrayed him in ecclesiastical vestment of the kind worn by +an exorcist or a deacon; sprinkled some of the water over him, caused +him to drink of it, and gave him the cross and the gospels to kiss. The +priest having said, "I have given to thee this water for a sign to-day," +wood was laid under the cauldron, which might be of iron, of brass, of +lead or of clay. As the water grew warmer, prayers were recited by the +priest, and it continued to be heated until it lowed to boiling. The +accused then said the Lord's Prayer, and signed himself with the sign of +the cross; and the cauldron having been quickly set down beside the +fire, the judge held suspended in the water a stone, which the accused, +in the name of God, had to draw forth at the depth of his wrist or his +elbow, according as the ordeal was single or triple. On the third day +his hand was inspected, and his innocence or guilt determined. + + +THE JUDGMENT OF COLD WATER + +The cold water ordeal is in some ways the most interesting of all. In +this instance the accused was thrown into a pond or tank, which was +technically described as the _fossa_ or "pit." If he floated, he was +adjudged guilty; if he sank, his innocence was regarded as divinely +proved. It is sometimes stated "if he floated without any appearance of +swimming," but swimming appears to have been precluded if it be true +that his thumbs were tied to his toes, or he was bound hand and foot! +Grimm explains the principle of this test by tracing it to an old +heathen superstition that the holy element, the pure stream, would +receive no misdoer within it. King James I. in his "Demonologie," +however, lays it down in the case of witches that they having renounced +their baptism, the element with which the holy rite is performed will +justly reject them. This elucidation is in exact accord with the ancient +formula of consecration pronounced over the accused, which was as +follows: + +"May omnipotent God, who did order baptism to be made by water, and did +grant remission of sins to men through baptism; may He, through His +mercy, decree a right judgment through that water. If, namely thou art +guilty in that matter, may the water which received thee in baptism not +receive thee now; if however, thou art innocent, may the water which +receive thee in baptism receive thee now. Through Christ our Lord." + +The priest afterwards exorcized the water, saying to it: + +"I adjure thee, water, in the name of the Father Almighty, who did +create thee in the beginning, who also did order thee to be separated +from the water above ... that in no manner thou receive this man, if he +be in any way guilty of the charge brought against him; by deed, namely, +or by consent, or by knowledge, or in any way; but make him to swim +above thee. And may no process be employed against thee, and no magic, +which may be able to conceal that" [i.e., the circumstance of his +guilt]. + + +THE JUDGMENT OF THE MORSEL + +A fifth form of the ordeal was the test of eating consecrated bread and +cheese. This was known as the _corsned_, or morsel of execration. The +priest wrote the Lord's Prayer on the bread, of which he then weighed +out a certain quantity--ten pennyweights--and so likewise with the +cheese. Under the right foot of the accused he set a cross of poplar +wood, and holding another cross of the same material over the man's +head, threw over his head the theft written on a tablet. He placed the +bread and cheese at the same moment in the mouth of the accused, and, on +doing so, recited the conjuration: + +"I conjure thee, O man, by the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and +by the four-and-twenty elders, who daily sound praises before God, and +by the twelve patriarchs, the twelve prophets, the twelve apostles, the +evangelists, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, by all the saints and by +our Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ, who for our salvation and for our +sins did suffer His hands to be affixed to the cross; that if thou wast +a partner in this theft or didst know of it, or hadst any fault, that +bread and cheese may not pass thy gullet and throat, but that thou +mayest tremble like an aspen-leaf, Amen; and not have rest, O man, until +thou dost vomit it forth with blood, if thou hast committed aught in the +matter of the aforesaid theft. Through Him who liveth." + +The following prayer and exorcism were also used and ordered to be +repeated three times: + +"Holy Father, omnipotent, eternal God, maker of all things visible, and +of all things spiritual, who dost look into secret places, and dost know +all things, who dost search the hearts of men, and dost rule as God, I +pray Thee, hear the words of my prayer; that whoever has committed or +carried out or consented to that theft, that bread and cheese may not be +able to pass through his throat. + +"I exorcize thee, most unclean dragon, ancient serpent, dark night, by +the word of truth, and the sign of light, by our Lord Jesus Christ, the +immaculate Lamb generated by the Most High, conceived of the Holy Ghost, +born of the Virgin Mary--Whose coming Gabriel the archangel did +announce; Whom seeing, John did call out: This is the living and true +Son of God--that in no wise mayest thou permit that man to eat this +bread and cheese, who has committed this theft or consented to it or +advised it. Adjured by Him who is to come to judge the quick and the +dead, so thou close his throat with a band--not, however, unto death." + + +THE JUDGMENT OF THE PSALTER + +Thieves were sometimes tried by means of two pieces of wood and a +psalter. One of the pieces having a button on the top was inserted in +the psalter above the verse: "Thou art just, O Lord, and righteous are +Thy judgments." The book was then closed and pressed firm, and then the +projecting button was placed in a hole made in the other piece of wood, +from which the psalter now hung. The wood was held by two persons on +opposite sides of the psalter, and the accused having been placed before +them, one of them said thrice to the other: "He has the thing" (i.e., +the stolen article). The other thrice answered: "He has it not." +Thereupon the priest declared: "This He will deign to make manifest unto +us, by Whose judgment are ruled things terrestrial and things celestial. +Thou art just, O Lord, and righteous are Thy judgments. Turn away the +evils of Thy enemies, and destroy them with Thy truth." + +The fate of the accused depended on the miraculous turning of the +psalter. If the direction was from left to right he was innocent; if +from right to left, he was guilty. It would appear from the prayer, in +which the priest invoked Divine revelation, that he held the book, and +therefore it is natural to assume that, consciously or unconsciously, +his opinion must have influenced its movement. The prayer ran: + +"Omnipotent, everlasting God, who didst create all things from nothing, +and didst form man from the clay of the earth, we pray Thee, as +suppliants by the intercession of Mary the most holy Mother of God ... +that Thou do make trial for us concerning this matter about which we are +uncertain; so that if so be that this man is guiltless, that book which +we hold in our hands shall [in revolving] follow the ordinary course of +the sun; but that if he be guilty that book shall move backwards." + + +There were other forms of procedure, in some of which, as in the trial +of the cross and the touching of the bier, the supposed criminal was +confronted with his victim. Ordeals were abolished in England in the +year 1219; but the tradition did not die, and in the time of the +Commonwealth, Hopkins, the notorious witchfinder, ridiculed in +"Hudibras," employed the cold-water ordeal for the conviction of +witches. "The suspected person," says Sir Walter Scott, "was wrapped in +a sheet, having the great toes and thumbs tied together, and so dragged +through a pond or river. If she sank, it was received in favour of the +accused; but if the body floated (which must have occurred ten times for +once, if it was placed with care on the surface of the water) the +accused was condemned." + +That the issue of the ordeal might be arranged appears to have been +recognized even in the Middle Ages. Thus, fifty Englishmen, it is said, +having been ordered by William Rufus to be tried by the hot iron, every +one of them escaped unhurt. Thereupon the King announced that he would +try them again by the judgment of his court and not abide by the +so-called judgment of God, "which was made favourable or unfavourable at +any man's pleasure." By the Assize of Northampton (1176) suspected +persons, who had been acquitted by the water ordeal, were liable to +banishment, though again acquitted by the "judgment of God." + +Trial by battle, though obviously based on the same principle, was +technically distinguished from the ordeal or judgment. The former +appears to have arisen in the countries of the North, where it was known +as the _holmgang_, the combats taking place on islands. Among the +English this mode of settling differences was not much in favour either +before or after the Norman Conquest; and the statutes of William I. +contain provisions whereby the natives were permitted to substitute the +more familiar ordeal for the trial by battle. + +"It was also decreed there that if a Frenchman summon an Englishman for +perjury or murder, theft, homicide, or 'ran'--as the English call +evident rape, which cannot be denied--the Englishman shall defend +himself as he prefers, either through the ordeal of iron or through +wager of battle. But if the Englishman be infirm, he shall find another +who will do it for him. If one of them shall be vanquished he shall pay +a fine of forty shillings to the King. If an Englishman summon a +Frenchman, and be unwilling to prove his charge by judgment or by wager +of battle, I will, nevertheless, that the Frenchman purge himself by an +informal oath." + +In subsequent reigns wager of battle was infinitely more common, and +great encouragement was given to it by the martial race, whose ideas and +habits were imposed on the subject population. The principles were +established and the procedure regulated by the "Assises de Jerusalem" +(1099), whose ordinances were received and recognized throughout Europe +as a code of law and honour. For a general statement of conditions and +effects we cannot do better than turn to the pages of the almost +impeccable Gibbon. + +"The trial by battle," he says, "was established in all criminal cases +which affected the life, or limb, or honour, of any person; and in all +civil transactions of or above the value of one mark of silver. It +appears that in criminal cases the combat was the privilege of the +accuser, who, except in the charge of treason, avenged his personal +injury, or the death of those persons whom he had a right to represent; +but wherever, from the nature of the charge, testimony could be +obtained, it was necessary for him to produce witnesses of the fact. In +civil causes the combat was not allowed as the means of establishing the +claim of the demandant; but he was obliged to produce witnesses, who +had, or assumed to have, knowledge of the fact. The combat was then the +privilege of the defendant, because he charged the witness with an +attempt by perjury to take away his right. He came therefore to be in +the same position as the appellant in criminal cases. It was not, then, +as a mode of proof that the combat was received, nor as making negative +evidence (according to the supposition of Montesquieu), but in every +case the right to offer battle was founded on the right to pursue by +arms the redress of an injury; and the judicial combat was fought on the +same principle, and with the same spirit, as a private duel. Champions +were only allowed to women, and to men maimed or past the age of sixty. +The consequence of a defeat was death to the person accused, or to the +champion, or witness, as well as to the accuser himself; but in civil +cases the demandant was punished with infamy and the loss of his suit, +while his witness and champion suffered an ignominious death. In many +cases it was the option of the judge to award or to refuse the combat; +but two are specified in which it was the inevitable result of the +challenge: if a faithful vassal gave the lie to his compeer, who +unjustly claimed any portion of their lord's demesnes; or if an +unsuccessful suitor presumed to impeach the judgment and veracity of +the court. He might impeach them, but the terms were severe and +perilous: on the same day he successively fought _all_ the members of +the tribunal, even those who had been absent; a single defeat was +followed by death and infamy; and where none could hope for victory it +is highly probable that none would adventure the trial." + +Second only in importance to the "Assises de Jerusalem" are the "Grand +Coutumier de Normandie" and Beaumanoir's "Coutumes de Beauvoisis." As +regards England, the forms of procedure are narrated by Bracton and +Britton; and Selden in his treatise "De Duellis" cites a number of +cases, both civil and criminal, in which resort was had to trial by +battle. + +When an appellor offered to do battle in person, it was his duty to say: +"Sir, A complains to you of B, who is there, that he has assassinated C; +and if he deny it A is ready to prove it with his person against the +person of B, and to slay him or make him confess in the space of an +hour, and here is his pledge." If he offered to do battle by a champion, +the formula was: "Sir, A complains to you of B, that he has assassinated +C; and if he deny it A is ready to prove it if he shall not bring his +champion on the day; and to slay, etc., and see here his pledge." The +defendant replied in the following terms: "Sir, B denies and contradicts +the assassination imputed to him by A, and is ready to defend with his +person against A's person; and see here his pledge." + +The combatants were to be armed according to their quality; and the arms +and armour of knights, who should do battle in a case of homicide or +assassination, are duly set forth. They had to fight on foot; their +lances were to be of equal length, and their shields half-a-foot higher +than their persons, and pierced with two openings through which they +could see their adversary. The arms had to be shown to the Court, and +each champion was obliged to make oath on the Gospels that he had upon +him neither writing, charm, nor any other arms than those shown to the +Court. The combatants were then placed and fought. Near at hand stood +the warders of the field, so that they might catch the words "I repent" +in the event of their being uttered. In that case they said to the other +party, "You have done enough"; and he who had been vanquished was taken +to the lord, by whose order he was trained to the gallows and hanged. +Similar treatment was paid to a combatant who had been slain, even if he +had not said "I repent." The same procedure was observed where the +champions were of inferior rank, save that their arms were not knightly. +If the case were not one of homicide or assassination, knights fought on +horseback and in armour, with the same consequences to the vanquished. +His arms were forfeited; and, if the charge were treason, his heirs were +deprived of their inheritance. Combatants of lower than knightly rank +fought on foot with shields and spears of equal length. If anyone not a +knight struck a knight, he lost his right hand, "because of the honour +and dignity which a knight has, and ought to have, over all other kinds +of persons." + +We may now refer to some typical examples. In the reign of Henry III. +Hamon le Stare was appealed for robbery by Walter de Bloweberme; and the +record is specially interesting on account of a contemporary drawing of +the fight and subsequent execution of the vanquished. + +In a MS. of Merton College, Oxford, occurs a note of a case in the time +of Edward I. R. de B. having demanded the advowson of a church against +the Prior of Sens, the latter waged battle. On the appointed day his +champion appeared, "and in the open field the duel was fought." The +Prior's champion was struck down, and upon this the Prior's attorney +came forward and surrendered the advowson. Accordingly, judgment was +given that R. should recover seisin, and that the Prior should be in +mercy. The same MS. contains a comment by the Judge (Saham) to the +effect that if, after battle joined, at the second or third assault the +tenant acknowledge the tenement to be the right of the demandant, and +for that acknowledgment the demandant grant to the tenant that he shall +hold of him for life, and that afterwards the tenement shall revert to +him (the demandant), that acknowledgment is as stable as if a fine were +levied in a writ of warranty of charter. + +In Hil., 29 Edward III., a writ of right was brought by the Bishop of +Salisbury against the Earl of Salisbury for the Castle of Salisbury. +Battle was waged; but on the accoutrements of the champions being +examined by the Justices, a further day was assigned on the ground that +the coat of the Bishop's champion had been found to contain several +rolls of prayers and charms. In this instance no battle took place, as a +compromise was arranged, whereby the Bishop was to pay the Earl 1,500 +marks, and judgment was given for the Bishop on the Earl making default. +With regard to charms, it may be remarked that there is copied on the +fly-leaf of a MS. volume of reports, _temp._ Edward I. and II., in a +contemporary hand, a charm comprising a list of the names of God, to be +recited only in special cases, one of which was "par doute de plai." We +may add that ecclesiastics not unfrequently retained a champion not for +one occasion, but permanently, and he was in receipt of regular pay. +Richard de Swinfield, Bishop of Hereford, followed this course, giving a +bond to Thomas de Bruges in consideration of the said Thomas performing +the duties of champion. Similarly, by a deed dated London, April 28, 42 +Henry III., one Henry de Fernbureg was engaged for the sum of 30 marks +sterling to be always ready to fight as the Abbot of Glastonbury's +champion in defence of the right which he had in the manors of Cranmore +and Pucklechurch, against the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Dean of +Wells and other their champions whatsoever. + +Naturally, however, the judicial combat was an institution in which the +court and the aristocracy had a greater interest than the church. It has +been suggested, with much probability, that the office of the King's +Champion originated from this custom. In any case, members of the royal +house arranged, and even participated in, duels of this order; and one +of the best accounts of the practice has been preserved in a long and +elaborate epistle addressed to Richard II. by Thomas Duke of Gloucester +and Constable of England. The following are extracts: + +"The king shall find the field for to fight in. And the lists shall be +lx paces of length and xl paces of breadth in good manner; and the earth +be firm, stable, and hard, and even, made without great stones, and the +earth be plat; and the lists strongly barred round about and a gate in +the east and another in the west with good and strong barriers of vij +foot of height or more.... The day of battle the King shall be in a sege +or scaffold there where they shall be.... When the appellant cometh to +his journey, he shall come to the gate of the lists in the east in such +manner as he will fight with his arms and weapons assigned to him by the +court, and there he shall abide till he be led in by the Constable, so +that when he is comen to the said gate, the Constable and Marshal shall +go thither. And the Constable shall ask him what man he is which is +comen armed to the gate of the lists, and what name he hath, and for +what cause he is comen. And the appellant shall answer, 'I am such a +man, A. de K., the appellant, the which is comen to this journey, &c, +for to do, &c.' And then the Constable shall open the visor of his +bassinet, so that he may plainly see his visage, and if it be the same +man that is the appellant, then shall he make open the gates of the +lists, and shall make him enter with the same arms, points, victuals and +other lawful necessaries upon him, and also his counsel with him, and +then he shall lead him afore the King, and then to his tent, where he +shall abide till the defendant be comen. In the same manner it shall be +done of the defendant save that he shall enter in at the west gate of +the lists. + +"The Constable's clerk shall write and set in the register the coming +and the hour of entering of the appellant, and how he entered the lists +on foot; and also the harness of the appellant, and how he is armed, and +with how many weapons he entered the lists, and what victuals and other +lawful necessaries he bringeth with him. In the same manner shall be +done to the defendant.... And the appellant and defendant shall be +searched by the Constable and Marshal of their points of arms, otherwise +called weapons, that they be vowable without any manner of deceit; and +if they be other than reason asketh they shall be taken away, for +reason, good faith, and law of arms will suffer no guile nor deceit in +so great a deed. And it is to wit that the appellant and defendant may +be armed upon their bodies as surely as they will." + +Previously it had been said: "And the Constable shall make take heed +that none other before or after the appellant or defendant bring more +weapons nor victuals other than were assigned by the court." The +"points" assigned by the court were the long sword, the short sword, and +dagger--no other knife great or small or any other "instrument or engine +of point." The combatants had each to swear on the mass-book that they +were thus armed, and that they had no stone of virtue nor herb of virtue +nor charm nor any other enchantment. Also they were made to take each +other by the hand to do all their true power and intent on each other, +and make their opponent either yield or give up the ghost. All but two +lieutenants of the Constable and two knights were ordered to quit the +lists. + +The Constable sat in front of the King as his "Vicar general" and +regulated the combat. "The Constable schall say w^t y^e voice as +foloweth, 'Lessiez lez aler'; that is to say, 'lat them goo and reste +awhile'; 'lessiez lez aler & faire leur devoir depdieu'; that is to say, +'lat them goo and doo ther devour i goddes name.' And this seyde eche +man schal depte fro bothe pties soo that they may incountre +& doo that them semeth best." + +From that time forth neither appellant nor defendant might eat or drink +without leave and licence of the King; and it was the Constable's duty, +in case the King commanded the parties to separate, rest, or abide, for +whatever reason, to see that this took place in such a way that they +should be in the same "estate and degree" in case the King should order +the resumption of the combat. He was also to have good "hearkening and +sight," if either spoke to other of yielding or otherwise, for to him +and to none other belonged the witness and the record of the words from +that time forth. + +In this battle, supposed to be on account of treason, he that was +convicted and discomfited was disarmed in the lists by command of the +Constable, and a corner of the lists broken "in reprove of him." Through +this he was drawn out by horse through the lists from the place where he +was disarmed to the place of justice, where he was beheaded or +hanged--"the which thing appertaineth to the Marshal." + +"And if it happen so that the King would take the quarrel in his hand +and make them accorded without more fighting, then the Constable taking +the one party and the Marshal the other shall lead them before the King, +and he showing them his will, the said Constable and Marshal shall lead +them to the one part of the lists with all their points and armour as +they are found, and having when the King took the quarrel in his hand as +is said. And so they shall be led out of the gate of the lists evenly, +so that the one go not before the other by no way and nothing, for sen +he hath taken the quarrel in his hand, it should be dishonest that +either of the parties should have more disworship than the other. +Wherefore it hath been said by many ancient men that he that goeth first +out of the lists hath the disworship and this as well in cause of +treason as in other cause whatsoever it be." + +It cannot be repeated too often or too clearly understood that the duel +was not exclusively a chivalrous custom, confined to those of high +station. Like the ordeal, it was prescribed, as a mode of juridical +determination, for burgesses and others, though, as we have shown, +equality of rank was postulated in the combatants no less than equality +of "points." By way of illustration we may turn to the annals of +Leicester, where wager of battle was enforced on the townsmen for the +settlement of their disputes. We have seen that knights undertook to +bring matters to a conclusion within the space of one hour. Honest +burgesses, less expert in the use of lethal weapons, and either less +courageous or less callous in taking human life, appear to have shown +extremely poor "sport" in their involuntary matches. At Leicester a +combat is recorded to have commenced at 6 a.m. and continued till 3 +p.m., when it was terminated through one of the parties falling into a +pit. The character of the affair and the behaviour of the champions +occasioned a great scandal; and the townsmen, in order to prevent a +repetition of the incident, engaged to pay the Earl their lord three +pence for each house, on condition that the "twenty-four jurors who were +in Leicester from ancient times should from that time forward discuss +and decide all pleas they might have among themselves." + +In London and other chartered towns parties to a quarrel could not be +made to fight against their will. The rule was that wager of battle did +not lie between two freemen without the consent of both; and a case is +on record in which one citizen, having been charged with felony and +robbery, offered to defend himself with his body. The appellor declined +dereignment by battle, and so it was decided that the accused should be +tried by the Middle Law, with eighteen compurgators. + +The duel was employed for the determination not only of criminal, but of +civil causes, and in such controversies the demandant, whatever his +condition, might not engage in the combat himself, but was represented +by a champion, who occupied the position of a witness. The claim would +be made in some such form as the following: + +"I demand against B. one hide of land in such a vill (naming it) as my +right and inheritance, of which my father (or grandfather, as it might +be) was seised in his demesne as of fee, in the time of Henry I. (or, +after the first coronation of the King, as it might be), and from which +he received produce to the value of fifty shillings at least (as in +corn, hay, and other produce); and this I am ready to prove by my +freeman John, or if anything should happen to him, by him or +him"--several might be named, though only one might wage battle--"who +saw this." + +Or the form might conclude: "And this I am ready to prove by my freeman +John, whom his father on his death-bed enjoined, by the faith a son owes +his father, that if he ever heard of any plea being moved concerning +this land, he would dereign (or prove) this, as what his father had seen +or heard." + +The tenant might then defend himself in person or by deputy at his +option. The demandant's champion was not to be a person hired for +reward, and if he was convicted of receiving money or vanquished in a +duel on the point of right, not only did the demandant lose his suit, +but the champion forfeited his _legem terrae_--that is, he could never +act in a similar capacity again--and was fined sixty shillings _nomine +recreantisae_--for cowardice. In the reign of Henry II. these +arrangements were modified, and the tenant might put himself on the +assise. "The assise," says Glanville, "is a royal benefit conferred on +the nation by the prince in his clemency, by the advice of his nobles, +as an expedient whereby the lives and interests of his subjects might be +preserved, and their property and rights enjoyed, without being any +longer obliged to submit to the doubtful chance of the duel. After this +the calamity of a violent death, which sometimes happened to champions, +might be avoided, as well as the perpetual infamy and disgrace attendant +on the vanquished, when he had pronounced the _infestum et inverecundum +verbum_." The horrible word was "creaunt" (or craven). + + + + +JUDICIAL + +CHAPTER XII + +OUTLAWRY + + +Many of our ancient ballads and lyrics, such as the cycle of Robin Hood +and that exquisite love-poem "The Nut-Brown Maid," are based on the +custom of outlawry. One of the most charming of these early English +productions is "The Tale of Gamelyn," in which we meet with the +following passage alluding to the ban: + + "Tho were his bonde-men sory and nothing glad, + When Gamelyn her lord wolues heed was cried and maad; + And sente out of his men, wher they might him fynde, + For to seke Gamelyn vnder woode-lynde, + To telle him tydinges, how the wynd was went, + And al his good reued, and alle his men schent." + +The expression "wolf's head" was an old Saxon formula of outlawry, and +appears to have originated from the circumstance that a price was set on +the fugitive equivalent to that at which a wolf's head was estimated. +One of the laws of Edward the Confessor deals with the case of a person +who has fled justice, and pronounces: "Si postea repertus fuerit et +teneri possit, vivus regi reddatur, vel caput ipsius si se defenderit; +lupinum enim caput geret a die utlagacionis sue, quod ab Anglis +_wlvesheved_ nominatur. Et hec sententia communis est de omnibus +utlagis." + +Already we are in possession of the salient facts as regards outlawry. +As a rule the outlaw was not banished, as citizens were ostracized at +Athens, to secure the State from dangerous rivalries. In other words, +they were commonly not men of character and distinction, but just the +reverse--persons whose conduct was so destitute of honour as to degrade +them, in the eyes of the community, to the level of the worst sort of +vermin. And they were treated accordingly. They were held to be unfit to +exist as an integral part of the body politic, and either destroyed or, +as an alternative, constrained to abjure the realm. The head and front +of their offence was not any act of which they might have been guilty. +The direct, and, it may be said, the sole, cause of their proscription +was refusal to submit to the laws, to accept justice at the hands of +their country-men. + +This comes out quite distinctly in the legislative enactments of our +remote ancestors. Kemble in his "Saxons in England" quotes the following +law of King Edgar: + +"That a thief be pursued, if necessary. If there be present need, let it +be told the hundred men, and let them afterwards make it known to the +tithing men and let them all go forth whither God may direct them to +their end; let them all do justice on the thief as it was formerly +Eadmund's law. And be the _ceapgild_ (i.e., market value) paid to him +that owns the chattel; and be the rest divided in two, half to the +hundred, half to the lord except men; and let the lord take possession +of the men. + +"And if any neglect this and deny the judgment of the hundred, and the +same be afterwards proved against him, let him pay to the hundred 30 +pence; and the second time 60 pence; half to the hundred, half to the +lord. If he do it a third time, let him pay 1/2 lb; the 4th time let him +lose all that he hath and be an outlaw, unless the King will allow him +to remain in the land.... + +"We have also ordained that if the hundred pursue a track into another +hundred, notice be given to the hundred elder, and that he go with them. +If he fail to do so let him pay L30 to the King.... + +"If anyone flinch from justice and escape, let him that hath him in +custody pay damages (_angild_). And if he be accused of having aided the +escape, let him clear himself according to the law of the country." + +_Angild_ is defined by Maitland as the money compensation which the +person who has been wronged is entitled to receive--i.e., damage as +distinct from the fine (_wite_). Here, it is evident, we are on the same +ground as in the chapter treating of purgation by oath and the ordeal. +When we recollect that the thief had to face the pain and uncertain +issue of an ordeal, and that conviction might involve, _in addition to +the fine_, banishment, slavery, or the loss of a foot, we see at once +the temptation to abscond, but the disappearance of the accused was not +only prejudicial to the accuser, but compromised the person who was +responsible for his production. The escaped thief, therefore, was a +_nuisance_, as well as a danger, and, if he remained contumacious, +forfeiture of life and property was deemed not too heavy a penalty. If, +instead of being a thief, the felon chanced to be a murderer, the +inconvenience to the community, in whose midst the crime had been +perpetrated, was still greater. One of the laws of Edward the Confessor +ordained that if a man were found slain and the slayer could not be +found, a fine of 46 marks (L30 13_s._ 4_d._) was to be paid into the +Treasury by the township and hundred. The Pipe Rolls contain many +instances of payments for murders of which the doers were not taken +red-handed, the fines varying in amount. In 14 Henry II. the Sheriff of +Devon accounted for 100_s._ for one murder in Wonford Hundred, 10 marks +for several murders in Axminster Hundred, and 20_s._ for a murder in +North Tawton Hundred. Another sum of 20_s._ was remitted by the village +or township of Braunton for peace in respect of a murder committed +there.[10] + +The position of affairs is thus clear. The murderer was regarded as a +member of a corporation, which had to answer for him, and, failing to do +so, was liable to a forfeit. The manslayer, therefore, if he did not +make his surrender, added to his original offence against an individual +or family those of disloyalty and injury to a community; and, +accordingly, he became the mark of private or public vengeance, the laws +which he had violated and contemned ceasing to afford him protection. + +In these circumstances, what was he to do? To judge from the testimony +of the ballads and poems before mentioned, his best and usual course was +to wend his way to the greenwood and join himself to a band of jovial +companions who found themselves in a similar plight to his own. That +this course was sometimes adopted is a fair inference from the very +existence of these compositions, and is rendered probable by the vast +extent of the forests and the sparseness of the population, which these +desperadoes might conciliate with a share of the ransom extorted from +rich wayfarers. But a homicide who flew to this remedy was not very +safe. As an enemy of the established order, he had to perform prodigies +of valour, and, once captured, his fate was sealed. Outlaws of this +description can hardly have been common, even in the days of Hereward +the Wake. The majority of those who came under this denomination were +not heroes, and acted quite differently. They threw themselves on the +protection of the Church. + +"Holy Mother Church, as a kind mother, gathers all into her bosom; and +thus each and all, good and bad, who take refuge with her, are protected +unhurt under her mantle." + +Such was the language of the Synod of Exeter in 1287; and the statutes +go on to quote from the provisions of the Legatine Council held under +Cardinal Othobon at St. Paul's, London, twenty-one years before, which +were the basis of the constitutions adopted in the various dioceses: "If +anyone shall drag out from the church or cemetery or cloister the person +that has taken refuge there, or prevent his being supplied with +necessary food; or shall in a hostile or violent manner carry off +property deposited in the aforesaid places, or cause or approve of such +carrying off by their followers, or lend their assistance, openly or +secretly, to such things being done by those presuming on their aid, +counsel, or consent--we bind them _ipso facto_ by the bond of +excommunication, from which they shall not be absolved until they have +made full compensation to the Church for the wrong suffered." + +Hence it is clear that the malefactor had a ready way of evading or +postponing the consequences of his crime and refusal to "put himself on +his country," for every church was a sanctuary in the sense of affording +security to terrified wretches, innocent or guilty. It may be well to +recall that outlawry did not date from the commission of the crime or +the flight of the criminal; and up to the time of conviction, judgment +going by default, the law gave no countenance to his assassination. The +rule affirmed by the statute of King Edgar, whereby sentence of outlawry +was pronounced only after opportunities had been granted for +repentance, continued to be in force all through the Middle Ages. This +appears from a note on the proceedings of the Salop Iter of 1293, which +states: + +"Although one who is appealed of the death of a man, or for other +felony, make default at three County Courts, yet at the fourth County +Court he may appear, and give mainprize to appear at the fifth County +Court; and then, if he do not come, he will be outlawed. And if the +appellor abandon the prosecution, the exigend shall tarry until the +Eyre; and then he shall be tried (for he may return to the peace if he +will) at the suit of the King. And if he will not come, he shall be +called at the three County Courts; and if he do not come at the third, +he shall be outlawed at the fourth County Court, if he do not come and +give mainprize to come at the fifth County Court." + +It may be taken for granted that, in the vast majority of instances, +this degree of consideration sufficed in the case of any person honestly +desiring to take his trial; but circumstances might exist which rendered +it impossible for a man to prevent his being outlawed, and then the +right of sanctuary might be of the utmost value in staying injustice. +That the supposition is not purely imaginary is proved by a remarkable +petition of the early part of the reign of Edward I., in which John +Brown, scholar of Oxford, states that during his absence at Rome he has +been falsely appealed by a Jewess for a Christian child, pursued from +county to county, and outlawed; wherefore on his return he was put in +prison and he now prays the King's mercy, without which he cannot +go to the common law. John Brown, it is clear, did not take +sanctuary--probably because he was not apprised of the facts in time; +otherwise it would have afforded him all needful security and allowed +him a period for reflection as to the wisdom of surrendering or quitting +the realm. + +The right of sanctuary must have been founded on the principle that the +guilt of the fugitive had not been established. Even the ordinary law +was laudably sensitive on this point, and care was taken not to +prejudice the accused by an apparent assumption of guilt. If a person +was charged with murder, the bailiffs were obliged to approach him with +white wands as a sign that they had no intention of committing or +provoking a breach of the peace. They then summoned him to yield himself +to the peace of "our lord the King." If they came in the first instance +armed in a warlike manner with swords, etc., it was lawful for him to +defend himself, and there is one instance on record in which a man did +this, fighting a pitched battle with the bailiffs in the garden of his +inn, and being afterwards upheld by the court. If, however, the person +would not surrender, when summoned in a peaceable way, force might be +employed against him. But the officers had first to find or overtake +him; and in this they might be anticipated by those who had suffered +injury. Obviously, therefore, the homicide, who had no confidence in the +justice of his case, would be well advised in flying without delay to +"the bosom of Mother Church." + +The refugee was as often as not an habitual criminal, who might have +broken out of prison on the eve of execution. Some light on this point +is derived from the Northumberland Assize Rolls of the years 1256 and +1279. For instance: "Robertus de Cregling et Jacobus le Escoe', duo +extranei, capti fuerunt pro suspicione latrocinii per ballivos Willelmi +de Valencia et imprisonati in prisona ejusdem Willelmi apud Rowebyr' +(Rothbury). Et predictus Robertus postea evasit de prisona ad ecclesiam +de Rowebyr' et cognovit ibi latrocinium et abjuravit regnum coram +Willelmo de Baumburg tunc coronatore." + +Offenders were obliged to state the nature of the crimes alleged against +them, and the Durham register shows that by far the largest number were +murderers and homicides. Some claimed the rights of sanctuary for debt, +some for stealing horses or cattle and burglary; and others for such +crimes as rape, theft, harbouring a thief, escaping from prison, +failing to prosecute, and being backward in their accounts. Townships +which failed to arrest the criminal before he reached the church, or +allowed him to escape after he had taken refuge in it, were fined by the +King's Justices, the circumstances proving that the institution was +tolerated as a necessary evil by those responsible for the maintenance +of law and order--not regarded with favour. + +The Thucydidean speech of the Duke of Buckingham on the removal of the +Queen of Edward IV., with her younger son, the Duke of York, to the +sanctuary of Westminster in 1483, furnishes a searching criticism of the +use and abuse of this privilege in the practice of the fifteenth +century. Addressing the Privy Council, he is represented to have said: + +"And yet will I break no sanctuary; therefore, verily, since the +privileges of that place and other like have been of long continued, I +am not he that will go about to break them; and in good faith, if they +were now to begin, I would not be he that should go about to make them. +Yet will I not say nay, but that it is a deed of pity that such men as +the sea or their evil debtors have brought in poverty should have some +place of liberty to keep their bodies out of the danger of their cruel +creditors; and also if the crown happen (as it hath done) to come in +question, while either part taketh other for traitors, I like well there +be some place of refuge for both. But as for thieves, of which these +places be full, and which never fall from the craft after they once fall +thereunto, it is a pity that Sanctuary should screen them, and much more +man-quellors, whom God bade to take from the altar and kill them, if +their murder were wilful; and where it is otherwise there need we not +the sanctuaries that God appointed in the old law. For if either +necessity, his own defence or misfortune draweth him to that deed, a +pardon serveth, which either the law granteth of course, or the King of +pity. Then look we now how few Sanctuary men there be whom any +favourable necessity compel to go thither; and then see, on the other +side, what a sort there be commonly therein of them whom wilful +unthriftiness have brought to nought. What rabble of thieves, murderers, +and malicious heinous traitors, and that in two places especially; the +one the elbow of the city [that of Westminster] and the other [St. +Martin's-le-Grand] in the very bowels. I dare well avow it, weigh the +good they do with the hurt that cometh of them, and ye shall find it +much better to lack both than to have both; and this I say, although +they were not abused as they now be, and so long have been that I fear +me ever they will be, while men be afraid to set their hands to amend +them; as though God and St. Peter were the patrons of ungracious living. +Now unthrifts riot and run in debt upon the boldness of these places; +yea, and rich men run thither with poor men's goods. There they build, +there they spend, and bid their creditors go whistle. Men's wives run +thither with their husband's plate, and say they dare not abide with +their husbands for beating. Thieves bring thither their stolen goods, +and live thereon riotously; there they devise new robberies, and nightly +they steal out they rob and rive, kill and come in again, as though +those places give them not only a safeguard for the harm they have done, +but a licence also to do more." + +There is one aspect of the privilege, not mentioned in this balanced +judgment, which deserves consideration and that is the inadequacy of the +law to assure victims of injustice against oppression. As an instance of +the sort which, it may be hoped, was not too common, we may take the +following (undated) petition: + +"Margery, who was the wife of Thomas Tany, late _chivaler_ of the +College of Windsor, & is Executrix of his last will and testament, +pleads that whereas on the Thursday ... in the Feast of Corpus Christi +in the late insurrection proclamation was made that all who had any +right or title to recover any debts or bequests whatsoever should come +before the King at the Tower of London and shew their evidence, &c, +without delay, she, the s'd Margery, and her eldest son John Thorpe, +came with a bill to present to the King for recovery of debts due to her +by force of the will & test of her s'd baron & of the judgments given & +rendered by three Chancellors of the King; and they had not leisure to +present the bill then, but on the morrow, Saturday, delivered the s'd +bill to the King in his Wardrobe in London. But forasmuch as the Father +in God, the Archb'p of Canterbury, then Chancellor of England and Judge +in this, ... had sequestrated all the goods and chattels of Sir William +Mugge, then Dean of the said College, escheated into the hands of Walter +Almaly, present Dean of the s'd College, commanding by letters patent +the s'd Walter, under certain penalties, that no livery should be made +until satisfaction had been done to the s'd Margery for the debts due +from the said W^m. to the said M. by the said test, and that John de +Thorp, younger son of the s'd Marg^t., had received a mandate from the +s'd Chancellor to summon the s'd Walter and Sir Richard Metford to +appear & answer before the Chancellor, the s'd Sir Walter caused the s'd +John Thorp, eldest son of the s'd Margery, to be arrested and kept him +in prison for three days, wrongfully and in contempt of the King ... and +besides this the s'd Sir Walter caused the s'd John de Thorp, younger +son of the s'd, M., to be arrested in Suthwerk by John Chirche, serjeant +of London; and while he was under arrest the s'd Walter, of malice +prepense, assaulted him, beating him on the head and other parts of the +body, which beating & punishment of the body caused his death in the +prison of Newgate; where, though he offered repeatedly to find as +sureties good and sufficient men of the City of London to offer +themselves before the Mayor & Sheriffs of London, to wit, the then +mayor, William Walleworth, to be responsible for him, body for body, yet +was he not delivered out of prison until he was dead, and moreover the +s'd Walter threatened to destroy the s'd Margery as he had destroyed +her son, so that she _took sanctuary_ and dared not issue forth for +fear of death," etc. + +It has been stated that all churches, parochial, collegiate, and +cathedral, were sanctuaries; but there were in different parts of +England about thirty supreme sanctuaries, of which Westminster, York, +Durham, Glastonbury, Ely, Ripon, and Beverley may be taken as types. +They owed this pre-eminence to the possession of relics and stories of +miracles wrought by the tutelar saint for the protection of suppliants +or the chastisement of those who violated the shrine. The origin of the +civil sanction is most obscure. Individual churches attributed their +franchise to the favour of ancient kings--Hexham to Ecfrith, King of +Northumbria; Ripon and Beverley to Athelstan, and York to Edward the +Confessor. Tradition affirms that in primitive times the term of +protection at Durham was thirty-seven days and at Beverley thirty days +on the first and second occasions, and if the fugitive resorted thither +a third time, he had to become _serviens ecclesiae imperpetuum_. These +intimations, if true, point to a process of evolution from small +beginnings represented by the three nights' protection to which the +sanctuary rights of an ordinary church were limited by the laws of +Alfred (887) to the extraordinary privileges which, if we accept Mr. R. +H. Forster's conclusions, existed at Durham. + +These concerned both the area and the duration of the immunity. At other +places the right of sanctuary comprised the precinct as well as the +church itself. For instance, at Beverley, the story goes that Athelstan, +on his return from a victorious campaign against King Constantine, +conferred the privilege on the church of St. John and a portion of the +surrounding country. The bounds were indicated by crosses. The base and +part of the shaft of one of them is, or was lately, to be seen in a +hedge on the road to Skidby. Others were erected at Molescroft, on the +road towards Cherry or North Burton, and near Killingwoldgrove, on the +Bishop's Burton road. At Durham, however, if we follow Mr. Forster--and +he makes out an excellent case--the precinct included the whole of the +County Palatine, and the term of protection, instead of being confined +to the ordinary period of forty days, was perpetual. At York, Beverley, +and Hexham there was what may be termed an outermost precinct and +various inner precincts, the relative sanctity of which is shown by the +scale of punishments inflicted for violation. In Prior Richard's history +of Hexham it is stated that there were at that place four crosses, each +of them erected at a distance of one mile from the church, and in a +different direction. Anyone who arrested a fugitive within these limits +was fined two _hundreth_, or sixteen pounds. For an arrest "infra +villam" the penalty was twofold. If the person were seized "infra muros +atrii ecclesiae," it was threefold; and if within the church itself, +sixfold, to which was added penance "sicut de sacrilegiis." Supposing, +however, that anyone, "vesano spiritu agitatus diabolico ausu quemquam +capere praesumpserit in cathedra lapidea juxta altare quam Angli vocant +_fridstol_, id est, cathedram quietudinis vel pacis, vel etiam ad +feretrum sanctarum reliquiarum quod est post atlare"--then the crime was +_botolos_ (without remedy); no monetary payment could be received as +compensation. When Leland was at Beverley, he was shown a frithstool, on +which he made the following note: "Haec sedes lapidea Freedstool dicitur, +i.e., Pacis Cathedra, ad quam reus perveniens omnimodam habet +securitatem." There was a frithstool endowed with similar privileges at +York Minster, and another at Durham. Stone seats claimed to be +frithstools are still shown at Hexham and Beverley. + +Of all the localities which drew to themselves especial distinction as +sanctuaries none rivals in antiquarian interest the monastery of Durham. +This is because of the existence of an ancient work on the "Rites of +Durham," which enters in considerable detail into the ceremonial +observed on such occasions, and was received for a long time as +authoritative. Recent criticism by Mr. R. H. Forster has rather impaired +the credibility of the document. He points out that its professed date +is 1593, or more than fifty years after the dissolution of the Priory; +and maintains that it is not a first-hand chronicle of events of "the +floryshinge tyme" before the suppression of the house, but a compilation +based partly on old records and partly on the reminiscences of aged +residents. + +Nevertheless, the narrative must be considered to possess a high degree +of historical value, and is undeniably picturesque. We catch a glimpse +of the fugitive "knocking and rapping" at the grim twelfth-century +knocker "to have yt opened." We see him "letten in" by "certen men that +did lie alwaies in two chambers over the said north church door," and +running straightway to the Galilee bell and tolling it. ("In the weste +end in the north allie and over the Galleley dour there, in a belfray +called the Galleley Steple, did hing iiii goodly great bells.") The work +goes on to state that "when the Prior had intelligence thereof, then he +dyd send word and command them that they should keape themselves within +the sanctuary, that is to saie, within the Church and Churchyard." This +was until the official of the convent and witnesses had assembled for +the formal admission and registration of the fugitive, which took place +in the nave, in the Sacrist's exchequer, which was in the north aisle of +the choir or "in domo registrali." The official who presided over the +ceremony was commonly the Sacrist, but the duty was sometimes performed +by the Chancellor of the Cathedral, the Sub-prior, or a monk qualified +as a notary public. As for the witnesses, they might be monks, servants +of the convent, clerks, masons employed on the fabric, or they might be +friends of the fugitive who had attended him to Durham as a bodyguard. +Frequently, however, they were casual onlookers or persons who had +flocked out of curiosity to the "show." + +On admission, the "grithman" received a gown of black cloth "maid with a +cross of yeallowe cloth called St. Cuthbert's Cross, sett on the lefte +shoulder of the arme" and was permitted to lie "within the church or +saunctuary in a grate ... standing and adjoining unto the Galilei dore +on the south side," and "had meite, cost and charge for 37 days." The +writer of the book alleges that maintenance was found for fugitives +"unto such tyme as the prior and convent could gett them conveyed out of +the dioces," but Mr. Forster traverses this statement and adduces +documentary evidence to show that, in various instances, "grithmen" were +permanently domiciled in the diocese. We have, however, an account of +one such "conveyance." A certain Coleon de Wolsyngham, in the year 1487, +on retiring from the church, was delivered by the sheriff to the nearest +constables, and after that by constables to constables, that he might be +conducted to the nearest seaport, there to take shipping and never +return. He is stated to have received a white cross made of wood. + +Bracton and Britton both state that the criminal could elect his own +port, but we generally hear of a port being assigned him by the coroner, +and he was required to proceed thither without deviating. A case is on +record where "one A. had abjured the King's realm and went a little out +of the highway; the menee was raised upon him, and he was taken in the +highway, and this was found by the jury." Nobody was suffered to molest +the felon on his journey seawards on pain of forfeiting goods and +chattels. This part of our subject receives excellent illustration from +the customary of the Cinque Ports: + +"And when any shall flee into the church or churchyard for felony, +claiming thereof the privilege for any action of his life, the head +officer of the same liberty, where the said church or churchyard is, +with his fellow jurats or coroners of the said liberty, shall come to +him and shall ask him the cause of his being there, and if he will not +confess felony, he shall be had out of the said sanctuary; and if he +will confess felony immediately it shall be entered in record, and his +goods and chattels shall be forfeited, and he shall tarry there forty +days--or before, if he will, he shall make his abjuration in form +following before the head officer, who shall assign to him the port of +his passage, and after his abjuration there shall be delivered unto him +by the head officer, or his assignees, a cross, and proclamation shall +be made that while he be going by the highway towards the port to him +assigned, he shall go in the King's peace, and that no man shall grieve +him in so doing on pain to forfeit his goods and chattels; and the said +felon shall lay his right hand on the book and swear thus: + +"'You hear, Mr. Coroner, that I, A. B., a thief, have stolen such a +thing, or have killed such a woman, or man, or a child, and am the +King's felon; and for that I have done many evil deeds and felonies in +this same his land, I do abjure and forswear the lands of the Kings of +England, and that I shall haste myself to the port of Dover, which you +have given or assigned me; and that I shall not go out of the highway; +and if I do, I will that I shall be taken as a thief and the King's +felon; and that at the same place I shall tarry but one ebb and flood if +I may have passage; and if I cannot have passage in the same place, I +shall go every day into the sea to my knees, and above, crying, "Passage +for the love of God and King N. his sake;" and if I may not within forty +days together, I shall get me again into the church as the King's felon. +So God me help, and by this book, according to your judgment.' + +"And if a clerk, flying to the church for felony, affirming himself to +be a clerk, he shall not abjure the realm, but yielding himself to the +laws of the realm, shall enjoy the liberties of the church, and shall be +delivered to the ordinary, to be safe kept in the convict prison, +according to the laudable custom of the realm of England." + +When it became known that a malefactor had taken refuge in a church it +was the duty of the authorities to _beset_ the place, and send for the +coroner, who parleyed with the person in the manner described in the +above recital. From the same account it will be gleaned that the maximum +limit allotted to the refugee was ordinarily forty days, after which he +would cease to receive sustenance. According to Britton he had forty +days after being summoned by the coroner. It will be further observed +that the criminal undertook to "hasten" to the port of departure. It is +generally stated that forty days were granted him for this purpose, but +it is certain that this was not always the case. By the Assize of +Clarendon persons of evil repute, who had purged themselves by the +ordeal without satisfying their neighbours as to their innocence, were +required to quit the realm within _eight_ days: + +"The lord King wishes also that those who shall be tried and shall be +absolved by the law, if they be of very bad testimony and are publicly +and disgracefully defamed by the testimony of many and public men, shall +forswear the lands of the King, so that within eight days they shall +cross the sea, unless the wind detains them; and with the first wind +which they shall have afterwards they shall cross the sea; and they +shall not return any more to England unless by the mercy of the lord +King; and there, and if they return, shall be outlawed; and, if they +return, they shall be taken as outlaws." + +The same fate was in store for any felon who deviated from the highway +in proceeding to his assigned port. He might not, however, be reserved +for judicial execution, being at the mercy of his captors, who could do +as they pleased with him. "Some robbers indeed, as well as some thieves, +are lawless--outlaws as we usually call them--some not; they become +outlaws, or lawless, moreover, when, being lawfully summoned, they do +not appear, and are awaited and even sought for during the lawful and +fixed terms, and do not present themselves before the law. Of these +therefore the chattels and also the lives are known to be in the hands +of those who seize them, nor can they for any reason pertain to the +King."[11] ("Dialogus de Scaccario," x.). + +An outlaw, as such, was incapable of exercising the most ordinary +rights--he could not devise, inherit, own, or sell lands or houses. +Civilly, he was dead. The only question is whether these +disqualifications attached to him as the effects of felony or the +resultant outlawry. The point was tested in a case which came before the +Common Bench in 1293, and decided by an eminent justice of the period in +relation to a certain Geoffrey, who had committed felony, and before +this became known had disposed of tenements to one John de Bray. +"Inasmuch," said Metingham, "as all those who are of his blood are +debarred from demanding through him who committed the felony, in like +manner every assign ought to be barred from defending the right to +tenements which have come from the hands of felons; and it is found by +the Inquest that Geoffrey was seised after the felony was committed. And +inasmuch as felony is such a poisonous thing that it spreads poison on +every side, the Court adjudges that William [the lord, who had brought a +writ of escheat] do recover his seisin, and that John be in mercy for +the tortious detinue." + +Sanctuary for treason was abolished in 1534, and for crime in 21 Jac. +I., but debtors enjoyed the time-honoured immunity, at Whitefriars and +elsewhere, till 1697. + + + + +URBAN + +CHAPTER XIII + +BURGHAL INDEPENDENCE + + +Just as the Universities and the Judiciary were found to have a common +link in the Order of the Coif, so we find that the Judiciary and the +City were bound each to each by the existence of by-laws, or, as they +were termed in a technical sense, "customs." Although, to avoid +misapprehension, these "customs" may be styled by-laws, and many of them +strictly answer to the description, on the whole they bore a very +different relation to the laws of the land from the by-laws of modern +corporations, the latter being purely subsidiary, while the former +affected the most important issues, and, in the absence of much general +legislation, possessed all the validity of statute law. + + +CUSTOM IN LAW + +As there was considerable variation between the customs of different +towns and different counties, it became the duty of the Justices on Eyre +to investigate what was the custom, with regard to the subject of the +plea, in the particular locality, and they gave their decisions +accordingly. + +Some of these cases are sufficiently amusing, as may be gathered from +the following record of a case heard in the Salop Inter of 1292: + +"One Adam brought a writ of Entry against B.--B.: 'Sir, we vouch to +warranty, &c, W. de C., who is under age, to be summoned, &c.'--C. came +and prayed his age.--_Spigornel_ (for Adam): 'Sir, according to the +custom of the town, he is of age when he knows how to count up to twelve +pence, and he shall answer in a writ of Right at that age; and inasmuch +as he would answer in a writ of Right at that age, he shall warrant at +that age, or shall counterplead, &c. But now he is nineteen years old, +which is nearly of full age. Judgment if he shall not warrant or +counterplead.' Judgment that he should." + +From the same Year-Book we obtain an insight into the working of what +may be termed communal law in the weighty matter of succession. One +Isabel brought the Novel Disseisin against a chaplain named Martin de +Hereford and others for a tenement in Shrewsbury. The defence was that +Martin had entered by the devise of one William Silke, and that the +custom of the town permitted a man on his death-bed to devise tenements +of his own purchase. Isabel's counsel, on the other hand, contended that +William's father held the tenements by the law of England, and that +William merely purchased the freehold, arguing also that the devise was +made in contravention of the statute (7 Ed. I., st. 27), since it was +made in mortmain for the beneficiaries to chant for him and his heirs +for ever. The Judge ruled that alienation contrary to the statute was no +justification for the heir to enter; and he drew attention to the +inconsistency of counsel in pleading that Silke could not devise his +inheritance, and that he could devise if there were no infraction of the +statute. Counsel thereupon elected to abide by his first contention, and +the question of fact was referred to the Assise (or Jury) which found +that part of the tenements were in William's seisin and that William had +purchased his father's estate therein. + +We now come to the concluding passages of this highly interesting suit: + +"_Berewyke_ [the Judge]: 'For that he could not purchase his own +heritage so that it could be styled his own purchase; and he devised the +tenements; and the custom of the town does not permit a man to devise +his heritage; Therefore this Court adjudges that Sybil (_sic_) do +recover her seisin of the tenements which were not devisable. Now what +say you as to the remainder?' + +"The Assise said that the remainder of the tenements were of his own +purchase from several persons in the town, and that in his last illness +he devised them to Martin for the term of his life, and that the +testament was proved at the Guildhall according to the custom of the +town; and that the executors were commanded to deliver seisin to Martin, +and that according to the custom he had the seisin, &c. + +"_Berewyke_: 'Since it is found that he entered on the tenements +according to the custom, &c.--although you were seised for four weeks, +yet that ought not to give you a title--this Court adjudges that you do +take nothing by the writ, &c. After Martin's death be well advised.'" + +Communal law, however, was not allowed to _override_ the law of +England.[12] This principle was asserted in 1293, when Thomas le +Chamberleyn brought a writ before the Common Bench against a certain W., +who, he complained, had taken his horse in the highway in the town of +Bernewell. The writ ran--"took in the highway and still keeps +impounded." There was the usual wrangle between counsel, and an attempt +was made to oust or invalidate the writ by asserting that six years and +a half before it (the writ) was purchased the animal had been +surrendered. After this preliminary fencing counsel for the defence +produced his real case, which was that by the King's charter the +burgesses of Cambridge had a franchise to this extent, that when clerks +or other persons were in debt they might seize their horses or other +property within the liberty; and as Thomas was bound in so many +shillings, his horse was seized according to the custom of the town, and +in no other way. The trespass being admitted, the Judge (Gislingham) +proceeded to give judgment on the plea of justification. He said: + +"For that it is against the common law and against the statutes to make +such a taking in the highway unless he be the King's bailiff, +notwithstanding any franchise which the King may have granted, therefore +the Court adjudges that Thomas do recover his damages, and that W. be in +mercy for his tortious taking." + +This leads to another point. Corporations had their local courts, and +some of them, by virtue of this fact, claimed exemption from the +jurisdiction of the higher courts. Such was the case at Liverpool, and +according to Sir. F. A. Picton there are instances on record in which +they succeeded in establishing their claim. How far these local +authorities were fit to be entrusted with the execution of justice may +be estimated by some lively incidents which took place in the early days +of October, 1565. One Thomas Johnson had been apprehended for picking +purses. Apparently he underwent no regular trial, but was dealt with +summarily, the programme being as follows: First, he was imprisoned +several days and nights, and then he was nailed by the ear to a post at +the flesh-shambles. As the next item, he was turned out naked from the +middle upwards, and many boys, with withy rods, whipped him out of the +town. He was then locked to a clog with an iron chain and horseblock +until the Friday morning following, and finally abjured the town before +the Mayor and Bailiffs, at the same time making restitution of 6_s._ +8_d._ to the wife of one Henry Myln. Thus, there was a rude efficacy in +the process, but it might perhaps have been received as sufficient +ground for a writ of certiorari if Johnson had again fallen into the +hands of his tormentors. + +It is certain that at times towns had to answer, through their +officers, for alleged acts of illegality in their corporate capacity. +Thus in 1292 one Adam--the reader will observe that the records do not +give the actual names, Adam being chosen as beginning with the first +letter of the alphabet--brought the Replegiare against B., &c., stating +that B., &c., had tortiously taken his chattels in the High Street of +the Town of Gloucester and conveyed them to their toll booth in the same +town. B. and C., the bailiffs, defended the seizure, asserting that by +the custom of the town of Gloucester only freemen might cut cloth +there--strangers might sell cloth by the piece, but not cut it. + +Adam was not a freeman of the town, but, in opposition to the custom, he +had come and cut his cloth. As against this Adam produced a charter +witnessing that the King had granted him the right of cutting cloth in +the same way as other freemen, and, by virtue of the charter, he +maintained that he had been seised from time whereof, &c. The bailiffs +repudiated this claim. We do not learn what the judgment was in this +case, but the phrase "other freemen" is suspicious. It suggests that the +charter had been granted in ignorance of the custom of this particular +town, not out of disrespect for it, since the tendency of all the +evidence is to show that local autonomy and local privileges in such +matters were treated with infinite care. It almost appears as if Adam +had taken advantage of an ambiguity. As regards ordinary civil rights +Adam was doubtless a freeman--otherwise he could not have brought this +action--but he was not a freeman in the sense that he paid scot and lot +in the town of Gloucester. + +Such persons were often styled "foreigners," and therefore the plaintiff +in this case would have occupied precisely the same position as +"foreign" merchants who transgressed the customs of London. One of these +was that they were not to attend any market or fair at a greater +distance than three miles from the City, nor had Justices or Sheriff +power to give them leave to do so. If a Sheriff caught any "foreign" +merchant beyond those bounds, he was supposed to bring him back, and +the money found on his person having been confiscated was shared between +the Sheriff and the citizens. If, however, the citizens were alone +responsible for the capture, the whole of the money went to them. Other +rules were that merchants repairing to London for the sale of linen, +cloth and wool might do business only on three days of the week +(Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays). They were then, if anything +remained to be sold, to pack up their goods and wait till the following +week; and in no case were they to sell _ad detail_ (retail). + +A custom which we meet with at Dover and Reading, and was probably +adopted by other towns, is one described in sundry ordinances _de +stachia_, the latter being barbarous Latin for "stake." This was a +device for recovering possession of a tenement after a specified time, +when the tenant had fallen into arrears of rent, and consisted in the +landlord erecting a stake in front of the house as a notification of his +claim. + + +CROWN AND TOWN + +Despite identity of usage at Dover and Reading on the subject of the +stake, it would be pardonable to conclude that in those times of +difficult communication there existed a great diversity of burghal laws, +entailing considerable inconvenience and hardship, especially in the +case of those engaged in trade. Since the adoption or growth of customs +depended on the interests or sentiments of particular communities, +diversity was, to some extent, inevitable, but the tendency to local +independence--an independence tenaciously maintained and jealously +guarded--was tempered by counter-tendencies. Thus it was not always to +the interest of a town or city to stand in complete isolation from +centres of a similar type, or possibly of a superior organization; and, +in such instances, a smaller, weaker, less perfectly developed community +might seek to improve its status or fortune by modelling its +arrangements on those of a more advanced and more powerful neighbour, +and in addition to and as a corollary of this, enter into a formal or +informal alliance with it, in which the latter would hold the position +of protector or patron. + +In the Middle Ages there subsisted between the towns and the feudal +aristocracy an antagonism sometimes silent and slumbering, sometimes +wakened into fierce consciousness and expressing itself not only in +hardy words, but in sanguinary deeds. On the Continent the towns were +the hotbeds of revolution, and the commune, with its mayor as +figure-head, signalized the triumph of the insurrectionary temper. This +state of things was more marked on the Continent than in England, where +the Barons led the assault on tyranny, and where, for his own purposes, +the monarch fostered the prosperity of towns of his own planting. But +Mr. J. H. Round, in his singularly able article on "The Origin of the +Mayoralty of London," contributed to the "Archaeological Journal," shows +conclusively that this institution, now the aegis of all that is staid, +stable, and respectable, was the offspring of the spirit of revolt which +spread like a contagion from Italy to France, Germany, and the Low +Countries, and thence to the Thames. + +Dr. Gross's valuable contribution to the "Antiquary" (1885), treating of +the affiliation of towns, is of a general character, and illustrated +largely by continental examples; anyone, however, who wishes to grasp +the full significance of mediaeval relationships as between town and +town, will be well advised in consulting that succinct account. Here we +must confine ourselves to English experience, in which the same traits +appear, only more faintly. Before proceeding to this inquiry it may not +be amiss to advert briefly to another aspect of the subject. We have +said above that, in England, the monarch inclined to favour certain +towns for his own purposes, and such towns were naturally of the highest +precedence. If we turn to Liverpool, we shall find that in 1206 it +received a visit from King John, who the following year issued letters +patent of which the following is a translation: + +"John, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of +Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to all his liegemen who +would desire to have burgages at the town of Liverpool, greeting. Know +ye that we have granted to all who may take burgages at Liverpool that +they may have all the liberties and free customs in the town of +Liverpool which any free borough on the sea has in our land; and +therefore we command that securely, and in our peace, you may come to +receive and occupy our burgages. And in testimony thereof we transmit to +you these our letters patent. Witness, Simon de Pateshill, at +Winchester, the 28th day of August in the ninth year of our reign." + +At a later period the people of Liverpool might not have thanked the +Crown for facilitating the settlement of a large body of strangers in +their midst. Everywhere burgesses were strongly opposed to the +colonization of their towns by "upland men," less on sentimental grounds +than from the fact that these "foreigners" frequently did not take steps +to become naturalized and pay scot and lot towards communal expenses. +Clearly this objection did not apply to Liverpool in this instance, and +at that relatively early stage of its history the incorporation of a +number of well-to-do and industrious immigrants might naturally have +been hailed as a gain. It must have been so regarded by the King. + +Liverpool was the port of embarkation for troops sailing to Ireland, and +is said to have owed its foundation to this circumstance in the days of +Strongbow. The advantage of a numerous, loyal, and able-bodied +population was seen in 1573, when the Earl of Essex passed through the +place on his way to Ireland. It happened that he left behind him a +detachment of soldiers, and the "motley coats" and "blue coats," having +quarrelled, used their weapons on each other. With admirable +promptitude, the Mayor summoned the trained bands, and the rest of the +story may be told in the vivacious language of a contemporary: + +"Mr. Mayor and all the town suddenly, as pleased God Almighty, were +ready upon the heath, every man with their best weapons; so as by good +chance every householder being at home, Sunday morning, eager as lions, +made show almost even like to the number of the captains and all their +soldiers.... After the battle array [which was efficacious in staying +the conflict] Mr. Captain showed all gentleness and courtesy to the +Mayor, and came up to the town in friendship and amity." + +Trained bands formed part of the equipment of a well-appointed mediaeval +town--a description to which, as we shall show, Liverpool possessed +exceptional claims. But the Crown did not benefit solely in this way. +The burgages erected numbered 168, each of which paid a ground rent of +one shilling per annum into the royal exchequer. The custom dues of the +Duchy of Lancaster were another source of profit, and retainers of the +King were occasionally quartered on them. Thus in 1372 one Rankyn, a +follower of John of Gaunt, was retained on condition that he "in time of +peace shall be at board at court ... and that he shall have and take for +the term of his life, in the whole, twenty-five marks sterling from the +farm of the town of Liverpool." + +The object of all towns was to acquire the fullest measure of +self-government, and in this respect, despite probable exactions arising +from the system of fee-farm leases, Liverpool must be reckoned +extraordinarily fortunate. The term "commune" also--word of sinister +import since 1871, but used in mediaeval England in the innocuous sense +of "borough"--seems to have special point in reference to the trading +regulations of that ancient port, if compared with the greater +individualism of other places, though commercial transactions were +universally the subject of manifold restrictions designed to protect the +interests of the native against the intrusive and vexatious rivalry of +the foreigner. At Liverpool matters went far beyond that. + +The Corporation itself for a long time farmed the custom dues, and also +levied tolls on, all merchandise that passed through the port. Much land +and other property belonged to it, as well as the ecclesiastical +patronage, which included the appointment and dismissal of incumbents, +wardens, and other church officers. The hanse, composed of the entire +body of freemen and burgesses, required that all produce, upon +importation, should be first offered to it, and it was then inspected by +"prizers" or appraisers, who gave an estimate of its value. If the +importers did not care to sell at the price, they had to haggle with the +town respecting the sum to be paid for leave to sell in the open market; +and any merchant or trader who treated with them on his own account was +liable to heavy penalties.[13] + +We have previously given a sample of original methods of administering +justice at Liverpool, and much might be written of its curious penal +code, which embraced such offences as eavesdropping. Hence the protest +embodied in the following presentment of the Grand Jury on March 31, +1651, may well express the inner thought of many preceding generations +of culprits: + +"Item, wee p'sent William Mee for saying and cursing in the court, +pointing His finger towards Mr. Mayor and the Jurie, 'If such men as +those can give anie judgment, the Divell goe with you and all the acts +you have done.' Amerced in five pounds." + +We need not recur to the topic of trained bands, and will only remark +that in this and other respects Liverpool obtained a degree of +self-sufficiency and independence surpassing anything known at the +present time, and, apparently, far beyond the common standard even of +mediaeval towns. It might therefore have stood forth as an object not so +much of envy as of imitation. In point of fact, Liverpool--owing, no +doubt, to its comparatively late rise and geographical situation--was +not one of those towns whose customs were widely copied. In Wales the +custom of Hereford held the field, and in the south-west the custom of +Winchester, which, through transmission to Newcastle, prevailed also in +Northumberland and Scotland. The customs of York and the Cinque Ports +attracted smaller groups, while the custom of London was not only mother +of the custom of Oxford, but grandmother of the custom of Bedford, since +the citizens of Oxford were called in by the last-named town to +adjudicate on obscure points, and they themselves repaired to London, as +the fountain-head, in the event of any internal dispute. The court of +appeal, when mother and daughter towns were at variance on the subject +of privileges, was the King and Council. + +In England the powers of the mother-town were purely advisory, whereas +on the Continent some towns appear to have exercised coercive +jurisdiction over those whose laws were derived from them. Perhaps this +circumstance, that the process was one of adoption rather than +subjection, was the chief reason why English towns were so careful not +to communicate their privileges, at any rate freely, to boroughs of +_servile_ condition, i.e., those which owed service to some lord. The +case of Hereford is thus stated: + +"The King's cittizens of Hereford, who have the custodye of his citty +(in regard that it is the principall citty of all the market townes from +the sea even unto the boundes of the Seaverne) ought of ancient usage to +deliver their lawes and customes to such townes, when need requires, yet +in this case they are in noe wise bound to do it, because they say they +are not of the same condition; for there are some townes which hould of +our Lord the Kinge of England and his heires without any mesne Lord; and +to such we are bound, when and as often as need shall be, to certifie of +our lawes and customes, chiefly because we hold by one and the same +tenure; and nothing shall be taken of them in the name of a reward, +except only by our common towne clerke, for the wryting and his paynes, +as they can agree. But there are other markett townes which hold of +diverse lords of the Kingdome, wherein are both natives and rusticks of +auncient tyme, who paie to their lord corporall services of diverse +kinds, with other services that are not used among us, and who may be +expelled out of those townes by their lords, and may not inhabit in them +or be restored to their former state, but by the common law of England. +And chiefly those and others that hold by such forreine service in such +townes, are not of our condition; neither shall they have our lawes and +customes but by way of purchase, to be performed to our +capitall-bailiff, as they can agree between them, at the pleasure and to +the benefitt of the citty aforesaid." + +Towns were extremely jealous of their purity in this respect, a fact +which may be illustrated in another way. Thus no person of servile +condition was allowed to be a freeman of the city of London. If, after +admission, he was ascertained to be of such condition, he forfeited his +rights. During the mayoralty of John Blount, Thomas le Bedelle, Robert +le Bedelle, Alan Undirwoode, and Edmund May, butchers, lost their +franchises, because they acknowledged that they held land in villeinage +of the Bishop of London and dwelt outside the liberty. On July 18, 11 +Rich. II., it was ordained that no one should be enrolled as an +apprentice or received into the freedom of the city by way of +apprenticeship unless he first swore that he was a freeman and not a +native, and whoever should be thereafter received into the freedom of +the said city by purchase or any way but by apprenticeship should make +the same oath, and also find six honest men to undertake for him as had +been wont to be done of old. + +"And if it happen that such native be admitted by false suggestion +without the knowledge of the Chamberlain, as soon as the circumstance is +notorious to the Mayor and Aldermen, let him lose the freedom of the +city and pay a fine for his deception, at the discretion of the Mayor +and Aldermen. + +"Again, if it happen in the future that such native, at the time of +whose birth his father was a native, be elected to a judicial office of +the City such as Alderman, Sheriff, or Mayor, unless he notify to the +Mayor and Aldermen concerning the servile condition before he receive +that office, he shall pay to the Chamberlain for the use of the City one +hundred pounds, and nevertheless shall lose his freedom as aforesaid." + + +A PARADISE OF POLICE + +Thus the fundamental principle of freedom, in all corporate towns, was +independence of the feudal aristocracy, and along with this went a sense +of social superiority relatively to those dependent upon, and subject +to, lords of fees. Burgesses claimed to be masters in their own house +and acted in concert with an eye to the common good. This led to the +growth or institution of customs divisible into two main categories. One +of these was concerned with the correction of refractory or immoral +persons dwelling within the gates; and the other with the regulation of +commerce. These categories were not entirely divorced, since the +infraction of trade ordinances was visited with something more than mere +obloquy. On the other hand, the presence of evil livers, though it had +no immediate bearing on commerce, added nothing to the security, +prosperity, and reputation of the town or city. The customs of London +form too large a subject to receive adequate treatment here, but in what +remains of our space we propose to limit ourselves to them alone. + +It would be possible to write at considerable length on the position of +aliens in mediaeval London, and, incidentally, on the charming festival +of the Pui, wherewith they consoled themselves for the many hardships +and restrictions inflicted on them by the jealous citizens, examples of +which have been previously given. Reserving this topic for another +occasion, we will glance at certain enactments with which innkeepers and +their congeners found their avocations fenced about. The citizens did +not welcome the appearance of casual strangers, any more than the +presumption of the foreigner who came and settled amongst them. Almost +of necessity the former class resorted for food and shelter to the +public-houses, which were of two kinds--the inns kept by hostelers, and +the lodging-houses kept by herbergeours. These places of resort were +supplemented by cook-shops answering to our modern restaurants. + +In the time of Edward I. an ordinance was passed that "No Portuguese or +Germans shall keep hostels, but that persons of those countries shall +lodge with freemen of the city." It has been supposed that by "freemen" +are intended native freemen, but this is doubtful, since cases occur of +strangers and foreigners being admitted to the freedom for the very +purpose of becoming hostelers and herbergeours. Even when this privilege +was granted them, they were not suffered to compete on equal terms with +the Englishman, being required to keep their houses "in the heart of the +City," and rigidly excluded from the more profitable regions on the +banks of the Thames. + +The necessity of hostelers and herbergeours being freemen was due +apparently to the survival of the old Saxon law of frank-pledge, which +was still in force at the close of the reign of Edward III. No hosteler +or herbergeour might entertain a stranger longer than a day and a night, +unless he undertook to answer for his guest's behaviour, and he was left +in no uncertainty as to the course of conduct he was expected to pursue +towards the always undesirable alien. In many respects his position +resembled that of a master of a workhouse rather than a speculative +tradesman. Thus, at times when it was forbidden to carry arms in the +City, it became his duty to take possession of his guests' arms and +retain them until the strangers departed. If the latter did not comply +with his demand, they were fined and imprisoned. At other times, when +the regulations were not so severe, he had to tell his guests that they +were not to carry arms after curfew rang, or go wandering about the +streets of the City. Should it happen that urgent business compelled a +guest to be absent from the hostel for a night, the keeper was obliged +to warn him, with the best grace he might, that he must take care to be +back as soon as possible. + +Obviously there would have been much unfairness in making hostelers and +herbergeours answer for the misdeeds of persons with whom they had only +transient relations, if there had been no system for preventing the +escape of dishonest and desperate characters who would be especially +susceptible to the attractions of a great city and could not be held in +check by the fatherly admonitions of an anxious host. Nor, again, was it +to be supposed that the native population consisted wholly of highly +moral and virtuous persons, incapable of such low crimes as burglary. To +counteract the designs of these enemies of order, it was enacted temp. +Edward I. that barriers and chains should be placed across the streets +of the City and "more especially towards the water (Fleet River) near +the Friars Preachers." From the same reign also dates an ordinance that +the Aldermen and men of the respective wards should keep watch and ward +on horseback at night, each Alderman keeping three horses for that +object. Moreover, each of the City gates was placed in charge of a +Sergeant-at-arms, who had his quarters over the gateway. It was the duty +of this official to keep guard by night, and he was assisted in this +task by a watchman (wayte), whose wages he had to pay out of his own +salary. The regulations of the City required that each gate should be +kept in the daytime by two men, well armed; and on certain occasions the +Bedel received orders to summon the men of the ward to watch the gate +armed. If they did not attend in person, they had to find substitutes at +their own expense. + +One of the grandest spectacles in Old London was that of the Marching +Watch on St. John's Day. Comprised in it were about two thousand men, +some mounted, others on foot. There were "demilances" riding on great +horses; gunners with harquebuses and wheel-locks; archers in white +coats, bearing bent bows and sheafs of arrows; pikemen in bright +corslets; and bill-men with aprons of mail. There was likewise a cresset +train numbering nearly two thousand men. Each cresset--flaming rope, +soaked in pitch, in an iron frame held aloft on a shaft--was carried by +one man and served by another. Very imposing were the Constables of the +Watch, with their glittering armour and gold chains, each preceded by +his minstrel and followed by his henchman, and with his cresset bearer +by his side. Then came the City waits (musicians) and the morris +dancers--Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and the rest; after whom appeared the +Mayor, with his sword bearer, henchmen, footmen, and giants, followed by +the Sheriffs. All the windows facing the street stood open, and there +was no lack of distinguished spectators. To quote Nicols: + + Kings, great peers, and many a noble dame, + Whose bright, pearl-glittering robes did mock the flame + Of the night's burning lights, did sit to see + How every senator, in his degree, + Adorn'd with shining gold and purple weeds, + And stately mounted on rich trapped steed, + Their guard attending, through the streets did ride + Before their foot-bands, graced with glittering pride + Of rich gilt arms, whose glory did present + A sunshine to the eye, as if it meant + Amongst the cresset lights shot up on high + To chase dark night for ever from the sky. + +By the Setting of the Watch on Midsummer Eve appears to have been meant +the stationing of these armed guards in various parts of the City, which +they were to secure from harm on that night only. In the thirty-first +year of his reign Henry VIII. abolished the Marching Watch, and +substituted for it a permanent watch maintained out of the funds which +had previously gone to support the great annual pageant. For harnessed +constables Londoners now had watchmen equipped with lanthorn and +halberd, whose duty it was to call upon the sleeping citizens to hang +out their lights, as required on dark wintry nights: + + Lanthorn and a whole candle light. + Hang out your lights! Hear! + +The next thing to be added was a bell. This institution was not popular +with all; and Dekker, satirically expressing the feeling of the +malcontents, defined the bell as "the child of darkness, a common +night-walker, a man that had no man to wait upon him, but only a dog; +one that was a disordered person, and at midnight would beat at men's +doors, bidding them (in mere mockery) to look to their candles, when +they themselves were in their dead sleeps." + +Milton, on the other hand, makes grateful mention of the salutation as a +lullaby and prophylactic: + + Far from all resort of mirth, + Save the cricket on the hearth + Or the bellman's drowsy charm + To bless the doors from nightly harm. + +Having said something of the means employed to prevent crime and arrest +criminals, we must go on to refer to the punishments in vogue in the +event of conviction. And here it may be observed that, among other +interferences with commerce and the liberty of the subject, hostelers +were not allowed to make either bread or beer. The former they were +compelled by public enactment to buy from the baker, and the latter from +the brewer or brewster (female brewer). But the City, if it defended +what was esteemed the legitimate claim of the baker to a proper +livelihood, was equally solicitous for the welfare of his customers, and +woe betide the baker who sold bread deficient in weight or quality! For +the first offence he was drawn on a hurdle from the Guildhall through +the principal streets, which would be thronged with people and foul with +traffic, and hanging from his neck was the guilty loaf. In the +Record-room at the Guildhall is an Assisa Panis containing a +pen-and-ink sketch of the ceremony, from which it appears that the +unhappy tradesman wore neither shoes nor stockings and had his arms +strapped to his sides. It seems also that the hurdle was drawn by two +horses, which suggests that it was rattled along at an inconsiderate +pace. For the second offence the baker was again conveyed on a hurdle +"through the great streets of Chepe," and he further underwent an hour's +exposure in the pillory, probably erected in Cheapside, with what +consequences may be imagined. If he proved so incorrigible as to commit +the offence a third time, the hurdle was again requisitioned, but, +public patience being exhausted, his oven was demolished and he was +forced to abjure his trade of baker in the City for ever. From the reign +of Edward II. the penalty of the hurdle was no longer imposed for the +first offence, the pillory being employed instead. + +Exposure in the pillory was a favourite prescription, a kind of judicial +panacea, to which all sorts of the morally infirm were introduced in +turn. Mr. Riley has compiled a list of the sins atoned for by such +involuntary penance, which, if we were guided by that alone, would +testify to a shocking state of depravity in the Metropolis. Culling from +this catalogue, we find that the pillory was considered a fitting reward +for various impostures: pretending to be a holy hermit; pretending to be +the son of the Earl of Ormond; pretending to be a physician; pretending +to be the summoner of the Archbishop of Canterbury and so summoning the +Prioress of Clerkenwell; pretending to be one of the Sheriff's sergeants +and meeting the bakers of Stratford and arresting them with a view to +fradulently extorting a fine, etc., etc. _Scandalum magnatum_ also +merited the pillory--a fact brought home to an idle gossip who occupied +that uneasy elevation for "telling lies" about the famous Mayor, William +Walworth. "Telling lies" of John Tremayne the Recorder was, in the same +way, held to justify a public exhibition of the impudent and imprudent +person. So, too, anti-social forestalling. + +There were cases, however, in which this common method of advertising +paltry offences was thought not to involve an adequate degree of +notoriety and reprobation. We have already adduced one instance--that of +the unscrupulous baker--in which it was attempted to evoke superior +indignation. There were others. The natural destiny of impostors was, as +we have seen, the pillory; among the qualifications for this shadow of +crucifixion being "pretending to be a physician." + +The civic fathers endeavoured to cope with the "social evil" by +drenching all engaged in immoral traffic with nauseous doses of public +ridicule. Thus, if a man were convicted of keeping a house of ill-fame, +immediately his hair and beard were shaved off, save for a fringe +(_liste_) on his head two inches in breadth. He was then conveyed to the +pillory, accompanied by minstrels, and there he had to abide at the +discretion of the Mayor and Aldermen. If he was found guilty of the +offence a third time, he was compelled to abjure the City. + +A woman convicted of being a common night-walker was committed to +prison--probably the Tun, on Cornhill--and thence she was led to Aldgate +with a hood of rayed cloth on her head and a white wand in her hand. +Next she was escorted by musicians to the thewe (pillory)--in Cheap, +probably--and there the character of her offence was proclaimed. +Finally, she was taken through Cheap and Newgate to "Cokkeslane" without +the walls, where she was required to dwell. If guilty a third time, her +hair was cropped close, while she stood in the pillory, and she was +marched to one of the gates and made to abjure the City for the +remainder of her life. A procurer or procuress was also set in the thewe +to the accompaniment of music, with a "distaf with towen"--i.e., a +distaff dressed with flax--in his or her hand; and the transgressor was +made to serve as a public spectacle for such time as the Mayor and +Aldermen deemed fit. A priest detected in the company of a loose female, +if she were single, was conveyed to the Tun, attended by musicians; and +upon a third conviction he was forced to abjure the City for ever, the +woman meanwhile being taken to one of the Sheriff's Counters and thence +to the Tun. If his partner in guilt chanced to be married, both of them +were conducted to one of the Counters, or to Newgate, and after that to +the Guildhall; and in the event of conviction they were removed to +Newgate, where their heads were shaved like those of thieves. This done, +they were led with the inevitable music through Cheap, and lastly +incarcerated in the Tun during the pleasure of the Mayor and Aldermen. +The same procedure was observed if the male offender was a married +layman. + +Incidentally in the course of the narrative we have mentioned various +instances of interference with business. We may conclude the chapter by +citing a few more, and, as we have spoken of bakers, illustrations may +be drawn from that trade. Every baker dwelling within the walls was +obliged to have his own seal for impressing the loaves, and these seals +were periodically inspected by the Alderman of the Ward, who kept a +counterpart of the impression. A baker might not sell bread "before his +oven" or in any secret place--only in the King's markets; and to every +baker was assigned his market, to which the bread was carried in baskets +hence called panniers. "Panyers Alley," in Newgate Street, was a famous +stand for bakers' boys. Bread was sold also by female hucksters or +regratresses, who received it from the bakers and delivered it from +house to house. They were allowed to have thirteen batches for twelve, +which is the origin of the phrase "baker's dozen," and the extra batch +represented their legitimate profit; but a practice grew up whereby they +obtained sixpence on Monday mornings as _estrene_, and threepence on +Fridays as "curtasie money." This was disallowed by ordinance on pain of +amercement, and bakers were admonished, in lieu of such payments, to +increase the size of the loaf "to the profit of the public." + + + + +URBAN + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE BANNER OF ST. PAUL + + +Blount's "Ancient Tenures," a meritorious seventeenth-century work which +has been edited by Mr. W. C. Hazlitt, contains a description of the +military and civil functions performed, and the privileges enjoyed, by +the house of Fitzwalter, in connexion with the City of London. The +latter stand in close relation to the subject with which we have just +dealt, but it will be convenient to discuss first the obligations and +then the "liberties" annexed to their observance. By way of preface we +may recapitulate what Blount, who obtained his account from Dugdale, has +recorded, and, having done so, we will proceed to investigate and +amplify his version of what is beyond question an important chapter in +the early administration of the city. + +Confining ourselves to the facts as there stated, we find that the duty +of providing for the safety of London devolved on the hereditary +castellans, the Fitzwalters, Lords of Wodeham, who discharged the office +of Chief Standard-bearer in fee for the castlery of Castle Baynard +within the City. When war loomed on the horizon Fitzwalter, armed and +astride his horse of service, and attended by twenty men-at-arms, who +were mounted on horses harnessed with mail or iron, proceeded to the +great door of the Minster of St. Paul with a banner of his arms +displayed before him. There he was met by the Mayor, Sheriffs, and +Aldermen, who came armed and afoot out of the Minster, the Mayor +bearing his banner which was _gules_ and charged with the image of St. +Paul, _or_, the head, hands, and feet _argent_, and in the hands a sword +also _argent_. + +On perceiving their approach, Fitzwalter dismounted, saluted the Mayor +as his comrade, and, addressing him, said: "Sir Mayor, I am come to do +my service, which I owe to the City." The Mayor, Sheriffs, and Aldermen +replied thereupon: "We allow you here, as our Standard-bearer of this +City in fee, this banner of the City to carry and govern to your power, +to the honour and profit of the City." + +Fitzwalter then took the banner in his hand, and the Mayor and the +Sheriffs, following him to the door, presented him with a horse of the +value of L20, garnished with a saddle of his arms and covered with a +sendal of the same. They also delivered to his chamberlain L20 sterling +for his charges of that day. Holding the banner in his hand, Fitzwalter +mounted the horse presented to him, and, as soon as he was seated, +desired the Mayor that a marshal might be chosen straightway out of the +host of London. This request having been complied with, he preferred +another--namely, that the common signal might be sounded through the +City, when it would be the duty of the commonalty to follow the Banner +of St. Paul, borne before them by the Castellan, to Aldgate. + +In the event of Fitzwalter marching out of the City, he chose from every +ward two of the sagest inhabitants to superintend the defence of the +City in his absence, and form a council of war, holding its sittings in +the Priory of the Trinity adjoining Aldgate. It was supposed that the +Army of London might be engaged from time to time in besieging towns or +castles; and should a siege exceed a year in duration, the utmost amount +Fitzwalter could claim as remuneration was one hundred shillings. If +such were the duties of the Castellan in time of war, he had rights +hardly less important in time of peace. Here it should be premised that +under Norman rule the King's justice or the King's peace was assured by +the grant of soke and soken--the former being the power of hearing and +determining causes and levying fines and forfeitures, and the latter the +area within which soke and other privileges were exercised. In the City +of London the Fitzwalters had a soken extending from the wall of the +Canonry of St. Paul as a man went down by the "bracine" or brewhouse of +St. Paul to the Thames; and thence to the side of the mill that stood on +the water running down by the Fleet Bridge, by London Walls, round by +the Friars Preachers to Ludgate, and by the back of the friary to the +corner of the wall of the said Canons of St. Paul. It embraced, in fact, +the whole parish of the Church of St. Andrew, which was in their gift. + +Appendant to this soken were various rights and privileges. Fitzwalter +might choose from the sokemanry, or inhabitants of the soken, a Sokeman +_par excellence_; and if any of the sokemanry was impleaded in the +Guildhall on any matter not touching the body of the Mayor or any of the +Sheriffs for the time being, the Sokeman might demand the court of +Fitzwalter. But while the Mayor and Citizens had to allow him to hold +his court, his sentence was expected to coincide with that of the +Guildhall. He exercised, indeed, a co-ordinate rather than an appellate +jurisdiction, as may be shown in the following manner: + +Suppose that a thief had been taken in the soken, stocks and a prison +were in readiness for him; and he was thence carried before the Mayor to +receive his sentence, but not until he had been conveyed to Fitzwalter's +court and within his franchise. The nature of the sentence, to which the +latter's assent was required, varied with the gravity of the offence. If +the person were condemned for simple larceny, he was conducted to the +Elms, near Smithfield--the usual place of execution before Tyburn was +adopted for the purpose--and there "suffered his judgment," i.e., was +hanged like other common thieves. If, on the other hand, the theft was +associated with treason, the crime, it was considered, called for more +exemplary punishment, and the felon was bound to a pillar in the Thames +at Wood-wharf, to which watermen fastened their boats or barges, there +to remain during two successive floods and ebbs of the tide. + +So important a franchise in the City was in itself a high honour, and it +carried other distinctions with it. The Fitzwalter of the day, when the +Mayor was minded to hold a Great Council, was invited to attend, and be +a member of it; and on his arrival, the Mayor or his deputy was required +to rise and appoint him a place by his side. During the time he was at +the hustings, all judgments were pronounced by his mouth, and such waifs +as might accrue whilst he was there were presented by him to the +bailiffs of the City or to whomsoever he pleased, by the advice of the +Mayor. + +Such is the story as we find it in the pages of Blount, in which it +appears apropos of nothing--merely as an instance of curious and +picturesque usages which had long ceased to exist. Blount, as we have +seen, gives as his authority Sir William Dugdale, who alludes to the +subject in his "Extinct Baronage of England," and Dugdale seems to have +owed the information to the "Collection of Glover, Somerset Herald." +Stow also knew of the "services and franchises," and it is thought that +he had seen a copy of them in the "Liber Custumarum." The latter is +accessible in print in Riley's edition of the "Munimenta Gildhallae +Londiniensis," and corresponds in all or most respects with what we have +found in Blount. + +So much for the antecedents of the story. + +The Fitzwalters are said to have come over with the Conqueror, and to +have been invested with the soke before mentioned by his favour and in +requital of their services. That the family had at one time +extraordinary rights in the City of London is shown by the evidence of +the Patent Rolls, from which we learn that in the third year of Edward +I. (1275) Robert Fitzwalter received licence from the Crown to transfer +Baynard Castle, "adjoining the wall of the City, with all walls and +fosses thereunto pertaining, as also the Tourelle called Montfichet," to +Robert Kilwardley, Archbishop of Canterbury, for the purpose of founding +the House and Church of the Friars Preachers--"provided always that by +reason of this grant nothing shall be extinguished to him and his heirs +which to his Barony did belong, but that whatsoever relating thereto, as +well in rents, landing of vessels, and other franchises and privileges +in the City of London or elsewhere, without diminution unto him the said +Robert, or to that Barony, have recently belonged, shall henceforth be +reserved." + +This Robert was the son of Walter Fitzwalter and grandson of his more +illustrious namesake, the Marshal of the Army of God and Captain of the +Barons in the days of King John; and it may be noted in passing that +either to the last-named or his son Walter, as lord of Dunmow in Essex, +has been ascribed the institution of the Flitch. Thirty years after the +sale of his patrimonial estate Robert Fitzwalter, in 1303, recited and +claimed his services "and franchises" before Sir John le Blount, Warden +of the City; and as late as 1321, as shown by the "Placita de Quo +Warranto," the Justiciars of the Iter were inquiring into the claims of +Fitzwalter in relation to the City of London. One of his rights he was +prepared to waive--namely, that of drowning traitors at Wood-wharf. The +Justiciars refused to take cognizance of the matter, but the Fitzwalters +did not soon or easily abandon their demands, which were renewed by +John, grandson of Robert Fitzwalter, in 1347. On the feast of St. +Matthew in that year it was announced to the Mayor, Aldermen, and +Citizens in Common Council "that John, Lord Fitzwalter, claims to have +franchises in the Ward of Castle Baynard wholly repugnant to the +liberties of the City, and to the prejudice of the estate of his +lordship the King, and of the liberties of the City aforesaid. For now +of late he has made stocks for imprisonment of persons in the said Ward +and [has claimed] to make deliverance of persons imprisoned." Thereupon +it was agreed "that the said John had no franchise within the liberties +of the City aforesaid, nor was he in future to intermeddle with any +pleas holden in the Guildhall of London or with any matters touching the +liberties of the City." + +Probably this resolution served as a quietus of the efforts of the +Fitzwalters to establish or re-establish the right of jurisdiction over +the citizens of London. It seems likely that these were endeavours to +reinstitute ancient privileges rather than to create new. The document +in the "Liber Custumarum," used in support of the claims of Robert +Fitzwalter in 1303, contains a reference to the Friars Preachers, which +would lead to the supposition that it was drawn up at the time; but +Riley believes that it was remodelled, perhaps only to the extent of +this interpolation, and that otherwise it was a copy of an earlier +pronouncement pertaining to the days of the first Robert Fitzwalter, who +would have been the actual owner of Baynard Castle. + +This has an important bearing on the reality of the dual or reciprocal +obligations, which were apparently embodied in a compact between the +Mayor and Citizens of London on the one part, and their military chief +or champion on the other. Thus it will be necessary to glance at the +personal history of the elder Robert Fitzwalter, on which something has +been already said. According to the Chronicle of Dunmow and other early +records, the principal reason of Fitzwalter's insatiable hatred of King +John was that the monarch had attempted the chastity of Matilda, +Robert's fair daughter, who, by the way, is identified by Anthony Munday +and other Elizabethan playwrights with the Maid Marian of Robin Hood. +Dugdale is disposed to accept this story; but, granting that it is true, +it hardly suffices to explain Fitzwalter's pre-eminence in the forces of +the rebellious Barons. This seems to have been due to his influence with +the wealthy citizens of London, who were among the staunchest opponents +of the astute and tyrannous sovereign. On May 24, 1215--the Sunday next +before Ascension Day, when many of the inhabitants would have been in +attendance on Divine service--the army of the Barons, marching from +Ware, were permitted to enter the City, unopposed, through the gate of +Aldgate. Fitzwalter's position as Castellan, and his connexion with the +Priory of Holy Trinity at Aldgate, furnish an easy and natural +explanation of this proceeding. In 1217 the citizens of London raised a +force of 20,000 men for the assistance of the Dauphin of France against +King Henry and his guardian William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and +Robert Fitzwalter acted as commander. He died in 1234, and was buried +before the high altar in the church of Dunmow Priory. + +In the description of the banner delivered to Fitzwalter by the Mayor we +have the earliest mention of the assumption of any sort of arms by the +City of London. It may be noted that the sword is stated by some +heraldic authorities to have been argent, whilst by others this detail +is omitted. In Saxon times York also had its standard-bearer. The "Great +Gate" of St. Paul's was probably the Northern Gate. + +Still keeping to the military aspects of the subject--at the +commencement of the fourteenth century there was at the west end of St. +Paul's Cathedral a waste piece of ground, which was the property of the +City; and here it was the custom for the citizens to make a muster of +arms under the command or inspection of the lord of Baynard Castle for +the defence of the City, "so often as the said citizens might see fit." +Moreover, at the east end of the church lay a smaller plot, on which the +citizens held folkmotes and made parade of arms for preserving the +King's peace. This was perhaps a relic of the Anglo-Saxon institution of +Inward, which is mentioned in Domesday, and was designed for the +maintenance of order within the walls. Adjacent to this smaller plot was +the clochier or campanile of St. Paul's, which was a distinct building +from the cathedral proper, and contained the great bell, known as the +_motbelle_, by which the citizens were summoned to the Folkmote or an +assembly of arms on occasions "when within the respective bailiwicks of +the Aldermen anything unexpected, doubtful, or disastrous against the +realm, or the royal crown, chanced suddenly to take place." When the +King required the services of the Host of London against foreign enemies +or outside the confines of the City, it is natural to suppose that the +muster was held on the larger of the two spaces. + +The musters and parades of the Host probably lapsed when, by the sale of +Baynard Castle, the Fitzwalters ceased to be _de facto_ Castellans of +London. This is a fair inference from the circumstance that in 1321 the +citizens complained before the Justiciars Itinerant that the Dean and +Chapter had unlawfully taken possession of the vacant spaces, enclosed +them with walls, and even erected dwelling-houses on the eastern plot. +The blazonry of the Banner of St. Paul, which would have been no longer +used, was so far forgotten that eighty or a hundred years later nothing +remained but the sword, which was supposed to stand for the dagger of +that militant mayor, Sir William Walworth, who is said to have +terminated therewith the lawlessness of Wat Tyler. + + + + +URBAN + +CHAPTER XV + +GOD'S PENNY + + +Were we obliged to sum up the difference between town and country in one +word, that word would be "trade." In mediaeval, far more than in modern, +times country places had their fairs, but London, with its markets open +Sundays and week-days, enjoyed all the benefits of a perpetual fair; +from which strangers and foreigners, though under some disadvantages +compared with freemen, were by no means excluded. + +One of the great principles regulating commercial transactions in the +Middle Ages and enforced by law and custom was publicity. Bakers, as we +have seen, might not sell bread "before their oven," and to this we may +add that fishmongers might not take fish into their shops--they had to +expose it for sale outside. The object of such arrangements was to +ensure fair dealing all round. As Justice is usually figured with a pair +of scales, it may be taken for granted that the important question of +due weight did not escape the attention of legislators, and it attained +considerable prominence in 31 Edward I. (A.D. 1303), in which +year the statute De Nova Custuma was promulgated. This statute provided +that in every market town and fair throughout the Kingdom there was to +be erected in some fixed spot the Royal Beam or Balance, and that both +vendor and purchaser were to view the scale before weighing, to see that +it was empty. Prior to being used, the arms of the balance had to be +exactly equal, and when the tronator was weighing, he had to remove his +hands as soon as they were level. It may be observed that the citizens +of London refused to accept the "New Custom," stating that it had +always been the custom for all buyers of wares, whether archbishops, +bishops, earls, barons, or other persons, to have the draught of the +beam; but we have learnt by this time that a local custom was not +allowed to override the law of the land, and thus it is most improbable +that this protest, though it led to the issuing of two Royal mandates, +was long persisted in. + +But the "New Custom" statute contained another provision--namely, when +once a bargain had been ratified, neither of the contracting parties was +to recede from it. If they, or either of them, took this course after +the weighing process, it would be bringing the Royal Beam into contempt, +and such profanation could not be contemplated; but the sacredness of +contract had been affirmed by local ordinances or customs before this +measure was enacted. A contract was held to be good when God's Penny, or +earnest money, had been given and received by the principals. As God's +Penny, or that which it symbolized, was the basis of all business, and +business was the life of towns, the custom appears worthy of notice in +some detail. + +The _arles_, or earnest money, was given to a servant on hiring, as +shown by an entry in the Shuttleworth Accounts (printed by the Chetham +Society) for September, 1590: "4_d._, earnest money, was paid unto a +cook to serve at the next Assizes." Similarly, in February, 1592: "To +John Hay upon earnest to serve for a year as butler and brewster at +Smithhills, 4_d._" Previous entries state that 12_d._ was paid to John +Horebyn "upon erlynges" of a bargain for ditching, and that "3_d._ was +given of erles unto the gardener for his hiring another year." + +Mr. Gerald P. Gordon, to whom we are indebted for much valuable +information, quotes as an analogous instance the gift of the "King's +shilling" to a recruit on enlistment. As regards mercantile transactions +he considers that the usage "was not so much a partial or symbolic +payment of the price as a distinct payment for the seller's forbearance +to deliver to somebody else." This view of the case appears to us +extremely doubtful, as it would render the contract binding on one of +the parties only--namely, the buyer; whereas Bracton and "Fleta" aver +that if the seller default he must pay double the earnest. Mr. Gordon +subsequently adduces a Preston decree, that "if a buyer should buy any +goods in large or small quantities and give earnest, and he who agreed +to sell should rue the bargain, he shall pay the double asked. But if +the buyer fingers the goods, he must either take them or pay the seller +5_s._" We infer, therefore, from his evidence alone, that the payment of +earnest was essentially symbolical and served all the purpose of a +written contract. + +That the act was regarded as expressive of mutual understanding is shown +by a Northampton ordinance of about the year 1260: "That if anyone put a +penny or any merchandise before the seller be agreed to the bargain, he +shall forfeit the penny to the use of the bailiffs." The importance of +the due-fulfilment of the contract was recognized by the imposition of a +penalty on anyone who delivered the earnest and afterwards declined to +make good the bargain. At Waterford about 1300 it was enacted that +"whoever gives God's silver and repents, be he who he may, shall pay +10s."; and at Cork in 1614 an ordinance was passed, disfranchising the +defaulter of his councillorship and freedom and compelling him to pay a +fine of L20. + +In the early part of the sixteenth century God's Penny was paid at +Waterford on ships' freights; and at Youghal, in 1611, it was paid into +court for the right of buying wines on board ship. As may have been +noticed in previous examples, the arles did not necessarily consist of a +penny. An ordinance of Berwick of the year 1249 declared: "If anyone buy +herring or other aforesaid goods and give God's penny or other silver in +earnest, he shall pay the merchant from whom he bought the said goods +according to the bargain made." But a penny sufficed. Noyes, the +Attorney-General of Charles I., is emphatic on this point. "If," he +says in his "Maxims," "the bargain be that you shall give me two pounds +for my horse, and you do give me one penny in earnest, which I do +accept, this is a perfect bargain." The impression left upon one's mind +is that the most important contracts as well as the most trifling +dealings were settled by the exchange of God's Penny or some equivalent +ceremony. + +Now, it is evident on the face of it that the transactions must have +taken place in the presence of witnesses; otherwise a man who had made +an awkward bargain would have found it easy to escape from his dilemma +by denying that he had either given or received the penny. In early +times, before writing became a common accomplishment, and when, as now, +men might be eager to clinch a bargain without loss of time, it was +desirable in the interests of common honesty that such agreements should +be made in the light of day and in the face of the world. This custom +appears to have continued to a late date. Thus, if O'Keeffe the +dramatist may be believed, there was in the centre of Limerick Exchange +a pillar with a circular plate of copper, about three feet in diameter, +called "the nail," on which the earnest of all Stock Exchange bargains +had to be paid. At Bristol there are said to have been four pillars +called "the nails" in front of the Exchange, the purpose being the same; +and similarly, at Liverpool, bargains were completed on a plate of +copper, also called "the nail," and standing in front of the Exchange. +It is probable, however, as Mr. Gordon observes, that, the phrase +"payment on the nail" did not originate from circumstances like these, +but was an adaptation of the Latin _super unguem_ or the French _sur +l'ongle_, by which is meant "paying down into a man's hand." It might +thus stand for a bargain the opposite of that of which God's Penny was +the usual symbol. It appears to have been the custom at Ipswich in 1291 +for traders not to make writings or tallies if two witnesses were in +attendance to prove that the undertaking was to pay on a near day _ou +freschement sur le ungle_. The notion of immediate payment is still +conveyed by the expression, and would cover the entire amount, not +merely God's Penny. However, that payment was undoubtedly made "on the +nail;" hence some confusion may have arisen, especially where plates and +pillars were provided for the deposit of earnest money. + +In all this there is much to remind us of the Roman _mancipatio_, a +method of sale which demanded the presence of five witnesses, and in +which the buyer took possession of his new purchase by holding in his +hand a bronze ingot and repeating the formula: "This man [i.e., a slave] +I claim as belonging to me by right quiritary; and be he [or he is] +purchased to me by this ingot and this scale of bronze [i.e., that in +which the purchase money had been weighed out]." + +We have expressed the opinion that the payment of God's Penny was a +symbolical act, and this opinion is supported by the fact that there +were in mediaeval England hand-clasp bargains. Marbeck, a musician and +theologian of the sixteenth century, remarks: "As ye see: after all +bargaines there is a signe thereof made, eyther clapping of hands or +giving earnest." Among the provisions of the Grimsby charter of 1259 is +one to the effect that only buyers of the said town might make bargains +by hand-clasp for herring or other fish or for corn. To this was added +that hand-clasp bargains were to be valid, unless the merchandise, which +was the subject of such a bargain, should be inferior to that agreed +upon--a question which has to be determined by men worthy of credit. In +Shakespeare's "Henry V." we meet with the saying: "Give me your answer, +i' faith, do; and so clasp hands _and a bargain_; how say you, lady?" +This recalls that the joining of hands in the marriage ceremony is in +the highest degree symbolical; and it is, of course, the common token of +faith in friendship. Judging by these parallels, the payment of God's +Penny was not less symbolical than its equivalent, the clapping or +clasping of hands. + + + + +URBAN + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE MERCHANT AND HIS MARK + + +In the course of the preceding chapter reference was made to the +illiteracy of our ancestors in its bearing upon trade usages. In the +present chapter we propose to supplement this allusion by drawing +attention to a feature of commercial life which was certainly influenced +by, if not actually due to, the prevailing lack of education. The +combination "Merchants' Marks" is so familiar as to suggest that such +marks were used by merchants alone. This was by no means the case. +Farmers also had their marks. "When a yeoman," says Mr. Williams, +"affixed a mark to a deed, he drew a signum by which his land, cattle, +etc., were identified"; and in Sussex, we are informed, the post-mortem +inquisitions from the time of Henry VII. to that of Charles II. exhibit +a large number of yeomen's marks--"other than crosses"--which were +employed as signatures. Masons' and printers' marks are further +varieties of the same mode of identification. + +All these are distinctively trade uses, but the astonishing thing is +that, in Germany at any rate, marks were affixed, in conjunction with +regular signatures, by ecclesiastical dignitaries and secular nobles, +probably as an additional guarantee. They were also used on shields, and +in England were frequently impaled with the owners' arms. + +Marks, then, were in no sense the exclusive characteristic of the +merchant class; and yet, owing to the fact that these devices were +necessarily more used by traders, they may be considered on the whole as +belonging to their domain. As we have seen, every baker in the City was +obliged to stamp his loaves with his own proper mark; and in other +branches of commerce men would value their mark as a means of +advertisement. As persons engaged in commerce were commonly debarred +from the privilege of armorial bearings, marks were freely employed not +only in relation to special callings, but also for ornamentation or +commemoration in any and every sphere in which merchants desired to +leave the impress of their personality and interest. They were to be +found on the fronts of houses, over the fireplace in halls, on seals, on +sepulchral slabs and monumental brasses, and on painted windows. In his +description of a Dominican convent--printed in full in Prof. Skeat's +"Specimens of English Literature" (a.d. 1394-1579)--the author of "Peres +the Ploughman's Crede" speaks as follows: + + Than I munt me forth the minster to knowen + And awayted a wone wonderly well y-built, + With arches on every hall & belliche [beautifully] y-carven + With crochets on corners, with knots of gold, + Wide windows y-wrought, y-written full thick, + Shyning with shapen shields to shewen about, + With _marks of merchants_ y-meddled between, + Mo than twenty and two, twice y-numbered; + There is none herald that hath half such a roll, + Right as a ragman hath reckoned them new. + +Another circumstance has to be noted--namely, that merchants' marks were +entirely distinct from shop signs, such as that of the Golden Fleece, +which, though serving the same purpose of aiding or enlightening the +unlearned, were more pictorial in character. Dr. Barrington, in his +"Lectures on Heraldry," defines merchants' marks as "various fanciful +forms, distorted representations of _initials of names_," which, he +says, were "placed upon articles of merchandise, because armorial +ensigns could not have been so placed without debasement." + +To those merchants who had no arms--and they were doubtless the vast +majority--the mark served as a substitute, and was regarded with the +same feelings of pride and attachment as the ensigns of the nobility and +gentry. But unquestionably its chief value was strictly commercial, as +is proved by an instance of litigation in the twenty-second year of +Queen Elizabeth's reign, which is thus narrated by Mr. Justice +Doddridge: "An action was brought upon the case in common pleas by a +clothier, that, whereas he had gained reputation by the making of his +cloth, by reason whereof he had great utterance to his great benefit and +profit, and that he used to set his mark to his cloth, another clothier, +perceiving it, used the same mark to his ill-made cloth on purpose to +deceive him, and it was resolved that an action did lie." + +Merchants' marks appear to have been especially common in towns +depending on the manufacture of wool. It so happens that one of those +towns was that in the immediate neighbourhood of which these chapters +were written; and, agreeably to what has been stated, the Church of St. +Peter, Tiverton, which owed much to the munificence of the old +merchants, carries a number of such marks. East Anglia is particularly +rich in such marks, as is shown by Mr. W. C. Ewing's papers in the +"Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society" (vol. +iii.). Mr. Dawson Turner, in his Historical Introduction to Colman's +"Engravings of Sepulchral Brasses in Norfolk and Suffolk," after stating +that merchants or burgesses were probably the only classes except the +military that were represented on monuments, goes on to observe that +"these are chiefly to be found in borough towns or the parochial +churches of large commercial counties where the woollen manufacture +flourished." And, as we have pointed out, the merchant's mark very often +accompanied him to his grave. + +We have now reached the borderland, where from urban customs we pass to +those of the country; and it will form a natural transition if we +conclude the chapter and the section with some remarks on the rural use +of marks, which is still common in regard to stock. In this Connexion +they are generally styled yeomen's marks; and, from the circumstances of +the case, it seems certain that the adoption of such symbols took place +on the farm long before they were employed on the mart. The point has +been raised whether so-called "pictorial marks" are, and have always +been, nothing more than rude drawings of familiar objects. Mr. J. H. +Scott has dealt with this problem in an examination of Homeyer's theory +that marks were originally runic forms, and he expresses the opinion +that, assuming this to be true of certain types of marks, "they lost +their character at an early period and were regarded merely as signs or +symbols not as letters of an alphabet." As regards "pictorial marks," he +holds that the similarity to various objects is accidental. If so, this +is rather in favour of Homeyer's derivation of marks from runes, the +forms in some cases being identical. Moreover, as Homeyer notes, "signa" +for identifying cattle, horses, trees, clothes, and as boundary marks, +are referred to in the Lex Salica, the Edictum Rotharis, and the +Anglo-Saxon laws, so that we have here something like a pedigree of the +custom. + + + + +RURAL + +CHAPTER XVII + +RUS IN URBE + + +Urban customs appear of more interest and importance than rural usages +by reason of the greater complexity of relations implied by the +interdependence of members of a populous community. In the country the +organization of society is more simple, and the life of the fields, if +more tranquil, must always be less vivid, and, if the term may be +allowed, less conscious than that of the town. Nothing, however, is more +certain than that the formation of towns came after and was in most +instances the progeny of rural conditions. It is an amazing circumstance +that not until the middle of the last century did the great city of +Manchester emancipate itself from the last traces of feudal subjection +by the purchase of manorial and market rights. Just as the word +_pecunia_ is derived from _pecus_, just as the merchant's mark is in all +likelihood descended from that of the yeoman, even so in many municipal +appointments there is strong evidence of the once all-prevalent +agricultural element. + +If we turn to London, we shall discover that its administration was +conducted, to a large extent, on country and manorial lines. The +necessary result was chaos. As Mr. J. H. Round observes, "The genius of +the Anglo-Saxon system was ill adapted, or rather wholly unsuitable, to +urban life ... while of unconquerable persistence and strength in small +manageable rural communities, it was bound to, and did, break down when +applied to large and growing towns, whose life lay not in agriculture, +but in trade. In a parish, in a hundred, the Englishman was at home, but +in a town, and still more in such a town as London, he found himself at +his wits' end." But the practical spirit, the common sense of our race, +successfully asserted itself--e.g., in the case of the Sheriffs, who in +London are elected by the citizens. In general, sheriffs are appointed +by the Crown, and, as the name implies, they are strictly county +officers. In the case of the special franchise of the Fitzwalters we +have seen how eagerly the Corporation embraced the opportunity afforded +by the sale of Baynard Castle to secure greater freedom and homogeneity +in the government of the City. + +Subordinate to the sheriff in the administration of a county are various +classes of bailiffs; and the bailiff bore to the lord of a fee much the +same relation as the sheriff did to the King. For one or other of these +reasons the mayors of provincial towns were, in the early days of local +autonomy, termed bailiffs. By a charter granted in 1200 King John +permitted the citizens of Lincoln to elect two of their number "well and +faithfully to maintain the provostship (_praeposituram_) of the city." +Twenty-two years afterwards the persons holding this office were called +upon to represent the city in a dispute with the burgesses of +Beverley--"Ballivi civitatis Lincolnie summoniti fuerunt ad respondendum +burgensibus de Beverlaco." The record continues: "Et Major Lincolnie et +Robertus filius Eudonis ballivi Lincolnie veniunt et defendunt," etc. +Maitland, in his edition of Bracton's "Note-Book," in which these +particulars occur, suggests that the name of one of the bailiffs has +been omitted, but Mr. Round is doubtless right in holding that the +senior bailiff was the "Mayor of Lincoln." Stevenson's "Report on the +Gloucester Corporation Records" (9th Appendix to the 12th Report on +Hist. MSS.) renders it certain that the titles were interchangeable. "A +noteworthy circumstance," he says, "is that although the office of +Mayor of Gloucester was not created until 1483, one Richard the Burgess +is frequently described in the witness clauses as 'tunc Majore de +Glouc.' The dates of these deeds range between _circa_ 1220 and _circa_ +1240. Sometimes this appears to be the title of the senior Bailiff, as +Richard Burgess and Thomas Ouenat are described as Bailiffs in a deed +_circa_ 1230, but in another deed of the same date Burgess is called +'Major' and Ouenat 'Bailiff.'" + +In some boroughs the old royal officer, the Portreeve--the title is a +hybrid compounded of the Anglo-Saxon _gerefa_ and the Latin _porta_ (not +_portus_), alluding to the gate, where the markets were held--bore sway. +At Tiverton, which was incorporated in 1614, the offices of Mayor and +Portreeve existed side by side, and down to the year 1790 the latter +exercised the power of summoning certain people to attend the septennial +perambulation of the Town Lake--a stream of water the property of the +inhabitants. On such occasions the Portreeve completely effaced the +Mayor, who is not mentioned by name in connexion with the proceedings. +The following extracts from a record in the Court Leet books of the +proceedings on September 1, 1774, will demonstrate that the celebration, +which took place entirely within the confines of the borough, was a +survival of a state of things anterior to the grant of a charter. + +"A procession and survey of the ancient rivulet, watercourse, or town +lake, running from a spring rising near an ash pollard in and at the +head of a certain common called Norwood Common, within the said Hundred, +Manor, and Borough to Coggan's Well near the Market Cross in the town of +Tiverton aforesaid, belonging to the inhabitants of, and others his +Majesty's liege subjects, living, sojourning, and residing in the town +of Tiverton aforesaid, for their sole use and benefit, was made and +taken by Mr. Martin Dunsford (Portreeve), Henry Atkins, Esq. (Steward), +Thomas Warren and Philip Davey (water bailiffs) and the Rev. Mr. +William Wood ... and divers other persons, free suitors, tenants and +inhabitants of the said town, parish, and hundred of Tiverton, by the +order of the honourable Sir Thomas Carew, baronet, Dame Elizabeth Carew +and Edward Colman, Esq., Lords of the Hundred, Manor and Borough +aforesaid, the first day of September in the year of our Lord one +thousand seven hundred and seventy-four. + +"The Portreeve and Free Suitors, having adjourned the Court Baron, which +was this day held, proceeded from the Court or Church House in the +following order:--The Bailiff of the Hundred with his staff and a basket +of cakes; the children of the Charity School and other boys two and two; +the two water bailiffs with white staves; music; Freeholders and Free +Suitors two and two; the Steward; the Portreeve with his staff; other +gentlemen of the town, &c., who attended the Portreeve on this occasion; +the Common Cryer of the Hundred, Manor, and Borough aforesaid, as +assistant to the Bailiff of the Hundred with his staff. + +"In this manner they proceeded at first to the Market Cross, and there +at Coggan's Well, the Cryer with his staff in the well made the +following proclamation in the usual and ancient form--'Oyez! Oyez!! +Oyez!!! I do hereby proclaim and give notice that by order of the Lords +of this Hundred, Manor, and Borough of Tiverton, and on behalf of the +inhabitants of this town and parish, the Portreeve and inhabitants now +here assembled, publicly proclaim this stream of water, for the sole use +and benefit of the inhabitants of the town of Tiverton and other his +Majesty's liege subjects there being and sojourning, from the Market +Cross in Tiverton to Norwood Common." They then proceeded in the same +order through the Back Lane, in every part as it ran and through the +ancient path of the water bailiffs time out of mind and made the like +proclamation at the following places.... The Portreeve and free suitors +and others that attended them in their way noted every diversion and +nuisance that seemed to affect the Lake, and afterwards returned to +Tiverton and dined at the Vine Tavern, where they gave the following +charity children and other poor boys that attended them twopence +a-piece.... + +These duties are now performed by the Mayor and Corporation, but the +custom was observed in the traditional manner at least as late as 1830. +We have ascertained that not only did the Portreeve take the lead on +these occasions, but, like the Mayor and other members of the +Corporation, he was ex officio guardian of the poor of the town and +parish--a privilege which he shared with them alone. We have here, +therefore, an instance of dual authority lasting well into the +nineteenth century, or nearly six hundred years after London had purged +itself of the feudal element in its administration. To appreciate its +full significance we have to remember that there existed, side by side +with corporate towns, others which were not actually corporate, but were +known, nevertheless, as free boroughs or liberties, the reason being +that the owners of tenements in them held of the lord by burgage tenure +in the same way as the freemen of Liverpool held of the King, and that +there were manorial courts, which exempted the burgesses from the +jurisdiction of the Sheriff's Hundred Court, the Sheriff's County Court, +and even the higher courts of the Crown. + +The executive officers, the Portreeve and the Bailiffs exercised +functions probably as old as the borough itself, and therefore, in +almost every instance, to be traced to the freer times preceding the +Norman Conquest. Stoford, in Somerset, a good type of such a town, +retained its constitution until the middle of the eighteenth century. In +the reign of Edward I. it included no fewer than seventy-four burgages; +and the burgesses set such store by their privileges that they would not +permit an inquisition to be taken by the jury of the county save in +conjunction with a jury of their own. The borough had a guildhall, the +"Zuldhous," for which a rent of 2_s._ was paid to the lord of the fee +by certain Representatives of the "Commonalty." Commenting on this +circumstance, the late Mr. John Batten, F.S.A., remarks: "It proves that +the burgesses had not acquired the true element of a corporation, by +which the Guildhall would have passed by law to the members for the time +being; but that it was necessary to convey it to certain persons as +feoffees or trustees." Stoford, however, had its official seal, bearing +the ungrammatical, but intelligible, legend, + + "S. COMMVNE BVRGENTES STOFORD." + +This may seem rather an example of _urbs in rure_ than of _rus in urbe_, +for it was on such half-emancipated towns that corporate boroughs like +Hereford looked down (see above, p. 177), and precisely because of their +subjection to a lord. Stoford, and similar places, were deemed, and +were, wholly, or almost wholly, rural, and the real question is how far +the term urbs is applicable to them. As used in this connexion, it is +intended to denote precisely what the term "borough" did in its widest +signification--namely, a self-governing community; and the "free" but +non-corporate boroughs were clearly more allied to ordinary manors than +to towns and cities priding themselves on their independence. + +The terms "portreeve" and "bailiff" are extremely familiar, and the +offices they denote are by no means extinct; but, in addition to these +functionaries, there has been perpetuated a whole family of minor +ministers even more closely associated with the agricultural aspects of +town life. Mr. G. L. Gomme, F.S.A., so well known for his labours in +various fields of antiquarian interest, has devoted particular attention +to this matter, and for what follows we are indebted entirely to his +industrious research. He points out that "the old village community was +organized and self-acting," and "possessed a body of officers and +servants which made it independent of outside help." These officers and +servants were, in fairly numerous instances, retained long after the +village had outgrown its primitive limits. In quite a variety of places +we meet with pound-keepers, pound-drivers, and pinders; and the hayward +also has been found in as many as fifteen different towns. In the same +list are included the brookwarden of Arundel, the field-grieve of +Berwick-on-Tweed, the grass-men of Newcastle-on-Tyne, the warreners of +Scarborough, the keeper of the greenyard in London, the hedge-lookers of +Lancaster and Clitheroe, the molecatcher of Arundel, Leicestershire, and +Richmond, the field-driver of Bedford, the herd, the nolts-herds, the +town swine-herds of Alnwick, Newcastle, Shrewsbury, and Doncaster, the +pasture-masters of Beverley and York, the moss-grieves of Alnwick, the +moormen and mossmen of Lancaster, the moor-wardens of Axbridge, the +fen-reeves of Beccles and Southwold, and the woodwards of Havering and +Nottingham. + +It will occur to most people that, if these offices were maintained, the +reason must have been something more than the mere force of +conservatism, great as that has been in the steady evolution of English +life; and such was undoubtedly the case in most of, if not all, the +cases cited. In other words, the townsmen, individually, as a body, or +in the persons of a limited number of elect, continued to enjoy certain +rights, and to hold a financial stake, in the soil surrounding that on +which their town was planted. The officers were often paid not in cash, +but in kind, either a quantity of grain being allotted to them or a +piece of land. The latter form of remuneration, which was the more +common, is exemplified at Doncaster, where there is a field called the +Pinder's Balk, which the pinder cultivated for his own profit. At +Malmesbury, it appears, he occupied the position of honour held in other +towns by the Mayor, and his salary is represented by a piece of land +called the Alderman's Kitchen. + +Let us now turn to the communities themselves. At Nottingham resident +burgesses have a right, falling to them in order of seniority, to the +"burgess part"--i.e., a piece of land, either field or meadow, for which +each pays a small ground rent to the Corporation.[14] These "parts" +number 254, and they are of varying value, so that, as Mr. Gomme puts +it, they constitute "a sort of lottery." At Manchester there are 280 +allotments, each about an acre in extent, in which all the commoners +have an interest. To forty-eight landholders is assigned an acre each, +and twenty-four assistant (?) burgesses have each of them an additional +acre. At Berwick-on-Tweed there are two portions of land, of which one +is demised, under the name of "treasurer's farms," by the mayor, +bailiff, and burgesses to tenants. The other part includes sundry +parcels called meadows ranging from 1 1/4 to 2 1/2 acres; and every year +at a meeting of the burgesses--the "meadowguild," as it is termed--the +lands vacated by the death or departure of those last in occupation go +to the oldest burgesses or burgesses' widows eligible by residence, the +right of choice depending on seniority. + +The land belonging to the Corporation of Langharne is similarly +allocated. When an occupier dies, the profits accruing from his share +are kept by his representatives, and at the ensuing Michaelmas Court the +burgess next in age to the deceased is presented by the jury, and +obtains the share previously held by him. Mr. Gomme points out that the +reverence for age discoverable in so many of these customs is +characteristic of the Teutonic races and of primitive communities in +general. An interesting feature of this case is that corn is sown in 330 +acres for three years in succession and during the next three years they +are grassed out. + +The heading of the chapter is "Rus in Urbe," and, still following Mr. +Gomme's guidance, we have now to trace a transition that occurred in +the use of these public lands as the urban element became more and more +preponderant. It seems that while there are boroughs with common pasture +only, there has been found no instance of a borough having arable and +meadow allotments, and no common pasture. The inference is that, as the +community grew more addicted to mercantile pursuits, they were less able +to devote themselves to the cares of husbandry, and, accordingly, the +lands ceased to be cultivated. But they were still of considerable value +for grazing purposes. The merchants' cattle and horses might be placed +in them--the latter, perhaps, being subsequently entered in the service +of trade. Existing arrangements in boroughs which have abandoned +agriculture afford clear indications that at one time allotments were +carried out and rules enforced with regard to cultivation and the annual +crops. + +The history of many towns shows that they formerly enjoyed rights of +common which they no longer enjoy, and the manner in which these became +lost is in numerous instances a mystery. When, from being lands of which +the tenants were virtually seised for life, they passed through some +evolution into being the property of the corporation let to freemen or +others as the case might be, they might not improbably be sold for the +good of the community at large. In earlier days the right may have been +surrendered by timid or ignorant townspeople under the pressure of a +local lord of the manor strong enough to set the law at defiance, or a +compromise may have been effected between him and those in temporary +enjoyment of the benefit. These, as we have observed, sometimes +consisted of no more than a fraction of the inhabitants, and, as the +population increased, this would be a diminishing fraction, with the +result that outsiders would be apathetic regarding the fate of the +common. Where there was a special qualification, it was not necessarily +seniority. At Huntingdon, for example, it was the freemen dwelling in +"commonable" houses who were privileged to use the common. + +There were other restrictions than those already named. In the locality +just mentioned "commonable" burgesses, if we may imitate their manner of +speech, might depasture two cows and one horse from Old May-day till +Martinmas, and four sheep from Martinmas till Candlemas. At Coventry, in +what are called Lammas Lands, the allowance is two horses and one cow. +How very wise and necessary these limitations were may be gleaned from +the following extract from a decree in Chancery in 42 Elizabeth. The +bill--we have modernized the spelling--recites that, + +"Divers years past sundry godly and well-disposed persons having +commiseration of the poor estate of the said town and parish, did in +sundry times in divers kings' reigns assure certain lands, tenements, +rents, common of pasture, of profits of markets and fairs and other +annual commodities under divers and sundry persons for the ease and +relief of the same poor inhabitants of the said town and parish, and +namely one William, sometimes Lord of the Town and Borough of Torrington +Magna aforesaid, by his deed did assure unto the free burgesses of the +said town, and some others of his free tenants of his said manor +dwelling in the parish of Torrington aforesaid, common of pasture for +their beasts and cattle in and throughout his waste grounds within his +manor of Great Torrington, lying within the aforesaid parish and known +by divers names there, by the name of the Wester Common and one other by +the name of Hatchmoor Common with, others, which waste grounds in the +whole do contain about five hundred acres of land and are lying very +near adjoining to the said town on each side thereof, the which hath +been and so might continue and be very profitable and commodious for all +the poor inhabitants of the said town and other free tenants of the said +manor that by the same grant ought to have common of pasture therein, if +the same were used in any reasonable rate or with any indifferency +according to the good and charitable mind and intent of the said granter +thereof, but in what form or what the words of the deeds are the said +complainants could not express. + +"They, or some of them [the defendants], do continually oppress and +surcharge with their beasts, sheep, and cattle the common grounds, so as +the poor inhabitants cannot well keep a cow or horse thereupon for their +use and commodity in any good estate, whereas if the same were used with +any indifferency according to the true intent of the donor thereof, +every inhabitant within the said town that hath any ancient burgage to +which the said common of pasture was granted might well keep two kine or +a cow and a gelding or a horse beast with little or no charge. All which +was devoured and eaten up by six or eight of the richest greedy persons +of the same town and the inhabitants thereof." + +But the benefit of common was sometimes not merely attenuated by the +action of a powerful and covetous few, but, as was before observed, +wholly or partially lost. The following passage from the same bill +throws some light on the point: + +"And also the said Roger Ley under colour of a lease, which he himself +with the residue of his consorts made of certain tenements, parcel of +the said lands and tenements, unto certain of the children of the said +Ley wherein he had cunningly inserted parcel of the same common ground +contrary to the knowledge and weeting of the residue of his cofeoffees +or some of them had entered upon parcel of the said common ground called +Hatchmoor or lying in Hatchmoor, wherein the said complainants, having +burgages within the said town, and all other that dwell in the ancient +burgages or dwelling-houses within the said town, ought and had used +time out of mind to have common of pasture, without any colour of lawful +right had enclosed and tilled two parcels thereof containing about +fourteen or sixteen acres and made divers leases thereof to persons +unknown, and had shut up an ancient lane or way, commonly called Dark +Lane, leading from the said town to the said common of Hatchmoor, +through which the inhabitants of the said town had always time out of +mind, until the said enclosure, used go and drive to the said common, to +the great hindrance, hurt, and damage of the said complainants, and to +the disinherison of the said town for ever." + +That towns, and even great towns, abode by the traditions of country +life, is now abundantly manifest, but the indications above given shed +only partial light on rural conditions in their earliest and fullest +form. These will furnish the theme of the following chapter, which, it +is hoped, will furnish the clue to much that is mysterious in the data +thus far supplied. + + + + +RURAL + +CHAPTER XVIII + +COUNTRY PROPER + + +The state of things exhibited in the previous chapter is essentially +transitional. What we have there seen is the town emerging out of the +country, or, to put it another way, the country merging, through the +principle of attraction, into the focus of the town. This method of +viewing the subject is necessarily partial and incomplete. The existence +of a common in association with a town or village or group of villages +is not a self-evident proposition, to be taken for granted. It is +clearly part of a system which it now becomes our business to +investigate. + +To all appearances many of the arrangements found in the course of, and +to the close of, the Middle Ages, and even (in a decaying and +disappearing form) almost to our own generation, were descended from +that well-nigh immemorial antiquity, in which our forefathers were +colonists in what was to them a new world--a world of forest and of fen, +of man-eating beasts, and alien foemen as fierce or fiercer than they. +These conditions determined the course of action of the men who lived +under them. For safety, men of one blood dwelt together in a stockaded +village or tun. They and their stock, however, had to subsist on their +labour and the bounty of the earth; and therefore around the village a +tract of cultivable land was appropriated to the use of the community. +Until some degree of security was attained it was futile to dream too +much of individual rights; the inhabitants would have been only too glad +of the co-operation of their neighbours, and whilst some worked others +no doubt stood to arms. Within this area seem to have lain fenced +fields for the shelter of calves and other young animals, but this was +probably the only exception. Beyond the arable land lay a ring of meadow +land; beyond that the stinted pasture; and beyond that again the forest +or waste. + +By the term "common" is generally understood common of pasture; it is +not unusual to meet with the phrase "cow commons," as though cows were +the principal, if not the sole, objects which rendered commons of +service. This may well have been the case in later times. In early days +however, there went along with it common tillage, examples of which are +still to be found on the Continent. Traces of the open-field system +exist also in various parts of England, notably between Hitchin and +Cambridge, where there are huge turf balks dividing the fields. It is +said that within the last century the country lying between Royston and +Newmarket was entirely unenclosed, and till quite late in the century +parishes like Lexton, in Northamptonshire, retained this characteristic. +Other examples occur at Swanage in Dorset and Stogursey in West +Somerset. + + +BOROUGH ENGLISH + +Before proceeding to describe the methods of cultivation employed, it is +desirable to glance at a custom which, there is reason to suppose, is +connected with that remote period when the English were not _de jure_ +masters of the soil, but occupied the position of colonists, who either +expropriated the original inhabitants or entered upon possession of land +as _res nullius_, to which they had established no solid claim by +prescription. We have already referred to that valuable repertoire of +national customs, so judiciously edited as to merit the higher praise +_in_valuable--the Year-Books. The reports of the pleas in the Common +Bench for 1293 include the following: + +"One A. brought a writ of entry against B., saying, 'Into which he had +not entry except by such an one who had tortiously, &c, disseised his +father Robert.' And he laid the descent thus: 'From Robert descended the +right, &c, to Adam the present demandant, as his youngest son and heir, +according to the custom of such a place, &c.' + +"_Asseby_: 'Sir, we tell you that Adam has an elder brother named N., +who is legitimate and is alive, and whom they have omitted. Judgment of +the omission.' + +"_Sutton_: 'Sir, even if he had made a quit-claim to him, yet that could +not be a bar to us, because by the custom of the country the youngest +shall have his inheritance, wherefore there is no need to make mention +of him.' + +"_Asseby_: 'Sir, he has brought a writ at common law; judgment if he +ought not to be answered at common law, and if he (the demandant) can +allege the custom.' + +"_Sutton_: 'In many places in England a woman demands her dower by the +writ "Unde nihil habet," which is a writ at common law, and yet, +according to the custom of the country, she will recover for her dower a +moiety of the tenements which belonged to her husband, where by common +law she would have only the third part, and also in the case of +tenements in some countries which are holden by knight-service the lord +can avow the taking as good for cornage according to the law of the +country; and yet the writ is at common law. And also in Gavelkind +according to the custom [of Kent] the younger brother shall have as much +as the elder; and yet one brother shall recover against the other +brother by right "De rationabile parte," and by the "Nuper obiit," which +are writs at common law. So in the present case.' + +"_Metingham_ [the judge]: 'Asseby, answer.'" + +Now what was this custom? It is that known as "Borough English," and the +reader will have already inferred from the report of the action that, +wherever it prevailed, the youngest son claimed to succeed to his +father's estate. It is therefore the antithesis of the right of +primogeniture, whereby real estate falls to the eldest son. An old +record given to print by the late Mr. Robert Dymond, F.S.A., exhibits in +great detail the customs of the Manor of Braunton, in Devonshire, and +among them is that of Borough English, or, as it is termed in local +parlance, "cradle-land." This testimony is of peculiar interest, since +the document comprises a provision for the assignment of the property in +the not wholly improbable event of the family consisting entirely of +daughters. The section touching upon Borough English is thus formulated: + + +"HEIRS OF THE YOUNGEST HOLDING + +"_Item_, the Custome ys in every of the sayd manors that if eny manner +of person or persons be seased of eny manner of land or tenements, rents +or premises of the yonger holdyng liying withyn eny of the seid manors +or liberties in fee symple or in fe tayle, in demeane or in usu, and +have divers sonnys by dyvers venters, viz. by dyvers wyvys, or women by +divers men, and dye, that then the yonger son of them shall inherite the +seid lands and tenements with other the premyses in fe symple as in fe +tayle that so descendith in the seid yonger holdyng in demeane or in +use, except ther be any other estate made & proved to the contrary by +wryting & if the[y] have no yssue butt all doughters that then the seid +inheritance [is] to be parted betwene theym except any lawful wryting or +state made to the contrary after the custom." + +Neither of these rules of succession was in any way confined to the West +of England. Indeed, the late Mr. T. W. Shore, who appears to have been +quite an authority on the subject, affirms that "in a general way it may +be said that the further we go from Kent the less numerous become the +instances in any county of England." This statement is confirmed by a +yet greater authority. "Borough English," says Elton, "was most +prevalent in the S.E. districts, in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, in a ring +of manors encircling ancient London, and, to a less extent, in Essex and +the East Anglian kingdom." Mr. E. A. Peacock, however, points out that +there are in Lincolnshire seven places where the custom is still +abiding--viz., Hibaldstow, Keadby, Kirton-in-Lindsey, Long Bennington, +Norton (Bishops), Thoresby and Wathall; and he further calls attention +to the fact, which is certainly most important, that the custom may be +traced over nearly all Europe with the exception of Spain and Italy, and +up to the boundaries of China and Arracan. The German name is +_jungsten-recht_; and the practice for which it stands existed, amongst +other places, at Rettenburg in Westphalia. How then did it become known +as Borough _English_? The reason is suggested by the two sorts of +tenure--Burgh Engloyes and Burgh Francoyes--which are found in different +parts of the town of Nottingham in the reign of Edward III. Borough +English was the native custom which had succeeded in holding its ground +against the effects of the Norman Conquest. + +As has been said, Borough English was in vogue all around London--at +Lambeth, Vauxhall, Croydon, Streatham, Leigham Court, Shene or Richmond, +Isleworth, Sion, Ealing, Acton, and Earl's Court. In some of these +places--Fulham, Wimbledon, Battersea, Wandsworth, Barnes and +Richmond--the "yonger holding" descended not only to males but to +females; and at Lambeth (and at Kirton-in-Lindsey, in Lincolnshire) +there existed the identical arrangement which has been found at +Braunton, in Devon. This equal division between daughters Mr. Shore +regards as an "intermediate stage between Borough English and +Gavelkind." The latter is distinctively the "custom of Kent," and +signifies that the land was "partible," and inherited by the sons in +equal shares, the youngest son retaining the homestead, and making +compensation to his brethren for this addition to his share. Borough +English and gavelkind, therefore, though not the same, are near akin; +and it is an interesting question which of the two was prior to the +other. It may be that gavelkind is the older, and that Borough English +is a remnant or distortion of what appears, on the face of it, a more +equitable condition of things. On the other hand, gavelkind may have +been, so to speak, grafted on a more simple usage which the community, +through change of circumstances, had outgrown, and had ceased to possess +the same justification as at first. + +Why should the youngest son take the inheritance? One explanation is +that he was presumed to be least able to provide for himself. This, +however, expresses only half the truth. The other half has, we think, +been furnished by Mr. Peacock: + +"The most popular explanation in the last [eighteenth] century was the +calumny known as _mercheta mulierum_, now known as a malignant fable +popularized by novelists and playwrights. Another suggestion is that it +is a custom that has survived from some prehistoric race; a third that +it has grown up at different points...." Mr. Peacock regards the last as +the most likely. "It is only when the population becomes relatively +dense that land, apart from what it produces, is of any value. A time, +however, would soon be reached when land would have a value of its own. +The good soil would soon be taken up, and in the days of a primitive +mode of culture third-rate land would be valueless. Then the +house-father would be forced by circumstances to make provision, ere his +death, for the sons sharing the ancestral domain between them. + +"Here we have the origin of gavelkind--a form of devolution more widely +spread than even ultimo-geniture or Borough English. Gavelkind, however, +could be but a temporary provision. As the population grew, so it would +be absolutely necessary that the young men of the household should make +new settlements for themselves. This fact accounts in its measure for +the vast shifting of the population that took place when the Roman +Empire was in its protracted death-agony. The torrents of human beings +which poured in on the decaying Empire were considered by the older +historians as evidence of nomadic barbarism. We, with our present +lights, say rather that they indicate a population too dense for their +own homes to support. + +"It would be a matter of course that the elder sons should go forth and +carve out for themselves new homes in the West; but when the swarm +departed, all the sons would not go forth from the shelter of the native +roof-tree. One at least, commonly the youngest, would stay behind. On +him would devolve the duty of looking after the old folk and his +unmarried sisters. On him would devolve in due time the duties of the +sacrifices connected with the sacred hearth; and when the father died to +him would devolve the paternal dwelling, with its ploughland, its +meadow, and its rights of wood and water. Here is, we believe, the key +to the origin of Borough English." + + +THE OPEN FIELD + +We now pass to the methods of cultivation observed in the open +field--the conditions of early agriculture. There is reason to believe +that at the time of the English settlement extensive tillage must have +existed, at any rate to some degree; but this was soon superseded by +intensive culture. Certain fields, that is to say, were allocated for +the raising of particular crops, the limits being marked by large balks +or banks. Beside these arable fields there was a tract of meadow land, +from which the cattle would have been excluded during the time necessary +for the growth and carrying of hay. After harvesting operations had been +completed, and all through the winter, the cattle were allowed to range +at will among the stubble of the arable fields, and over the meadow +land, as also over the waste, which was more properly their domain. + +As it was impossible to raise crops year after year from the same fields +without gravely impoverishing the soil, this system was exchanged in +some places for another--that of cropping one or two fields and allowing +the other to lie fallow. This modification was not always judged +requisite to prevent the exhaustion or deterioration of the land; and +thus there arose a third--what is termed the "three-field" system, by +which out of three arable fields two were under cultivation at the same +time, one lying fallow. The third plan was that which ultimately met +with most favour. In the early autumn the field that had lain fallow +through the summer was ploughed and sown with wheat, rye, or other corn; +and in the spring the stubble of the field that had yielded the last +crop of wheat was ploughed up, and barley or oats sown in it. The third +field, in which the previous crop had been barley, retained the stubble +till the early days of June. It was then ploughed up and left in that +condition until a fresh crop was sown in the autumn. Professor +Cunningham, whose account we here follow, has furnished a convenient +chart or diagram which we venture to reproduce as an aid to the +comprehension of the subject: + + + I. II. III. + Wheat (or rye) Stubble of Stubble of + +------------------+--------------+--------------+ + _Jan_ | sown | wheat | barley (or | + | | | oats) | + | | Sow | | + |------------------+--------------| | + _March_ | | barley | | + | | | Plough and | + | | |--------------+ + _June_ | | | leave fallow | + |------------------+--------------| | + | | Reap | | + _August_ | | | | + | | | Plough and | + | | |--------------+ + _October_ | | | sow wheat | + | Wheat | Barley | | + +------------------+--------------+--------------+ + stubble stubble + +This chart represents one year's labours. In the following year the +first field would take the place of the second, the second that of the +third, and the third that of the first. The process would be repeated in +the third year, and in this way the rotation would continue to be +maintained. There were districts in which the three-field ousted the +two-field system; and others in which neither entirely displaced the +other. Both eventually gave way to the more modern method of four-course +husbandry. The three-field style of agriculture may date back to the +remote reign of King Ine, when, it seems certain, open-field cultivation +in some form was the rule. This being the case, it was necessary that +the fields in which corn and grass were growing should be fenced off for +the time being; and one of King Ine's laws has reference to the +recognition or neglect of this neighbourly duty: + +"If churls have a common meadow or other partible land[15] to fence, and +some have fenced their part, and some have not, and (cattle stray in +and) eat up their common corn or grass; let those go who own the gap and +compensate to the others who have fenced their part the damage which +there may be done, and let them demand such justice on the cattle, as it +may be right. But if there be a beast which breaks hedges, and goes in +everywhere, and he who owns it cannot restrain it, let him who finds it +in his field take it and slay it, and let the owner take its skin and +flesh, and forfeit the rest." + +The picture this law presents is that of fields divided by temporary +fences, in which, if the three-field system were in use, two would be +under cultivation and the third fallow. One great field of thirty acres +would have sixty distinct strips, with a narrow margin of turf serving +in each case as the line of demarcation. To each servile holding in the +Confessor's time the landlord assigned a pair of oxen with which to work +it; and these may have been combined into a powerful team of eight or +twelve, similar to manorial teams, though plough-teams varying in +numerical strength are recorded, and the efficiency of some of them may +well be doubted. + +If there were oxen, it is clear that provision must have been made for +their support; and this consisted in the hay from the meadow, in the +pasture of the common waste, and that of the fallow field and the other +fields in the interval between harvest and seed-time. The question +whether the tillers were bond or free probably made no difference to the +way in which agricultural operations were conducted. + +The collapse of this system may be attributed to the scarcity of labour +brought about especially by the Black Death. When men could not be had +in sufficient number, the necessary consequences was the expansion of +pasture and the contraction of tillage; and this dual process was +assisted by the stampede of labourers to the towns and the policy of +enclosure to which landowners resorted as a remedy. Deprived of their +quit-rents, and not having resources for the payment of wages on an +adequate scale, supposing that labour was obtainable on reasonable +terms, the landholders fell back upon the only expedients that remained +to them. They had land, and they had stock; and, as an escape from +absolute ruin, they let the land to tenants who took over the stock and, +probably, as the need arose, replaced it with their own beasts. This +revolution, already in full swing in the fourteenth century, paved the +way for the present order of things, under which the tenant pays a fixed +rent for the use of land and buildings, and finds the capital for +farming. + + +THE WASTE + +We have next to deal with the waste. The meaning of the term is +clear--it signifies land which, from the poverty of the soil or other +reasons, had never been brought under cultivation. The commons that +still survive are mostly of that description, the more valuable land +having been resumed during one of the successive periods of enclosure, +or--piecemeal. + +Originally, there is little doubt, such land belonged to the family or +sept, by whom it was used as forest for game or as pasturage for cattle. +Unlike the arable field or the common meadow, it was not distributed +into sets, but enjoyed in common by all who possessed the right of +stocking it. In a genial article in the "Antiquary" describing how the +world wagged in his parish of Blewbury, Berks, in the eighteenth +century, the Rev. N. L. Whitchurch observes: "There were 'cow commons' +on the downs in those days, and a road from the village is still called +the 'cow way.' In the early morning a man would collect the various cows +of the village, which he drove to pasture for the day. The ancient bell +which he rang at the foot of the 'cow road' is still preserved in the +village." + +In Saxon times the purchase of stock by an individual was a matter of +general concern to the community in which he lived. By a law of King +Edgar, if a man in the course of a journey bought cattle, he was +required on his return to turn them out into the common pasture, "with +the witness of the township." If he omitted to do so within five nights, +the townsmen were to acquaint the hundred elder, and the cattle were +forfeited, the lord receiving one-half and the hundred the other. If the +townsmen failed in their duty, their herdsman was subjected to a +flogging. For the purchase of cattle the witness of the township was not +enough. Twelve standing witnesses were appointed for every hundred, and +the buyer had to make it his business to seek out two or three of them +so as to secure their presence at the transaction. + +Whatever the primitive constitution of society may have been, in +historical times three parties possessed an interest in the waste. +Blackstone defines common as "a profit which a man hath in the land of +another, as to feed his beasts, to catch fish, to dig turf, to cut +wood, and the like." In theory, the waste belonged to the King, who +vested portions of it in individual lords or religious houses, and they +thus became recognized owners of the soil. In case of outlawry or +attainder, the waste reverted to the Crown, which, according to custom, +held possession of it for a year and a day. Thirdly, the _use_ of the +soil, for various specified purposes, resided in the inhabitants of +certain townships or hundreds, was appendant to certain tenements, or +was reserved as easement on the sale of the land. + +Some very interesting questions, arising out of this joint occupancy, +were raised in the courts at the close of the thirteenth +century--notably the right of search for the object of ascertaining +whether there were on the common more animals than any of the parties +was entitled to place there, and, if so, of impounding them. Was this +right appurtenant to the manor, or was it also appendant to a frank +tenement in a particular vill? In one case where the lord had depastured +an excess of beasts, the court decided against him, and in favour of a +commoner whom he accused of "tortiously" taking his cattle. But, +notwithstanding this judgment, there is some uncertainty on the point, +as appears from the report of an action tried in the Middlesex Iter of +1294. + +"Robert Fitznel brought the Replegiare against Richard, the son of John, +saying that he had tortiously taken his beasts in the wood of the Abbat +of Horwede, formerly the forest of King Henry, by whom it was given as a +chace to N., ancestor of Richard." + +"_Warwick_: 'Sir, we offer to aver that Robert and all those who have +held the land in N., which he holds have been seised for all time, &c, +of the common in the wood where his taking was made as appurtenant to +their frank tenement....' + +"_Gosefield_ imparted, and returned and said: 'Sir, we will tell you the +truth of this matter; and we tell you that the place where the taking +was made was King Henry's forest; and Henry granted what was the forest +to our ancestor by way of chace; and that in that chace, according to +the custom of the chace, no person could put to common more beasts than +could be fed or wintered on the produce of the land which he held in the +same chace; and because Robert brought his beasts from his lands which +he held elsewhere, which beasts could not be fed or wintered on the land +which he held within the chace, contrary to the usage and custom of the +said chace, he (Richard) took them, &c....' + +"_Warwick_: 'Sir, first of all they avowed the taking, and said that we +ought not to have any kind of common; and now they have admitted our +right of common partially, viz. as to beasts which can be wintered ...' + +"_Gosefield_: 'The assise of forest is notorious and well-known to all, +viz., that no man can have therein more beasts to common than can be fed +off the said land.' + +"_Warwick_ (he spoke then for the King): 'Richard, do you claim to have +assise of forest?' + +"_Gosefield_: 'Nay, sir. But King Henry granted and gave it to us to +hold as a chace in the same manner as he held it while it was a royal +forest; and we have three swain-motes yearly for searching and inquiring +whether anyone puts more beasts therein than he ought to put; and, +inasmuch as King Henry granted it to us to hold like as he held it, it +seems to us that there is no need to take the Inquest.' + +"_Hertford_ [the judge]: 'Do you accept the averment or not?' + +"_Gosefield_ (being obliged to accept the averment) said: 'Sir, they +were never seised of common for more beasts than could be wintered and +fed and supported on the growth of the said land.'" + +There is appended to this report a note which lays down the law in a +different sense from that before stated. It is as follows: + +"It is not sufficient for anyone who avows distress to say that he +avows the taking, &c., for that he found the beasts in his chace of such +a place, or in the common of such a place, where he had no right of +common; for it may be that neither party had a right of common; and thus +it is not sufficient but he must say that he found them in his several +pasture, or must say some other thing that touches himself and gives him +a right to impound what he found. For no man can avow a distress in a +common pasture save the lord of the soil of the common pasture. For if +any of the commoners were to make avowry for beasts taken in the common +pasture it would then follow that if the Inquest were to pass against +the plaintiff, he who avowed the taking in the common pasture would have +the return of the beasts and the amends, and not the lord of the +pasture, and that would be improper. But this does not hold good where +the King is the lord of the common pasture, and several persons holding +of him in socage have common, because in that case anyone having common +may avow a good distress. The reason is because the King will not be a +party in such case or distrein anyone." + +In mediaeval country life, then, commons might be either manorial or +forestal. Bishop Stubbs in his "Constitutional History" affirms that +"neither the hundreds of England nor the shires appear ever to have had +common lands." As regards hundreds, on the enclosure of a common, +allotments were made to several townships of Knaresborough, and Stubbs +himself allows that "it seems a fair instance of common lands of a +hundred." Similarly, there is in the hundred of Coleness in Suffolk a +pasture common to all the inhabitants. But in each instance we have +probably to distinguish between use and ownership; and the same +distinction applies to counties, otherwise the case of the Devonshire +Commons might seem to refute the dictum. + +The Devonshire Commons are not to be confused with the Forest of +Dartmoor. They constitute rather the purlieus, and, in general, afford +better pasturage than the forest itself. Neither are they identical +with the commons of the separate vills--the manorial or parochial +commons. The whole of the inhabitants of the county may be regarded as +possessing an interest in the Devonshire Commons, with the exception of +the people of Barnstaple and Totnes, the reason being that those +districts not having been afforested with the rest of the county, the +residents acquired no new privileges when Devonshire was disafforested. +The other inhabitants retained whatever rights they had previously +enjoyed not only in respect of the Devonshire Commons, but of the Forest +of Dartmoor, of which, at some early period--before the era of +perambulations, in which they were not included--those commons had no +doubt formed part. One effect of the wide extent of the right of common +was that the rule of _levant and couchant_ did not obtain here. +Naturally, when all Devonshire men were entitled to the use of the land, +it was impossible to fix a limit to the number of the beasts that might +be turned out throughout the length and breadth of the county. + +Mention was made above of royal forests as occupying, in some respects, +a different position from other lands in which a right of common was +exercised. Dartmoor, although the property of the Prince of Wales as +Duke of Cornwall, may be taken as, to all intents and purposes, +answering to that description; and thus peculiar interest attaches to +the usages which prevailed, and still prevail, within its bounds. + +The question of "Venville Rights on Dartmoor" is one that engaged the +attention of a very capable writer as well as an accomplished antiquary, +the late Mr. W. F. Collier; and although the subject has been handled by +other investigators, it is from him that we have derived the bulk of our +information on this very remarkable aspect of commonage. First, as to +the name. "Venville" is a provincial corruption of _fines villarum_, +each vill paying a larger or smaller sum for the right of pasturage; and +certain parishes or manors on the outskirts of the forest were said to +be "in venville." "The perambulation [of 1224]," says Mr. Birkett, +"establishes three important facts: viz., that the moor was originally +part of a royal forest; that the Commons of Devon, and surrounding +parishes were once part of the forest; and that the moor is not waste of +a manor." The townships were grouped into four bailiwicks--North, South, +East, and West; and the fines payable compose too long a list to be +given entire. The following, however, are specimens: The township of +Trulegh (Throwleigh), 2_s._ 6_d._; the parish of South Tawton, 7_s._ +4 1/2_d._; the township of Sele (South Zeal), 6 1/2_d._; the hamlet of +Lowyngton, in the parish of Meavy, 2_d._; the township of Gadamewe +(Godameavy), in the same parish, 2_d._; the township of Chagford, +12_d._; the hamlet of Teigncombeham, with [within?] the parish of +Chagford, 4_s._ This was in 1506-7. In return for these payments the +commoners have certain "venville" rights, which extend over the forest +proper and the Devonshire Commons, and include the taking of stone and +sand for their own use. But the most valued is that of agistment or +pasturage, especially of ponies. The Duchy, on its part, claims and +exercises the right of "drift"--a picturesque survival on which we may +well bestow some regard. + +The division of the forest into four quarters still continues, each +being in charge of a moorman; and over these wide tracts and the +adjacent Commons sheep, bullocks, and ponies are turned out by the +tenants to graze at will. In the autumn the animals are driven to a +traditional spot, in order that they may be claimed by their owners. +There is a bullock drift, and a pony drift, of which the former is the +earlier; and each quarter has its own drift days, which are usually +different. In any case, no notice is given, but about two o'clock in the +morning the moorman is apprised by a messenger that he must "drive" his +quarter for bullocks or ponies. Thereupon, according to the regular +procedure, he ascends the tors and blows his horn as an intimation to +the tenants to assist in the drift. In the western quarter there was +formerly a stone, through a hole in which it was the custom to blow the +horn, but this stone now graces a wall in a hedge. + +The drift to Merrivale Bridge is accomplished by men on horseback and +men on foot, and dogs, to the accompaniment of horns and halloos; and +when all the animals have been gathered, an official of the Duchy takes +his stand on an ancient stone and reads a proclamation, which done the +owners are summoned to claim, let us say, their ponies. The venville +tenants identify their beasts, making no payment; but other persons--and +in no case, apparently, is the right of pasturage disputed, nearly the +whole of Devonshire having been forest--have to render a fine for each +animal. They have also to meet a trivial charge for night rest, which is +supposed to have arisen from an old custom that debarred anyone from +remaining on the forest by night, with the consequent temptation to +deer-poaching. An unclaimed animal is driven to Dunnebridge Pound and +there kept for some weeks, at the expiration of which, if he is still +unclaimed, or if the owner refuses to pay for poundage, etc., he is sold +for the benefit of the Duchy. + +Each quarter of the moor has its peculiar earmark for ponies, consisting +of a round hole at the base or the tip on the near or off ear, through +which a piece of string is tied, there being thus four distinct marks. + +Some of these ancient usages have fallen into desuetude. The last +occasion on which the horn was sounded was in 1843; and the four +quarters are now let to as many "moormen," who endeavour to make as much +profit as possible out of them. To this day, however, neither on +Dartmoor nor on the Devonshire Commons, is any man denied pasturage for +his ponies or cattle. + +BONDMEN + +From vills we may naturally turn to those who in ancient days--the word +has another meaning now--were named after them _villeins_. More than once +in the course of this work we have had occasion to refer to the +existence of an unfree class in England, on which prouder and more +happily circumstanced persons looked with considerable disdain, and +therefore our account would fail of a necessary element of completeness +if it omitted to deal, in some measure, with this striking phenomenon of +mediaeval English life. The subject is too wide and complex to be +discussed with any approach to thoroughness, but some aspects of it may +be introduced, and indeed _must be_ introduced, being, as we have said, +complementary to statements of social relationships already set down. + +The position of those who rested under the stigma of servitude is +brought home to us pretty forcibly by a report of proceedings in the +Middlesex Iter of 1294: + +"One A. brought a writ of imprisonment against B. + +"_Heilham_ (for B.): 'He ought not to be answered, for he is our +villein.' + +"_A._: 'A free man and of free condition, ready, etc.' + +"_Heilham_ said as before. + +"_Metingham_ [the judge]: 'He cannot give a higher answer in a writ of +Neifty.' + +"_Heilham_: 'We will tell you the truth; his father was our villein, and +held of us in villeinage land in the vill mentioned in his count, and +where he was taken; and he begot this A., and also one B., his brother, +of whom we are now seised, as of our villein; and this A. went out of +the limits of the villeinage, and afterwards returned, and we found him +at his hearth in his own nest, and we took him as our villein, as every +lord may well do; and we pray judgment.' + +"_Metingham_: 'If my villein beget a child on my land which is in +villeinage, and the child so begotten go out of the limits of my land, +and six or seven or more years after return to the same land, and I +find him in his own nest and at his own hearth, I can take him and tax +him as my villein for the reason that his return brings him to the same +condition as he was when he went.' + +"_Heilham_: 'He fell into the pit which he hath digged.'" + +We must beware of attributing this doctrine of Neifty to the Norman +Conquest, which merely supplied names; in definiteness and cruelty +nothing could exceed the practice of serfage under the Saxons. "The +slave," says Green, "became part of the live stock of the estate, to be +willed away at death with the horse or the ass, whose pedigree was kept +as carefully as his own. His children were bondmen, like himself; even +the freeman's children by a slave-mother inherited the mother's taint. +'Mine is the calf that is born of my cow,' ran the English proverb." In +the same passage he points out that the number of the serfs was being +continually augmented from various concurrent causes--war, crime, debt, +and poverty all assisting to drive men into a condition of perpetual +bondage.[16] Degradation of freemen into serfs remained a disagreeable +possibility as long as the system endured. + +The agricultural population actually consisted of three elements. First +there was the lord; secondly, his free tenants; and thirdly, the +villeins or serfs. The main difference between the two latter classes +was that the free tenants had proprietary rights in their holdings and +chattels. They could buy, sell, or exchange without the lord's +intervention; and, in the event of a dispute, they could sue him or +anyone in the courts. Nevertheless, they stood in some degree of +subjection to the lord, since the geld due to the State was paid through +the lord as responsible to the sheriff for all who held land within the +manor. + +Another very important distinction between the free tenants and the +villeins was the payment of _merchet_ on the marriage of daughters, +which signified that the offspring of such marriages would be the lawful +property of the lord. From this payment, and all that it implied, the +free tenants were exempt. + +Predial services, on the other hand, might be rendered as well by free +tenants as by villeins. This is shown by an entry in Domesday: + +"De hac terra [Longedune] tempore Regis Edwardi tenebant ix liberi +homines xviii hidas et secabant uno die in pratis domini sui et +faciebant servitium sicut eis precipiebatur." + +Much would depend on the capital possessed by the free tenant, who might +elect to make good any deficiency by corporal labour. The villein had no +capital, and was simply an instrument, like the cattle of which he had +charge, in the working of the estate. He was bound to the soil with +which all his interests were linked; and he was regarded in the light of +an investment, in which the lord had a perpetual stake. It was the lord +who furnished him with the means of gaining a livelihood, and, in return +for this accommodation, the lord demanded from him, and his children +after him, lifelong service. + +From the "Rectitudines Singularum Personarum," an eleventh-century +document, we learn that the _cotsetle_, for his holding of about five +acres, was required to labour for his lord on one day a week all through +the year,[17] and this was known as _week-work_. He had also to give +what was called _boon-work_--namely, three days a week in harvest. +Another type of unfree tenant was the _gebur_, who held a yardland of +some thirty or forty acres, which, upon his entrance, was stocked with +two oxen, one cow, six sheep, tools and household utensils. His +week-work amounted to two or three days a week, as the season required; +in winter, he had "to lie at his lord's fold," when bidden; and he had +to contribute his quota of boon-work. Certain payments also had to be +made. + +The first attempt to regulate wages was made in the statute of 12 +Richard II., cc. 3-7, the preamble of which affirms that "the servants +and labourers will not, nor by a long season would, serve and labour +without outrageous and excessive hire, and much more hath been given to +such servants and labourers than in any time past, so that for scarcity +of the said servants and labourers the husbands and land tenants may not +pay their rents nor unnethes live upon their lands, to the great damage +and loss as well of their lords as of all the commons; also the hires of +the said servants in husbandry have not been put in certainty before +this time." + +The "hires" were now defined, and this act penalized masters who paid +labourers at a higher rate than was allowed under it. The scale of wages +varied in different reigns. Here we may confine ourselves to the +provisions of the statute of 11 Henry VII., which not only determined +the maximum payments, but sanctioned reductions on legitimate grounds. +Thus regard was had to the current wages in the locality, which the +employer was under no obligation to exceed. Less was to be paid at +holiday than at other times; and if a man were lazy in the morning or +lingered over his meals, he might be mulcted at his master's discretion. + +Premising that the purchasing power of a penny in the fifteenth century +was about twelve times as much as it is now, we are able to form some +idea of the economic position of the different classes which were the +subjects of this legislation. The bailiff, it appears, might have a +salary of 26_s._ 8_d._; the common servant in husbandry cost 16_s._ +8_d._ and 4_s._ for clothes; and the artisan received per day 5_d._ in +the summer and 6_d._ in the winter. This brings us to the hours of +labour, which depended on the season, and were also regulated by +statute. These were from 5 a.m. till between 7 and 8 p.m. from the +middle of March to the middle of September, half an hour being allowed +for breakfast, and an hour and a half for dinner and a siesta--an +indulgence countenanced from May to August. During the winter, the rule +was that work was to be carried on whilst there was daylight. + +Mention has been made of holidays. These, though inevitable, were +evidently regarded as seasons of danger, since the favourite recreations +of labourers, if left to their own devices, were poaching and politics. +Against these twin evils the King's counsellors took precautions in an +act (13 Rich. II., st. I., c. 13), of which the preamble ran: + + "Forasmuch as divers artificers, labourers, servants, and grooms, + keep greyhounds and other dogs, and on the holy days, when + Christian people be at church hearing Divine service, they go + a-hunting in parks, warrens, and coningries of lords and others to + the very great destruction of the same, and sometimes under such + colour they make their assemblies, conferences, and conspiracies + for to rise and disobey their allegiance, &c." + +Hence none but laymen with 40_s._ and clerks with L10 were suffered to +keep dogs or use ferrets, nets, harepipes, cords, or other engines to +destroy deer. Instead of engaging in such perilous diversions, servants +and labourers were ordered to "have bows and arrows and to use the same +on Sundays and holy days, and leave all playing at tennis or football +and other games called quoits, dice, casting of the stone, kailes +(skittles) and other importune games." Swords and daggers were +prohibited "but in time of war for the defence of the realm of +England"--a wise measure when the country was infested with vagrants and +there were so many liveried retainers prompt to resent a real or +imaginary affront. + + + + +DOMESTIC + +CHAPTER XIX + +RETINUES + + +At the conclusion of the previous section allusion was made to retinues +as constituting a danger to the industrious members of the body politic. +In this, our final section, we turn, or rather return, from the life of +the fields to that of the hall. Some notice of the interior order of +great houses has appeared in earlier chapters--e.g., that on "Children +of the Chapel"--but such special reference, involving no more than the +religious side of domestic arrangements, leaves a sense of +incompleteness, and this void we must now proceed to fill. + +Starting with the peril and annoyance involved in the maintenance of +retinues, the proposition may be easily demonstrated. Alike in town and +country the presence of armed and idle ruffians was a source of +well-grounded apprehension. Thus, when the Bishop of Durham attended +parliament, he had to obtain a licence before his retainers could be +quartered at Stratford-at-Bow; and the manifold inconveniences produced +by these satellites in country districts during the reign of Edward I. +form the subject of a versified complaint, to be found in Wright's +'Political Songs'. One of the causes of the grievous scarcity of labour +is believed to have been that nobles and others, under the pretence of +husbandry, kept in their pay able-bodied dependants who, rather than eke +out a miserable existence on the land, preferred to follow some warlike +lord. + + +BILLETING + +As usual, the trouble began at the fountain-head. Everybody knows the +term "billeting" as applied to soldiers on the march, who are +compulsorily quartered on licensed victuallers and others at fixed +rates. This is really a very ancient custom, which is closely, and +indeed lineally, connected with the topic under discussion. + +In the early days of royal progresses it was the duty of the Marshal of +the King's Household to secure lodgings for the members of the retinue +which accompanied him; and this he did by means of a billet, by virtue +of which he appropriated for the occasion the best of the houses in the +vicinity, marking them with chalk and ruthlessly ejecting the occupiers. +The Marshal, it may be observed, did not do the chalking himself--a task +which seems to have been delegated to the Sergeant Chamberlain of the +Household. + +Even London did not escape this intolerable vexation, though its +immunity from billeting was expressly laid down in a succession of +charters. The royal officials, paying scant heed to the sanctity of +these clauses, repeatedly invaded the precincts of the City; and in the +reign of Edward II. they went so far as to seize the house of one of the +sheriffs, John de Caustone, and quarter therein the King's Secretary, +sergeants, horses, and harness. The sheriff acted boldly. He erased the +chalk marks, and proceeded to expel the intrusive sergeants--perhaps +even the Secretary himself, unless, as Mr. Riley thinks probable, that +person "walked quietly away." For this resolute vindication of the +liberties of the City, Caustone had to answer before the Seneschal and +Marshal of the King's Household, sitting in the Tower, but, as there was +no excuse for the insolent aggression, he suffered no harm. The +citizens, indeed, were so assured of their rights in this particular, +that at some date--probably in the reign of Edward I.--an ordinance had +been passed: + +"That if any member of the royal household, or any retainer of the +nobility, shall attempt to take possession of a house within the City +either by main force or by delivery [of the Marshal of the King's +Household]; and, if in such attempt he shall be slain by the master of +the house, then, and in such case, the master of the house, shall find +six of his kinsmen [i.e. as compurgators], who shall make oath, himself +making oath as the seventh, that it was for this reason that he so slew +the intruder; and thereupon he shall go acquitted." + + +PRE-EMPTION + +The humbler people who escaped billeting might still have cause to +regret royal journeys owing to the inconsiderate exercise of the right +of pre-emption. Subjects were compelled to sell; and the worst of it was +that the King's purveyors were in the habit of paying not in cash down, +but by means of an exchequer tally, or a beating! A tally was a hazel +rod which had certain notches indicating the amount due. It obtained its +name from the circumstance that these rods were in pairs, the creditor +having one and the debtor the other, so that they could be used for the +purpose of comparison. In practice it was found no easy matter to +recover under this system, which lent itself to the worst exactions, and +is the subject of numerous complaints in our early popular poetry. Thus +in "King Edward and the Shepherd": + + "I had catell, now have I none; + They take my beasts, and done them slon, + And payen but a stick of tree ... + They take geese, capons, and hen + And all that ever they may with ren + And reaves us our catell.... + They took my hens and my geese + And my sheep with all the fleece + And led them forth away." + +Somewhat similarly, when a ship arrived in port with a cargo of wine, +the prerogative of _prise_ was enforced, whereby the King was entitled +to "a tun before and one abaft the mast," or the equivalent in money. + +The royal household and those of "the great lords of the land" enjoyed +the right of pre-emption not only in the country but in the London +markets. Dealers in fish, for example, were not allowed to quit the City +in order to meet a consignment "for the purpose of sending it to any +great lord or a house of religion, or of regrating it," until the King's +purveyors had first purchased what was required for their master's +table. + +When fish had been brought to the City, no fishmonger might buy "before +the good people have bought what they need." It was the same with +poultry. Until prime had been sounded at St. Paul's, poulterers were +forbidden to buy for resale, the object being that "the buyers for the +King and great lords of the land, and the good people of the City may +make good their purchases, so far as they shall need." + + +LIVERY + +So much for purveyance. As regards the disposition of the provisions +thus obtained, it was expressed by the term "livery," formerly of much +wider application than at present. The word comprehended all that was +delivered or dispensed by the lord to his underlings or +domestics--money, victuals, wine, garments, fuel, and lights; but no +doubt it was employed more particularly of external and distinctive +garb. The Wardrobe Book of 28 Edward I. and the Household Ordinances +show that officers and retainers of the Court were presented with a +_roba estivalis_ and _hiemalis_. The _livree des chaperons_, so often +mentioned, refers to hoods or tippets of a colour sharply contrasting +with that of the garment over which they were worn. Subsequently this +mark took the form of a round cap, attached to which was a long +liripipe, which might be wound round the head, but more usually hung +over the arm. In the dress of the City Liverymen traces of it may still +be found. + +This suggests the remark that livery was used not by the members of +great households merely, but by brotherhoods and _gentz de mester_; +hence it is that Chaucer in his Prologue of the "Canterbury Tales" +enumerates + + A Haberdassher and a Carpenter + A Webbe, Dyere, and a Tapicer; + +and says of them: + + ... they were clothed alle in a liveree + Of a solempne and great fraternitee. + +The statute 7 Henry IV. conceded this privilege to the "trades of the +cities of the realm," thus confirming previous acts of the reign of +Edward III. and Richard II., which sanctioned the wearing of livery by +menials and members of gilds, but prohibited the distribution of badges +to adherents who assumed them in testimony of their readiness to aid +their patron in any private quarrel. The practice was therefore a grave +menace to the King's peace. + +The prohibition was renewed 8 Edward IV., c. 2., which inflicted a +penalty of one hundred shillings for every person "other than his menial +servant, officer, or man learned in the one law or the other," so +retained by anyone "of what estate, degree, or condition that he be." +The fine was to be repeated for every month "that any such person is so +retained by him by oath, writing, indenture or promise," and a similar +penalty attached to the person retained. But there were many +exceptions--"Provided that this ordinance do not extend to any livery +given or to be given at the King's or Queen's coronation, or at the +installation of an archbishop or bishop, or erection, creation, or +marriage of any lord or lady of estate, or at the creation of Knights of +the Bath, or at the commencement of any clerk in any university, or at +the creation of serjeants in the law, or by any gild, fraternity, or +mystery corporate, or by the mayor and sheriffs of London, or any other +mayor, sheriff, or other chief officer of any city, borough, town, or +port of this realm of England for the time being, during that time and +for executing their office or occupation; nor to any badges or liveries +to be given in defence of the King or of this realm of England; nor to +the constable and marshal, nor to any of them for giving any badge, +livery or token for any such feat of arms to be done within this realm; +nor to any of the wardens towards Scotland for any livery, badge, or +token of them to be given from Trent northward, at such time only as +shall be necessary to levy people for the defence of the said marches, +or any of them." + + +A MEDIAEVAL HOUSEHOLD + +The establishment of a great noble or ecclesiastic sometimes embraced a +vast category of persons; and if we would learn on what an elaborate +scale housekeeping might be conducted by subjects, we cannot do better +than turn to Gascoigne's account of Cardinal Wolsey's colossal retinue. +After stating that the ambitious churchman had in attendance upon him +"men of great possessions and for his guard the tallest yeomen in the +realm," he proceeds: + +"And first, for his house, you shall understand that he had in his hall +three boards, kept with three several officers, that is, a steward that +was always a priest; a treasurer that was ever a knight; and a +comptroller that was an esquire; also a confessor, a doctor, three +marshals, three ushers in the hall, besides two almoners and grooms. + +"Then had he in the hall-kitchen two clerks, a clerk-comptroller, and a +surveyor over the dresser, with a clerk in the spicery, which kept +continually a mess together in the hall; also, he had in the kitchen two +cooks, labourers, and children, twelve persons; four men of the +scullery, two yeomen of the pastry, with two other paste-layers under +the yeomen. + +"Then had he in his kitchen a master-cook, who went daily in velvet or +satin, with a gold chain, besides two other cooks and six labourers in +the same room. + +"In the larder, one yeoman and a groom; in the scullery, one yeoman and +two grooms; in the buttery, two yeomen and two grooms; in the ewry, so +many; in the cellar three yeomen and three pages; in the chandlery, two +yeomen; in the wafery, two yeomen; in the wardrobe of beds the master of +the wardrobe and twenty persons besides; in the laundry, a yeoman, +groom, and thirteen pages; two yeomen purveyors, and a groom purveyor; +in the bakehouse, two yeomen and grooms; in the woodyard, one yeoman and +a groom; in the barn, one yeoman; porters at the gate, two yeomen and +two grooms; a yeoman in his barge, and a master of his horse; a clerk of +the stables, and a yeoman of the same; a farrier and a yeoman of the +stirrup; a maltlour and sixteen grooms, every one of them keeping four +geldings. + +"Now I will declare unto you the officers of his chapel, and singing-men +of the same. First, he had there a dean, a great divine, and a man of +excellent learning; and a sub-dean, a repeater of the choir, a +gospeller, an epistler of the singing-priests, and a master of the +children: in the vestry a yeoman and two grooms, besides other retainers +that came thither at principal feasts.... + +"Now you shall understand that he had two cross-bearers and two +pillar-bearers; in his great chamber, and in his privy-chamber, all +these persons, the chief chamberlain, a vice-chamberlain, a +gentleman-usher, besides one of his privy-chamber; he had also twelve +waiters and six gentlemen-waiters; also he had nine or ten lords, who +had each of them two or three men to wait upon him, except the Earl of +Derby, who had five men. + +"Then he had gentlemen cup-bearers, and carvers, and of the sewers, both +of the great chamber and of the privy-chamber, forty persons; six yeomen +ushers, eight grooms of his chamber; also, he had of alms, who were +daily waiters of his board at dinner, twelve doctors and chaplains, +besides them of his chapel, which I never rehearsed; a clerk of his +closet, and two secretaries, and two clerks of his signet; four +counsellors learned in the law. + +"And for that he was chancellor of England, it was necessary to have +officers of the chancery to attend him for the better furniture of the +same. + +"First he had a riding clerk, a clerk of the crown, a clerk of the +hamper, and a chafer; then he had a clerk of the check, as well upon the +chaplains as upon the yeomen of the chamber; he had also four footmen, +garnished with rich running coats, whensoever he had any journey. Then +he had a herald of arms, a physician, an apothecary, four minstrels, a +keeper of his tents, an armourer and instructor of his wards, an +instructor of his wardrobe of robes, a keeper of his chamber +continually; he had also in his house a surveyor of York, a clerk of the +greencloth. All these were daily attending, down-lying and up-rising; +and at meat he had eight continual boards for the chamberlains and +gentlemen-officers, having a mess of young lords, and another of +gentlemen; besides this there was never a gentleman, or officer, or +other worthy person, but he kept some two, some three persons to wait +upon them; and all others at the least had one, which did amount to a +great number of persons. + +"Now, having declared the order according to the chain roll, use of his +house, and what officers he had daily attending to furnish the same, +besides retainers and other persons, being suitors, [that] dined in the +hall: and, when shall we see any more such subjects that shall keep such +a noble house? Therefore here is an end of his household; the number of +persons in the chain were eight hundred persons."[18] + + +MINSTRELS AND PAGES + +One department of Wolsey's household may not have passed +unheeded--namely, the minstrels. As a class, these musicians were +doubtless peripatetic, so that the term "wandering," as applied to them, +has almost the character of a standing epithet. But in the "Romance of +Sir Degrevant" mention occurs of the Earl's "owne mynstralle," and, +where these artists were not permanent members of the establishment, +they were always of "great admittance" to the houses of the nobility, +who treated them with high distinction and much liberality. Naturally, +the status of minstrels differed. Of those who played before Edward I. +at Whitsuntide, and who were divided into ranks, five are styled +"Kings," and each of them received five marks. A valuable gold cup is +recorded to have been given to a minstrel, but the usual presents were +robes and garments. + +What is signified by the phrase "great admittance" is rendered clear by +a decree of Edward II. published in the year 1315, and called forth by +the dishonest practice of certain persons who procured entertainment +under colour of minstrelsy. It was therefore ordered that "to the houses +of prelates, earls, and barons none resort to meat and drink unless he +be a minstrel, and that of these minstrels there come none except it be +three or four Minstrels of Honour at the most in one day, unless he be +desired of the lord of the house; and to the houses of meaner men that +none shall come unless he be desired; and that such as shall come so, +hold themselves contented with meat and drink, and with such courtesy as +the master of the house will show unto them of his own good will, +without their asking of anything." + +Minstrels, however, were after all only an incident. They served to +entertain and amuse, as well as to keep alive the memory of great deeds +and sentiments of truth and honour. But they were essentially a luxury, +not a necessity, for the circumstances of a rough age sufficed to +perpetuate the type which it had created. For more stable and +significant elements we must look elsewhere. Just as the lower fabric of +society reposed on the humble apprentice, so its upper framework +depended on the page as the repository of its traditions and guarantee +of the future. As early as the reign of Henry II., and doubtless +earlier, the sons of nobles and gentlemen were entered at the King's +Court, baronial halls, and episcopal palaces as "henchmen." To these +scions of chivalry--and a similar remark applies to the "demoiselles," +their sisters--such places were a school of manners wherein they learnt +the duties of obedience and reverence to their elders and betters; and, +in process of time, they attained the rank of squire, and, eventually, +the knight's belt. Received into the lord's family on the best terms, as +became their birth and connexions, they had, nevertheless, to wait at +table and perform other tasks that would now be deemed menial, such as +walking by the lord's charger; and, until their education was complete, +they had to submit to his orders, whatever they might be. + +Perhaps the first of many books on etiquette in English is a treatise +written by Grosseteste for Margaret, Countess of Lincoln, and entitled +"Reules Seynt Robert." Here it is laid down that servants and retainers +should be of good character, loyal, diligent; and if they grumble or +gainsay, they should be discharged, as there are many others to take +their place. + +We have seen that Cardinal Wolsey had young gentlemen in his household. +This was also the case with Thomas a Becket, one of whose proteges was +the heir to the throne. Another churchman, Longchamps, Bishop of Ely and +Chancellor of Richard II., was notorious for the rigour of his +discipline towards the young and noble members of his establishment. + +The custom, one can scarcely question, was evolved from the military +requirements of early Teutonic society; and, as private war died down, +so the status of the page became impaired, until in the reign of +Elizabeth we find him a pampered domestic, whose pert air and gaudy +dress represented all that was left of a formidable troop armed with +sword and buckler. Ben Jonson deplores and ridicules the transformation +in lines with which the present volume may well close. The host in the +play has refused his son as page to Lord Lovel, saying that he would +hang him sooner than "damn him to that desperate course of life." + + _Lovel_. Call you that desperate, which, by a line + Of institution from our ancestors, + Hath been derived down to us, and received + In succession for the noblest way + Of brushing up our youth, in letters, arms, + Fair mien, discourses civil, exercise, + And all the blazon of a gentleman? + Where can he learn to vault, to fence, + To move his body gracefully, to speak + The language pure; or turn his mind + Or manners more to the harmony of nature + Than in these nurseries of nobility? + _Host_. Ay, that was when the nursery's self was noble + And only virtue made it, not the market, + That titles were not vended at the drum + And common outcry; goodness gave the greatness + And greatness worship; every house became + An academy; and those parts + We see depicted in the practice now + Quite from the institution. + _Lovel_. Why do you say so? + Or think so enviously? Do they not still + Learn thus the Centaur's skill, the art of Thrace, + To ride? or Pollux's mystery, to fence? + The Pyrrick gestures, both to stand and spring + In armour, to be active for the wars; + To study figures, numbers, and proportions + May yield them great in counsel and the arts: + To make their English sweet upon their tongues, + As Chaucer says? + + + + +INDEX + + + a Becket, Thomas, 53, 247 + + Abbeys, Bath, 13; + Eynsham, 66; + Girwy, 13; + Monte Cassino, 14; + Oseney, 66; + Wearmouth, 13; + York, 14 + + Abbot of Unreason, 41 + + "Abbot, The," 41 + + Abelard, 91 + + Abjuration, 83, 163-5, 170 + + Ad Montem ceremony, 50 + + Affiliation of towns, 173-4, 177-8 + + Alcuin, 12-14 + + Aldgate, 188, 193 + + Aliens, 179 + + Allotments, 210-11 + + Alms and loans, 61-70, 104 + + Alnwick, 210 + + Alwyn, 134 + + Ancients, 117 + + _Angild_, 152 + + "Antiquary," the, 173, 226 + + Appeals, 77 + + Apprentices-at-law, 119-21, 123 + + _Arles_, 196 + + Arrears of rent, 172 + + Ashburton, 59, 61 + + Assise, the, 149 + + "Assises de Jerusalem," 140, 142 + + Assize of Clarendon, 165; + of Northampton, 140 + + Athelstan, King, 20, 133, 160 + + Augustine, St., 27 + + Aungerville, Richard, 68 + + Austin Friars, 108-9 + + "Austins," 107, 109 + + Australs and Boreals, 93 + + + Bachelor of Arts, 102-3, 109 + + Bacon, Roger, 108 + + Badges, 242-3 + + Bailiffs, 205-6 + + Bakers, 183-4, 186, 195; + "baker's dozen," 186 + + Ballantine, Mr. Serjeant, 125-6 + + Banishment, 98 + + Banner of St Paul, 222-3 + + Barbers, 79-80 + + Barbitoria, 80 + + Bargains, hand-clasp, 199 + + Barnstaple, 62 + + Barrington, Dr., 202 + + Beam, Royal, 195 + + Beards, 85-6 + + Beaumanoir, 141 + + Becket, Thomas a (see under A) + + Bedel Stokys, 104 + + Bedels, 72-7, 96 + + Bedford, custom of, 177 + + Bell, Prior, 16 + + Benediction of a widow, 21 + + Benefactors, 68, 111 + + Berwick, 197, 211 + + Beverley cycle, 58, 60; + sanctuary, 160-1 + + Birkett, Mr., 231 + + Black cap, 117 + + Black Death, 225 + + Blackstone, 134, 226 + + Blakiston, Mr., 68 + + Blewbury (Berks.), 226 + + Blount's "Ancient Tenures," 187, 189 + + Bondmen, 233-7 + + "Book of Nurture, The," 37 + + "Booke of Orders and Rules," 245 + + Borough English, 217-23 + + Boroughs, free, 208-9 + + Botticelli, 65 + + Bower, 28 + + Boy-Bishop, the, 39-50; + Song of, 39 + + Bracton, 142, 163, 197 + + "Brais," meaning of, 89 + + Bristol, 198 + + Britton, 142, 163, 165 + + Broadgates Hall, 84-5 + + "Brother," "brotherhoods," technical meaning of, 13 + + Buckingham, Duke of, 157-8 + + Burgages, 174-5 + + "Burial of the Alleluia," 42 + + Burnby Prior, 16 + + Butler, Alban, 20 + + + Cambridge, 61-2, 110, 169 + + Came, Bedel, 73-5 + + Carrara, Bridge of, 52 + + Castellans, hereditary, 188 + + Catherine, play of St., 53 + + Causes, civil, 149 + + Caustone, John D., 239 + + Cawthorne (Yorks.) 62 + + "Chamberdekenys," 98 + + Champions, 141, 144 + + Chancellor, office of, 77-90, 94-5, 98, 100-1, 103-6 + + Chapel, children of the, 32-7; + gentlemen of the, 32-6 + + Chapels, domestic, 32-3 + + Charms, 142, 144, 146 + + Charter, 171, 206 + + Chaucer, 63, 84, 113, 242 + + Chaundler, Dr., 64, 113 + + Cheapside, 184-6 + + Chester plays, 54-6, 60 + + Chests, 66-9 + + Chetham Society, 196 + + Churchwardens' accounts, 59-63 + + Cinque Ports, 163, 177 + + City marshals, 125 + + Clark, Mr. A., 64, 114 + + Cloth, cutting, 171 + + Cluny, 12 + + Cobham, Bishop, 69 + + Coke, 117, 119 + + "Coke-Lyght," 82 + + Colet, Dean, 46 + + "Collection of Glover, Somerset Herald," 190 + + Collections, 74-5 + + Collier, Mr. W. F., 230 + + Colman's Engravings, 202 + + Commissaries, 77, 95 + + Common Serjeant, 125 + + Common town bargains, 176 + + Commons, 212-17, 229-32 + + Compurgation, 82, 128-31, 240 + + Constable of England, 145-7 + + "Constitutional History," Stubbs's, 229 + + Cooks, 82-3 + + Copes, 43-5, 49 + + Coroner, 163-5 + + Corporation MSS., 60 + + Corporation of London, 125-6 + + Corpus Christi festival, 54-5, 58-9 + + Council of Vienne, 54 + + Council, Roman, 27 + + County Court, 155 + + Court Leet proceedings, 206 + + Costume, legal, 115-6; + university, 113-4 + + Coventry plays, 57-9 + + Creations, 105-6, 124 + + Crosses, 43, 90 + + Crying creaunt, 149 + + Curfew, 181 + + "Curtasie money," 186 + + Customs (by-laws), 162, 172, 177-8 + + Customs (revenue), 175 + + + "De Nova Costuma" (statute), 195-6 + + "Demonologie," 136 + + Determination, 101-2 + + Devonshire commons, 229-32 + + "Dialogus de Scaccario," 153, 166 + + Doctors of laws, 115-6 + + Doddridge, Justice, 202 + + Dover, 172 + + Ducange, 13 + + Duel, 127, 140-9 + + Dugdale, 125, 187, 190 + + Dunmow flitch, 191; + priory, 193 + + Dunstable, 52 + + Durham, 49, 156-7, 161-2 + + Durham College, 68, 98 + + Dymond, Mr. R., 219 + + + Earmarking, 232 + + Earnest money, 196-9 + + Ebner, Herr, 12 + + Ecfrith, King of Northumbria, 160 + + Edgar, laws of King, 154, 226-7 + + Edward I., 246 + + Edward the Confessor, laws of, 150, 224 + + Edwards, Richard, 37 + + Edwin, King of Northumbria, 17 + + Elizabeth, St., 20 + + Elms (near Smithfield), 189 + + Elton, Mr., 220 + + Emma, Queen, 134 + + Essex, the Earl of, 174 + + _Estrene_, 186 + + Ewing, Mr. W. C., 202 + + Exeter _Ordinale_, 47 + + "Extinct Baronage of England," 190 + + + Faculties of Law, Medicine, and Theology, 109-10 + + Fast, the Lady, 27-31 + + Fasts, 27 + + Feast of Fools, the (see _Rex Stultorum_ festival) + + Feasts, 85-6, 101-5, 122 + + Fee-farm leases, 175 + + Felons, punishment of, 189 + + Ferrieres, 14 + + Festivals, 28-9, 42, 179 + + Fines, 96, 151-3 + + Fisher, Bishop, 111 + + Fishmongers, 195 + + "Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry," 36 + + Fitzwalter, John, 191; + Matilda, 192; + Robert (Marshal of the Army of God), 191-3; + Robert (grandson), 191-2; + Walter, 191 + + Fitzwalters, Lords of Wodeham, 187-94 + + _Fleta_, 197 + + "Foreigners," 171, 174 + + Forest, 228-9, 230-2 + + Forster, Mr. R. H., 160, 162-3 + + Fortescue, 115, 122-3 + + Francis, St., 20 + + Franciscans, 108-9 + + Frideswyde Chest, 66 + + Frideswyde's Church, St., 90 + + Frideswyde, the Blessed, 90 + + Frithstool, 161 + + Froude, Mr., 91 + + + Gascoigne, Dr., 128 + + Gascoigne, Sir William, 243 + + Gavelkind, 218, 221 + + "General sophist," 109 + + Germans, 101 + + Gibbon, 141 + + Gilds, 54-5, 242-3 + + Glastonbury Abbey, 20 + + Gloucester, Thomas, Duke of, 145 + + Gloucester, town of, 171-2, 205 + + God's Penny, 195-9 + + Godwin's "Life of Chaucer," 52 + + "Going a-Kathering," 48 + + Gomme, Mr. G. L., 209, 211 + + Googe, Barnabe, 28 + + Gordon, Mr. Gerald P., 1, 6-8 + + "Grand Coutumier de Normandie," 142 + + Grammar masters, 99-101 + + Green, J. R., 234 + + Greenwood, the, 153 + + Gregorie, 49 + + Gregory of Tours, 80 + + Gregory, Pope, 53 + + Grimm, 136 + + "Grithmen," 163 + + Grosseteste, Robert, 66, 108, 247 + + + Halls, 98 + + Hazlitt, Mr. W. C., 187 + + Hearne, 81 + + Henderson's "Select Historical Documents," 132, 154 + + Henry VI., letter of, 78 + + Henry VIII., Acts of, 30-1, 48, 65, 182 + + Herbergeours, 180 + + Hereford, 177-8 + + Hereward the Wake, 154 + + Hexham, 161 + + Highway, taking in the, 169-70 + + "Hires," 236 + + "History of the University of Cambridge" (Willis and Clark's), 62 + + Holidays, 237 + + _Holmgang_, 140 + + Holy women, festival of, 21 + + Homeyer, 203 + + Hopkins, witchfinder, 139 + + Host of London, 188, 194 + + Hostelers, 180-1 + + "Hostels," 119, 180-1 + + "Hudibras," 139 + + Hugo de Balsham, Bishop, 108 + + Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 69 + + Hunting, 97 + + + Immortality, 179, 185-6 + + Impostors, 184-5 + + Inception, 103-6 + + Ine, King, law of, 224 + + Innkeepers, 179-81 + + Inns of Court, 118-21 + + Inquisition, post-mortem, 200 + + Ipswich, 198 + + Irishmen, 92, 94 + + Islip, Archbishop, 17 + + + James I., 136 + + Jews, 90 + + John, King, 173, 192 + + John's Coll., St., Cambridge, 80, 110-12 + + Jonson, Ben, 248 + + Judgment by default, 154-5 + + Judgment of God, 144-9; + of the Boiling Water, 135; + of the Cold Water, 136-7; + of the Glowing Iron, 132-4; + of the Morsel, 137-8; + of the Ploughshares, 134-5; + of the Psalter, 138-9 + + Judith, 19 + + + Kelynge, Chief Justice, 123 + + Kemble, 151 + + "King Edward and the Shepherd," 240 + + King's Champion, 144 + + King's Purveyors, 240 + + King's Secretary, 239 + + "King's Shilling," 196 + + "King's Musick, The," 37 + + "Kloster Gebets-verbruederungen, Die," 12 + + Knights Hospitallers, 121 + + + Lacy, Bishop, pontifical of, 21 + + Lansdowne MS., 63 + + "Last Supper, The," 57 + + Laud, Archbishop, reforms of, 67, 105 + + Law, Great, 128; + Middle, 129, 148; + Third, 130 + + Leagues of Prayer, 11-17 + + "Lectures on Heraldry," 201 + + "Legible" days, 75, 87 + + Leicester, 60, 148 + + Leland, 25, 161 + + Letter, testimonial, 64 + + Letters, patent, 173 + + "Liber Custumarum," 190, 192 + + Librarian, 69-70 + + Library, 68-70 + + _Libri vitae_, 17 + + Licentiates, 88, 103-5 + + Limerick, 198 + + Lincoln, 205 + + Lindisfarne, monks of, 13-17 + + Linguists, 112 + + Liverpool, 170, 173-7, 198 + + Livery, 33, 241-3 + + Liverymen, City, 241 + + Lollards, 81 + + London, 171-3, 177-87, 193, 195, 204, 239-41 + + Longchamps, Bishop, 247 + + Lord Mayor's Banquet, 125-6 + + Love-days, 83-5 + + Lucian, 40 + + + Magdalen College, 97 + + Maid Marian, 192 + + Maitland, 152 + + Manchester, 204-11 + + _Mancipatio_, 199 + + Manning, Robert, 53 + + Mansfield, 121 + + Manu, the, 18 + + Marbeck, 199 + + Marching Watch, the, 181-2 + + Margaret, Countess of Richmond, 110-11 + + Marks, pictorial, 203; + Merchants, 200-2; + Yeomen's, 199, 203 + + Marshal, 45-7; + of the King's Household, 239-40 + + Martin's-le-Grand, St., 158 + + Mary, Queen, 39 + + Master Henry Sever, 68 + + Master of the Children, 36-7, 43 + + Masters Regent, 101-2, 106-7; + Non-Regent, 100 + + Matriculation, 99 + + Mayhem, 129 + + Mayor, Lord, 189-91 + + "Mayoralty of London, The Origin of," 173 + + _Mercheta mulierum_, 221, 235 + + Metingham, Judge, 166 + + Middlesex Iter, 227-8, 233-4 + + _Ministri sacelli_, 110 + + Minstrels, 246-7 + + Montague, Anthony, Viscount, 245 + + Montesquieu, 141 + + Monuments, funeral, 25-6 + + Mootemen, 117 + + Mortmain, 168 + + _Motbelle_, 194 + + Munday, Anthony, 192 + + "Munimenta Gildhallae Londiniensis," 190 + + Muster of arms, 193-4 + + + "Nations," 91-7 + + "New Custom," the, 196 + + New College, 80, 113-14 + + Newcastle, 58, 60, 177, 210 + + Nicholas, St., 43-4 + + Nicols, 182 + + "Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society Transactions," 202 + + Norris, Lord, 97 + + Northampton, 197 + + Northumberland, 177; + Assize rolls, 156 + + Northumberland Household Book, 33-4 + + Nottingham, 210-11, 220 + + "Novel Disseisin," 168 + + Noyes, Attorney General, 197 + + "Nut-Brown Maid," the, 150 + + + Oaths, 95, 124, 127, 146 + + Oblates, order of, 20 + + Officers, domestic, 243-5; + municipal, 209-11 + + O'Keeffe, 198 + + Open field, the, 217, 222-5 + + Orders, Dominican, 25-6 + + Orders, Franciscan, 25-6 + + Orders of widows, 19 + + Ordinances, household, 241 + + Oriel College, 81 + + Othobon's Constitutions, 116, 154 + + Outlawry, 150-66, 227 + + Oxford (academic customs, _passim_) + + Oxford Historical Society, 89 + + Oxford, city of, 86, 177 + + + Pageants, 52, 54-9 + + Pages, 247-8 + + Panniers, 186 + + "Panyers Alley," 186 + + "Paradise of Dainty Devices," 37 + + Paris, Matthew, 52 + + Patent Rolls, 190 + + Paul, St., 19, 23 + + Paul's Cathedral, St., 44-6, 124, 188, 241 + + Peacock, Mr. E. A., 220-1 + + "Peres the Ploughman's Crede," 201 + + Peterhouse, Cambridge, 108 + + Petitions, 88-9, 92, 158 + + "Piers Plowman," 27 + + Pillory, 184-5 + + "Placita de quo Warranto," 191 + + Plays, Miracle, 51-60 + + Plymouth, 62 + + "Points," 146 + + Ponies, Dartmoor, 231-2 + + "Popish Kingdom, The," 28, 50 + + Portuguese, 180 + + Portreeve, 206-8 + + Pound, Dunnebridge, 232 + + Pound-keepers, 210 + + Precinct (sanctuary), 160-1 + + Precinct (university), 72 + + Pre-emption, 240-1 + + Preston, 197 + + _Prise_, 240 + + Privilege, the, 71-90 + + Processions, 87, 90, 206-8 + + Proctors, 75, 95, 104 + + Professions, 22 + + Professors, Regius, 105 + + Purcell, Henry, 38 + + Pui, festival of the, 179 + + Pulling, Mr. Serjeant, 119, 121 + + Punishments, 183-6 + + Puritans, 60 + + Puttenham's "Arte of Poesie," 47 + + + Queen's College, Oxford, 113 + + Questionist, 101 + + + Readers, 117-18, 120 + + Recreations, 112 + + "Rectitudines, Singularum Personarum," 235 + + Responsions, 101 + + Resumption, 109 + + Retinues, 238-48 + + "Reules Seynt Robert," 247 + + _Rex Stultorum_ festival, 42 + + Rhodes, Hugh, 37, 39 + + Riley, Mr., 190 + + Rings, 23-4, 26, 122-3 + + Riots, 86-7, 90, 92, 94, 97 + + "Rites of Durham, The," 161 + + Robin Hood, 150 + + Rogers, Archdeacon, 55-6 + + Rolf brass, 116-17 + + "Romance of Sir Degrevant," 246 + + Round, Mr. J. H., 173, 204 + + Rudborn, 124 + + Rye, 60 + + + Salisbury, Bishop of, 144 + + Salisbury, Earl of, 144 + + Salop Iter, 155, 167 + + Sanctuary, 155-66 + + Sarum Missal, 21 + + Saturnalia, 40-1 + + "Saxons in England, The," 151 + + Scholastica's Day, St., 87 + + School-street, 101 + + Scotland, 177 + + Scots, 92-3 + + Scott, Mr. J. H., 203 + + Scott, Sir Walter, 41 + + "Scouts," 76 + + Second marriages, 18-19 + + Selden, 142 + + Seneschal of the King's Household, 239 + + Sergeant Chamberlain, 239 + + Serjeants-at-law, 115-26 + + Sermons, 46-7, 111 + + Servile condition, 177-9 + + Shaving, 80-1, 185-6 + + Shop-signs, 201 + + Shuttleworth accounts, 196 + + _Significavit_, 77 + + Soke and soken, 189 + + Sokeman, 189 + + "Specimens of English Literature," Skeat's, 201 + + Stake, 172 + + Stamford, 105 + + Stealing children, 36, 107-8 + + Stoford, 208 + + Strongbow, 174 + + Strype, Archbishop, 42 + + Stubbs, Bishop, 229 + + Summary justice, 170 + + "Sussex Archaeological Collections," 245 + + Synod of Exeter, 154 + + + Tabarders, 113 + + Tailors, 79 + + "Tale of Gamelyn," 150 + + Tallies, Exchequer, 240 + + Tavistock, 63 + + Templars, 81 + + Thavie's Inn, 118, 121 + + Theft, 127, 131 + + Thomas of Acons, St., 124 + + Timothy, First Epistle to, 19 + + Tiverton, 202, 206-8 + + Tokens, 50 + + Torrington, 213-15 + + Trained bands, 175 + + Trial by battle, 140, 143-8 + + "Trial of Jesus," the, 57 + + Tryvytlam's "De Laude Oxoniae," 93 + + Tun (on Cornhill), 185-6 + + Turner, Mr. Dawson, 202 + + Tusser, Thomas, 36 + + Tyndale, 27 + + "Typet," 113 + + + "Upland men," 174 + + Uthred de Bolton, 93 + + Utter-barristers, 117-18, 120 + + + Venville rights, 230-1 + + Vice-Chancellor, 105 + + Villeins, 233 + + Vills, 230 + + Virgin, the Blessed, 27-8 + + Vowesses, 18-26 + + Vows, broken, 24-5 + + + Wadham College, 63 + + Waking of the Sepulchre, 51 + + Walworth, Sir William, 159, 184, 194 + + Ward, Dr., 53 + + Wardrobe book, 241 + + Warranty, 168 + + Warton, Thomas, 39 + + Waste, the, 225-32 + + Watch and Ward, 181 + + Watchmen, 182-3 + + Waterford, 197 + + Welshmen, 92 + + Westminster Sanctuary, 157-8 + + Wheels, 28-9 + + Whipping boy, 37 + + Whitchurch, Rev. N. L., 226 + + Widows, Benediction of, 21; + Hindu, 18; + order of, 19 + + William I., 140 + + William Rufus, 139 + + Winchester, 177 + + "Wolf's head," 150 + + Wolsey, Cardinal, 243, 247 + + Woodbury (Devon), 61 + + Woolrych, Mr. Serjeant, 126 + + Writ of forest, 228 + + Writ of imprisonment, 233 + + Writ of right, 168 + + Wunibald, 14 + + Wykeham, William of, 22 + + + Year-books, 168-70, 217-8, 227-9, 233-4 + + York, 44-8, 52, 55, 58, 60, 161, 177, 193 + + Youlgreave (Derbyshire), 63 + + Youghal, 197 + + +_This book has been abridged to bring it within the length of this +Series._ + +_Printed in Great Britain by Jarrold & Sons, Ltd., Norwich._ + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[1] I.e., by the Guild of All Souls, the Confraternity of the Blessed +Sacrament, etc. + +[2] Paro = apparel in the technical sense. + +[3] This was a counsel of perfection. The bedels certainly received fees +(see below). + +[4] It is, nevertheless, a fact that high dignitaries of the +Church--e.g., Cardinal Pole--are represented with beards; and St. +Benedict himself is depicted with this virile appendage! + +[5] These petitions are taken from a large and valuable collection +translated by Miss Lucy Toulmin Smith and contributed to the +_Collectanea_ (Third Series) of the Oxford Historical Society. They are +copied substantially as she gives them; but curiously enough the +accomplished lady stumbles over the word "brais," for which she proposes +"arms" as the translation, evidently thinking of _bras_ and quite +forgetting that _braies_ is the French for "breeches." + +[6] In 1334 a number of masters and scholars migrated to Stamford and +attempted to found a University there. This is known as the Stamford +Schism. + +[7] The University of Cambridge is believed to have been founded in +consequence of a migration from Oxford in 1209. The relative space +assigned to Oxford, as the typical English University of the Middle +Ages, in the present work, may be justified by some words of Mr. +Blakiston: "The University of Cambridge, occupying a less central and +more unhealthy situation, and having less powerful protectors, did not +compete in popularity and privileges with the older society before the +sixteenth century. It was not even formally recognized till it received +the licence of Pope John XXII. in 1318.... Oxford schools were renowned +as a 'staple product' at a time when Cambridge was famous only for +eels." + +[8] The Common Serjeant was for long to the City what the King's +Serjeant was to the Crown. The appointment lay with the Court of Common +Council, and till 1824 the custom was to elect the senior of the Common +Pleaders in the Mayor's Court. He was originally rather an advocate than +a judge. The office goes back at least as far as the commencement of the +fourteenth century, being mentioned in the civic records of that date. + +[9] This and the other prayers cited are translated from the "Formulae +Liturgicae," published by Gengler and Roziere, and included in +Henderson's "Select Documents" (Bell). + +[10] The "Dialogus de Scaccario" contains the following legendary +account of the origin of this custom, which, like so many others, was an +Anglo-Saxon usage continued under the Normans: + +"Now in the primitive state of the kingdom after the Conquest those who +were left of the Anglo-Saxon subjects secretly laid ambushes for the +suspected and hated race of the Normans, and here and there, when +opportunity offered, killed them secretly in the woods and in remote +places: as vengeance for whom--when the Kings and their ministers had +for some years with exquisite kinds of tortures, raged against the +Anglo-Saxons; and they, nevertheless, had not, in consequence of these +measures altogether desisted--the following plan was hit upon: that the +so-called "hundred," in which a Norman was found killed in this +way--when he who had caused his death was not to be found, and it did +not appear from his flight who he was--should be condemned to a large +sum of tested silver for the fisc; some indeed to _l._36, some to +_l._44, according to the different localities, and the frequency of the +slaying. + +"And they say that this is done with the following end in view, namely, +that a general penalty of this kind might make it safe for the +passers-by, and that each person might hasten to punish so great a crime +and to give up to justice him through whom so enormous a loss fell on +the whole neighbourhood."--Henderson's "Select Documents," p. 66. + +[11] In Norman times the prosecutor was compensated _twofold_ out of the +chattels of the tried and convicted thief; the rest of his goods went to +the King. + +[12] Except in the matter of succession. See p. 219. + +[13] "Common town bargains" were the rule also at Dublin. + +[14] This and the whole of the following evidence, with few exceptions, +was derived from the appendices to the reports of the Municipal +Corporations Commission of 1835; and it is not likely that the state of +things thus revealed continues, in all cases, to exist. + +[15] "Obviously strips in the common arable field" (Cunningham). + +[16] It is difficult to estimate the proportion of bond to free; Seebohm +holds that the former comprised the bulk of the population. + +[17] For the cultivation of the demesne, perhaps a fourth of the entire +manor. + +[18] It is impossible within our present limits to specify the relative +duties of this formidable array of officers and serving-men, although +materials for the task are available, notably in "The Booke of Orders +and Rules" of Anthony Viscount Montague, printed in vol. vii. of the +"Sussex Archaeological Collections." From this we learn that the Steward +was expected to keep a "perfect checkroll" of his lordship's household +and retainers in order that he might "with more certainty make the +proportion of liveries and badges for them." Yeomen waiters attended +their master in the streets of London and at his table there in their +liveries, with handsome swords or rapiers at their sides; and this was +also the rule in the country at the solemn feasts of Christmas, Easter, +and Whitsuntide, and on other special occasions. When the Lord and Lady +went a journey, the Steward and all the higher members of the household +rode immediately in front of them, and the Gentlemen Usher led the +cavalcade bareheaded through towns and cities. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Customs of Old England, by F. J. 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