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Of this work not more than 100 large paper, and 500 small paper, copies have been printed, of which this is No. / small paper.
OF THE
orou<j0 «f (tor^amy on.
TWO VOLUMES,
Illustrated.
PREFACE BY
THE LORD BISHOP OF LONDON,
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER ON THE HISTORY OF THE TOWN BY
W. RVLAND L). ADKINS, B.A.,
Late History Exhibitioner of Balliol College, Oxford, Barrister-at-La-w.
THE FIRST VOLUME EDITED BY
CHRISTOPHER A. MARKHAM, F.S.A.,
Hon. Sec. Northamptonshire Architectural Society, Author of "The Church Plate of the County of Northampton," &c.
THE SECOND VOLUME EDITED BY THE
REV. J. CHARLES Cox, LL.D., F.S.A.,
Author of " Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals," &c.
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE CORPORATION
OF THE
COUNTY BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON.
1898.
GENERAL CONTENTS.
VOLUME ONE.
PAGE
PREFACE, BY THE BISHOP'OF LONDON iii.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER, BY W. RYLAND D. ADKINS ... ... ix.
DOMESDAY BOOK i— 6
THE GREAT ROLLS OF THE PIPE ... ... 7 — 24
CHARTERS, LETTERS PATENT, AND ACTS OF PARLIAMENT ... 25—195
LIBER CUSTUMARUM 19? — 43°
LIST OF ACTS OF PARLIAMENT 433—448
LIST OF COUNCILS AND PARLIAMENTS 449 — 455
LEGAL NOTES ON THE LIBER CUSTUMARUM, BY T. GREEN ... 457—478
GLOSSARY ... 481
INDEX OF SUBJECTS ... 497
INDEX OF PERSONS 5°°
INDEX OF PLACES 5°8
VOLUME TWO.
PAGE
PREFACE iii.
INTRODUCTION i — 9
Civic GOVERNMENT AND STATE ... ... ... ... ... n — 99
Civrc JURISDICTION 101 — 149
TOWN PROPERTY, BUILDINGS, AND REVENUE 151 — 212
COMMONS AND CATTLE 213 — 229
PUBLIC HEALTH 231 — 271
THE TOWN TRADES 273—308
FREEMEN AND APPRENTICES ... ... ... ... ... 309 — 326
CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONS 327 — 379
ALL SAINTS' AND OTHER CHURCHES 381—423
THE DEFENCES OF NORTHAMPTON AND THE COMMONWEALTH
STRUGGLE 425 — 463
ROYAL VISITS AND NATIONAL EVENTS ... ... 465 — 490
MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT 491 — 512
TOPOGRAPHICAL 513 — 528
VARIA ET ADDENDA 529 — 544
APPENDIX, WITH LISTS OF MAYORS AND BOROUGH OFFICIALS 545 — 571 INDEX 573
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PREFACE BY
THE LORD BISHOP OF LONDON,
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER ON THE HISTORY OF THE TOWN BY
W. RVLAND D. ADKINS, B.A.,
Late History Exhibitioner of Balliol College, Oxford, Barrister-at-Law.
FIRST VOLUME
BY
CHRISTOPHER A. MARKHAM, F.S.A.,
Hon. Sec. Northamptonshire Architectural Society, Author of "The Church Plate of the County of Northampton," &c.
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE CORPORATION
OF THE
COUNTY BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON.
fionbon : ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER Row. (Jtorf ^ampf on : BIRDSALL & SON, WOOD STREET.
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PRINTED BY STANTON AND SON, ABINGTON STREET.
ELECTRONIC VERSION AVAILABLE
PREFACE.
f COUNT it a high distinction to be permitted to associate
myself, in any degree, with a work of such importance as the
mblication of the Records of the Borough of Northampton. At
he time when that work was undertaken I was Bishop of the
liocese in which Northampton lies, and was consulted in the
initial stages. I then promised to write an historical introduction,
but my removal from Peterborough has deprived me alike of the
leisure and the appropriateness for such a task. I can only express
my personal gratification at the result of much labour to set forth
the history and development of a town which ranks high in
historical importance, as Mr. Ryland Adkins, with a severe
repression of undue patriotism, has abundantly shown.
The publication of municipal records has a twofold value. It gives a great stimulus to the accurate study of local history, and affords a strong incentive to that sentiment of civic duty on which our local self government must ultimately rest. At the same time it is of importance to all students of English institutions ; for they can only be fully understood when a great mass of material has been collected in an available form. Every publication of records affords material for correcting old theories, and for framing new ones. It is from dry records that we shall be able in time to construct a picture of the actual life of our ancestors. It is with this daily life of the multitude that history is leaning to concern itself. The growth and working of social organisation are matters of primary importance, and can only be discovered by carefully
iv NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
studying the records of municipal business. We can there see what men were trying to do, and we can estimate the success of the methods they employed.
To those resident in the neighbourhood of Northampton this book will be of great interest as being, in a very definite manner, their family archives. It is a memorial of the process by which their town acquired an organised life. English municipal institutions developed from below, and were not imposed from above. The right of self-government depended, and always must depend, upon the capacity to exercise it. Royal charters were a recognition of the fact that a borough could manage its affairs for itself better than they could be managed for it. This fact was proved by showing that it was profitable for all parties concerned. Self- government was not the result of any speculative system, but wras the most economical way of conducting the business both of the locality and of the state. The charters granted to Northampton are so many indications of the growth of its burghers in shrewdness and in capacity for business.
If we would know what that business was, we have an account of remarkable detail in the " Liber Custumarum," which contains in a codified form the customs and regulations which had gradually grown up for the management of the town's affairs. It is noticeable that it took shape at a time when the restoration of order was of primary importance in England. This proves that during a period of weakness in the state local effort had grown stronger and more conscious of its power. The regulations contained in this book show how large a part of the administra- tion of law in England had fallen into the hands of civic authorities. For instance, the provisions for regulating the market are not so much made for the purpose of facilitating trade in itself, but for maintaining order and preventing robbery in
PREFACE.
the neighbourhood. It was this desire which animated the conclusions laid down in the debates held by the burghers on Sundays after service time in All Saints' Church. There was a persistent belief that all evils could be remedied by stricter enactments, and as soon as grievances arose an effort was made to redress them. Every trade had its own ordinances for maintaining that discipline, without which it did not hope to thrive. It is a characteristic of the Middle Ages that men adopted a high standard, and did not despair of attaining to it, however little support their hopes might derive from actual facts. Now-a-days we have a dread of interference, and shrink from making regulations which are not likely to be observed ; our forefathers always set forth an ideal, which they knew to be impossible of attainment, but which, nevertheless, expressed the principles on which social life was founded. In these days of universal criticism it is pathetic to read the weighty reasons which are assigned for imposing a fine on those who railed against the mayor and burgesses. (I. 313.) The deepest consideration of the causes on which the well-being of states depends is necessary to justify an attempt to close the mouths of captious critics. In many matters which are treated in the " Liber Custumarum " we see how the evil practices of com- mercial life remain the same, though we may perhaps claim that they have been greatly lessened. But there runs through the ordinances on these points a spirit which is rare now-a-days, a desire to preserve the fair fame of the town as a whole. Com- mercial honesty was regarded as a valuable possession for the borough, in which all trades must stand or fall together.
The organisation of the civic Council in later days, and its mode of transacting business, are amply illustrated by the extracts made from its records by Dr. Cox. The change from an assembly of burgesses to a civic Corporation, made by the Act of Parliament passed in 1489, is a great epoch, and we would like to have more
VI NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
definite information about the events which actually brought it about. There were, of course, many general political causes at work at that time. But there is one consideration which springs out of the matter itself. Business naturally falls into the hands of those who are most willing to do it. In a popular assembly power passes into the hands of committees of experts, who are generally left a free hand. But when there is a time of developed activity, outside criticism increases, and a multitude of tongues make themselves heard. The committee of experts regard this as a dangerous innovation, and think they are justified in taking away an obsolete right which is injuriously exercised for the purpose only of creating confusion. This is the view which is embodied in the preamble of this statute. (I. 101.) There is no conscious hypocrisy about it, but a desire to keep things as they were in the good old times.
I cannot undertake to compare in detail the borough of North- ampton with other English boroughs, and point out its distinguishing peculiarities. This is a work for students of municipal institutions. But every English town had characteristics of its own, which were expressed in its history. It is this variety of actual practice which gives unfailing interest to local records. The practical temper of the English mind is shown in its power of silent adaptation of institutions to actual needs. Municipal history is not to be studied by a consideration of the logical development of constitutional ideas, but by a recognition that the mode of doing business was suggested by the nature of the business to be done. If this be so, it is obvious that the history of English towns cannot be written from one or two selected examples, which are taken as typical because their records are available for study. Each borough has its own contribution to make, for it had its own independent life. For this reason the records of every borough have an importance of their own. Their publication is not merely for the satisfaction of local patriotism, or the gratification of local antiquarians, but
PREFACE.
Vll
is a substantive contribution to the history of that distinguishing quality of the English people, their capacity for managing their own affairs, quietly and reasonably, with a view solely to discover what is the fairest and wisest way of dealing with each question that arises. History consists, after all, in showing the working in any sphere of the qualities of the race.
M. LONDON.
Vlll
NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATE I.— The Charter of ist Richard I....
CUT.— Initial Letter of Charter
CUT.— Initial Letter of Charter ...
CUT.— Initial Word
CUT. — Initial Letter
CUT. — Initial Letter of Charter
Frontispiece p. 116 1x8
363
421
CONTENTS.
PAGE
DOMESDAY BOOK i
THE GREAT ROLLS OF THE PIPE ... 7
CHARTER OF IST RICHARD I. ... ... ... ... ... ... 25
CHARTER OF IST JOHN... 30
LETTERS PATENT OF 3RD HENRY III 34
LETTERS PATENT OF QTH HENRY III. 36
CHARTER OF IITH HENRY III 38
LETTERS PATENT OF 36™ HENRY III. 41
CHARTER OF 3QTH HENRY III. ... .. ... 44
CHARTER OF 4isT HENRY III 46
LETTERS PATENT OF 52ND HENRY III 49
LETTERS PATENT OF 52ND HENRY III. ... 51
LETTERS PATENT OF 54TH HENRY III 53
LETTERS PATENT OF 13™ EDWARD I. .. ... 54
CHARTER OF 2yTH EDWARD I. ... ... ... ... ... ... 56
LETTERS PATENT OF 2grn EDWARD I. 58
PLEAS OF THE CROWN 61
LETTERS PATENT OF 3RD EDWARD III. 64
LETTERS PATENT OF QTH EDWARD III 65
CHARTER OF IITH EDWARD III. ... ... ... ... ... 66
CHARTER OF STH RICHARD II. ... 68
LETTERS PATENT OF 2ND HENRY IV. 72
LETTERS PATENT OF QTH HENRY VI 75
LETTERS PATENT OF iyTH HENRY VI. 75
NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
PAGE
CHARTER OF 23RD HEXKY VI ... 77
LETTERS PATENT OF 30™ HENRY VI. 81
CHARTER OF 38TH HENRY VI. ... . . ... 84
LETTERS PATENT OF IST EDWARD IV. 89
LETTERS PATENT OF 2ND EDWARD IV 91
LETTERS PATENT OF 2ND EDWARD IV. ... ... ... ... 92
LETTERS PATENT OF i8TH EDWARD IV. ... ... ... ... ... 93
LETTERS PATENT IST RICHARD III. .. ... ... ... ... 97
ACT OF PARLIAMENT OF 4TH HENRY VII 101
CHARTER OF IITH HENRY VII. ... ... ... 104
LETTERS PATENT OF IITH HENRY VII no
LETTERS PATENT OF 2ND HENRY VIII in
LETTERS PATENT OF 5TH HENRY VIII ... ... ... 113
LETTERS PATENT OF IST EDWARD VI. ... ... 116
LETTERS PATENT OF IST AND 2ND PHILIP AND MARY ... ... 117
LETTERS PATENT OF 4iST ELIZABETH ... 119
LETTERS PATENT OF i6TH JAMES I. ... 125
LETTERS PATENT 15™ CHARLES II ... ... 137
LETTERS PATENT 35TH CHARLES II 143
LETTERS PATENT OF IST ANNE 148
EXEMPLIFICATION OF A JUDGEMENT ... 149
LETTERS PATENT OF 36™ GEORGE III. ... ... ... ... 151
LETTERS PATENT OF STH GEORGE IV ... 184
ACT OF PARLIAMENT OF $TH AND 6TH WILLIAM IV 186
LETTERS PATENT OF 6TH WILLIAM IV. ... 187
LETTERS PATENT OF 6TH WILLIAM IV 188
LETTERS PATENT OF IST VICTORIA ... ... ... 191
LETTERS PATENT OF 4isT VICTORIA ... .. ... 193
NORTHAMPTON TOLL CAUSE ... ... 195
CONTENTS.
XI
L
IBER CUSTUMARUM ...
ACTS OF PARLIAMENT RELATING TO NORTHAMPTON
COUNCILS AND PARLIAMENTS HOLDEN AT NORTHAMPTON
LEGAL NOTES ON THE LIBER CUSTUMARUM
CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS
GLOSSARY
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
INDEX OF PERSONS ... 500
INDEX OF PLACES 508
PAGE 197 433 449 455 479 481
497
(position of Qtoriflampfon in
BY
W. RYLAND D. ADKINS,
B.A., Land.,- Late History Exhibitioner, of Balliol College, Oxford, Barrister -at -Law.
THE POSITION OF NORTHAMPTON IN ENGLISH HISTORY.
4E town of Northampton, whose municipal life is described in these volumes, first becomes of importance in English history at the time of the Norman Conquest. Its position, on ground sloping gently to the south-west, and bounded on the west and south by the river Nene, which, flowing south from Naseby, is here joined by the Weedon water, and turns east to Peterborough, must have always been a strong and convenient one. But the Britons selected the brow of the hill to the south of Northampton, where an enclosure and fosse, miscalled Danes' Camp, has yielded in our day one of the richest collections of pre-Roman remains. The Roman, to whom the Nene valley was an important boundary when Britain was in process of being conquered, had most of his forts on the south of the valley, while avoiding Danes' Camp or Hunsbury Hill, and when the district was settled, chose as his chief abode the south-eastern slopes of Duston, to the west of modern Northampton, though slight remains of Roman-British times in the Castle area indicate an obscure community on the site which was afterwards so important. The Saxon undoubtedly had both a village and a fort where the Norman afterwards built, but before the Conquest the town has only antiquarian interest. It is probable that the Nene valley was a boundary between the Angle and Saxon in the centuries when they were settling England, and it is certain that the same line of country marks roughly the southern boundary of Danish permanent settlement, but neither the Angle nor Dane made a chief stronghold of this clearing between the forest and the river. Local antiquaries have differed much as to whether the Castle really existed in Saxon times, but the better opinion is that at "Hamtune" Edward the Elder in 922, after defeating the Danes, erected there one of the chain of forts with which he overawed the Danes who had settled and de- fended the heart of his kingdom against those who were to come, and that this was on the site of what was afterwards Northampton Castle, and that when in 1010 the Danes burned " Hamtune " it was a place of some size, straggling along the north bank of the river, and protected by its fort, but of no special political value. Thus it remained till the Norman came, when it was a town of
* 2
XVI NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
about 60 houses, having some churches, the number of which cannot now be ascertained, and, if a passage from Ingulphus is to be trusted, possessing in a rudimentary form a monastic settlement which was afterwards to become the famous Priory of St. Andrew. Its mint was closed, common as provincial mints were ; it gave its name to no Earl ; and its unimportance is marked by the fact that when in 1065 Harold met the insurgent Earls Edwin and Morcar here fresh from the displacement of Tostig in Northumberland, the conference agreed to was held not here, but at Oxford, and little, if any, attempt was made to hinder the Northern forces from ravaging the neighbourhood.
With the establishment of William's rule, Northampton emerges from obscurity into fame, and for two hundred and fifty years is constantly the scene of great events, and one of the principal centres of the kingdom. This it owed simply to its geographical position. As already said, it was naturally a good site for a fortified town, and the neighbouring forests, shrunk in modern times to the remote and narrow limits of Rockingham, Salcey, and Whittlebury, were for political and sporting reasons attractive to the Norman kings. Yet such advantages it shared with many places. What was its special value was its position — about half- way between Winchester (the national capital) and York (the capital of the North), and similarly half-way between the Welsh Marches and the East coast. A town so placed was invaluable to the Norman and Plantagenet Kings. The problem before them was to keep a firm grip on the whole kingdom, and to consolidate it into unity. Hence the old divisions of the country were of little concern to them. In Saxon times national unity only appears in rare and fitful gleams, when a strong monarch like Edward the Elder, Edgar, or Canute could obliterate provincial independence. Even so late as Edward the Confessor, the division of England into Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex was the really significant one, and the power of the crown was practically subordinate to it. Such a state of things it was natural for the Norman to fight against, and belonging to neither section, his impartial tyranny was untiringly devoted to weld England into one. For such a purpose it was essential to make his hold on the centre of the country as firm and as personal as possible. Northampton was chosen by one after another of the Plantagenet monarchs as a place of constant resort, whither it was easy to summon, and whence it was quick to
POSITION OF THE TOWN IN ENGLISH HISTORY. XV11
pursue the turbulent Welsh, the restless North, the intriguing Bigods of Norfolk, or the rebellious barons of the West.
The earliest and best proof of the new importance of the town is given in Domesday Book. From being a village of 60 houses under King Edward, it had risen to be a town of 330 ; of these no less than 100 belonged to the King, and 85 to his half brother, the Earl of Mutan, his niece, the Countess Judith, or his natural son, William Peverel, while houses belonging to the great barons are either few or conspicuous by their absence. The King's personal hold on the town and its growth could scarcely be more strikingly shown. And what appears from Domesday is borne out by William having given the Earldom of Northampton first to Waltheof, the son of the great Siward, and known to us alike by his prowess in arms and his vacillating weakness in statecraft, and then to Simon de St. Liz, endowing it, among other things, with the Countess Judith's local possessions, as well as with the hand of her daughter Maud. The first of these grants, that to the Northumbrian Earl, is characteristic of William's earlier policy of conciliation, while the second, to one of his own personal followers marks his later plan of relying on personal adherents rather than on men previously eminent in England and Normandy, and both show the importance he attached to the control of Northampton.
The marriage of Simon and Maud in 1084 commences the rule of the principal mediaeval earls of Northampton, the St. Liz. The three Earls — father, son, and grandson — held the Earldom for just a century, and had a large share in developing the life of the town. The small priory of St. Andrew was enlarged, if not refounded, by the first Simon, and endowed with the patronage of the nine churches which Northampton in 1084 possessed. The church of the Holy Sepulchre was founded by the same man, and he built in Norman fashion the Castle on the site of the old Saxon fort, and surrounded the growing town with a wall. These works occupied much of the time when Rufus was King, and the second St. Liz continued his father's type of energy by founding the Abbey of Delapre" in the meadows south of the town, and by re-building the church of St. Peter in a style which stands to our own day. Besides these facts, there is nothing to record till the solitary surviving Pipe Roll of Henry ist, that of 1131, tells us that the farm rent of Northampton to the crown was £100, whereas in Domesday it had been only £30. In the same year, too, was
XV111 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
held at Northampton the first of the councils which became so frequent there afterwards.
Here the old and wearied king, who was familiar with North- ampton as the scene of a conference with his brother Robert, in 1106, and the place where he spent Easter in 1121-22, called the baronage together to swear fealty on the high altar of All Saints' church to his daughter, the Empress Maude. By a curious coincidence it was here that Stephen called his first council in 1136 or 1138 to receive the allegiance of the men previously sworn to his cousin, and St. Liz was throughout his reign one of the unvarying sup- porters of the king. Stephen held his court here in 1144.
With the reign of Henry II. more details come to light of the position and importance of Northampton. The Pipe Rolls, which have been preserved continuously from the second year of his reign, tell us that the farm rent of the town when he came to the throne was the hundred pounds it had been in his grand- father's time, rising in 1184 to the one-hundred-and- twenty pounds at which it stood for three hundred years. The king's constant visits to Northampton mark his sense of its central and strategic position. He was here in fifteen different years of his reign, a fact which in view of his frequent absence in France, once for four years at a time, indicates an almost annual visit when in England. Here resided his third son, Geoffrey, for a year in 1170-71, when the king and the rest of the court were in Anjou. In 1157 a council was held at Northampton, chiefly on ecclesiastical affairs, and after a fruitless attempt at settlement between Becket and the king at Northampton in 1163, the great council of the following year saw, perhaps, the most dramatic of the historic scenes which happened here, when Becket, condemned by the king and council for his refusal to accept the constitutions of Clarendon and sur- render clerical privileges to the common level of citizenship, appealed to the pope, and fled by night from the populace who adored him, and from the monarch and barons who meant his submission or destruction. Sympathy may well be divided between the great churchman, free from vulgar selfishness, and yet struggling for class pretensions which were ruinous to the state, and the wise though brutal king, whose violent and oppressive temper cannot disguise the justice and statesmanship of his administrative methods. The incident is one made familiar by the prose of Froude and the poetry of Tennyson. Its significance for one sketching the
POSITION OF THE TOWN IN ENGLISH HISTORY. xix
history of the town where it happened lies in the indication it gives of the consequence of the place where the priory of St. Andrew led the burgesses in enthusiastic support of the archbishop, and the strength of the fortress chosen by the king as the spot suitable to bring to a head his vital conflict with Becket.
In the rebellion of 1173-74, in which the younger Henry had the assistance of some of the greatest barons in his attempt to seize his father's throne, Northampton stood for the old king. Here he paid a flying visit of four days in the autumn of 1173, and the Earl of Northampton, the last of the St. Liz, besieged Huntingdon along side De Lacy, the justiciar in the same interest. The constable of Leicester, acting for the Earl, one of the rebels, and then a prisoner in Normandy, defeated the king's burgesses of Northampton early the next year, and later in the summer North- ampton was the place at which the king received the submission of the defeated barons.
It was at this date that Northampton castle became royal property. Why St. Liz, then in favour, relinquished it ten years before his death is now beyond ascertainment, but since he then obtained Huntingdon, and was known afterwards as the Earl of Huntingdon, it is possible that there was practically a surrender of the castle, if not of the Earldom, in exchange for that of Huntingdon.
The next council held here two years later had no local bearings, but is memorable as that at which the whole country was for the first time divided into circuits for the anuual visits of judges, a tentative plan of the circuits having been successful a year before. Again the next year a great council was held in the town, the last held there in the reign, which marks the end of the rebellion by the restoration of the Earls of Leicester and Chester to their honours. Henceforward Henry had quiet in England.
The important year, however, of this reign for the history of the borough is 1184. In that year died Simon, the last of the St. Liz Earls of Northampton, and the shrewd burgesses seized the chance to buy from the king the right of holding the town of him in capite.
This is the true beginning of municipal life. Freed by this means from dependence on the sheriff, and so made separate from the county, no longer having a local earl to overawe them, the
XX NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
burgesses of Northampton had the king and the king only to deal with, and were launched on the stream of local independence, which naturally led to their gaining five years later from Richard I. their earliest charter by which they could choose their own reeve, and be free as tenants on the royal domain from tolls and exactions throughout the kingdom.
And this local independence was made much easier by the absence of any powerul baron in their immediate neighbourhood. Either in 1174, or at Earl Simon's death, the crown acquired those large estates in Northamptonshire which the Conqueror had given to his niece Judith. These, together with previous royal property, and especially the three great forests already referred to, made the crown practically the sole large landowner in Northamptonshire at this time, and Northampton gained thereby. The forests, as is now well known, were not only preserved for hunting, but being outside the ordinary law formed imperia in imperio of which the Angevin kings were jealous guardians, none more so than Henry II. He was at Northampton in 1175, holding a circuit to enquire into encroachments on his forests in the county during the late rebellion, and his vigilance doubtless prevented any new estates being carved out of Whittlebury or Rockingham. In this reign, too, the residential attraction of the neighbourhood of North- ampton for the sovereign is most marked. Beside the castle of Rockingham, which he cared for less than did his grandfather, or Rufus, Henry had a palace of importance at Geddington, fifteen miles from Northampton, in the heart of the forest, and there held a great council in 1188, besides paying many less important visits. He had, too, a hunting lodge further north at King's Cliffe, and one at Silverstone, thirteen miles south of Northampton, in Whittlebury forest, both of which are known to have seen him not infrequently.
The effect of the royal residences in the vicinity was naturally to lead to royalty and great officials passing through the town, to bring the town into close relation with king and court, while making it more independent of lesser dignities, and so to give it that character of a privileged and favoured town on the royal domain, which gives the key to its municipal growth during the succeeding reigns.
In that of Richard I., we meet for the first time with detailed notice of the local mint which is referred to in the Pipe Roll of
POSITION OF THE TOWN IN ENGLISH HISTORY. xxi
1160, the inspector thereof paying a fine to the exchequer to be quit of his office in 1198, and Richard spent Easter of 1194 here, attended at his council by William, the Scotch king. The value of the castle, too, is shown very early in the reign, when one of the terms of settlement of the dispute between John and the chancellor is the commitment of the castle to Simon de Patteshall who engaged if the king died without issue to deliver it up to John.
Still more striking is the selection of Northampton for the meeting of notables at the death of Richard, to swear fealty to John, then in Normandy, and to impose conditions of their loyalty upon their new king.
John, indeed, all through his reign had much to do with North- ampton. In his first year he issued to the town a charter confirming that of Richard, and adding new privileges, such as the election of four coroners, and the bailiffs. A year or two later the mint is again mentioned, and the king not only visited the town in fourteen out of the seventeen years of his reign, and in one year as many as four times, thirty-one visits in all, but removed the exchequer hither from London in 1209 for six months. In 1212 he held here the council where he met the Nuncios, Pandulph and Durand, and failing to satisfy them was excommunicated. To a king situated as wras John in the midst of disaffection, the castle of Northampton was invaluable. Orders for its repair and maintenance appear in the rolls for 1205 and 1213, and particulars of the change of its castellan in 1215. When the civil \var broke out Fitz Walter and the army of God and the Holy Church beseiged it in vain for fourteen days, and after the granting of Magna Carta it was one o* four castles given to the barons as security for the performance of the charter. It reverted to the King's power on the turn of the tide a year later, and was held for him by Fulk de Breaute at the close of his reign.
Meanwrhile the town itself was growing in population and inde- pendence. In 1202 the Monks of St. Andrew's were at variance with their vicars, the clergy of the town churches, because the latter had opened additional churches (practically chapels of ease) without their patrons' leave. The dispute was referred to Rome, and the Pope decided against the vicars. Thus is seen the growth of the town, which needed more churches and that divergence of feeling between the secular and regular clergy which marked the rise of independent life in a mediaeval town. And as the
xxil NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
town had withstood the Priory, so it dared to quarrel with the Castle. In 1216, provoked doubtless by the devastation civil war was working in Northampton, the townsmen rose on the King's garrison, and killed many, only to suffer the penalty of having a large part of the town burned over their heads.
These are apparently passing incidents, but they show us how, at the death of John, Northampton was no longer a collection of dwellings clustered round castle or abbeys. These were still here, and more powerful than ever, but alongside the forces of Church and King were beginning the energies of the citizens, chosing their own chief magistrates, anxious after their own welfare, and building up steadily the edifice of municipal life.
These energies were destined to increase greatly throughout the long reign of John's irresolute son. At the beginning, no doubt, Northampton suffered for the time, as records speak of waste houses within its walls. But its character as a Royal town, resorted to by the Court for festival and council, soon restored its prosperity. The 1200 marks exacted by way of aid from the town in 1227 speaks well of its reputed wealth. Before this, the capture of Bedford Castle by the King (1224) had seen the end of the tur- bulent career of Fulk de Breaute, who might indeed entertain the King at Northampton, as he did in 1218, but who was bent on quasi-independent rule, and who is the last of the sheriffs in our history to show the continuous turbulence of an earlier age. Henry, who had in 1218 issued letters patent regulating the fairs of Northampton, and in 1224 granted to the burgesses tolls on things entering the town for three years in aid of enclosing and fortifying the town, signalised his full assumption of kingly power in 1227 by confirming his father's charter on the usual terms of a handsome payment for the confirmation. In 1252 came fresh letters patent, granting tolls for enclosing the town, and addressed this time not to the sheriff, but to the mayor and burgesses, the reeve being known as the mayor as early as Richard I.'s time, when a witness to conveyances. In 1255 a charter gives the burgesses relief from arrest for debt, with certain limitations. In 1257 a similar document gives many additional privileges, notably that of returning the King's writs themselves, and not through the sheriff, and freeing the town from the right of the sheriff to make distress in the borough.
This brings the municipal history to the beginning of the
POSITION OF THE TOWN IN ENGLISH HISTORY. xxiii
Barons' war, and the town had been prospering steadily. The religious temper of the King had been shown by his removing in 1236 the old town fair from All Saints' churchyard, where it had been held from before the Conquest, and in 1246 he had given a library and sacramental plate to All Saints', and smaller vessels of silver to the other parish churches More important is the flight of the Oxford students here from 1230 to 1258, joined by Cam- bridge students in 1258, and the consequent founding of a University under Royal sanction, which numbered thousands of scholars, and only perished by the pressure which Oxford as a Royalist centre put upon the King in 1262 to close the new rival. For by this time the Barons' war had broken out, and at North- ampton the townsmen, especially the students, were on the side of the Barons. The Castle was held by the younger De Montford in
1264, and the capture of the town by Henry and Prince Edward, through the convenient assistance of the Monks of St. Andrew's, who surreptitiously admitted them, was the first Royalist success of the war. In the next year the great Earl Simon re-captured it, only to lose it to the King later in the year, and it was here in December,
1265, that the King summoned his array to meet and drive the Barons from Kenilworth. The campaign thus opened, closed with the victory at Evesham, and Northampton was the place chosen for the council held in 1266 to inflict penalties on the vanquished, and restore order to the country. In 1268, at Midsummer, it was here that Edward and many other knights assumed the cross before starting on the crusade, in the presence of the King and Queen and of his wife, the heroic Eleanor of Castille.
Although the town's baronial leanings may have had a little to do with its losing its University, it otherwise continued in court favour after the war. Its charters were confirmed in 1268, when the burgesses received a general pardon for their share in the rebellion, and letters patent in 1278 gave them the prized benefit of keeping dogs in town and suburbs without expeditating or lawing them, an inroad upon the rigorous forestial regulations in their favour, which shows, as social privileges always do show, more than greater things, the prosperity of those receiving them.
The new reign of Edward I. was marked as regards Northampton by a Royal Inquisition, the results of which are recorded in the Hundred Roll. From this it appears that in spite of the wars the town had increased so much as to encroach on the open space which
XXIV NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
in a mediaeval town was always left between the houses and the walls, and the business-like habits of the burgesses was shown by the account they presented to the King's commissioners of money due to them from the crown for various entertainings of Royal officers and transmission of Royal property. If the town obtained all it claimed, some £876, they had the best of the commissioners. The next incidents of Northampton's greatness are sinister. Here, in 1277, 300 Jews were executed for clipping the King's coin, doubtless because it was a central place to wrhich to bring malefactors, the Castle having had a special gaol in it for the last generation. Here in 1284, when David, the last of the Welsh princes, was captured and executed, one of his quarters was given to Northampton to be shown on the gate, thus indicating it as one of the most notable towns in England. The same idea is shown in Northampton being chosen in 1283-4 as the place of a Parliament for the counties south of Trent.
It was, indeed, in Edwardian times that the town was at its zenith. An extensive grant of tolls for re-building the walls in 1301 indicates the then enlargement of the town to include within the circuit of its defence the large church of St. Giles, and much orchard and farm land, making an area which was not built upon until within living memory. Then was it that the new Town Hall was built on the edge of the Chequer (the Market square), opposite the churchyard of All Saints, while the centre of the town, geographi- cally and commercially, was shifted eastward, to the said Town Hall and square. In 1299 Edward I., who visited the town at intervals, gave a comfirmatory charter, specially emphasizing the right of chosing a mayor and two bailiffs, and Edward II., though adding no charter, held Parliaments here in 1307 and 1317, to which Northampton sent — as, indeed, it did to the first true Parliament, that of 1295 — its own representatives In the requisition for the Scotch war in 1322 Northampton sent 40 men for 40 days at its own expense to meet the King at Newcastle, a larger number than any town save Winchester, which sent 50, and one which contrasts with the 20 sent by Cambridge and Canterbury, the 26 of Exeter, the 25 of Oxford, the 10 of Bedford, and Leicester's 12.
It was here that young King Edward III. held, in 1328, the famous Parliament which confirmed the Scotch treaty, and yielded back the records brought by his grandfather from Scotland, an assembly which has still better title to remembrance from passing the ist statute of Northampton, which strengthened the processes
POSITION OF THE TOWN IN ENGLISH HISTORY. XXV
of justice, confirmed the Great and Forest Charters, and checked, though only temporarily, the monopoly of the staple. At this time we hear in detail of Queen Isabella staying at the Priory of St» Andrew, of the formalities attaching to the custody of the great seal, and of the absence of the armed men, who had been too used to overcome the deliberation of councils. A little earlier than this an act (17 Edward II.) forbidding tournaments had allowed that one more should be held at IN orthampton, and a little later than this we note that farm rent of Northampton was assigned a part of the support of the Queen Isabella in her melancholy captivity at Castle Rising.
Besides its connection with the court-— other parliaments being held here by Edward III. in 1331 and 1338 — Northampton showed increasingly as a centre of ecclesiastical forces. As early as 1290 the friars in the town were of enough consequence to be entertained for three days successively by King Edward I., who was then residing here, and the period now described saw the settlement of all four orders of Friars — the Grey, the White, the Black, and the Austin — within the town of Northampton. Only eleven towns possessed settlements of all four orders at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries.
With boundaries enlarged, and benefiting by the wider liberties of each charter, and by the town's position as a political and religious centre, the burgesses of Northampton naturally developed pretensions to enforce their authority on the surrounding country. In 1330 a presentment was made against the Bailiffs of the town for taking unlawful tolls in a manner which to modern notions seem curiously impudent. The town was empowered to take toll of persons passing through it with carts and merchandise, and in order to prevent anyone evading payment by going round, stationed the toll houses miles outside on the principal roads. In this case the town had one at Slipton, 17 miles away towards Peterborough, and the result here was to limit the bailiffs to taking toll only of those coming to Northampton, not of those who might be passing through Slipton to Leicester, or Rothwell, or elsewhere. Only a town of strength and influence would dare to put a toll house so far afield.
At home the civic life progressed apace. The ordinance of 1311 made Northampton one of the towns of the Statute Merchant, and the mayor accordingly had the power of witnessing by a special seal the pledges of debtors, and by the time of Edward III., the
XXVI NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
town had had its common seal for a century, and had a mayoral seal as well. The community was organised as the mayor, twelve burgesses (probably ex-mayors), and commonalty, and it met in the church of St. Giles, partly because of its size, partly because of its convenient distance at the opposite end of the town from the Castle and the Castle influences.
If the Barons' war had seen Northampton Castle at its strongest, and the fifteenth century was to see Northampton reach its goal in a charter of incorporation, and the full priviliges of justices and a recorder, it was, as been said, under the Edwards that the town, looked at on all sides of its life, played the largest figure in English history. A thoughtful burgess of the time might well think that his town was destined to be permanently one of the capitals of the country. It had municipal privileges shared by few ; it boasted of a royal Castle, and had had three parliaments held there in twelve years. A little later one of the royal heralds took his title from Northampton. The great religious orders chose it for their head quarters, of the trade in wool it had its full share, and a seal of a great interest bearing the head of Edward I., is one of a cloth subsidy, denoting that Northampton manufactured cloth for export and that the duty had been paid thereon.
Yet this apparently secure prosperity was but the prelude to a long and steady decline. Already in Edward III.'s time the Castle which had made the town was wearing towards decay. It had suffered in the Barons' wars. Edward I., who was always fighting his enemies in their countries not his own, and who at one time did not come near Northampton for ten years, was little concerned to spend money upon it, and when the fears and necessities of his successor led him to look to the defences of even his central towns, a survey was made (1323) of the castle of Northampton, and it was found to be in great decay. The great hall, its principal chambers, and the lower chapel had been destroyed by fire, six new turrets had been destroyed by the castellan himself in 1307, the barbican was ruinous, and the estimated outlay needed to fully restore it would, according to Mr. Hartshorne's calculation from original documents, have exceeded £2000. It is even possible that a royal inquisition into its affairs four years later, which decided that it was in the custody of the sheriff of the county, may refer to an attempt of the town to get control of the decaying but still threatening fortress.
POSITION OF THE TOWN IN ENGLISH HISTORY. xxvii
And while its military strength was impaired, Northampton was about to lose its political importance. The eighth parlia- ment held here in Edward III.'s reign, that of 1338, was called to sanction and assist the impending war with France, and ere it met Edward was already abroad. With this outbreak of what is well known as the Hundred Year' war, the centre of political grants change from home to foreign politics. No longer is the main problem to manage England from somewhere near its centre, the whole energies of the country were at death grips with France.
No doubt there had been continental righting under the Norman and early Plantagenets, but their home politics were of equal urgency, and called them again and again to Northampton, while under Edward III. and his successors foreign affairs were every- thing, and the supplies desired could be better obtained from parliament called to the capital than from assemblies called to a spot so remote from the coast as Northampton. Accordingly, from the time of Crecy. no parliament meets here save one in Richard II/s reign, when there was peace between England and France, and for the still more conclusive reason of pre-occupation elsewhere, the monarchs discontinued their visits either to the town itself or their forestial seats in the immediate neighbourhood.
Its consequence had depended on its geographical position, and the importance of that having passed away it inevitably went down hill.
But though the sources of its greatness were thus drying up, the decline was in no way rapid. The great religious houses which had just come had come to stay. The municipality was in its lusty youth, was growing in strength and privileges, and became of more prominence in the absence of king and court. In J335 the town had been granted tolls for rebuilding the south bridge, and three years later received a charter entitling it to hold that profitable institution for a mediaeval borough, a fair, for the adequate period of four weeks in every year. This may have been an answer to the petition to the Parliameut of J335 f°r a reduction of the fee farm rent. Fifteen years later the King assigned his share of this tax to the Canons of Windsor, to whom the town thenceforward paid it, until under recent legislation it was paid instead to the Ecclesiastical Com- missioners, as it is to the present day.
XXVlll NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
The reign of Richard II. brought with it a new charter (1385) which confirmed the old ones, and ordered the mayor and bailiffs to hear all pleas of assize and other pleas whatsoever happening within the liberties of Northampton, allowed them to keep the assize of bread, wine, and beer, and weights and measures, and to take cognizance of forestallers and regraters. This was of high consequence as giving to the town almost legislative authority over trade matters, and is the basis of the elaborate trade regulations of which the customary of the town is full.
Five years previously to this, the last parliament held at Northampton had met (1380). It is memorable in our history as having imposed the poll-tax which led to the insurrection of Wat Tyler, and the one vivid appearance of the peasantry in the politics of mediaeval England. The local features were the use of All Saints' Church and the Priory of St. James for the meeting of the Parliament, and the fact of the King being lodged outside the town at Moulton, doubtless because the decay of the castle made it unfitting to receive him.
It was about this time, in 1393, that the first mention of Lollardy in Northampton occurs, when one Richard Stormeworth, afterwards M.P. for the borough, complained to the King in council that the mayor was harbouring a Lollard, and encouraging the Lollards to preach in defiance of the Bishop of Lincoln The incident deserves recording, not only for its own sake, but as the earliest mention of that temper in religion and politics which has been, perhaps, the dominant one in Northampton in later centuries.
With the accession of the House of Lancaster, the history of Northampton becomes almost solely municipal. Henry IV., imme- diately on his accession, issued to the town letters patent authorising tolls for repairing the wall, but not till the reign of his grandson is there any further mention of Northampton in royal or parliamentary acts. We are justified in thinking that the town had shared in the tendency of towns generally in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries to increase in wealth and the acqui- sition of property. Letters patent of Henry VI. in 1331 containing an act of parliament for the paving of Northampton mention the principal streets of the town as enlarged in 1300. These letters patent were followed in 1435 by other letters confirming previous charters and again in 1445 by a fresh charter giving the important
POSITION OF THE TOWN IN ENGLISH HISTORY. XXIX
additional privileges of the mayor being appointed King's escheator, and leave being given to the mayor and commonalty to purchase real property of the value of £4.0 a year in spite of the statute of mortmain. These privileges were re-conferred in 1452, and in 1459 the town was incorporated, and the mayor for the time being appointed a magistrate, the incorporation being rather a solemn assurance of previous privileges than the conferring of new ones. Thus by the end of Henry VI. 's reign Northampton had obtained practically full municipal powers. The wars of the Roses made little difference to its civic career although the town was the scene of the first decisive battle of the war when on July loth, 1459, the Earls of March and Warwick, with the support of the townsmen, overthrew the Lancastrians and captured the King. Local historians speak of Henry watching the battle from the hill of the Headless Cross, that structure being one of the Eleanor Crosses erected by Edward I. wherever his wife's body stayed on the way from Harby to Westminster, and one which still stands as a monument not only of conjugal affection and high mediaeval art, but as. a relic reminding Northampton people of the period when the town was still one of the chief towns of the kingdom.
Edward IV., who had the support of the town throughout his career, issued letters of pardon to Northampton in 1462, for offences committed in the war, and in the same year confirmed the ancient charters, while sixteen years later further letters patent allowed the mayors in future to be sworn in the town, instead of proceeding to London.
Up to this time the mayor and bailiffs were chosen by the commonalty, /.<?., by the town at large, and having regard to this, and to the privileges now freshly given by Henry VI. and Edward IV., this may be regarded as the culmination of the municipal life of the town. Its prominence as a royal town came to a head under Henry III., the general prominence royal and municipal in the Edwardian period, and its municipal power and character now. It shared to the full the tendency of the fifteenth century to develop municipal powers, and take an intense interest alike in the collection of ancient customs, and the extension of present rights. It is at this period that the Customary which occupies a good deal of this volume, was compiled, and that shows more clearly than would many pages of comment the elaborate character of the
t
XXX NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
town's civic life. It shows, among other things, that the custom of taking tolls at stations far outside the walls, mentioned already as giving rise to a royal enquiry in 1330, still continued, and the town secured the tolls of travellers as far away as Syresham, fourteen miles south, and Slipton, seventeen miles east. It points out how carefully the privileges of the town had been used to give the town full legislative powers in all domestic matters, and how thoroughly the town, in true mediaeval spirit, looked on the surrounding country as almost foreign territory, to be traded with no doubt, but to be dominated in every possible way to the advantage of the burgesses. The legal notes which Mr. Green has appended to the Customary, show the existence of customs which it is reasonable to refer to a period earlier than the first charter, and it is arguable that the continuance of the "droit de retraite," for instance, long after it became a fetter instead of a privilege, may point not only to the early prosperity of the town, but to its decreasing importance in the later times when acts of parliament gave freedom of alienation generally.
For the most singular feature of Northampton life in this fifteenth century is the steady decline of its material fortunes alongside the greater elaboration of its municipal constitutions. In 1462, at the very time when new powers are given to the corporation, twenty pounds of the fee farm rent is remitted for twenty years, and though no reason is given for this in the letters patent, it is impossible not to assign it to the circum- stances specially mentioned in a similar grant a few years later, of the decay of the town. The truth is that while the town was still of enough consequence to share and feel the municipal growth, which is one of the main characteristics of this century in England, it did not also share the prosperity of so many towns which marked the age. This, again, was due to its geographical position. It was not in the position of Norwich or the Cinque Ports, or Bristol, to take advantage of that economic revolution of the century which saw England turn' from an exporter of raw material to that of manufactured products. It had had at an early period, as has been already seen, a seal indicating it exported cloth, but it was the towns on or near the sea coast which reaped the full advantage of the economic change, and a central, inland town like Northampton was certain to sink more and more into the background. This is curiously borne
[ISTORY. XXXI
out by the act of Parliament of Henry VIII., referring to several decayed towns, including Northampton, all of which, save one are inland.
The first of these remissions of taxation was, as has been said, under Edward IV. ; the final one was in letters patent of Henry VIII., in 1514, which remitted twenty-two pounds of the one hundred and twenty for ever. In the interval between these dates other important matters had happened to the town. An Act of Parliament in 1489 had destroyed the old democratic constitution of the assembly, and placed the government of the town in the hands of the mayor, ex-mayors, bailiffs and ex-bailiffs, and forty-eight of the burgesses, chosen in the first instance by the mayor and ex-mayors, and subsequently kept up in numbers by co-optation. This con- stitution continued until the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, and from 1480 till 1660 the same oligarchy chose the members of Parliament. The excuse for this strong proceeding was the previous existence of tumults in Northampton and in Leicester, to which a similar provision applied, and it is true that Henry VII. was none too well affected to the towns which had welcomed Richard III.'s democratic policy, but the true cause probably lay quite as much in the shrunken size and weakened energies of the com- monalty and the tenacious hold of the leading citizens on corpora- tion patronage and property.
Six years later a charter from the King gave the new corpora- tion the right to chose a recorder and two justices of the peace, with various privileges attaching to them, and with this charter ends the story of the growth of municipal powers in the borough.
Curiously enough, it is from just after this time that the Book of Assembly remains extant, and in the second of these volumes Dr. Cox has illustrated in much detail the civic life of the town for the rest of its existence.
It therefore ceases to be needful in this introduction to say much of the general history of the town from this point onward, especially as the place of Northampton in English history is a much less important one from the beginning of the Tudor period.
Leland gives a picturesque account (1533) of it, noting that the older houses were of stone, and the newer of wrood, and by this time it was sinking rapidly to the level of an ordinary county town.
Towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth a new charter, which enlarged its privileges of the town, and specified several
XXXii NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
fresh fairs, perhaps marks a rise in prosperity. The tendency appears at this time, and continues through the seventeenth century, to choose as the recorder of the town some neighbouring great lord or dignitary, whose actual work would, of course, be done by a deputy ; and tne custom is interesting as showing the new relation between the town and the county. It was during the sixteenth century that Northamptonshire became the home of great families and the county of famous houses. The large royal possessions in the forests of the county furnished estates for the new nobility who owed their origin to Crown favour in Tudor times, and by the end of this century the large landowners of the county were the dominating influence, and the county town came more and more to think of itself — if the expression may be used — as the market town for the large graziers, the centre of county government, and the capital in every sense of the county, rather than as the separate powerful little commonwealth of one hundred and fifty years before. A careful survey of the parliamentary elections in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and of the list of recorders, shows that the town was quick to seek the help and patronage of the neighbouring magnates, in important matters. Even in the famous spendthrift election of 1768, when the town, as will be seen directly, had the wide household suffrage, the contest was one between the three great local noblemen — Lord Northampton, Lord Halifax, and Lord Spencer — a striking instance of "county" influence. The same point is illustrated in the offer of the corporation in 1678, when the County Hall was to be built, to subscribe to it on condition it was to be erected in the town, this being the exact opposite of the policy of mediaeval Northampton in getting rid of the control and influence of the sheriff wherever possible.
This relation of the town to the county is the leading charac- teristic to note in the history of the town from late Tudor to Georgean times. Naturally the town during that period calls for less notice than in the earlier period. It suffices to mention that Henry VIII. visited the town once, that Elizabeth was here three times, and that the purchase by James I. of Holdenby House brought him through the town frequently for some years.
The chief marks of the town's history, apart from its new relation to the county already touched on, and its purely municipal life, which Dr. Cox illustrates so fully, were religion and trade. Northampton, as has been already noted, early showed sympathy
POSITION OF THE TOWN IN ENGLISH HISTORY. XXXlll
with Lollardism, and in Elizabeth's reign it is distinguished for being the town where Puritan and Genevan influence inside the Church of England reached their greatest development. Early in Elizabeth's reign the town had come to have the patronage of the large church of All Saints', and this took the place of St. Giles' as the Corporation church, so that the vigorous Puritanism of its vicar had the greatest significance, and was, we know, supported by the governing body of the town. This temper continued down to the Civil War, and the reader of the second volume of these records will find interesting proof of the rigorous and careful government of the town by its Puritan assembly during the war. Northampton was garrisoned for the Parliament under the leadership of Lord Brooks, and maintained a position of importance in the struggle from the first gathering of Parliamentary troops there under Essex at the beginning of the war, to the final battle of Naseby, but twelve miles away, in 1645. ^ was naturally one of the towns whose walls were ordered to be destroyed by the first Parliament of Charles II., and by a curious and almost unexpected result of the Restoration the town then regained its wide Parliamentary suffrage. This, as has been noted, had been exercised by the oligarchical assembly since Henry VII's Act of Parliament, but at the Restoration, the householders met in the square and returned two members, while the assembly did the same at the Town Hall. The latter were sure to be Puritans, and the former in sympathy with the restoration, the strictness of the Puritan rule in Northampton having, no doubt, bred unpopularity, and the Cavalier Parliament deciding as was natural in favour of its own side, by this accident restored to the town its ancient democratic franchise, a franchise which after several disputes, was from 1740 to the Reform Bill acted on without question.
These changes come out of the religious disputes at North- ampton ; the other important aspect of the town in this period was its trade. Although not appearing very early in its history there is reason to believe that its tanners, if not its shoemakers constituted an important trade at the time of the Custumary. The latter, however, first show, with something like general prominence, when 2000 pairs of shoes were ordered for the army of Charles I. in the Irish rebellion of 1640
A little later the parliamentary army was largely shod from Northampton, and after this time the town was a recognised
xxxiv NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
centre of the boot and shoe industry. In the eighteenth century also, it was a depot of some consequence in the lace trade, the district round, particularly in South Northamptonshire, being largely occupied in hand-made lace making.
But though the principal market as well as the county town, and although a centre both of shoe making and lace selling, Northampton was in this century at the lowest ebb of its fortunes.
The castle, which had lingered on till the Restoration as a jail, and a place where the court of quarter sessions met, had been sold in 1678 to a private individual, and was now but a heap of dwindling ruins used as a quarry by the neighbours. There were but four churches in place of the nine of the Norman period, and the great fire of 1678 which destroyed a part of the town burnt the old church of All Saints, re-built only in shorn proportions. The corporation property, which had been considerable in earlier periods, was wastefully managed, and became considerably impaired in this century, while at some time about this period the important suburbs of Cotton End and St. James' End, which had been under the government of the town, reverted to the county, with whom they still remain.
Yet the political and religious activity of the town retained some vigour. The spendthrift election already alluded to showed the keenness as well as the corruption of the town electors. In the nobler sphere of religious activity the Dissenters of Northampton were conspicuous, and the successive presence here in Northampton of Doddridge and the Rylands, with the prominent part they took in the revival of Evangelicalism made the town prominent among people of that school of thought to the extent of its sharing with Leicester the position of a sort of capital of Dissent in the Midlands during the latter half of the century.
Of the town in the present century only one sentence need be said. The great development of the shoe trade has made Northampton again a place of consequence, and has stimulated its civic life entirely apart from its position as the chief town of the county. If the local boast be true that there is a greater percentage of the inhabitants owners of their own dwellings than in any other English town, it tells of a sound economic basis of municipal prosperity. The use of machine lace has taken from Northampton its old consequence as a centre of the lace trade, and its markets and fairs, though still flourishing, are, except that
POSITION OF THE TOWN IN ENGLISH HISTORY. XXXV
of cattle, scarcely so great in proportion as they were. On the other hand, in the trade of brewing it has an industry which does more than supply local demands. Its vigour of political life has been shown by the choice of members of parliament, now of this party, now of that, who have been, on the whole, above the average in individuality of character, and the town itself grows larger at an ever increasing rate. Northampton is to-day high up in the second rank of manufacturing towns, and shows also the usual type of county metropolis. The small Saxon settlement, the great Norman fortress, the royal town of the Plantagenets, the vigorous municipal commonwealth, the stronghold of Puritanism, the quiet county capital, the growing trade centre, all these succesive phases lie behind, and go to make what Northampton is to-day. The records of the municipality are therefore of special historic interest, and show in these volumes a rich variety of material. To provide a string of narrative on which readers can thread such of the facts and incidents as they wish to remember has been the object of this introducton, and to those, at any rate, who are connected with the town of Northampton by birth or residence, by interest or sentiment, the details of its past life may be perhaps the more interesting from the reminder which is here given of the high national importance of the town in early times, and of its varying characteristics at different periods of its history.
'HPHE first official notice of Northampton, as of other towns and counties in England, commences with that wonderful compilation made by William the Conqueror in or about the year 1086. Thus, although scattered notices of the town and county will be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other contem- porary records, it has been thought well to begin this volume with a reproduction of the portions of the Domesday Book relating to the Town of Northampton, together w7ith a translation thereof.
NORTHANTSCIRE.
HpEMPORE REGIS EDWARDI fuer in NORTHANTONE
in Snio regif Ix . burgenfef . hntef totia manfionef. Ex hif funt m . xiiii . uafte. Refidue funt xl.vii. Preter hof funt m in nouo burgo . xl. burgenfef in dnio regif Wifti.
Jn ipfo burgo ht Eps conftantienfif .xxiii . domof . de . xxix . folid: . 7 iiii . Senar9.
Se S Edmundo . i . domu de . xvi . denar9. /^uafte.
$e Burg . xv . dom9 de . xiiii . fol 7 vni .Sen9 . Due ft At>t> Se Ramefyg . i . Somu de . xvi . denar9. Atrb de Couentreu . iiii . Som9 de . xii . denar9. Tref ft uafte. Atrb 8e Euefham. i . Somu uafta. Atrb (5e Salebi . ii . Som9 fte . xxxii . Senar9. Comef Moriton . xxxvii . Se . xlv . foi 7 viii . Sen9. Due ft uafte . De . ix . Somib} haru ht rex focha. Comef Hugo . i .8omu Se . iiii . Senar9. Comtafla JuSita . xvi . Somof . de xii . foi . Vna . e uafta.
B
2 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
Rofet9 de Todeni . iiii. Som9 de. iiii . foi . Vna . e uafta.
Henric9 de fereiref . viii . dom9 de . ix . fol 7 iiii . den9 /^foca.
Anfger9 capellan9 regif . i . Somu Se qua rex debet hafee
Wiftf peurel . xxxii . Som9 . Se . xxviij . Ibli3 7 viii . den9.
Tref ex hif funt uafte. /""redd . xvi . denar9
Wiftf fili9 bofelini . ii . Se feudo epi baioc9 7 comitifle Judit
Wiftf inganie . i . Soiii de Rofeto de boci . 7 nil reddit.
WiSo Se RainbuScurt . iiii . dom9 de . Ixiiii . Senar9.
Walter9 flantfrenfif . x . dom9 Se . viii .foi . Vna . e uafta.
Winemar9 . xii . dom9 Se . iii . foi . Ex hif . im . funt uafte.
RicarS9 inganie . iiii . Som9 de . iiii . foli3.
Rofet de Aluerf . i . Somu Se . xii . Sen9.
Roger9 de bofcnorman . i . Som Se . xvi . Sen9.
Goiffrid9 de Wirce . iiii . Som9 Se . iiii . foL
Goiffrid9 alfelin 7 RaS nepof ei9 . ii . dom9 de . ii . foi.
Gilo fr9 Anfculfi . iii . Som9 t5e xxxii . Senar9
Gunfrid9 de Ciochef . Vm . «om9 Se . vm . foi. Tref ft uafte.
Sigar de Ciochef. i . Som Se xvi . Sen9.
Suain fili9 Azur xxi . Som Se x . foi . ptin9 ad Stochef.
Anffrid9 de ualbaSon . ii . Som9 de . ii . foi . Se feuSo epi baioc9
Balduin9 dimiS manfione uafta. Lef ftan9 . i . Som de ii Sen9.
Of fen9 gifarS . i . Som Se . iiii . Sen9. Goduin9 . i . Somu Se . xii . Sen. Durand9 ppofit . i . Som Se xvi . den9 de feuSo Rofcti Todeni.
Comtiffa
Dodin . ii . Som9 Se . xx . Sen9. Vna . e Se Judit. alta de Winemaro. Hugo de Widuile . ii . Som9 Se xxxii . denar9.
,/^Burgenfef Se Hantone redSt uicecomiti p ann . xxx . life 7 x . foli3 Hoc ptin9 aS firma ipfiuf.
comitiifa ht . vii . life Se exitib/ei9S burgi.
TERRA REGIS
X X X X X
Rex ht in Sm5 de PortlanS . ii . carucataf . 7 n partef ttie carucate . 7 xii . acf pa . Ad ecciam S Petri iacet . i . car9 tre 7 ad ecciam omiu fctu SimiS carucata . PortlanS cu pto T.R.E. reSSefe xl.viii . foi . 7 x . foliS p feltrif fomario^ regif. Sup hec debet rex hafee . ix . life 7 xii . fol . p aliif exitib9 burgi.
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
TN King Edward's time there were in Northampton, in the King's demesne, sixty burgesses, having as many mansions. Of these, fourteen are now waste. Forty-seven are left. Besides these, there are now in the new town forty burgesses in King William's demesne.
In the same town the Bishop of Coutance l has twenty-three houses, rendering twenty-nine shillings and four pence. The Abbot of Saint Edmund 2 [has] one house, rendering sixteen pence.
The Abbot of Burgh3 fifteen houses, rendering fourteen shillings and eight pence. Two are waste.
The Abbot of Ramsey,4 one house, rendering sixteen pence. The Abbot of Coventry,5 four houses, rendering twelve pence. Three are waste. The Abbot of Evesham,6 one house, lying waste.
1 At the time of the great survey Geoffrey was bishop of the city of Coutance, in the department of Manch in Normandy. He received large spoils in England, and in Northamptonshire he owned lands in some thirty-four parishes.
2 Bury Saint Edmunds monastery, situate in Suffolk. Baldwin, a monk of St. Denis at Paris, was the abbot of this wealthy abbey from 1065 to 1097. He was in great favour with the Conqueror, who granted a charter to Saint Edmunds. He owned lands in the counties of Bedford, Cambridge, Northampton, Norfolk, and Suffolk.
3 After the death of Abbot Brands in 1069, King William appointed Thorold or Turold, a monk of Fescamp in Normandy, as abbot of Peterborough, North- amptonshire. During the time he was abbot, the Danes, headed by Hereward the Wake, plundered Peterborough, and destroyed many of the buildings. Abbot Thorold died at Peterborough about 1098.
4 The Abbey of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire, also owned land in seven other parishes in this county, and in the counties of Bedford, Cambridge, Hertford, Huntingdon, Lincoln, Norfolk, and Suffolk. Ailsius or Eylsinus was made Abbot in 1080, and governed the monastery for eight years.
5 The Abbey of Coventry in Warwickshire, held lands in four other parishes in Northamptonshire, and in Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, and Warwickshire. Leofwinus or Lewinus was the last abbot. He is said to have died in 1095.
6 King William, after the death of ^Ethelwig the Abbot of Evesham in Worces- tershire, in 1077, granted the abbey to Walter, a Norman chaplain of Lanfranc, who carried on great buildings at the abbey with the money which ^Ethelwig had gathered together. The abbey of Evesham only held land at Lichborough, in this county ; and in the counties of Gloucester, Warwick, and Worcester.
B 2
4 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
The Abbot of Selby,7 two houses, rendering thirty-two pence.
The Earl of Mortain,8 thirty-seven [houses], rendering forty-five
shillings and eight pence. Two are waste. Of nine of these
houses the King has soc.
Earl Hugh,9 one house, rendering four pence.
The Countess Judith,10 sixteen houses, rendering twelve shillings.
One is waste.
Robert de Todeni,11 four houses, rendering four shillings. One is
waste.
Henry de Fereires,12 eight houses, rendering nine shillings and
four pence.
Ansger,13 the King's Chaplain, one house, of which the King
ought to have soc.
7 Benedict, a monk of Auxerre in France, was the Abbot of Selby, Yorkshire at the time of the great survey. He also held land at Stanford ; but these are the only two notices of this Abbey in Domesday.
8 Robert, Earl of Mortain in Normandy, was the son of Herlwin and Herleva, and half brother to the Conqueror : to his share fell the largest portion of the spoils of England — indeed he held land in some ninety-eight parishes in this county. According to Kelham he died in 1091.
9 " Hugh D'Avranches, son of the loyal Richard, the grandson of the rebel Thurstan, finds a place in English History as the first of the mighty but short- lived race of the County Palatine of Chester." He was surnamed Lupus. He held land in eight parishes in this county, and lands in other parts of England. Hugh refounded the abbey of St. Sever in the Diocese of Coutance in 1085 ; re-endowed the monastery of St. Werburgh, and rebuilt the minster at Chester, where he died July 2yth, 1101, having been professed a monk four days.
10 Countess Judith was the daughter of Odo, Earl of Champaigne, by Adeliza, half-sister of the Conqueror. She was the wife of Waltheof, son of Siward, " the strong," Earl of Huntingdon, Northampton, and Northumberland, and left three daughters, Matilda, Judith, and Alice. The first was married to Simon de St. Liz, with whom he had the Counties of Northampton and Huntingdon ; the second to Ralph de Toni, Lord of Flamstead ; and the third to Robert, fourth son of Richard de Tonebridge. Judith was possessed of large estates in Northamptonshire and other counties ; and she founded the Nunnery of Elmstow in Bedfordshire.
11 Robert de Todeni, also called Robert de Belvedeir, was a noble Norman to vrho.m the Conqueror gave several lordships in this and other counties. He founded Belvoir castle, and the cell of monks there which he annexed to St. Alban's abbey. He died in 1088.
12 Henry de Fereires, the ancestor of the family of Ferrers, Earls of Derby, was a follower of William, and was one of the Commissioners for making the great survey. He obtained the lands of Godric ; Tutbury castle in Staffordshire being one of his possessions.
13 Ansger was probably the King's private chaplain ; and he was also probably the Angerus Clericus who held land of the King in the parish of Maidwell, Northamptonshire.
DOMESDAY BOOK, 1066. 5
William Peverel,14 thirty-two houses, rendering twenty-eight shillings
and eight pence.
Three of these are waste.
William, the son of Boselin, two [houses], of the fee of the
Bishop of Bayeux and the Countess Judith, rendering sixteen
pence.
William Inganie [holds] one house of Robert de Boci, and
renders nothing.
Wido de Rainbudcurt,15 four houses, rendering sixty-four pence.
Walter Flandrensis,16 ten houses, rendering eight shillings. One
is waste.
Winemar,17 twelve houses, rendering three shillings. Of these,
four are waste.
Richard Inganie, four houses, rendering four shillings.
Robert de Aluers, one house, rendering twelve pence.
Roger de Boscnorman, one house, rendering sixteen pence.
Goisfrid de Wirce,18 four houses, rendering four shillings.
Goisfrid Alselin 19 and his nephew Ralph, two houses, rendering
two shillings.
Gilo,20 the brother of Ansculf, three houses, rendering thirty-two
pence.
Gunfrid de Cioches,20 eight houses, rendering eight shillings.
Three are waste.
14 William Peverel was a Norman adventurer of unknown origin, but who was said to have been the natural son of the Conqueror. He owned much land in the county of Northampton, which had previously belonged to Gitda, and in the counties of Nottingham and Derby. He was in great trust with the Conqueror, and was the governor of the castle at Nottingham. He founded the two priories of Saint James, near Northampton, and Lenton, near Nottingham, and appears, to have lived until about 1140.
15 Wido de Rainbudcurt also held lands at Elkington in this county.
16 Walter of Flanders, with other Flemings, joined William before the invasion, he received lands in the counties of Northampton and Bedford, and was perhaps the same as Walter de Wahull.
17 Winemar was the chief steward of the Earl of Brittany : he held lands from the King in Cosgrove and other villages in Northamptonshire.
18 Geoffrey de Wirce was a native of Little Brittany in France, and he assisted William in the conquest of England. He also held lands at Elkington and Wei- ford in this county.
19 Geoffrey Alselin obtained the land in this and other counties which had belonged to a Saxon named Tochi. His estates in Milton, Collingtree, and Rothers- thorpe, after two generations, went by a daughter to the Bardolphs.
20 Gilo held lands from the King in eleven villages in this county.
6 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
Sigar de Cioches,21 one house, rendering sixteen pence.
Suain,22 the son of Azur, twenty-one houses, rendering ten
shillings, pertaining to Stoches.
Ansfrid de Valbadon, two houses, rendering two shillings, of the
fee of the Bishop of Bayeux.
Baldwin, the moiety of a waste mansion. Lefstan, one house,
rendering four pence.
Osbern Gifard, one house, rendering four pence. Godwin the
priest, one house, rendering twelve pence.
Durand the Reeve,23 one house, rendering sixteen pence, of the
fee of Robert Todeni.
Dodin, two houses, rendering twenty pence. One is [held] of the
Countess of Judith, the other of Winemar.
Hugh de Widvile, two houses, rendering thirty-two pence.
X X X X X
The Burgesses of Hantone24 render to the Sheriff yearly thirty pounds and ten shillings. This belongs to his farm. The Countess Judith has seven pounds of the issues of the same town.
X X X X X
The King's land.
X X X X X
The King has in the demesne of Portland25 two carucates and two parts of a third carucate, and twelve acres of meadowr. One carucate of land belongs to the Church of Saint Peter,26 and half a carucate to the Church of All Saints.27 Portland, with the meadow, in King Edward's time used to render forty-eight shillings, and ten shillings for the rugs of the King's sumpter horses. Besides this, the King ought to have nine pounds and twelve shillings for other issues of the town.
21 Gunfrid and Sigar de Cioches were, according to Kelham, related to each other. The former held estates in some seventeen parishes in this county, the latter only in one.
22 Suain also held land in Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire, where "fourteen villeins, with the priest and seven bordars, have five ploughs."
23 Durand was perhaps the reeve of Northampton, a most important officer at that time.
24 The Burgesses or Freemen of Northampton.
25 It is not known where the demesnes of Portland were situated, but they were probably part of the adjoining meadows.
215 Saint Peter's, near the Northampton Castle, was probably a Saxon church, the present building is of the late Norman period.
27 All Saints', in the centre of the town, then as now the principal church.
(Roffe of $* (pipe.
HP HE Great Rolls of the Exchequer, or Pipe Rolls, contain the accounts of the revenues of the crown. These are arranged according to the several counties, and are little more than the receipts and disbursements of the Sheriffs.
The first of these documents now existing is that of the 3ist year of Henry I. After a break of thirty-six years, the series commences again in the second year of the reign of Henry II., and from this very remote time is complete until the present day, with the exception of the rolls for the first year of the reign of Henry III., and the seventh year of the reign of Henry IV.
These accounts form most interesting records, and throw con- siderable light on the customs of the time. The first roll here printed is, with the exception of the Domesday Book, the earliest national document of any importance.
As is evident, it is impossible to print in this volume the whole of these rolls from 1156 to the present time; it has, therefore, been thought advisable only to give the portions relating to the town of Northampton until 1189, when the first charter was granted to the town. The first six of these are printed in Latin and English, the remainder in English only.
ANNO 31 HEN 1 . 1130-31.
Bvrgum de Norhamtuna. Rofct9 reuell9 reda copot . de firma burgi de Norhatona. Jn thauro q"t.xx . 7 . x . ti . 7 . xiiij .5.7. iij.S.
Et Jn lifcat conftit . viij . ii . 7 . ij . s . 7 j . 8 .
Et Jn Elemofmif Constit . Monach de Norhatona . xx.s . Et Eifde Monach . iii s . 7 . viij . ft . p tra fua qa rex cepit infra Caftellu fuu. Et Quiet9 eft.
Hugo Gubiun . deb . x . m . arg . p plac Duelli.
Ernulf" fit Petri . defc . xv . m . arg . p fuga Monaft'ii.
Et let Robt9 redd: Compot de Auxil burgi de Norhamtona. Jn thauro . viij . ii . 7 iiij . s .
Et Jn pdon p. t»r . ty . Monach de Norhatona xxxiiij . s . Willo de Albifi brit9 . ij . s . Et Quiet9 eft.
8 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
The Borough of Northampton. Robert Revell 28 renders account
of the Farm of the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £90. 143. 3d. And in payments made £8. 2s. id. And in alms paid to the Monks of Northampton 29 2os. And to the
same Monks 33. 8d. for their land which the King took within
his Castle. And he is quit.
Hugh Gubiun 30 owes 10 marks in money for his plea of combat. Ernulf the son of Peter owes 15 marks in money for the flight of
the Monks. And the same Robert renders account of the Aid of the Borough
of Northampton. In the Treasury £8. 45. And in pardon by the King's writ to the Monks of Northampton
345. To William de Albin Britus 2s. And he is quit.
ANNO 2 HEN. 11.1155-56.
Norhantuna . Rot> fii Sawini . red3 . Comp de firma Northant. Jn th . L . ii .
Et Jn Soltis . Eia . Rofc . L. ii . p br . ty . Et Jn Elefn noult Const . Milttib3 de Teplo . j . m. arg . Et ht de Suppl9.] . m . arg.
Et Jd red3 Comp de XL . m . de Dono Ciuitatis . Norft . Jn tR . lifcauit. Et Quiet9 est.
Northampton. Robert the son of Sawin 31 renders account of the
Farm of Northampton. In the Treasury £50. And in payments to the said Robert ^"50 by the King's writ.
28 Robert Revell was probably high sheriff of the county of Northampton in 1130-31.
29 These monks of Northampton would, no doubt, be the monks of St. Andrew's Priory, which was founded before 1076, and largely endowed bv Simon de St. Liz in 1084. The grounds of this Priory touched the grounds of the Castle on the north-west.
30 This Hugh Gubion was the grandfather of the Richard Gubion who in 1200 obtained a grant of the land without the east gate of Northampton, to be held of the crown by the yearly payment of two shillings, in lieu of all services.
31 Robert, the son of Sawin, appears to have been sheriff of the county from 1155 to 1163, and from 1165 to 1174.
THE PIPE ROLLS, 1156-89. 9
And in Alms newly paid to the Knights of the Temple 32 i mark
in money.
And he hath [paid] in surplusage one mark in money. And the same renders account of 40 marks of the gift of the City
of Northampton 33. He hath paid it into the Treasury.
And he is quit.
ANNO 3 . HEN . II . 1156-57.
Norhantuna . Robert9 fili9 Sawini . redS Comp . de firma De
Norhant . Jn tfc . L . ii . Et Jn Suppl9 . xiij .5.7 iiij . 3.
Et Jn Elemos . Const . Militib3 de Teplo . j . m . arg . Et Jn Soltis . p br . ty . Ei3 Rofito . L. ii . Et ht de Supp9 . ij . m . arg .
Northampton. Robert the son of Sawin renders account of the
Farm of Northampton. In the Treasury £50. And in surplusage 135. 4d. And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple i mark in
money.
And in payment by the King's writ to the same Robert £50. And he hath [paid] in surplusage 2 marks in money.
ANNO 4 HEN II. 1157-58.
Norhantuna .
Robert9 fit Sawini . redd: Comp . de firma de Norhantuna . d9 . C ii no
Jn Suo Suppl9 . ij . m . arg. Et Jn Soltis Ei3 Rofo.qatd . xx . 7.
xvij .ii. Et Jn Elem nouit Conf t . Militib} de Teplo . j,'. m . arg . Et Monach
de Sco Andrea . xx.s . p br . ty . Et Quiet9 eft.
Northampton.
Robert the son of Sawin renders account of the Farm of North- ampton £100 tale. In his surplusage 2. marks in money. And in payments to the said Robert £97.
32 These Knights were probably of the order of Knight Templars of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Northampton.
33 Northampton is, by the error of the scribe, called a city.
10 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
And in Alms newly paid to the Knights of the Temple i mark in money. And to the Monks of Saint Andrew 2os. by the King's writ. And he is quit.
ANNO 5 HEN II . 1158-59.
Norhanton
Robert9 fili9 Sawini reda Comp9 de firma de Norhaiit . In Soltis p br . ty . Eia Robto qats xx . 7 . xviij . ii . 7 . vj . s . 7 . viij . d.
Et Jn Elem novit9 Const9 Mil de Teplo . j . m . Et Monach de Norh xx. s. Et Quiet9 est.
Et ja redd Comp9 de CC.fn.de dono Burgi de Norh . Jn th . C .
7 . iiij . H .7 . xiij .§ . 7 . iiijd.
Et Jn Soltis p br . ty . Eia R5b . xxxiij .3.7. iiijd . ad pficiend C.H. Et Jn pdon p br . ty • Ric de Ambl . j . m. Et deb xxvj. li . 7 vj . s . 7
viij . d.
Northampton.
Robert the son of Sawin renders account of the Farm of North- ampton. In payments to the said Robert by the King's writ £gS. 6s. 8d.
And in Alms newly paid to the Knights of the Temple i mark.
And to the Monks of Northampton 2os. And he is quit.
And the same renders account of 200 marks of the gift of the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £104. 135. 4d.
And in payments to the said Robert by the King's writ 333. 4d. to make £100.
And in pardon to Richard de Amble by the King's writ i mark. And he owes £26. 6s. 8d.
ANNO 6 . HEN . II . 1159-60. Norh an ton a Rofr fil Sawini . redd . Comp . de C . li de firma de Norhant . Militb}
de Teplo . j . m . arg Et Monach de Norh . xx . s. Et Jpsi Roftto Jn Soltis p fcr . ty . C . H. Et ht de Suppl9 xxxiij .5.7. iiij . d. ja reda Comp9 de xxvj . H . 7 . vj s . 7 . viij . d de Dono Civitat9. Jn
Soltis p br . 1^ . Eia Rofc . xxvj . li . vj . s 7 . viij d Et Quiet9 est. Northampton. Robert the son of Sawin renders account of £100. for the Farm
of Northampton. To the Knights of the Temple one mark in
money. And to the Monks of Northampton 2os.
THE PIPE ROLLS, 1156-89. II
And in payments to the said Robert by the King's writ £100.
And he hath [paid] in surplusage 333. 4d. The same renders account of £26. 6s. 8d. of the gift of the city.
In payments to the said Robert by the King's writ .£26. 6s. 8d.
And he is quit.
ANNO 7 HEN. II. 1160-61, Northampton. Robert the son of Sawin renders account of £100 for the Farm of
Northampton In payments to the said Robert £100 by the
King's writ. And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple one mark. And
to the Monks of Northampton 2os. And he hath a surplusage of 335. 4d.
And the same renders account of 160 marks of the gift of North- ampton. He hath paid the same into the Treasury in two Tallies [i.e., by two separate payments]. And he is quit.
And the same renders account of 26 marks for the Mint.34 He hath paid the same into the Treasury. And he is quit.
ANNO 8 HEN. II. 1161-62.
Northampton.
Robert the son of Sawin renders account of the Farm of North- ampton. In payments to the said Robert by the King's writ £100. In Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple one mark.
And to the Monks of Northampton 20 shillings. And he hath of surplusage 335. 4d.
The same renders account of £10 of the Borough. In the treasury 66s. 8d. In payments to the same Robert by the King's writ £6 and I mark, and he hath in surplusage 4 marks.
Fulco de Lidoyus renders account for the assessment of the Forest of £20. In the treasury £iS.
And in tithes paid to the Canons of Lincoln 403. And he is quit.
ANNO 9 HEN. II. 1162-63. Northampton.
Robert the son of Sawin renders account of the Farm of North- ampton. In his surplusage 333. 4d.
34 This is the first notice of the Northampton mint, although one had existed in the town from early times.
12 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple one mark. And to the Monks of Northampton 2os. And in payments by the King's writ to the said Robert £100. And he hath [paid] in surplusage 66s. 8d.
ANNO 10 HEN. II. 1163-64.
Northampton.
Robert the son of Savvin renders account of the Farm of North- ampton. In his surplusage 66s. 8d.
And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple I mark. And to the Monks of Northampton 2os.
And in payments to the said Robert by the King's writ £100.
And he hath [paid] in surplusage loos.
ANNO ii HEN. II 1164-65.
Northamptonshire.
Simon the son of Peter 35 renders account of £4 white 36 of the old Farm of Northamptonshire. He hath paid the same into the Treasury. And he is quit.
And the same renders account of the new Farm. In the Treasury ^109. 55. yd white.
And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple I mark.
X X X X X
And in payments to Robert the son of Sawin by the King's writ
£100. And he owes £8. os. i3d. white.
ANNO 12 HEN. II. 1165-66. Northampton.
Robert the son of Sawin renders account of £100 for the Farm of Northampton. In his surplusage £6. 135. 4d.
And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple one mark. And to the Monks of Northampton 2os. And in payments to the said Robert by the King's writ £100. And he hath [paid] in sur- plusage /8. 6s. 8d.
35 Simon the son of Peter, or Simon Fitz-Piers, as he is called by Bridges, was sheriff from 1164-65.
36 Coins paid into the Exchequer were generally tested by being melted, and if not of the proper fineness, the person paying the money had to pay sixpence or more in every pound : the money was then said to be blanched or white.
THE PIPE ROLLS, 1156-89. 13
ANNO 13 HEN. II. 1166-67. orthampton.
Robert the son of Sawin renders account of £100 for [the farm of] Northampton. In payments to the said Robert by the King's writ £100. And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple one mark. And
to the Monks of Northampton 2os. And he hath of surplusage 335. 4d.
ANNO 14 HEN. II. 1167-68.
Northampton.
Robert the son of Sawin renders account of £100 for the Town of Northampton, In his surplusage 335. 4d.
And in payment to the said Robert by the King's writ £100. And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple one mark.
And to the Monks of Northampton 2os. And he hath [paid] in sur- plusage 66s. 8d.
The same renders account of two hundred marks for the aid of the Borough of Northampton to marry Maud, the King's daughter.37 In the Treasury £51. 135. 4d.
And he owes ,£80. 335. 4d..
ANNO 15 HEN II. 1168-69.
Northampton.
Robert the son of Sawin renders account of £100 for the farm of Northampton. In his surplusage 66s. 8d.
And in payments to the said Robert by the King's writ £100.
And in alms paid to the Knights of the Temple one mark. And to the Monks of Northampton 2os. And he hath [paid] in sur- plusage loos.
The same renders account of £80. 333. 4d. for the aid of the Borough of Northampton to marry Maud the King's daughter. In the Treasury £62. i6s. and he owes £19. 125. whereof £10 are upon the Moneyers 38 of the same Town who render account above in the County.
37 The Princess Maud married Henry V. Duke of Saxony, surnamed The Lion. She died in 1189.
38 The moneyers were the officers or ministers of the King's mint at Northampton.
14 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
ANNO 16 HEN. II. 1169-70. Northamptonshire.
Robert the son of Sawin renders account of the Farm of North- amptonshire for half-a-year.
X X X X X
Northampton.
The same renders account of £100 for the Farm of Northampton.
In the Treasury nothing. And in his surplusage loos. And in alms paid to the Knights of
the Temple i mark. And to the Monks of Northampton 2os. And in payments to the same Sheriff by the King's writ £100. And he hath [paid] in surplusage £6. 13. 4d. which is accounted
to him in the Farm of Higham.39 The same Sheriff renders account of £g. 125. for the aid of the
Borough of Northampton to marry the King's daughter. In the
Treasury 585. 8d. And he owes £6. 135. 4d.
ANNO 17 HEN. II. 1170-71.
Northamptonshire.
Robert the son of Sawin renders account of the Farm of North- amptonshire.
X X X X X
Northampton.
The same Sheriff renders account of £100 tale for the Farm of
the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury nothing. And in alms paid to the Knights of the Temple i mark. And
to the Monks of Northampton 2os. And in payments to the same Sheriff by the King's writ £100.
And he hath [paid] in surplusage 335. 4<1. which is accounted
to him in the Farm of Higham. The same Sheriff owes £6. 135. 4d. for the aid to marry the
King's daughter.
ANNO 18 HEN. II. 1171-72.
Northamptonshire.
Robert the Son of Sawin renders account of £100. 55. 2d. white for the old farm of Northamptonshire.
39 The town of Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire.
THE PIPE ROLLS, 1156-89. 15
Northampton.
The same Sheriff renders account of £100 tale for the Farm of the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury nothing.
And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple one mark. And to the Monks of Northampton 2os. And in payments to the same Sheriff by the King's writ £98. 6s. 8d. And he is quit.
ANNO 19 HEN. II. 1172-73. Northamptonshire.
Robert the son of Sawin renders account of the Farm of North- amptonshire. In the Treasury £165. 73. od. white. And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple i mark.
X X X X X
Northampton.
And the same Sheriff [Simon the son of Peter] renders account
of £100 for the new Farm of the Borough of Northampton. In
the Treasury nothing. And in Alms to the Knights of the Temple i mark. And to the
Monks of Northampton 2os. And in payment to the same Sheriff
by the King's writ £72. us. 8d. which came by Robba from the
King.
And he owes £25. 155. od. And the same Sheriff owes £6. 133. 4d. for the aid to marry the
King's daughter.
William Andeg owes 175. for the mint. R. Antl the Clerk renders account of £4. for the mint
In the Treasury 403. And he owes 405.
Concerning the aid to marry the King's daughter. Regin the son of Urli owes 27d. on the part of six knights.
Robert de Chokes owes 403. for the same aid. The same Sheriff renders account of 223. id. for the common
assize of Northamptonshire. In the Treasury 95. And he owes
133. id.
ANNO 20 HEN. II. 1173-74.
Northamptonshire.
Robert the son of Sawin renders account of 285. 8d. for the old Farm of Northamptonshire.
16 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
The same Sheriff renders account of loos, for the Farm of the land which belonged to Hugh Gobiun in Northampton. And of , £100 tale for the Farm of the Borough of Northampton.
And also in alms paid to the Knights of the Temple one mark in the Borough of Northampton. And to the Monks of the same Town 2os. And in the payment of ten Knights 40 residing in Northampton Castle with the same Sheriff from the Morrow of Saint Michael last year [30 September 1173] until the Feast of Saint Peter ad vincula in the following year [i August 1174] namely for three hundred and six days £153 by the King's writ.
And in payment to one hundred and eight Knights who wrere with Humphry de Bohun41 the Constable £118 by the writs of Richard de Lucy.
And he hath [paid] in surplusage £j. js. od. which are accounted to him within the account of the Assize of Demesne.43
ANNO 21 HEN. II. 1174-75. Northamptonshire.
Hugh de Gundevile43 renders account for the Farm of Northamp- tonshire.
X X X X X
Northampton.
The same Sheriff renders account of £100 tale for the Farm of the
Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £6j. 6s. 8d., tale. And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple in the Borough
of Northampton one mark. And to the Monks of the same Town
2os. And to Hugh the son of Robert the son of Sawin 2os. in
the Meadow of Kingshale. And for the corrody of the younger Queen44 for twenty eight days
£30 by the King's writ.
40 These Knights probably formed part of the garrison of the castle.
11 This Humphrey de Bohun is the first recorded constable of the Castle at Northampton. He was the ancestor of Humphry de Bohun, Earl of Essex, Here- ford, and Northampton.
42 An Assize held to determine the right of litigants to demesnes or any real estate.
43 Hugh de Gundevile was sheriff from 1174 to 1177.
44 The corrody or allowance for meat, drink, and clothing for Margaret, daughter of Lewis, King of France, who married Henry, the second son of King Henry II. As Prince Henry was crowned King with his father in 1171, Princess Margaret was rightly called the younger Queen.
THE PIPE ROLLS, 1156-89. IJ
ANNO 22 HEN. II. 1175-76. Northamptonshire.
Hugh de Gundevile renders account of the Farm of Northampton- shire.
X X X X X
Northampton.
The same Sheriff renders account of £100 tale for the farm of the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £g6. os. 5d. And in alms paid to the Knights of the Temple in the Borough of Northampton one mark. And to the Monks of the same Town 2os. And to Hugh the son of Robert the son of Sawin 2os. in the meadow of Chingeshala. And in the payments of John the Clerk of E. Queen of Spain45 who abode in the Schools at Northampton 6s. for three weeks by the King's writ. And to Hugh Saloman I2s. for the armour which he conveyed from Huntingdon to Northampton by the King's writ. And for conveying treasure to Woodstock to Geddington and to London 75. by Waleran and Odo de Fawsley. And for executing justice upon William de Helford i5d. And he is quit.
ANNO 23 HEN. II. 1176-77.
Northamptonshire.
Hugh de Gundevile renders account of the Farm of Northampton- shire.
X X X X X
Northampton.
The same Sheriff renders account of £100 tale for the Farm of the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £gj. 6s. 8d. And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple in the Borough of Northampton one mark. And to the Monks of the same Town 2os. And to Hugh the son of Robert the son of Sawin 2os. in the Meadow of Chingeshala. And he is quit.
ANNO 24 HEN. II. 1177-78. Northamptonshire.
Thomas the son of Bernard46 renders account of the Farm of Northamptonshire.
45 Eleanor, daughter of Henry II., who in 1170 married Alfonso III. of Spain.
46 Thomas the son of Bernard was sheriff from 1177 to 1184.
C
l8 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
Northampton.
The same Sheriff renders account of £100 tale for the farm of the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury fyj. 6s. 8d. And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple in the Borough of Northampton one mark. And to the Monks of the same Town 2os. And to Hugh the son of Robert the son of Sawin 2os. in the meadow of Kingshale. And he is quit.
ANNO 25 HEN. II. 1178-79. Northamptonshire.
Thomas the son of Bernard renders account of the Farm of Northamptonshire.
X X X X X
Northampton.
The same Sheriff renders account of £100 tale for the Farm of the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £74. 155. 8d. And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple in the Borough of Northampton one mark. And to the Monks of the same Town 2os. And to Hugh the son of Robert the son of Sawin 2os. in Kingshale.
And for the works of the King's kitchen and houses in Northamp- ton by the view of Henry the son of Thiard and of Philip the son of Jordan £j by the King's writ. And for cloths and for the
use of the King's servants £j. 175. 6d. by the King's writ. And in his surplusage for the Farm of Higham £j. 6s. 6d. And for conveying the King's venison from Brigstock to Canterbury us. by the King's writ. And for the King's works at Silveston i6s. by the King's writ. And he is quit.
ANNO 26 HEN. II. 1179-80. Northamptonshire.
Thomas the son of Bernard renders account of the Farm of Northamptonshire.
X X X X X
Northampton.
The same Sheriff renders account of £100 tale for the Farm of
the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £gj. 6s. 8d.
And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple one mark. And
to the Monks of the same town 2os. And to Hugh the son of
Robert the son of Sawin 2os. in the Meadow of Kingshale.
And he is quit.
Northarr
THE PIPE ROLLS, 1156-89. 19
ANNO 27 HEN. II. 1180-81. Northamptonshire. Thomas the son of Bernard renders account of the Farm of Northamptonshire.
X XX X X
Northampton.
The same Sheriff renders account of £100 tale for the Farm of the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £97. 6s. 8d. tale. And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple i mark. And to the Monks of the same Town 2os. And to Hugh the son of Robert the son of Sawin 2os. in the Meadow of Chingshale.
And he is quit.
ANNO 28 HEN. II. 1181-82. Northamptonshire.
Thomas the son of Bernard renders account of the Farm of Northamptonshire.
X X X X X
Northampton.
The same Sheriff renders account of £100 tale for the Farm of the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £24. ijs. yd. And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple i mark. And to the Monks of the same Town 2os. And to Hugh the son of Robert the son of Sawin 2os. in the Meadow of Chingeshale. And for the repairs of the Tower of Northampton47 by the view of Philip the son of Jordan and of William the son cf Raimond £64. os. 1 3d. by the King's writ. And he owes £8. 8s.
The same Sheriff renders account of 6os. for the Mint of North- ampton for this year. And of 303. for the same mint for half a year. He hath paid the same into the Treasury in two tallies.
And he is quit.
ANNO 29 HEN. II. 1182-83. Northamptonshire.
Thomas the son of Bernard renders account for the Farm of Northamptonshire.
47 This tower stood near the Derngate on the south-east of the town, from whence signals could be passed to the Castle on the other side.
C 2
20 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
Northampton.
The same Sheriff renders account of £100 tale for the Farm of the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £62. 55. 6d. tale. And in Alms to the Knights of the Temple i mark. And to the Monks of the same town 2os. And to Hugh the son of Robert the son of Sawin 2os. in the Meadow of Chingeshala. And for the repairs of the Tower of Northampton by the view of William the son of Rain and Philip the son of Jordan £35. os. i4d. by the King's writ. And he is quit.
And the same Sheriff renders account of £8. 8s. for the Farm of Northampton. For work for the aforesaid Tower £8. 8s. by the beforesaid brief and view. And he is quit.
And the same Sheriff renders account of 6os. for the Mint of Northampton for that year. And of 303. for the same. He hath paid it into the Treasury. And he is quit.
Alan de Coventry renders account of half a mark for the old manufacture in the Borough of Northampton. He hath paid it into the Treasury. And he is quit.
William the son of Remund renders account of 2s. for one mes- suage in the same Borough. He hath paid it into the Treasury.
And he is quit.
ANNO 30 HEN. II. 1183-84. Northamptonshire.
Thomas the son of Bernard renders account of the Farm of Northamptonshire.
X X X X X
Northampton.
The same Sheriff renders account of £100 tale for the Farm of
the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £94 tale. And
in Alms to the Knights of the Temple i mark. And to the
Monks of the same Town 2os. And to Hugh the son of Robert
the son of Sawin 2os. in the Meadow of Chingeshale.
And for working at the Hall of Northampton 35. by the King's
writ. And he owes 635. 8d. tale. The same renders account of
the same debt. He hath paid it into the Treasury.
And he is quit.
The same Sheriff renders account of 6os. for the Mint of North- ampton for this year. He hath paid it into the Treasury.
And he is quit.
THE PIPE ROLLS, 1156-89. 21
Alan de Coventry renders account of 2s. for the old Mint in the Borough of Northampton. He hath paid the same into the Treasury. And he is quit.
William the son of Raymond renders account of 2s. for one messuage in the Borough of Northampton. He hath paid the same into the Treasury. And he is quit.
ANNO 31 HEN. II. 1184-85. Northamptonshire.
Geoffrey the son of Peter48 renders account of the Farm of Northamptonshire.
X X X X X
Northampton.
William the son of Remund and William the son of Alfwin renders
account of £120 tale for the Farm of the Borough of Northampton.
In the Treasury £nj. 6s. 8d. tale.
And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple i mark. And
to the Monks of the same Town 2os. And to Hugh the son
of Robert the son of Sawin 2os. in the Meadow of Chingeshala.
And they are quit.
The Burgesses of Northampton render account of 200 marks for having their towrn of the King in Capite.49 In the Treasury 100 marks. And they owe 100 marks.
Brother Alan of Coventry -renders account of half a mark for the old Farm in the Borough of Northampton. He hath paid it into the Treasury. He is quit.
The same Sheriff renders account of 6os. for the Mint of North- ampton. He hath paid the same into the Treasury.
And he is quit.
William the son of Remunde renders account of 2s. for one messuage in the Borough of Northampton. He hath paid the same into the Treasury. And he is quit.
The same Sheriff (renders account) owes i6s. nd. for wastes and assarts 50 and Pleas of the Forest in Northamptonshire by Alan de Nevill.
48 Geoffrey the son of Peter was sheriff from 1184 to 1190.
19 This was an additional sum that was paid by the burgesses for the privilege of holding their Town immediately from the King.
50 Parts of the forest from which trees and undergrowth had been destroyed.
22 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
ANNO 32 HEN. II. 1185-86.
Northamptonshire.
Geoffrey, the son of Peter £14. 55. od. white for the old Farm
of Northamptonshire.
X X X X X
Northampton.
William the son of Remund and William the son of Alfwin render account of £120 tale for the Farm of the Borough of Northamp- ton. In the Treasury £117. 6s. 8d. tale.
And in alms paid to the Knights of the Temple i mark. And to the Monks of the same Town 2os. And to Hugh the son of Robert the son of Sawin 205. in the meadow of Chingeshala.
And they are quit.
The same Sheriffs render accounts of 6os. for the Mint of North- ampton. He hath paid the same into the Treasury.
And they are quit.
William the son of Remund renders account of 2s. for one mes- suage in the Borough of Northampton. He hath paid the same into the Treasury. And he is quit.
The Burgesses of Northampton render account of 100 Marks for having their town at farm of the King in Chief. They have paid the same into the Treasury. And they are quit.
ANNO 33 HEN. II. 1186-87.
Northamptonshire.
Geoffrey the son of Peter renders account of £14. 55. white for
the old Farm of Northamptonshire.
X X X X X
Northampton.
William the son of Remund and William the son of Alfwin render account of £120 tale for the Farm of the Borough of North- ampton. In the Treasury £uj. 6s. 8d. tale.
And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple, i mark. And to the Monks of the same Town 2os. And to Hugh the son of Robert the son of Sawin 2os. in the Meadow of Kingeshala.
And they are quit.
The same Sheriff renders account of 6os. for the Mint of North- ampton. He hath paid the same into the Treasury.
And he is quit.
THE PIPE ROLLS, 1156-89. 23
William the son of Remund renders account of 2s. for one messu- age in the Borough of Northampton. He hath paid the same into the Treasury. And he is quit.
The same Sheriff renders account of 8s. for a certain purpresture51 in Northampton which Peter the son of Adam holds. And of 4d. for a certain purpresture which Maud Gobion holds. And of 4d. for a certain purpresture which Reginald the son of Reimund holds. He hath paid the same into the Treasury in three tallies.
And he is quit.
ANNO 34 HEN. II. 1187-88. Northamptonshire.
Geoffrey the son of Peter owes £14. 55. white for the old Farm of Northamptonshire.
X X X X X
Northampton.
Robert de Leicester renders account of £120 tale for the Farm of the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £nj. 6s. tale. And in alms paid to the Knights of the Temple i mark. And to the Monks of the same Town, 2os. And to Robert the son of Hugh the son of Sawin 2os. in the Meadow of Chingeshala.
And he is quit.
The same Sheriff renders account of 6os. for the Mint of North- ampton. He hath paid the same into the Treasury.
And he is quit.
William the son of Remund renders account of 2s. for one messu- age in the Borough of Northampton. He hath paid the same into the Ir^asury. And he is quit.
The same Sheriff renders account of 8d. for a certain purpresture in Northampton. And of 4d. for a certain purpresture which Maud Gobion holds. And of 4d. for a certain purpresture which Reginald the son of Remund holds. And of 4d. for a certain pur- presture which Ralph the son of Meinfelin holds. He hath paid the same into the Treasury. And he is quit.
ANNO i Ric. I. 1189-90. Northampton. Robert de Leicester and Gilbert the son of Durand render account
51 A building or inclosure made to the prejudice of the King, probably being an encroachment on the highway.
24 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
of £120 tale for the Farm of the Borough of Northampton. In the Treasury £nj. 6s. 8d. tale.
And in Alms paid to the Knights of the Temple i Mark. And to the Monks of the same town 2os. And to Robert the son of Hugh the son of Sawin 2os. in the Meadow of Chingeshala.
And they are quit.
The same Sheriff Geoffrey the son of Peter renders account of 6os. for the Mint of Northampton. He hath paid the same into the Treasury. And he is quit.
William the son of Reimund renders account of 2s. for one messu- age in the Borough of Northampton. He hath paid the same into the Treasury. And he is quit.
The same Sheriff renders account of 8d. for a certain purpresture in Northampton. And of 4d. for a certain purpresture which Margar Gubion holds. And of 4d. for a certain purpresture which Reginald the son Reimund holds. And of 4d. for a certain pur- presture which Ralph the son of Meinfelin holds. He hath paid the same into the Treasury in four tallies. And he is quit.
X X X X X
Nicholas the brother of Alan of Coventry owes 20 Marks for one messuage in Northampton, by the promise of his brother. Ralph de Glanvill owes 50 Marks which he acknowledges that he hath received of Samuel the Jew of Northampton who owed the same by agreement between Margaret of London and j her sons and daughters.
X X X X X
The Township of Northampton renders account of 30 Marks be- cause they held Pleas which pertained to the Sheriff by writ directed to the Sheriff. The same hath been paid into the Treasury. And [the Township] is quit.
of let (Ricfforb i.
i8TH NOVEMBER, 1189.
'"PHIS charter, the first granted to Northampton, is a very early one. Even the City of London itself only possesses three of earlier date. The charter like others of this period is directed to all the dignitaries of the great national council, and is almost identical with the charter of the same date, granted to the citizens of London, except that no provision is made for hunting grounds for the Northampton burgesses.
The year in which this charter was granted is technically known as the time of " legal memory " : inasmuch as it was necessary in order to establish a custom in England to prove that it had existed from this remote period, or in other words " from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary/' This period has now, however, been shortened to twenty or thirty years.
Text of the Charter.
Ric Si gra Rex Angt Dux Norm Aq't Com And: Archiepif Epis . Aftfcib} . Com Bar . Juftic Vic . & Omib} miniftr & fidelib} fuif Franc & Angi . Salt . Sciatif nof gcefliffe Burgenfib} nrif de Norhant qd mull9 eos placitet ex* murof Burgi Norhafit de nullo placito . pt! placita de tenur9 extliorib} exceptif monetar & miniftr nrif. ConceiTim} & eif q'etancia murdri Infra Burg & Jn Porfoka & qd null} eo£ faciat duellu & qd de plac ad Corona ptinentib} fe poilint difronare fedfn gfuetudine Ciuiu Ciuitatif Lon3 . & q3 Infra murof Burgi illi} nemo capiat hofpitiii p vim ul p lib^atone marefcalli . Hoc & eis gceflim} q9 oms Burgenfef Norhant fint q'eti de theloneo & leftagio p Tota Anglia & p Port9 marif . Et qd: null} de mia* pecuie Judicet ut fedfn lege qm hut Ciuef nri LonS & qd: Jn Burgo illo Jn nullo placito fit mefkinninga & qd hulling femel tafit Jn Ebdomado
26 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
teneat & qff ?raf fuaf & tenuraf & vadia ilia & debita fua Omia Jufte haiit q'cumq} eif debeat . Et de ?rif fuif & tenur q Infra Burg funt rectu eif teneat fettm gfuetudine Burgi & de Ofnib} debitif fuif q accomodata furint apd: Norhant & de vadiif ibiS fcis placita apd: Norhaton tenean? . Et fiq!f Jn tota Anglia thel- onen ui gfuetudine ab hominib} Norhant cejit peqa ipe a recto defec9it jlpofit} Norhant Namift Jn apd: Norhant capiat In fup & ad Emendacone illi3 Burgi eif concerting q3 fmt q!eti de Brudtol & de Childwite & de hierefgiue & de Scottale . Ita qft jlpofit} Norhant ui aliq!f ali} Balliu} Scottale no faciat . Haf ^dictaf gfuetudinef eif gceffim} & Oms aliaf littatef & Iib9af gfuetudinef qf huerunt ui hut Ciuef uri Lon3 . qu melioref ul Iib9ioref huer fedm littatef Long . & legef Burgi Norhant Qr volum) & firm!? pcipim} q3 ipi & hedef eo^ li Omia jlclicta h9editarie hant & teneant de nol5 & h9edib5 nris reddendo p Aiin centu & viginti libraf nuo de villa Norhant cu Omib} ptinen} fuif ad Seacem nrm Jn ?mino Sci Michaei p manu ppositi Norhant & Burgenfef Norhant faciant ppofitu que voluint de fe p Annu . qi. fit Jdone} nofc & eif . T . Hug Dunelm . Johe Norwic . Hut»to Sar^ Epis . Com Albs . Com Wifto de Arundel . Com Ric de Clara . Com Hamei de Warenn5 . Wal?o filio Rodt» Dat apd: Sem Edmudu . xviij . die Nouembr p manu Wifti Electi Elyenfis Cancellarij nri Regni nri Anno P R I M O.
Indorsed.
Jfta carta allocatr. p Johem Peache Maiorem de Ciuitatis London & Aldermannos eiufdem Ciuitatis Et intratur in camara Gyhald eiufdm Ciuitatf videlicet in libro cu Ira G folio centefimo Wiiio de Holbech & Jacobo de Thane tune tempis vicecomitibz London.
Translation.
Richard by the Grace of God King of England Duke of Nor- mandy Aquitain Earl of Anjou to the Archbishops Bishops Abbotts Earls Barons Justices Sheriffs and all his Ministers and faithful men French and English Greeting know ye that we have granted to our Burgesses of Northampton that none of them plead without the walls of the Borough of Northampton of any plea except pleas of outholdings53 except our moneyers and ministers Also we have
Pleas concerning lands and tenements lying outside the town.
CHARTER, 1189. 27
granted to them acquittance of murder53 within the Borough and in portsoken54 and that none of them make duel53 and that of pleas appertaining to the Crown they may justify according to the custom of the Citizens of the City of London56 and that within the walls of the same Borough no one take hostellage57 by force or by livery of the Marshall And this we have granted to them that all the Burgesses of Northampton be quit of toll 58 and Lastage59 through all England and by the ports of the sea And that no one of Amerceament of money be adjudged but according to the law which our Citizens of London had And that in the same Borough there be in no plea miskenning 60 And that the Hustings 61 be held only once in the week and that they justly have all their Lands and Holdings and pledges and Debts whom- soever owe to them And of their Lands and Holdings which are within the Borough right be kept to them according to the custom of the Borough and of all their Debts which shall be lent at Northampton and of the Pledges there made pleas be held at Northampton And if any one in All England take toll or custom from the men of Northampton after he have failed of right the Reeve of Northampton63 shall take distress thereof at North- ampton Moreover for the amendment of the same Borough we have granted to them that they be quit of brudtol 63 and of
53 Freedom from the penalty which was exacted from the inhabitants of a town or hundred, wherein a murder had been committed.
54 Portsoken comprised the liberties of a town outside the walls.
55 To make duel was to challenge to combat in order to prove a cause.
56 The custom of the City of London, being the first city in the land, then, as now, established customs for other towns.
57 Hostellage was the compelling of an inn keeper to maintain any person without payment. The Marshall was one of the King's officers, whose duty was to provide lodgings for the sovereign and his retinue.
58 Toll was a sum paid for passing over certain roads or bridges, entering certain boroughs, or exposing wares for sale.
59 Lastage, was a duty levied on wares sold by the last.
60 Miskenning was a mistake in the plea, for which a fine had to be paid.
61 Hustings, a local court held before the reeve or mayor of the Town. This was a court of record and had existed from very early times.
62 The reeve was the most important officer in a town, being the successor of the Saxon gerefa or steward. He presided at the court of hustings, collected the King's dues, and generally ruled the town. The right therefore given by this charter to the burgesses to choose their own reeve was a most important one.
63 Brudtol, or pontage was a toll for passing over or under a bridge.
28 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
childwite 64 and of heresgive 65 and of scotale 66 so that the Reeve of Northampton or any other bailiff do not make Scotale We have granted to them the aforesaid customs and all other liberties and free customs which our Citizens of London 67 had or have when they had them best or more freely according to the liberties of London and the Laws of the Borough of Northampton Where- fore we will and firmly command that they and their Heirs all the things aforesaid have and hold hereditarily of us and our Heirs rendering therefore by the year one hundred and twenty pounds by tale for the town of Northampton with all its appurtenances at our Exchequer at the term of St. Michael by the hands of the Reeve of Northampton And the Burgesses of Northampton shall make a Reeve whom they will of themselves by the year who may be proper for us and them Witness Hugh Bishop of Durham68 John Bishop of Norwich69 Hubert Bishop of Salisbury70 Earl Albrs7i Earl William de Arundel 7* Earl Richard de Clare ?3 Earl Hameline de Warenne 74 Walter the son of Rodbert Given at Saint Edmunds the eighteenth day of November by the hands
64 Childwite, was the penalty for begetting a child on a lord's bond woman.
55 Heresgive or yeresgive was probably a compulsory new year's gift to the sovereign.
66 Scotale was probably a compulsory payment for a license to brew or sell ale.
67 This provision imported into this charter all the extensive and valuable concessions contained in the charter of Henry I. to the citizens of London.
68 Hugh Pudsey, King Stephen's nephew, was Archdeacon of Winchester, and Chancellor of York; Bishop of Durham from 1153 to 1195. He was buried in the Chapter House at Durham.
69 John of Oxford, Dean of Salisbury, King's Chaplain ; Bishop of Norwich, 1175 to 1200.
70 Hubert Walter, Dean of York, accompanied Richard I. to the Holy Land; he was Bishop of Salisbury, 1189 to 1193, when he was translated to Canterbury. He died in 1205, and was buried in his own Cathedral.
71 Perhaps this was the son of Earl William de Arundel.
72 William de Albiney was born about 1176, and succeeded as Earl of Arundel and Chichester in 1176, and was created Earl of Sussex 1177, he became a Crusader and died in 1196. " Erat magnus & fortis."
73 Richard Fitz-Gilbert, the cousin of King William I., the Earl of Clare, Lord of Tonbridge, and Lord of Bienfaite and Orbec in Normandy, was born before 1035, and died before 1090.
74 Hamelin, the natural son of Geoffrey Count of Anjou, was born before 1151, he succeeded as Earl of Surrey and Warenne in 1164, and died in 1202.
CHARTER, Il8g. 29
of William the Elect of Ely75 Our Chancellor in the first year of our reign.
Indorsed,
This Charter is allowed by John Peeche76 Mayor of the City of London and the Aldermen of the same City ; and is entered in the Chamber of Guildhall of the same city to wit — in the Book with the Letter " G " folio one hundred. William de Holbech and James de Tame then Sheriffs of London.
This charter, which is with the muniments of the borough, is written in Latin on plain parchment 16 inches wide, and 6^ inches deep ; the writing is rounded in character, and unornamented ; the lower fold is cut for three attached seals, but these have now disappeared.
On the back is written in a later hand : — " Ric : ius
" 18 Nov : jmo Rici jmi
" Grant to the Burgefses of Northampton of several Priviledges and Immunitys & particularly that they shall be free from Toll and Lastage throughout all England and the Sea Ports reserving the yearly Rent of 120'' payable to the Crown for the same."
"1"
The numbers indorsed on the charters now in the borough, refer to the list of the muniments made by Mr. Stewart A. Moore in 1864.
75 William de Longo Campo, Chancellor and Justiciary, and Bishop of Ely from 1190 to 1197. He died at Poictiers, and was buried there in the Cistertian Abbey.
76 John Peeche was Lord Mayor of London in 1361 ; William Holbech and James Tame being Sheriffs the same year.
tfycncttv of let
I;TH APRIL 1200.
/~jPHE greater part of this charter is word for word the same as the last : but this grant contains a further provision for the appointment of two burgesses as reeves ; and of four discreet men of the Town to keep the pleas of the crown and to over- see the reeves.
Text of the Charter. Carta bvrgensjvm de Norhamton.
J . Dl gra Rex Angi . &.c. Omnib} fidelib} suif Salt . Sciatif nof gceflifle burg nris de Norh q3 nfts eo£ placitet exr. murof burgi de Norhamton de aliqs. placito J? placita de tenrif ex?iorib5 exeptif monetar & miniftis nris . Conceflim8. & eif q'etanciam murd' infra burgu & in Porthibka & qd: nfts eo£ faciat duellu . & q3 de placitif ad corona ptinentibuf se poffmt difronare sedm confuetudine ciuifi ciuits Lon3 . & q3 infa. murof burgi nemo capiat hofpeciu p vi . ui p libatiofie marefcalli Hoc & eif gceflim8. q3 oms Burgens Norhamton fmt queti de Theloneo & Lestagio p totam Angi. & port8. Marif & qd: nfts de mia pecunie indicef. nifi scdm lege qu habuerunt ciuif nri Lon9 tempore H. Regif patrif nri & qft in Burgo illo in nullo placito fit mefkenninga . & q3 Hufting femel tm in Ebdomoda teneatr. Et q3 ?ras & tenuraf & vadia sua & debita sua omia iufte hant quicunq eif debeat . Et de ?rif suif & tenurif q infa. Burgum ft rectum eif teneatr sc3m Qfuetudine Burgi . Et de omnib) debitif suif que accomodata fuerint ap Norhampt & de vadiif ibide fcis placita ap Norh teneant . Et siq's in tota Angi Thelonen ul gfuetud ab hominib) Norh cepit poftqa ipi a recto defec^it . 9 Norh namu in capiat ap Norh Jufup & ad emdatione
CHARTER, I2OO. 31
illiuf Burgi eis gcerTim9 q3 sint q'eti de Brudtoll & de Gildewit & de Yereiiue & de Scotalle . Ita q3 ppofit9 Norh ut aliqjs all9 balliuif Scotale no faciat . Has pdictas giiietud eis gceffim3 & os alias lit> & lift . gfuetud qs habuerut ciuef nri Lond: . qu meliores & libiores habuerunt tempe . H . Reg pat'f nre se3m lift . Lon3 & leges burgi Norhamton Qre volum8. & firmit8. pcipim8. q3 ipi & Hedes eoz n oTa Jdicta heditarie teneant & habeant de nofc & hedib} nrif reddendo p arm Cent9 & xx U mio de viii Norhamp- ton & omib) ptin suif ad seem nrm i tmino Sci Mich p manu $pofiti Norh . Et Burgens faciant Jpofitu que uoluerint de se p am q' sit ydone9 nob & eif hoc ms selt q3 ide burg nri p gune gfiliu villate sue eligant duof de legalioribz & difc^fciorib} burg ville fue & jfentement eof capitali Jui'tic nre ap Westfn q1 bu & fidelr. cuftodiant Jpofituram ville Norh . Et fi ammueant9 qdin in baifta sua bu se gefferint n' p gune gfilin villate sue . volum8 & q3 in eo3 burgo p qune gfiliu villate sue eligant qtuor de legaliorib} & difcreciorib} hominib} de burgo ad cuftod placita Corone nre & alia q ad nof ptinent in eod Burgo & ad videndu qd: jppofiti illiuf burgi iufte & legitime tractent tarn paupef quam diuitef . T . Willo Marefcall. Com de penbrok Robto Com Leic . W . Com Sarr & multis aliis . Dat p man Sim ArchTd Wellefis apud Windlefor xvijdie Ap'lis . anno regni nri primo.
Translation. A Charter of the Burgesses of Northampton.
John by the Grace of God King of England &c To all his faithful men Greeting Know ye that we have granted to our Burgesses of Northampton that none of them plead without the walls of the Borough of Northampton of any plea except pleas of outholdings except our Moneyers and Ministers Also we have granted to them acquittance of murder within the Borough and in portsoken And that none of them make Duel And that of pleas appertaining to the Crown they may justify according to the custom of the Citizens of the City of London and that within the walls of the Borough no one take Hostellage by force or by delivery of the Marshall And this we have granted to them that all the Bur- gesses of Northampton be quit of Toll and Lastage through all
32 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
England and the ports of the Sea And that no one of amercea- ment of Money be adjudged but according to the Law which our Citizens of London had in the time of King Henry our father and that in the same Borough there be no plea miskenning. And that the Hustings be held only once in the week And that they justly have all their Lands and holdings and their pledges and debts whomsoever owe to them And of their Lands and holdings which are within the Borough right be kept to them according to the custom of the Borough And of all their debts which shall be lent at Northampton and of the pledges there made pleas be held at Northampton and if any one in all Eng- land take Toll or Custom from the Men of Northampton after he have failed from right the Reeve of Northampton shall take distress thereof at Northampton Moreover for the amendment of the same Borough we have granted to them that they be quit of Burdtol and of Childwite and of Yeresgive and of Scotale so that the Reeve of Northampton or any other Bailiff do not make Scot- ale We have granted to them the aforesaid customs and all other liberties and free customs which our citizens of London had when they had them best and more freely in the time of King Henry our father according to the liberties of London and the Laws of the Borough of Northampton Wherefore we will and firmly command that they and their heirs all these things aforesaid hold and have hereditarily of us and our heirs rendering by the Year one hun- dred and twenty pounds by tale for the Town of Northampton with all its appurtenances at our Exchequer at the term of Saint Michael by the hands of the Reeve of Northampton And the Burgesses shall make a Reeve whom they will of themselves by the year who may be proper for us and them with this only to wit that our same Burgesses by the Common Council of their Town may choose two of the more lawful and discreet Burgesses of their Town and present them to our Chief Justice at Westminster who shall well and faithfully keep the Reeveship of the Town of Northampton and they shall not be amoved so long as they well conduct themselves in their Bailiwick unless by the Common Council of their Town Also we will that in the same Borough by the Common Council of their town there be chosen four of the more lawful and discreet men of the Borough to keep the pleas of our Crown and other things which pertain to us in the same Borough and to see that the Reeves of the same
CHARTER, 1200. 33
Borough justly and lawfully treat as well the poor as the rich Witness William Marshall Earl of Pembroke 77 Robert Earl of Leicester 78 William Earl of Salisbury?9 and many others given by the hand of Simon Archdeacon of Wells ^ at Windsor the seventeenth day of April in the first year of our reign.
This charter is not with the other muniments of the borough and has probably been destroyed. The preceding transcript has been made from the copy now in the Public Record Office in London, where it is contained in a roll with divers charters of other towns, and is referred to as : —
Cartse Antique " G." /j.
77 William the Marshall was born before 1153, he was Earl of Pembroke and Striguil, Lord of Leinster in Ireland, and Lord of Orbec and Longueville in Nor- mandy, and he died in 1219. He was "memorable for the great care he had of "King Henry III., in his minority; and more memorable for the little care that " destiny had of his posterity ; for leaving his five sons behind him, they all lived " to be earls successively, yet all died without issue."
78 Robert de Breteuil, Earl of Leicester, and Lord of Hinckley, Breteuil, Paci and the Honour of Grantmesnil, was born after 1168, and was the Patron of Luffield Priory in this County, he died in 1206. He was " prcestantissimus comes."
79 William Lungespee, the natural son of King Henry II., was born before 1176, and created Earl of Salisbury in 1198, he was Lord of Ambresbury and the Honour of Eye. He died in 1226.
80 Simon de Welles was Bishop of Chichester from 1204 to 1207.
of
6TH NOVEMBER, 1218.
T3Y these letters addressed to the sheriff the King gave direc- tions concerning the fair at Northampton, and appointed bailiffs to superintend the same.
Text of these Letters Patent. D feria Norhant.
Rex Falk de Breant & baift Norhant faim Sciatif nof coftituiffe dilcos & fidelef nrof Hefir de Pente Audomar & Raet de Nor- wic ciicum baiftos nros ad cuftodiend! feria Norhant & difponeM omia q ad nof ptinent in -pdca feria. Et I3o voft mandam9 q3 ad hoc cofiliu & auxiliu quutumcumq po?itif eif ipendatif.T. Com . W . mar rectore nro & Regni nri ap Weftm . vj . die Nouembr , Ann . r n t^tio . p ipm Com & dnm P. Winton epm
Et mandatu eft eifd: q3 cofiliu & auxiliu ||!dcif . H. & R. quntum cumq po?unt ipendant ad capienet Jn feria Norhant Lanaf & coria & pannof ad opuf dni Regif q3 dus Rex mcatorib} de hiif fatiffac conpetn?.
Et mandat eft iScatoribuf & aliis exiftntib3 Jn feria Norhant qd in omib} q ad jldcam feria ptenent jpdcis H. & R. tanq11 baiftis dui Regif Jntendentef fint & respondentef.
Mandatu eft & omib} mcatoribuf exiftfitib} in feria Norhant q£t Lanaf coria & pannof q jpdci baifti cape vol3int in ^dca feria ad opz dni Reg eif Lifcair & fu difficultate Liftent fcitai q3 dfis Rex de jlcno eo^ eif in fari fatiffaciet copetn?.
Translation.
Concerning the Fair of Northampton. The King to Falk de Breant81 and the Bailiffs of Northampton
81 Falk or Fulk de Breant was sheriff of Northamptonshire for the years from 1216 to 1224 inclusive. For a short time he was in possession of Bedford Castle.
LETTERS PATENT, I2l8. 35
Greeting Know ye that we have appointed our beloved and trusty Henry de Pente "Audomar" and Ralph de Norwich82 Clerk our Bailiffs to keep the Fair of Northampton and to dispose all things which to us pertain in the aforesaid Fair And therefore we do command you that ye do in this matter render them whatsoever counsel and aid ye can Witness William Earl Marshall83 Regent of us and of our Realm at Westminster the 6th day of November in the third year of our reign by the said Earl and the Lord P. Bishop of Winchester.84
And it is commanded to the same that they do render to the aforesaid H. and R. whatsoever counsel and aid they can to take in Northampton Fair to the King's use wools and hides and cloths insomuch as the Lord the King will fully satisfy the Mer- chants therefore.
And it is commanded to the Merchants and others being at Nor- thampton Fair that they be in all things which to the aforesaid Fair pertain attendent and respondent to the aforesaid H. and R. as the Bailiffs of the Lord the King.
It is also commanded to all the Merchants being at Northampton Fair that they do liberally and without difficulty deliver the wools hides and cloths which the aforesaid Bailiffs shall take in the aforesaid Fair to the use of the Lord the King knowing that he the Lord the King will shortly fully satisfy them for the price thereof.
These letters patent are not with the muniments of the borough. The preceding transcript has been made from the copy now in the Public Record Office, where it is referred to as : — Rot: Pat : j0 Hen. III. p. i. m. 6.
82 Ralph de Norwich was rector of Stanwick, Northamptonshire, from 1233 to 1238.
83 For Note as to William Earl Marshall, see page 33.
84 Peter de Ropibus Knight was appointed Bishop of Winchester in 1205. He was a crusader in 1226, when he restored the Church of St. Thomas and the fortifications of Joppa. He founded a chapel in the church of St. Mary Overie, and St. Thomas' Hospital, London. He died in 1238 and was buried at Win- chester.
D 2
of
24™ DECEMBER, 1224.
ID Y these letters, also directed to the sheriff, the King granted to the burgesses of Northampton the right to levy tolls on carts coming into the town, and goods sold there, and to apply the proceeds towards inclosing the town with a wall.
Text of these Letters Patent. D villa Norhamt Claudenda.
Rex vie Norhamt & oib} de code com salt Sciatis q3 concessim2 burgensib3 nris Norhamt in auxiliu ville Norhamt claudende ad secitate & tuicione ejusde ville simul & parciu adjacenciu q3 capiat singlis septimanis semel usq in tres annos a die Natalis Dni anno regni firi nono de qlib} carecta sive carro ejusde com Norhamt ferente res venales in eande villa Norhamt ibi3e vendendas unu obolu & de qlib} carecta sive carro al?ius com ferente res venales in eande villa ibeSe vendendas unu denar & de quolib} sumagio reru venaliu ibidem vendendar^ pretrct de sumagio busch unu qua3r & de quolib} equo & eqe & bove & vacca venali illuc ductis ad vendenS unu oboi & de dece ovib) vi capris vi porcis venalib} illuc ductis ad vendend: ufi denar & de v ovib} vi capris vt porcis ufi oboi Ita tn qd: occoe isti2 gcesslois nre de hujsmodi carectis carris sumagiis eq's eqsb3 bobus vaccis ovib3 capris vi porcis nicfe capiat8 |}t pdcm ?minu spletu set stati spleto ?mino illo cadat gsuetudo ilia & penit2 aboleat2 Et i3o t' vie Jlcipim2 qd hac gcessioem nram clamari facias p tota baiftia tua & firmi? obs9vari usq ad ?min ^dcm sic ^dcm est T. me ipo ap Bracket xxiiij die DecenVbr anno code cora Justic.
LETTERS PATENT, 1224. 37
Translation. bncerning an aid to fortify the Town of Northampton.
The King to the Sheriff of Northampton and to all the men of the same County greeting Know ye that we have granted to our Burgesses of Northampton in aid of inclosing the Town of Northampton for the security and defence of the same town together with the parts adjacent that they may take once every week for three years only from the day of the Nativity of Our Lord Wednesday [25th December 1224] in the ninth year of our reign of every cart or vehicle of the said County of Northampton conveying saleable articles to the said Town of Northampton to be there sold one halfpenny and of every cart or vehicle of another county carrying saleable articles to the said town one penny and of every horse load of saleable articles except a load of one bushel one farthing and of every horse or mare ox and cow there taken for sale one halfpenny and of ten sheep or goats or pigs there taken for sale one penny and of five sheep or goats or pigs one halfpenny so nevertheless that by reason of this our grant there be from such like carts or vehicles horse loads horses mares oxen cows sheep goats or pigs nothing be taken after the aforesaid term ended but that as soon as this term be completed the said customs cease and be utterly abolished and therefore we command you the Sheriff that you do cause this our grant to be proclaimed and strictly observed throughout your bailiwick until the term aforesaid as is aforesaid Witness myself at Brackley [Northamptonshire] the 24th day of December the said year before the Justices.
These letters patent are not with the muniments of the borough. The preceding transcript has been made from the copy now in the Public Record Office, where it is referred to as :— Rot: Pat: 9™ Hen. III. p. 2. m. 8
of
m-
i6TH MARCH, 1227.
n^HIS charter, which is almost word for word the same as that granted by King John, is incorporated in the charter of the 2yth Edward I. ; and also in the other later charters which inspect, and incorporate the same.
The scribe of the Liber Custumarum copied the whole of the charter in Latin into that book commencing at folio nob, hereinafter printed. There is also an early translation of the document in English, written in the same book commencing on folio I35a.
Translation of the Charter.
Henry by the Grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland Duke of Normandy Aquitain and Earl of Anjou To the Arch- bishops Bishops Abbotts Priors Earls Barons Justices Sheriffs Reeves Ministers and all his Bailiffs and faithful men Greeting Know ye that we have granted and by our present Charter con- firmed to our Burgesses of Northampton that none of them plead without the walls of the Borough of Northampton of any plea except pleas of outholdings except our moneyers and ministers Also we have granted to them acquittance of murder within the Borough and in portsoken and that none of them make Duel and that of pleas appertaining to the Crown they may justify according to the custom of the Citizens of the City of London and that within the walls of the Borough no one take hostellage by force or by delivery of the Marshall And that all the Burgesses of Northampton be quit of toll and lastage through all England and the ports of the sea and that no one of amerceament of money be adjudged but according to the law which our Citizens of London had in the time of King Henry our Grandfather And that in the same Borough there be in no plea miskenning And
CHARTER, 1227. 39
that the Hustings be held only once in the week And that they justly have all their Lands and Holdings and their pledges and debts whomsoever owe to them And of their Lands and Holdings which are written the Borough right be kept to them according to the custom of the Borough and of all their debts which shall be lent at Northampton and of the pledges there made pleas be held at Northampton and if any one in all England shall take toll or custom from the men of Northampton after he shall have failed from right the Reeve of Northampton shall take distress thereof at Northampton Moreover also for the amendment of the same Borough we have granted to them that they be quit of brudtol and of childwite and of yeresjive and of scotale so that the Reeve of Northampton or any other Bailiff do not make scotale We have granted to them these the aforesaid customs and all other liberties and free customs which our Citizens of London had when they had them best or more freely in the time of the aforesaid King Henry our Grandfather according to the liberties of London and the Laws of the Borough of North- ampton Wherefore we will and firmly command that they and their heirs all these things aforesaid have and hold hereditarily of us and our heirs rendering by the year one hundred and twenty pounds by tale for the Town of Northampton with all its appur- tenances at our Exchequer at the Term of Saint Michael by the hands of the Reeve of Northampton and the Burgesses of North- ampton shall make a Reeve whom they will of themselves by the year who may be proper for us and them with this only to wit that the aforesaid Burgesses by the Common Council of their Town may choose two of the more lawful and discreet Burgesses of their Town and present them by their letters patent to our Chief Justice at Westminster who shall well and faithfully keep the Reeveship of the Town of Northampton and they shall not be amoved so long as they well conduct themselves in their Bailiwick unless by the common council of their town Also we will that in the same Borough of Northampton by the common council of their Town there be chosen four of the more lawful and discreet men of the Borough to keep the pleas of our Crown and other things which pertain to us in the same Borough and to see that the Reeves of the same Borough justly and lawfully treat as well the poor as the rich as the Charter of the Lord King John our Father which they have reasonably witnesseth These being
40 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
witnesses The Venerable Father Jocelyn Bishop of Bath85 R. Bishop of Salisbury 86 Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent87 our Justiciary William the son of Warrin88 Ralph the son of Nicholas Richard de Argentine our Seneschal Henry de Capel and others. Given by the hand of the Venerable Father R. Bishop of Chich- ester89 our Chancellor at Westminster the sixteenth day of March in the eleventh year of our reign.
This charter, which is with the muniments of the borough, is written in Latin on parchment n inches wide and 13 inches deep. The writing is more regular, square, and upright than on the charter of Richard. The silk cord for the seal is worked through the lower side, but the seal itself has long since dis- appeared. It is endorsed : —
" 16° Marcij 11° Hen. 3.
" Grant of Hen. 3d whereby several priviledges are granted to the Burgefses of Northampton (reserving the yearly Rent of I2OH payable for the same) & particularly that they shall be free from Toll and Lastage throughout all England & the seaports."
" 1226." " 2 "
There is also a copy of this charter in Latin, written on parchment measuring \2\ inches wide by g inches deep, which was apparently made soon after the original. It is only indorsed in ink : —
85 Jocelyn de Wells or Trotman was Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury in 1206 ; he was an exile from 1212 to 1217 for publishing interdict ; and in 1218 when Glastonbury was restored to the Abbey, Jocelyn resumed the title of Bath and Wells. He died in 1242 and was buried in the Choir of Wells Cathedral.
86 Richard Poore became Bishop of Salisbury in 1217, he founded the new Cathedral in 1220, and also a Hospital at Salisbury. He was translated to Durham in 1228, and died in 1237. He is said to have been buried at Salisbury.
87 Hubert de Burgh the great grandson of William, 2nd Earl of Cornwall, was born before 1180. He was created Earl of Kent nth February, 1227, was Justiciary of England from 1215 till 1232, and he died in 1243.
88 William de Warenne the son of Hamelin Earl of Surrey and Warenne was born before 1181. He succeeded as 2nd Earl of Surrey and Warenne, and died in 1240.
89 Ralph Neville became Bishop of Chichester in 1223; he was Chancellor of England, and he built Lincoln's Inn in London, where he was buried in 1244.
of
26TH JANUARY, 1252.
"DY these letters patent, the King granted the good men of Northampton leave to levy tolls on animals and articles sold in the town, and apply the proceeds towards inclosing the same. It is similar in character to the previous grant of the 9th Henry III., printed hereinbefore on page 36, but is directed to the mayor and burgesses in lieu of the sheriff.
Text of these Letters Patent.
Villa Norhampton Claudenda.
B/ Maiori Burgenfib} ac aliif pbis hominib} quis Norhampton falm Sciatif qd concedim9 nofo in auxilium uille vre de Norht clau- denda qd in eade villa capiatis ad emendatoem muro£ eiufdem uille de qualibet carecta ferente bufcam uenate vnu qa D carecta carecta blado uenali vnum ot> D quolib} fummagio bufce p ebomodam vnum ot> D quolibet fummagio fi munf p ebdomodam vnu ofc D quelib} equo & equa boua & uacca vnu ofo D quolib3 truilell panno^ venal ducto fup carectam ii defi D quelib} bullione cordubam venal ii den D quolib} corio equi & eque bouif & uacce tannato vnu qa D qualib} carecta carcata pifce marine iiii den D quolibe} fummagio pifcif marim i den D quolib} fummag9 panno^ uenal i defi D qualib} carecta carnib} falfis uenalib} ii defi D quolib} dol vnu Cin9ium unal uendente in eande villam ul canfennte p eande ii defi D quolib} facco lane venal iiii den D qelib} coreo equi & eque bouif & uacce & no tannato vnu qa D x ouib} cape & porcif uenditif vnu den D x pellib} oum lanacif & uenditif viii defi D qlib} balello carcata m9candifis uenalib} ad Jdcam uillam uenientib} vnu ot> D quolib} an9io pond9is fcilie de centena vnu den D qualib} affifa weyde venditi vnu den
42 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
D quolib3 afco lal uendle vnum ot> D duob} milib} cepe venditif vnu qa D quolib} qa reid bladi ducto p aqam & vendito vnu qa D quolib} millenario allecif vnu ofc D qalib3 fumma allij venditi vnu ofc D qualib} cencena bordi vend q den de qalib3 cencena de lacif venditif vnu qa D quolib3 carro & carecta vendita viii ofc D qualib3 mola vendita vnu den D qalib3 peca filau vnu ofc Jn Cui9 duratura a fefto pafch anno &.c. xxxvi p duoi* annof fequentes T ty apd Seluefton xxvi die Jan p ty
Translation. For inclosing the Town of Northampton.
The King to his Mayor Burgesses and other his good men of Northampton greeting Know ye that we have granted to you in aid of inclosing your town of Northampton that ye do take in the same town for the amendment of the walls thereof of every cart carrying brushwood for sale one farthing of every cart load of corn for sale one halfpenny of every horse load of brushwood by the week one halfpenny of every horse load of straw by the week one halfpenny of every horse and mare ox and cow sold one halfpenny of every truss of cloth conveyed by cart for sale two pence of every weight of Cordulean leather for sale two pence of every tanned hide of horse and mare ox and cow one farthing of every cart laden with sea fish four pence of every horse load of sea fish one penny of every horse load of cloths for sale one penny of every cart laden with salt meat for sale two pence of every cask of ashes or wine coming to the said town for sale or passing through the same two pence of every sack of wool for sale four pence of every untanned hide of horse and mare ox and cow one farthing of ten sheep goats and pigs sold one penny of ten sheep skins tanned and sold one penny of every boat coming to the said town laden with merchandize for sale one halfpenny of every hundred weight one penny of every size of wood sold one penny of every boat load of salt for sale one halfpenny of two thousand onions sold one farthing of every quarter of corn conveyed by water and sold one farthing of every thousand of herrings one halfpenny of every load of garlick sold one halfpenny of every hundred of boards sold one penny of every hundred of buckets sold one farthing of every car and cart sold one halfpenny of every millstone sold one penny of every stone of flax one half-
LETTERS PATENT, 1252. 43
penny In testimony whereof &c to continue from the Feast of Easter in the 36th year for two years following Witness the King at Silveston90 the 26th day of January By the King.
These letters patent are not with the muniments of the borough. The preceding transcript has been made from the copy now in the Public Record Office, where it is referred to as:— Rot. Pat. 36*° Hen. III. m. 12.
90 There was anciently a royal mansion house within the liberties of Silverston, Northamptonshire. Many of the Plantagenet Kings resided at this lodge, but even when Bridges wrote all traditions of the building had passed away.
of 39$ genrp m+
7TH APRIL, 1255.
"D Y this charter the King granted to the burgesses that neither they nor their goods should be arrested for any debts except such as they were principals or sureties for : and all persons were prohibited from depriving the burgesses of this privilege, under pain of forfeiting ten pounds.
Text of the Charter.
Henricus dei gra Rex Angl Dux Hitn Dux Normanu Aquitan & Comes Andeg Archiepis Epis Abbatib} Priorib} Comitib} Baronib} Jufticiar Vicecomitib} Prepoitis Miniftris omnib} Balliuis & lidelib} fuis Saim Sciatis nof concetfifTe & hac carta nra confirmafle Ditcis Burgenfib} nris Norhampton q3 Jpi & eor heredef Jm ppoum p totam ?ram & potestatem nram habeant hanc lit>tatem videlicet q3 Jpi uel eo£ bona quocumq} Ioco3 in potestate nra inuenta non areftent1 pro aliquo debito de quo fide milbref aut principalef debitoref non extiterint nifi forte ipi debitoref de eo£ sint comuna & poteftate habentef vnde de debitis fuis in toto uel in parte satiflac^e poflint & dci Burgenfef creditorib} Eo5dem debitor} in iusticia defuerint & de hoc rdnabilit9 constare poffit Quare volumuf & firmit9 jpcipim9 pro nofo & heredib} nris q3 predci Burgenfef & eo^ heredef imppetuin p totam ?ram & poteftatem nram habeant libtatem predcam sicut predcm eft Et prohibemus sup foriffeuram nram decem libra} ne quis eos contn libtatem predcam in aliquo iniufte vexet difturbet uel inquietet Hiis Teftib} Jofres de Plefletis comite Warewik Ra£to fit Nicfii Arcaldo de fco Romano Drogone de Barrentin Wilio de Grey Waukelino de Arderii WiSo Gernun Petro Euerard & Aliis Dala p manu nram apud Windes septimo die Aprii Anno regni nri tricefimo nono.
CHARTER, 1255. Translation.
Henry by the grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland Duke of Normandy Aquitain and Earl of Anjou To the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons Justices Sheriffs Reeves Ministers and all his Bailiffs and faithful men Greeting Know ye that we have granted and by this our Charter confirmed to our beloved Burgesses of Northampton that they and their heirs for ever by all our land and power may have this liberty to wit — that they or their goods found in any places whatsoever in our power be not arrested for any debt of which they shall not be sureties or principal debtors unless it happens that the same debtors be of their community and power having whereof they may make satisfaction of their debts in the whole or in part and unless the said Burgesses fail in justice to the creditors of the same debts and this reasonably appears Wherefore we will and firmly command for us and our heirs that the aforesaid Burgesses and their heirs for ever by all our land and power have the liberty aforesaid as is aforesaid And we prohibit upon forfeiture to us of ten pounds that any one against the liberty aforesaid in any thing unjustly vex disturb or disquiet them These being witness John de Plessetis Earl of Warwick91 Ralph the son of Nicholas Arcald de Saint Roman Drogone de Barrentine William de Grey Wakeline de Arden William German Peter Everard and others Given by our hand at Windsor the seventh day of April in the thirty ninth year of our reign.
This charter, which is with the borough muniments, is written in Latin on plain parchment 8j inches wide and 6f inches deep. The writing is upright, regular and unornamented. It has silk worked through the lower fold to carry the seal, which does not now exist.
It is indorsed : — " 7° Aprilis 39° Hen. 3^ A Grant of Hen: 3d to the Burgefses of Northampton "
91 John de Plessetis or Plessis was the son of Hugh de Plessis, Earl of Warwick, and was born before 1214. He was admitted as Earl of Warwick in 1245 *n right of his wife, Margaret de Neubourg, Countess of Warwick. He died in 1236.
of
i8TH JANUARY, 1257.
charter contains new and additional privileges. That the burgesses were to have returns of writs of all things af- fecting the borough, that the sheriff should not take distress in the borough, that the burgesses should have the right to judge thieves taken in the borough, that strangers should not be joined with burgesses in actions, that strange merchants should not dwell in the town in fair time without the leave of the burgesses, and that burgesses dying in any part of the kingdom their heirs should have their goods. And the previous grants were all confirmed by the King.
The scribe of the Liber Custumarum copied the whole of the charter in Latin into that book, commencing at folio io6a. here- inafter printed. There is also an early translation of the document in English, written in the same book, commencing on folio I35a.
Translation of the Charter.
Henry by the grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland Duke of Normandy Aquitain and Earl of Anjou To the Arch- bishops Bishops Abbotts Priors Earls Barons Justices Sheriffs Reeves Ministers and all his Bailiffs and faithful men Greeting Know ye that we have granted and by this our Charter confirmed to our Burgesses of Northampton that they and their heirs for ever may have return of all our writs as well of Summonses of our Exchequer as of other things touching the Borough afore- said and the liberty of the same Borough And that they may answer by their hands at our Exchequer of all debts summonses and demands touching the same so that no Sheriff or other our Bailiff or Minister hereafter enter the aforesaid Borough to make any distresses summonses or other things which to their office
CHARTER, 1257. 47
pertain unless by default of the same Burgesses or their heirs And that they may have infangthef 93 and that none of them be impleaded without the walls of the Borough of Northampton unless of pleas of outholdings or for any trespass committed in the same Borough unless upon any matter touching our right or our person And that the said Burgesses shall not be joined by any foreigners upon any appeals rights injuries trespasses crimes challenges or demands charged or to be charged to them but only by their co-burgesses unless for any thing touching the community of the aforesaid Borough And then in that case they shall be tried according to their liberties approved and hitherto used And that no merchant at the time of the fairs of the same Borough dwell in the same Borough with his merchandize unless with the license and will of the Bailiffs of the same Borough as it ought and hath been accustomed to be done in the times of our predecessors Kings of England and of our own and that they may make distress within the Borough aforesaid for their debts as hitherto it ought and hath been accustomed to be done Also we have granted to them that if any of them wheresoever in our Kingdom shall die testate or intestate their heirs shall fully have the goods of the same deceased so far as the said heirs can reasonably shew the same goods to have belonged to the said deceased And that they or their goods shall not be arrested anywhere in our Kingdom nor shall they lose their goods for any trespass of their servants and that they may use the liberties aforesaid contained within our Charter whensoever they will although at any time they have not used the same Also we grant to them that they and their heirs may have all the liberties before granted to them by our Charter and by the Charters of our pre- decessors Kings of England as reasonably hitherto they have used the same Wherefore we will and firmly command for us and our heirs that the aforesaid Burgesses and their heirs for ever have the liberties aforesaid and we prohibit upon forfeiture to us that any one against this our Grant in any thing disturb or molest them These being Witnesses Geoffrey de Lezan 9S and William de
92 Infangthef was the liberty granted to the lord of a manor to judge thieves taken within his manor.
93 Geoffrey Fitz-Roy, a natural son of King John and half brother of King Henry III.
48 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
Valence 94 our brothers Henry de Bath Philip Lovell Master John Mansell William de Grey Walter de Merton Nicholas de Saint Maur Walkeline de Ardern Peter Everard and others Given by our hand at Westminster the eighteenth day of January in the forty first year of our reign.
This charter, which is with the muniments of the borough, is written in Latin on plain parchment 13! inches wide and 7}- inches deep. The writing is slightly ornamented, the initial letters are plain, the initial letter H only being slightly ornamented with foliated work. A small portion of the great seal of England remains attached to the silk cord.
On the back is written : — " 1 8° Januarij 111° Hen: 3UJ. " Grant of Hen: 3d wher by amongst other priviledges is granted to the Burgefses of Northampton the Return of all writs within the Libertys of the Town the Sherriff of the County & his officers being prohibited from doing any Act appertaining to their office within the Libertys "
"5"
94 William de Valence, half brother of King Henry III., was created Earl of Pembroke before Sept., 1251. He was a crusader and Guardian and Lieutenant of England in 1285. He died I3th June, 1296.
of
6TH MAY, 1268.
IMMEDIATELY after the last charter was granted to the town in 1257, the Barons' war commenced. This civil war was terminated by the decisive battle of Evesham in 1265, at which Simon de Montfort and the barons were defeated. After the country became settled the King, according to his wont, granted new charters ; and probably by this means obtained a little money for his last crusade in 1270. This grant simply confirmed all the charters previously given to the burgesses by the Kings of England.
Text of these Letters Patent.
Henricuf dei gfa Rex Angi dom Hibn & Dux Agun omib} Balliuis & fiidelib) eius ad quof prefentes littere puenerun sait . Cum ditci nobis maior & burgenfes nri Norhampt habeant quasdam libertatis p cartas predeceflb^ nro£ regum Angi & nras ac ipi pp? impediments guerre nup in regno nro habite eisdem liber tatib} ufi sint minus plene nos eisdem qram facere volentes spalem concedimus eis q3 licet pp? impedimtum guerre predce aliquib} articlis in dcis cartis contentis hucufq} vfi non fuerint ad plenu eisdem nichominu9 dece?o vtanf. sedfn q3 in predtis cartis plenius continent1. Conceflimus eciam eisdem qd: firmam suam eiufdem ville soluere poilint ad sccim nrm eodem modo & ad eosde ?minos ad quos firmam illam reddere confuerernt juxa tenorem carta^ nra^ quas inde habent et villam sua quam dudum capi fecimuf in manu nram reddidinr eisdem . ConceiTim8 infup eisd maiori & burgenfib} qd! ipi non diftringant8 pro aliquo debito de quo iideiuffores aut pncipales debitores non exti?int.Et ido vob mandamus q9 predcos maiorem & burgenfes contra concelTiones nras predcas non vexetis in aliquo seu greuetis . Jn cujus rei teftimo" has littas nras fieri fecimus
50 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
pacentef . Teste me ipo apud Windeso^ . iexto die maij Anno regni nri gng* gefimo scdo.
Indorsed.
Jfta carta lecta fint eid Eccm anno VV & ibid vre de mannend carta pofuca fint in liacia Marefcalcia mii'd anni
Translation.
Henry by the grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitain to all his Bailiffs and faithful men to whom the present letters shall come Greeting Whereas our beloved our Mayor and Burgesses of Northampton have certain liberties by the charters of our predecessors Kings of England and our own And they by reason of the impediment of the war lately had in our kingdom the same liberties have not fully used We willing to do to them special favour Grant to them that although on account of the impediment of the war aforesaid hitherto they have not fully used any Articles in the said Charters contained Never- theless hereafter they may use the same according to that which in the aforesaid Charters is more fully contained Also we have granted to them that they may pay their farm of the same Town at our Exchequer in the same manner and at the same Terms at which they have been accustomed to render the same farm according to the tenor of our Charters which they have thereof and their Town which formerly we caused to be taken into our hands we have restored to them Moreover we have granted to the same Mayor and Burgesses that they shall not be distrained for any debt of which they are not Sureties nor principal Debtors And therefore we command you that the aforesaid Mayor and Burgesses against our grants aforesaid you do not in any thing vex or aggrieve In testimony whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent Witness myself at Windsor the sixth day of May in the fifty second year of our reign
Indorsed.
This Charter was read at the Exchequer in the fifty fifth year and there a writ for maintaining the Charter was placed upon the file of the Marshalsea of the same year
LETTERS PATENT, 1268. 51
This document, which is with the muniments of the borough, is written in Latin on plain parchment yi inches wide and 5! inches deep ; the writing is small and regular, but without any attempt at ornamentation. A small portion of the great seal of England remains attached to the silk cord.
On the back is written : —
"6° Maij 52° Hen: 3tij
" A grant of Hen: 3d to the Mayor and Burgefses of North- ampton."
-Hen. 3."
ffgfl
A copy also exists in the Public Record Office, where it is referred to as : —
Rot: Pat: 52*° Hen. III. m. /;.
of 52H& gentry m+
6TH MAY, 1268.
PHIS grant, which bears the same date as the previous one, is a general pardon to the Mayor and men of Northampton for their share in the rebellion as before mentioned, on condition that they should behave themselves well in the future.
Text of these Letters Patent.
Henricus dei gra Rex Angt Dus Hibn & Dux Aguns omnib3 Balliuis & fidelibus suis ad quos Jfentes littere puenerint salt . Volentes maiori & probis Hominib} nris Norhampt gram facere spalem remifimus & pdonamiu" eisdem & toti comminati ville eiusdem omeni indignatoem & animi rancorem quos erga ipos concepe ramus occasione decentonis ville fire Norhapton cont nos & captonis eiufdem &etiam occafionetrarifgreffushuiufmodi qucum in nobif eft similiter perdonammuf & ipos ad gram & patem nrafn admifimus nolentes q3 ipi p nos heredes nros Jufticiarios balliuos seu alios miniftros nros occafione predta deceto gra uent in aliquo
E 2
52 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
seu moleftent" . Jta in q3 ftent recto in curia nra si gius de ?nfgreflionib3 aliquib} nerfus eos loqui voluerit & erga nos & heredes nrds bene & fidelit8 se habeant in futurum . Jn cuiuf rei teftim has lit?as nras fieri fecimuf p atntef . Tefte me ipo apud Windes fexto die Maij Anno regni nri gng gefimo fecundo
Translation.
Henry by the grace of God King of England Duke of Ireland and Duke of Aquitain to all his Bailiffs and faithful men to whom these present letters shall come greeting We desire to make special remission and pardon to the Mayor and honest men of our Town of Northampton and to the whole of the commonalty of the same town of all indignation and rancor of mind which we had conceived against them on the occasion of the detention of our Town of Northampton against us and the taking of the same and also by occasion of trespasses and excesses if they shall have committed any at the time of the disturbances in our Kingdom and we likewise as much as is in us have pardoned them those trespasses and excesses and have admitted them to our grace and peace Not willing that they nor their heirs by us our Justiciaries Bailiffs and other Ministers of ours by occasion aforesaid shall be oppressed or molested So nevertheless that they shall stand to judgement in our Court if anyone shall wish to speak against them concerning the aforesaid transgressions and that they shall behave themselves well and faithfully to us in future In testimony whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent Witness myself at Windsor the 6th day of May in the fifty second year of our reign
This document, which is with the muniments of the borough, is written in Latin on plain parchment 7^ inches wide and 5 inches deep. Attached to the silk cord is a portion of the great seal of England in green wax.
On the back is written :—
« Hen. 3. " pardon "
"7"
of
m+
i5TH MARCH, 1270.
*DY virtue of this grant the burgesses were enabled to keep - their dogs in the town and suburbs without expeditating or lawing 95 them : a privilege much appreciated.
In the Liber Custumarum, folio 31 b., a provision will be found for dogs to be kept in a leash whilst in the town unless they were quiet.
Text of these Letters Patent. P. Burgenfib} Norht.
E? omnib} &.c. Salm . Cum Burgenfes nri Norhpt ab antique quiet9 efle confuen9int de expeditacoe Canu suo^ tarn in Suburbio eiufdem qm infa eandem villam volentes eifdem Burgenfib} qram facere specialem conceffimus eis p no & hres q3 ipi Burgenfes & eo£ homines imppetuu sint quiti de expeditacde canu suo^ tarn in Suburbio predce ville qa infra eandem villam Ed qS quieti sunt de fine et mifericordia si que ad nos vel hedes nros rac5e huiufmodi expeditacoes poffent ptin9e . Jn cui9 &.c . T . ty apud Weftmon xv die Marc .
Translation. For the Burgesses of Northampton.
The King to all &c Greeting Since the burgesses of our town of Northampton have been used of old to walk freely with their dogs as well in the suburbs as within the town itself We willingly grant special permission to the said burgesses both for
95 Under the Forest laws dogs were required to be expeditated or lawed by having the balls of their feet cut out, or in the case of a mastiff, the removal of the three claws of the forefoot on the right side, in order that it might be impossible for them to run game.
54 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
ourselves and heirs that the burgesses themselves and their men may for ever freely walk with their dogs both in the suburbs of the said town and within the town itself and that they may be held free from any fine or punishment that might pertain to us or our heirs by any such action In testimony &c Witness the King at Westminster the I5th day of March
These letters patent are not with the muniments of the borough. The preceding transcript has been made from the copy now in the Public Record Office, where it is referred to as : — Rot: Pat : 5/° Hen. III., m. 19.
tybttnt of 13^ (Kb war* i+
STH MAY, 1284.
/~PHIS grant is very much on the same lines as the previous grants of the gth and 36th Henry III., hereinbefore printed. The King giving the burgesses leave to levy tolls on goods sold there for the term of two years, and to apply the proceeds towards paving the town.
Text of these Letters Patent.
D pauimento Northt.
ty . majori & baftis suis Norht saitm . Sciatis q3 concessim9 voft in auxiliu ville ure paviendo qd a festo Scl Johls Bapt anno regni nri ?ciodecimo usq3 ad finem duo£ anno£ pxio sequenciu complete^ capiatis in eadem villa consuetudies subscriptas videlt de qualibet carectata bladi venal unu denar D qualibet carecta ferente piscem venalem unu den De quolibet trussello panno^ venaliu ducto p carectam unu den De qual} carecta ferente coria equo^ & equa£ bou & vacca^ p ebdomo3 unu den D quolibet dolio vini venal unu den D quob} sacco lane venal unu den D quob} sumag panni seu aliar^ m9candisa£ unu obolu De viginti ovib3 ul porcis vend unu den De viginti vellerib} vend: unu obolu
LETTERS PATENT, 1284. 55
D quob} corio equi vi eque bovis vl vacce frisco salito aut tannato ven unu quadrantem D centena pelliu oviu lanata^ unu obolu . Et Is vofc mandam2 qd: dcam consuetudiem usq3 ad fine ?mini pctci capiatis sicut jkem est Complete autem t9mino flco^ duo^ anno£ Sea cons pen it9 cesset & deleat9 . In euj9 &c . T . ty . Apud . Westm viij . die Maij .
Translation. Concerning Paviage for Northampton.
The King to his Mayor and Bailiffs of Northampton Greeting Know ye that we have granted to you in aid of paving your Town that ye may from the Feast of St. John the Baptist in the I3th year of our reign [2gth August 1285] unto the end of two years next following to be completed take in the same town the customs underwritten namely of every cart load of corn for sale one penny of every cart conveying fish for sale one penny of every truss of cloth carried for sale by cart one penny of every cart carrying hides of horses and mares oxen and cows for sale by the week one penny of every cask of wine for sale one penny of every sack of wool for sale one penny of every load of cloth or other merchandizes one halfpenny of twenty sheep or pigs for sale one penny of twenty fleeces for sale one halfpenny of every hide of horse or mare ox or cow fresh salted or tanned for sale one farthing of a hundred of tanned sheep skins one halfpenny And therefore we do command you that ye do take the said customs unto the end of the aforesaid term as is aforesaid and that the term of the said two years being ended the said customs do wholly cease and be abolished In testimony whereof &c Witness the King at Westminster the 8th day of May
These letters patent are not with the muniments of the borough. The preceding transcript has been made from the copy now in the Public Record Office, where it is referred to as : — Rot: Pat: ijio Ed. I. m. 21.
of
MAY, 1299.
PHIS inspecimus charter, which incorporates and confirms the charters of the nth and 4ist Henry III., gave the burgesses power to choose a mayor and two bailiffs every year.
The scribe of the Liber Custumarum copied the whole of this charter in Latin into that book, commencing at folio iO5a, hereinafter printed. There is also an early translation of the document in English written in the same book, commencing on folio i35a.
Translation of the Charter.
[EJdward by the grace of God King of England and France Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitain to the Archbishops Bishops Abbotts Priors Earls Barons Justices Sheriffs Reeves Ministers and all his Bailiffs and faithful men Greeting We have inspected the charter which the Lord Henry of famous memory formerly King of England our father made to the Burgesses of North- ampton in these words Henry by the grace of God [and so forth, repeating the whole of the original charter of iith Henry III., i6th March, 1227, printed before at page 38.] Also we have inspected a certain other charter which our aforesaid Father likewise made to the Burgesses aforesaid in these words Henry by the grace of God [and so forth, repeating the whole of the original charter of 4ist Henry III., i8th January, 1257, printed before at page 46.] And we the grants aforesaid holding firm and valid the same for us and our heirs as much as in us lies do grant and con- firm to the aforesaid burgesses their heirs and other their successors burgessses of the same town for ever as the charters aforesaid reasonably testify Also we have granted for us and our heirs to the
CHARTER, 1299. 57
burgesses aforesaid that they their heirs and successors aforesaid every year for ever at the Feast of Saint Michael may choose one Mayor and two Bailiffs of themselves and him whom they shall so choose as Mayor they shall present at our Exchequer within eight days of the same feast who then there shall take an oath of those things which pertain to the office of Mayoralty of the town afore- said faithfully to be executed And which Mayor and Bailiffs shall hold and execute all pleas touching the liberty of the town afore- said as by the Bailiffs of the same town in times past it hath been accustomed to be done These being witnesses The Venerable Fathers A Bishop of Durham % J Bishop of Winchester 97 S Bishop of Salisbury98 Henry de Lacy Earl of Lincoln99 Guy Earl of Warwick100 Otto de Grandison Walter de Beauchamp Steward of our Household William le Brown Peter de Tatynton and others Given by our hand at Canterbury the 2yth day of May in the twenty-seventh year of our reign.
This charter, which is with the muniments of the borough, is written in Latin on plain parchment, 19 inches wide, and ijj inches deep, the writing is unornamented, and though a space has been left for the first letter of Edwardus it has never been filled in. Almost the whole of the great seal of England remains attached to the silk cords.
96 Anthony Bek, Patriarch of Jerusalem, was Bishop of Durham in 1284. He greatly enlarged Auckland Castle, Bernard Castle, and other places. He died in 1311.
97 John de Pontissard became Bishop of Winchester in 1280. He founded the college of St. Mary of Hungary, in Winchester. He died in 1305, and was buried at Winchester.
98 Simon of Ghent became Bishop of Salisbury in 1297, and gave citizens licence to fortify that city with wall and ditch. According to Leland he was a prelate of considerable learning. He died in 1315.
99 Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln and Salisbury, was born about 1250. He occupied many important posts in England, being in 1310 Guardian and Lieutenant of England. He was twice married, and died in 1311. The earl was " Strenuus " in militia, maturus in consiliis."
100 Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and a Lord Marcher of Wales, was born in 1270. He was knighted by the King on the 25th March, 1296, and succeeded as second Earl of Warwick in 1298. He died in 1315. He was said to have been " miles severissimus."
5§ NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
On the back is written : —
" 27° Maij 27° Edri jmi
" This Charter of EdwS the first whereby two Charters of Henry "38 are confirmed & fresh priviledges granted (viz) That the " Burgefses of Northampton for the future shall elect a Mayor & " 2 Bailiffs annually at the ffeast of St. Michael."
11311
Better 0 (polenl of 39$ &bwarb i+
4TH OCTOBER, 1301.
'T^HIS grant is similar to, but more extensive than, the previous grant of gth Henry III., and also for a longer term.
Text of these Letters Patent. Muragium Norhampton.
ty . majori baftis & pbis h5ib} ville sue Norhampton saitm Sciatis q3 concessims9 vol5 in auxiliu ville jldce claudende ad securi- tatem & tuicoem ejusde ville & pcui adjacenciu qft a die confeccois jlsenciu usq5 ad finem quinq} anno^ pxio sequenciu completo^ capiatis in eadem villa consuetudines subscptas videit de quolibet sumagio bladi ven cuj9cumq5 gen9is sit aut brasei unu quadr' De quolibet equo & equa bove & vacca ven unu obolu De quolibet corio equi & eque bovis & vacce frisco salito aut tannato ven unu quadr' De quinq baconib} ven unu obolu De decem pvis ven unu obolu De decem ovib} caprs & porcis ven unu den De decem vellerib} ven unu obolu De qualibet centena pelliu oviu lanuta^ & capr£ ven unu den De qualibet centena pelliu agno^ caprolo£ lepo£ cuniculo^ vulpiu cato^ & squirrello^ ven unu obolu De qualibet centena grisei opis ven sex den De quolibet qrtio salis ven unu quadr' De quolibet sumagio panni ven unu obolu De quolibet panno integro vend: valoris qradraginta solid: unu obolu De quolibet truflello panno£ ven ducto p carectam tres den De
LETTERS PATENT, 1301. 59
qualibet centena panno^ de Wurthstede ven duos den De quolibet panno de wurthstede qui vocat* coverlit valoris quadraginta solift ven unu den De qualibet centena linee tele vend: unu obolu De qualibet centena linee tele de Aylesham ven unu den De quolibet chef de cendallo afforciato ven unu den & de alio cendallo unu obolu De qalibet centena milvelli saliti aut duri piscis ven duos den De qlibet carectata piscis marini vend! quatuor den De quolibet sumagio piscis marini venS unu obolu De quolibet salmone ven unu quadr' De qlibet duodena lampreda^ ven unu den De quolibet dolio de sturjoun ven unu obolu De quolibet miliari allecis ven unu quadr' De quolibet sumagio cin9um ven unu obolu De q°libet sumagio men" ven unu denar' de quolibet sacco lane ven duos den De qualibet carectata tanni ven p ebdomodam unu den De av9io ponderis sciit de centena unu den De quolibet pisa cepi & uncti ven unu den De quolibet qrtr' waide ven duo^ den De duobj miliarib) allei aut cepax ven unu obolu de qualibet bala cordewanni ven tres den De "qualibet centena bordi ven unu obolu De qualibet mola veii unu obolu De qualibet centena fagoto^ ven unu quadr' De qualibet carectata busce aut maeremij ven p ebdomodam unu obolu De qualibet centena stagni eris & cupri ven duos den De quolibet truflello cujuscuq} m9cimonij ven excedentis valorem decem solido^ unu obolu De quolibet dolio vini ven tres obolos De quolibet m9candisa ven hie no noiata valoris qsnq3 solidox & ultu unu quadr' Et ideo vofc mandam9 q3 Jdcasconsuetudines usq3 ad finem jpdco£ qsuq£ anno^ capiatis sicut j^dcm est complete aute ?mino illo dee consuetudines penit9 ceffent & deleant' In cuj9 &c p pdcos quinq3 annos duratur'T ty apud Donepas iiij Octofcr p billam de sccis
Translation. Concerning Murage for the town of Northampton.
The King to the Mayor Bailiffs and good men of his town of Northampton Greeting Know ye that we have granted to you in aid of inclosing the aforesaid town for the security and defence of the same town and of the parts adjacent that ye may from the day of the making of these presents to the end of five years next following to be completed take in the same town the customs underwritten namely for every horse load of corn for sale of what- soever kind it be or of barley one farthing for every horse and
60 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
mare ox and cow for sale one halfpenny for every hide of horse and mare ox and cow fresh salted or tanned for sale one farthing for five hogs for sale one halfpenny for ten little hogs for sale one halfpenny for ten sheep goats and pigs for sale one penny for ten fleeces for sale one halfpenny for ever hundred of tanned skins of sheep and goats for sale one penny for every hundred of skins of lambs kids hares rabbits foxes cats and squirrels for sale one halfpenny for every hundred of greywerk for sale sixpence for every quarter of salt for sale one farthing for every horse load of cloth for sale one halfpenny for every entire cloth for sale of the value of forty shillings one halfpenny for every truss of cloth for sale conveyed by a cart three pence for every hundred of cloths of worsted for sale two pence for every cloth of worsted called coverlet of the value of forty shillings for sale one penny for every hundred of linen for sale one halfpenny for every hundred of linen of Aylesham for sale one penny for every piece of thin silk worked for sale one penny and for other thin silk one halfpenny for every hundred of salt mullet or hard fish for sale two pence for every cart load of sea fish for sale one halfpenny for every salmon for sale one farthing for every dozen of lampreys for sale one penny for every cask of sturgeon for sale one halfpenny for every thousand of herrings for sale one farthing for every horse load of ashes for sale one halfpenny for every horse load of honey for sale one farthing for every sack of wool for sale two pence for every cart load of tan by the week one penny for ox cart load or hundred weight one penny for every stone of fat and tallow for sale one penny for every quarter of wood for sale two pence for two thousand of garlick or onions for sale one halfpenny for every bale of prepared leather for sale three pence for every hundred of boards for sale one halfpenny for every millstone for sale one halfpenny for every hundred of faggots for sale one farthing for every cart load of brush- wood or timber for sale by the week one halfpenny for every hundred-weight of tin brass and copper for sale twopence for every truss of whatsoever merchandize for sale exceeding the value of ten shillings one halfpenny of every cask of wine for sale three half-pence for every merchandize for sale not here mentioned of the value of five shillings and upwards one farthing And therefore we do command you that ye do take the aforesaid customs unto the end of the aforesaid five years as is aforesaid and that the said term being ended the said customs do utterly cease and be abolished
LETTERS PATENT, 1301. 6 1
In testimony whereof &c. to continue for the aforesaid five years Witness the King at Donypas the 4th day of October
By Bill of the Exchequer
These letters patent are not with the muniments of the Borough. The preceding transcript has been made from the copy now in the Public Record Office, where it is referred to as : — Rot: Pat : 2gno Ed. I. m.6.
of
3RD EDWARD III.
n^HIS presentment against the bailiffs of Northampton for taking unlawful tolls is here printed, because it contains the names of many of the inhabitants of the town ; and also because it shows how causes were tried by the King's justiciaries, and how the sheriff was made responsible for the appearance of the defendants.
Translation.
Pleas of the Crown holden at Northampton before Geoffry le Scrop Lambert de Packingham John de Cambridge Thomas de Luthe and Thomas de Radeclive the Justices itinerant of our Lord the King there on the Monday next after the Feast of All Saints in the 3rd year of the reign of King Edward the Third after the Conquest. [Monday 5th Nov 1330]
The Jury present that John Hochecote Henry de Helidon 101 Adam de Cotesbroke102 Henry Roger and Pentecost le Deystere
101 Henry de Helidon, Helliden, or Helyden, was one of the members for Northampton, at the parliaments held at York in 6th Edward III., and again at York the next year.
102 Adam de Cotesbroke was one of the members for the town at the parliaments held at Westminster in 6th Edward II., at New Sarum in 2nd Edward III., at Westminster again in 6th Edward III.
62 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
the Bailiffs of the Town of Northampton take by extortion from all persons coming to the Town of Northampton to sell straw trusses of straw to cover the Kingsbroth against Fair times as well within fair times as without And that the said John Henry Adam Henry and Pentecost take unjust Tolls at all times of the year from all persons buying or selling cattle whereas nothing used to be taken out of fair time and then from dealers only and not from those who bought cattle for stock And they took from Thomas de Skalford who sold one ox a penny likewise from the purchaser thereof they took toll to the great oppression of the people Therefore let the Sheriff be commanded that he do cause them to come &c Afterwards came the aforesaid John de Hochecote and Adam de Cotesbroke and could not deny the aforesaid trespasses presented against them and made fine with the Lord the King for all trespasses against them presented each of them at half a mark &c as appeareth amongst the presentments of the township of Northampton &c Afterwards came the aforesaid Henry Henry and Pentecost and made fine for all trespasses &c as appeareth amongst the presentments of Northampton.
This record is not with the muniments of the borough. The preceding trancript has been made from the copy now in the Public Record Office, where it is referred to as : — Pleas of the Crown in the County of Northampton a°. j . Ed . Ill .
Translation.
Pleas of the Crown holden at Northampton before Geoffry le Scrop Lambert de Packingham John de Cambridge Thomas de Luthe and Thomas de Radeclive the Justices itinerant of our Lord the King there on the Monday next after the Feast of All Saints in the 3rd year of the reign of King Edward the Third after the Conquest Concerning new Customs &c The Jury present that Henry Roger and other Bailiffs of the Town of Northampton have newly levied a certain new custom in the Town of Slipton 103 which is fifteen miles distant from the aforesaid Town of Northampton namely of taking from every cart laden with wool wax and other merchandizes or goods whatsoever there passing one penny and from every horse load one
103 Slipton, a small Northamptonshire village, situate three miles from Thrapston, and six miles from Kettering.
PLEAS OF THE CROWN. 63
farthing to great oppression of the people &c they know not by what warrant &c Afterwards came the aforesaid Bailiffs and many others of the Commonalty of the aforesaid Town and they say that the custom whereof mention is made in the presentment is a toll per- taining to the Farm of the King's Town of Northampton and that the Lord the King Henry great grandfather of the Lord the now King during the time whilst the Town of Northampton was in his hands was seised of such like toll to be there taken and likewise the said Bailiffs from the time when they took the aforesaid Town at farm And they say that they receive the aforesaid Tolls at Slipton which pertain to the aforesaid Farm from carts and laden horses which ought to pass with their merchandizes through the Town of Northampton for which they ought to take Toll in the Town of Northampton and not other- wise and they pray that these things may be enquired of by the County And one William de Tichmerch saith for the King's people that the aforesaid Bailiffs receive there by their servants thereunto deputed the aforesaid new custom from all carts and laden horses as well of the neighbours there passing towards Leicester or Rothwell or elsewhere to the north parts and likewise of those passing there towards the south with their corn and other things whatsoever as of those passing there with merchandizes And this he offers to prove &c Therefore let a Jury thereupon come And the Jury say upon their oath that the aforesaid Henry Roger and other the Bailiffs of the Town of Northampton have during their times by their servants taken the aforesaid customs from the carts and laden horses as well of the neighbours as of strangers there passing with their goods and merchandizes at the will of the said servants There- fore the said Henry is in mercy And it is commanded to the said Bailiffs that they do in no wise take the aforesaid customs from the neighbours or others there passing but only from those who avoid the aforesaid Town of Northampton to evade the custom or toll of right due by reason of the liberty of the aforesaid Town on peril that shall ensue thereon.
This record is not with the muniments of the borough. The preceding transcript has been made from the copy now in the Public Record Office, where is referred to as : — Pleas of the Crown in the County of Northampton a° 3 Ed. III.
T
of 3rt> >ar in+
STH DECEMBER, 1330.
HIS document contains the first appointment of a custos of the town of Northampton.
Translation.
Grant concerning the custody of the Town of Northampton.
The King to his beloved and trusty Robert de Ardern104 Greeting We fully confiding in your fidelity and industry have committed to you the custody of our Town of Northampton and of the Liberty thereof which by the consideration of our Court before our Justices Itinerant in our County of Northampton hath been taken into our hands to hold so long as it shall please us So that ye do depute under you Bailiffs and other ministers for the custody aforesaid who shall answer as they ought as well to us for the profits thence arising as to Isabel Queen of England our most dear mother for the Farm of the same town which she hath received by our appointment And therefore we command you that ye be intendant to execute the premises in form aforesaid and we do command the good men and commonalty of the aforesaid town that they be to you attendant and respondent concerning the premises In testimony &c Witness the King at Kenilworth the 8th day of December By the King himself
For Robert de Ardern
The King to his beloved the good men and all the commonalty of the town of Northampton Whereas we having full trust in the fidelity and industry of our beloved and trusty Robert de Ardern have granted to him the custody of our aforesaid town and of the liberty thereof which by the consideration of our Court before our
184 This was probably the Robert de Ardern who was sheriff of the county in 1329-30, and lord of the manor of Radston, Northamptonshire, in 1329.
LETTERS PATENT, 1335. 65
Justices itinerant in the County of Northampton hath been taken into our hand to hold so long as it shall please us So that he do depute under him bailiffs and other ministers for the custody aforesaid who shall answer as they ought as well to us for the profits thence accruing as to Queen Isabel our most dear mother for the Farm of our same town which she hath received by our appointment We do command you that ye be to the said Robert obedient and respondent Witness as above
By the King himself
These letters patent are not with the muniments of the borough. The preceding transcript has been made from the copy now in the Public Record Office, where it is referred to as : — Originalia of 3rd Edward III. in the Lord Treasurer's Remem- brancer's Office.
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HP
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20TH APRIL, 1335.
HIS document contains the first allusion that we have noticed to the south bridge at Northampton, an important structure, without the walls of the town, on the London road.
Translation. Pontage for the men of the town of Northampton.
The good men of the town of Northampton have for the reparation and amendment of the bridge which leads over river Nen without the south gate of the same town which is in a great measure dilapidated and gone to decay a like subsidy on articles coming to Northampton for sale to be taken for three years by the hands of William de Lodelowe 105 Walter de Burgh 106
105 William de Lodelowe was one of the representatives of the town of North- ampton at the parliament held at Westminster in nth Ed. III. He was also master of the hospital of Saint Leonard in 1346.
loo A Walter de Burgh was one of the representatives of the town of North- ampton at ten parliaments, between the years 1308 and 1358, probably father and son.
66 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
and William de Burgh 10? of Northampton and of every of them &c. excepting the clause "by view and testimony &c." Witness the King at Clipston in Sherwood the 2oth day of April
By writ of the privy seal.
This grant immediately follows one of the i2th April to the good men of Nottingham enabling them to levy toll on animals and all manner of specified articles sold in the town of Nottingham and apply the proceeds for the reparation of the bridge of Hethe- beck over river Trent under the view and testimony of three burgesses therein named.
These letters patent are not with the muniments of the borough. The preceding transcript has been made from the copy in the Public Record Office, where it is referred to as : —
Rot. Pat. 9™. Ed. III., p. i. m. 24.
of nl$ >wt> HI
i8TH MARCH, 1337.
'HP HIS grant of a fair was a most important concession to the corporation of Northampton, giving them the right to hold a fair, and to take tolls on all articles sold during the space of four weeks.
Translation.
For the Mayor Bailiffs and Burgesses of the town of North- ampton to have liberty to hold a Fair.
107 William de Burgh was also one of the representatives of the town of Northampton at four parliaments between the years 1315 and 1339.
CHARTER, 1337. 67
The King to his Archbishops &c Greeting Know ye that we of our especial grace have granted and by this our Charter have confirmed to our beloved the Mayor Bailiffs and Burgesses of our town of Northampton that they their heirs and successors may every year for ever have at the said town of Northampton one Fair to last for one month namely on the Monday next after the Octaves of the Holy Trinity [the second Monday after Trinity Sunday] and for twenty seven days next ensuing unless the said Fair be to the injury of the neighbouring Fairs So nevertheless that the aforesaid Mayor Bailiffs and Burgesses or their heirs or successors take no other toll in the said Fair than hath before our present grant been accustomed to be received in the same town Wherefore we will and do firmly command for us and our heirs that the aforesaid Mayor Bailiffs and Burgesses and their heirs and successors for ever may have the said Fair at the town aforesaid with all liberties and free customs to such like Fair pertaining unless the same Fair be to the injury of the neigh- bouring Fairs So that the aforesaid Mayor Bailiffs and Burgesses or their heirs or successors take no other toll in the said mar- ket than hath been heretofore accustomed to be taken in the same town as is aforesaid These being witnesses the venerable fathers John Archbishop of Canterbury108 Primate of all England our Chancellor Henry Bishop of Lincoln m our Treasurer Richard Bishop of Durham110 Thomas Earl of Norfolk111 and Marshal of England John de Warenne Earl of Surrey112 Thomas de Beau-
108 John Stratford was intruded Bishop of Winchester by the Pope in 1323, was translated to Canterbury in 1333, and was the founder of the College at Stratford- on-Avon. He died at Mayfield, in 1348, and was buried by St. Dunstan's Altar, in Canterbury Cathedral.
109 Henry Burghersh was Treasurer and Chancellor of England, and became Bishop of Lincoln in 1320. He died at Ghent in 1342 and was buried at the east end of Lincoln Cathedral.
110 Richard Bury, Dean of Wells, became Bishop of Durham in 1333, and founded a library at Oxford. He died in 1343 at Auckland, and was buried at Durham.
111 Thomas " of Brotherton," the second son of King Edward I., was born ist June, 1300. He was created Earl of Norfolk in 1312, and Marshal of England in 1316. He "fu hom de moult sauvage & diverse maniere " ; and he died August, 1338.
112 John de Warenne was born in 1286, and succeeded as fourth Earl of Surrey and Warenne in 1305. He died in June, 1347.
F 2
68 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
champ Earl of Warwick 113 Thomas Wake of Lydel 114 John Darcy the Nephew Steward of our household and others Given by our hand at Westminster the i8th day of March
By the King himself
This charter is not with the muniments of the borough. The preceding transcript has been made from the copy now in the Public Record Office, where it is referred to as :— Rot: Cart 1 1™ Ed. III. no. 67.
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JUNE, 1385.
This inspeximus charter incorporated and confirmed the previous charters of the nth and 4ist Henry III., and 2yth Edward I., and granted that the mayor and bailiffs of Northampton should have the right to try all causes and pleas within the town and suburbs ; to keep the assize of bread, wine, and beer, and weights and measures ; and to take cognizance of forestallers and regraters.
The scribe of the Liber Custumarum copied the whole of this charter in Latin into that book, commencing at folio io5a, hereinafter printed.
Translation.
Richard by the grace of God King of England and France and Lord of Ireland To the Archbishops Bishops Abbotts Priors Dukes Earls Barons Justices Sheriffs Reeves Ministers and all his Bailiffs and faithful men Greeting We have inspected a cer-
1)3 Thomas de Beauchamp, the son of Guy, Earl of Warwick, was born in 1313, and succeeded as the third Earl of Warwick in 1315, on the death of his father. He was a man " belliger animosus," and was Chief Justice of " Oyer and Terminer " in the royal forests of Rockingham, Salcey, and Whittlebury, in 1341, and in 1344 he was Marshal of England. He died I3th November, 1369.
114 Thomas Wake was the son of John Wake, who was summoned to Parlia- ment in 1295 as Baron Wake, of Lydel. Thomas married Blanche, the daughter of Henry Plantaganet, Earl of Lancaster. He died in 1349, without leaving issue.
CHARTER, 1385. 69
tain charter of the Lord Edward of famous memory formerly King of England son of King Henry our progenitor made to our Burgesses of Northampton in these words Edward by the grace of God [and so forth, repeating the whole of the original charter of 2yth Edward I., 2yth May, 1299, printed before at page 56] And we the grants aforesaid holding firm and valid the same for us and our heirs as much as in us lies to the aforesaid Burgesses and their heirs and other their successors Burgesses of the same town grant and confirm for ever as the charters aforesaid reasonably testify Moreover being willing to show more abundant favour to the same Burgesses in this behalf we have granted to them and by this our charter confirmed that although they or their ancestors either or any of the liberties or acquit- tances in the said charters contained by any cause arising hitherto have not fully used Nevertheless the same Burgesses their heirs and successors Burgesses of the same town the liberties and acquittances aforesaid and every of them may hereafter fully enjoy and use without the impediment of us or our heirs Justices Escheators Sheriffs or other our Bailiffs or Ministers whomsoever And moreover in relief of the town aforesaid willing to regard the same Burgesses and their heirs and successors aforesaid with more ample favours and liberties we have granted to them and by this our charter confirmed for us and our heirs that they may have cognizance of all pleas as well of assizes whatsoever as of other pleas whatsoever within the town aforesaid and the suburbs of the same arising to be holden before the Mayor and Bailiffs of the said town for the time being in the Guildhall of the town aforesaid for ever And that the Mayor of the town aforesaid for the time being may have for ever in the town aforesaid and the suburbs of the same the keeping of the assize of bread wine and beer and the correction and punishment of the same together with fines amerciaments and other profits thereof arising to be converted to the use of the commonalty of the town and suburbs aforesaid And also the keeping of the assize and assay and the survey of the measures and weights in the town and suburbs aforesaid as well in the presence as in the absence of us and our heirs so that the Mayor of the said town for the time being shall survey the said measures and weights and those which he shall find false he shall cause to be burnt and destroyed and other lawful and just measures
70 NORTHAMPTON BOROUGH RECORDS.
and weights to be appointed and sealed And also the trespassers whom he shall find in this behalf he shall duly punish and chas- tise as well in the absence as in the presence of us and our heirs as often as it shall be necessary and shall seem to him reasonable to be done And that the Mayor there for the time being for ever may have power as well in such presence as absence to enquire and take cognizance of forestallers 115 and regraters 116 of flesh and fish putrid desceased and otherwise unwholesome in the town and suburbs aforesaid and thereupon to make due punishment And likewise to dispose of the govern- ment correction and punishment of the premises together with the fines forfeitures amerciament and other profits thereof issuing to the use of the commonalty of the town and suburbs aforesaid So that the clerk of the market or other minister of us or our heirs of the premises or any