XXVI.
14 April 1358.
At a court held there before Lord Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, Constable of Dover Castle, Shipweie. and Warden of the Cinque Ports, on Saturday the fourteenth day of April in the thirty-second year, etc.
It was ordered to the Mayors, Bailiff and Barons of Winchelsea, Rye, Romney, Hythe, Dover, and Sandwich, that they severally cause to come here from each of the aforesaid ports twelve good and legal men from among their Jurats, to be here before the said Warden, together with the said Mayors and Bailiffs, for receiving and performing those things which, according to the custom of the Court aforesaid, shall be enjoined on them on the behalf of the Lord King. It was also ordered to the Mayors and Bailiffs of Hastings, Pevensey, Folkstone, Fordwich, and Faversham, that they should severally cause to come here before their Warden from each of the said ports six good and legal men in form aforesaid. All which Mayors and Bailiffs and Barons come and return their mandates, and caused to come the Barons of the ports aforesaid in the form following, except the Bailiff" and Barons of Pevensey, who entirely neglect to return their mandate as they had it in command : Whereon Richard Thurbarn, Bailiff of the Head Port of Hastings, says that the Port of Pevensey is a Limb of the Port of Hastings, and that they of Pevensey are not bound to come to shipway except with the Port of Hastings, where fore he seeks that the Bailiff" and Barons of Pevensey aforesaid should be exonerated and excused for not returning the mandates aforesaid. To whom it was answered that by various records it was found that the Barons of Pevensey were accustomed to come to the said Court in times past, as well during the time when Lord Bartholomew de Burghersh was Warden of the said ports, as in the time of other Wardens, just as the Port of P'aversham, which is a limb of Dover, and several other ports which are limbs of other head ports, are wont to return their mandates as limbs of the said ports ; and because now they do not make a return as they ought and were accustomed to do.
Therefore they at the mercy, etc.
From Hastings
Richard Thurbarn, Bailiff,
John Reade,
Philip Alard,
John Lambeth.
From Winchelsea
Robert Arnold, Mayor,
Vincent Finch, Bailiff,
Robert Loundenis,
Robert Wykham,
John Diges,
Sampson Sneppe,
William Colhoppe,
John Peitevin.
From Rye
Paul of Portsmouth, Mayor,
Vincent Finch, Bailiff,
Henry Goldine,
John Marchant,
John Lade.
From Romney
John Francis, Bailiff,
Hugh Colbronde,
William Holinbroke,
John Tite, junior,
John Bret,
James Colbronde,
Roger Cowper.
From Hythe
William Hampton, Bailiff,
John Stacc,
Robert Fincelot,
John Hughlin,
John Hikson,
William Drake,
William Batswain.
From Folkestone
Richard Lightfoot, Mayor,
John Walton, Bailiff,
William Carpenter,
William Turgis,
William Perkin,
Ralph atte Broke.
From Dover
Peter Reade, Mayor,
Robert Caustone, Bailiff,
Nicholas at Hall,
Thomas Monin,
William de Denne,
Simon Monin,
Nicholas Fevre,
John Girold.
From Sandwich
Nicholas Espeloom, Mayor,
John de Haddon, Bailiff,
Stephen Eppeloun,
William Cundi,
Thomas Elys,
Thomas Loverik,
Robert Flemuk,
Richard Oxstede.
From Faversham
John de Brokedalc, Mayor,
John Hanfcld, Bailiff",
John Drailonde,
John Geddes,
John Hegham,
Thomas Goldsmith,
Nicholas Dayth,
John Holmanstone.
From Fordwich .
Nicholas Catour, the attorney of John Parker, Mayor, by letter, which testifies that the said John is sick and could not work,
Richard de Oxendenne, Bailiff,
Geoffrey Gerold,
John Baker.
And since all the Mayors, Bailiff^s and Barons, to whom it was ordered by the mandates of their Warden to cause to come here before him from each of the said Ports severally, twelve good and legal men from their Bailiewick, to carry out and receive those things which appertain to the Court of Shipway, caused to come only six men severally from each of the Ports aforesaid, and the Port of Rye only three ; the other of the said Ports, indeed, to whom it was ordered to cause to come here six good and legal men from each of their Ports severally, insufficiently made return, nor caused to come as many good and legal men as were demanded by the man date issued to them on that behalf, as is evident by their returns above noted, the Port of Faversham nevertheless excepted. So that on account of the smallness of the execution and of the insufficient return of the aforesaid mandates, the business of the Lord King, and other matters concerning the said Court, remain unfinished and unforwarded. It is therefore decreed that all the Mayors, Bailiffs and Barons aforesaid, who had been commanded, for the insufficient return aforesaid, except the Mayor and Bailiff of Faversham, are at the mercy, etc.
It was ordered and commanded to the Mayor and Bailiff of Faversham, as formerly, etc. : That they should have here before the said Warden the record and process of a certain Assize recently held in the town aforesaid before them between Henry Wimond and William Tydelomb, whereof the Lord Warden desires to be certified and in formed of certain cases : Who thus return, with respect to the " you cause to come before us a record and process of a certain Assize contained below," the Mayor at the time the Assize was held is dead, viz., Adam de Brede, and the rolls of the said process and record remain in the hands of the executors of the said Adam, who are not of the Liberty of the Town below mentioned, and therefore up till now we are not able to certify to you concerning this record and process. And because the Court thinks that all records and processes of all pleas held within the Liberty of its own Port aforesaid ought to remain in the custody of the Mayor for the time being, the contrary of which is alleged by their return. Therefore, the said Mayor and Bailiffs, because they have not executed their mandate are at the mercy, etc., and it is ordered as many times against the next Shipway.
Inquisition held, etc., by John Reade, Philip Alard of Hastings, Robert Loundenis, John Diges, Sampson Sneppe, Robert de Wykham of W^inchelsea, and so for the other Ports, etc., upon divers articles, etc. Who say upon their oath, that as to the treasure trove they know nothing, as to the false indictment there is none, as to the treason committed against the Lord King they know of none, as to the false money and coiners of the same they know nothing, as to the service of the Lord King with held none was withheld, and as to the other articles they say they are not bound nor accustomed to answer to them at that Court.
John Girold, of Dover, was attached to answer to the Lord Warden for contempt, in that he arrested a certain ship of Richard Archer, of Dover, in the town of Calais, called The Lancaster for a certain contract made in the Port of Dover, against the Liberty of the Cinque Ports and in contempt of the Warden of the said ports, wherefore the said John is bound to the said Warden in £10. And this was proved here by Nicholas Eppeloun, Mayor of Sandwich, Vincent Finch, Bailiff of Winchelsea, and by several others, that if it were so done by the said John, that in such case he is bound to pay to the Warden of the Cinque Ports ;i^io : and upon this he is asked if he has, or knows, anything to say on his own behalf wherefore he should not pay the said ;i^io to the Warden. Who appears and says, that he arrested no ship at Calais as is alleged above, and this he is prepared to prove howsoever the Court shall decree, etc. Therefore a day* is appointed to him at the Church of St. James of Dover on the Thursday next before the Feast of St. George the Martyr next ensuing : and it is ordered to the Mayor and Bailiff ot Dover that they should cause to come on that day 12, etc. Who neither, etc.
* Dies aatus is the day of respite given to a defendant.
John Archer, complainant, opposes himself against Nicholas at Hall, lately Mayor of the Port of Dover, and the accomplices of the said Nicholas, then the jurats of the said town, as appears by a certain bill of the said John, con cerning a false judgment recently returned by them in the port aforesaid against the said John, in grave contempt of the Lord King and to the damage of John himself, £100, etc. And the aforesaid Nicholas and the others appear and defend, etc., and say that no false judgment was returned by them as the said John asserts, and ask that this may be proved howsoever the Court shall decree : therefore it is ordered to the Mayor and Bailiff of Dover that they produce a record and process of the said judgment with all things connected with it under their seals, and the seals of the four legal men who were concerned in that record at the next Shepway, so that inspection thereon having been made as to what, by right and according to the custom of the ports aforesaid, should be done in the foregoing, may be done : and the said John complains that several men of Dover threaten him bodily violence because he prosecutes them, viz., Nicholas at Hall, Thomas Monin, Simon Monin, William de Denne, William Armentier ; who find Sureties, viz., each one a surety for the other, that by none of them shall hurt or danger happen to him.
John Gibbon is accused of various crimes which, as is alleged, tend to the grave contempt of the Lord King and the Warden aforesaid. On which the said John, being asked, says, that he is guilty of nothing which would tend to the contempt of the Lord King or Lord Warden, and asks that enquiry may be made. But he knew and confesses that when a certain Michael Baker, for various crimes committed against the Lord King himself, was detained in the prison of Sandwich, and had been ordered by the aforesaid Warden to be kept in prison without delivery made, since this was done to the prejudice of the Lord King, as was said, he liberated the said Michael against the aforesaid pro hibition, and for that placed himself at the mercy of the Lord, etc., and with respect to the other charges he is not guilty and asks that enquiry may be made. A day is therefore assigned him at the Church of Sureties, St. James at Dover on the Thursday next before the Feast of St. George.
His mainpernors being Nicholas Eppeloun, Peter Reade, Arnold Brown, Robert de Caustone.
John Pirot presents a bill against the Mayor of the town of Sandwich in a plea of trespass, as appears in the said bill of the aforesaid John : and the said Mayor appears and says he is prepared to answer to the said John howsoever, etc. And as he asserts that it was committed within the Liberty of the said town of Sandwich by the Mayor of the same, a day is therefore assigned to the parties that they may be before the Warden or his Lieutenant at the Church of Saint James of Dover on the Thursday next before the Feast of Saint George the Martyr next ensuing, etc., to receive what by justice is due.
Nicholas Espeloun, Mayor of the town of Sandwich, com- plains of Henry Wardiew in a suit of tresspass, alleging that the said Henry levied a certain distress within the Liberty of the Port of Sandwich, for rent and services pertaining to the said Henry outside [that Liberty] contrary to the Charters of the liberties of the Cinque Ports to the damage of ^20, and also in contempt of the Warden of the Cinque Ports for which, according the Charters of their liberties hitherto observed, he is bound to pay to the said Warden £10 : And the foresaid Henry, present in Court, attached upon the unjudged premises, asks that a day and place may be given him to answer the aforesaid : Therefore a day is given to the parties at the Church of Saint James of Dover on the Thursday next before the Feast of Saint George the Martyr next ensuing, to answer the premisses.
The mainpernors of Henry Wardiew being John Pirot, Stephen de Orlavestone.
Stephen de Orlavestone again* complains of John Love rike, lately Mayor of the town of Sandwich and also of the Jurats of the same town, in a suit for false judgment in a certain suit pending between, etc., and found as sureties for prosecution Stephen de Orlavestone (and) Richard Aleyn : Whereupon it was ordered to the Mayor and Bailiff of Sandwich that they should have here the record and process of the said suit, with all things concerning it under their seals, and the seals of the four legal men who were concerned in that record, etc. : And the Mayor and the Bailiff of Sandwich come and return their mandate in this form. The tenour and process in this mandate appear in the schedule sewn to this mandate, etc.
* Alias is a second or further writ which was issued after a first writ had expired without effect.
(April 23, 1358).
Pleas Held at the Church of Saint James of Dover on the Thursday next before the Feast of Saint George the Martyr, before the Lieutenant, etc., in the year, etc.
Whether he arrested a certain ship of Dover at Calais contrary to the liberties and customs of the Cinque Ports. It was found by this enquiry in Dover to which John Girold submitted himself, viz., on the oath of Thomas Coumbe, Thomas Hanecokc, Peter Cocchere, Peter de Petham, John Denis, Henry Marshal, Simon Cobbe, Thomas Swinefeld, John Baker, William Trippe, John Hunte, and William Lion, who say upon their oath that John Girold did arrest a certain ship of Richard Archer of Dover at Calais against the liberties and customs of the Cinque Ports, and whereas it was proved by several Mayors, Bailiffs, and Barons of the ports aforesaid present in Court, that he by right was bound to pay £10 to the Warden of the Cinque Ports, nor was the said John able to deny it any longer, it was therefore decreed that the said John pay for that deed to the Warden of the Cinque Ports £10; and that the said John should be fined for the contempt aforesaid, which is respited.
The sureties of the said John for the payment of the £10 aforesaid to the Warden being Peter Reade, Thomas Monin, Nicholas at Halle.
John Pirot, complainant, opposes himself against the Mayor of the town of Sandwich in a plea of trespass: in respect whereof he complains, that as the said John holds several tenements pertaining to his Manor of Ringeltone by service of Bedelwicke, and at his Court held on the Wednesday next after the Feast of Saint Michael in the 31st year, a certain Giles Sowere, a tenant of the said John, had been elected as bedel for certain lands which the said Giles holds from him in his said manor ; for which service the said Giles was distrained, in which distraint the Mayor of the town of Sandwich on the day and year above mentioned, took a certain horse of the said John in the town of Sandwich, and detained it unjustly and without any reasonable cause, and on that account he commenced proceedings, etc, ; and the Mayor aforesaid, having his day given him here at the last Court of Shepway, comes in person and says, that at the plea of a party, to wit, of the said Giles beginning a suit against the said John and finding a surety for prosecuting the suit, and thus, a process having been held on this matter, he levied a distraint on the said John, bound to answer as was lawful and not otherwise, etc. ; he therefore seeks that this may be proved howsoever the Court shall order, etc. : It is therefore ordered, etc., to cause to come twelve men of the environs of Sandwich who neither, etc. ; that they be here before the Warden or his Lieutenant on the Thursday next after the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross next ensuing, etc., for the better discovering the truth of the premisses.
And whether it was from his own fault and not otherwise, etc.
Nicholas Eppeloun, Mayor of the town ot Sandwich, complainant, opposes himself against Henry Wardiew in a plea of trespass, etc., in respect whereof he complains that on the day and year above mentioned on the Thursday next after the Feast of Saint Michael in the 29th year, within the Port of Sandwich, within the liberty of the Cinque Ports, he levied a certain distraint for certain rents and services pertaining to the said Henry without the liberty contrary to the Charters and liberties of the Barons of the Ports aforesaid, confirmed by the King and his predecessors, and hitherto enjoyed time out of mind, including that, if any one should dare to attempt anything against the said liberties, he should be bound to pay j^io sterling to the Warden of the Cinque Ports, which distraint, as is premitted, he levied unjustly against the liberties aforesaid to the hurt of the Mayor of the said Port ^lo, and in grave contempt of the Lord King and the Warden of the Cinque Ports, etc. ; and the aforesaid Henry, coming and defending, answers and says that he levied no distraint within its Liberty, and asks that it may be enquired into. It is therefore ordered . . .
A writ of the Lord King was directed to the Warden of the Cinque Pcrts containing the following, —
Edward, etc. IV e command that you., without delay, cause to he carried out the execution of a judgment recently given in our Court of Dover in a suit which was lately had in the said Court before Bartholomew de Burghesh^ lately Constable of the Castky and Warden of the said Ports, without our writ, between Godescalc Bredenelite, merchant of Germany, and the Mayor and Bailiff of the town of Winchelsea, concerning the chattels of the said Godescalc, seized and detained unjustly as was said. Witness, etc., the loth day of April, etc., in the i^md year, etc.
In virtue of which writ it was commanded to the Mayor and Bailiff of Winchelsea that they should cause to know* Valentine of Dover, Mayor of the said town at the time of the seizure of the said goods, and Vincent Finch, then Bailiff of the town aforesaid ; and they return their mandate in this form, — " We caused to know Vincent Finch by John Geffi-ai and William de Yorke ; Valentine of Dover is dead." The said Vincent, present in Court, asks that the record and process of the said recovery be read, which being read the said Vincent is asked whether for himself he has, or knows, anything why the said chattels contained in the said record, ought not to l)e made up from his goods and chattels according to the form of the said writ for the use of the said Godescalc ; and the aforesaid Vincent says that, by the writ of the Lord King, and by the mandate of the Lord Constable issued on that behalf, it is alleged that the then Mayor of the town of Wynchelsea and the Bailiff" of the said town should answer upon the premisses, and by the return of the mandate to the said Warden, it appears that Valentine of Dover, then Mayor of the said town, is dead, and he does not know what he, without the executors of the said Valentine, ought to answer ; and as the Court wishes to be informed thereon, a day is given for the parties, on the Thursday next after [the Feast] of the Invention of the Holy Cross next ensuing ; and the aforesaid Godescalc places in his place Henry Glyant, merchant of Germany, and Robert de Caustone, conjointly and separately ; and the aforesaid Vincent places in his place Robert de Penne in the plea aforesaid.
* Scire faciat, a judicial writ requiring the person against whom it is brought to show cause.
A writ of the Lord King was directed to the Warden of the Cinque Ports containing the following, —
Edward, etc. We have received the plaint of John at Sea^ merchant of Genoa, and Peter John, merchant of Florence, and their partners, containing, etc., as appears in that writ :
And later the said John and Peter oppose themselves, etc., as by a certain schedule appears, etc. ; and the parties have a day, on the Thursday after the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross next ensuing, etc.
A writ of the Lord King was issued for the Prior of Saint Martin's of Dover in these words, — Edward, etc. : It was therefore ordered to the Mayor and Bailiff of Dover that they cause to come twelve good and legal men, etc., that they may be before the Warden or his Lieutenant at the Church of Saint James, to enquire into all and singular contained in the said writ on such a day, etc.
Pleas held in the Church of Saint James at Dover, on the Thursday next after the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, in the Year 32, etc. (May 10).
John atte Sea, merchant of Genoa, and Peter John, mer chant of Florence, and their partners, who entered a bill against the Mayor, Bailiff", and Community of the town of Sandwich, are not present ; therefore they and their sureties, viz., Robert Linham and John Geffrai are amerced.
It was commanded to the Bailiff^ and Mayor of Sandwich that they should cause to come twelve good and legal men to serve here in a certain jury between John Pirot, complainant, and the Mayor of the town of Sandwich, de fendant, in a plea for trespass, etc. : who thus answer that that mandate came so late that they had not been aWe to fulfill it ; therefore it was ordered let it be later, etc.
It was ordered to the Bailiff^ and Barons of Sandwich that they should cause twelve good and legal men to serve here on a certain jury between the Mayor of the town of Sandwich, complainant, and Henry Wardien, defendant, in a plea for trespass, etc. : who thus answer that that mandate came to them so late that they had not been able to fulfil it, etc. : therefore it was ordered let it be later, etc.
A like return for the Mayor and Bailiff of Dover for the Inquisition touching the Mayor of Dover, it is therefore ordered let it be later, etc.
A day was given to Vincent Finch, Bailiff of Winchelsea, upon a certain exception, as is premised in the Court preceding, of the execution of a certain judgment against Valentine de Dover, lately Mayor of the town of Winchel- sea, and the said Vincent, then Bailiff" there, by Bartholomew de Burghersh, then Warden of the Cinque Ports, returned at the suit of Godescalke Bredenelet — until the Friday next after the Feast of the Holy Trinity.
It was ordered as otherwise to all the Mayors, Bailiffs, and Barons of the Cinque Ports, that they should have by the said Friday, in writing, what goods and chattels and how much they had seized for Skomerfare at the time when the said Warden obtained his Bailiewick, whereof a certain part by right ought to belong to the said Warden.
Pleas held in the Church of Saint James in Dover, on the Friday next after the Feast of the Holy Trinity. (June I).
The Mayors, Bailiff's and Barons of the Cinque Ports present a writ of the Lord King in these words, — Edward^ by the Grace of God, etc. : which writ having been read, and all the complaining parties having been called to advise upon the said writ — a day was given to all parties, complainants and defendants, to wit the Tuesday next after the Feast of the Translation of Saint Thomas the Martyr : in the interim the Council of the Lord King, to be interviewed.
Henry Wardieu places in his place John Salmon of West cliff'e versus the Mayor of the town of Sandwich instead of the mainpernor beifore had.
Edward, etc.
Inquisition held by virtue of a writ of the Lord King above in the year, etc., etc., concerning divers customs and tolls.