Walter Besant - Medieval London (Vol. 1&2)

G. W. Wilson & Co.

SHRINE OF KING EDWARD II., GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL

The condition of London during the later years of Edward II. was miserable. There was no authority: the King deposed one Mayor and set up another; the crafts quarrelled and fought with each other; the popular sympathies were with Queen Isabella: we have seen how these sympathies ended with robbery and murder; the Black Friars who were thought to favour the King had to fly for their lives.

On the 15th of November 1326 the Queen sent the Bishop of Winchester into the City. He met the Aldermen at Guildhall, received the freedom of the City, swore to maintain its franchise and then presented a letter from the Queen restoring to the citizens the right of electing their Mayor—a right withheld since the Iter of 1321. They showed their sense of obligation by electing two citizens, named Richard de Betoyne and John Gisors, who had been active in assisting the escape of Mortimer from the Tower in 1322.

Mortimer himself, with the Archbishop of Canterbury and a large following, repaired to the Guildhall early in the year 1327, and there swore to maintain the liberties of the City. A few days later the unhappy Edward was brutally murdered.

Table of Contents

EDWARD III. (1312-1377)

From a print in the British Museum.

The letter from the Queen in November 1326; the visit of Mortimer in 1327 and his oath taken before the Mayor and Chamberlain; and the first acts of the new reign—not of the new King, who was not yet of age,—all together prove the importance of the City in the minds of the new rulers. For the first acts were the grants of three simultaneous charters.

The Liber Albus contains a brief synopsis of the contents of the first of these charters, which Maitland rightly calls golden. It is dated 6th March 1327:—

“That the citizens of London shall have their liberties according to the form of the Great Charter, etc.; and that impediments of usurpation upon them in that behalf made shall be repealed and annulled.

Also, that the Mayor of London for the time being shall be one of the Justiciars for (the delivery of) the Gaol of Newgate.

Also, that the citizens of London shall have Infangthef, and Outfangthef, and the chattels of all felons who shall be adjudged by them as such within the liberties of the City aforesaid.

Also, that whereas the citizens of London had been charged by the Sheriffwick of London and Middlesex in the sum of four hundred pounds into the Exchequer of his lordship the King, the said citizens shall in future have one hundred pounds thereof remitted.

Also, that the citizens of London may devise their tenements within the liberties as well in mortmain as in any other way.

That the Sheriffs of London, so often as it shall happen that they are amerced for any offence, shall be amerced according to the extent of such offence, in the same manner as the other Sheriffs of the realm.

Also, that for the escape of thieves the Sheriffs of London shall on no account be charged or amerced otherwise than other Sheriffs, on this side Trent; who for such escapes are amerced, it is said, in the sum of one hundred shillings.

Also, that the citizens of London shall not be charged otherwise than as of old they have been wont to be charged, for the custody of those who flee to churches for immunity, etc.

Also that the citizens of London may remove and seize all Kidels in the waters of Thames and Medewaie, and shall have the punishments therefore unto us pertaining.

Also, that foreign merchants coming into England shall sell their merchandise within forty days after their arrival, and shall lodge at the tables of the free hosts of the City.

Also, that neither the Steward or the Marshal nor the Clerk of the Market shall sit within the liberties of the City, or exercise any office there.

Also, that the Mayor for the time being shall exercise the office of Escheator within the City aforesaid.

Also, that the citizens of London shall not be compelled to go or to send to war beyond the City aforesaid.

Also, that the Constable of the Tower of London shall not make prises, by land or by water, of provisions or of any other things whatsoever.

Also, that the citizens of London shall have wardens of the number of their fellow-citizens to hold pleas in all good fairs of England, pleas of land and pleas of the Crown excepted.

Also, that the Sheriffs for the time being shall not be compelled to make oath at our Exchequer, except at the rendering of their accounts.

Also, that the citizens shall have all their liberties and free customs, as from of old they were wont to enjoy the same, notwithstanding that the said citizens at the Iter of Henry de Stantone and his associates, etc., were challenged as to the same.

Also, that one writ shall suffice in the Exchequer, and in every place of his lordship the King, for the allowance of their charters.

Also, that no summons, attachment, or execution shall be made within the liberties of the City by any officer of his lordship the King, with writ or without writ, but only by the officers of the said (City).

Also, that the Sheriffs of London shall have wholly the forfeitures of victuals, and of other articles and merchandise, according to the tenor of the Charters, etc.

Also, that the citizens of London in future shall at their Iters, be dealt with according to the same laws by which they were dealt with at the Iters holden in the times of their lordships John and Henry, late Kings of England, and other their progenitors.

Also, that nothing in the Iter aforesaid done or attempted against the liberties and free customs of the citizens, shall act to their prejudice or prevent them from being dealt with as from of old.

Also, that the citizens of London, in aids, grants, and contributions, shall be taxed and shall contribute with the commonalty of the realm, like men of the counties and not like men of the cities and boroughs; and that they shall be quit of all other tallages.

Also, that the liberties of the City of London shall not be taken into the hand of his lordship the King for any personal trespass or personal judgment of any officer of the said City; and that no Warden shall in the same on such pretext be appointed.

Also, that no officer of his lordship the King shall make any prise within the City aforesaid, or without, of the goods of citizens against their will, unless he shall immediately make due payment for the same.

Also, that no prise shall be made of the wines of the said citizens by any servant (of ourselves) or of our heirs, or of any other person, against their will; that is to say, (prisage) of one tun before the mast and of one tun behind the mast.

Also, that no officer or purveyor of the King or of his heirs shall trade, by himself or by others, within the said City or without, in anything as to which their offices are concerned.

Also, that the lands lying without the City of such citizens of London as have been, or shall hereafter be, officers of the City aforesaid, shall be held liable for keeping the said City harmless, etc., as to matters that concern their offices, in the same way as their tenements within the same City.

Also, that no market shall in future be held within seven miles in circuit of the City aforesaid.

Also, that all Inquisitions to be taken by the Justiciars and other officers of the King as to men of the said City shall be taken at Saint Martin’s le Grand, and not elsewhere, except inquisitions taken at Iters at the Tower and for delivery of the Gaol of Newgate.