ANCIENT DOCUMENTS RELATING TO TITHES IN THE PEAK. I31 
that matters came to a decided head was in the years 1250-1, 
when the monks of Lenton by force of arms seized on certain 
tithes of wool and lambs in the parish of Tideswell. The 
Chapter had ordered the flocks to be actually folded within the 
church itself (an older one than the present fabric) for safety, but 
the monks, not respecting the strained right of sanctuary, burst 
the doors, when a free fight ensued between the servants and 
tenants of the two parties, as well as between the regular and 
secular clergy. Many of the sheep and lambs were butchered 
under the horses’ hoofs or by the weapons of the combatants ; 
and the pollution of both church and churchyard rendered the 
suspension of all religious rites for some time obligatory, until the 
building and its precincts could be formally reconciled by the 
Bishop. The scandal had now assumed such large proportions 
that Bishop Weseham saw that in an appeal to Rome lay the only 
hope of reducing the quarrel, and himself recommended the 
adoption of this course. Pope Innocent IV. appointed, in the 
first instance, the Prior of Lande to act as his commissioner, but 
the Prior transferred his powers to the Master of the Schools at 
Lincoln ; on the failure of this commission the Pope transferred 
the hearing of the case to the Abbots of Burton and Rocester and 
the Prior of Kenilworth, but they, too, failed to effect a reconcilia- 
tion. The Archdeacon of S, Alban’s was next appointed by 
the Roman Court, and, though he obtained full evidence on 
oath, he was not able to put an end to the quarrel. The 
Pope thereupon appointed a fourth commission with extended 
powers, consisting of Walter, Warden of the Friars Minors 
. of Leicester, Adam, Archdeacon of Chester, and the Prior 
of the Friars Preachers of London; the last-named was, how- 
ever, excused from acting. A decision was at length arrived 
at by this fourth commission, and in 1252 they gave judgment in 
the church of S. Mary at Leicester, to the effect that the Priory 
should pay to the sacristan at Lichfield 100 marks as a fine (in 
addition to £60 already voluntarily paid to the Chapter as recom- 
pense for the damage)—that all the greater and lesser tithes of 
‘Tideswell belonged to the Dean and Chapter, excepting two-thirds 
