l66 EARLY BREADSALL CHARTERS. 



s " '^^ 



(z) ^Vnow ye present and future, that I Thomas Curzon, 

 lord of Breadsall, have given, granted, and by this my present 

 charter confirmed to Master Robert Mold (Rector of the Church 

 of Breadsall), John, the son of John the Reve of Breadsall, my 

 native, with all his following, begotten or to be begotten, together 

 with all his goods and chattels, etc. These being witnesses : 

 Henry Adderleye, William Curzon, chaplain, William le Marshall, 

 and others." 



The next is the deed of Manumission, dated the following 

 Sunday. 



(3) S'^^ all know by these presents, that I Robert Mold, 

 Rector of the Church at Breadsall, have manumitted and made 

 free John the son of John the Reve of Breadsall, my native, 

 with all his following, created or to be created, together with all 

 his goods and chattels, that neither I the said Robert Mold, 

 Rector of Breadsall, nor my heirs, nor any others in my name, 

 shall be able to exercise or demand any action or demand by 

 reason of villanage in the aforesaid John, or in his following, 

 begotten or to be begotten, or in his goods or chattels. In testi- 

 mony of which to this present charter I have affixed my seal. 

 Given at Breadsall on Sunday next after the Feast of All Saints' 

 in the 39th year of K. Edward the Third after the Conquest.' * 

 (November 8th, a.d. 1365.) 



The person here manumitted was the son of the Breadsall 

 Reve, a confidential servant, a steward of the Curzons, whose 

 duty it was to stand at his lord's table and perform the more 

 important offices and errands of his master. The youth must 

 have been a lad of much promise to have arrested the attention 

 and commanded the respect of the Rector, who having purchased 

 the thral, at once made him free. It would be interesting to 

 know the subsequent history of the young man, whether he 

 settled down at Breadsall as a free man, or whether, after 



* Fide Rymer's Fcedera X. 371, anno 5 H. VI. ; and XI. 56, anno 42, 

 H. VI. (a.d. 1444). 



