8o A DERBYSHIRE BRAWL IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 



"John Strelley, of Derby; 



" Richard Cadman, of Hertyndon. 



" Sheriff : John Colclield. 



" Coroners : John Dunbaben, 



Thomas Bradshawe." 



There is no clue in the MS. to the lost history from whence 

 this story was rescued. It has the aspect of truth, and its 

 perusal excites reflections, in the legal mind especially. 



In the first place, it is singular that such an occurrence should 

 have been noticed at all. A crowner's quest must be held; 

 but why refer the case to the Criminal Sessions ? If all the 

 fights, personal or otherwise, which led to fatal results had 

 been .sent on for trial, the King's Justices would have been 

 the hardest-worked men in England. Quarrels of all kinds 

 were common ; all men went abroad armed, ready to slay or 

 be slain on the slightest provocation. The times were 

 troublous : it was on the eve of the Wars of the Roses, when 

 faction ran high, North arrayed against South, and the cham- 

 pions of the rival parties ready to close in the death grapple. 



Again, the verdict of the Jury strikes one as peculiar. The 

 evidence is clear and probable. A ride home, probably after 

 a convivial entertainment and much wine bibbing, an altercation 

 by the way ending in a personal encounter which terminated 

 fatally for the aggressor. One would have thought that the 

 Coroner's jury would have settled the matter at once on such 

 evidence. 



As far as the record shows, similar facts were adduced before 

 the King's Justices, and the verdict given was in accordance 

 with the evidence, were it not for the extraordinary rider added 

 by the jury, who found a verdict of " Not Guilty," but added 

 that, although they found Robert Eyre was guiltless of the 

 murder, one Peter Swordman was the guilty man. Of this 

 Peter Swordman there is not a word in the evidence. 



Robert Eyre was a member of a distinguished Derbyshire 

 family. He had fought at the battle of Agincourt under the 

 banners of his father, Nicholas Eyre, of Hope. He had 

 married Joan Padley, sole daughter and heiress of Robert de 



