A DERBYSHIRE BRAWL IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 8 1 



Padley,* and through her he had become one of the largest 

 landowners in the Hope Valley. He rebuilt the church at 

 Hathersage, in which he and his wife lie buried. He died on 

 the 2oth of March, 1459, and his wife followed him to the 

 grave in 1463. The Woodroves or Woodruffes were a family 

 of some note at Hope, and no doubt allied to the Eyres, as 

 stated in the narrative. 



But who was Peter Swordman? He is described as a Welsh- 

 man, native of Brecknock, and labourer at Holme, but there 

 is nothing in the narrative to show that he was in Eyre's retinue, 

 or took any part in the fatal affray. Swordman is not a Welsh 

 name. Is it a generic title ? Was he Peter, a swordman in 

 Eyre's company ? Perhaps he had no existence at all — was 

 only a fictitious character, like the " John Doe " and " Richard 

 Roe " of later legal lore. 



A man had been killed in a brawl : someone must have 

 killed him. The Jury find Robert Eyre not guilty, but, to 

 satisfy the claims of justice, declare that Peter Swordman is 

 guilty, and a bench warrant is issued for his arrest. He was 

 only a labourer, a foreigner from Brecknock, one of the hated 

 Welsh. "Thereupon the said Robert was thereof quit, and 

 the said Peter Swordman was taken." So ends this veracious 

 chronicle. It would be interesting to know what became of 

 Peter Swordman. Perhaps, as Betsey Prig said of Mrs. 

 Harris : " I don't believe there's no sich a person." 



* Of this marriage the Author of The Old Halls, Manors and Families of 

 Derbyshire says. Vol. I., p. 184: — "She [Joan Padley] had plighted her 

 Troth with Robert Eyre, third son of Nicholas Eyre, lord of Highlow. Now 

 Sir Nicholas was under the ban of the Church for some dark deed (tradition 

 says it was murder), and Joan's father had forbidden the union of the young 

 people." Does not Mr. Kirke's story, possil)ly, throw light on the dark deed 

 of tradition ? — Ed, 



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