of money, or could be let so as to produce a considerable revenue, 

 as the old border service by which they had been held had be- 

 come a thing of the past, now that he was king of both England 

 and Scotland. In order to effect his purpose and yet not to 

 appear too prominently in the matter, the king in the twelfth year 

 of his reign granted to his son Charles, Prince of Wales, the 

 unfortunate Charles I., the whole of the crown manors in West- 

 morland, and then, in order to keep up a certain show of legality, 

 the Prince of Wales commenced proceedings in Chancery to have 

 it declared that the Westmorland customary estates belonged to 

 him under the king's grant, and that the claim which was set up 

 by the tenants of customary estates was bad, as the service in 

 respect of which it was claimed had become obsolete. The tenants 

 of the manor filed their answer in Chancery, setting forth their 

 claim ; and in several cases tenants were evicted without waiting 

 for the more tedious process of the law. 



The customary tenants of Westmorland were now in a sore 

 strait; they saw before them only two courses open, either of 

 which was most distasteful to them : they must either give up the 

 lands which they and their ancestors had held by honourable 

 service for centuries, or they must rebel against their sovereign ; 

 and on the 2nd of January, 1620, an event occurred memorable 

 in the history of this county. On that day, all the prominent 

 customary tenants of Westmorland assembled in the churchyard of 

 the little old church at Staveley, in order to discuss their position, 

 and to decide upon what course they should take. The meeting 

 was summoned by James Smith, high constable of the county, on 

 the pretence of viewing a bridge, and deciding as to its repair ; but 

 it was thoroughly understood by the tenants what this pretence 

 meant, and they mustered there from all parts of the county ; they 

 then and there passed a number of resolutions binding themselves 

 to the utmost of their power to defend their homes and their 

 properties from spoliation; but at that time they qualified the 

 resolution by agreeing to undertake such defence only so far as 

 they lawfully might. Samuel Knipe was chosen to be agent and 

 manager to the tenants in this matter, and it was decided to 



