By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 27 
been for the most part obliterated, yet in the buttresses on the 
south side of the building, and in the outlines of the old windows 
in the Chancel, and also in one part of the south wall of the Nave, 
(though the last has long since blocked up with masonry,) you can 
detect sufficient indications of the probable age of the Church. 
And yet the few glimpses that we have been able to gain of the 
state of Bradford in these early days, do not disclose a condition of 
much peace and security. In the time of Richard I. (about a.p. 
1190), we find the Hundred of Bradford “in misericordié”’ as it is 
was termed,—that is, placed at the mercy of the king and liable to 
a heavy ‘amerciament,”! or fine, in consequence of the murder of a 
woman named Eva within their boundaries. To escape the penalty 
_ they were obliged to put in proof of Engleceria,’ that is, evidence 
that the party slain was of English and not foreign descent. This 
was in pursuance of a law enacted originally by Canute, in order to 
put a stop to the frequent murders of the Danes, the purport of 
which was, that if an Englishman killed a Dane, he should be tried 
for the murder, or, if he escaped, the town or hundred where the 
deed was committed should be amerced sixty-six marks to the 
king. In the present instance, a woman named Agatha was 
charged with the murder by the father and mother of the deceased 
woman, and imprisoned at Sarum. Thence she subsequently esca- 
ped with other prisoners, the “ Earl John” having “ broken open 
the prison” and so liberated the captives.’ 
1Amerciament, (from the French mere?) signifies the pecuniary punishment 
of an offender against the king or other lord in his court, that is found to be 
in misericordid i.e. to have offended, and to stand at the mercy of the king or 
lord. Jacob’s ‘Law Dictionary.’ In the records of Court Leet, any one fined 
for any offence, is said to be ‘in mercy’ to the amount of the penalty inflicted. 
2 Engleceria Angl. Englecery or Engleshire;—an old word, signifying the 
being an Englishman. Where any person was murdered he was adjudged to be 
Franciygena, that is a foreigner, unless it was proved otherwise. The manner of 
proving the person killed to be an Englishman, was by two witnesses, who knew 
the father and mother, before the coroner. By reason of the great abuses and 
trouble that afterwards grew by it, this Englecery was taken away by Stat. 14 
Edward ILI., s. 1.¢. 4. Jacob’s ‘ Law Dictionary.’ 
* Abbreviatio Placitorum. ‘‘ Hundred de Bradeford in misericordid., In 
villa de Bradeford fuit quedam femina occisa Eva nomine et Agatha fuit 
capta per appellum matris et patris mortue et inearcerata apud Sarum, Et 
quando Comes Johannes fregit gaolam tunc evasit cum aliis prisonibus et nun- 
