154 On the Self-Government of Small Manorial Communities 
hundred times the value of the timber destroyed by the unlucky 
Parson. The Parsons, indeed, figure very frequently in the Rolls; 
sometimes as accusers, more often as defendants. They were 
occasionally fined for oppressing the Parishoners by citations into 
the Keclesiastical Courts, for it was, as I have already stated, one 
of the ordinances of the Manor Court, most rigidly enforced, that 
no tenant, or resident, should sue or implead another tenant or 
resident within the manor, in any other Court, under a penalty of 
twenty shillings; and, of course, the church very unwillingly 
submitted to this rule. But, strange to say, the offence of which 
the Parsons appear to have been most frequently accused and con- 
victed, was that of poaching in the Lords’ park or preserves, or 
encouraging poachers to bring fish or game to them from thence. 
One entry, in the year 1392, records the conviction, for breaking 
the Lords’ park and warren, of a large party, headed by no less 
than four chaplains, viz., of Castle Combe, of Kington, of Netelton, 
and of Bath. The fines ranged in this instance, from 6s. 8d. to 
40s. each, and amounted in all, to the sum of £12. The Clerical 
appetite for sport, or perhaps for venison and game, must have 
been something checked by so severe an amerciament ! 
On the other hand, the Leet Court duly protected the person of 
the Parsons, who appear, not unfrequently, to have been in some 
danger from violent assaults, perhaps from some sinner to whom 
absolution was refused. On one occasion, in 1364, John le Tayllor 
was presented for “homesokene,’ by drawing a knife upon the 
Parson in the church. Again, in 1414, Richard Spenser was fined 
for assaulting the Rector, “quia levavit ictus super dictum Rectorem.” 
The fines were not large in these cases, considering the offence, 
being only three pence in one, and six pentce in the other. William 
Baate, however, three years later, was bound under a penalty of 
twenty pounds, to keep the peace towards the same Parson. And 
the church was occasionally conciliated by the imposition of fines 
upon transgressors, in the shape of candles, to be burnt upon its 
altars. 
The most frequent offences brought before the Court, were, as 
might be supposed, (since the same may be said, I fear, even in the 
