FOURTEENTH CENTURY LIFE IN BRIDPORT. 97 



Canterbury preserved at Somerset House date only from the year 

 1383, whilst those of the Northern Province are extant from six 

 years later, it will be seen that we can add one more item to our 

 " Praise o' Dosset," for the earliest of these Bridport wills is 

 dated 1268. 



It will be asked, how did these documents come to be located 

 in their present custody ? As every one knows, the Church was, 

 until last century, the keeper of all records testamentary, but in 

 this case there is evidence that, like the Court of Hustings in 

 London City, and like the Corporation of Bristol as shewn by 

 the " Great Orphan Book," the Bridport Borough Court 

 actually proved and recorded in their archives the wills not only 

 of townsmen, but also those of residents outside their own 

 jurisdiction. Witness the following endorsements : (A.D. 1349). 

 " This will was proved before Richard Laurencz and William 

 " Hyghcock Bailiffs of Brideport in full Court on Tuesday the 

 " feast of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the 23rd 

 "year of King Edward III. (1349)." Again in 1396 "proved 

 " before John Palmer and John Crouks bailiffs of Bridport in 

 "full court held the Monday next Michaelmas 21 Ric. II. In 

 " testimony of which the seals of the Bailiffs are affixed," &c. I 

 may add that many of these wills have also the seal of the 

 Official of Dorset on which is represented a double-headed eagle 

 displayed with a crescent between the heads ; the legend reads 

 " SIGILLUM OFFICIALITATIS DoRCETiE." A most perfect example 

 of the earliest extant seal of the borough figures on the will of 

 Sir William Curshey 1374. 



One word about the fourteenth Century itself by way of intro- 

 duction to my subject. It is the period in which our land 

 emerged from insular jealousies and racial rivalries into national 

 unity and European prominence. It is the Century of great 

 battles; Halidon Hill (1333), Sluys the Trafalgar of that 

 Period (1340), Crecjand Neville's Cross (1346), Poictiers (1356). 

 Norman and Saxon, Welshman and half-caste put aside 

 hereditary animosities, and fought shoulder to shoulder against 

 a common foe. It is the Century also in which the various races 



