A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



service, carried hay and reaped grain, and paid mer- 

 chet for their daughters. 



In 1322 when a survey was made' the value set 

 on the pleas and perquisites of the Portmanmoot 

 was 10/., or with the view of frank-pledge, 23/.' 

 The free tenants, that is no doubt the burgesses, were 

 paying in rent j^ip 6/. od. (instead of the old 

 j^lSg/. 6d. of the charter), and twenty-five cus- 

 tomary tenants held a virgate each at a rental of \s. 

 each, paying ploughing services, which are particu- 

 larized. 



In 1329 the abbot was called to answer before the 

 king's justice by what warrant he claimed certain 

 rights. His replies set forth his powers.' He claimed 

 Peterborough and its members as one of the Peter- 

 borough 'eight hundreds,' Nassaburgh as another, 

 together with the profits of all their justice ; the 

 chattels of fugitives and felons ; the view of frank 

 pledge, the custody of the prison of Peterborough 

 till the prisoners were judged, and also the execution 

 of the judgements. The judging of prisoners, in the 

 king's pleas, belonged to the king's justices, who en- 

 tered the soke and held eyres at Peterborough. 



The courts of inferior jurisdiction were all presided 

 over by the abbot's deputies, and the judgements 

 given (except in the market-court) were the judge- 

 ments of the suitors of the court.' The abbot, acting 

 as sheriff, held his tourn for view of frank-pledge 

 twice a year ' for the borough of Peterborough ; his 

 steward presided, and here presentments were made 

 which formed part of the administration of justice. 

 The abbot himself was sometimes ' presented ' as a 

 disturber of the peace, but when he was fined he 

 paid his fine to himself. 



The view was held, in the 15th century at all 

 events, joindy with an annual court of the abbot, 

 xvhich was no doubt the full annual meeting of the 

 Portmanmoot, at which attendance was compulsory 

 and in which conveyances were made. The abbot's 

 accounts distinguish the profits of the two courts, 

 because in origin they were derived from two distinct 

 sources. The earliest of the rolls of the annual view, 

 of which many rolls have been preserved, is of 3 3 

 Edward III.* This shows the town divided into five 

 wards,' each with one or two constables and a varying 

 number of tithing men (nine in the larger wards), 

 who make the presentment. The names of the five 

 wards were Priestgate, Markestede, Hythegate (later 

 Highgate, the present Bridge Street), Westgate and 

 Howgate (later coupled with Bondgate, which in the 

 form ' Bungate ' ultimately gave its name to the 

 ward). The wards were the 'geats' or streets ; 

 Westgate is occasionally spoken of as a separate ' vill,' 

 but perhaps only because the wards did the work 

 which the law had allotted to the four ' vills ' nearest 

 to the scene of inquiry. 



At the view each ward ' presented ' the offences, 

 falling short of felony and punishable by fine, which 

 had taken place within its limits during the year, and 

 the fines were assessed by four ' affeerers,' two of 

 whom were appointed by the abbot's bailiff and two 

 by the town.* At the conclusion of each roll (except 



1 Sparke, p. iSo. 



2 Another account (ib. p. 182) puts the 

 pleas and perquisites of the Portmanmoot 

 at 2j. 6t/. ; the Michaelmas court and view 

 at 30J. i^. 



8 Quo Warr. R. (Rec. Com.), 551-2. 

 * In the Hundred Rolls, ii, 14, the 

 hundred of Nassaburgh reported in 1275 



the first) a list, more or less complete, is given of the 

 officers in each ward, appointed for the ensuing year, 

 the constables, tithingmen, beer testers, fish, flesh and 

 leather testers, surveyors of tanned hides and shoes, 

 surveyors of sewers, or of parts of the town which were 

 to be kept clear of dungheaps, and later of surveyors 

 of the marsh. The nature of the proceedings at the 

 election of officers is unexplained, but a roll of 

 1 1 Henrj' VII shows clearly that there was an election 

 of some kind. The average receipt from fines was 

 about £^. The officials of the wards, of the borough- 

 court, and of the monastery were all subject oc- 

 casionally to penalties. The bailiffs and ward officers 

 were fined for not carrying out the orders of the court, 

 for concealing offences and making unjust charges, 

 upon the accusation of a grand jury of twelve free- 

 holders, who checked the proceedings of the wards. 

 The officers of the monastery were presented repeatedly 

 for injury done to the town's sewerage, and to the 

 roll of Edward IV there is appended a valuable list of 

 presentments by the grand jurj', written on paper in 

 English, and expressed in much plainer terms than the 

 Latin summaries entered on the parchment roll." The 

 jurors explain that they do not present those who 

 brew not as brewers by way of regular trade : they 

 complain of the state of the sewer called Martin's 

 Bridge in Howgate, ' which fault is in my lord and 

 convent,' who received an endowment of land for the 

 purpose of this repair. They present and complain 

 of the almoner whose sewer is yearly presented and 

 never mended, ' but cast up a little to blind the 

 people.' They present and desire, by special com- 

 mand of the abbot and steward, that filth shall be 

 cleared away in certain places, and that all the 

 butchers take order from the abbot and steward to 

 clear the churchyard on Saturdays of the bones and 

 filth brought in by the butchers' dogs. A man in- 

 fected with leprosy (lepurschepe) is to be removed 

 by a day assigned by the steward. Constables are to 

 find out idlers, who are to be examined and driven 

 out of the town or kept till it may be known whether 

 they have goods whereby to live. They present the 

 grievous toll which the bailly takes of the men and 

 tenants of Peterborough in the town dwelling and 

 in the parish, of carts and carriages, ' the which we 

 think and desire, by the freedom that my lord (the 

 abbot) has, should be free and pardoned.' 



On the Quo Warranto Roll of 3 Edward III the 

 abbot had specified in detail the nature of his claim 

 to toll : a payment of id. from the seller of every 

 horse, and a proportionate fee for other merchandise ; 

 and a ' through-toll ' daily of zd. on every cartload 

 (reduced for the men of Leicester and Stamford), ^d. 

 on every boatload, id. on every tun of wine carried 

 over the bridge, or 2d. if it were not put down, ^d. on 

 every horseload, and ^d. on every man's pack, with 

 like charges on beasts driven through the town. The 

 abbot's accounts tell also of an ale-toll and ' bothilyelde,' 

 and a toll on salt carried through the Saltersgate and 

 of the feudal dues of relief and escheat. We find 

 no merchant-gild ; where burgesses and foreigners 

 were all alike subject to the abbot's toll there was 



that the bailiff of Peterborough, one 

 Robert Clerk, imprisoned people for the 

 sake of securing a fee of 4^/. and the 

 prisoner's best garment (tuperior vt-stisj as 

 the perquisite of the gaolkeeper, who was 

 his brother. 



' In the 1 5th century, once a year, at 

 Michaelmas. 



426 



' Earlier rolls may lie hidden among 

 the papers of the dean and chapter, which 

 are uncatalogued and unarranged. 



' The opening of the roll is illegible, 

 but it appears from the later rolls that it 

 opens with the presentment from Priest- 

 gate. 8 So the roll of i Edw. IV. 



* See Eng. Hist. Rev. xix, 526. 



