A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



the coroner received orders to take security upon his goods and chattels. It 

 is but fair to point out that only the wealthiest peasants were chosen for the 

 extra burden.^ If a free peasant proposed to surrender the single holding he 

 was well able to work he was fined for ' disrespect to the lord.' " 



The worst sufferers, however, were the unfortunate serfs. Before the 

 Black Death they had generally lived a life differing in little save legal rights 

 from that of the free peasants. It is true that they held their land and all 

 their possessions at the will of the lord, but apparently it had been an easy 

 matter to obtain leave to absent themselves from their native village. All this 

 was changed after 1349. The steward diligently sought out every peasant 

 whose ancestry was in the least degree assailable, and forced him to throw him- 

 self on the jury to establish his free condition.'* If he could not the steward 

 committed to him one of the vacant holdings in his native village.* It did 

 not matter wfhere the serf was or how long he had been away. The jury of 

 each vill were asked for a list of the lord's neifs who belonged to the vill, and 

 the persons named were brought back by the coroner.^ Of course, the serfs, 

 already decimated by the plague, became alarmed at the prospect and took to 

 flight whenever they could. ° The steward thereupon sent round an order to 

 the vills that all wandering nativi should be arrested.'^ We read of the 

 ' hospicium ' of the bishop to which neifs were to be sent by the coroner.* 



Even the dry records of the halmote become thrilling in dealing with 

 the last tragedy of serfdom. At Boldon, William Short, a kinsman of the 

 Thomas Short already referred to, found the burden imposed upon him by 

 the coroner was too great. Aided by Thomas Short and others he took to 

 flight. He escaped, probably to Newcastle, the serf's Canada, but those who 

 ' aided and abetted him ' were made responsible for his land.' Sometimes, 

 as in the case of John Roumanger, a neif of Shadforth, friends came by night 

 with carts and carried off his scanty possessions — vi et armis as the rolls say. 

 John would be lucky if he escaped capture at South Sherburn, where he first 

 took refuge.'" All neifs were not friendless, and in one case the steward was 

 successfully defied for many years by two runaways, John Rede and Nicholas 

 Todd, who had made friends with the powerful lessee of the burg of Sunder- 

 land, Richard de Heworth. The neifs in question belonged to Bishop- 

 wearmouth, but when the slave-hunt began they disappeared. For some 

 time the authorities were baffled, but at last their uncle was coerced into saying 

 that they were hiding across the Wear in South wick, and William de Kirkeby, 

 the Chester coroner, was ordered to arrest them. Then began a game of hide 

 and seek. For several years Kirkeby and a fellow coroner of Easington 

 ward, John Boner, received repeated orders to arrest the neifs who flitted 

 about between Silksworth and Tunstall, until the steward threatened that 

 further delay should cost Boner his ofBce. The threat seems to have induced 

 Boner to appeal to Richard de Heworth for his good offices, as in June, 1357, 

 the two neifs appeared at Chester and took out licences as ' albanarii ' with 

 their protector as pledge. However, they were still unprofitable servants, tor 

 they were fined \^d. each a little later for not paying suit of court." 



' Dur. Curs. No. 12, fol. 138. "- Ibid. fol. 133. ' Ibid. fol. 59. ' Ibid. fol. Wt, d. 



» Ibid. fol. I33</. 136. ' Ibid. fol. 66, 123 a'. ' Ibid. fol. 69. 



» Ibid. fol. 1 34. ' Ibid. fol. 79 d. ■" Ibid. fol. 74. 



"Their story is to be gathered from the following entries : — Dur. Curs. No. 12, fol. 66a'. 104, 119, 148, 

 190, 230. 



220 



