314 ANTIQUITIES 



the following manner : " Edwardus, Dei gratia, &c. dilecto et 

 " fideli suo Ade Gurdon salutem ; " and again, " Custodi fo- 

 (( reste sue de Wolvemere" 



In the year 1293 a quarrel between the crews of an English 

 and a Norman ship, about some trifle, brought on by degrees 

 such serious consequences, that in 1295 a war broke out be- 

 tween the two nations. The French king, Philip the Hardy, 

 gained some advantages in Gascony ; and, not content with 

 those, threatened England with an invasion, and, by a sudden 

 attempt, took and burnt Dover. 



Upon this emergency Edward sent a writ to Gurdon, or- 

 dering him and four others to enlist three thousand soldiers in 

 the counties of Surrey, Dorset, and Wiltshire, able-bodied 

 men, " tarn sagittare quam balistare potentes:" and to see 

 that they were marched, by the feast of All Saints, to Win- 

 chelsea, there to be embarked aboard the king's transports. 



The occasion of this armament appears also from a sum- 

 mons to the bishop of Winchester to parliament, part of 

 which I shall transcribe on account of the insolent menace 

 which is said therein to have been denounced against the 

 English language :- " qualiter rex Franciw de terra nostra 

 " Gascon nos fraudulenter et cautelose decepit, earn nobis 

 " nequiter detinendo . . . vero predictis fraude et nequitia 

 " non contentus, ad expurgationem regni nostri classe max- 

 " ima et bellatorum copiosa multitudine congregatis, cum 

 " quibus regnum nostrum et regni ejusdem incolas hostiliter 

 "jam invasurus, linguam Anglicam, si concepte iniquitatis 

 " proposito detestabili potestas correspondeat, quod Deus 

 " avertat, omnino de terra delere proponit.^ Dated 30th Sep- 

 tember, in the year of king Edward's reign xxiii. 1 



The above are the last traces that I can discover of Gurdon *s 

 appearing and acting in public. The first notice that my 

 evidences give of him is, that, in 1232, being the 16th of 

 Henry III. he was the king's bailiff, with others, for the 

 town of Alton. Now, from 1232 to 1295 is a space of sixty- 

 three years ; a long period for one man to be employed in 



1 Reg. Wynton, Stratford, but query Stratford; for Stratford was not 

 bishop of Winton till 1323, near thirty years afterwards. 



