A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



to pay his service to the full. The representatives of the landed interest were 

 also forced to take up arms. Thus, in 1282, a writ was directed to the 

 sheriff of Nottingham, among others, ordering that, ' Since Lewelin son of 

 Griffin and his accomplices had destroyed the peace of the realm,' all those 

 who had more than 20 worth of land, and were not then with the king in 

 Wales, were ordered to serve or purchase exemption. 1 



The military system which the wars of Edward I had developed was 

 well tested in the reign of his son, when Edward II, estranged from his 

 barons by his zealous attachment to Piers Gaveston, was forced to rely mainly 

 on the militia in order to carry on the war with Scotland, which had been 

 his father's glory but was to be his own disgrace. In July, 1308, came a 

 commission for the levy of 500 footmen from the counties of Nottingham 

 and Derby, 3 followed in the October of the next year by a commission for 

 400." In 1311 a general order was sent to the sheriff of each county for the 

 provision of one foot soldier from each town for the hosting of the war 

 against the Scots,* and the sheriff of the counties was ordered to give 64*. for 

 sixteen days to Richard Daniel and Thomas Folejaumbe, who were to lead 

 the footmen of Nottingham and Derby to Roxburgh. 6 The levies of 1314 

 were evidently a longer time than usual in coming together, for in that year 

 an order was sent to the sheriffs of several counties, including Nottingham and 

 Derby, bidding them hasten in the gathering of the levies since Stirling was 

 in great danger.' During the next year Thomas de Crecy was commissioned 

 to choose sixty able footmen from the wapentake of Broxton, in Nottingham- 

 shire, and lead them to Scotland for service. He, however, seems to have 

 turned his office into a means of making money, since after the sixty men 

 had been raised to be led to Scotland, he received various gifts from them to 

 allow them to return home. An order to the sheriff to inquire into his 

 conduct and punish the offence was accordingly made in the December 

 of the same year. 7 The war still dragged on, since Edward refused all idea of 

 making peace with Robert Bruce, and year after year, in spite of the disease 

 and famine of 1315 and 1316, fresh demands for infantry were made from the 

 counties. Thus, in 1316, came a demand for 1,000 footmen from Notting- 

 ham and Derby, of whom 200 were to be woodcutters (/mgatores) ; in 

 1317, for 2,000 footmen, 200 of whom were to be slingers (fundatores).* 

 From the town of Nottingham forty footmen were demanded in the next year, 

 and ten from Newark. 9 These demands, like those from the other northern 

 counties, were distinctly heavy, and show how the king's policy was to make 

 the brunt of the war fall on the counties it most vitally affected. 



During the reign of Edward II several entries on the Patent Rolls give 

 a glimpse of town-life in Nottingham during the fourteenth century. There 

 seems to have been a general feud between town and castle, and John Segrave, 

 who was constable of the castle, was evidently on exceptionally bad terms 

 with the townsmen. The mayor who was elected for the year 1313 

 sided with the constable. Hence the townsmen banded themselves together, 

 slew the mayor and assaulted the royal officers and servants who were in 

 charge of the castle. They went further, and when the murderer of the 



1 Part. Writs. (Rec. Com.), i, 10. 



* Cal. of Pat. 1307-13, 82. ' Par/. Writs (Rec. Com.), ii, pt. 2, 383. 



4 Ibid. 408. "Ibid. 410. 'Ibid. 427. 



' Ibid. 460. " Ibid. " Ibid. 506. 



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