A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



In 1330 there were considerable disturbances in the parish of 

 Alton, and the bishop promptly interfered in the interests of reverence 

 and order. From the long documents relative to this case it would 

 appear that the image of St. Lawrence l (the saint in whose honour the 

 church was dedicated) was moved from its position by the high altar 

 just before the annual parochial feast of 10 August. The bishop there- 

 fore ordered the official of the archdeaconry of Winchester to publish 

 at once in the church of Alton a monition of censure on the offenders, 

 warning them against any repetition of the offence. This action seems 

 to have been taken in consequence of the clergy striving to suppress the 

 grossly irreverent custom of holding a fair at this season in church or 

 churchyard, and other grave disorders which ensued. 8 On Sunday, 

 19 August, immediately after the octave of St. Lawrence, Bishop 

 Stratford, in all episcopal pomp, having with him the prior of St. 

 Swithun, the abbot of Hyde, the prior of Selborne, and the rural deans 

 of Alton and Basing, pronounced in the parish church of Alton solemn 

 excommunication against John de Aulton and John his son, John de 

 But, Nicholas Upchepyng, Alan Bat and many other ' satellites of 

 Satan ' whose names were unknown, for infringing the liberties of the 

 church by their gross and violent behaviour. This was followed by 

 an inhibition of all fairs or any sale of merchandise in the church or 

 churchyard of Alton, or in any church or churchyard throughout the 

 whole diocese of Winchester. This once prevalent custom had been 

 long ago stamped out in most English dioceses, though now and again 

 it sprung up anew in certain places at a much later date. It was 

 stringently forbidden in the time of King John throughout the Lincoln 

 diocese. On the death of Archbishop Meopham in 1333, Bishop Strat- 

 ford was translated to Canterbury. 



The unhappy and pitiable ending of the kingship of Edward II. is 

 the saddest dramatic episode in England's history during the fourteenth 

 century. In that scene Stratford's successor in the bishopric, Adam 

 Orlton, then Bishop of Hereford, played the most important part. The 

 commission appointed by parliament to depose the king consisted of 

 three bishops, two earls, four barons, two abbots and two justices, with 

 a certain number of citizens and burgesses. Of this commission Orlton 

 (the oldest by consecration of the three prelates) was appointed pro- 

 locutor. On 25 January, 1327, the commission arrived at Kenilworth, 

 where the king was a prisoner. Edward, unattended, in ordinary civil 

 dress, entered the chamber round which the silent commissioners were 

 placed. Orlton stepped forward to address him, and when the king 

 saw that their mouthpiece was his implacable enemy, his heart failed 

 him and he fell to the ground in a dead faint. The queen and her 

 paramour Mortimer showed their gratitude to him, whom Dean Hook 



1 The patronal image of a church was always placed in the chancel, usually on the north side of 

 the high altar. It is here expressed that the image had been removed a loco summi a/fans ubi de consuetu- 

 tfint approbate ene deberet. 



* Winton. Epis. Reg., Stratford, ff. 510, 52. 



30 



