A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



appears to have been done in Sussex so fully that little change is notice- 

 able in the position of the more prominent families. Amongst the 

 royalists to whom the lands of the rebels were at first granted may be 

 noted Imbert de Montreal, one of the gallant defenders of Pevensey, the 

 recipient of the lands of William de Goldingham/ and of Gervase, WilHam 

 and Robert de Bestenoure," who afterwards redeemed them by payment 



of ^lOO.' 



If the latter part of the reign of Henry III. was a period of 

 anarchy and illegality, the converse is true of his successor's reign. The 

 name of Edward I. is inseparably linked with the idea of law and order, 

 and almost his first act on returning from the Holy Land to take up the 

 reins of government in 1275 was to issue commissions and articles of 

 inquiry for the great inquest whose returns are known as the Hundred 

 Rolls.* The picture presented by these returns for the county of Sussex 

 is a dark one of oppression and extortion ; from the sheriff to the 

 catchpoll, from the earl to the bailiff of a petty manor, every officer 

 seems to have used his position and power to wring money from those 

 below him. But the remedy of such abuses was not the only, even if 

 it was the principal, reason for this inquest, which was also intended to 

 be an inquiry into the usurpation of royal rights and franchises by the 

 nobles and manorial lords. The result of this investigation is seen more 

 fully in the proceedings upon the writs ' de quo Warranto ' ° of 1278, 

 which throw so much light on the local jurisdiction of Sussex and other 

 counties. At the time that these writs were issued it is said to have 

 been the King's intention to seize into his own hands all franchises and 

 privileges exercised by prescription only and not by virtue of a royal 

 charter, regranting such as he might see fit for payment. This ex- 

 pedient for raising funds was, however, abandoned as a result of the 

 opposition it aroused. The story of Earl Warenne drawing his rusty 

 sword and vowing that as his ancestors had won their lands and privi- 

 leges therewith so would he defend them, is well known ; it is true 

 enough to the spirit of that and other noblemen, though its literal 

 accuracy may well be doubted ; if made, the boast was an idle one for 

 one whose name and lands had descended to him in the female line. 



In taking a brief survey of local jurisdiction and privilege in 

 Sussex at the end of the thirteenth century, we may first notice that of 

 the fifty-three returns made at this time twenty, including many of the 

 most comprehensive, relate to ecclesiastics, several of them being only 

 connected with the county by the possession of small holdings. Thus 

 the Abbot of Westminster at Parham, the Bishop of London at Lods- 

 worth, the Templars at Compton, and the Hospitallers at Midhurst, 

 recite all their well-known long lists of privileges. The Archbishop of 

 Canterbury's extensive holding, though not mentioned, enjoyed the same 



> He had acted as the younger Simon de Montfort's head bailiff of the district (Assize Roll, 1207). 

 ' Supplementary Close R. 3. 3 Close, 50 Hen. HI. m. lod. 



* Rotuli HundreioTum (Rec. Com.), ii. 201-19. 

 6 Rotuli de Quo Warranto (Rec. Com.), 749-63. 

 502 



