212 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND 



occasion of the Parliament being held at Lincoln in the early 

 part of 1316. The keeper was ordered to deliver to the sheriff 

 fifty leafless oaks in the wood of Bliorth, within the bounds 

 of Sherwood Forest, belonging to the archbishopric of York, 

 then void and in the king's hands, for the twofold object of 

 making charcoal and providing boards for dressers or tressle 

 tables ; also thirty oaks from the forest near the banks of the 

 Trent for firewood for the king's hall ; and thirty leafless oaks 

 for firewood for the king's chamber against the ensuing Parlia- 

 ment at Lincoln, to be felled and carried to Lincoln by the 

 sheriff, and there to be delivered by him to the clerk of the 

 king's scullery. 



The oaks of Sherwood Forest were always held in good 

 repute when choice timber was required. An order was made 

 by Edward II., when at Nottingham Castle on 28th December, 

 1324, that the sheriff of Nottingham was to have the best oak 

 or other timber out of the forest that might be selected by the 

 carpenters as most suitable for the construction of nine spring- 

 aids. The springald was a kind of catapult weapon for the 

 discharge of stones or great arrows ; these nine engines were 

 required as part of the armament for the expedition into the 

 duchy of Acquitaine. 



A large bundle of attachment court records from 1317 to 

 1324 are of interest as showing how often these minor forest 

 courts were at that period being held in Sherwood. They 

 were held at four different centres, namely, Edwinstowe, 

 Mansfield, Lindley, and Calverton. In the year 1317 twenty- 

 two of these courts were held, six each at Edwinstowe and 

 Mansfield, five at Lindley, and four at Calverton. Amongst 

 those presented for vert offences in 1318 were two of the local 

 secular clergy, namely, Nicholas de Nottingham, rector of Clip- 

 ston, for taking a load of branches, fined id., and Robert de 

 Kirkby, rector of Kirkby, who was fined 3^. for appropriating 

 a dry stub. William de Bevercote, one of the prebendaries of 

 Southwell, committed a more serious trespass (probably 

 venison) about this date, for which he was imprisoned at 

 Nottingham. In October, 1319, the king ordered his release 

 to twelve mainpernors, who were to produce him before the 

 justices at the next eyre. 



After an interval of nearly fifty years the forest pleas for 



