THE ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE 247 



had been the usage from time immemorial. This writ is 

 dated in the tenth year of the reign of Edward, viz., 1282. 



All the king's writs directed to Gurdon are addressed in 

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

 et fideli suo Ade Gurdon salutem ; " and again, "Custodi 

 foreste 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 between 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, 

 ordering 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 Winchelsea, there to be embarked aboard the 

 king's transports. 



The occasion of this armament appears also from a 

 summons 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 Francice de terra nostra 

 Gascon nos fraudulenter et cautelose decepit, earn nobis 



nequiter detinendo vero predictis fraude et 



nequitia non contentus, ad expugnationem regni nostri 

 classe maxima et bellatorum copiosa multitudine congre- 

 gatis, 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 September, 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 



1 Reg. Winton, Stratford, but query Stratford ; for Stratford was not bishop 

 of Winton till 1323, near thirty years afterwards. [G. W.] 



