A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE 



court he was mainprized (that is, set at liberty under bail) until the next eyre of the 

 justices. If offending for a second time, four pledges were held necessary ; if a third time, 

 eight pledges ; and for a fourth time, imprisonment until the eyre. 



If, however, a man was taken killing a deer or carrying it away which was called 

 being taken with the manner, or mainour, an overt sign such as blood on the hands or 

 clothes he could be attached at once by his body, and imprisoned until delivered on bail 

 by the king or the justice of the particular forest to appear at the next eyre. 



There was often a general or itinerant forester for the whole area, who had a higher 

 rate of pay, and as he was mounted was frequently called the riding forester. Sometimes 

 the crown appointed several such foresters, as did Edward I. for Peak forest at the beginning 

 of his reign, calling them ' forestarii equitii ' l and in the next century there is a record of 

 a crown appointment, cited below, of a chief forester at the very high wage of \id. a day. 

 Such an officer as this was at a later period known in various forests, as was the case in 

 Peak forest, under the name of Bow-bearer, from having the right to always carry a bow 

 personally or at the hands of his attendant. 



In several of the larger forests, and notably in Peak forest, there were hereditary 

 foresters of fee. In this case, when the question of their origin came up at forest pleas, 

 they always claimed to date back to the times of William Peverel. There were a certain 

 number, originally four, though afterwards subdivided, for each of the three great bailiwicks 

 of the Peak forest, who held certain bovates of land in serjeanty, discharging their obliga- 

 tions in one case by the hunting of wolves, and in the others by some amount of forest 

 supervision. In two of the three bailiwicks they had sworn grooms or servants under 

 them. This kind of forestership could be held by women and by clerks, but the duties had 

 then to be discharged by deputy. The foresters of fee were bound to attend all courts, even 

 the frequent swainmotes of their bailiwick, in person or by authorised sworn deputy. 



The position of the woodward of a forest as distinguished from a forester is often 

 misunderstood. The woodward, though primarily responsible for the actual timber or 

 underwood, as the name implies, was also, as a rule, a forester, that is he was responsible also 

 for the venison. To understand their position, it must be remembered that all the lands 

 within a king's forest were never entirely royal demesne. They were so to a greater extent 

 in Peak forest than in most other English forests, but even here there were various woods 

 which were private property save that they were subject to general forest jurisdiction, such 

 as the free ingress and egress of the king's game ; nor could the owners, without the king's 

 licence, do anything therein, such as clearing away timber for cultivation, building houses 

 or sheds, establishing forges, or burning charcoal that might be held to do damage or 

 cause annoyance to the deer. To look after their rights, such wood owners were allowed, 

 nay, were required to have officials termed woodwards, to guard against wood trespass ; 

 but these officials were also utilised by the forest officials to guard the king's venison, and 

 therefore they were not allowed to act save as sworn servants, taking oath to serve the 

 king in the matter of venison, and having power to attach and present. The symbol of 

 the woodward was a small hatchet or bill-hook. 



Agisters were the officers who were chiefly concerned with the collection of money 

 for the agistment or feeding of cattle and pigs in the demesne woods or lands of the 

 forest. Each forest had its own peculiarities. Horse-breeding establishments or stud farms 

 were an early institution in the Peak forest. Sheep were usually specially restricted. Goats 

 were at all times peculiarly disliked by deer and very rarely permitted. The encroachments 

 of sheep and cattle on the deer in the later history of this forest is of special interest. 



Rangers were officials that are not heard of till towards the end of the fourteenth 

 century ; their duties were originally confined to seeing that forest law was duly observed 

 in the outlands or purlieus of the forest. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries mention 

 is made of a ranger of the Hopedale section of this forest. 



The abundance of deer in the forest in Norman days seems to have been something 

 astonishing. Giraldus Cambrensis tells us that in his days (nsstris diebus) the number of the 

 deer was so great in the Peak district that they trampled both dogs and men to death in the 

 impetuosity of their flight. 1 



Every forest in England had certain liberties or grants assigned to neighbouring religious 

 houses, and in several cases there were abbeys or priories within the bounds. The latter was not 



1 The author of feudal Hist, of Derbyshire has mistranslated this as ' knightly foresters.' 

 8 Descriptio Kambriae, cap. viii. written about 1 1 84. 



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