POLITICAL HISTORY 



Geoffrey le Brun, Stephen le Blunt, and many others, whose names are set out 

 in the Crown Plea RoU,^ and among whom are no less than fifteen clergy 

 and chaplains, met with the result now to be described. 



They attacked the priory by the Ethelbert gate, against which they 

 placed fire and so burnt it down. The parish church of St. Ethelbert, which 

 then stood just within these gates, being probably held as a kind of outwork by 

 the defenders, was next taken and burnt, and, it is said, all its ornaments, books, 

 and images stolen.* The pope's bull says the cathedral, the belfry, dormitory, 

 refectory, infirmary, treasury, sacristy, guest chamber, and so on ; in fact, all 

 the place, ' except three or four buildings,' is said to have been burnt. The 

 London chronicler referring to the mischief done, says, ' what could be burnt 

 was reduced to ashes,' and that of the cathedral itself the woodwork only 

 suffered. We know that only thirteen of the defenders were slain, so that if 

 the '32,000' infuriated rioters of whom the chronicler speaks' were as 

 moderate in their arson as in their manslaughter, it is unlikely they did as 

 much mischief as has been said. As, moreover, only 173 of the assailants 

 could be identified, but little reliance can be placed on the accuracy of a 

 historian who estimates their numbers at 32,000. That the chief men of the 

 city condescended to plunder is not probable, but, like others who have 

 appealed to force, they probably lost control of their followers. Though they 

 may not have been able to prevent plundering they were certainly able to 

 prevent any massacre. They seem, when in possession, to have acted 

 deliberately. The bull * admits that regular sentence of death was passed on 

 some of those killed, and Cotton ^ goes further in saying that some were taken 

 out and executed and others imprisoned in the city, while John de Oxenedes ° 

 says that the thirty servants were taken out and brought before the city 

 tribunal and so condemned. 



Where the monks rallied and took refuge we cannot say, but it is clear 

 that they made a stand, for on the day after the assault the prior, William de 

 Brunham, himself slew a man Qohn Casmus) by striking him on the head 

 with a falchion. '^ 



The news of this disturbance soon came to the king, nor was he long in 

 acting on it. He sent Hugh Pecche, Geoffrey de Percy, and Ralph de 

 Bakepuz' to Norwich to take charge of the city, and ordered the sheriffs of 

 Norwich and Suffolk and the burgesses and commonalty of the city to assist 

 them in every way. On the same day he commanded the bailiffs of Colchester 

 to stop and detain the person and goods of any Norwich burgess who came 

 into their district ; he also sent letters patent to Walter Giffard,^ constable of 

 Norwich Castle, or to his sub-constable, apprising them of the appointment 

 of Pecche and the others, and commanding that they should be received into the 

 castle and aided in every way. Not long after he set out for Norfolk, via Bury 

 St. Edmunds, whence he sent letters patent, 6 September, to Walter Giffard,'" 

 stating that he was coming in person to Norwich to punish the offenders, 

 and ordering him to summon thither all knights and free tenants holding 



' Crown Plea Roll, 14 Edw. I, 6, m. 72. ' Barth. de Cotton, op. cit. (Rolls Ser.), 146. 



' John de Oxenedes, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 240 



* Barth. de Cotton, op. cit. (Rolls Ser.), 422. ' Ibid. 147. 



' Op cit. (Rolls Ser.), 241. 



' Norw. Coroner's Roll, 56 Hen. III. (This roll is now lost, vide 'Norf. Atitiq. Miscell. ii, 55). 



•Pat. 56 Hen. III. ^ Norf. Antiq. Miicell. W, li. '"Ibid. 



475 



