A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE 



December, David was executed at Shrewsbury in the following year, and 

 with them fell Welsh independence. 



In the rising of 1287 Staffordshire and Salop were ordered to array 500 

 footmen and no less than 2,000 sappers and wood-cutters 95 against the 

 Welsh, and it was during this campaign that Nicholas the Baron of Stafford 

 was killed by the walls of the castle of Drosselan falling on him. 96 



War in the Middle Ages was nearly always followed by demoralization 

 in civil life, so we are not surprised to find in 1286 grievous complaints of 

 many persons that many malefactors were overrunning the county and per- 

 petrating robberies, homicides, and other enormities. The sheriff was there- 

 fore ordered to bestir himself to preserve order, and among other things to 

 clear ' the passes' of the woods. 97 



In the famous expedition to Flanders in 1297, when Roger Bigod Earl of 

 Norfolk refused either to go or hang, Staffordshire tenants mustered in great 

 force, and the long Scottish wars having now commenced a fresh field was 

 open for their warlike energies. 



July 22, 1298, was the day of the battle of Falkirk, when Edward com- 

 pletely defeated William Wallace, and it was in this fight 'that the valiant Lord 

 Rafe Basset of Draiton ' said to the Bishop of Durham, who at the head of 

 the second division hesitated to attack, ' My lord bishop, you may go and say 

 mass,' and rushed himself upon the enemy, 98 dispersing the Scottish cavalry. 9 * 



But the stubborn Scots refused to recognize that they were beaten, and 

 year after year Edward continued his efforts, in which he was aided mainly 

 by levies from the more northern counties, Staffordshire performing its due 

 share of service. Thus in 1300 the commissioner of array for the county, 

 William de Stafford, was ordered to select 500 footmen and take them to 

 Berwick-on-Tweed. 



In 1301 writs were issued to all those tenants who held 40 in land, 

 and the return 100 gives 835 for England exclusive of Durham and Chester; 

 Staffordshire furnishing seventeen, 101 Salop eleven, and Devon making the best 

 show with seventy-seven. 



Besides these, a month earlier, John de Ferrers, Hugh le Despenser, 

 Geoffrey de Caumville, Ralph de Grendon, Edmund Baron Stafford, and 

 Theobald de Verdun, jun., were summoned. 108 



In 1306, the year when Scotland was offering a national resistance for 

 the first time, Ralph Basset and Roger de Mortimer were arrested by 

 the Sheriff of Staffordshire for leaving the king's army in Scotland without 

 leave, and all their lands taken from them. However, their punishment was 



91 Rymer, FoeJera (orig. ed.), ii, 345. * Coll. (Salt Arch. Soc.), viii, 14. 



97 Cat. of Close, 1279-88, p. 434. " 8 Coll. (Salt Arch. Soc.), viii, 20. 



99 But it was not until the king brought up the archers and the third division of horse that the day was 

 won. Fortescue, Hut. of the Army, \, 18. 



100 Coll. (Salt Arch. Soc.), viii, 22. 



101 The Staffordshire tenants holding 40 in land were John Doyley, Robert de Staundon, William de 

 Stafford, Hugh de Blunt, William de la More, Richard de Draycote, Geoffrey de Gresele, Robert de Knytele, 

 Robert de Tock, William Wyther, John Hamelyn, Ralph le Botiller, jun., Edmund de Somerville, Philip de 

 Chetwynde, John Fitz Philip, Richard de Vernun, Henry Mauveysyn. 



"" The following Staffordshire tenants holding ^40 in land were returned under other counties : John 

 de Longford and William de Montgomeri under Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire ; Roger Basset and Henry 

 de Erdington under Somerset and Dorset ; Robert de Stapleton, Roger de Morteyn, Walter de Aylesbury, 

 and Ralph de Grendon, under Warwickshire and Leicestershire ; Adam de Brimpton, Robert de Halughton, 

 and Walter Beisin under Salop ; John de Harecurt and Adam de Brimpton under Oxfordshire and Berkshire ; 

 John de Wasteneys under Lincolnshire. Coll. (Salt Arch. Soc.), viii, 23-5. 



2 3 



