A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE 



ruined. They therefore prayed that henceforth no Welshmen of pure blood, 

 except those in the retinue of the king or his nobles, should purchase any 

 lands in the said counties under pain of forfeiture. Their petition did not 

 mend matters, for shortly afterwards the same incursions are complained of. 



By the Great Revolt of 1381 Staffordshire, and the whole of the West 

 Midlands from Gloucestershire to Derbyshire, seem to have been practically 

 undisturbed. There was no more local disturbance than was common to all 

 counties of mediaeval England when village ruffianism was a normal 

 feature. 148 The figures returned by the collectors of the Poll Tax of 1381 

 give the number of people in the county over the age of fifteen as 15,993, 

 but the figures are not to be relied on, being in many cases obviously 

 manipulated. 1 *' 



Let us turn for a moment from the wars, lawlessness, and murders of 

 the time to the doings of men who were laying the foundation of better things. 

 In the Parliament of 1355 Newcastle under Lyme was first represented 

 by John de Blorton and Richard de Podmor ; the county sending Sir John 

 de Draycote and Walter Verdoun, while Stafford borough sent Adam 

 Rotour and William de Homeresleye ; Lichfield makes no appearance. 160 

 The like representation occurs from 1358 till 13701, when the borough of 

 Stafford drops out. 



To the Great Council, called at Winchester in June of the same year, 

 the county, Stafford borough, and Newcastle under Lyme sent one member 

 each as directed. 151 To the Parliament of January 1376-7 the county sent 

 Sir Nicolas de Stafford and Adam de Peshale ; Newcastle, Richard Buntable 

 and Thomas Thicknesse ; Stafford borough, Robert de Mersshe and Henry 

 Prest ; U2 but next year the county only was represented. For many years 

 after this Staffordshire was generally fully represented with the exception of 

 the borough of Lichfield. 



In 1 398, after the coup d'etat by which he overthrew the lords appellant, 

 we find Richard II at Lichfield, where he kept Christmas with due 

 solemnity, 163 and while there he issued a pardon to those Staffordshire men 

 who had supported the lords. 16 * In the next year he passed through Lich- 

 field on his way from Chester to London, practically a prisoner in the hands 

 of Henry of Lancaster, to deposition and death. 



At the commencement of the next reign Lichfield was again the scene 

 of important events. In July, 1402, upon hearing of Edmund Mortimer's 

 defeat by the Welsh, Henry IV ordered the sheriffs of twenty-one counties 

 to array and forward all their available forces to meet him at Lich- 

 field by 7 July, and a few days before that the Prince of Wales had gone 

 forward to Tutbury. From Wigmore southwards the defence of the 

 frontier was entrusted to the Earl of Stafford, and north of Wigmore to the 

 Earl of Arundel, who commanded the Staffordshire levies. However, these 

 elaborate preparations came to nought, the weather was exceptionally bad, 

 and the English host was driven from Wales without effecting anything. 



148 Oman, The Great Revolt of 1 381, p. 142. "* Ibid. App. ii. 



160 Par/. Accts. and Papers, Ixii (i), 158. 



141 One member of each constituency who had attended the previous Parliament was summoned, but 

 the member for Stafford borough must have been summoned for this Parliament only. 

 151 Par/. Acctt. and Papers, Ixii (l), 196. 



143 Trokelowe, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 224. IM Rymer, Foedera (orig. ed.), viii, 40. 



238 



