SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



was a night walker, and assaulted one of the watchmen. 114 The jury at 

 Seaford were required to present ' smale theves that ys to say nygth walkers 

 and hoystroppers that drawe mens goods out of there howsyng at wendoe by 

 night,' 115 and at Elsted in 1403 John Fay was caught standing up against 

 John Wythard's house to hear what was said in secret there, the mischief 

 being all the greater because his wife was a gossip she was, indeed, fined 

 3J. ^d, for being a chatterbox (garulatrix) and disturber of the peace. 116 

 They were less tender of women's peccadilloes in those days, and at Seaford 

 during the sixteenth century presented ' goodwife Pupe for misusyng her 

 tunge to the hurt of hire naybors,' ' Cooper's wifFe for makinge discord 

 betwixt neibours ' and 'Goody Ranee' as a scold. 117 To be quite fair, the 

 women were not the only offenders with the tongue, and in 1480 several 

 men were fined at Steyning for chattering and disturbing the steward and all 

 the court. 118 



As a whole, no doubt, the Sussex peasantry were a quiet, peaceable race, 

 possessing a certain shrewd humour, which is displayed in many of the nick- 

 names which preceded hereditary surnames. Physical peculiarities originated 

 such names as Silverlokkes, Bullnekke, Vayrheye (Fairhair), Hoppeover- 

 humba (Hop o' my thumb, a dwarf), or Strongithmouth ; moral characteris- 

 tics were commemorated by Truelove, Dousamor (Sweetlove), Vayrname, or 

 less pleasantly by Slogard, le Trulle, or Kokkesbrayne ; fancied resemblances 

 caused their owners to be called Sparhawke, le Mous, or le Swan, and there 

 was no doubt plenty of point to such quaint names as Koc Halfeherring, 

 Castehering, Gotomebedd, Swetemelk, Godmefech, and Takepeni. 119 Still it 

 cannot be denied that quarrels were numerous and resort to the knife fre- 

 quent ; indeed, when a state of almost private warfare existed between the 

 earl of Warenne and Robert Aguillon, 120 and when Luke de Vyenne, lord of 

 Cudlow manor, was attacked on the high road and ducked in a horse pond 

 by John de Bohun and his servants, 121 it was not surprising that the lower 

 classes should be lawless. Occasionally resentment against undue interference 

 emboldened the peasants to defy their lord, and in 1280 when Simon de 

 Pierrepoint endeavoured to force Hildebrand Reynberd to serve as reeve at 

 Preston, he with fifty-three other villeins attacked Simon and his servants, set 

 fire to his house in three places, killed his falcon, and maltreated his palfrey, 

 and with drawn knives and axes compelled Simon to swear upon the Gospels 

 that he would not make exactions against their will, nor call them to account 

 for their insubordination. 123 At Pevensey also, in 1353, when the deputy 

 steward ordered the men to withdraw beyond the bar, Simon Porter threatened 

 him and bade him 'come outside and try it on' ('quod foras veniret et 

 temptaret'), and when the steward himself took his seat, with the portreeve 

 carrying his rod before him, Simon and his brother Roger defied him and 

 left the court pursued by the steward and his officers, being only captured 

 after a desperate fight, in which Simon and one of the steward's men were 

 severely wounded. 



123 



114 Ct. R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 206, No. 43. m Suss. Arch. Coll. vii, 94. 



116 Ct. R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 126, No. 1870. 



117 Suss. Arch. Coll. vii, 96, 103, 104. us Ct. R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 206, No. 43. 



119 These names all occur in Sussex subsidy lists and assize rolls of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 



110 Hund. R. (Rec. Corn.), ii, 209. '" Coram Rege R. 35, m. izJ. 



m Assize R. 924, m. 56 d. ; Coram Rege R. 62, m. 1 8 d. '" Assize R. 941, m. 10. 



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