A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



The leaders threatened to destroy the conventual buildings and the 

 granges of outlying ntianors of the abbey," and the house of the sub- 

 cellarer in the market place was pulled down by the mob.^ William 

 Grindecobbe and William Cadington incited the people to break into the 

 abbot's warrens, and on Saturday, i 5 June, crowds went out and tore down 

 the gates and palings of the warrens at Shropshire Lane, Sopwellbury, 

 Monewood and Faunton Wood." At the same time the abbot's prison was 

 broken open and ' a certain unknown man ' was beheaded, the only act of 

 bloodshed committed by the insurgents.*'' 



All this happened in the time of waiting. Nothing could be done 

 until the royal writ could be delivered to the abbot. Before midday, 

 however, Richard de Wallingford,*^ with William Berewick and J. Garlek, 

 bearing the king's flag," brought the writ to the abbot, the terms of which 

 left the abbot no alternative but to grant the demands of the villeins. He 

 surrendered the bonds given by the burgesses in 1332 and the archdeacon's 

 records, containing, perhaps, the suit against John the Marshal, all of which 

 were burnt at the beautiful Eleanor cross which stood in the market place. 

 In accordance with the king's letters, fresh charters were granted to the 

 townsmen. At this point, however, a strange demand was made. The 

 oldest men, those who could remember the troubles of 1327 and 1332, 

 maintained that there was an important charter of liberties of King OfFa,*^ 

 written on parchment in letters of blue and gold,** which was withheld by 

 the abbot. The monks denied the existence of the document, probably 

 well knowing that such a grant could not have been made, as St. Albans 

 town did not then exist. But the townspeople repeated their demand, 

 and to pacify them the abbot promised them a new charter in its place." 



In the meantime the crowd had attacked the abbey buildings. The 

 parlour in which the millstones seized in 1332 were used as a pavement"" 

 was wrecked, and the houses of some of the abbey officials obnoxious to the 

 townsmen were destroyed. *° 



The villeins procured flags as symbols of royal authority."" The king's 

 words at Mile End must have been known : ' You, my good people of Kent, 

 shall have one of my banners, and you also of Essex. . . . Suffialk and 

 Cambridge shall each have one ; and I pardon you all for what you have 

 hitherto done, but you must follow my banners, and now go home.' " 



Richard de Wallingford brought such a banner from London, and 

 Thomas Payntour, one ot the St. Albans villeins, painted a flag with the 

 royal arms and gave it to one John Dene to carry .'^ Under this royal flag 

 the villeins made proclamation that watches should be kept round the 

 abbey. They issued a further proclamation, possibly inspired by William 



'' Coram Rege R. 482, m. 27 ; 485, m. 33. 



'^" Walsingham, Hist. Angl. i, 470 ; Gesta Ahhatum, iii, 288-90. 



*i Walsingham, Gesta Abbatum, iii, 288-90. 



^2 Coram Rege R. 483, m. 18. Walsingham accuses the villeins of beheading others, but does not 

 sulstantiate his accusation {Hist. Angl. i, 471 ; Gesta Abbatum^ iii, 288, 304). 



^ Walsingham, Hist. Angl. i, 472. ^ Coram Rege R. 482, m. 26 d., 28. 



^ Walsingham, Gesta Abbatum, iii, 365. ^ Ibid. 292 ; Hist. Angl. i, 475. 



'" Walsingham, Gesta Abbatum, iii, 294, 370 ; Hist. Angl. i, 476-7. *8 gee above. 



8" Walsingham, Gesta Abbatum, iii, 292; Hist. AngL i, 475; Coram Rege R. 484, m. 18; 

 482, m. ;6, 28 ; 485, m. 23d., 33. 



^ See above. " Froissart, op. cit. 123. »2 Coram Rege R. 482, m. 26. 



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