A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



oppressed them, who were free men, so that no one might have a hand-mill 

 in his house, but, as villeins do, they were forced to grind at the abbot's 

 mills. Proclamation was made against this talk as a ' slander against the 

 Abbot.' 



Of the country people imprisoned on the indictment, all seem to have 

 been pardoned. ** Even the manslaughter at Waltham Cross was forgiven." 

 The rebels at Langley were dealt with by the manorial court. Their villein 

 tenements were seized into the lord's hand in January 1383." But by the 

 next Whitsuntide they seem to have been restored.'' The chief rebels were 

 then heads of tithings, and later one or two held offices, like that of rent- 

 collector. 



In all this certain classes and individuals stand out. Grindecobbe is the 

 most vivid and the most interesting. Presumably he came of the burgess 

 and rebel family of this name." His brother was a cloth-dyer in London. 

 He doubtless had some education at the grammar school, and he is said to 

 have had kinsmen in the abbey, though he quarrelled and even came to blows 

 with the monks. He must have been a man of some property. He held a 

 house in Holywell Street, and another with a garden and dovecot in 'Eywode 

 Lane,' ^' worth 1 3/. 4^/. a year, and these his widow was allowed to hold 

 after his execution." His other possessions were a house and garden on 

 Holywell Hill, a cottage called Copped Hall and 2 acres of land,*" appa- 

 rently let for 7j." Grindecobbe evidently knew something of the earlier 

 revolts. But his organization was on a larger scale and his plans show 

 political ability. They are marked by his faith in class combination. 

 So far as our information goes, and it comes from his bitterest enemies, 

 Grindecobbe endeavoured to keep his followers within the law and had 

 the true instincts of a leader in his willingness to sacrifice himself for 

 his cause. 



Richard de Wallingford is only known by repute as the richest villein.'"' 

 Both these leaders may have learnt something from the ' old men ' more 

 valuable than the tale of OfFa. Benedict Spichfat was one of them, just 

 possibly the Benedict Spichfat of 1313.*^ Henry ' de Porta' was probably a 

 descendant of the fighting Henry de la Porte of 1274-5 ; Richard Bude and 

 William atte Halle were two other elders who stirred up the memory of the 

 charter." These men were the leaders, but the whole town from the 

 highest to the lowest was evidently alive with discontent. 



In the country there was the same readiness to rise at the call of the 

 town. The men who rebelled seem to have been tenants of standing and 

 substance. At King's Langley hardly one of those mentioned but was a 

 chief-pledge. John Marlere, a leader, held both free and villein lands." 

 Four years after the revolt John Carter set up a plea in the lord's court that 

 he was not of villein condition. The homage had a day to inquire, as it was 

 witnessed that Carter had acknowledged himself to be a villein on oath ; 

 the question was whether this was before a judge of record. The homage 



^ Coram Rege R. 4S4, m. 18 ; 485, m. 23 d. ^ Ibid. 



35 Ct. R. (Gen. Ser.), portf. 177, no. 47. 36 Ibid. " gee above, the rising of i j m 



^Ca/. Pat. liSS-gi, p. 22. '' Chan. Inq. p.m. 7 Ric. II, no. q^ 



*o Col. Pat. 1388-92, p. 22. 41 p,t. 7 Rj^ 11^ pj ii^ ^ \' 



« Walsmgham, Hist. Angl. 1, 472. « Walsingham, Gata Abbatum, iii, 36c 



" Il^'d- « See above. 



204 



