RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



predecessors. The abbey paid dearly for this 



renewal of their charters and the grant of 



Michaell Fleming and his land ; but the price 



was not too high for the first explicit definition 



of its judicial rights.'' From the Fleming fief, 



as from its other Furness lands, the sheriff was to 



be excluded. The abbot's bailiff was conservator 



of the peace."* Before the end of the century 



custom had established complex immunities on 



the basis of these charters. In 1292 the justices 



at Lancaster heard an elaborate plea in answer 



to the writ of quo warranto}^ The abbot 



vindicated his right to the proceeds of assizes of 



bread and ale, to freedom from attending the 



courts of county and wapentake,"' to market and 



fair. He had rights of wreckage " and waif, 



could take cognizance of thieves and erect his 



gallows in Dalton. In two cases the claim of 



the abbot was not allowed. He was found to 



be liable to common fines and amercements ; 



and he was deprived of any control he had 



exercised in the sheriff's tourn. This had, 



according to the jurors, been first held in 1248,"* 



and as no sheriff entered Furness was held by 



the coroner. The coroners had apparently been 



somewhat lax in making records and accounts ; 



and this perhaps gave rise to the authority 



claimed as a right for the abbot's bailiff. Three 



years later the rights and proceeds of the tourn 



were handed over to Earl Edmund, and in 1336 



Earl Henry of Lancaster, with the royal assent, 



gave it formally to the abbey.'' The abbot now 



asserted that if he could hold a tourn, he could 



deal with cases of bloodshed. This privilege 



also was granted in 1344.^" A second obvious 



deduction from the right of sheriffs tourn was 



the grant of a local coroner. The royal officer 



was now so shorn of his powers, and the sands 



were so dangerous, that the local courts might 



be entrusted with the election of their own. So 



in 1377 Edward III consented to save many 



valuable lives by granting the right to appoint a 



coroner for the return of all royal writs. '^ A 



^ Lanes. Pipe R. 303-6, 309, 315-16; Cornier, 

 29, 122-9. Henry II also granted freedom from 

 tolls in certain Norman ports ; Vincent, Lanes. Lay 

 Subs. 1, 3 8 ». The abbot gave 400 marks for the 

 reneviral of the charters in 1 1 Hen. III. 



^ Coucher, 130; Chart. R. 11 Hen. Ill, pt. i, 

 m. 20 ; Pat. 1 1 Hen. Ill, m. 2. 



" Coucher, 13 1-7. 



^ Coucher, 127. The abbey was careful to obtain 

 freedom from suit for its lands outside Furness ; 

 Coucher B. Add. MS. 33244, fol. 100^. 



" Except in Aldingham. 



"^ Coucher, 137. This is a late date ; Pollock and 

 Maitland, Hist, of Engl. Law, \, 559. 



"' Coucher, 139, 143. The sheriff disregarded the 

 grant, and was ordered by the king to desist ; ibid. 1 64. 



^ Coucher, 141, 148. 



°' Close, 1 1 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 29 ; Coucher, 

 1 5 7-9. The petition of the abbey is in Rot. Pari. 

 \, 436. The number of deaths by drowning is so 



formal return to a writ for the election of a 

 coroner which is preserved °^ gives some idea 

 of the attendance at a full court of the 

 abbot. The lord of Kirkby was there, and the 

 descendants of the Bardseys, Boltons, Boyvills 

 and the rest who appear so often in the 

 early deeds of the abbey. Up to our own days 

 the lords of the manors of Dalton and Hawks- 

 head have preserved the old forms. ^' In quieter 

 times, indeed, suit at the abbey court was the 

 most burdensome part of the service paid by the 

 great tenants. The abbot was exempt from all 

 feudal dues, except in Aldingham and Ulvers- 

 ton,'* and did not press very hardly upon those 

 below him. At the same time the more power- 

 ful vassals often chafed against the constant 

 presence of a lord who never died, and disputes 

 between the abbey and its feudatories were 

 frequent. In Ulverston as early as 1224 

 William of Lancaster III maintained with 

 success his right to erect gallows in Ulverston 

 and to attend the superior court only by special 

 summons.'" In 1292 it was found that the 

 bailiffs of Ulverston and Aldingham could claim 

 a court for the trial of assizes of bread and ale ; 

 the lords of these manors also had control of 

 thieves. In 1320 John of Harrington acquired 

 freedom from all tolls for his men of the same 

 manors except in the abbey demesne ; John's 

 court, moreover, acquired jurisdiction over 

 offences which did not involve the shedding of 

 blood." Before Aldingham came to the Har- 

 ringtons it had been the subject of several 

 disputes as to the right of wardship between 

 the abbot and the families of Fleming and 

 Cancefield, who contested his claim to custody 

 on the ground that they did not hold by military 

 service. After two lawsuits the abbot's right was 

 in 1290 fully recognized." In public opinion at 



great that ' pile deust prendre chescun Cristien.' On 

 a similar plea the abbot asked for leave to appoint at- 

 torneys to answer vexatious pleas in Yorkshire (141 1); 

 Rot. Pari, iii, 657. The road over the sands was neces- 

 sary, but not without danger. For the subject in general 

 see Trans. Cumb. and JVestmld. Antij. Soc. vii, 15-16. 



" Coucher, 685 ; cf. p. 161. 



" Pal. Note Booh, iv, 13; Baines, Hist, of Lanes. 

 iv, 637, 703. 



" This was decided 30 Edw. Ill ; Coucher, 153-7; 

 cf. 2 1 7. Three years later a sumpter horse for the 

 king's wars was given, but it was not to be a pre- 

 cedent ; p. 176. In 21 Hen. Ill, Roger of Essex 

 took the abbey lands into his hands after the abbot's 

 death, but he was ordered to give them back in peace, 

 except the barony of the Flemings ; Close, 2 1 

 Hen. Ill, m. 1 5. In the borough of Lancaster the 

 abbot's men were exempted from payment of tallage, 

 33 Hen. Ill; Lanes. Inq. i, 176. When Duke 

 John's daughter was married the abbot paid the aid 

 for Aldingham and Ulverston ; Coucher, 224. 



'* Curia Regis R. 83, m. 18 <^. ; Coucher, 394. 



°' Coucher, 213, 386. 



" Coucher, 81, 464-72, 474, 483. But the abbey 

 gave ;^40o to William of Cancefield for a settlement. 



119 



