A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



be enrolled in a tithing,'' the members of which were responsible for one 

 another's behaviour. These tithings, through their headborough or tithing- 

 man, presented offences in the manorial court ; and in the abbot of Ramsey's 

 manors there was a custom by which the villeins paid yearly a sum 

 amounting in all to about 20J., called ' Fylsting pound,' in return for which 

 any one accused of any of the minor offences dealt with in the manor court 

 might pay a fine of bd. and be discharged, or if he stood his trial and was 

 convicted should be fined i2d'." In other manors the assessment of the 

 fines was settled by ' taxatores ' duly elected for that purpose," and it was a 

 common cause of complaint that the more powerful stewards usurped this 

 privilege and assessed the fines at their own will, doing this moreover 

 . privately in their own rooms instead of in the court," which would appear 

 to have been usually held in the open air." It was customary for the men 

 of the vill to elect a constable whose duty it was to make arrests in cases of 

 bloodshed, felony, and other serious crimes ; " and when such cases, or suits 

 against freemen, had to be investigated, the manorial court was strengthened 

 by the attendance of free tenants.'* 



The number and ferocious nature of the crimes of violence recorded 

 during the latter half of the 13th century is very noticeable.'' In 1266 

 Henry Colburn of Barford going out one Sunday evening to get a mug of 

 ale did not return, and was found with seven knife wounds in his body and 

 four wounds from a pickaxe on his head and face.^*" At Honeydon in 

 Eaton, in 1267, a band of six thieves captured a boy belonging to the 

 village, and by threats and violence made him act as a decoy, his neighbours 

 recognizing his voice and opening their doors when he called to them. In 

 this way they got access to six houses, which they plundered, killing the 

 inhabitants, and in one case burning the house, before the boy escaped and 

 raised the alarm."^ Violence was met with violence, and the outlawed 

 felon was shown small mercy. So in 1271 when Hugh le Prest, an outlaw, 

 fled into a house at Little Staughton, he was pursued by the sheriffs of 

 Lincolnshire and Huntingdonshire with their men, who slew him and gave 

 his head to the men of the township.'"' So, too, in 1276, when the 

 hayward of Houghton fled to the church, acknowledged himself a thief, 

 and was ordered to leave the realm ; instead of taking the main road to the 

 port he turned aside, and was at once pursued and beheaded by the men of 

 Houghton.^"' 



When we examine the Dunstable Chronicle,"* we find a number of 

 entries which throw a further light upon the amount and character of crime 

 at the period. The king's justices itinerant often sat with the priors to try 

 for such offences as had been committed within the jurisdiction of the town. 

 On one occasion a man was hanged for some offence not stated, a woman 

 charged with larceny had fled, as also had a man charged with homicide. 



" Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), Beds, passim. 



" Ramsey Chartul. (Rolls Ser.), i, 441, 473, 486 ; ii, 22. 



»* Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com), i, 6. » Ibid. 5. 



°° Such seems to be the point of the complaint that the bailiffs of Weston amerced ' sub tegumento et in 

 camera irracionabiliter ' ; ibid. 6. 



" Ibid. 5. »« Ramsey Chartul. (Rolls Ser.), i, 43S, 460. 



" See ' Placita Corone ' and ' Gaol Delivery ' Rolls ; also Select Coroner^ Rolls (Selden Soc.) 1-38 

 ™ Ibid. 4. "' Ibid. 8, 9. '»' Ibid. 29. 



"" Ibid. 37. "" Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, sub annis. 



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