SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



On another occasion thieves came to a field belonging to the priory, and drove 

 the almoner's sheep towards Luton ; but the prior's servant and the towns- 

 men took two of the thieves, who were tried and hanged next day. At 

 a gaol delivery in 1275 five thieves were hanged; a sixth turned king's 

 evidence, and on his evidence thirteen of his associates were hanged. 

 One man accused of murder was discharged by the jury, and his accuser 

 imprisoned. At the gaol delivery in 1285 two men were hanged for 

 murdering one of the queen's merchants, and two robbers were ordered 

 to fight a duel before the judges at the end of West Street. The challenger 

 got the better, and the other was hanged ; but the challenger was re- 

 imprisoned for challenging out of the liberty. At the gaol delivery three 

 years later there was another judicial duel between two robbers ; the 

 defendant was defeated, and the other was deported, having appealed to 

 foreign jurisdiction. An incident in 1295 is illustrative of the manners of 

 the time. Two thieves escaped from the prior's gaol, presumably through 

 the negligence of the prior's gaoler, who fled to the church as guilty, and 

 remained there three weeks, after which he was restored to his office. That 

 the fault was not wholly the -gaoler's may be inferred from the chronicler's 

 statement that ' we rebuilt the gaol from the foundation.' 



A disturbance in 1264 — on the day of the battle of Lewes — may be 

 taken to illustrate the way in which the political disorders of the time 

 affected the safety of the people. More than twenty armed men, horse and 

 foot, made their appearance at Segenhoe (Ridgmont), and pillaged what 

 they could find there in houses belonging to the prior and to certain others. 

 The county was raised, and seventeen of the disturbers were taken to 

 Beaulieu ; but, says the Dunstable chronicler, they were rashly [temere) let 

 go by the prior of that place ! 



In an age of lawlessness it is not remarkable that those possessed of ' a little 

 brief authority ' made a bad use of it. We find sheriffs on the one hand 

 imprisoning men unjustly to extort money,"^ on the other hand letting 

 prisoners escape for a bribe."^ The coroner refuses to do his duty and hold 

 inquests unless paid a fee ; "^ the bailiffs of the hundreds, who formerly paid 

 20J. or 6s. 8^. for their office with its perquisites, are compelled to pay 

 5 or 6 marks, and can only recover that expenditure by robbery and the 

 oppression of those below them.^"' Sir Thomas de Swynford and his 

 falconers play havoc with the pigeons at Barton in 1355, in spite of the 

 reeve's protests.^"' At Cranfield in 1350 heavy bribes have to be given to 

 the officers of the household of the king, the queen, and the prince, and to 

 their servants, ' that they may spare the manor.' "" This was no needless 

 precaution, for in 1294 the markets of Dunstable and other places were 

 seriously injured by the depletion caused by the long stay of Prince Edward 

 at St. Albans and Langley ; 200 messes a day were not sufficient for his 

 kitchen, and he paid for nothing {non dato pretio, capiebat). His servants 

 seized all the provisions, including cheese and eggs, brought to market, and 

 even took them out of townsmen's houses, leaving no receipt. From the 

 bakers and brewers they took bread and beer, compelling those that had 

 none to bake and brew for them."^ 



"» Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), i, i. '°= Ibid. 3- "' Ibid. 2. "" Ibid. 4. 



"' Mins. Accts. bdle. 740, no. 4. "° Ibid. no. 15. '" >^»». Mo». (Rolls Ser.), iii, 392. 



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