500 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



Abbot of the Abbey of Holmcoltram ' super Piscatione de Eden.' 

 Walter, the Bishop of Carlisle, was appointed to arbitrate upon 

 the ease. His Lordship accordingly heard the witnesses, and 

 gave his decision in the following words : 'Videlicit, quod decimse 

 piscium captorum in aqua de Edin, infra loca prsenominata, vel 

 alibi infra liraites parochise de Routheclif tractorum, ad terram 

 infra parochiam prsenominatam, nobis tanquam prsefatse ecclesise 

 rectoribus remanebunt ; ita tanien quod nos, pro bono pacis, 

 duos solidos argenti praefatis abbati et conventui annuatim ad 

 Pentecostum persolvemus impetuum.' But the interests of peace 

 will not always satisfy litigating parties. The monks had already 

 sent the story of their wrongs to Rome and obtained a Bull from 

 Pope Lucius III. which confirmed the rights of the Abbey and 

 forbade any one to levy toll upon their Salmon : ' Sive de pisca- 

 tionibus vestris, ubicunque fuerint in aquis salsis, vel fluminibus, 

 nullus a vobis decimas extorquere presumat.' 1 Throughout the 

 whole of Lakeland the religious houses exacted and clung 

 tenaciously to certain rights of fishery, which were confirmed, 

 as occasion required, by different sovereigns. For example, 

 Henry III. confirmed to the Abbot and monks of Kaldre their 

 claims to the fishery of Derwent and that of Egre in 1231. 

 They were allowed ' twenty salmon yearly at the feast of Saint 

 John the Baptist, and one net in Derwente between the bridge 

 and the sea.' 2 That the monks were not too saintly to in- 

 dulge in personal disputes about their fishing is evidenced 

 by the fact that in the reign of Henry VI. Thomas de Sevenhouse 

 was fined for throwing a monk from the bridge into the Calder 

 during the progress of an argument regarding their respective 

 rights. 3 On that occasion the monk seems to have had the best of 

 it on the whole, though we are not told whether he suffered any 

 disagreeable effects from his unexpected bath. But I suspect that 

 the religious communities were sometimes grasping. The Prior 

 of St. Bees was worsted at an assize held at Carlisle, 1278-79, 

 when the jurors present and the whole county complained 

 ' that the Prior of St. Bega has two engines called " cupe " for 



1 Dugdale, Monast., vol. v. p. 598. 



2 Documents relating to Scotland, vol. i. p. 207. 



3 Tram. Cumb. and West. Arch. Soc, vol. ix. p. 225. 



