218 
ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 
LETTBE VIII. 
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Our forefather^,,iii' this village were no doubt as busy and bustling, 
and as important, as ourselves : yet have their names and transactions 
been forgotten from century to century, and have sunk into oblivion ; 
nor hitS this happened only to the vulgar, but even to men remarkable 
and famous in their g. iteration. I was led into this train of thinking 
by finding m my vouchers that Sir Adam Gurdon was an inhabitant of 
Selborne. and a man of the first rank and property in the parish. By 
Sir Adam Gurdon I would be understood to mean that leading and 
accomplished malcontent in the Mountfort faction, who distinguished 
himself by his daring conduct in the reign of Henry III. The first 
that we hear o^ this person in my papers is, that with two others he 
was bailiff of Alton before the sixteenth of Henry III., viz., about 1231, 
and then not knighted. Who Gurdon was, and whence he came, does 
not appear : yet there is reason to suspect that he was originally a 
mere soldier of fortune, who had raised himself by marrying women of 
property. The name of Gurdon does not seem to be known in the 
south ; but there is a name so like it in an adjoining kingdom, and 
which belongs to two or three noble families, that it is probable this 
remarkable person was a North Briton ; and the more so, since the 
Christian name of Adam is a distinguished one to this day among the 
family of the Gordons. But, be this as it may. Sir Adam Gurdon has 
been noticed by all the writers of English history for his bold disposi- 
tion and disafi'ected spirit, in that he not only figured during the 
successful rebellion of Leicester, but kept up the war after the defeat 
and death of that baron, entrenching himself in the woods of Hamp- 
shire, towards the town of Farnham. After the battle of Evesham, in 
which Mountfort fell, in the year 1265, Gurdon might not think it safe 
to return to his house for fear of a surprise ; but cautiously fortified 
himself amidst the forests and woodlands with which he was so well 
acquainted. Prince Edward, desirous of putting an end to the troubles 
which had so long harassed the kingdom, pursued the arch-rebel into 
his fastnesses, attacked his camp, leaped oa the entrenchments, and, 
singling out Gurdon^ ran him down, wounded him, and took him 
prisoner.* 
There is not perhaps in all history a more remarkable instance of 
command of temper, and magnanimity, than this before us : that a 
young prince, in the moment of victory, when he had the fell adversary 
of the crown and royal family at his mercy, should be able to withhold 
his hand from that vengeance which the vanquished so well deserved. 
A cowardly disposition would have been blinded by resentment ; but 
this gallant heir-apparent saw at once a method of converting a most 
desperate foe into a lasting friend. He raised the fallen veteran from 
the ground, he pardoned him, he admitted him into his confidence, and 
introduced him to the queen, then lying at Guildford, that very 
* M. Paris, p. 675, and Triveti x4.nnale 
