ought to give 12d. for marrying his daughter, and owed many other customs; and he and his fellows sought respite that they might have the opinion of Sir Robert de Lexinton whether this was a free tenement from which they know what the tenant ought to do and what not; and they could have no respite.
And the justices deny all this, and say that the jurors said nothing of the 12d.[145] And so it was awarded that the justices made a right judgment, and so they are quit thereof; and let the Prior be in mercy, and proceed further against Thomas if he will.[146]
[144] i.e. And after the king's last return from Brittany.
[145] 2d. in the text.
[146] On this case Bracton's comment runs: "Note the exception opposed that the complainant was a villein because he did villein services and customs, but fixed, and knew well what and how much. Answer, that though he did villein customs, he was free as to his body. And he did fixed customs and services, a thing which a villein holding villeinage cannot do."
22. Land Held by Charter Recovered from the Lord [Bracton's Note-Book, III, 622, No. 1814], 1227.
The assize comes to recognise if William de Sufford and Reynold de Sufford unjustly etc. disseised William the Tailor of his free tenement in Lodenes after the last, etc. And William comes and grants the assize, and Reynold comes not, and it is not known who he is, etc.
The jurors say that the father of the aforesaid William the Tailor was a villein of Roger, father of the aforesaid William de Sufford, and he held of him in villeinage all his life, and after his death Roger came and gave to William the Tailor a messuage and an acre and a rood of land to hold freely for a mark which William the Tailor gave to him, so that he should hold the land for 8d. a year and for foreign service, and so William the Tailor held the land and messuage the whole of Roger's life, and after his decease William the Tailor came to the aforesaid William de Sufford and to his mother and gave them 5s. to hold the land as he held it before, and so held it until William de Sufford unjustly disseised him. And so it is awarded that William the Tailor recover his seisin, etc.[147]
[147] On this case Bracton's comment runs: "Note that a villein's son recovered by assize of novel disseisin land which his father held in villeinage, because the villein's lord gave it to the son by charter, even without manumission."
23. The Manumission of a Villein [Ancient Deeds, A 10279], 1334.
Be it manifest to all by these presents that we, brother Robert, Abbot of Stoneleigh, and the convent of the same place, have granted for us and our successors that Geoffrey son of the late William Austyn of Wottonhull be free of his body with all his brood and his chattels hereafter for ever; so that neither we nor our successors shall be able to demand or claim anything in him or his brood or his chattels, but by these presents we are wholly excluded. In witness whereof we have put our seal to these presents. Given at Stonle on Monday next after the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary[148] in the eighth year of the reign of King Edward the third after the conquest.
[148] Monday after February 2.
24. Grant of a Bondman [Duchy of Lancaster, Misc. Bks., 8, f. 81 d.], 1358.
To all who shall see or hear this writing, Geoffrey, by divine permission Abbot of Selby, and the Convent of the same place, greeting in the Lord. Know ye that we, with the unanimous consent of out chapter, have given, granted and by this our present charter confirmed to John de Petreburgh John son of William de Stormesworth, our bondman, with all his brood and all his chattels, so that the aforesaid John with all his brood and all his chattels, as is aforesaid, remain henceforth for ever, in respect of us and our successors, free, at large, and quit of all bond of serfdom, so that neither we nor our successors nor any man in our name shall be able henceforth to demand, claim or have any right or claim or any action in the aforesaid John, his brood or his chattels, by reason of serfdom, villeinage or bondage. In witness whereof our common seal is appended to these presents. Given at Selby in our chapter-house on the 10th day of the month of June, A.D. 1358.
25. Imprisonment of a Gentleman Claimed as a Bondman [Patent Roll, 25 Henry VI, p. 2, m. 9], 1447.
The King to all to whom, etc., greeting. Know ye that whereas Humphrey, late duke of Gloucester, lately seised of the manor of Bowcombe in the Isle of Wight in the county of Southampton in his demesne as of fee or at least fee tail, lately, upon undue information given to him, claiming one John Whithorne of the county of Wiltshire, gentleman, to be his bondman belonging to him as it were to the manor aforesaid, caused the same John to be taken by his ministers and servants, and all the lands and tenements of the same John, to wit, 60 messuages, 6 tofts, one dovecote, 600 acres of land, 30 acres of meadow, 6 acres of pasture and 6s. 8d. of rent with the appurtenances in the city of Salisbury, Fisherton Anger, Middle Winterslow and West Winterslow, Woodmanton, Burchalk, Bulbridge, Ugford St. James, Wilton, Foulston, Barford St. Martin, Fonthill Gifford, Sharnton, Ashton Gifford, Babeton, Deptford, Wily, Alderbury and Avon, in the said county of Wilts, to be seized into his hands, and certain goods and chattels of the same John being at Wilton in the said county of Wilts likewise to be taken into his hands, and the same John to be brought to the same late duke's castle of Pembroke in Wales, where the same late duke imprisoned the same John and detained him there in prisons so dire, in a dungeon so obscure and dark, in such great hunger, misery of life, deprivation of food and clothes, and imposition on the same John of imprisonment, duress and divers other hardships and miseries, putting aside and abandoning all pity, for seven years and more, that the same John by occasion thereof has totally lost the sight of his eyes, miserably incurring bodily blindness for the term of his life and other incurable infirmities, as we have learned; which messuages, tofts, dovecote, land, meadow, pasture and rent, by and after the death of the aforesaid late duke, have descended to us as kinsman and heir of the same late duke: And now we, being credibly informed upon the truth of the matter in this behalf, have learned from trustworthy testimony that the aforesaid John has always been and is a freeman and of free condition, never infected with the taint of villeinage, and that all the premises, done and brought upon him so enormously and opprobriously as well in his person as in his tenements and goods and chattels aforesaid, as is aforesaid, were done and perpetrated unduly and unjustly of great malice and insatiable avarice against all conscience: We, duly weighing all and singular the premises, and wishing due reformation of such and so great damages, oppressions, injuries and grievances, to be made and had, as far as in us lies, of our especial grace and of our certain knowledge and mere motion and in true execution and due completion of justice, by the tenour of these presents have deemed fit to remove and in fact by these presents we have removed our hands from the messuages, tofts, dovecote, land, meadow, pasture and rent aforesaid, with the appurtenances and with knights' fees, advowsons of churches and other ecclesiastical benefices whatsoever, franchises, liberties and all other things pertaining or belonging to the same, and by these presents have restored the same John to and into those messuages … and by these presents we give and grant the same … with all and all manner of issues … from the time of the death of the said late duke forthcoming or received, to have and hold those messuages … to him, his heirs and assigns, of the chief lords of that fee by the services therefrom due and accustomed for ever, as freely, well, entirely, peaceably and quietly as the same John had held or occupied the messuages … before the seisin aforesaid made by the aforesaid late duke or his servants or ministers. … In
