English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages (XIVth Century)Jusserand, J. J. (Jean Jules)
History
English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages (XIVth Century)
Jusserand, J. J. (Jean Jules)
Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages -- England; England -- Social life and customs -- 1066-1485; Travel, Medieval
[209] He forbids those on guard to stay in the cemetery, unless there
is imminent danger of flight. The felon may have the “necessaries of
life” in the sanctuary.
[210] “Statutes of the Realm,” i. p. 250, text of uncertain date,
but probably of the reign of Edward II. All this was classified
as “Abuses” by the not very trustworthy author of the “Mirror for
Justices” (Andrew Horne?), early fourteenth century, ed. Whittaker
and Maitland, Selden Soc., 1895, p. 158. At all events it was the
law. According to “Fleta,” lib. i. cap. xxix, at the end of forty
days in sanctuary, if the malefactors have not abjured the kingdom,
food must be refused to them, and they will no longer be allowed to
emigrate. On the road to the port, according to the same, the felon
wore a garb which would cause him to be recognized, being “ungirt,
un-shod, bare-headed, in his bare shirt, as if he were to be hanged
on the gallows, having received a cross in his hands,” “discinctus et
discalceatus, capite discooperto, in pura tunica, tanquam in patibulo
suspendendus, accepta cruce in manibus.” “Fleta” stated that he must
try to cross, till he got into water, not up to the knees, but up to
the neck. On the “Abjuratio Regni,” see the capital article, with a
complete bibliography of the subject by André Réville, in the “Revue
Historique,” Sept. 1892.
[211] “The Sanctuaries and Sanctuary Seekers of Mediæval England,”
by the Rev. J. Charles Cox, quoting a coroner’s roll of the time of
Edward III. London, 1911, p. 28.
[212] Statute 2 Rich. II, stat. 2, chap. 3. These frauds had been
already complained of under Edward III. A petition of the Commons
in the parliament of 1376–77 (“Rolls of Parliament,” ii. p. 369),
declares that certain people, after having received money or
merchandise on loan, and having made a pretended gift of all their
property to friends, “flee to Westminster, St. Martin’s, or other
such privileged places, and lie there a long time, . . . so long that
the said creditors are only too pleased to take a small part of their
debt and release the rest.” Then the debtors return home, and their
friends give them back their property.
[213] See Appendix X, p. 435.
[214] A. J. Kempe, “Historical Notices of . . . St. Martin le Grand,”
London, 1825, p. 135.
[215] Statute 9 Ed. II, cap. 15.
[216] “Croniques de London,” Camden Society, 1884, p. 42.
[217] See Appendix X.
[218] “Croniques de London,” Camden Society, 1844, p. 52.
[219] “The History of King Richard the Thirde (unfinished), writen by
Master Thomas More, than one of the Under Sherriffs of London: about
the yeare of our Lorde, 1513,” “Workes,” London, 1557. Reprinted by
S. W. Singer, Chiswick, 1821, p. 55.
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