The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 1/2Griffiths, Arthur
History
The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 1/2
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
Richard le Forester, for attempting to defraud with a false garland or
metal chaplet for the head, was sentenced to stand in the pillory, and
afterwards to forswear the city for a year and a day. Traders convicted
of having blankets vamped in foreign parts with the hair of oxen and of
cows were punished, and the blankets were burnt under the pillory on
Cornhill. Similarly, false gloves, braces, and pouches were burnt in the
High Street of Chepe near the stone cross there. John Penrose, a
taverner, convicted of selling unsound wine, was adjudged to drink a
draught of the said wine, and the remainder was then poured out on his
head. Alice, wife of Robert de Cranstom, was put in the thew, or pillory
for women, for selling ale by short measure; and so was Margery Hore for
selling putrid soles, the fish being burnt, and the cause of her
punishment proclaimed. Two servants of John Naylere were placed in the
stocks upon Cornhill for one hour, and their sacks burnt beside them,
for selling a deficient measure of charcoal, while their master’s three
horses were seized and detained by the Mayor’s sergeant until he
(Naylere) came and answered for the aforesaid falsity and deceit.
William Avecroft, having unsound wine, the sheriffs were ordered to pour
all the wine in the street and wholly make away with it, according to
the custom of the city.
The ‘Liber Albus’ contains other ordinances against brawlers and loose
livers. The former, whether male or female, were taken to the thew, a
form of pillory, carrying a distaff dressed with flax and preceded by
minstrels. The latter, whether male, female, or clerics, were marched
behind music to Newgate, and into the Tun in Cornhill.[12] Repeated
offences were visited with expulsion, and the culprits were compelled to
forswear the city for ever. The men on exposure had their heads and
beards shaved, except a fringe on their heads two inches in breadth;
women who made the penance in a hood of “rag” or striped cloth had their
hair cut round about their heads. Worse cases of both sexes were shaved
like “an appealer,” or false informer. The crime of riotous assembling
was very sharply dealt with, as appears from the proclamation made in
the King’s (Edward III.) departure for France. It was then ordained that
“no one of the city, of whatsoever condition he shall be, shall go out
of the city to maintain parties, such as taking leisure, or holding days
of love (days of reconciliation between persons at variance), or making
other congregations within the city or without in disturbance of the
peace of our lord the king, or in affray of the people, and to the
scandal of the city.” Any found guilty thereof were to be taken and put
into the prison of Newgate, and there retained for a year and day; and
if he was a freeman of the city, he lost his freedom for ever.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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