There were frequent and bitter disputes between the citizens of Norwich and the prior. These disputes came to a head in 1271, when, in a quarrel at the gates of the priory, two citizens were killed. The townsmen flew to arms. The men of the priory retreated within the walls and prepared for a siege. The citizens, unable to force the gates of the priory, tore down the doors of the church. The prior threatened excommunication: the citizens demanded redress for the killing of two of their number. Finally, the prior put in execution his threat of excommunication: the citizens retorted by seizing provisions on their way to the priory. The prior now disposed his men in the belfry, and fighting went on for some days. At last the citizens set fire to the belfry: the fire spread till almost all the conventual buildings were destroyed. The citizens rushed in, killing all, monks and laymen, they could find; they destroyed everything on which they could lay hands. The bishop and other priests gathered together outside Norwich, excommunicated nine men by name, and all others who had taken part in the matter. The case was grave: the king came down, and spent twelve days in investigating the case, with the aid of his justices, and forty knights as jurors. The finding was that the prior was the cause of the burning of the church, and the king therefore took the manors of the priory into his own hands. But a terrible penalty was exacted from the citizens, thirty-three of whom were put to death: some were hanged, some burnt, others were drawn by horses (equis distracti). What is meant in this case is revealed by one chronicler, who gives details of the drawing: “Attached to horses by the feet, they were dragged through the streets of the city till, after great suffering, they ended their lives and expired.”[44] The chroniclers record only, I think, one case in which it is made clear the victim was actually dragged to pieces, as we see in old pictures of the martyrdom of St. Hippolytus:—