He sits to a dinner of plain English food; Tho' simple the pudding, his appetite's good. No monarch more bless'd than The Man of the Mill. Cunningham. In the survey of the possessions of the see of Durham, made by order of Bishop Hatfield, about the year 1380, no mention is made of this mill dam, from which it may be presumed it had disappeared before the compilation of that important record. After the death of that most princely and powerful prelate Bishop Pudsey, the see of Durham remained vacant more than two years, during which time the crown seized and kept possession of the temporalities. The convent at Durham as well as the people of the palatinate, suffered much injury and oppression from the officers of the crown, who rendered an account of the assized rent of the manors of the bishoprick, and the tallage† thereof; the aids of the churches and parsons; the pensions of the churches; the fines of clerks; the scutaget of knights; Hutchinson's Durham, vcl. I. p. 184. +Tallage was a part of the crown revenue which was paid by the king's demesnes, escheats, and wardships, and by the boroughs and towns of the realm. It was not chargeable on land held by frank-almoigne, or knight's service; and in certain eases estates and persons were exempt by grant of the king. Some inferior lords in like manner received tallage from some of their tenants who were similarly circumstanced as those of the crown. In these cases it appears that grants had been made of lands, with the tallage thereof. The inferior lord, however, could only raise a tallage when the king made a similar exaction on his desmesnes; and this was done by a writ from the king to the sheriff of the county in which the lord's land lay.-Appendix to Greenwell's Translation of the Boldon Buke. Scutage or knight's service was the most universal and honourable kind of fines of servants of the bishop; fines for lands; issues of the baronies, and of the profits of minerals and exchange. "Of the tallage of the manors, the town of Sunderland renders account of fifty-eight shillings. In the treasury, twenty-seven shillings. And it owes thirtyone shillings. The town of Wearmouth renders account of thirty-seven shillings and fourpence. In the treasury thirty-one shillings and a penny. And it owes six shillings and threepence. The town of Tunstall renders account of four pounds, eight shillings, and fourpence. In the treasury seventy-five shillings and eightpence. And it owes twelve shillings and eight-pence. The town of Burdon renders account of fifty shillings and eightpence. In the treasury forty-three shillings and ninepence. And it owes six shillings and elevenpence. Richard and William, the farmers of Ryhope, owe forty-three shillings and fourpence. Of the scutage, Alexander de Hilton renders account of four pounds. In the treasury forty shillings. And he owes forty shil tenure. The land required to form this tenure was called a knight's fee, and was of varied extent; in the third year of Edward the first (1275), it was estimated at twelve carucates, and valued at £20 yearly. The service rendered was that the holder of the fee should attend his lord to the wars forty days if required. In the Boldon Buke we have instances of persons holding a half and other proportions of a knight's fee, for which they were bound to serve half the number of days allotted to a knight's fee, or quarter, in proportion to the part of it which they held. In time this service was commuted for money-payment, called scutagium, scutage, or escuage. To tenure by knight's service there belonged the following burdens,— aid, relief, wardship, marriage, fines for alienation, and escheat.-Greenwell. § Profit of Exchange is that profit which was made by buying bullion, and issuing it again in the shape of coin at an increased value. It was an exclusive privilege of the crown to purchase the precious metals, and officers were appointed to receive bullion, giving coined money in return.-Greenwell. lings. Roger de Audry owes four marks for the same. Of the fines of the servants of the bishop, Stephen de Hendon renders account of twenty marks. In the treasury ten marks. And he owes ten marks "-Pipe Roll of the Exchequer, London, 8 Richard I., A.D. 1197. Amongst the records in the custody of the Master of the Rolls, pursuant to the statute of the first and second years of the reign of Queen Victoria, c. 94, and preserved in the Tower of London, to wit, Charter Roll, is the following charter of the thirty-first year of the reign of King Henry III. “The King to the Archbishops, Bishops, and Barons, greeting. Know ye that we have granted and by our charter confirmed, for us and our heirs, to our burgesses of the new borough of Warnemuth, that they and their heirs for ever may have all the same liberties and free customs which our burgesses of Newcastle-upon-Tyne have by the charter of the Lord John the King, our father, that is to say, that none of them by any one shall be distrained without our borough Warnemuth, to render to any one any debt whereof he is not the principal debtor or pledge. And we also have granted to the same a merchants' guild,* • Guild (from the Saxon guildan, to pay) signifies a fraternity or company, because every one was gildare, that is, had to pay something towards the charge and support of the company. As to the origin of guilds or companies in Britain, it was a law among the Saxons that every freeman of 14 years of age should find sureties to keep the peace, or be committed. This led to the formation among neighbours of associations, each consisting of ten families, which became bound for one another, either to produce him who committed an offence, or to make satisfaction to the injured party; and that they might the better do this, they raised a sum of money amongst themselves, which they put into a common stock, and when one and that none of them who shall be within the merchants' guild, shall plead without the borough, concerning any pleas except pleas of foreign tenures. And we have granted to them that none of them should try by combat, and that concerning pleas to our crown pertaining, they may justify themselves according to the ancient custom of the city of Winchester. And that all the burgesses of the aforesaid borough of Warnemuth, and their heirs of the merchants' guild, may be quit of toll,* lastage,† pontage, and passage,§ as well in fairs as without, and throughout all the parts of all our lands, as well on this side the sea as beyond; and that no one shall be judged of amer of their pledges had committed an offence and fled, then the other nine made satisfaction out of this stock, by payment of money, according to the offence. Because this association consisted of ten families, it was called a decenary; and hence arose other kinds of fraternities. But as to the precise time when these guilds had their origin in England there is nothing certain to be found; since they were in use long before any formal license was granted to them for such meetings. It seems to have been about the close of the eleventh century, according to Anderson (History of Commerce, I., 70), that merchant guilds, or fraternities, which were afterwards styled corporations, came first into general use in many parts of Europe. Madox (Firma Burgi, c. I., s. 9) thinks they were hardly known to our Saxon progenitors, and that they might probably have been brought into England by the Normans, although they do not seem to have been very numerous in those days. The French and Normans might perhaps have borrowed them from the free cities of Italy, where trade and manufactures flourished at a much earlier period, and where such communities appear to have been first in use. These guilds are now companies or associations, having laws and orders made by themselves, in virtue of authority from the prince to that effect.--Encyclopædia Britannica. * Toll, a payment made for liberty to buy and sell, for goods sold in any fair or market within the manor, and for liberty to make and vend, as in the case of beer. -Greenwell's Glossary to Hatfield's Survey. Lastage, a liberty to carry their goods up and down in fairs and markets, where they please.-Brady on Burghs. Pontage, toll paid for passage over bridges with horses, carriages, &c., and under them with boats, ships, &c.—Ibid. Passage, money paid by passengers at bridges, gates, &c.—Ibid. cements* of money, unless according to the ancient law of the aforesaid city of Winchester, which they had in the time of our ancestors. "And that they shall have all their lands, and tenures and pledges, and all their debts may have whosoever those to them shall owe. And concerning the lands and tenements which are within the borough aforesaid, right shall be kept with them according to the custom of the city of Winchester. And that concerning all their debts which shall be contracted at the borough of Warnemuth, and of pledges there made, pleas shall be holden there. "But if any one in all our land shall take toll from the men of Warnemuth after he shall have withdrawn from Amercement. An amercement was originally much of the same nature as a fine, and in earlier writings of the feudal period is not readily to be distinguished from it. The distinction, however, which was afterwards carefully observed is, that an amercement is a sum of money imposed for a crime or trespass, a fine, an offering made for a grant or privilege. Amercements were imposed out of the exchequer on an individual, or on the inhabitants of a town, for various causes, as for the crimes of murder or manslaughter; for misdemeanors, such as harbouring thieves, forbidding jurors to do the king's assize, taking toll illegally, holding intercourse with the enemy, fighting a duel where it should not have been fought, putting persons to an ordeal without warrant, burying persons found dead without view of the king's or sheriff's servants, stopping a watercourse, taking a royal fish, &c.; for disseisins; for recreancy in refusing or absenting from a duel; for breach of assize; for defaults, as withdrawing from a plaint, not having a jury ready, not coming before the justices; for non-appearance at the court when summoned; for trespasses of various kinds, as ploughing the highway, exporting corn without license, asserting something which could not be proved, hanging a robber unjustly, false judgment, false testimony, conniving at robbery, or not stopping goods known to be stolen, not doing suit and service, having weapons contrary to the assize hunting without leave, not coming to be married when summoned, taking a bribe, selling wine or beer contrary to the assize, and various matters of a like kind.Appendix to Greenwell's Translation of the Boldon Buke, FF |