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Medieval Sourcebook:
Manorial Marriage and Sexual Offense Cases
Manorial Marriage and Sexual Offense Cases
1. Alexander Wymer was attached to answer Vincent Buncheswell
on a plea of wrong (trespass) in which (Vincent) says that A.W.
on the Friday after St. Gregory the Pope's day in the 26th year
of king Edward [1298] in the vill of "Estrudham" came and brought
with him unknown men and others speaking ill with the friends
[including kinsmen] and neighbors of the said V. and spread
scandal about him with shocking ("enormis") words, and caused him
to lose 20 m. value concerning Mary of Hecham whom he was
supposed to marry, because the said Alexander told Mary that the
said Vincent did not sow or plough his land in good time and was
not a good farmer ("cultor"). Because of this, he lost Mary's
love and marriage to the said Vincent's serious loss 40/-. He
seeks a [jury] inquiry into the matter. [Gressenhall Manor Court,
July 8 1298, MEDIEVAL STUDIES xlix (1987), 509, n. 59.]
2. John Page and Agnes his wife appear through their attorney
John Chupm' against John Baker in a plea of a broken covenant
alleging that the aforesaid John [Baker] sold to Agnes Page, John
Page's wife, one Matilda John [Baker's] wife for one pig (cost 3
shillings) of which pig John Baker took pssession and with which
he was well contented. Later the said John came and sought to
have his wife back and he gave ("daret") Agnes 2 shillings, and
on this he produces suit. And the aforesaid John Baker denies
force and injury, and says that he broke no covenant to him and
detained no money from him foir the abovesaid reason, and he
seeks an inquiry, and the said Agnes does so too. Therefore etc.
[m. 2, July 30 1330]
[Inquiry - margin] John Page and Agnes his wife appear through
their attorney Peter Godsone against John Baker and Matilda his
wife in a plea of broken covenant alleging that the aforesaid
John Baker sold his wife Matilda to Agnes Page for one pig (3
shillings) etc. Later John Baker came and sought to have his wife
again and he gave (offered?) 2 shillings which he did not pay.
And he say he did not make any covenant with him, and he seeks an
inquiry. [m. 3d, November 13 1330]
[Amercement 1 penny - margin] Because the aforesaid John Baker
failed against John Page by inquest, it is therefore held that
the aforesaid John Baker be in mercy and that the aforesaid John
Page recover 2 shillings and his losses ("dampna") which are
taxed at 2 d. etc.[m. 3d, Feg 5 1331] [Lewisham, Kent, All
references from P.R.O., SC2/181/58, courtesy of John Beckerman.]
3. Henry Cook of Trotteslyve (Kent) and his wife were summoned
because each has turned away from the other and they do not live
together. Both appear in person. And Henry then alleged that he
did not know why his wife left him but she behaved as badly as
possible towards him, with contumelious words and other evil
deeds, as he asserts. His [unamed] wife said that her said
husband loved several other women and therefore had a malevolent
mind towards her, and she could not go on living with Henry on
account of his cruelty. Finally both of them swore after touching
the gospels that they would live together in future and give each
other the usual conjugal services ("suffragia"), and that she
[blank left for name] will now be humble and "familiaris" with
her husband and not fighting, contumelious or insulting; and that
the husband will treat his wife with marital affection from now
on ... [1347. REGISTRUM HAMONIS HETHE, ed. Johnson, p. 974,
courtesy Larry Poos.]
4. John Marabel, a married man, is cited of adultery and incest
with Alice, daughter of Robert de Wywell, daughter of the said
John's wife. The man appears and admits (his sin). The woman is
not found. And John is forbidden from coition with either the
mother or the daughter in future, unless the mother, who is the
wife, seeks the debt and he pays it with sadness. And he will
have as penance to make a pilgrimage with bare feet to St. Mary
at Lincoln, to St. Thomas [Becket] at Canterbury, and to [St.
Thomas Cantilupe] at Hereford and to beatings in penitential
fashion round the church and round the marketplace of Grantham.
And he will forswear the sin and suspect locations for the said
Alice under pain of 40/-. It is later held that the same John on
his pilgrimage would take much from his said wife, (so) the
penance was changed so that he will fast on bread and water as
long as he lives every fourth and sixth week, unless work or
sickness prevents this... We John warn thee, the aforesaid John,
once, twice and a third time that you, having been parted for
good from your wife, will eject the said Alice from your company
within the next six days under pain of greater excommunication
which is now (pronounced) most firmly on your person in these
writings if you should disdain to carry out the aforegoing.
[1347. Lincoln Dean and Chapter, A/2/24, fo. 72v, courtesy Poos.]
Translation by Paul Hyams of Cornell University. See his Course Page?. He indicated that the translations are available for educational use. He intends to expand the number of translations, so keep a note of his home page.
This text is listed as part of the Internet Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Paul Halsall Jan 1996
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
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