The earls and barons petition ... as to the prises of the lord king in
fairs and markets and cities, that those who are assigned to take the
said prises take them reasonably, as much, that is to say, as pertains
to the uses of the lord king; in which matter they complain that the
said takers seize twice or thrice the amount which they deliver to the
king's uses, and keep the rest, forsooth, for their own needs and the
needs of their friends, and sell thereof a portion.
Stubbs, _Select Charters_, 385.
1417. A Court of our Lord the King, holden before Henry Bartone, Mayor,
and the Aldermen, in the Guild-hall of London, on Tuesday, the 16th day
of February....
William Redhede of Barnet was taken and attached, for that when one
Hugh Morys, maltman, on Monday the 15th day of February, ... brought
here to the city of London four bushels of wheat, and exposed them for
sale in common and open market, at the market of Graschurch
(Gracechurch) in the parish of St. Benedict Graschurch in the city
aforesaid, the said William there falsely and fraudulently pretended
that he was a taker and purveyor of such victuals, as well for the
household of our said lord the king as for the victualling of his town
of Harfleur; and so, under feigned colour of his alleged office, would
have had the wheat aforesaid taken and carried away, had he not been
warily prevented from so doing by the constables and reputable men of
the parish aforesaid, and other persons then in the market; in contempt
of our lord the king, and to the grievous loss and in deceit of the
commonalty of the city aforesaid; and especially of the said market and
of other markets in the city, seeing that poor persons, who bring wheat
and other victuals to the city aforesaid, do not dare to come, by land
or by water, through fear of the multitude of pretended purveyors and
takers who resort thither from every side.
... And thereupon, by the said mayor and aldermen, to the end that
others might in future have a dread of committing such crimes, it was
adjudged that the same William Redhede should, upon the three market
days then next ensuing, be taken each day from the prison of Newgate to
the market called Le Cornmarket opposite to the Friars Minors
(Greyfriars, whose house was on the site of Christ's Hospital), and
there the course of the judgement aforesaid was to be proclaimed; and
after that he was to be taken through the middle of the high street of
Cheap to the pillory on Cornhill, and upon that he was to be placed on
each of those three days, there to stand for one hour each day, the
reason for such sentence being then and there publicly proclaimed. And
after that he was to be taken from thence through the middle of the
high street of Cornhill to the market of Graschurch aforesaid, where
like proclamation was to be made, and from thence back again to prison.
Riley, _Memorials of London_, 645.