Ricardus, Prior de Dunstaple, et totus ejusdem loci conventus. Sciatis
nos concessisse Flemengo Judæo de London. et Leoni filio suo, et suis,
et servientibus eorum, ire, et venire, et manere in villa de Dunstaple,
bene et in pace, quiete et honorifice. Concessimus etiam eisdem Flemeng.
et Leoni omnes libertates et liberas consuetudines villæ de Dunstaple,
sicut aliquis de hominibus nostris de villa eas melius et plenius habet.
Nec nos nec nostri impedimentum faciemus prædictis Judæis, quin lucrum
suum fideliter faciant in villa nostra, secundum consuetudinem Judæorum.
Et nos manutenebimus prædictos Judæos, et suos et eorum servientes, et
res suas in villa rationabiliter, sicut faceremus si de nobis tenerent.
Pro hac autem concessione nostra, dabit nobis prædictus Flemeng, quamdiu
ipse moram fecerit in Villa Dunstapliæ, singulis annis, duo coclearia
argentea; quorum utrumque duodecim denarios ponderabit. Si autem
prædictus Flemengus absens fuerit, prædictus Leo filius ejus eadem
coclearia eisdem terminis persolvet. Hæc autem concessio et conventio
tota vita prædictorum Judæorum durabit.――_Chartular. de Dunstaple_,
fol. 35, 6.
Those Jews are reported, however, to have repaid the kindness of the
prior with base ingratitude; by bringing against him a forged bond. I
must confess, after examining all the evidences respecting the affair, I
am rather inclined to think that the bond was not forged, and, moreover,
that the generous prior was not a just one.