crude and ineffective; as a consequence lawlessness was rampant, and
everywhere might became right.
The nobles, whenever the weakness of a king emboldened them, fortified
their castles, and increased the number of their retainers, whom they
reduced to a condition of complete vassalage; and each baron strove to
make himself a figure in the great national convulsions which, from time
to time, broke out under the malign influences of the feudalism that
dominated the whole land and blighted its every hope of progress.
The Franklins, the inferior grade of gentry, who, under the old Saxon
system were called Thanes, were often compelled by force of environment
to range themselves under the protecting banner of one or other of these
petty kings. And where authority was systematically set at defiance by
the great and the powerful, inoffensive conduct and dutiful obedience to
the laws of the land afforded no guarantee for the security of either
life or property.
To these disturbing influences must be added the barbarous severity of
the laws of the chase, the vindictive nature of which sometimes made the
heavy feudal chains of the common people almost too grievous to be borne.
As Willenhall was on the confines of the Royal Forest of Cannock, the
oppressive nature of the Forest Laws was not unfelt by the inhabitants of
this secluded hamlet.
In 1306, when John de Swynnerton married the daughter and heiress of
Philip de Montgomery, Seneschal of the Royal Forest of Cannock, and
became Steward of the Forest in customary succession, Willenhall was
officially returned, along with a number of surrounding places
(Wednesfield, Wednesbury, Darlaston, Essington, Hilton, Newbrigge,
Moseley, Bushbury, Pendeford, Coven, and a score more), as appurtenant to
a third part of the said forest bailiwick.
The Swynnerton interest in Willenhall transpires again in 1364, when John
de Swynnerton is found suing two Willenhall men for forcibly and
feloniously removing some of his goods and chattels from that place.
In the previous reign--that of Henry III.--numerous fines for illegal
enclosures of Cannock Forest had been imposed upon landowners in this
locality. Among them were Stephen de Hulton (or Hilton), and John, his
son, "of Wednesfield," who had enclosed with a hedge and a ditch three
acres of heath in Wednesfield, which they held under the Dean of
Wolverhampton. They were fined four shillings each, and ordered
peremptorily to throw down the hedge.
Here is an episode characteristic of the period. It is a Tuesday evening
in the month of August, 1347, and about the hour of vespers. The scene
is laid in "the field of Wolverhampton, called Wyndefield, in a place
called Le Ocstele, near Le More Love-ende." A body of men, all carrying
arms, are seen to approach their victim, who is described as a clerk, and
therefore presumably defenceless. He is Roger Levessone, son of Richard
Levessone. His assailants are Robert le Clerk, of Sedgley, two Dudley
men, a man from Bloxwich, and several others, all duly named in the
records of the law courts.
What the cause of quarrel may have been these meagre records do not
inform us, but on the evidence of a number of witnesses, among whom was
Richard Colyns, of Willenhall, they freely used their spears and swords,
inflicting wounds upon the throat and other parts of the body, till the
unfortunate Roger was despatched.
In 1339, one Richard Adams, of Willenhall, was charged with slaying two
men in that place, one a townsman named John Odyes, and a certain John de
Bentley. As he was acquitted, probably he did it in self-defence.
Encounters of this character were of frequent occurrence in those lawless
times.
When the offences recorded are of a less serious nature than murder and
slaughter, they are nearly always described as being accompanied by the
violent use of lethal weapons--"vi et armis" is the old legal phrase.
Here are some examples of this kind of lawlessness:--
In 1352, William de Hampton (probably of the Dunstall family of that
name) prosecuted a gang of fourteen men, including a chaplain, the parson
of Sheynton (? Shenstone), and two men from Tettenhall, for robbing him
of his goods and chattels at Willenhall, Wednesfield, Tettenhall, and
Pendeford. Of the details of the robberies we are able to learn nothing,
except that they were all perpetrated forcibly, and with a reckless
display of violence.
A similar prosecution was undertaken in 1395 by another member of this
family, one Nicholas Hampton, against Thomas Marshall, of Willenhall, and
for a similar outrage in that place.
A Willenhall man named John Wilson, in 1373, had to invoke the law upon a
desperado who forcibly broke into his house and close at Homerwych
(Hammerwich), and stole from thence timber, household utensils, clothing,
corn, hay, and apparently everything he could lay his hands upon and
carry away.
Twenty years later John Wilson (probably the same prosecutor) charged
John Wilkes, of Darlaston, with stealing two of his oxen, though no
violence is alleged on this occasion.
Two Willenhall men, William Colyns, and William Stokes, were, in 1399,
arrested, and charged with cutting down trees and underwood at Bentley.
Force and violence were used on that occasion; and it must be remembered
that timber was then in much greater demand for building purposes than
now, while underwood was in constant requisition as fuel and for the
repair of fences and shelters.
Sixteen years later (1415) John Pype and a number of other Bilston men
were prosecuted by Sir Hugh Burnell, Knt., for breaking into his closes
at Willenhall, trespassing on his land, and treading down his grass with
their cattle, committing damage to a grievous extent, and all in
undisguised defiance to the law.
Enough has been quoted to illustrate, by incidents common to the social
life of so simple a community as that of Willenhall, the gradual decay of
feudalism, and the steady growth of English liberty by the vindication of
constitutional law.
IX.--The Levesons and other old Willenhall families.
From the same sources, namely from the records of the ancient Law Courts,
as transcribed, translated, and published in the volumes of the Salt
Society, we are enabled to gain a knowledge of the most prominent
families in this locality during the Middle Ages. There seem to have
been lawsuits ever since there were landowners.
The principal family in Willenhall were the Levesons or Leusons, who are
said to have been connected with this place and the neighbouring parishes
of Wednesbury and Wolverhampton, almost from the time of the Norman
Conquest, eking out a living from the soil, of which their tenure was at
first a very precarious one.
Their pedigree, given by the county historian, Shaw (II. p. 169), shows
the founder to be one Richard Leveson, settled in Willenhall in the reign
of Edward I. But we find that in the year before this king's accession,
namely, in 1271, Richard Levison paid a fine of 2s. 3d. in the Forest
Court for being permitted to retain in cultivation an assart of half an
acre, lying in Willenhall; that is, to be allowed to continue under the
plough a piece of land on which he had grubbed up all the trees and
bushes by the roots, to the detriment of the covert within the King's
Royal Forest of Cannock.
The founder of the family was succeeded by a son, and by a grandson, both
of whom were also called "Richard Leveson, of Willenhall," although the
last one was sometimes designated as "of Wolverhampton," to which town he
was doubtless attracted by the greater profits to be made in the wool
trade.
The early commercial fame of Wolverhampton was based on this industry.
Although there were no wool-staplers here in 1340, yet in 1354, when the
wool staple was removed from Flanders, Wolverhampton was one of the few
English towns fixed upon by Parliament for carrying on the trade. (A
staple, it may be explained, is a public mart appointed and regulated by
law.) Although the staple was again changed to Calais, it was speedily
brought back to England, and the Levesons were soon among the foremost
"merchants of the staple."
A Clement de Willenhale is mentioned in an Assize of the year 1338, but
not improbably he was identical with the Clement Leveson mentioned in
another lawsuit in 1356, a party to which was a member of the ancient
local family of Harper--"John le Harpere," as he is therein called.
Then there is mention in 1351 of the John de Willenhale, who is described
as being in the wardship of the Prince of Wales. But perhaps the best
insight into the social state of Willenhall at this period will be
obtained from a consideration of its inhabitants liable to pay a war tax
which was levied by Edward III. in order to enable him to carry on a war
of defence against Scotland. For this popular military expedition,
Parliament in 1327 granted the youthful king a Subsidy to the amount of
one-twentieth leviable upon the value of nearly all kinds of property.
Assessors and collectors were appointed for every town and village, and
they were sworn to make true returns of every man's goods and chattels,
both in the house and out of it. The exceptions allowable were the goods
of those whose total property did not amount to the full value of ten
shillings; the tools of trade; and the implements of agriculture. On the
face of it, these exemptions seem fair and just to the lower orders; but
we find the higher orders were also favoured, and unduly so; not so much
perhaps in the matters of armour and cavalry horses, as in the
non-liability of the robes and jewels of knights, gentlemen, and their
wives, as well as of their silver and household plate.
Here is a copy of the Subsidy Roll of 1327 so far as it relates to
WYLLUNHALE.
De s. d.
Adam M-- -- --
Andr' atte Mere xviij
Joh'e le Bakere -- --
Ric'o Odys ij
Ric'o filio Radulfi ij vj
Joh'e filio Rogeri -- --
Ric'o filio Ade ij
Will'o filio Roberti iij
Will'o atte Pirye vj
Ric'o Chollettes ij
Agnete Odys iij
Hugone le Gardiner ij
Adame atte Mere ij
Joh'e Hopkynes xij
Agnete atte Wode xij
Will'mo Newemon xij
Symone Levesone vj
Summa xxviij vj Pb.
It will be seen that this fragment is imperfect, as the various amounts
set down will not add up to the "summa" or total given, notwithstanding
that it has been audited--the abbreviation "Pb." standing for probata, or
proved.
But more interest will be found in a brief study of the names of
Willenhall's inhabitants, who were men of substance seven hundred years
ago.
It will be observed that Simon is the only member of the Leveson family
assessed, and that he pays the least sum, except that paid by the man
Hugh, described as "the Gardener" (the amount paid by "John the Baker"
has been obliterated from the roll).
The strange surname Odyes, appearing twice in this list, occurs in
another record of the year 1422, and seems to belong to a gentle family,
resident in Willenhall, and owning lands in Bentley.
As but few people then bore recognised surnames, we find taxpayers here
officially set down as "Richard the son of Ralph," "John the son of
Roger," "Richard the son of Adam," and "William the son of Robert."
Besides these named according to their parentage, we have those described
according to their place of residence; as thus, "Andrew at the Mere," and
"Adam at the Mere"; "Agnes at the Wood," and "William at the Pear Tree."
William Newman was probably so-called because he was a new-comer, or was
lately emancipated from serfdom as a "new man."
From the Patent Rolls of November, 1334, may be gleaned the bare facts of
what seems to have been an extraordinary assault at Willenhall, which was
committed upon John, son of John de Bentley, by no less than thirty
assailants. Among those implicated may be noted the names of five
members of the Leveson family, namely, Geoffrey, Moses, John, Simon, and
Simon the younger; also the names of William, son of Robert atte Pirie,
Andrew atte Mere, John le Harpere, Richard Coletes, Richard Colyns, and
several others which have occurred before in these pages. The Leveson
family continue to make many appearances in the records of Willenhall
litigation at this early period. In 1347, Andrew, the son of Simon
Levesone, of Willenhale, was sued for the treading down and consuming of
the corn of Andrew in le Lone at Willenhale, with his cattle, and by
force of arms, and for cutting down his trees, and beating and wounding
his servant.
In the following year, Geoffrey Levesone, of Willenhale, brought a
somewhat similar charge of trespass against John Oldejones, of
Wodnesfeld. In 1362, Roger Levesone, of Willenhale, was successful in a
suit for recovering two acres of land at Wolverhampton. About the same
time Juliana Levesone, of Willenhall, married William Tomkys, a member of
one of the leading families of Bilston.
In 1369, John de la Lone, of Wolverhampton, sued John Levesone, of
Willenhale, for forcibly taking his fish, to the value of 100 shillings,
"from his several fishery in Willenhale."
In 1394, Roger Liefson (Leveson), of Wylenhale (who has been previously
mentioned in Chapter VII.), was at law with Thomas Colyns, of the same
place, for forcibly taking away from Willenhall twelve oxen belonging to
him. Immediately after, one William de Chorley was attacked for taking
away from Great Wyrley, also with a display of armed force, three oxen
and two cows, the property of Richard Leveson, of Willenhall. If these
two cases were not reprisals, they at least show a state of disturbance
and insecurity.
Another exhibition of lawlessness is brought to our notice in 1429, when
Richard Leveson is found suing Robert Dorlaston, weaver, Richard Colyns,
lorymer, William Brugge, and William Bate, yeomen, all described as "of
Wylenhale," for violently and forcibly breaking into his close at
Willenhall.
A similar case of forcible entry into the close and houses of James
Leveson, at Willenhale, by one Roger Waters, a Willenhale lorymer, was an
outrage which occupied the attention of the law courts in 1433.
Three years later (1436) another law case shows the same James Levesson
suing John Pippard, chaplain, for a messuage and 20 acres of land in
Wolverhampton, which he asserted had descended to him from Richard
Levesson, of Willenhall, who held it in the time of Edward I., in a
direct line, namely, from Richard to his son Geoffrey, from Geoffrey to
his son Roger, and from Roger to his son Nicholas, who was plaintiff's
father.
By this time the Leveson family seems to have been not only firmly
established in and around Willenhall, Wednesfield, and Wolverhampton, but
to have been very numerous as well. Originally yeomen of the first-named
place, cultivating their lands within the precincts of the Royal Forest
of Cannock, they gradually grew and prospered, one branch taking
advantage of the greater commercial opportunities offered by the
last-named town, and settling there as merchants and wool-staplers.
Woolstapling was a prosperous trade in Wolverhampton as early as 1354;
and in its ancient market place the Levesons of the younger branch were
to be found bartering wool and steadily accumulating riches until they
were able to marry into the most exclusive of the county families.
Among the Bailiffs of the Staple--which, in the case of Wolverhampton
were wool and woolfel--we find the names of William Leveson in 1485, and
Walter Leveson in 1491.
Members of other old and well-known local families also filled this
office of Bailiff at various times, namely, William Jennings in 1483,
Richard Gough in 1486, Edward Giffard in 1493, Y. Turton in 1496, and W.
Wrottesley in 1499. If evidence were required of the enterprise of these
Wolverhampton merchants, it would be forthcoming in the fact that a
Leveson and a Jennings, both natives of this place (the latter a
"merchant taylor" in 1508) filled the high office of Lord Mayor of
London.
An Inquisition Post Mortem (one of those feudal inquiries into the extent
of a man's landed possessions which passed to his heirs) was held on the
death of Henry Beaumont, lord of the Manor of Wednesbury, at Willenhall,
on 28th June, 1472. Among those sworn of the jury on that occasion were
James Leveson Esq., Richard Leveson, Esq., Cornelius Wyrley, Esq., Robert
Leveson, Ralph Busshbury, Esq., and William Mollesley, all local
magnates.
It has not been possible to identify all the members of this extensive
family. There were two distinct branches of the Levesons or Luesons.
The elder line were of Prestwood and Lilleshall, and produced Sir Richard
Leveson, of Trentham; the younger branch, descended from William, the son
of Richard Leveson, of Willenhall, produced the Sir Thomas Leveson who
was the Royalist governor of Dudley Castle during the great Civil War
(1643).
The elder line were "of Prestwood" because Nicholas Leveson, in the time
of Henry VI. married Maud, heiress of John de Prestwood. The Lilleshall
and other properties were fat church lands, purchased by the wealthy
Levesons at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was a Richard Leveson
of the Prestwood branch who acquired the Haling Estate in Kent by
marriage with a Lord Mayor's daughter, and died in 1539 after being
himself Lord Mayor of London.
Also from this branch came the famous Vice-Admiral of England in Queen
Elizabeth's days. This gallant sea-dog, whose romance with the "Spanish
Lady" has been retold by the present writer in his "Staffordshire
Stories" (pp. 22-35), took part in that daring attack upon Cadiz which
has been sung by Henry John Newbolt in his "Admirals All"--
Essex was fretting in Cadiz Bay
With the galleons fair in sight;
Howard at last must give him his way,
And the word was passed to fight.
Never was schoolboy gayer than he,
Since holidays first began:
He tossed his bonnet to wind and sea,
And under the guns he ran.
Admiral Leveson's effigy in Wolverhampton Church stamps him as one of the
heroes of old romance--his career was indeed remarkable, as may be read
in the work alluded to.
The present-day representatives of the family are the Leveson-Gowers, the
head of whom is the Duke of Sutherland. The Gowers were an Anglo-Saxon
family seated in Yorkshire, and the union of the two occurred about the
time of Charles I., when Sir Thomas Gower, then Sheriff of Yorkshire,
married Frances, daughter and co-heir of Sir John Leveson, of Haling and
Lilleshall.
At the time Richard Leveson was sailing the seas with Essex and Drake,
there was a John Leveson living in Willenhall as lord of the manor, the
site of his residence being still marked by the position of Levison
Street and Moat Street.
In Wolverhampton "Turton's Old Hall" was originally known as Leveson's
Hall; this massive old mansion, surrounded by its once deep and wide
moat, is believed to have been erected by John Leveson, a wool merchant,
who was High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1561.
Truly the local record of the Levesons is a long and notable one; and it
is interesting to note that John Leveson, son of Thomas, who had been
Sheriff of the county, and died in 1595, is the last in Shaw's pedigree
to be described as "of Willenhale," although in a succeeding chapter we
shall find members of this family still seated on their native soil,
Willenhall, as late as the years of the Jacobite Rebellions, 1715 and
1745.
X.--Willenhall Endowments at the Reformation.
Now to resume the ecclesiastical history of the place. Willenhall was
affected by the Reformation from two directions; first, through the
mother church of Wolverhampton, of which collegiate establishment it
formed a portion; secondly, through its own chapel and the endowed
chantry established therein.
The great ecclesiastical upheaval of the sixteenth century had its
precursor in the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII. The
rumble of the coming storm warned the secular or non-monastic foundations
that it would be prudent to set their houses in order if they were to
safeguard their revenues; for every one of the smaller monasteries, with
an income of less than 200 pounds per annum, had been forfeited to the
Crown (1529).
A new valuation of the College of Wolverhampton had but just been
instituted in 1526, from which it will be necessary here to extract only
that portion of the return relating to our subject. It was to this
effect:--
THE PREBEND OF WYLNALL.
pounds s. d.
William Leveson, Clerk (dwelling in 3 0 0
Exeter with the Bishop), Prebendary
there, and hath in glebe-lands
And in tithes of corn, one year with 3 0 0
another
And in wool and lambs by the year, one 3 6 8
year with another
And in the Easter Book by the year, 0 13 4
one year with another
And in tithes of Herbage, Pigs, Geese, 0 40 0
and other small tithes
Sum total 12 0 0
And thereof he pays allowance for 0 6 8
Synodals every third year, paid to the
aforesaid Dean
And so there remains clear 11 13 4
The tenth part thereof 0 23 4
The value of the Deanery, the Prebends, and the two Chantries of
Willenhall and Bilston are all set forth in this Return. (See Oliver's
"History of Wolverhampton Church," pp. 57-60.)
The visitation of the religious houses, undertaken as it was in a hostile
spirit by Henry VIII., naturally alarmed the authorities of a church
where it would appear that irregularities on the part of the prebendaries
had long existed, and not an inconsiderable portion of the church
property had been alienated, to say nothing of the sequestration of the
church communion plate. Now some hasty attempts were made at
restitution, and more so to escape detection and censure.
Restoration in some sort seems to have been hastily attempted at
Wolverhampton. In 1529 Nicholas Leveson presented a new chalice of
silver; and the high altar was restored at much expense to its former
magnificence. The Dean, however, fell into disgrace in the matter of
denying the King's supremacy, and was committed to the Tower of London in
consequence. In 1540 bells purchased by the inhabitants from Wenlock
Abbey were hung in the church tower. Four years later sixteen stalls,
taken from the recently dissolved monastery at Lilleshall, were presented
by Sir Walter Leveson to Wolverhampton Church.
All these precautions scarcely availed to avert the impending doom. By
an Act passed in the first year of the reign of Edward VI., the
dissolution of Colleges and Chantries was effected. But the Royal
College of Windsor, of which Wolverhampton was a member, was especially
exempted, and the Wolverhampton Chapter consequently felt secure from
disturbance.
So sure of their position were they that the prebendaries actually
proceeded to lease out their property. Among the others, the prebendary
of Willenhall granted his lands and tithes to John Leveson, Esq. (who
held several other of the prebendal properties), for a reserved rent of 6
pounds 6s.
Although the various deeds were confirmed by the Dean and Chapter of
Windsor, the legality of the proceedings was questioned; and presently it
was successfully contended that the Deanery of Wolverhampton was a
separate benefice detached from the College of Windsor, and that the
prebends were in the hands of the Crown.
There is extant another valuation of these ecclesiastical revenues in the
Primate's Court. The record is in Latin, but it may be Englished thus:--
pounds s. d.
Canterbury values Willenhall 5 2 1
It Days to the Dean of Wolverhampton 0 3 3
(William Leveson, Prebendary of
Willenhall.)
The Prebendary of Willenhall is worth per annum:--
s. d.
In Glebeland 41 0
In Corn tithes 40 0
In Wool and Lambs 46 8
In Easter dues 13 10
In Tithes of Fodder, of Hogs, and Geese and other 40 0
small tithes
Thence is paid, in every third year, to the Dean, 6 8
for the Synod
The valuation of Wolverhampton College which is to be regarded as that of
the Reformation was made in 1551, and one item in which may be quoted
from Oliver's "History of Wolverhampton Church" (p. 63):--"And for 12
pounds 6s. 8d. for the farm of the Prebend of Willnall, with all
messuages, tithes, lands, rents, services, and other profits to the said
Prebend belonging, demised to John Horton, by Indenture under seal of the
said College, dated 4th November, 33 Henry VIII., for the term of 21
years," &c., &c.