On this day in the fifth year of the reign of king Henry II. after the
conquest of England, (1140,) by William, duke of Normandy, the lord of
_Uglebarnby_, then called William de Bruce, the lord of Snaynton, called
Ralph de Percy, and a gentleman freeholder called Allotson, did meet to
hunt the wild boar, in a certain wood or desert, called Eskdale side;
the wood or place did belong to the abbot of the monastery of Whitby in
Yorkshire, who was then called Sedman, and abbot of the said place.
Then, the aforesaid gentlemen did meet with their hounds and boar-staves
in the place aforesaid, and there found a great wild boar; and the
hounds did run him very hard, near the chapel and hermitage of Eskdale
side, where there was a monk of Whitby, who was an hermit; and the boar
being so hard pursued, took in at the chapel door, and there laid him
down, and died immediately, and the hermit shut the hounds out of the
chapel, and kept himself at his meditation and prayers; the hounds
standing at bay without, the gentlemen in the thick of the wood, put
behind their game, in following the cry of the hounds, came to the
hermitage and found the hounds round the chapel; then came the gentlemen
to the door of the chapel, and called on the hermit, who did open the
door, and then they got forth, and within lay the boar dead, for which
the gentlemen, in a fury, because their hounds were put out of their
game, run at the hermit with their boar-staves, whereof he died; then
the gentlemen knowing, and perceiving that he was in peril of death,
took sanctuary at Scarborough; but at that time, the abbot, being in
great favour with the king, did remove them out of the sanctuary,
whereby they became in danger of the law, and not privileged, but like
to have the severity of the law, which was death. But the hermit being a
holy man, and being very sick and at the point of death, sent for the
abbot, and desired him to send for the gentlemen, who had wounded him to
death; so doing, the gentlemen came, and the hermit being sick, said, “I
am sure to die of these wounds:” but the abbot answered, “They shall
die for it,” but the hermit said, “Not so, for I will freely forgive
them my death, if they are content to be enjoined this penalty (penance)
for the safeguard of their souls;” the gentlemen being there present,
bid him enjoin what he would, so he saved their lives: then said the
hermit, “you and yours shall hold your land of the abbot of Whitby, and
his successors in this manner: that upon _Ascension-day Even_, you or
some of you shall come to the wood of _Strayheads_, which is in Eskdale
side, and the same (Ascension-day) at sun rising, and there shall the
officer of the abbot blow his horn, to the intent that you may know how
to find him, and deliver unto you William de Bruce, ten stakes, eleven
street stowers, and eleven yadders, to be cut with a knife of a penny
price; and you Ralph de Percy, shall take one and twenty of each sort,
to be cut in the same manner; and you Allotson, shall take nine of each
sort to be cut as aforesaid, and to be taken on your backs, and carried
to the town of Whitby, and to be there before nine o’clock of the same
day before mentioned; and at the hour of nine o’clock, if it be full
sea, to cease their service, as long as till it be low water, and at
nine o’clock of the same day, each of you shall set your stakes at the
brim of the water, each stake a yard from another, and so yadder them
with your yadders, and to stake them on each side, with street stowers,
that they stand three tides, without removing by the force of the water;
each of you shall make at that hour in every year, except it be full sea
at that hour, which when it shall happen to come to pass, the service
shall cease: you shall do this to remember that you did slay me; and
that you may the better call to God for mercy, repent yourselves, and do
good works. The officer of Eskdale side, shall blow, _Out on you! out on
you! out on you!_ for this heinous crime of yours. If you or your
successors refuse this service, so long as it shall not be a full sea,
at the hour aforesaid, you or your’s shall forfeit all your land to the
abbot or his successors; this I do entreat, that you may have your
lives, and goods for this service, and you to promise by your parts in
heaven, that it shall be done by you and your successors, as it is
aforesaid:” and then the abbot said, “I grant all that you have said,
and will confirm it by the faith of an honest man.” Then the hermit
said, “My soul longeth for the Lord, and I as freely forgive these
gentlemen my death, as Christ forgave the thief upon the cross;” and in
the presence of the abbot and the rest, he said moreover these words,
“_In manus tuas, Domine commendo spiritum meum, à vinculis enim mortis
redimisti me, Domine veritatis_,” (Into thy hands O Lord I recommend my
spirit, for thou hast redeemed me from the bonds of death O Lord of
Truth,) and the abbot and the rest said “_Amen_,” and so yielded up the
ghost the eighth day of December, upon whose soul God have mercy. Anno
Domini, 1160.[352]
N. B. This service is still annually performed.
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