THE ABBOT AS PEER OF PARLIAMENT
In that manor of the monks of Canterbury which is called Eleigh, and
is within the hundred of the abbot, a case of homicide occurred; but
the men of the archbishop would not permit that those manslayers
should stand their trial in the court of St. Edmund. Thereupon the
abbot made his plaint to King Henry, stating that Baldwin the
archbishop was claiming for himself the liberties of our church, under
authority of a new charter, which the King had given to the church of
Canterbury after the death of St. Thomas. The King hereupon made
answer, that he had never made any grant in derogation of the rights
of our church, nor did he wish to take away from St. Edmund anything
that had ever belonged to him.
On this intelligence, the abbot said to his most intimate advisers,
"It is the better counsel that the archbishop should have to complain
of me than I of the archbishop. I will put myself in seisin of this
liberty, and afterwards will defend myself thereupon by the help of
St. Edmund, whose right our charters testify it to be." Therefore
suddenly and at daybreak, by the assistance of Robert of Cockfield,
there were dispatched about fourscore men to the town of Eleigh, who
took by surprise those three manslayers, and led them bound to St.
Edmund, and cast them into the body of the gaol there.
Now, the archbishop complaining of this, Ranulf de Glanville, the
justiciary, commanded that those men be put by gage and pledges to
stand their trial in that court wherein they ought to stand trial; and
the abbot was summoned to come before the King's court to answer
touching the violence and injury which he was said to have done to the
archbishop. The abbot thereupon offered himself several times without
any essoin.
At length, upon Ash Wednesday, they stood before the King in the
chapter house of Canterbury, and the charters of the King on one side
and the other were read in court. And our lord the King said: "These
charters are of the same age, and emanate from the same King, Edward.
I know not what I can say, unless it be that these charters contradict
each other." To whom the abbot said: "Whatever observations may apply
to the charters, we are seised, and hitherto have been; and of this I
am willing to put myself upon the verdict of the two counties of
Norfolk and Suffolk, if they do allow this to be the case."
But Archbishop Baldwin, having first conferred with his advisers, said
that the men of Norfolk and Suffolk greatly loved St. Edmund, and that
great part of those counties was under the control of the abbot, and
therefore he was unwilling to stand by their decision. The King at
this waxed wroth, and in indignation got up, and in departing said,
"He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." And so the matter
was put off, and the case is yet undecided.
However, I observed that some of the men of the monks of Canterbury
were wounded even to death by the country folk of the town of Milden,
which is situate in the hundred of St. Edmund; and because they knew
that the prosecutor ought to make suit to the jurisdiction wherein the
culprit is, they chose to be silent and to put up with it, rather than
make complaint thereupon to the abbot or his bailiffs, because in no
wise would they come into the court of St. Edmund to plead there.
After this the men of Eleigh set up a certain cucking-stool, whereat
justice was to be done in respect of deceits in the measuring of bread
or corn; whereof the abbot complained to the Lord Bishop of Ely, then
justiciary and chancellor. But he was anything but desirous to hear
the abbot, because it was said that he was smelling after the
archbishopric, which at that time was vacant. Some time afterwards,
when he had come on a visitation, being entertained as legate, before
he departed he made a speech at the shrine of the holy martyr. The
abbot, seizing the opportunity, said to all present, "My lord bishop,
the liberty which the monks of Canterbury claim for themselves is the
right of St. Edmund, whose body is here present; and because you do
not choose to render me assistance to protect the privileges of his
church, I place that plaint between him and you. Let him from
henceforth get justice done to himself." The chancellor deigned not to
answer a single word; but within a year from that time was driven from
England, and experienced divine vengeance.
Now when the same chancellor, on his return from Germany, had arrived
at Ipswich, and rested the night at Hitcham, news was brought that he
wished to take St. Edmund in his way, and would hear mass with us on
the morrow. The abbot, therefore, gave strict injunctions that the
offices of the church should not be celebrated so long as the
chancellor was present in the church; for he said he had heard at
London that the Bishop of London had pronounced in the presence of six
bishops that the Chancellor was excommunicate, and had left England
excommunicate, particularly for the violence he committed upon the
Archbishop of York at Dover.
Therefore when the chancellor came to us on the morrow, he found no
one, neither clerk nor monk, who would sing a mass. Indeed, not only
the priest standing at the first mass, and beginning the canon of the
mass, but the other priests standing before the altars, ceased,
remaining with unmoved lips until a messenger came, saying that he had
departed from the church. The chancellor put up with it at the time,
but did many injuries to the abbot, until at length, by the
intervention of friends, both parties returned to the kiss of peace.
When King Henry had taken the Cross, and had come to us within a month
afterwards to pay his devotions, the abbot privily made for himself a
cross of linen cloth, and holding in one hand the cross and a needle
and thread, he requested licence from the King to take upon himself
the cross. But this privilege was denied him, upon the suggestion of
John, Bishop of Norwich, who said that it was not expedient for the
country, or indeed safe for the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, that
the Bishop of Norwich and the Abbot of St. Edmund should be both away
at the same time.
When the news came to London of the capture of King Richard and his
imprisonment in Germany, and the barons met to take counsel thereupon,
the abbot started up before them all, saying that he was quite ready
to seek his lord the King, either in disguise or any other way, until
he had discovered where he was, and had gained certain intelligence of
him; by reason whereof he obtained great approbation.
When the chancellor, the Bishop of Ely, filled the office of legate,
and in that capacity was holding a council at London, he proposed
certain decrees against the black monks, taking notice of their
wandering to St. Thomas and St. Edmund, on the excuse of pilgrimage,
and inveighed against abbots, restricting them in the number of their
horses. Abbot Samson replied, "We do not admit any decree against that
rule of St. Benedict which allows the abbots the free and absolute
government of their monks. I keep the barony of St. Edmund and his
kingdom; nor are thirteen horses sufficient for me as they may be for
some abbots, unless I have more to enable me to execute the King's
justice."
Whilst there was war throughout England, during the captivity of King
Richard, the abbot, with his whole convent, solemnly excommunicated
all movers of the war and disturbers of the public peace, not fearing
the Earl John, the King's brother, nor any other, so that he was
styled the "stout-hearted abbot." After this he went to the siege of
Windsor, where he appeared in armour with certain other abbots of
England, having his own standard, and retaining many knights at heavy
charges, being more remarkable there for his counsel than for his
piety. But we cloister folk thought this act rather perilous, fearing
lest in consequence some future abbot might be compelled to attend in
person upon any warlike expedition. On the conclusion of a truce he
went into Germany, and there visited the King with many gifts.
After the return of King Richard to England, licence was granted for
holding tournaments; for which purpose many knights met between
Thetford and St. Edmund. The abbot forbade them; but they, resisting,
fulfilled their desire. On another occasion there came twenty-four
young men with their followers, sons of noblemen, to have their
revenge at the aforesaid place; which being done, they returned into
the town to put up there. The abbot hearing of this, ordered the gates
to be locked, and all of them to be kept within. The next day was the
vigil of Peter and Paul the apostles. Therefore, having passed their
word and promising that they would not go forth without permission,
they all dined with the abbot on that day. After dinner, when the
abbot retired to his chamber, they all arose and began to carol and
sing, sending into the town for wine, drinking and then shouting,
depriving the abbot and convent of their sleep, and doing everything
in scorn of the abbot. They spent the day until the evening in this
manner; and refused to desist, even when the abbot commanded them. But
when evening was come, they broke open the gates of the town and went
forth by force. The abbot, indeed, solemnly excommunicated all of
them, yet not without first consulting Archbishop Hubert, at that time
justiciary; and many of them came, promising amendment and seeking
absolution.
The abbot often sent his messengers to Rome, by no means empty-handed.
The first he sent, immediately after he was consecrated, obtained in
general terms all the liberties and privileges which had been granted
of yore to his predecessors, even in the time of the schism. Next he
obtained, first among the abbots of England, that he might be able to
give episcopal benediction solemnly, wheresoever he might happen to
be, and this he obtained for himself and for his successors.
Afterwards he obtained a general exemption for himself and his
successors, from all Archbishops of Canterbury, which Abbot Hugh had
only acquired for himself personally. In these confirmations Abbot
Samson caused to be inserted many new privileges for the greater
liberty and security of our church.
There once came a certain clerk to the abbot, bearing letters of
request for procuring a benefice. And the abbot, drawing forth from
his desk seven apostolic writings, with the leaden seals hanging to
them, made answer: "Look at these apostolic writings, whereby divers
popes require that certain benefices should be given to divers clerks.
When I shall have quieted those who have come before you, I will give
you your rent; for he who first cometh to the mill ought first to have
his grist."
There was a general court summoned for the hundred of Risbridge, to
hear the plaint and trial of the Earl of Clare, at Witham. He, indeed,
accompanied by many barons and knights, including the Earl Alberic and
many others, stated that his bailiffs had given him to understand that
they were accustomed to receive yearly for his use five shillings from
the hundred and the bailiffs of the hundred, and that this was now
unjustly detained; and he alleged that the land of Alfric, the son of
Withgar, who had in ancient time been lord of that hundred, had been
granted to his predecessors at the conquest of England. But the abbot,
taking thought for his own interest, without stirring from his place,
answered, "It is a strange thing, my lord earl; your case fails you.
King Edward the Confessor gave, and by his charter confirmed, to St.
Edmund, this entire hundred; and of those five shillings there is no
mention made therein. You must tell us for what service, or for what
reason, you demand those five shillings." And the earl, after advising
with his attendants, replied that it was his office to carry the
standard of St. Edmund in battle, and for that cause the five
shillings were due to him. The abbot answered, "Of a truth it seems a
mean thing that such a man as the Earl of Clare, should receive such a
petty gift for such a service. To the Abbot of St. Edmund, it is but a
slight grievance to give five shillings. The Earl Roger Bigot holds
himself as seised, and asserts that he is seised, of the office of
bearing the standard of St. Edmund; indeed, he actually did bear it
when the earl of Leicester was taken and the Flemings destroyed.
Thomas of Mendham also claims this as his right. When, therefore, you
shall have proved against these your right, I will with great pleasure
pay you the five shillings you now seek to recover of me." The earl
upon this said that he would talk the matter over with the Earl Roger,
his kinsman, and so the matter was put off even to this day.
On the death of Robert of Cockfield, there came Adam, his son, and
with him many of his relations, the Earl Roger Bigot, and many other
great men, and made suit to the abbot for the tenements of the
aforesaid Adam, and especially for the half hundred of Cosford, to be
held by the annual payment of one hundred shillings, just as if it had
been his hereditary right; indeed, they all said that his father and
his grandfather had held it for fourscore years past and more.
When the abbot got an opportunity of speaking, putting his two fingers
up to his two eyes, he said, "May I be deprived of these eyes on that
day, nay, in that hour, wherein I grant to any one a hundred to be
held in hereditary right, unless indeed the King, who is able to take
away from me the abbey and my life with it, should force me to do so."
Explaining to them the reason of that saying, he averred, "If any one
were to hold a hundred as an inheritance, and he should make forfeit
to the King in any wise, so that he ought to lose his inheritance,
forthwith will the Sheriff of Suffolk and the King's bailiffs have
seisin of the hundred, and exercise their own power within our
liberties; and if they should have the ward of the hundred, the
liberty of the eight hundreds and a half will be endangered."
And then addressing himself to Adam, he said, "If you, who claim an
inheritance in this hundred, should take to wife any free woman who
should hold but one acre of land of the King in chief; the King, after
your death, would possess himself of all that your tenement, together
with the wardship of your son, if he be under age; and thus the King's
bailiffs would enter upon the hundred of St. Edmund, to the prejudice
of the abbot. Besides all this, your father acknowledged to me that he
claimed nothing by right of inheritance in the hundred; but because
his service was satisfactory to me, I permitted him to hold it all the
days of his life, according as he deserved of me."
Upon the abbot saying thus much, money was offered; but he could not
be persuaded by words or money. At last it was settled between them
thus: Adam disclaimed the right which he had by word of mouth claimed
in the hundred, and the abbot confirmed to him all his other lands;
but touching our town of Cockfield, no mention was made of that, nor
indeed is it believed that he had a charter thereof; Semer and Groton
he was to hold for the term of his life.
Herbert the dean erected a windmill upon Haberdon. When the abbot
heard of this, his anger was so kindled that he would scarcely eat or
utter a single word. On the morrow, after hearing mass, he commanded
the sacrist, that without delay he should send his carpenters thither
and overturn it altogether, and carefully put by the wooden materials
in safe keeping.
The dean, hearing this, came to him saying that he was able in law to
do this upon his own frank fee, and that the benefit of the wind ought
not to be denied to any one. He further said that he only wanted to
grind his own corn there, and nobody else's, lest it should be
imagined that he did this to the damage of the neighbouring mills. The
abbot, his anger not yet appeased, answered, "I give you as many
thanks as if you had cut off both my feet; by the mouth of God I will
not eat bread until that building be plucked down. You are an old man,
and you should have known that it is not lawful even for the King or
his justiciary to alter or appoint a single thing within the banlieue,
without the permission of the abbot and convent; and why have you
presumed to do such a thing? Nor is this without prejudice to my
mills, as you assert, because the burgesses will run to you and grind
their corn at their pleasure, nor can I by law turn them away, because
they are freemen. Nor would I endure that the mill of our cellarer,
lately set up, should stand, except that it was erected before I was
abbot. Begone," he said, "begone; before you have come to your house,
you shall hear what has befallen your mill."
But the dean being afraid before the face of the abbot, by the counsel
of his son, Master Stephen, forestalled the servants of the sacrist,
and without delay caused that very mill which had been erected by his
own servants to be overthrown. So that when the servants of the
sacrist came thither, they found nothing to be pulled down.
The abbot was sued in respect of the advowson of certain churches, and
gained the case. Certain others he also retained, although his right
thereto was challenged, viz., the church of Westley, of Meringthorp,
of Brettenham, of Wendling, of Pakenham, of Nowton, of Bradfield in
Norfolk, the moiety of the church of Boxford, the church of Scaldwell,
and the church of Endgate. All these, although the right was
challenged by others, he retained, and he restored to his own right of
patronage three portions of the church of Dickleburgh, and brought
back the tenements belonging to those shares to the frank fee of the
church, saving the service which was due therefrom to the manor of
Tivetshall. But the church of Boxford being void, when an inquest was
summoned thereupon, there came five knights tempting the abbot, and
inquiring what it was they ought to swear.
The abbot would neither give nor promise to them anything, but said,
"When the oath shall be administered, declare the right according to
your consciences." They, indeed, being discontented, departed, and by
their inquest took away from him the advowson of that church, namely,
the last presentation. Nevertheless, he ultimately recovered it after
many charges, and for a fine of ten marks.
The abbot also retained the church of Honington. This had not become
vacant, but the right was challenged in the time of Durand of
Hostesley, although he produced as evidence of his right the charter
of William, Bishop of Norwich, wherein it was specified that Robert of
Valognes, his father-in-law, had given that church to Ernald Lovell.
The moiety of the church of Hopton being void, a controversy arose
thereupon between the abbot and Robert of Elm; and a day of hearing
being appointed at Hopton, after much altercation, the abbot being
guided by I know not what sudden impulse, said to the aforesaid
Robert, "Do you but swear that this is your right, and I will allow
that it shall be so." And since that knight refused to swear, it was
by the consent of each party, referred to the oath of sixteen lawful
men of the hundred, who swore that this belonged to the abbot as his
right. Gilbert Fitz-Ralph and Robert of Cockfield, lords of that fee,
were there present and consenting thereto.
Thereupon, Master Jordan de Ros, who had the charter of abbot Hugh, as
well as the charter of the aforesaid Robert, starting forward, urged
that whichever of them succeeded in proving his claim to the church,
he (Jordan) might hold the parsonage, that he was parson of the whole
church, and that the clerk last deceased had been his vicar, rendering
him a yearly payment for that moiety. In proof thereof he produced the
charter of Walchelin the archdeacon.
The abbot, greatly moved and angry with him, never received him in a
friendly manner, until the said Jordan, in a chapter of the monks at
Thetford, at the abbot's instance, resigned into the hands of the
bishop there present that very moiety, without any reservation or
expectation of afterwards recovering the same, before a great
multitude of clerks. This done, the abbot said, "My lord bishop, I am
engaged by promise to bestow the rent upon some one your clerk; and I
now give this moiety of this church to whomsoever of your clerks you
will." Then the bishop requested that in a friendly manner it should
be given to the same Master Jordan; and so upon the presentation of
the abbot, Jordan got it back again.
Afterwards a controversy arose between the abbot and the same Jordan,
touching the land of Herard in Harlow, whether it were the frank fee
of the church or not. And when there was summoned a jury of twelve
knights to make inquest in the king's court, the inquest was taken in
the court of the abbot at Harlow, by the licence of Ranulf de
Glanville, and the recognitors swore that they never knew that land at
any time to have been separated from the church, but nevertheless that
land owed such service to the abbot as that to which the land of
Eustace, and certain other lands of laymen in the same town were
subject. At length it was agreed between them thus: Master Jordan in
full court acknowledged that land to be lay fee, and that he claimed
nothing therein, unless by the abbot's grace. He will therefore hold
that land all the days of his life, rendering yearly to the abbot
twelve pence for all services.
Since, according to the custom of the English, many persons gave many
presents to the abbot, as being their head, upon the day of the
Circumcision of our Lord, I, Jocelin, thought to myself, What can I
give? And I began to reduce into writing all those churches which are
in the gift of the abbot, as well of our manors as of his, and the
reasonable values of the same, upon the same principle that they could
be fairly set to farm, at a time when corn is at its ordinary standard
price. And, therefore, upon the commencement of a new year, I gave to
the abbot that schedule, as a gift to him, which he received very
gratefully.
I, indeed, because I then was pleasing in his sight, thought in my
heart, that I should hint to him that some one church should be given
to the convent, and assigned for the purposes of hospitality, just as
he had wished when he was a poor cloister monk: for this same thing he
himself had, before his election, suggested the brethren should swear,
that upon whomsoever the lot should fall, that man should do it. But
while I thought upon these things, I remembered that some one
previously had said the very same thing, and that I had heard the
abbot reply, that he could not dismember the barony; in other words,
that he ought not to diminish the liberty and dignity which abbot Hugh
and others his predecessors had had, of giving away churches, which
after all scarcely brought any gain or profit to the convent. On
considering this, I held my peace.
The writing I have alluded to was the following:--
"These are the churches of the manors and socages of the ABBOT: The
church of Melford is worth forty pounds; Chevington, ten marks;
Saxham, twelve marks; Hargrave, five marks; Brettenham, five marks;
Boxford, one hundred shillings; Fornham Magna, one hundred shillings;
Stow, one hundred shillings; Honington, five marks; Elmswell, three
marks; Cotton, twelve marks; Brocford, five marks; Palgrave, ten
marks; Great Horningsherth, five marks; Kingston, four marks; Harlow,
nineteen marks; Stapleford, three marks; Tivetshall, one hundred
shillings; Worlingworth cum Bedingfield, twenty marks; Soham, six
marks; the moiety of the church of Wortham, one hundred shillings;
Rungton, twenty marks; Thorp, six marks; Woolpit, over and above the
pension, one hundred shillings; Rushbrook, five marks; the moiety of
the church of Hopton, sixty shillings; Rickinghall, six marks; three
parts of the church of Dickleburgh, each part being worth thirty
shillings and upwards; the moiety of the church of Gislingham, four
marks; Icklingham, six marks. Concerning the church of Mildenhall,
which is worth forty marks, and of the moiety of the church of
Wetherden, what shall I say? Wendling, one hundred shillings; the
church of Len, ten marks; the church of Scaldwell, five marks; the
church of Warkton ...
"These are the churches of the manors belonging to the CONVENT:
Mildenhall, Barton, and Horningsherth, twenty-five marks, besides the
pension; Rougham, fifteen marks, besides the pension; Bradfield, five
marks; Pakenham, thirty marks; Southrey, one hundred shillings;
Risby, twenty marks; Nowton, four marks; Whepstead, fourteen marks;
Fornham St. Genevieve, fifteen marks; Herringswell, nine marks;
Fornham St. Martin, three marks; Ingham, ten marks; Lackford, one
hundred shillings; Elveden, ten marks; Cockfield, twenty marks;
Semer-Semer, twelve marks; Groton, five marks; the moiety of the
church of Fressingfield, fourteen marks; Beccles, twenty marks; Broc,
fifteen marks; Hinderclay, ten marks; Warkton, ten marks; Scaldwell,
five marks; Westley, five marks; the church in Norwich, two marks,
over and above the payment of herrings; and two churches in
Colchester, three marks, over and above the pension of four
shillings; Chelsworth, one hundred shillings; Meringthorp, four
marks; the moiety of the church of Bradfield in Norfolk, three marks;
staffacres and fouracres, and the third part of the tithes of the
lordships of Wrabness, six marks."
The two counties of Norfolk and Suffolk were put in the "mercy" of the
King by the justices in eyre for some default, and fifty marks were
put upon Norfolk, and thirty upon Suffolk. And when a certain portion
of that common amerciament was assessed upon the lands of St. Edmund,
and was sharply demanded, the abbot, without any delay, went to our
lord the King. We found him at Clarendon; and when the charter of King
Edward, which discharges all the lands of St. Edmund from all gelds
and scots, had been shown to him, the King commanded by his writ that
six knights of the county of Norfolk and six of Suffolk should be
summoned to consider before the barons of the exchequer, whether the
lordships of St. Edmund ought to be quit from common amerciament. To
save trouble and expense, only six knights were chosen, and these for
the reason that they had lands in either county; namely, Hubert of
Briseword, W. Fitz-Hervey, and William of Francheville, and three
others, who went to London with us, and on behalf of the two counties
gave their verdict in favour of the liberty of our church. And
thereupon the justices then sitting enrolled their verdict.
The abbot Samson entered into a contest with his knights--himself
against all, and all of them against him. He had stated to them that
they ought to perform the service of fifty individual knights in
escuages, in aids, and the like, because, as they themselves said,
they held so many knights' fees. The point in dispute was, why ten of
those fifty knights were to be without performing service, or by what
reason or by whose authority the forty should receive the help of
those ten knights. But they all answered with one voice, that such had
ever been the custom, that is to say, that ten of them should assist
the other forty, and that they could not thereupon--nor ought they
thereupon--to answer, nor yet to implead.
When they were summoned in the King's court to answer hereupon, some,
by arrangement, excused themselves from appearing, the others
cunningly appeared, saying that they ought not to answer without their
peers. On another occasion, those presented themselves who had first
absented themselves, saying in like manner, that they ought not to
answer without their peers who were joined with them in the same
plaint. And when they had several times thus mocked the abbot, and had
involved him in great and grievous expenses, the abbot complained of
this to Hubert, the archbishop, then justiciary, who replied in open
court that each knight ought to plead singly, and in respect of his
own tenure, and said straight out that the abbot was clever enough and
able enough to prove the rights of his church against all and every
one of them. Then the earl, Roger Bigot, first of all freely confessed
that, in law, he owed to his superior lord the abbot his service of
three entire knights' fees, in reliefs as well as in escuages and
aids; but, so far as concerned his performing castle-guard at the
castle of Norwich, he said nothing.
Next came two of these knights, then three, and again more, until
nearly all of them had come, and, by the earl's example, acknowledged
the same service. Because such acknowledgment thereupon made in the
court of St. Edmund was not sufficient in law, the abbot took all of
them to London at his own charges, with the wives and women who were
inherited of the lands so held, that they should make the
acknowledgment in the King's court, and they all received separate
charters of the concord thus made. Alberic de Vere and William of
Hastings and two others were in the King's service beyond sea when
this was done, and therefore the plaint concerning them was stayed.
Alberic de Vere was the last who held out against the abbot; but as it
was, the abbot seized and sold his cattle, wherefore it behoved him to
come into court, and answer, as did his fellows. Taking advice upon
it, he at length acknowledged to the abbot and St. Edmund their right.
The knights, therefore, being all defeated, a great profit would have
accrued to the abbot from this victory unless he had been inclined to
spare some of them; for so often as twenty shillings are charged upon
a fee, there will remain twelve pounds to the abbot, and if more or
less are assessed, more or less will remain over as a surplus to him,
according to the strict apportionment. Also the abbot was wont, as
were his predecessors, at the end of every twenty weeks to give seven
shillings for the guard of the castle of Norwich out of his own purse,
for default of three knights, whose fees Roger Bigot holds of St.
Edmund. Each of the knights of four constabularies used to give
twenty-eight pence when they entered to perform their guards, and one
penny to the marshal who collected those pence; and they were
accustomed to give twenty-eight pence and no more, because the ten
knights of the fifth constabulary ought to assist the other forty, so
that whereas they ought to have given three shillings entire, they
only gave twenty-nine pence, and he whose duty it was to enter to
perform his guard service at the end of four months, entered at the
end of twenty weeks. But at the present time all the knights give the
full three shillings, and there remains to the abbot the surplus which
accrues beyond twenty-nine pence, from whence he can re-imburse
himself of the aforesaid seven shillings. It is apparent what force
had the words of the abbot which he spoke the first day, when he took
the homage of his knights, as aforesaid, when all the knights promised
him twenty shillings, and immediately revoked what they had said,
refusing to give him more than forty pounds in one sum, alleging that
ten knights ought to assist the other forty in aids and castle-guards,
and all such like services.
There is certain land in Tivetshall of the abbot's fee, which used to
pay to the watchmen of the castle of Norwich waite-fee, that is,
twenty shillings per annum, payable five shillings on each of the four
Ember fasts. This is an ancient customary payment which the abbot
would well wish to do away with if he could, but considering his
inability to do so, he has up to now held his peace and closed his
eyes to it.