TROUBLES WITHOUT
Geoffrey Ridel, Bishop of Ely, sought from the abbot some timber for
the purpose of constructing certain great buildings at Glemsford. This
request the abbot granted, but against his will, not daring to offend
him. Now the abbot making some stay at Melford, there came a certain
clerk of the bishop, asking on behalf of his lord, that the promised
timber might be taken at Elmswell; and he made a mistake in the word,
saying Elmswell when he should have said Elmsett, which is the name of
a certain wood at Melford. And the abbot was astonished at the
request, for such timber was not to be found at Elmswell.
Now when Richard the forester of the same town had heard of this, he
secretly informed the abbot that the bishop had the previous week sent
his carpenters to spy out the wood of Elmsett, and had chosen the best
timber trees in the whole wood, and placed his marks thereon. On
hearing this, the abbot directly discovered that the messenger of the
bishop had made an error in his request, and answered that he would
willingly do as the bishop pleased.
On the morrow, upon the departure of the messenger, immediately after
he had heard mass, the abbot went into the before-named wood with his
carpenters, and caused to be branded with his mark not only all the
oaks previously marked, but more than a hundred others, for the use of
St. Edmund, and for the steeple of the great tower, commanding that
they should be felled as quickly as possible. When the bishop, by the
answer of his messenger, understood that the aforesaid timber might be
taken at Elmswell, he sent back the same messenger (whom he
overwhelmed with many hard words) to the abbot, in order that he might
correct the word which he had mistaken, by saying Elmsett, not
Elmswell. But before he had come to the abbot, all the trees which the
bishop desired and his carpenters had marked were felled. So the
bishop, if he wanted timber, had to get other timber elsewhere. As for
myself, when I witnessed this affair, I laughed, and said in my heart,
"Thus art is deceived by art."
On the death of Abbot Hugh, the wardens of the abbey desired to depose
the bailiffs of the town of St. Edmund, and to appoint new bailiffs of
their own authority, saying that this appertained to the King, in
whose hand the abbey then was. But we, complaining thereof, sent our
messengers to lord Ranulf de Glanville, then justiciary. He answered,
that he well knew that forty pounds a year ought to be paid from the
town to our sacrist, specially for the lights of the church; and he
said that Abbot Hugh, of his own will, and in his privy chamber,
without the consent of the convent, had granted the bailiwick as often
as he chose, and unto whom he chose, saving the forty pounds payable
to the altar. And therefore it was not to be wondered at if the King's
bailiffs required this same thing on the King's behalf. Speaking in
bitter language, he called all our monks fools for having permitted
our abbot to do such things, not considering that the chief duty of
monks is to hold their peace, and pass over with closed eyes the
excesses of their prelates; nor yet considering that they are called
barrators if they, whether it be right or wrong, contravene their
superiors in anything; and, further, that sometimes we are accused of
treason and are condemned to prison and to exile. Wherefore it seems
to myself and others the better counsel to die as confessors rather
than as martyrs.
On the return of our messenger home, and on his relating what he had
seen and heard, we, as being unwilling and, as it were, under
compulsion, resolved, so far as we were able, that the old bailiffs of
the town should be deposed, as well with the common consent of the
convent, as by the keepers of the abbey. Samson, then sub-sacrist, was
very reluctant to join in this proposition. However, when Samson was
made abbot, he, calling to remembrance the wrong done to the abbey, on
the morrow after the Easter following his election, caused to be
assembled in our chapter-house the knights and clerks, and a number of
the burgesses, and then in the presence of them all, said that the
town belonged to the convent and to the altar, namely, to find tapers
for the church; and that he was desirous of renewing the ancient
custom, so that in the presence of the convent, and with the consent
of all, some measure should be taken concerning the bailiwick of the
town, and of such like matters which appertained to the convent.
At that time were nominated two burgesses, Godfrey and Nicholas, to be
bailiffs; and a discussion taking place from whose hand they should
receive the horn, which is called the moot-horn, at last they took it
from the hands of the prior, who, next to the abbot, is head over the
affairs of the convent.
Now these two bailiffs kept their bailiwick in peace many years, until
they were said to be remiss in keeping the King's justice. On the
abbot's suggestion that greater security should be given to the
convent upon this point, they were removed, and Hugh the sacrist took
the town into his own keeping, appointing new officers, who were to
answer to him concerning the bailiwick. In process of time, I know not
how, new bailiffs were subsequently appointed, and that elsewhere than
in chapter, and without the concurrence of the church; wherefore a
like or perhaps greater peril is to be apprehended after the decease
of Abbot Samson than even was after the death of Abbot Hugh.
One of our brethren, too, fully relying upon the regard and friendship
of the abbot, upon a fit opportunity and with propriety and decency,
talked over the matter with him, asserting that dissatisfaction was
expressed in the convent. But the abbot upon hearing this was silent
for a long time, as if he was somewhat disturbed. At length he is
reported to have said, "Am not I, even I, the abbot? Does it not
belong to me alone to make order concerning the affairs of the church
committed to my care, provided only that I should act with wisdom and
according to God's will? If there should be default in the
administration of the King's justice in this town, I shall be
challenged for it; I shall be summoned; upon myself alone will rest
the burden of the journey, and the expenses, and the defence of the
town and its appurtenances; I alone shall be deemed a fool, not the
prior, not the sacrist, nor yet the convent, but myself, who am and
ought to be their head. Through me and my counsel, with God's
assistance, will the town be securely preserved to the best of my
ability, and safe also will be those forty pounds payable annually to
the altar. Let the brethren grumble, let them slander me, let them say
amongst themselves what they will, I am still their father and their
abbot; so long as I live 'I will not give my glory to another.'" This
said, that monk departed, and reported these answers to us.
I for my part marvelled at such sayings, and argued with myself in
various ways. At length I was compelled to remain in a state of doubt,
inasmuch as the rule of law says and teaches, that all things should
be under the governance of the abbot.
The merchants of London claimed to be quit of toll at the fair of St.
Edmund. Nevertheless many paid it, unwillingly indeed, and under
compulsion; whereof a great tumult and commotion was made among the
citizens in London at their hustings. They came in a body and informed
Abbot Samson that they were entitled to be quit of toll throughout all
England, by authority of the charter which they had from King Henry
the Second. The abbot answered that were it necessary, he was well
able to vouch the King to warrant that he had never granted them any
charter to the prejudice of our church, or to the prejudice of the
liberties of St. Edmund, to whom St. Edward had granted and confirmed
toll and theam and all regalities before the conquest of England; and
that King Henry had done no more than give to the Londoners an
exemption from toll throughout his own lordships, and in places where
he was able to grant it; but so far as concerned the town of St.
Edmund he was not able so to do, for it was not his to dispose of. The
Londoners, hearing this, ordered by common council that none of them
should go to the fair of St. Edmund. For two years they kept away,
whereby our fair sustained great loss, and the offering of the sacrist
was much diminished. At last, upon the mediation of the Bishop of
London and many others, it was settled between us and them that they
should come to the fair, and that some of them should pay toll, but
that it should be forthwith returned to them, that by such a
colourable act the privilege on both sides should be preserved.
But in process of time, when the abbot had made agreement with his
knights, and as it were slept in tranquillity, behold again "the
Philistines be upon thee, Samson!" Lo! the Londoners, with one voice,
were threatening that they would lay level with the earth the stone
houses which the abbot had built that very year, or that they would
take distress by a hundredfold from the men of St. Edmund, unless the
abbot forthwith redressed the wrong done them by the bailiffs of the
town of St. Edmund, who had taken fifteen pence from the carts of the
citizens of London, who in their way from Yarmouth, laden with
herrings, had made passage through our demesnes. Furthermore, the
citizens of London said that they were quit of toll in every market,
and on every occasion, and in every place throughout all England, from
the time when Rome was first founded, and that London was founded at
the very same time. Also, that they ought to have such an exemption
throughout all England, as well by reason of its being a privileged
city, which was of old time the metropolis and head of the kingdom, as
by reason of its antiquity. The abbot asked that the matter might be
deferred until the return of our lord the King to England, that he
might consult with him upon this; and having taken advice of the
lawyers, he replevied to the claimants those fifteen pence, without
prejudice to the question of each party's right.
In the tenth year of the abbacy of Abbot Samson, by the common counsel
of our chapter, we complained to the abbot in his own hall, stating
that the rents and issues of all the good towns and boroughs of
England were increasing and augmenting, to the profit of the
possessors, and the well-thriving of their lords, all except this our
town, which had long yielded forty pounds, and had never gone beyond
that sum; and that the burgesses of the town were the cause of this
thing. For they held so large and so many standings in the
market-place, of shops and sheds and stalls, without the assent of the
convent, indeed from the sole gift of the bailiffs of the town, who in
old time were but yearly renters, and, as it were, ministers of the
sacrist, and were removable at his good pleasure. The burgesses, being
summoned, made answer that they were under the jurisdiction of the
King's courts, nor would they make answer in derogation of the
immunity of the town and their charters, in respect of the tenements
which they and their fathers had holden well and peaceably for one
year and a day without claim. They also said the old custom had been
that the bailiffs should, without the interference of the convent,
dispose of the places of the shops and sheds in the market-place, in
consideration of a certain rent payable yearly to the bailiwick. But
we, gainsaying this, were desirous that the abbot should disseise them
of tenements for which they had no warranty.
Now the abbot coming to our council, as if he were one of us, said to
us in private, that he was willing enough to do us right, according to
the best of his ability, but that he, nevertheless, was bound to
proceed in due course of law; nor could he, without the judgment of a
court, disseise his free men of their lands or rents, which they had
held for many years, were it justly or unjustly. If he should do this,
he said, he should fall into the King's mercy by the assize of the
realm. Therefore, the burgesses, taking counsel together, offered to
the convent a rent of one hundred shillings for the sake of peace; and
that they should hold their tenements as they had been wont to do. But
we, on the other hand, were by no means willing to grant this, rather
desiring to put that plaint in respite, hoping, perhaps, in the time
of another abbot, to recover all, or change the place of the fair; and
so the affair was deferred for many years.
When the abbot had returned from Germany, the burgesses offered him
sixty marks, and sued for his confirmation of the liberties of the
town, under the same form of words as Anselm, and Ording, and Hugh had
confirmed them; all which the abbot graciously accorded.
Notwithstanding our murmuring and grumbling, a charter was accordingly
made to them in the terms of his promise; and because it would have
been a shame and confusion to him if he had not been able to fulfil
his promise, we were not willing to contradict him, or provoke him to
anger.
The burgesses, indeed, from the period when they had the charter of
Abbot Samson and the convent, became more confident that they, at
least in the time of Abbot Samson, would not lose their tenements or
their franchises; so that never afterwards, as they did before, were
they willing to pay or offer the before-named rent of one hundred
shillings. At length, however, the abbot giving attention to this
matter, discoursed with the burgesses hereupon, saying that unless
they made their peace with the convent, he should forbid their
erecting their booths at the fair of St. Edmund.
They, on the other hand, answered that they were willing to give every
year a silken cope, or some other ornament, to the value of one
hundred shillings, as they had before promised to do; but
nevertheless, upon this condition, that they were to be for ever quit
of the tithes of their profits, which the sacrist sharply demanded of
them. The abbot and the sacrist both refused this, and therefore the
plaint was again put in respite.
In point of fact, we have from that time to the present lost those
hundred shillings, according to the old saying, "He that will not when
he may, when he will he shall have nay."