Abstract
Memories of village events that coincided with that key baptism can be arranged into a number of categories beyond what we saw in Chap. 4. Men talked with pride of having sons (and a few other kinsmen) becoming priests. Some jurors told of having held “public office” at various levels: sometimes in the royal bureaucracy, sometimes at the local level or for the gentry and aristocracy. And, because the jurors were men of good middling standing, there were many memories of their business dealings: buying and selling land, buying and selling animals (sometimes in impressive numbers). Many of these transactions rested upon further references to literacy and written documents: charters, indentures, leases, and the like. The overall picture is one of much activity, mostly being locally focused.
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Notes
- 1.
22/360.
- 2.
18/1180.
- 3.
24/128: 18/857.
- 4.
16/107. From another juror at the same Proof, we learn of “a mighty wind through England 23 years ago, at which time the heir was 3 years of age and more and recognized as such by his kinsmen, acquaintances, and friends.”
- 5.
15/656.
- 6.
24/400.
- 7.
21/875: 17/1319.
- 8.
22/527: 24/562, and Henry Wygge was now “65 and more.”
- 9.
25/351.
- 10.
25/303.
- 11.
23/723.
- 12.
23/309. The Proof was that of William Ingilby son of Eleanor, daughter of William Moubray and Margaret, she having been wife of William Cheyne, chevalier.
- 13.
22/831; 23/718.
- 14.
15/449.
- 15.
23/423; 25/295.
- 16.
23/724.
- 17.
17/430. This is the same Proof as that in which several servants of Lord Cromwell remember that he had beaten them for various transgressions.
- 18.
22/678; 22/562.
- 19.
15/893; 17/576.
- 20.
15/159. The Proof was held at Leicester, the Wednesday after St. Peter in Cathedra 2 Richard II. The Proof was that of William, son of William Deyncourt, knight.
- 21.
22/829. The chances are that he was dismissed.
- 22.
22/366.
- 23.
20/671.
- 24.
22/674; 18/990.
- 25.
20/265; 23/139. For the same statement of homage , this time to Lord Beaumont, 23/308.
- 26.
23/419.
- 27.
24/567.
- 28.
15/291.
- 29.
16/954; 18/1123, this being a Proof of Age for John Arundel in 1406 and obviously a ceremony that drew some peers and their ladies.
- 30.
25/336.
- 31.
26/245, though little difference it would have made to Mason.
- 32.
17/1321.
* * *
- 33.
23/601: 26/145: 18/994: 19/342.
- 34.
21/874.
- 35.
20/272.
- 36.
19/999. Neither of these other men is otherwise mentioned.
- 37.
23/596.
- 38.
24/560. One man bought a horse for 100s and also gave his bond to pay by or at the following Easter: 19/781.
- 39.
15/657.
- 40.
26/352.
- 41.
24/272. The sheep may have belonged to the John whom the juror met, but regardless of who owned them, they were dead.
- 42.
24/398. This Proof takes on a “can you top this” style, with memories of a juror who broke his shin at a bear baiting, a man blown off the bridge and drowned, a man who almost drowned when “his horse staggered and fell,” another broken shin from a fall while fighting a fire , and finally—3 broken ribs on the right side from falling while pursuing a felon. At least one man could offer that his daughter had been confirmed by a suffrage bishop on the day of the baptism.
- 43.
25/296.
- 44.
22/530.
- 45.
15/655.
- 46.
23/139: 16/107.
- 47.
15/659.
- 48.
25/298.
- 49.
22/830. A fellow juror said he had on that day “purchased to himself and his heirs 8 a. lying in Colchester … as in clear in the charter made therein.”
- 50.
20/265.
- 51.
22/262.
- 52.
23/140.
- 53.
25/295.
- 54.
25/448.
- 55.
21/671.
- 56.
16/1123.
- 57.
20/184.
- 58.
22/677. More “bad things happen” about ships are offered: “lost a ship in a sudden storm at sea” (23/141).
- 59.
25/295.
- 60.
21/1148.
- 61.
26/354.
- 62.
21/874. A fellow juror said that “on that day John’s grandfather, William Bonevyle, knight, acquired a piece of meadow in Pen from him to hold in fee simple by a charter sealed in the church of Pen.”
- 63.
22/350.
- 64.
22/828. This sounds like what we would think of as “a nervous breakdown.”
- 65.
19/392: 19/999.
- 66.
21/368.
- 67.
18/996.
- 68.
18/129.
- 69.
15/613. The mention of the two forms of alcohol probably means that they were usually beyond his own purse.
- 70.
23/601. This juror’s memory is about as close to a sarcastic or critical comment system we have, whereas the beating of a servant (by Lord Cromwell) was a normal part of social hierarchy and it seemingly was so accepted by the servant (17/430).
- 71.
18/998. Other jurors had held torches, had heard a discussion about the choice of a name for young Henry, told of rabbits being sent for the post-baptismal dinner, discussed the choice of a good wet nurse with the midwife, named the godfather, and told of a gift of a silver cup.
- 72.
19/99.
- 73.
18/673.
- 74.
19/777. A similar goal drew jurors to a picture of St. Leonard (19/778) and St. George (19/786). Either there was an outburst of iconographic art or this kind of memory was a respectable one to offer.
- 75.
21/673.
- 76.
21/146.
- 77.
25/527.
- 78.
15/449. That the missal, rather than account rolls, was the proper place for such an inventory is of interest.
- 79.
16/1053.
- 80.
15/654.
- 81.
19/141.
- 82.
20/130.
- 83.
23/602.
- 84.
21/371.
- 85.
21/558. Interesting that the record was set down in a service book of the church when both parties were regular clerics and presumably represented houses that kept their own records, probably in addition to what our jurors were concerned with.
- 86.
18/675: 25/526: 20/844.
- 87.
21/874.
- 88.
20/269.
- 89.
20/841.
- 90.
25/525.
- 91.
26/148. The only other urban-focused memory was from a fellow juror; “the altar of St. John the Baptist in the church was consecrated on the same day.”
- 92.
23/137: 23/142.
- 93.
16/76.
- 94.
19/188: 15/892.
- 95.
18/999.
- 96.
18/667.
- 97.
20/268. The maternal grandfather of the heir was a Chelrey and, no doubt, had founded the chantry and made the original endowment.
- 98.
15/652. It sounds as though someone was given the money and authorized to go shopping.
- 99.
17/576.
- 100.
23/716.
- 101.
15/892. It was also the day on which the parishioners began to make two altars “in the body of the church.”
- 102.
20/131.
- 103.
19/341.
- 104.
25/475.
- 105.
20/148. This is the only memory of such a proceeding—an annulment, perhaps?
- 106.
19/341.
- 107.
15/893.
- 108.
15/658.
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Rosenthal, J.T. (2018). More Scenes from Village Life. In: Social Memory in Late Medieval England. The New Middle Ages. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69700-0_5
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