Читать книгу History of the Fylde of Lancashire онлайн

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In 1268 the Honor of Lancaster, the Wapentake of Amounderness, and the manors of Preston, Ribby-with-Wray, and Singleton were given by Henry III. to his son Edmund Crouchback, and in addition the king published an edict forbidding the sheriffs of neighbouring counties to enter themselves, or send, or permit their bailiffs to enter or interfere with anything belonging to the Honor of Lancaster, or to the men of that Honor, unless required to do so by his son. Edmund was also created earl of Lancaster, and became the founder of that noble house, whose possessions and power afterwards attained to such magnitude as to place its representative, Henry IV., upon the throne, although nearer descendants of his grandfather Edward III. were still living.

We have now arrived at the unsettled era, comprising the reigns of the three Edwards and Richard II., and during the whole of the time these monarchs wore the crown, a period of one hundred and twenty-six years, the nation was engaged in continual wars—with the Welsh under Llewellyn, the Scotch under Bruce and Wallace, and the French under Philip. The reign of Richard II. was additionally agitated by the insurrection of Wat Tyler. Looking at that long uninterrupted season of excitement, we cease to wonder at the riotous and disorganized state into which society was thrown. The rulers, whether local and subordinate, or those of a higher grade, were too actively engaged in forwarding the efficiency of the army, to devote much attention to the welfare and proper government of the people. Crimes and disturbances were allowed to pass unpunished, and evil-doers, being thus encouraged to prosecute their unlawful purposes, carried their outrages to the very confines of open rebellion against all power and order. It was not until such a dangerous climax had been reached that a commission, consisting of the following judges, Peter de Bradbate, Edmund Deyncourt, William de Vavasour, John de Island, and Adam de Middleton, was appointed to deal summarily and severely with all offenders in the counties of Lancaster and Westmoreland. During those troublesome times Sir Adam Banastre and a number of others assaulted Ralph de Truno, prior of Lancaster, and his train of attendants at Poulton-le-Fylde, seized and carried him off to Thornton, where they brutally ill-used and finally imprisoned him. An inquiry into the disgraceful proceeding was instituted by order of Edward I., but the result has not been preserved, at least no record of it has as yet been discovered amongst any of the ancient documents concerning this county. Leyland, who was antiquary to Henry VIII., alluding to the death of the disorderly knight, says,—“Adam Banastre, a bachelar of Lancastershire, moved ryot agayne Thomas of Lancaster by kraft of kynge Edward II., but he was taken and behedid by the commandment of Thomas of Lancaster.” The first part of the quotation has reference to a quarrel between the earl of Lancaster and Sir Adam, who for his own aggrandizement and to curry favour with the king, as well as to divert the attention of that monarch from his own misdeeds, declared that Thomas of Lancaster wished to interfere with the royal prerogative in the choice of ministers; and, professedly, to punish such presumption he invaded the domains of that nobleman. An encounter took place in the valley of the Ribble, not far from Preston, in which the followers of Sir Adam were vanquished and put to flight. Their leader secreted himself in a barn on his own lands, but, being discovered by the soldiers of his opponent, was dragged forth and beheaded with a sword. Subjoined is an account of a disturbance which occurred at Kirkham during the same period, transcribed from the Vale Royal[26] register:—“A narrative of proceedings in a dispute between the abbot of Vale Royal, and Sir Will. de Clifton, knt., respecting the tithes in the manor of Clifton and Westby, in the parish of Kirkham, A.D. 1337, in the time of Peter’s abbacy. The charges alleged against Sir William state, that he had obtained twenty marks[27] due to the abbot; had forcibly obstructed the rector in the gathering of tithes within the manor of Clifton and Westby; seized his loaded wain, and brought ridicule on his palfrey: that he had also burst, with his armed retainers, into the parish church of Kirkham, and thereby deterred his clerks from the performance of divine service; had prevented the parishioners from resorting to the font for the rite of baptism; and that, having seized on Thomas, the clerk of the abbot of Vale Royal, he had inflicted on him a flagellation in the public streets of Preston. After a complaint, made to the abbot of Westminster, a conservator of the rights and privileges of the order to which Vale Royal belonged, Sir William confessed his fault and threw himself on the mercy of the abbot of the Cheshire convent, who contented himself, after receiving a compensation for his rector’s losses, with an oath from the refractory knight, that he would in future maintain and defend the privileges of the abbey, and would bind himself in forty shillings to offer no further violence to the unfortunate secretary of the abbot.”