shannonmcsheffrey

Monk on the run

In 1512 George Akeryg, a “monastic oblate” (novice monk) of St Mary’s abbey, Merevale, Warwickshire, sought sanctuary at St Leonard’s Hospital in York. He evidently wasn’t happy about his religious vocation. Akeryg, on the run from his abbey, ended up in the city of York. He went to St Mary’s abbey, where he stole aContinue reading “Monk on the run”

An abjurer’s story

Abjurers making their way into exile often encountered problems and sometimes they came back into court to tell quite a story about their tribulations. Such was the case with Richard Bery, carpenter of Sittingbourne, Kent, who took sanctuary in 1512 at the parish church in Kidbrooke. He confessed to theft and swore to leave theContinue reading “An abjurer’s story”

Hitting for the cycle: sanctuary, benefit of clergy, pardon

Here, another felon cycling through the three major forms of mitigation available to accused criminals in England circa 1500. Though hardly unpunished, George Courtenay of Hampshire was able to avoid the noose and after twenty years walked free. Courtenay, called in different records gentleman or merchant of Romsey, Hampshire, took sanctuary in 1514 in Caistor,Continue reading “Hitting for the cycle: sanctuary, benefit of clergy, pardon”

Prison fight

In 1515 a coroner’s inquest at the Marshalsea prison for prisoner Robert Croke found another prisoner, Thomas Tyler, had killed Croke in a knife fight. Tyler came before the justices at King’s Bench on Croke’s homicide two years later (which seems a long delay). At trial, Tyler – rather oddly – pleaded sanctuary, not becauseContinue reading “Prison fight”

Henry VIII and the sanctuary men of St Martin’s

In the King’s Book of Payments, three times between late 1514 and mid-1516, Henry VIII gave 100 shillings (£5) for the support of two men in the sanctuary of St Martin le Grand. The two men, John Gamlyn and Thomas Porter, were termed in the records “prisoners, sanctuary men.” But why was the king supportingContinue reading “Henry VIII and the sanctuary men of St Martin’s”

Murderer in priest’s clothing

In 1516 John Bewesbury, a shoemaker of Maidstone in Kent, assaulted John Hudson, also of Maidstone. Stabbing him with the usual knife, Bewesbury gave Hudson a wound from which he died several weeks later. Bewesbury fled to the collegiate church of All Saints in Maidstone to claim sanctuary. He later escaped, the inquest jurors reported,Continue reading “Murderer in priest’s clothing”

Sanctuary and the Hunne affair

One of the most notorious English scandals of the mid-1510s was the death in custody of Richard Hunne, a London merchant tailor in battle with his parish priest. One of the men accused in his death fled to sanctuary. Hunne’s quarrel with his parish priest involved a customary fee for the burial of one ofContinue reading “Sanctuary and the Hunne affair”

Highway robbers in the Strand church

In January 1516, three highway robbers, Robert Dodde, Richard Couper, and Thomas Horneclyff (all described as yeomen of London), attacked two men at Bagshot, Surrey. Following the robbery, the felons fled to the church of St Mary le Strand with the stolen goods, including a horse (presumably left in the churchyard). Their case excited aContinue reading “Highway robbers in the Strand church”

Asylum at the Bristol Temple Fee

In 1516 three Bristol men (John White; John Johnson; and Edward Fowler) were indicted for a murder in the Kingswood forest outside Bristol, bringing up another problematic sanctuary case. When brought before King’s Bench weeks later, they pleaded sanctuary, claiming that they had taken asylum at the Temple Fee in Bristol, a property originally belongingContinue reading “Asylum at the Bristol Temple Fee”

The Savage case and sanctuary in the 1510s

The case of John Savage is one of the most famous of English sanctuary cases, about which some of the most influential scholarship on the subject has been written. I would argue, however, that the Savage case has been misinterpreted and its significance overstated. Nonetheless it reveals a lot about what was happening with sanctuaryContinue reading “The Savage case and sanctuary in the 1510s”