A 1478 a London coroner’s inquest jury, convened over the body of John Aventry of London, gentleman, reported that one Richard Edriche, a London hackneyman, had lain in wait to attack Aventry. Edriche (they said) assaulted Aventry with a staff, giving him a wound from which he died about a month later. Edriche then (onContinue reading “A murderer escaping punishment, or a false accusation?”
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Feud in Cumbria?
Something was going on in the Cumbrian town of Sedbergh in the late 1470s. It seems to have started in July 1477, when Thomas Wadeson, a labourer of Sedbergh, beat John Wilson with a clubstaff, giving him a wound on his head from which Wilson died two days later. Nearly two years later, in AprilContinue reading “Feud in Cumbria?”
Galloping to sanctuary
Amongst the Beverley sanctuary seekers was John Marshall, painter of Banbury, Oxfordshire. He sought sanctuary at Beverley on 14 December 1479 for the death of a man whose name was unknown to him. He–somehow–killed him in a certain pit (delva) by Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire. Marshall must have hightailed it to Beverley, because he showed upContinue reading “Galloping to sanctuary”
Another ‘self-defence’ homicide seeker at Durham
In October 1479, Gilbert Heg of Lambeth, Surrey, assaulted a constable, presumably in Lambeth. He struck him with a dagger known as a wynyard, wounding him in the chest. Gilbert claimed that he did this in self-defence. Five days after their encounter the constable died – and so Gilbert was on the hook for homicide.Continue reading “Another ‘self-defence’ homicide seeker at Durham”
A coincidence of Smerthwayts?
The records for sanctuary seekers are always missing key info, but sometimes more than others. Two men named Smerthwayt were invoked by seekers at Durham in December 1479 and February 1480: Connected? Coincidence? On 27 December 1479 Robert Burton of Dent, Cumbria, sought sanctuary at Durham on an indictment for cattle theft. He had beenContinue reading “A coincidence of Smerthwayts?”
Self-defence with bow-and-arrow
Robert Person, a carpenter from Barnard Castle, county Durham, sought sanctuary at Durham Cathedral on 2 February 1480 because four years before at Haldworth near Halifax, Yorkshire, he shot an arrow at Thomas Ferrour. Person claimed self-defence. I guess the idea was that Ferrour attacked, and somehow Person whipped out his bow and could getContinue reading “Self-defence with bow-and-arrow”
An abjurer found in the realm
At the end of March 1480 John Bere, a cutler from Bristol, took sanctuary at the parish church at Water Lambeth, Surrey, across the Thames from Westminster. Bere confessed to the coroner that more than three years before, just before Christmas 1476, he had murdered a certain Richard Hylles at Sampford Peverell, Devon. He choseContinue reading “An abjurer found in the realm”
A gentlewoman and a homicide
This is a rare example of a woman seeking sanctuary for homicide: in September 1480 Robert Beawmont, “litteratus” of Almondbury, Yorkshire, and Elizabeth Beawmont, gentlewoman of Hedon, Yorkshire, sought asylum at Beverley. The two Beawmonts confessed the killing of Thomas Aldirlay of Almondbury, eleven months before. Elizabeth Beawmont is one of only seven women I’veContinue reading “A gentlewoman and a homicide”
A petty thief hanged
On 4 April 1481, Richard Aleyn, yeoman of Wimborne Minster, Dorset, took sanctuary in Winchester Cathedral: his is an all-too-typical story of what seems outsized consequences for small-scale theft. Aleyn confessed to the coroner that a week before he’d broken into John North’s house at Gulford in Wiltshire and stolen 12 yards of woolen cloth,Continue reading “A petty thief hanged”
Last-minute reprieve
Here’s a drama! On 28 April 1481 Geoffrey Gwynnyth, yeoman of London, took sanctuary in St George’s church in Southwark, confessing to the coroner that he had stabbed John Sander at Tottenham in 1478, killing him. Gwynnyth abjured the realm, and was to leave by Dover; a week later, however, he had been found inContinue reading “Last-minute reprieve”
Sanctuary Seekers in England, 1394-1557 