London vintner John Parkyns had a tavern in St Michael Queenhithe parish, near the river. One day in March 1530, Parkyns had a run-in with two of the sheriff’s sergeants and both sergeants ended up dead. Though sometimes in the case of a double homicide the coroner held one inquest and wrote one report, inContinue reading “The Happy Hour murders”
Tag Archives: Homicide
The Southwell-Pennington feud
On 20 April 1532, near the king’s palace at Westminster, two gentlemen, Richard Southwell, esquire, and Sir William Pennington, faced one another in a sword fight, a quarrel that ended in Pennington’s death. The slaying came at a sensitive time in Henry VIII’s reign: much attention was focused that spring on ‘the King’s Great Matter’,Continue reading “The Southwell-Pennington feud”
Managing a murder indictment
This case, abounding with mysteries, ironies, secrets, and manipulations, is perfect as the germ for a novel. On 3 March 1532, gentleman Robert Woode of Abingdon, Berks, met with a clerk named John Mable in the “great chamber” of the abbot of St Mary’s Abbey in Abingdon. Let’s assume that the abbot was there, too,Continue reading “Managing a murder indictment”
Murder in the Welsh marches
In September 1532, George ap Mathewe Gogh, along with 9 other men, murdered one Roger Lloyd at Welshpool in the Welsh marches. A few months later he sought sanctuary at Westminster. When the census of those privileged of the sanctuary was taken on 1 June 1533, he was listed (“George a Mata Gowghe”) as havingContinue reading “Murder in the Welsh marches”
A serjeant of the mace slain
On 4 March 1533, John Ode alias Wode, serjeant of the mace (one of the London sheriffs’ officers) had an altercation with George Cornwall, a young Hereford gentleman known for his unruly life. Though the records don’t say so, it seems quite likely that their quarrel had something to do with Ode’s job, which includedContinue reading “A serjeant of the mace slain”
Murder on the Thames: John and Alice Wolfe
In mid-July 1533, Cologne merchant and gunpowder-maker John Wolfe and his wife Alice Wolfe led a group of co-conspirators in the heinous murder of two Italian merchants on a boat in the Thames. The home base for their elaborate plot was the sanctuary precinct at Westminster: John Wolfe was registered there as a debtor andContinue reading “Murder on the Thames: John and Alice Wolfe”
The Cappadocian gunner
In 1534 a gunner and gunpowder maker from Cappadocia in the Ottoman Empire got into a quarrel with a beer brewer, himself probably also an immigrant to England. The brewer ended up dead. The gunner’s name was hard to render into English, so he was listed by a number of aliases in the indictment: LucasContinue reading “The Cappadocian gunner”
Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap: Humphrey Eye runs to Bewdley
Violence was a vital tool for male aristocrats in the reign of Henry VIII; presumably not all gentlemen and noblemen assassinated their enemies at the drop of a hat, but the records of criminal prosecution show that some not only did so but did it with impunity. Much of the time the high-status men whoContinue reading “Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap: Humphrey Eye runs to Bewdley”
A pesky bit of youthful murder
One October afternoon in 1534, two lawyers fell into a quarrel. Both were at Barnard’s Inn (one of the “law inns,” where common lawyers received their training), and they may have been students. John Margettes, an Irishman, mortally wounded John Yaxley, stabbing him in the stomach. Margettes immediately fled to Westminster Abbey. This allowed himContinue reading “A pesky bit of youthful murder”
The death of Geoffrey Jones, member of the king’s household
Aristocratic retainers and servants weren’t part of the civic political community in London, but they often lived there, certainly walked its streets, and killed one another there from time to time. On 7 March 1536 around 8pm, Geoffrey Jones, yeoman, was found dead in Tower Street on the east side of the City of London.Continue reading “The death of Geoffrey Jones, member of the king’s household”
Sanctuary Seekers in England, 1394-1557 