History of
medieval MaldonHistory of
medieval Maldon
The earliest surviving draft of the list of local customs was written into the oldest Court Book in March 1444, but apparently copied from a much older source possibly pre-dating the earliest known ordinance registered in the court records (1389); this source was probably the "book of customs" to which there are a few references – taken jointly these references seem to imply that the book was compiled around 1380/81. The town's acquisition of jurisdictions from its lords would have been a sufficient motivation to compile a written set of customary usages of the town. A more expansive list was drawn up and approved by the General Court held on 8 January 1468, with the earlier version incorporated as capitula 1-13 and many of the other ordinances made since the 1380s gathered from court records and added; a few later ordinances were entered at the end of the list (cap.47 onwards). The next edition was compiled in 1555.
Below is a summary and paraphrase (not a verbatim transcription) of the 1468 edition of the custumal with the later additions; clarifying insertions of my own are in square parentheses [ ] and I add notes concerning sources or later changes. For chapter titles I have used both the 1468 and the 1555 recensions. The chapter numbering is my own, and the loss of a parts of some of the pages (between chapters 14 and 15, and 24 and 25) may indicate that some customs are missing, although it is not clear from the 1555 recension what these might have been – possibly the 9th chapter of that recension is one of the missing items. This, based on a local ordinance of 1389, states that all types of pleas may be brought before the borough court each Monday.
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| cap. 1 inheritance |
The heir to a man's lands
is to be the youngest son of his first wife. If the man only has
daughters, the lands are to be divided between them, but the youngest
may have first pick. If the children are underage, their mother
(or stepmother, if applicable) shall be their guardian; if she fails
to maintain the property, she shall lose guardianship to the nearest
friends of the deceased. The widow has dower right in her late
husband's property, even if she remarries – although the children
are not to lose their inheritance as a result of her remarriage.
Notes: the points about guardianship and dower were omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 2 bequests of land |
A man may devise any
properties that he has purchased during his lifetime, so long as the
devise is confirmed in court before the bailiffs at the next or the
second court [after his decease?], failing which
the properties shall go to the heir
[see cap.1].
Notes: the 1555 recension seems to imply the devise had to be brought before the court during the lifetime of the townsman, whereas the earlier version above suggests a form of local probate of wills (or at least those portions relating to property within the town). This custom did not apply to property which the townsman had inherited. |
| cap. 3 lands for blood-kin |
If any man wishes to sell any
burgage property, the sale must be
announced at the next court when, if any of his kinsman wishes to buy
the property, he may do so at a lower price than anyone else.
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 4 suits for burgage |
Every holder of burgage lands must perform suit for them at the four General Courts. |
| cap. 5 essoins |
Every
freeman shall have the right to make
3 essoins before having to appear
to answer a charge in court. Upon pain of fine (3d for freemen, 6d for
foreigners), no man shall answer
without finding attachments.
Notes: it is not clear here whether "foreigners" is being used to refer to those from outside the town, or to residents who were not freemen. |
| cap. 6 bakers/brewers |
If any baker or brewer is
convicted of using false weights or measures, he shall be fined for
the first two offences; for the third, he shall go to the pillory. All
measures are be sealed [i.e. be marked with a stamp
indicating borough approval].
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 7 freeman's right |
If any merchandise comes to
the town by land or water, every
freeman may demand a share. Ships
must remain in port for 3 tides to allow freemen the time to buy before
foreigners; after the elapse of
that period, the merchant may sell to whom he pleases. However, if a
freeman who takes a share fails to pay for it, or the seller may recover
his losses by the bailiffs and council imposing a tax on the whole
town.
Notes: in the 1555 recension, this was elaborated and divided into two chapters, to distinguish between victuals and other merchandise; the above conditions were retained in the case of victuals, but for other merchandise cash-on-the-spot conditions applied. |
| cap. 8 hides |
Only
freemen are allowed to buy fresh
hides in the town.
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 9 masters |
No man being in the borough
shall have a servant or tenant unless prepared to
answer for him in court, with regard
to trespasses and fines.
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 10 markets |
On market day no man shall
regrate, nor sell meat, fish or
other foodstuffs until the hour of prime, when the bell is rung.
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 11 butchers |
Butchers are not to sell
unwholesome meat.
Notes: the 1555 recension adds that peddlars should not sell unwholesome or stinking fish; any such meat or fish would be confiscated. In 1402 the inmates of St. Giles' hospital, founded to support burgesses who had developed leprosy, asserted a raditional claim on any sub-standard meat, fish, bread or ale confiscated by the authorities. |
| cap. 12 qualifications for the franchise |
No
alien that marries the widow of
a freeman is to be received into the
franchise on those grounds. However,
the widow may retain the rights of a freeman while she remains single.
A freeman's daughter may make her husband free, by fact of the marriage.
No man is to be received into the franchise unless he takes oath before
the bailiffs and 4 or 6 wardemen to be true to the franchises of the
town and obedient to its officers.
Notes: an expanded version of this was included in the 1555 recension; it included specifications about the admission fee, and the provision that all children born to a man after he had become a freeman had the right to the franchise at a minimal fee (this was clearly the case with sons in the fourteenth century and was probably so taken for granted that not felt worth mentioning in the earliest custumal). |
| cap. 13 elections |
All
freemen are to assemble in the
common hall on Friday after Epiphany [6 January] to
hear the bailiffs' accounts [i.e. of annual revenues and
expenditures]. On that day the wardemen shall choose the new
bailiffs and other officers, from the more worthy men. If it is
necessary to fill gaps in the ranks of the wardemen, then new members
are to be chosen from the most able and most discrete townsmen. If any
of the wardemen is found to act contrary to the interests of the
community, he shall be removed and
a replacement chosen by assent of the community. Once a man has been
elected bailiff, he shall never afterwards be elected to any other office,
except representative to parliament.
Notes: the 1555 recension edited this so that only the matter of freemen attending elections was included; a separate chapter was devoted to the question of the cursus officiorum |
| cap. 14 measures |
No man is to sell by any
measure that is not sealed with the town's seal, upon pain of fine (or,
if the culprit refuse to pay a fine, loss of
franchise).
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension; it seems that the need was felt for a more explicit or more general statement of this custom than is found in cap.6, and such a statement originated as an ordinance passed in April 1421. |
| cap. 15 orders to bailiffs |
Every resident who has borne
the estate of bailiff is to be ready to come to the moothall at all times,
upon command of the bailiffs, to discuss matters related to the common
benefit. Any refusing without reasonable excuse shall be fined.
Notes: a similar requirement appears in the 1555 recension but restricted only to members of the town council. In May 1408 we find a number of wardemen fined for failing to respond to a summons to discuss town business. |
| cap. 16 suits between freemen |
No
freeman is to sue another freeman
outside the borough, without first having pursued his case as far as it
can be taken in the borough court, and then must obtain ballival licence
to transfer the case elsewhere.
Notes: that this was a serious problem is suggested by the fact that the 1555 recension expands this chapter by noting that failure to comply would result in 40 days imprisonment, a great fine, and loss of the franchise. |
| cap. 17 wardemen |
Anyone chosen as wardeman who
induces strife or argument among his fellowship during council meetings
shall be fined.
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 18 butchers market |
No butcher is to sell in the
market on Sunday after matins is rung on the bell of All Saints church,
on pain of a fine and confiscation of the meat (which will be equally
divided between the town and the supervisors of the market). Shops may
open their doors, but not their windows, on Sundays [up until
the matins bell].
Notes: the 1555 recension included other trades in this prohibition, although this may have been understood in earlier times. |
| cap. 19 pigs |
The owner of any pig allowed
to run loose shall be fined 4d., of which 2d. to the town and 2d. to the
man who finds the pig and drives it to the town pound.
Notes: based on an ordinance made January 1411; the 1555 recension added to this a fine for keeping hogs in town at all. |
| cap. 20 security of the peace |
The bailiffs may take
surety for [keeping
of] the peace if necessary, at the suit of any resident of the
borough, or imprison individuals until they find sureties.
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension, for by this time the king had given the bailiffs powers of Justices of the Peace, a higher authority than local custom. |
| cap. 21 imprisonment |
The bailiffs have full power
to punish all manner of "naughty brauleres and bryboures, nyght walkeres,
stastrykeres and evese dropperes" by fine or by imprisonment.
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension, probably for the same reason as cap.20. |
| cap. 22 mortar |
"Brothelled brawlers" who
refuse to submit to the bailiffs' judgement for their crimes – viz. a
fine of 6d. for a man and 4d. for a woman – shall bear the mortar,
according to old custom of the town, as appears in [records
dated] 4 Richard II (1380/81).
Notes: I am not certain what the mortar was, but it was a punishment of humiliation also applied to scolds and whores and was something carried or perhaps worn; omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 23 blood |
No man is to make affray
against another so that blood is drawn, on pain of 40d. fine.
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension, probably for the same reason as cap.20. |
| cap. 24 amercement |
Notes: the text is lost, nor is this theme dealt with in the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 25 freemen to colour nothing |
No
freeman is to pretend that a
foreigner's goods are his own, for
purposes of buying or selling, upon pain of loss of franchise.
Notes: the concern here was with evasion of tolls on market goods coming into the town. |
| cap. 26 foreigners |
No
foreigner may buy or sell within
the town unless he has bought a licence to do so (40s.) from the
bailiffs.
Notes: the 1555 recension has something similar, but the licensing requirement is more specifically directed at foreigners buying merchandise or victuals at the port with the intent of re-selling it in town (presumably in the market). |
| cap. 27 pigs on causeways |
Any pig lacking a ring
[i.e. through its nose, by which to be tied up]
and damaging a causeway shall incur a fine of 4d.
Notes: based on an ordinance made in January 1423; it is not clear if/how this goes beyond the provisions for vagrant pigs in cap.19, and the 1555 recension omits it. |
| cap. 28 sealed measures |
Notes: this is basically the same as cap.14, except that a fine of 6s.8d is specified; omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 29 cleaning the town |
Any resident who places dung
or wastes on the common roads shall be fined 40d.
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension, although it contains chapters prohibiting women, servants or children from casting dust or domestic refuse into the High Street, or from throwing refuse within forty feet of the highway when dumping on the dunghills at the Hythe or at town's end. |
| cap. 30 selling distance |
No resident may sell
victuals within 5 miles of the town, under penalty of 6s.8d for the
first offence and loss of franchise
for the second.
Notes: the object here was to prevent the rise of competition to the town's market, which was of course excepted from the prohibition (although this was not made explicit until the 1555 recension). |
| cap. 31 payment of account |
Each bailiff shall give an
accounting for [borough finances during] his term each
year. All debts due from the account are to be paid, from the
accountant's own money if necessary. The accountants may not withdraw
from the court until all debts and arrears are fully paid.
Notes: this originated in ordinances of 1423 and 1426; outgoing bailiffs had to present the borough accounts at the January General Court following election of their replacements. The 1555 recension continues this principle, although by that time it was the chamberlains who were the accounting officers. This custom reveals one of the disincentives to office-holding, in personal liability for the successful collection of anticipated revenues, although the intent was really to ensure the bailiffs took their responsibilities seriously – they were absolved from paying from their own pocket revenues that genuinely could not be levied. |
| cap. 32 loose pigs |
Any pig found wandering loose
in the town may be sold publicly for the profit of the town. If anyone
finds an alien pig in his pasture,
or on any pasture belonging to the town, and sets his dogs on it or
attacks it with a stick, so that the pig dies, the attacker cannot be
prosecuted [by the pig's owner].
Notes: this further chapter dealing with loose pigs suggests they were a persistent nuisance at this period, which perhaps explains the strength of the descriptor "alien" applied to them; omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 33 writ re. liberties |
The town has two markets, on
Wednesdays and Saturdays, and many other
liberties. No-one is allowed to
set up a market within a great distance of the town, nor to anything
else against the liberties, upon pain of £10 fine.
Notes: this is said to stem from a writ obtained from the king, perhaps (given the tenor of the next chapter) one related to the dispute over a rival market in Heybridge in 1338; omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 34 Heybridge |
It has been the custom since
time beyond memory that no vessel sail to Heybridge to load or unload
without paying a fee.
Notes: in fact, it had been a matter of long dispute, but one gradually resolving in the town's favour; an ordinance to similar effect was passed in June 1423, and another ordinance on the same theme in July 1448. |
| cap. 35 complaint about the bailiffs |
A common custom is that the
counsel of the borough in all things is to be concealed and the
judgements made by bailiffs shall be observed. No-one fined by
bailiffs and council for any transgression in a public matter may
complain [i.e. appeal] to a lord or
foreign gentleman, under
pain of 20s. fine or loss of franchise.
Notes: an ordinance to this effect is referred to during the case of Giles Morvyle who had lied about his birthplace when becoming a freeman and, when later accused of being an alien and failing to prove otherwise, had tried to get help from some external lord to counteract his condemnation by the bailiffs (1458). |
| cap. 36 rental of bridges |
Notes: the text of this chapter, omitted from the 1555 recension, is simply a cross-reference to information about rental of bridges and causeways in the "the new edition of the great book of ancient customs" (itself not extant) It is not clear what the tenor of this information would have been, but it was probably connected with farming out collection of tolls on merchandise travelling via the town bridge and the causeway leading through the marsh to it (see cap.39). |
| cap. 37 no alien to be armed |
No Dutchman or other
alien may bear a weapon, on pain
of its confiscation.
Notes: based on an ordinance of April 1463 which adds the exception of a knife with which to cut meat; the 1555 recension adds the further proviso that an alien could carry a weapon when leaving town on a journey, or when returning. "Dutchman" was a catch-all term for people from the Low Countries and Germany, likely the leading sources of alien residents in Maldon. |
| cap. 38 lodging of aliens |
Every
alien must be in his house by 10
o'clock in the summer and 8 o'clock in the winter; any officer or
freeman may bring a defaulter to
the hall to pay a fine or provide an excuse.
Notes: based on an ordinance of April 1463; the 1555 recension included the servants of aliens in the curfew. |
| cap. 39 bridge customs |
Each cart and each pack-horse
carrying merchandise across the bridge shall pay 1d.
Notes: the town court proclaimed, in January 1465, that this was an old custom; omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 40 honouring officers |
No resident burgess is in
anger to call a bailiff or wardemen by any name such as thief, knave,
backbiter, whoreson, false, foresworn, cuckold, or bawd.
Notes: the 1555 recension specifies a fine of 6s.8d for this offence. |
| cap. 41 swearing of aliens |
It is ancient custom that
each alien take oath to be obedient
to the bailiffs and not to complain of them to any person of superior rank,
on pain of 20s. fine.
Notes: the 1555 recension has a lower fine of 15s. |
| cap. 42 (title destroyed) |
Any brewer who sends ale from
his house to gannokers on Sundays at the time of matins, mass or other
divine service, shall be fined 12d.
Notes: gannokers were ale-wives – women who retailed (and sometimes brewed) ale; this chapter is struck through and was omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 43 bailiffs' oath |
Notes: oaths are omitted from the 1555 recension; they are not typical elements of custumals. |
| cap. 44 burgess' oath [see cap.12] |
|
| cap. 45 constables' oath |
|
| cap. 46 oath of sergeants at mace |
Notes: the last item was a later addition to the original text. |
| cap. 47 counsel of the town |
The whole ward ordained on
10 January 1477 that if any wardeman disclose the counsel of the
town [i.e. deliberations of its administration] he
shall be fined 20s.
Notes: the 1555 recension extends this specifically to include bailiffs and town clerk. |
| cap.48 bailiff's livery |
Every bailiff shall have
16s.8d for his livery, to be worn on Corpus Christi day in procession,
on condition he buy a gown of the same colour, failing which they
shall have the old allowance of 13s.4d.
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 49 chamberlain's hood |
Each
chamberlain shall have 5s. for
livery, on condition he buy a hood, failing which he shall have only
3s.4d.
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 50 constables' costs |
Every constable charged
to the [court] sessions shall have 8d a day
for ward of the town box.
Notes: the box referred to was presumably used to hold money collected from fines; omitted from the 1555 recension. |
| cap. 51 almshouse |
It was ordained at the court
of election on 9 January 1484 that the two wardens of the almshouses
shall, each year on this day, render account and deliver any surplus
therefrom to the chamberlains.
Notes: omitted from the 1555 recension. |
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| Created: August 29, 1998. Last update: September 20, 2009 | © Stephen Alsford, 1998-2009 |