Patent Roll 49 Edward III

CPI_69
8 Apr. 1375
Dublin
To the provost and commonalty of the town of Jerpoint.

In aid and repair of the bridge over the river Nore [super aquam del Noor] situated near the said town, and also for the sustenance and improvement of one tower and a gate in the southern part of the said bridge, to prevent the K.'s enemies and rebels from crossing the bridge both by day and by night, GRANT that, for ten years from the day these presents were made, the provost and community of the town of Jerpoint, and their successors, may take the following customs from all articles for sale coming beyond the said gated bridge, or crossing the same, both from citizens and burgesses and from other towns and places from which the said articles for sale come or cross the said bridge, as aforesaid, viz.:

from each crannock of any kind of grain, ½d;
from each crannock of salt, ½d;
from each horse or mare, hobby, ox or cow for sale, ½d;
from each carcass of an ox or cow, ½d;
from each hide of ox or cow, hobby, horse or mare, [whether] fresh, salted or tanned for sale, ¼d;
from 5 bacon hogs for sale, ½d;
from 10 sheep or goats, 1d;
from 5 pigs for sale, ½d;
from 10 lambs for sale, ½d;
from each hundredweight of wool-fells or shorlings for sale, 2d;
from each hundredweight of skins of lambs, blotfells, skins of goats, hares and rabbits for sale, ½d;
from each hundredweight of Irish cloth for sale, 4d;
from each hundredweight of linen cloth for sale, 2d;
from each whole English cloth of whatever colour for sale, 1d;
from each whole Irish cloth for sale, 1d;
from each falding for sale, ¼d;
from each tun of wine for sale, 4d;
from each hundredweight of iron for sale, 4d;
from each hundredweight of hemp for sale, 4d;
from each dozen salmon or lamprey for sale, 1d;
from each wey [pisa] of oil, tallow, butter and cheese for sale, ½d;
from each cart-load of Tandoust for sale, 1d;
from each mease of herrings for sale, 1d;
from each sum of sea-fish, fresh or salted, for sale, ½d;
from each 1000 of any nails for sale, 1d;
from each 100 dried fish for sale, 1d;
from each hundredweight of eels for sale, ½d;
from each hundredweight of Teselys for sale, ½d;
from each hundredweight of any kitchenware of brass or copper, worked or unworked, for sale, 2d;
from 2 solidates of any merchandise whatsoever that is not named in these letters for sale, ½d.

ORDER to take the said customs from those going and returning over that bridge until the end of the said term, as is said before, such that the money derived from this source is spent on the repair and improvement of the said bridge, tower and gate, and not otherwise. At the end of each year during that term, an account for this is to be rendered faithfully by them before the venerable father in Christ, the bishop of Ossory, and the abbot of Jerpoint, or before others if requested by the same bishop and abbot, and not at the K.'s Ex., in the due and accustomed form. And at the completion of the said term, the said customs shall cease and be removed entirely.1

Attested: 
[William Windsor] governor [and keeper of Ire.]
Authorized: 
By petition of council.
T: 

CPI, p. 69 (=transcript of Ir. PR 49 Edw. III, m. 5); NLI, [Harris] MS 3, f. 130–130v.

C: 

RCH; BL, Egerton MS 76, p. 81; NLI, GO MS 193, p. 37.

Footnotes: 

1 Harris (NLI, Ms 3) attributes this letter to 48 Edw. III, and records it as having been attested by William Tany, prior of the hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

The following abbreviations are used within in the text of CIRCLE

  • abp = archbishop [of]
  • BMV = beate Marie Virginis [of the Blessed Virgin Mary]
  • C. = chancellor [plural: chancellors]
  • co. = county (i.e. medieval shire: lower case ‘c’) [plural. cos.]
  • dcd = deceased
  • e. = earl of
  • Edw. = Edward (used when giving dates by regnal year)
  • Eng. = England
  • esq. = esquire [plural: esquires]
  • Ex. = exchequer
  • g.s. = great seal
  • Hen. = Henry
  • Ire. = Ireland
  • Jcr = justiciar [plural: justiciars]
  • JP = justice of the peace
  • K. = king
  • kt = knight
  • Lt = lieutenant
  • O.Carm. = Order of Carmelites
  • O.F.M. =  Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans)
  • O.P. = Order of Preachers (Dominicans)
  • Ric. = Richard (used when giving dates by regnal year)
  • s. = son
  • sen. = seneschal of
  • T. = treasurer [plural: treasurers]
  • w. = wife

This glossary is by no means comprehensive. Readers may also wish to consult standard references books such as Joseph Byrne, Byrne’s dictionary of local Irish History from the earliest times to c.1900 (Cork, 2004); P. G. Osborn, Osborn’s concise law dictionary, ed. Sheila Bone (London, 2001).

Abbreviations

  • AN = Anglo-Norman
  • Ir. = Irish
  • Lat. = Latin
  • ME = Middle English
  • OED = Oxford English Dictionary

 

Term

 Explanation

advowson

The right of patronage or presentation to a church benefice.

allocate, writ of

A writ authorizing allowance to be made by the officers of the Ex. of a specified amount: often this amount is to be off-set against the debts owed to the K. by the beneficiary.

alterage

A form of affinity proscribed in late medieval Ireland between the Irish and the English, whereby a man stood sponsor for a child at baptism; (also) gossipred.

assize

Technical term for legal proceedings or various kinds. See mort d’ancestor, novel disseisin.

avener [Lat. avarius]

provider of oats, esp. for the household of the K. or his chief governor

avoirdupois

Miscellaneous merchandise sold by weight.

bonnaght [Ir. buannacht]

The billeting of mercenaries or servants.

cask

See tun.

certiorari, writ of

Letters close issued by the K. to his officers commanding them to supply information to him concerning a specified matter, normally by searching the records.

chattels

Property, goods, money: as opposed to real property (land).

dicker [Lat. dacra]

A measure of 10 hides.

dower

Portion (one third) of a deceased husband’s estate which the law allows to his widow for her life.

escheat

The reversion of land to the lord of the fee to the crown on failure of heirs of the owner or on his outlawry.

extent

A survey and valuation of property, esp. one made by royal inquisition.

falding [Ir. fallaing]

A kind of coarse woollen cloth produced in Ireland; the mantle or cloak made from the same.

fee-farm
 

A fixed annual rent payable to the K. by chartered boroughs.

fotmel [Lat. fotmellum]

A measure of lead.

engrossment

Technical term: the action of writing out, for instance patent letters and charters; (also) the documents thus written out.

enrolment

Technical term: the action of recording in the records of the K., esp. the registering of a deed, memorandum, recognizance; (also) the specific item or record thus enrolled.

hanaper

A repository for the keeping of money. The ‘clerk of the hanaper in chancery’ was the chancery official responsible for the receipt of fines for the issue, engrossment and ensealing of writs, patents and charters issued by the chancery.

herberger [Lat. herbergerius, hospitator]

One sent on before to purvey lodgings for an army, a royal train (OED).

galangal [AN galyngale]

The aromatic rhizome of certain Asian plants of the genera Alpinia and Kaempferia, of the ginger family, used in cookery and herbal medicine; (also) any of these plants (OED).

generosus [Lat.]

Term designating social status: translated as ‘gentleman’.

king's widow [Lat. vidua regis]

The widow of a tenant in chief: so called because whe was not allowed to marry a second time without royal licence.

knights’ fees

Units of assessment of estates in land. Originally a single knight’s fee was the amount of land for which the military service of one knight (=knight service) was required by the crown. ‘Fee’ derives from the Latin feudum, which in other contexts translated as ‘fief’. In practice the descent of landed estates meant that many knights’ fees came to be subdivided and, in the later Middle Ages, personal service was frequently commuted to money payments (=scutage).

liberate, writ of

A chancery writ issued to the treasurer and chamberlains of the Ex. authorizing them to make payment of a specified amount, often the annual fees, wages and rewards of the K.’s officers.

linch [Lat. lincia]

A measure of tin.

livery

The delivery of seisin, or possession, of an estate hitherto held in the K.’s hand, for instance when a minor reaches the age of majority.

mainprize

Legal term: the action of undertaking to stand surety (=‘mainpernor’) for another person; the action of making oneself legally responsible for the fulfilment of a contract or undertaking by another person (OED).

mass [Lat. messa]

A standard measure of metal.

messuage

 A portion of land occupied, or intended to be occupied, as the site for a dwelling house; (also) a dwelling house together with outbuildings and the adjacent land assigned to its use (OED).

mort d’ancestor, assize of [Lat. assisa mortis antecessoris]

A legal process to recover land of which the plaintiff’s ancestor (father, mother, uncle, aunt, brother sister, nephew or niece) died seised (=in possession), possession of which was since taken by another person.

nolumus, clause of [Lat. cum clausula nolumus]

A standard clause inserted especially in letters of protection by which pleas and suits are delayed for a specified period of time.

novel disseisin, assize of [Lat. assisa nove disseisine]

A legal process to recover land from which the plaintiff claims to have been dispossessed (=disseised).
pensa See wey.
piece [L. pecia] A standard quantity of merchandise.
pendent seal Seal hanging from engrossed letters patent attached to a tongue or tag of parchment.
perpresture An illegal encroachment upon royal property.
plica A fold along the foot of engrossed letters patent and charters to create a double thickness of parchment, used for attaching the ‘great seal pendent’ to the letters. An incision was made in the plica and through which a tag of parchment was attached. A wax impression of a seal was then affixed to the tag.
protection An act of grace by the K., granted by chancery letters, by which the recipient is to be free from suits at law for a specified term; granted especially to persons crossing overseas or otherwise out of reach of the courts in the K.’s service.
quare impedit, writ of An action brought to recover the advowson of a benefice, brought by the patron against the bishop or other person hindering the presentation.
scutage The commutation of personal military service to the crown for a money payment. Normally called ‘royal service’ in Ireland.
seisin Formal legal possession of land.
sendal [Lat. cendallum; ME cendal] A thin rich silken material (OED).
stallage [Lat. stallagium, estallagium] Payment for a market stall.
tun [Lat. dolium] A large cask or barrel, esp. of wine.
valettus A term designating social status: translated ‘yeoman’.
Vidua Regis [Lat.] See King's widow.
volumus, clause of [Lat. cum clausula volumus] A standard clause inserted esp. in letters of protection by which pleas and suits are delayed for a specified period of time. In full the clause runs: volumus quod interim sit quietus de omnibus placitis et querelis (=we wish that meanwhile he be quit of all pleas and plaints).
waif A piece of property which is found ownerless and which, if unclaimed within a fixed period after due notice given, falls to the lord.
waivery [AN weiverie] The technical term for proceedings of outlawry in the case of women.
wey [Lat. pensa, peisa, pisa] A standard of dry-goods weight.
worsted [ME wyrstede] A woollen fabric or stuff made from well-twisted yarn spun of long-staple wool combed to lay the fibres parallel (OED).
writ [Lat. brevis] Letters close containing commands by the K. to certain specified persons, esp. royal officers. Returnable writs, which were not normally enrolled in the chancery rolls, were to be returned by the officer to chancery with details of the actions taken by the officer in response to the contents. See also allocate, certiorari, liberate.