Gorges. Cole's case. again was a good Cornish name. (5) There is an appeal of mayhem; the appellee did not appear and the sheriff returned that he was not to be found; thereupon the sheriff was directed to exact him in three county courts and inform the justices of the result. Against this is written Casus ipsius qui desponsauerat uxorem Radulfi de Gorges antequam dictus Radulfus. This I believe refers to a case found elsewhere in the Note Book. One Thomas of Bayeux carried off the king's ward Ellen daughter of Ivo of Morville and married her: the king had intended to give her to Ralph Gorges; steps seem to have been taken to outlaw Thomas and his accomplices (this is the point that the annotator takes ;) when Thomas appeared it was adjudged that Ellen being an infant was not bound by the marriage; they were separated and she afterwards married Ralph'. This allusion therefore seems sufficiently explained by the Note Book itself; but it may be added that the family of Gorges gave its name to the manor of Braunton Gorges which lies in the same parish as that manor of Saunton which was once in the hands of Henry of Bratton, also that in 1258 and 1262 Bracton was appointed to hear assizes in which Ralph Gorges was concerned3. (6) Cole was, as it is, a common name, therefore when we find against a case fere casus Cole we learn little. 4 Excerpta e Rot. Fin. vol. 2, p. 577. 1 See Maclean, History of Trigg Minor, vol. 1, p. 189, vol. 2, p. 158, and the index of that valuable book. 2 Case 346. 3 Cases 1263, 1267. 5 Rot. Pat. 42 Hen. 3, m. 15d; 46 Hen. 3, m. 16 d. (MS. Ind.) 6 Case 269. However in 1238 a Richard Cole held land in Cornwall. A fine is preserved which was levied between him and the Prior of Launceston touching the church of St Juliotts; another levied between him and William atte Hasse'. In 1254 or thereabouts a Richard Cole was charged before Bracton with a disseisin done at Kadekeber' (Cadbury?) in Devonshire'; on another occasion a Richard Cole of Sebrittescot' comes before Bracton as a juror along with a Raleigh, a Tracey and others. In 1262 one of the assizes which Bracton was commissioned to hear was brought against Martin Cole for land at Coombe in Devonshire". (7) Casus de Cornw. A family which bore the name Cornu. De Cornu was seated at Horwood a few miles east of Bideford. Ralph de Cornu was sheriff of Devon in 12507. In the same year Roger Le Cornu and Fina his wife paid a mark for an assize before Henry of Bratton. (8) Against a case illustrating the rules of descent, we winscot. have Nota Wynescot. There is a place called Winscot in the parish of St Giles in the Wood near Torrington, which gave its name to a family of landowners. A Johannes de Wynescote appears several times on Bracton's two Assize Rolls, once as engaged in litigation touching common at Morchard Bishop"; a Walterus de Wynescote is also mentioned"; but the case to which allusion is made in the Note Book has not been found. (9) Against a case 13 deciding that an infant is not bound Raleigh. by his fine, we have Nota casum Hug' fil' Wymundi de Ralegha primogenitum et postnatum qui fuit infra etatem de concordia inter eos facta coram H. de Brattona. There is no need here to prove that Bracton was concerned with the case to which reference is thus made. 1 Feet of Fines, Cornwall, 22 Hen. 3, No. 3 and 7. 2 Coram Rege Roll, No. 96, m. 8. 4 Rot. Pat. 46 Hen. 3, m. 12 d. (MS. Ind.) 5 Case 1904. 6 Polwhele, Devonshire, vol. 2, p. 409 note. There is extant the foot of 7 Risdon, Devonshire, vol. 1, p. 8 Excerpt. Rot. Fin. vol. 2, p. 83. 10 Lysons, vol. 6, p. 246. 11 Coram Rege Roll, No. 96, m. 1d, 12 Coram Rege Roll, No. 90, m. 10d. a fine' levied in A.R. 40, before the justices in eyre at Exeter between Wymund of Raleigh and Warin of Raleigh, whereby, (this early specimen of elaborate conveyancing is worth notice) Wymund recognizes land at Bolleham to be the right of Warin, to hold of Wymund and his heirs to Warin and the heirs of his body, and after his death if he die without issue, to Wymund younger brother of Warin and the heirs of his body, and after his death if he die without issue, to Reginald brother of Wymund and the heirs of his body, and after his death if he die without issue, to Richard brother of Reginald and the heirs of his body, and if Warin, Wymund, Reginald and Richard die without issue, then the land is to revert to Wymund of Raleigh and his heirs. In 1259 Bracton was commissioned to take an assize of mort d'ancestor between Hugh and Warin of Raleigh for land at Belham. well be the case to which the annotator refers. 1265 Warin of Raleigh and Hawisia his wife pay a halfmark for an assize before Bracton. That Bracton himself held land of a Raleigh has been shown above*. This may Again in (10) Nota de villanis Henrici de Tracy de Tawystocke qui nunquam fuerunt in manu Domini Regis nec antecessorum suorum et loquebantur de tempore Regis Eadwardi coram W. de Wiltona. This must allude to a case from Bracton's time: William of Wilton was just his contemporary; Tavistock, it were needless to say, is in Devon; Henry of Tracey sat as justice of assize along with Bracton, and was often appointed to deliver the gaol at Exeter. In 1279, as appears from a case in the Placitorum Abbreviatio" the men of Tavistock were again disputing with their lord as to whether they were entitled to the protection given to tenants of the ancient demesne. Two records, as it seems, were produced against them, the earlier of which was a case before Bruce and Middleton justices of assize in the 47th year of King Henry (1262-3). I should suppose that the case before 1 Feet of Fines, Devon, Hen. 3, No. 492. Rot. Pat. 43 Hen. 3, m. 13 d. (MS. Index.) 3 Excerpt. Rot. Fin. vol. 2, p. 423. See above p. 16. 5 Case 1237. 6 Plac. Abbrev. p. 270. Wilton was yet earlier than this; much later it cannot have been, for Wilton was killed at Lewes on 14th May, 1264. of the cases. Even in imagination it is pleasant to walk in Devon. Geography We take the train to Barnstaple; Bracton was archdeacon of Barnstaple. The next morning we may stroll easily to Raleigh, the cradle of the great house, and so on through Heanton Punchardon and Braunton Gorges to Saunton the manor which Bracton held: we have left Bratton Fleming some six miles to our right. Crossing the Braunton Burrows, we may be ferried over the estuary of the Taw and Torridge to Appledore; and so to Bideford; there will yet be time to visit Horwood where the Cornus lived. If we would see Winscot we must go south to Torrington, and then a third day's walk will take us over the Cornish border to Stratton, the home of Blanchminsters or Whitchurches: the church there claims our notice; Rannulf Blanchminster and the Prior of Launceston fell out about it and Bracton heard the cause. Then our way will lie in pleasant places; one day along the shore to St Juliott's, pretending if we can that we are interested in the Prior of Launceston, for this church also he acquired from one Richard Cole. We are not far now from the home of Ralph Arundell. But let us cross the Bodmin moors; on their south-eastern verge near the Cheese Wring we find Tuckenbury, and we remember how the Raleighs gave Bracton the manor of Tykenbrede for his life. On to Tavistock, where the villeins of Henry Tracey quarrelled with their lord and relied in vain on Doomsday Book. Richard Corbyn's manor of Belstone we can reach next day; the way lies straight across Dartmoor; it is a wild way, but (teste meipso) there is none pleasanter in England. Of course we can go round by the high-road, and a detour, none too long, will take us through Broadwood Wiger and Bratton Clovelly. To Exeter will be no long walk from Belstone; we must enter the cathedral, seek the spot where they laid the body of Henry Bratton, where they prayed for his soul and the soul of John Wiger. At his tomb our pilgrimage might end; but if one day more can be spared, we will go through Huxham and Thorverton, find Punchardon in Summary. Special The Statute of Merton. the parish of Kentisbere and catch the train at Tiverton. Montacute we might visit on our way back through Somersetshire, if we cared to see the scene of the 'Casus Corbyn'. Not far out of our track have lain Ash Reigney, Buckland Brewer, Bovey Tracey, Newton Tracey, Nymet Tracey, Colaton Raleigh, Combe Raleigh, Withycombe Rawleigh. Many questions are solved by walking; Beati omnes qui ambulant. These ten cases 'noted up' in the margin of the Note Book seem to supply a link of just the kind that was wanted. Our two writers not only select the same rolls, rolls of Pateshull and Raleigh, ponder over the same cases, hold the same juristic theories, use the same unusual phrases, but also are interested in the same counties, in the same set of people, Arundells, Punchardons, Traceys, Raleighs; they have personal as well as professional interests in common. If more be needed to make them one, perhaps it is that both should have been guilty of the same astonishing blunder. The fifth Argument. The Baronial Nolumus. The last point which can be discussed is of some curiosity, for it concerns the legitimation of bastards and that famous baronial Nolumus of which all have heard; but we must proceed cautiously and patiently, for we have to deal with an intricate question. The reader may be asked to keep two dates steadily before his mind, the 12th of October 1234, and the 23rd of January 1236. (1) The Statute of Merton as printed by the Record Commissioners' professes to have been made on the 23rd Jan. 1236, the morrow of S. Vincent in A.R. 20. It contains eleven chapters the subject matters whereof are as follows:cap. 1. Damages in actions for dower. 2. Widows may bequeath the crop on their dower lands. 3. Procedure and punishment in case of redisseisin. 1 Statutes of the Realm, vol. 1, p. 1. |