expenses," and in that manner the dispute was brought to a termination about the year 1343.
In 1337 Sir William de Clifton, of Westby, made an offer to the abbot of Vale Royal to purchase certain tithes from him for twenty marks, and on the ecclesiastic refusing to entertain this proposition, the indignant knight became most unruly and outrageous in his conduct, as shown by the following charge which was that year preferred against him by the abbot, who stated:—
"That he had thrust with a lance at a brother of the monastery in the presence
of the abbot and convent; that he had retained twenty marks which he was
pledged and bound to pay to the abbot, in order to weary him with expenses and
labours; that it was the custom, from time immemorial, for the parishioners of
Kirkham to convey their tithe-corn to their barns, and there keep it until the
ministers of the rector came for it; but that he (Sir William Clifton), in contempt
of the church, had allowed his tithes and those of his tenants to waste and rot in
the fields, and very often by force and arms had driven away the tithe-collectors;
he also had compelled a cart of the rector, laden with hay, to remain on his land
for upwards of a month, and in derision had made the rector's mare into a hunting
palfrey; he also had neglected to keep the tithes of his calves, pigeons, orchards,
huntings, and hawkings, and would not allow the procurator, under threat of
death, to enter his estate, but he and his satellites had irreverently burst into the
sanctuary of God, where they had assailed the priests and clerks, and impeded
them in the discharge of their duties. Moreover the aforesaid knight would not
permit any of his tenants who were living in flagrant sin, to be corrected or
punished by the ordinaries."[1]
In concluding the above list of misdemeanours, the abbot complained
that Sir William had ordered a severe flagellation "even
to the effusion of blood," to be inflicted on Thomas, the clerk, in
the town of Preston, and that this scourging had taken place as
directed, in the presence of the under-mentioned gentlemen, who
seemed to have been well pleased with the vigorous measures
adopted by the knight, and to have rendered him willing assistance
when called upon:—
Richard de Plumpton,
Nicholas Catford,
William the provost,
William Jordan, junr.,
John Dence,
Robert Carter,
John Garleigh,
Richard de Tresale,
Henry de Tresale,
William Sictore,
William Sictore, junr.,
Adam de Scales,
Richard Walker,
John Mydelar,
- ↑ Fishwick's History of Kirkham—from the Harl. MSS.
