undated claim of feudal privileges in Lytham, by which the prior of Durham asserted his right to have view of frankpledge in his manor of Lytham, with waif, stray, and infangthefe[1]; emendations of the assize of bread and beer; wrecks of the sea; exemption for himself and tenants in Lytham from suit to the county and wapentake, and from fines and penalties; to have soc, sac, and theam;[2] and finally, to have free warren over all his lands in Lytham, and all royal fish taken there. During the reign of Edward I. the legality of the ecclesiastic's assumption of the sole right to wreckage was called in question, ultimately ending in litigation, and at Trinity Term, York, the verdict of the jury was given against him. In the twenty-third year of his sovereignty, Edward I. granted the wreck, waif, and stray of Lytham to his brother Edmund, the earl of Lancaster. Amongst the Rolls of the Duchy is the record of an agreement, entered into in 1271, between Ranulphus de Daker, sheriff of Lancaster, Richard le Botiler, and others, for arranging and fixing, with the consent and approval of Stephen, the prior of Lytham, the boundaries between the land of Lytham and Kilgrimol, and that of Layton. The priors of Lytham were entirely dependent on the parent house until 1443, when they solicited and induced Pope Eugenius to issue an edict declaring the prior of that date and his successors perpetual in their office and no longer removable at the will and dictation of the monks of Durham. Afterwards, in the same year, letters patent were received at the Lytham cell, pardoning the application to the papal See and granting the request;[3] but the union between the two houses was not absolutely dissolved, for we find that, in addition to the various properties at Lytham and Durham continuing to be valued together, the cell and domain of the former place were granted in 2 Mary, 1554, to Sir Thomas Holcroft as part of the possessions of the Durham convent. In
- ↑ Infangthefe.—The power of judging of theft committed within the manor of Lytham.
- ↑ Soccum.—The power and authority of administering justice. Saccum.—The power of imposing fines upon tenants and vassals within the lordship. Theam.—A royalty granted for trying bondmen and villeins, with a sovereign power over their villein tenants, their wives, children and goods, to dispose of them at pleasure. This badge of feudal slavery was abolished in England during the reign of Charles II.
- ↑ Rot. Lit. Pat. 22 Hen. vi. p 1, m. 6.
