A HISTORY OF SUSSEX appears to have been done in Sussex so fully that little change is notice- able in the position of the more prominent families. Amongst the royalists to whom the lands of the rebels were at first granted may be noted Imbert de Montreal, one of the gallant defenders of Pevensey, the recipient of the lands of William de Goldingham/ and of Gervase, WilHam and Robert de Bestenoure," who afterwards redeemed them by payment of ^lOO.' If the latter part of the reign of Henry III. was a period of anarchy and illegality, the converse is true of his successor's reign. The name of Edward I. is inseparably linked with the idea of law and order, and almost his first act on returning from the Holy Land to take up the reins of government in 1275 was to issue commissions and articles of inquiry for the great inquest whose returns are known as the Hundred Rolls.* The picture presented by these returns for the county of Sussex is a dark one of oppression and extortion ; from the sheriff to the catchpoll, from the earl to the bailiff of a petty manor, every officer seems to have used his position and power to wring money from those below him. But the remedy of such abuses was not the only, even if it was the principal, reason for this inquest, which was also intended to be an inquiry into the usurpation of royal rights and franchises by the nobles and manorial lords. The result of this investigation is seen more fully in the proceedings upon the writs ' de quo Warranto ' ° of 1278, which throw so much light on the local jurisdiction of Sussex and other counties. At the time that these writs were issued it is said to have been the King's intention to seize into his own hands all franchises and privileges exercised by prescription only and not by virtue of a royal charter, regranting such as he might see fit for payment. This ex- pedient for raising funds was, however, abandoned as a result of the opposition it aroused. The story of Earl Warenne drawing his rusty sword and vowing that as his ancestors had won their lands and privi- leges therewith so would he defend them, is well known ; it is true enough to the spirit of that and other noblemen, though its literal accuracy may well be doubted ; if made, the boast was an idle one for one whose name and lands had descended to him in the female line. In taking a brief survey of local jurisdiction and privilege in Sussex at the end of the thirteenth century, we may first notice that of the fifty-three returns made at this time twenty, including many of the most comprehensive, relate to ecclesiastics, several of them being only connected with the county by the possession of small holdings. Thus the Abbot of Westminster at Parham, the Bishop of London at Lods- worth, the Templars at Compton, and the Hospitallers at Midhurst, recite all their well-known long lists of privileges. The Archbishop of Canterbury's extensive holding, though not mentioned, enjoyed the same > He had acted as the younger Simon de Montfort's head bailiff of the district (Assize Roll, 1207). ' Supplementary Close R. 3. 3 Close, 50 Hen. HI. m. lod.
- Rotuli HundreioTum (Rec. Com.), ii. 201-19.
6 Rotuli de Quo Warranto (Rec. Com.), 749-63. 502
