Sussex Archaeological Collections/Volume 6/Visit of King Edward the Second to Battle and other parts of Sussex in 1324

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Sussex Archaeological Collections (1853)
Visit of King Edward the Second to Battle and other parts of Sussex in 1324 by William Henry Blaauw
3651076Sussex Archaeological Collections — Visit of King Edward the Second to Battle and other parts of Sussex in 1324William Henry Blaauw


Visit of King Edward the Second to Battle and Other Parts of Sussex in 1324.

By W. H. Blaauw, Esq., M.A., F.S.A.


Read at the Battle metting, JULY 23, 1852.


Extensive journeys across every part of England are in modern days made with so much ease by all classes of society, that it is becoming difficult to appreciate the strong contrast afforded by the slow, laborious, and costly progress of travellers over the same ground at an earlier period of our history. The poor necessarily staid at home, and generation after generation of the same humble families were gathered into the same churchyards, unless when their feudal duties summoned them to the perils of foreign war. Even to the rich baron a movement to or from his own estates and castle was a matter not lightly to be undertaken, nor without serious thoughts as to the furniture and bedding, the food and drink, the household menials, and the armed retinue, the animals and vehicles, which he must take with him on the road.

In tracing from ancient MSS.[1] some of the details of a royal progress of King Edward II in Sussex, it will be seen what preparation his officers had to make beforehand by sending even almonds, spices, and sugar, the accustomed luxuries of his table, into the country, as he could not expect there to meet with them, and it will be remarked how much he depended for food upon the gifts, whether willing or reluctant, of his subjects at every stage, and how much the direction and extent of his daily advance was influenced by the convenience of finding good quarters in monasteries, or feudal dwellings.

In the formal accounts of the expenses of this journey, no intimation is given of its object. It occurred in the year 1324, the eighteenth year of the incapable reign of Edward II, who had now replaced the loss of his favourite Gavaston (from whom his father had separated him when a youth during a former visit to Sussex at Midhurst) by the equally unpopular Spensers, under whose guidance he had recently overpowered the league of his barons, and established a long truce with Scotland. In the dispute, however, with France concerning Guienne, the English king had been summoned to do homage to Charles the Fair for that fief of the French crown, and indeed previous to King Edward's approach to the south coast, he had appointed, on July 8, the bishop of Norwich and two knights to treat with the French king, and to arrange with him a day and place for a personal interview, to put an end to the disputes which had arisen about the castle of Mont Pessat:[2] it was probably with a view to this meeting, and his intended visit to Gascony, that the journey took place.

Roger Mortimer, Queen Isabella's notorious favourite, after repeated acts of treason, had lately escaped from the Tower into France. Spenser was naturally distrustful of the king's safety and his own, had they put themselves within reach of his malice, so that ultimately the meeting of the two kings was abandoned, and the fatal compromise was adopted of sending to France the young Prince of Wales with the queen, instead of the king, a measure which, two years after, led to his dethronement.

Edward II had been principally residing at his palace of Westminster from the middle of June till he commenced his journey into Sussex. In the beginning of August, however, he issued directions from Guildford to prepare ships, and collect an armed force at Portsmouth to accompany him abroad. (Rot. Pat. 18o Ed. II, p. 1, m. 6.) The officers of his household had leisure to get ready packages of dainties for the king's eating, and to send them forward to be ready at his halting places.

The use of strong spices was at this time so general, that a provision of them was deemed indispensable, and as some of the articles sent are now little known, it may be explained that canell was powdered and strewed on bread; galinga, or galingale, an aromatic root of pungent flavour, imported from India, was also used in a powder with food, and long continued common in England. Edward II seems to have prepared himself for his journey in the same manner as did the pilgrims to Canterbury, described by the great poet of the next reign:—

"A coke they hadden with hem for the nones
To boile the chikenes, and the marie bones,
And poudre marchant, tart, and galingale." —Chaucer, Prol, 383.

Pignons, or pignola, the seeds of pine cones, were a common food in France even to the seventeenth century. See Legrand d'Aussy, Vie privée des Français.

In August, 38lb of rice, five score and eleven pounds of almonds, 1½ qts. 2 oz. of cloves, besides pepper, canell, galinga, a box of pine seeds (pign'); and in September, 40½lb of rice, 168lb of almonds, a box of ginger, cloves, pepper, canell, mace, saffron, &c. (a) were thus provided; and we also find the charge for 33 ells of stuff made up into sacks and pokes (saccis et pokettis) to pack up these luxuries, and some sugar loafs, in order to forward them to divers places for the use of the king's household (b).

After leaving London, the king received some presents on his road at Otteford, and at Bromle (2 pikes and 60 pears) from his old friend Walter Reynolds, then Archbishop of Canterbury (d); and he was at Tunbridge from August 23d to Monday the 27th.

Edward II seems to have been especially fond of fruit, and while living with his mother at Langley in 1300, "Nicholas de Gocham, fruiterer, sent him from London pears, apples, nuts, and other fruits, at the price of 20s. 11d." (c.r. — w.n. 2469, xvii). From Tunbridge he dispatched a messenger, Maurice de Hothlegh, with letters under the privy seal to the sheriffs of London, for the expenses of which journey he was paid the very moderate sum of 4d. (e.f).

On Monday, August 27th, the king went to ("Begehamme") Bayham Abbey, where three pikes were offered him, one from the abbot, two from John de Grovehurst[3] (d). A horse had been hired to bring down from London 600 pears, and 600 large nuts in one day to this abbey, and a lad was paid 8d. wages for accompanying it (c). As only fish and fruit are mentioned, it must be supposed that the king went on for his more substantial meal to Robertsbridge Abbey (f), where the abbot had provided two carcases of oxen (carcas' boum), and 6 cheeses, from the court of Rudham (de curia Rudhami). Rudham cheese may have been then famous — a fair of three days in July was established by Henry III in 1227, in the manor of Rudham, county Norfolk, which belonged to the prior of Cokesford. This priory had been founded in the time of Henry III by William Cheyney (de Querceto), and the manor of Rudham was a gift to it from Hervey Beleth, whose mother was a Cheyney. It is probable therefore that these cheeses had been sent to Bayham through the good offices of the Cheyneys, who held land in Sussex. Here he dated the appointment of Henry de Hanbury as justice of the Common Pleas, and Nicholas Fastolfe as chief justice of the same court, besides granting a safe conduct to James Beauflor (f).

On Tuesday, August 28th, the king came to Battle (la Battaill) (f), and was doubtless welcomed in the abbey with due honour as the descendant of the great founder, after a journey which the hilly nature of the country and the bad roads must have made tedious and difficult.[4] The first duty on his arrival was to attend divine service, with an offering of gratitude. The following is the entry in his officer's accounts:—

"For the offering of our Lord the king at the great altar of the conventual church of Battle, at the great mass celebrated in presence of the said lord king at Battle, 28th day of August, in money 7s., and in the price of one cloth of gold of red silk of Raffat purchased, offered there by the same on the same day, 50s., total 57s." (e).

For the refectory, numerous presents of good cheer had been sent in from the neighbouring landholders, as well as by the abbot of Battle, who seems to have been Alan de Ketling, appointed in the preceding March, as successor to John de Pevenese deceased.

The presents recorded are the following:—

"From Robert Acheland, 4 rabbits, 6 swans, 3 herons.
"From Stephen Acheland, 3 rabbits, 10 flagons wine, 2 flagons of (vernach)[5]
sweet wine.
"From Edmund Passelewe, 3 carcases of oxen, 12 carcases of muttons.
"From William de Echingham, 2 carcases oxen, 6 muttons, 3 peacocks,
3 lucem,[6] 12 bream.
"From the abbot of Battle, 20 score and 4 loaves of bread, 1 cask wine, 2 carcases of oxen, 3 pigs, 6 carcases mutton, 2 swans, 2 rabbits, 3 herons, 3 fessantes, 1 dozen capons, 2 pike, 12 bream." (d)

Besides which, the king while at Battle appointed Peter de Monte Pesulano to buy spicery and other matters by the aid of the bailiffs (f) of Sussex, who were also charged to assist John de Denne, as deputy to the king's butler (pincema), Stephen de Abyngdon, in providing things relating to his office, in the port of Sefford. (Rot. Pat).

The king remained at Battle also on Wednesday, August 29, and during his stay he made a handsome present of—

"A double-gilt silver cup, carved outside with baboons (unius ciphi argentei deaurati duplicati et taliati extra de Babewynis), with foot and a cover, of the weight of 52s., and price 104s., from the store in the Tower of London, to Sancius de Sabell', master of a vessel called La Juliana from Bermeio in Spain, who came to him in the Abbey, and returned towards his own country the same day." (e)

What the motives were for this gift, nearly double that offered on the altar, does not appear, but from Bermeio, a small fishing town six leagues N.E. of Bilbao, perhaps a cargo of some luxuries had been brought to the king. There was a project, however, at this time of marrying the Prince of Wales to the daughter of James II, King of Arragon, and this Spaniard may have earned his cup by bringing the king some news relating to the progress of the treaty. (See Rot. Pat. Porchester, Oct. 1.) Another gift of 100s was also made to John Pain, master and factor of the king's ship, la Nicolas de Winchelsea, who had come to announce the completion of the works of the said ship (e).

Elias, clerk of Pevensey, here presented two pikes and bream. (d) A horse had been hired in London to carry to Pevensey in two days' journey, 500 pears and 1000 large nuts, and a basket of filbert nuts (nuces de Sancto Philiberto)

The derivation of the word 'filberts' has been variously stated. The old poet Gower derives it from Phillis, who hanged herself on that tree.

"And after Phillis, Philberd
This tree was cleped in the yerd." — Confess, Amant. 4.

Skinner supposes it to mean "full beard." Phihbert, a French saint of the seventh century, abbot of Jumieges, and founder of Nermoutier on the small island of Heis, though many miracles are imputed to him, is not recorded to have swollen the size of nuts, and it is therefore probable that these filberts were imported from one of the many villages or towns in Normandy and Brittany, bearing the name of St. Philibert, where the climate may have been propitious to their growth. There was a family of the name in England. King John and Henry III frequently employed Hugh de St. Philibert, who held land in fee in Cornwall and Norfolk, to transport arms and men to garrison Jersey and Guernsey. (Rot. Glaus).

The king dated at Pevensey, on Thursday, August 30th, the appointment of Edmund de Passelewe as warden of the port of Rye, and also that of William de Echyngham for Winchelsea, alleging as motive that, "as all the vessels of the Cinque Ports had been appointed to be at Portsmouth on the Monday after the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, against the arrival of the French king, during the absence of the Winchelsea vessels from their own port, various damages might arise, which God forbid, by foreigners coming there, in which port on account of its large space (propter amplitudineni portus) many ships may ride at the same time (insimul applicare) (f); a description which sounds fabulous to modem ears.

On the same Thursday, August 30th, the king was at "Bourne," East Bourne, and considerable presents were made for the king's use, the donors of which are not named:

"1 Cheese, 14 sext. 1 picher, 3 qu. wine, 15½lbs. wax, 1 qu. 6½ bushel oats, 3 quarters beef, 3 carcases mutton, 1½ hog, 5 rabbits, 1 bream, (g) And from the prior of Wymondsle, 2 carcases oxen, 6 muttons, 25 flagons of wine, 4 score and 3 flagons beer." (d)

The Priory of Black Canons at Wymondesley, co. Herts, had been founded by Richard Argentin in the time of Henry III. It possessed 400 acres of land round it, of which the oxen and sheep thus presented were the produce.

The expenses paid by the king's household officers at Bourne were:—

"For the kitchen 30s. 4½d. — wages 59s. 6½d., — alms 4s., dispensary 17s.4½d. — butlery 7s. 10d. — wardrobe 5s. 3¾d, — scullery 4s. 2d. — saucery 9d. — hall and chamber 9d. — stables 71s. 9¾d." (g)

Messengers were sent off from Bourne to Bristol with letters from the king to his treasurer the Bishop of Exeter, Walter Stapleton (who was so barbarously murdered by the mob in London two years afterwards), and to Robert de Kendale, constable of Dover Castle, and the chief officers of the other Cinque Ports with the greatest haste (cum summa festinatione.) (h).

It is noted in Domesday that Bourne, in the time of King Edward the Confessor, was liable to the dues of one night, (reddebat firmam unius noctis), and perhaps the king exacted his feudal rights on this occasion.

On Friday, August 31st, and Saturday, September 1st, the accounts of the king's household show him to have been at Bishopstone and presents were made similar to those at Bourne. Some of the items, as 4s. for alms, and 59s. 6½d. for wages, appear as fixed daily charges; the expenses of the stables were always the heaviest, being here 71s. 6¾d. and 64s. 7¾d. (g. h.) Royal letters were again despatched from hence by William de Wotton, who was allowed 12d. for his expenses to the Cinque Ports with the greatest speed (f).

From Bishopestone King Edward II must have made a somewhat rapid journey for those times; for we trace him next day, Sunday, September 2d, and Monday, September 3d, at Thele. There is no parish of this name, but judging from the direction of the royal journey and the donors of provisions there, the place visited was probably Theelelands, in Slynfold, originally owned by the abbey of Fescamp.

The expenses of the household here, on September 2, were altogether £11. 6s. 0¾d. and similar presents were made, (g.h.)

"Sept. 2. From the bailiff of Fescamp at Bramber, 2 carcases oxen, 3 hogs, 6 muttons, 6 swans.
"From the Lady de Breause, 2 carcases oxen, 4 hogs, 2 muttons." (d)

On Monday, September 3d, the household expenses at Shipley (Shippeleye) amounted to £10. 10s. 2¾d. They are thus detailed:—

"Dispensary 18s. 11½d, — butlery 33s. 7¾d, — wardrobe 4s. 2¼d. — kitchen 20s. 1½d. — scullery 2s. 5d. — saucery 2s. 1½d. — hall and chamber 5d. — stables 64sd wages — 59s. 9½d — alms 4s. — total £10 10s. 2¾d".
"Presents: 1 cheese, 17¼ lbs. wax, 1 quar. 6½ bus. oats, 1½ carcases oxen, 3, carcases mutton, 2 pigs, 1 mullet, 14 rabbits." (g)

Sir Edward de St. John also presented at Shepele —

"2 carcases oxen, 2 swans, 9 pikes, 13 bream, 1 tench, 6 large eels." (b)

On Tuesday, September 4th, the expenses of the royal household were £10. 19s. 3½d, at Horsham. (g) In another MS. the king dates on this day at "Chesworth" a permission to Stephen de Power, who was employed in his service, to delay his compliance with a late proclamation which had ordered him and all persons who possessed £40 in land, or rent, or fief, worth £40 a year, to take up arms fit for knights before Michaelmas. (f) It was in fact probably at Chesworth, now called Chedworth, that the king was lodged on this occasion, half a mile from Horsham, the ancient residence of the lords of Bramber. The Bishop of Oxford's claim of free warren in this manor by grant of Henry III had been allowed in 1279. Peter de Braose in 1306 claimed the manor as heir of William de Braose, to whom Amicia, Countess of Devon, had granted it. (Placit. quo warr. 754. — Abbrev. Placit.) William de Braose, who held the manor in 1363, entailed it on his three sons (Cartwright's Rape of Bramber, p. 180). According to a survey in 1608, when held by lease under the crown by Sir John Caryll, it is described as then—

"Very dilapidated, notwithstanding 100 loads of wood have been yearly assigned by his majesty's woodward for the ayring of the same, besides timber for repayring. The situation hereof is upon a marsh ground, unhealthy, obscure, and the foundation sunk at the least one foot and more." (p. 335.)

The king here granted a pension of £70 to William de Brewosa, who had given to him and his heirs the castle and vill of Brembre and Shoreham, valued at the same sum. (f)

On the following day, Wednesday, September 5th, the expenses of the king's household were £10. 5s. 9¼d. at 'Neubrigge.' (g)

Newbridge, in the parish of Pulborough, seems to have been the place visited. Alard le Fleming had possessed it, and his daughter Florence, with her husband Walter de Lisle, had obtained, in 1279, a grant from Edward I of free warren in Pulborough, with a fair of three days at Newbridge in this parish, on the vigil, feast, and morrow of St. Simon and Jude, (Oct. 27, 28, 29). See Cartwright's 'Rape of Arundel,' p. 353: Placit. de quo Warr. 7o Edw. I, rot. 62. d.

At Newbridge the king gave a silver-gilt cup, enamelled at the base (in fundo), with an image carved in the shaft (in pummello) with a foot and cover, worth 50s., to Michael de la Bottellerie, the esquire (scutifer) of John de Brittany, earl of Richmond, who brought letters announcing his master's deliverance from prison. (h)

John de Dreux, the father of this earl, had married in 1275 Beatrix, daughter of King Henry III, aunt to King Edward II. The earl, whose release from an imprisonment of five years by the Scots, is here announced, was forced to pay a large ransom, for which the king in vain endeavoured to persuade the parliament to levy a subsidy. He had been taken prisoner in 1321 by the Scotch invaders in Yorkshire, and had been equally unlucky in 1292 at Bordeaux, where the French had taken him, and King Edward I had then sent £1000 "to his beloved nephew" until better provision could be made. He held large possessions in Sussex.

On the next day, Thursday, Sept. 6th, the household charges at "Petteworth" amounted to £11. 2s. 3d. (f).

From hence royal letters were dispatched to the Earl de Warenne and the Archbishop of Canterbury, at an expense of 16d. (e h)

The rector of the church at Petworth made a present of seven score pears, and William de la Zouche sent for the royal table 4 score and 16 nuts of St. Philibert, 28 flagons of wine, 2 flagons of beer, 2 carcases of oxen, 4 swans, 6 herons. ({sc|d}})

William de Zouche of Haringworth, co. Northampton, held lands in Sussex at Chiltington and elsewhere: he had been knighted on the same day as the king; but, notwithstanding his present apparent friendliness, he pursued and captured his unhappy sovereign in North Wales a few months later.

On Friday, September 7th, the expenses at Petworth were £8. 17s. 5¾d. (g, and the presents consisted of bread, 3 eels, 1 trout, 3 large pikes, 3 bream, 4 mullets, — a fish dinner for the Friday; but the day was not passed in gloom, for there is an entry of "20s. paid to Nicolas the Harper, minstrel of Sir Ralph de Camoys, coming to the king, in the suite of the Lady de Camoys, and playing before the said lord king, as a gift by his own hands." (h e)

Ralph de Camois, son of John and Margaret (whose strange history is notorious), had lands in free warren at Hampton et Wolbedyng, Trotton, and other places in Sussex, and was frequently summoned to parliament. His wife's name was Elizabeth, and perhaps she is purposely described as the "wife of Sir Ralph" in the Record, in order to distinguish her from the disreputable wife of John, who was however dead.

The king was fond of music, and his trumpeters even accompanied him when he went in 1301 to bury the heart of the Earl of Cornwall at Ashridge. He was fond also of games of chance, and there are several items in the household accounts for "tabulæ ebumeæ, disci argentei," &c. — Sometimes "the fool of the Count de Savoy" was brought in to amuse the prince and rewarded.[7]

The entry of Saturday, September 8th, is imperfect; the MS. being torn, the name of the place remains only as . . . eford, and the expense there at £10. 6s. ¾d. (g) This was probably Dureford Abbey near Petersfield, which lay not far out of his route to Porchester Castle, where he arrived on Sunday, Sept. 9th, and at which place he continued till October 9th.

A parliament which had been summoned to meet on Oct. 20, sat twenty-one days, to Nov. 10, and it may illustrate the mode of travelling at this time to mention that the knights of Cornwall, when claiming their expenses of attending, state that they had been seven days going to it, and seven days on their return, spending 2s. 6d. a day.

The anxieties of the king soon increased. A parliament met in June 1325, and he had reason soon after to apprehend an invasion, in consequence of the dispute with France. Orders were issued accordingly, and on June 18, Henry de Chardon, Thomas de Feversham, and William de Robertsbridge were appointed (Rot. Pat.) to organise resistance in Romney Marsh; and on learning the neglected condition of its embankments, he commissioned, on July 4th, "Giles de Breaunzon, John Fillol, W. de Robertsbridge, and John de Dallyngrygge to superintend the repairs of the banks, ditches, guttere, sewere, portes, and pools on the seashore near Pevensey and Hastings, which the force of the sea, the reflux and inundations and quantities of fresh waters (aquar' daleium) had so burst and broken, that inestimable damage might ensue." (Pat. Rot. Tower MSS.) — On August 6th, a royal order was also sent to the Bishop of Chichester (John Langton), to assist Ralph de Camoys, and Robert de Kendale, and also Nicolas Gentil and John de Ifeld (arraiatoribus), his marshalmen in Sussex, in levying forces to resist invasion. (Rym. Foed, p. 563).

The doubts and troubles of the king were now evinced by irresolute orders; on August 30, he formally appointed the Prince of Wales to exercise royal authority in England during his own absence, and then soon revoking his act, resigned to him for ever his continental domains, so that he might do homage for them.

The young Prince, already under the influence of his mother, the "she-wolf of France," left Dover on September 12th for France in order to do so. The king dated several documents in the autumn from (Mersefeld) Maresfield; on September 22d, and October 2d, he there wrote "concerning the business arising from the death of the Countess Armagnac."[8] Walter Stapleton, bishop of Exeter, was watching the court of France for his master, as ambassador, and reported that King Edward II's conciliatory letter to the French king met with no response, and soon afterwards warned the king of his queen's plots, which he had detected. (Rot. Pat. Edw. II, p. 1, m. 23). On September 23d, he here confirmed the charter of Bayham Abbey ((Dugd. Mon. ii, 160, xix.) On September 24th, he addressed a dutiful letter to the pope concerning the Scots having kept Berwick contrary to treaty, humbly beginning his letter : — "The king to the pope, devout kisses to the blessed feet (devota pedum oscula beatorum)." On September 30th, he desired the officers of the Cinque Ports to be ready with their levies, and to stop letters from abroad, prejudicial either to the king or the kingdom, as also any suspicious persons (Rymer, Fœd. 2, 610. Parl. Writs, 2, 428). October 12th, the king authorised Peter de Worldham and Stephen Power[9] to remove, with the sanction of the bishop of Chichester, all alien monks from the coast to places more inland ; and October 1 5th, Edmund de Passele was appointed to overlook the goods of foreigners in Surrey, Sussex, and Kent. (Close Rolls).

The king, however, had not renounced his voyage to Gascony, and in November he ordered his ships to be victualled, and commissioned Robert de Echingham, and Robert de Bavent to be ready with their forces to embark within seven days after Candlemas, "as he had arranged to go, by the aid of God, next summer season, (a procheine saison d'este personelment) (Pat. Rot. 18o Edw. II, p. 1 . m. 1 . 3.)

In the following: year 1326, there was an increasing alarm of invasion, both from the French, and from the open intrigues of Queen Isabella, who was gathering forces abroad to dethrone her husband. On August 10th, an order was given to establish beacons of fire along the southern coast in order to assemble the inhabitants in case of emergency—(signum de igne vel alia re competenti quod a longe videri posset — quod homines vicinarum partium trahere se possent ad ignem, vel ad signum de nocte si opus foret). (Rym. Fœd. t. 2, p. 610.)

In vain did the king now send out his complaints from Porchester (Sept. 2d) against the French king for detaining his son "whom he had lately sent to him in the confidence of love," and for encouraging his queen with her armed rebels. In vain he ordered ships of 30 tons to assemble speedily at Orwell in Suffolk, as well as a general levy of his liegemen, commanding Sussex to contribute to it 200 men, with their haketons and basinets (cum aketonibus et bacinettis), and 500 archers. (Rot. Pat. Edw. II, 20o p. 1, m. 18.)

The queen, however, in spite of these precautions, landed in Suffolk on September 22d, and although the king, on September 26th, issued strict orders to arrest all Frenchmen (Gallos), yet having neither capacity nor energy sufficient to compete with the daring profligacy of his queen, his ruin and death soon followed.

A brief reference to some subsequent royal visits to Sussex may be here added:—

For an account of King Edward III's visit to Eye and Winchelsea in August, 1350, see Vol. IV, p. 118, Sussex Arch. Coll.

In August, 1355, King Edward and his sons Lionel and John (then in his 16th year) embarked in the Thames for Sandwich, where they remained till August 15, when they went to Winchelsea and Isle of Wight, after which they were again driven back to Winchelsea. (Rot. Parl. 2, 264.)

May, 1360, Edward III landed at Rve in the evening, and started immediately on horseback for London, where he arrived at 9 o'clock the next morning. (Fœd. iii, 490. Cooper's Winchelsea, p. 82.)

October 6, 1372, Edward III was at Winchelsea, and from thence adjourned Parliament to Nov. 8, after the defeat of the English fleet at La Rochelle. (Cooper's Winch, p. 84.)

1479. King Edward IV was at Chichester, when he constituted many Justices of the Peace. (Dallaway's Chichester, p. 21, note, from Lansdowne MS. in Brit. Mus.)

1487, King Henry VIII visited Rye. (Holloway's Rye, p. 604.)

1551, July 20-25, and 1554, Aug. 1, King Edward VI visited Petworth. Burnet's History Reform. See Sussex Arch. Coll. V, 185.

1573, Aug. 12, Queen Elizabeth was at Rye for three days, and from thence went to Winchelsea. (Holloway, p. 308; Cooper, p. 107; also Sussex Arch. Coll. V, 190.)

1673, King Charles II was at Rye, "when his royal navy lay in the bay, in sight of the town." (Holloway, p. 341.)


  1. The MSS. referred to in the following pages by capital letters are:—
    a. Carlton Ride, MSS. 2582; E.B. xv. Rotulus de summ' exhennior' et almort' staur' expens' in Rot' Hospitii Regis. 18o Edw. II.
    b. C.R. MSS. 3191. W.N. xiii. Rot' liber' cere speciar' pann' ad aurat' per Th. de Useflete, clericum magne Garderobe. 18o Edw. II.
    c. C.R. MSS. 3154. W.N. x. Rot' divers' expens' per Th. de Useflete.
    d. C.R. MSS. 3202. WN. xiii. Rot' de presentis. 18o Edw. II.
    e. C.R. MSS. 3500. Compot' forins' expens. 18o Edw. II.
    f. Tower MSS. Close Bolls, 18o Edw. II.
    g. C.R. MSS. xv. Compot' diurn' expens' Hospitii Regis. 18o Edw. II. Imperfect.
    h. C.R. MSS. 2920. FLH. Rot' expensar' forinsecarum.
  2. Pat. Rot. l8o Edw. II, p. 1, m. 37.
  3. This knight, besides other possessions, held forty acres of land at Horsemonden, in which church a fine effigy of him remains in brass. GDhe inscription records his gift of Leueshotte manor to Bayham Abbey. He died about 1330—40.
  4. In King John's expenses the charge of conveyance of goods in Sussex is frequently recorded. Hiring seven carts to carry weapons, &c. from Arundel to Lewes, one day, vs. xd. — one cart with 2 horses from Chichester to Arundel vid. — carts with 5 horses from Odiham to the Abbey of Battle in 6 days, for hay and oats viis. vii½d, — 6 carts with 2 horses each from Lewes to Battle in one day, vs." — Rot. Misse, 14o Joh. in Cole's Documents of 13th and 14th Century, 1844.
  5. Vernach or vin de Garnache, a sweet white wine.
  6. Lampreys?
  7. C. Ride MSS. 2254, e.b. 29o Ed. I.—2052. e.b. 29o Ed. I.— 983. 330 Ed. I.—w.n. 2469, 28o Ed. I.
  8. Gaston d'Annagnao, Vicomte de Fezensaguet, died in 1310, holding the county of Armagnac in Gascony under the English king. His line ended in 1403.
  9. See Lists of these possessions in Sussex Addl. MSS., 6164, 6165.