1249-50
A. D. 1249. Sheriffs.: John Tulesan, again,; Ralph Hardel,
In this year, Roger Fitz-Roger was elected Mayor, and that too in
his absence; and was afterwards admitted by the King at Rochester.
In the same year, on the third day after the Epiphany, the citizens
recovered [on appearing] before the King, two kinds of franchise, of
which for many years they had been deprived. For the King granted
that the Jews, who before had been (fn. 1) held to warranty by writ of the
Exchequer, should plead in future before the citizens as to their tenements in London. He also granted that the (fn. 2) Chirographers of the
Chest of the Jews should [in future] be (fn. 3) tallaged like other citizens.
In this year, on Sunday in Mid-Lent, nearly all the men, as well as
women, of London having met together, in accordance with the precept
of his lordship the King, in the Great Hall at Westminster, his lordship
the King assumed the Cross with the view of setting out in aid of the
Holy Land. It is also to be noted, that after his lordship the King had
repeatedly requested the citizens to grant to the Abbot of Westminster the franchises which we have already mentioned in this record,
in this year, on the Wednesday, namely, in the week of Pentecost, there
was a day of (fn. 4) love appointed, at the demand of his lordship the King,
between the citizens and the Abbot; upon which day, the Mayor, and
a countless multitude of the citizens with him, came to the New Temple,
where the Abbot was, there being also present William de Haverill, the
Treasurer, Henry de Ba, Eoger de Turkelby, John de Gatesdene,
Justiciars, and others who had been sent thither by the King. Upon
these desiring to hold a conference with the Mayor and Aldermen, the
whole of the populace opposed it, and would not allow them, without
the whole of the commons being present, to treat at all of the matter;
all of them exclaiming with one voice that in no point would they recede
from their wonted franchises, which, by Charters of his lordship the
King and his predecessors, they possessed.
Upon this, a day was given them by the Justiciars to appear before
his lordship the King at (fn. 5) Wyndlesore, the Tuesday following, namely;
and solely for this reason, the King took the City into his hands, and
delivered it to William, the Treasurer, and to Peter Blund, the Constable of the Tower, all the clerks and Serjeants of the Sheriffwick
paying obedience to them. On the day appointed, the Mayor
and citizens appeared at Wyndlesore; when the King, wishing
to harass them, compelled them, through his Justiciars, to shew cause
why they had gainsayed the Charter which he had granted to the Abbot
of Westminster, and why they had not permitted the men, who by his
precept had been placed in inquisition for causing a tumult in the matter between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Canons of Saint
Bartholomew's, to make oath as to the same. For, a short time before
this, the said Archbishop wished to hold a visitation among the said Canons,
a thing that they would not permit. The citizens however made
answer, that they had had no day named for pleading there against
the Abbot of Westminster, and that out of the City of London they
were not bound to plead; and that if they had been bound to plead
thereon, they ought not to receive any judgment as to the same in the
absence of their peers, the Earls, namely, [and] Barons of England; as
also, that no man of London ought to swear in any inquisition, except
in accordance with the oath which he had [already] made to his lordship
the King, and in virtue of the fealty in which he is bound to him,
unless it be a case where one might lose life or limb, or lose land or
gain it. After this, consultation being held between the King and his
Council, the City was restored to the citizens, and day was given them
until the Translation of Saint Edward [13 October].
In the same year, about the Feast of Saint James [25 July] there
came news to London, alas! that the King of France, before-mentioned,
had been captured by the Saracens, his brothers and nearly all the
Christian army being taken or slain. He himself however, a short time
after, was ransomed by the Templars and Hospitallers.