Agnes Crowcher sued John Trewington in 1492 to enforce a contract of marriage she claimed they had made. In responding to her suit, Trewington denied they had made any such contract. We can infer from his answers that she had made a claim that either he gave her, or she gave him, a coin as a token of marriage – a common way of symbolizing the sealing of the contract – but Trewington testified that she had stolen it from him and that within a few days he had stolen it back from her. Only one witness deposition for this case survives; as it is cut off midway it is likely that a folio or more following are lost. Richard Bussby was Agnes Crowcher’s employer; she had evidently been working for him for a year, as that is how long he had known her. He had known Trewington for much longer, for twelve years. The scene that he describes before his deposition cuts off was a standard one: as Crowcher’s master and quasi-paternal figure, he prompted Trewington to declare his intention to marry Agnes before a group of witnesses, gathered in Bussby’s house. In many other depositions that began that way, the witness went on to describe an exchange of consent between the two parties, though of course we cannot know what was on the lost folio that followed (or if there were other witnesses). One interesting aspect is that Bussby, acting fully here in the quasi-paternal role with his “maid” Agnes (a word that meant virgin rather than domestic servant in the fifteenth century), was only twenty-eight years old, likely having only recently himself married, set up a household, and hired servants.
[Collin Bonnell]
LMA, MS DL/C/A/001/MS09065, fols. 122r, 126r
Response of John Trewington or Trewerton, Defendant, 4 Dec. 1492
Responses personally made by John Trewington
John Trewington, sworn and examined on the positions etc. To the first and second positions, he does not believe them. To the third position, he says that Agnes stole a groat[1] from John, but within the three days following, this witness stole it back from Agnes, as he says. And he does not believe the other contents. To the fourth position, he says that he believes the things that are to be believed, and does not believe the things that are not to be believed, and he does not believe the fame.
Testimony of Richard Bussby, Witness for the Plaintiff, 18 Jan. 1493
On behalf of Crowcher c. John Trewington
Richard Bussby of the parish of St. Nicholas Shambles of the City of London, where he has lived for twelve years, illiterate, of free condition, twenty-eight years old as he says. Sworn as a witness, etc., he says that he has known Agnes Crowcher for a year and John Trewyngton for twelve years. To the first article, he says that many times the aforesaid John and Agnes spoke together about contracting marriage. To the second article, he says that on a certain day falling between the feasts of St. Bartholomew [24 August] and St. Michael the Archangel [29 September] a year ago, in the afternoon of that day, this witness was present in his own house together with John Jamys and his wife, this witness’s wife, John Trewington, and Agnes Crowcher. This witness there and then asked John, saying to him these words in English or others similar in effect: “Brother John, for what intent come ye hither, for to have my maid or not.” John responded, “Yes, sir, if I can have your will.” And this witness said, “Ye shall have my good will,” and then further he asked him[2]
[1] A groat was a coin worth 4 pence (OED, s.v.).
[2] Breaks off here
Consistory 