In late September 1488, Agnes Badcock allegedly accused a neighbour, Joan Essex, of committing adultery with Agnes’s husband John. The testimony offered by four men who lived nearby is fascinating and appalling in various ways: Agnes Badcock’s accusation against Joan Essex was delivered in dramatic fashion, screamed on the street after Agnes had fled a beating from her husband and collapsed in the middle of the road, so distressed that she had not put on her head-dress before she left the house (an essential item of clothing for a married woman). John Badcock’s alleged role as adulterer seems almost incidental; the emphasis on the quarrel between the two women in the testimony may be an artifact of the legal construction of the suit: the central focus of such litigation was on whether the defendant’s words damaged the reputation of the plaintiff, and what anyone thought about how those same accusations affected a third party (John) was simply not legally relevant. It is significant, however, that in this dispute about women’s sexual reputations Joan Essex chose four men to testify: their word was weightier and gave her a better chance of winning her case. The testimony also gives us some interesting evidence about people going about their business on the streets of London; the fairly precise locations tell us almost exactly where it happened (map from Layers of London).
LMA, MS DL/C/A/001/MS09065, fols. 44r-45v
Deposition of John Buxton, Witness for the plaintiff, 24 Nov. 1488
On behalf of Joan Essex c. Agnes Badcock
24 November, in the house of the lord Official, by him, in my, Richard Spenser’s, presence
John Buxton of the parish of St. Peter Cornhill, where he has lived for a year and more, tailor, illiterate, of free condition, thirty years old or thereabouts, as he says. Inducted as a witness etc., he says that he has known Joan Essex for almost seven years and Agnes Badcock for three quarters of a year. To the first, second, third, and fourth articles of the libel, he says that on a certain day around the feast of St. Michael the Archangel [29 Sept.] last past, and as he believes before that feast and between that feast and the nativity of the Blessed Virgin [8 Sept.] preceding, which day he cannot otherwise specify, he was present in his own dwelling-house situated almost opposite the house of John Badcock, within the parish of St. Andrew Undershaft. And in the dwelling-house of this witness between the hours of ten and eleven of that day this witness heard John Badcock and Agnes his wife arguing together in such a way that John beat Agnes as she was going out onto the street. And in the meantime, Joan Essex was crossing the public street opposite the house, and Agnes, on her knees there, with a very loud voice, exclaimed and said to Joan Essex, “A vengeance on thee, whore, Joan Essex, this have [I] for thy sake, thou art my husband’s whore and this have I for thy sake.” And he says that both before and after this day, this witness heard Agnes saying that John her husband held Joan in adultery the whole time that Agnes was on pilgrimage to Walsingham.[1] This witness deposes these things from his own sight and hearing, as he says. To the sixth article, he says that because of the speaking of these words this witness gave less faith to Joan in his conscience to the extent that he says that were he single and free to contract marriage, Joan would have to undergo purgation of the crime before he would contract marriage with her, as he says. To the seventh article, he says that he knows nothing concerning its contents. To the eighth article, he says that the things he said above are true, and that public voice and fame circulated and circulate in the parishes of St. Peter and St. Andrew and other neighbouring places concerning them, as he says.
Deposition of John Smert, Witness for the plaintiff, 24 Nov. 1488
John Smert of the parish of St. Peter aforesaid, where he has lived for three years, illiterate, of free condition, thirty years old, as he says. Inducted as a witness etc., he says that he has known Joan Essex for three years and Agnes Badcock for the same time. To the fifth article of the libel, he says that on a certain day around the feast of St. Michael [29 Sept.] last past, which day he cannot further specify, this witness was crossing from Leadenhall to the dwelling-house of John Buxton, and crossing the public street called Bishopsgate street, he saw and heard Agnes, at that time with her head uncovered, kneeling down, crying and saying these words to Joan Essex, who was in the street: “A vengeance on thee, whore, thou art my husband’s whore and all this sorrow and care I have for thee.” And he says that twenty times before this day, as he believes, this witness heard Agnes saying that John her husband held Joan in adultery. And he says that a year ago this witness heard Agnes in Aldgate Street, London, saying about Joan, who at the time was sitting and holding a child in her arms, “Will ye see, yonder sitteth a whore, this same is my husband’s child.” And these things were said in the presence of this witness and the wife of a certain Milpekker living near the house of William Essex. This witness deposes these things from his own sight and hearing, as he says. To the sixth article, he says that he knows nothing concerning its contents, except that he believes that Joan and her husband have undergone many labours and expenses because of the saying of these words, as he says. To the seventh article, he says that he knows nothing concerning its contents, except from what he has heard from others, as he says. To the eighth article, he says that the things he said above are true, and public voice and fame circulated and circulate concerning them in the parishes of St. Peter and St. Andrew and other neighbouring places, as he says.
Deposition of Rowland Bell, Witness for the plaintiff, 24 Nov. 1488
Rowland Bell, of the parish of St. Andrew Undershaft, where he has lived for seven years and more, sherman, illiterate, of free condition, almost forty years old, as he says. Inducted as a witness etc., he says that he has known Joan Essex for four years, and Agnes Badcock for three years or thereabouts. To the fifth article of the libel, he says that around the feast of St. Michael the Archangel [29 Sept.] last past, that is a little before or after that feast, this witness, working on his craft in the shop in his dwelling-house, heard a sound like an argument in the street, and after a while in order to hear where the sound was coming from he went out into the street, and there he saw and heard Agnes kneeling near the dwelling-house of John Badcock, her husband, her hair dishevelled and her head uncovered, publicly crying out and saying to Joan Essex, at that time across from the house, that is between the house of John Glover and the sign of the Pie[2], “A vengeance on thee, strong whore, all this have I for thy sake.” And she repeated these words many times then and there, crying, in the hearing and knowledge of this witness. And otherwise he knows nothing concerning the contents of the article, as he says. And he says that many times before that day Agnes told this witness that John her husband held Joan in adultery. To the sixth article, he agrees with the first witness examined above. To the seventh article, he says that its contents are true as far as he has heard from those who were present at the purgation as they asserted, that is from two butchers whose names he does not know, as he says. To the eighth article, he says that the things he said above are true, and public voice and fame circulated and circulate concerning them in the parish of St. Andrew and other neighbouring places, as he says.
Deposition of John Howard, Witness for the plaintiff, 24 Nov. 1488
John Howard of the parish of the aforesaid parish of St. Andrew, where he has lived for sixteen years, tailor, illiterate, of free condition, forty years of age or thereabouts, as he says. Inducted as a witness etc., he says that he has known Joan Essex for half a year and more, and Agnes Badcock for two years. To the first, second, third, and fourth articles of the libel, he says that their contents are true. To the fifth article, he says that as far as the saying of the words by Agnes about Joan, and the time and place of their speaking, he agrees with the first witness, adding that this witness at the time the words were spoken stood in the public street and heard those words spoken publicly out of the mouth of Agnes. And he says that many times before the speaking of those words, Agnes often told this witness that her husband had held Joan in adultery. And he says that on many occasions when this witness and John Badcock were socializing together, Agnes often asserted that John her husband was in coven and in company with Joan and she very much suspected him to have committed adultery with Joan. This witness deposes these things from his own sight and hearing, as he says. To the sixth article, he says that he believes its contents are true and otherwise he knows nothing from his own knowledge, as he says. To the seventh article, he says that he knows nothing concerning its contents, except from what he has heard from others. To the eighth article, he says that the things he said above are true, and public voice and fame circulated and circulate concerning them in the parish and other neighbouring places and parishes, as he says.
[1] Walsingham, Norfolk, which had one of the most important English shrines to the Virgin Mary.
[2] MS: et signum pice anglice the Pye. A pye (or, in Latin, pica), could be a bird (a magpie) or a pie for eating; the former seems more likely as a name for a tenement or tavern.
Consistory 