Another case of a man doggedly pursuing a woman, hoping to persuade her to marry him. The responses of Margaret Frowyke give us more details than other similar examinations: the man suing her was named as Thomas Philpott, and the two likely lived in Barnet, Essex. Frowyke, like others, accepted gifts from him and inContinue reading “Thomas Philpott c. Margaret Frowyke“
Author Archives: shannonmcsheffrey
William Pepard c. Alice Mayte
This is an unusual defamation case: a mother, Alice Mayt, publicly accused a man, William Pepard, of having murdered her son, a child. The witnesses give some interesting details about precisely where each was standing when the words were spoken, at a corner by the church in the parish of St. Lawrence Jewry, the variousContinue reading “William Pepard c. Alice Mayte”
Ellen Mortemer c. William Chowe
Ellen Mortemer of Bermondsey sued William Chowe in 1492; all we have of the case is Chowe’s response to her submission, which we can infer involved a claim that the two of them had contracted marriage three or four years before. Chowe admitted that she and he had made conditional vows of marriage: as longContinue reading “Ellen Mortemer c. William Chowe”
Sir Thomas Wiseman c. Sir David Kingesbury
This case is a tithe dispute between two clerics, one a chaplain sent from an Augustinian priory in Suffolk to a chapel dedicated to St Laurence at Wormley, Hertfordshire, and the other the parish priest of the local parish of Cheshunt. The chaplain collected a sizeable sum offered by those who came to the chapelContinue reading “Sir Thomas Wiseman c. Sir David Kingesbury“
Marion Filders c. John Arnold
This may be an example of a stalled marriage process: according to the three witnesses, more than two years before, Marion Filders and John Arnold had contracted marriage in the house of John and Elizabeth Hayward in Stratford Langthorne, Essex. The only hint as to what had gone wrong afterwards is in the third witness’sContinue reading “Marion Filders c. John Arnold“
Maude Bywel c. Elisabeth or Isabel Jeld
A husband and wife from Edmonton, Middlesex, testified in 1494 about a quarrel amongst women on the street outside their house. A physical altercation was followed by insulting words, and it was the words and their effect that were at issue here (as assaults were not in the Consistory court’s jurisdiction). LMA, MS DL/C/A/001/MS09065, fols.Continue reading “Maude Bywel c. Elisabeth or Isabel Jeld“
Agnes Eston c. John Crosby
In 1494, a young servant woman, Agnes Eston, sued John Crosby, a young man from London’s merchant elite. The two had been spending time alone in her chamber, with her employers encouraging the relationship and turning a blind eye to the impropriety. Eston alleged that the two had exchanged binding vows of marriage, but CrosbyContinue reading “Agnes Eston c. John Crosby”
Margaret Shewyn alias Howsyn c. Adam Bagby
This is a case of disputed inheritance and whether legacies made by oral bequest were to be honoured even when not specified in the testament. Margaret Shewyn’s witnesses testified that Elizabeth Smyth had several times orally bequeathed to her a bed, a blue gown, and a blue girdle or belt decorated with silver, but Elizabeth’sContinue reading “Margaret Shewyn alias Howsyn c. Adam Bagby“
Agnes Moyne and Margaret Broke c Christopher Kechyn
Christopher Kechyn, a carpenter of mature years, was busy in 1496, contracting marriage with at least three young women. This brought him in early 1497 before both the Consistory – where two of those women, Agnes Moyne and Margaret Broke, sued him to enforce the contracts they claim to have made with him – andContinue reading “Agnes Moyne and Margaret Broke c Christopher Kechyn”
Consistory 