This defamation case from the Essex parishes south of Colchester tells us a number of interesting things both about local-level dispute resolution and about sexual chastity and an unmarried woman’s reputation. At least according to the witnesses called to testify on Alice Brigge’s behalf, William Markis of Essex publicly accused her in the parish church,Continue reading “Alice Brigge c. William Markis”
Category Archives: Defamation
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“
Elizabeth Pernell c. Elizabeth Pecoke
This is a somewhat curious case. It starts out straightforwardly with a witness saying that she heard the defendant, Elizabeth Pecoke, defaming the plaintiff, Elizabeth Pernell, with a rumour of sexual impropriety: Pecoke allegedly told the witness that Pecoke was being “kept” by a married man in the country. But there is only one witnessContinue reading “Elizabeth Pernell c. Elizabeth Pecoke”
John Fern c. Henry Heed
John Fern, a young man likely from South Mimms, Hertfordshire, came to London to apprentice himself to a citizen ironmonger, Henry Heed. The paternalistic relationship that should have developed between the master and apprentice evidently broke down and Heed publicly accused Fern at least twice of dishonesty (a highly damaging allegation for a young manContinue reading “John Fern c. Henry Heed”
James Ely c. Sir William Kirkham
In this defamation case, a quarrel between a parish priest and one of his parishioners appears to have become heated. James Ely, the parishioner, sued the priest Sir[1] William Kirkham for publicly insulting him multiple times, including from the pulpit during Sunday mass. According to testimony from Ely’s witnesses, there were different versions of theirContinue reading “James Ely c. Sir William Kirkham”
Consistory 