Lost Letters of Medieval Life

29 The Sheriff of Cambridge Orders the Serjeants of a Hundred to Summon Those Who Owe the King Military Service to Assemble at Portsmouth to Go Overseas

30 The King Writes to the Earl of Chester Requesting Aid Against the Welsh Under Prince Llywelyn

31 The King Summons an Army to the Defense of His Interests in Wales

32 The King’s Liege Men Warn Him About Secret Confederacies Between Some of His Own Men and the Welsh, Which Threaten the Success of His Campaign

33 A Warning to a Friend to Get His Grain off the Road, Because the King Is About to Go to Wales and Will Seize All Provisions That He Finds Along the Way

Politics

34 King Henry III of England Requests an Aid for the Marriage of His Sister

35 A Magnate Replies to the King Acknowledging the King’s Right but Reminding Him Not to Overburden His Subjects When He Has Income of His Own

36 The Bishops and Church Dignitaries Recommend to the Magnates and Knights of England that They Take Counsel over the King’s Position on Taxation

37 A Knight Seeks Advice Concerning the King’s Supposed Willingness to Marry Noble Young Women to Men Below Their Social Station

38 His Colleague Reassures the Knight that Disparagement Is Against the Articles of Magna Carta, and Assures Him of His Assistance

CHAPTER 3. LORDSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION

Law and Order

39 A Constable Orders His Bailiffs to Discover Who Are the Robbers Plaguing Their Jurisdictions and to Stop Them

40 The King Orders a Sheriff to Find and Hang the Thieves Who Have Been Burgling Village Homes by Night

41 The Sheriff Informs the King of the Result of His Pursuit of the Robbers

42 A Landowner in the King’s Service Complains to a Sheriff that His Men Are Being Harassed by the Sheriff’s Officers for Suit of County and Hundred Despite His Exemption

43 A Man Asks a Sheriff to Release Goods Seized for an Unpaid Fine Owed to the King

44 A Man Asks a Friend to Come to London with Him to Act for Him in a Canon Law Suit

45 A Letter to a Friend Requesting Legal Assistance on Another’s Behalf

46 A Man Asks a Friend for the Services of His Attorney to Appear in His Place at the Royal Court

Lordship and Manorial Administration

47 An Earl Asks an Agent to Get Him Money for a Replacement Mount

48 A Lord Responds with Threats to an Attack on His Dependents

49 A Villein Refuses a Request for the Loan of a Plow and Oxen Because He Needs Them Himself

50 A Tenant Informs on a Landowner’s Corrupt Bailiff

51 The Same Bailiff Sends His Rebuttal to His Lord

52 A Knight Orders a Bailiff Accused of Fraud to Present His Accounts for Inspection

53 A Landowner Sends a List of Instructions to His Bailiff

Ecclesiastical Administration

54 Bishop H[ugh] of Lincoln Orders His Official to Prohibit Two Men from Leaving a Town Until a Major Lawsuit Between Them Has Been Settled by a Forthcoming Diocesan Assembly

55 An Archdeacon Writes to a Rural Dean to Charge Him with the Collection of a Clerical Tax, and to Order Him to Correct the Misbehavior of Chaplains in His Deanery

56 A Bishop’s Official Writes to an Archdeacon’s Official to Certify the Credentials of a Chaplain Who Wishes to Move to the Latter’s District

57 A Chaplain Who Is Worried About Losing His Job Writes to a Fellow-Chaplain for Advice and Help

Forests and Hunting

58 The King Orders a Sheriff to Inquire into the Poaching of Game in a Royal Forest

59 The King Orders a Sheriff to Arrest the Corrupt Foresters Under His Command Who Have Been Selling Oak Trees from the Royal Forest

60 A Sheriff Tells the King that He Cannot Comply with a Command to Provide Venison, Because the Adjoining Forests Belong to the King of Scots, Whose Foresters Refuse to Allow Him to Take Game There

61 A Baron Asks Another Baron to Send Him Game and Fish to Stock His New Park and Fishpond, and in Return He Sends Hunting Dogs, Hawks, and Falcons

62 A Baron Asks a Baron to Have the Latter’s Son Train His Goshawk, Which He Sends

Tournaments

63 An Earl Invites a Baron to Join His Tournament Retinue

64 A Knight Orders His Bailiff to Provide for His Arrival with Edmund de Lacy, Constable of Chester, and Twenty Knights, Who Are on Their Way to a Tournament at Blyth

65 The Earl of Warenne Beseeches the Count of Aumale to Come to a Tournament that He Has Sponsored, Because He and His Knights Are Rusty from Lack of Practice and Need His Help

66 An Earl Writes to Another Earl to Request a Brief Pause Between Tournaments, to Enable Everyone to Take a Little Break Before Resuming Combat

67 An Earl Asks a Baron to Send Him a Destrier Equipped for a Tournament

68 The Baron Agrees to Lend His Destrier to the Earl, Because His Legal Affairs Will Prevent Him from Attending the Tournament Himself

CHAPTER 4. FAMILY AND COMMUNITY

News, Gossip, and Family

69 A Serjeant Writes to His Master, a Knight, to Justify His Refusal to Obey the Orders of the Knight’s Wife

70 A Man Warns His Friend that He Has Seen the Latter’s Wife Naked in Bed with Another Man, and Sends Her Girdle as Evidence

71 Bishop H[ugh] of C[arlisle] Orders His Archdeacon to Inquire About Adulterers in His Archdeaconry

72 An Archdeacon Orders a Dean to Investigate the Alleged Bribing of a Chaplain by an Adulterer to Conceal His Affair

73 A Rural Dean Offers to Cover Up an Allegation Against a Chaplain of Adultery with the Wife of One of His Parishioners

74 A Steward Writes to His Lord About a Gravely Ill Knight Whose Wife and Daughter Have Gone Elsewhere

75 A Man of Property Writes Home to His Wife, Niece, and Servants

76 A Wife Writes to Her Absent Husband

77 A Knight in the Queen’s Service Asks His Wife to Send Him Linen Cloth and Sheets

78 A Man Asks a Friend to Take His Son into His Service

Student Life

79 A Student Tells His Friends that He Is Going to Become a Monk

80 A Student at Paris Writes to His Father for Money

81 A Student at Oxford Writes to His Father for Money

82 A Student at Oxford Writes to His Mother for Money

83 A Son Responds to a Letter from His Father

84 A Master Tells His Student to Stop Wasting Time

Neighborliness and Community

85 An Angry Letter of Refusal

86 A Friend Requests Assistance for a Kinsman

87 A Man Who Assisted His Friend’s Kinsman Requests Reimbursement for His Expenses

88 A Man Refuses to Aid His Friend’s Shiftless Kinsman and Warns Against Lending Him Further Funds

89 A Man Thanks His Friend for a Loan and Promises to Repay It with Grain After the Harvest

90 A Neighbor Requests the Loan of a Plow and Plowshare Until He Can Get Some Iron to Have a Plowshare Made for His Own Plow

91 A Neighbor Requests Financial Assistance Following a Burglary

92 The Burglary Victim’s Neighbor Agrees to Assist Him

93 A Peasant Writes to Another About His Adversities

CHAPTER 5. A KNIGHT’S CORRESPONDENCE: BUILDING A BARN AND A WINDMILL

94 A Knight Informs His Friend, a Royal Forester, that the King Has Granted Him Four Oak Trees with Which to Build a Windmill

95 The Royal Forester Responds with an Offer of Assistance

96 The Royal Forester Orders His Serjeants to Assist the Knight

97 The Knight Hires a Carpenter to Finish the Windmill and Build a Barn

98 The Knight Orders the Bailiff of His Manor to Attend to Various Tasks, to Organize the Delivery of the Timber for the New Windmill and Barn, and to Prepare Provisions for the Forthcoming Visit of the Knight and His Household

99 The Bailiff Reports to the Knight that He Has Taken Care of Everything, and that He Has Borrowed Money on the Knight’s Behalf to Cover the Expenses

100 The Knight Asks His Wife to Join Him at the Manor Where the Mill and Barn Are Under Construction, and to Stay on After His Return to Court

CONTENTS