Piece
Transferred to SC 5/8/6 and subsequently to C 47/8/1
Catalogue reference: SC 5/8/7
Transferred to SC 5/8/6 and subsequently to C 47/8/1
Item
Community of Berkshire. King and council. The community show that the common gaol...
Catalogue reference: SC 8/2/67
What’s it about?
This record is about the Community of Berkshire. King and council. The community show that the common gaol... dating from [c. 1315] in the series Special Collections: Ancient Petitions. It is held at The National Archives, Kew.
Is it available online?
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Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- SC 8/2/67
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Date (When the record was created)
- [c. 1315]
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Description (What the record is about)
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- Petitioners
- Community of Berkshire.
- Addressees
- King and council.
- Nature of request
- The community show that the common gaol of the county is at Windsor which is very remote within the county so that the men who are taking the king's felons travel 40 leagues or more whereby some of them escape, and some of them are taken away by their companions when they are taken by the perilous paths of the Chilterns; and moreover those wishing to sue for the king or for themselves abandon their suits because of the perilous nature of the paths, the distance of the gaol, and the great flooding of the Thames so that neither they nor other people of the county are able to come to the gaol delivery, and felons and those bringing them through the flooding of the Thames have perished, and those wishing to come to sue face many troubles and perils. The community request that the king order that the county can have its gaol at Wallingford which is in the middle of the county for the convenience of the country, and to avoid the damages and perils that happen to the king and his people.
- Nature of endorsement
- The king does not wish to have his gaol in any castle other than his own.
- Places mentioned
- Berkshire
- Wyndesore (Windsor), [Berkshire]
- Cilterne (Chilterns)
- Taimse (River Thames)
- Wallingford, [Berkshire].
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Note (Additional information about the record)
- The petition is dated to c. 1315 because the petition printed as Rot. Parl., vol I, p.300a (no. 44) dates from 1315, and because the title contained in Rot. Parl., vol I, p.289 which notes this as being 'Responses made in the presence of the king and his great council in the parliament of the king after the Octave of St Hillary, in the 8th year'. However SC 8/2/67 is clearly a different petition, and it would seem unlikely that they are completely contemporary. It is possible that because the endorsement suggests a complete rejection of SC 8/2/67, and the Rot. Parl. petition prompts an inquisition, that SC 8/2/67 is earlier, and the Rot. Parl. petition emphasized a real problem and forced the king to act.
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Former department reference (Former identifier given by the originating creator)
- Parliamentary Petition 1149
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- French
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Closure status (Whether the record is ‘open’ (available to the public) or ‘closed’ (not available due to a legal exemption))
- Open Document, Open Description
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Publication note(s) (A note of publications related to the record)
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- Rotuli Parliamentorum; ut et Petitiones, et Placita in Parliamento, vol. I, Edw I and Edw II, (Record Commission, 1783), p.300a (related petition on the same subject)
- Select Cases in the Court of King's Bench, vol. II, Edw I, Ed. G.O. Sayles, (Selden Society, vol. LVII, 1938), p. cliii (entry cc) (full edition of petition)
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C9060180/
How to order it
- View this record page in our current catalogue
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Series information
SC 8
Special Collections: Ancient Petitions
See the series level description for more information about this record.
Catalogue hierarchy
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This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
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Records of various departments, arranged artificially according to type, and formerly...
18,283 records
Within the series: SC 8
Special Collections: Ancient Petitions
52 records
Within the piece: SC 8/2
51-100 . Individual petitions are described , dated, and are available at item level.
You are currently looking at the item: SC 8/2/67
Community of Berkshire. King and council. The community show that the common gaol...
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