? No Petitioner named Transcript of a writ of Edward II, dated 1 November 1315, to...

Petitioners

? No Petitioner named

Nature of request

Transcript of a writ of Edward II, dated 1 November 1315, to William Martyn, Justice of South Wales, ordering him to obey previous letters concerning the holding of a market in Old Carmarthen by the Prior of Carmarthen. The burgesses of the borough of Carmarthen have complained that, although Edward I granted that only certain goods could be bought and sold in gross within five leagues of their borough, the Prior has been holding markets in Old Carmarthen. The king ordered Martyn to investigate the Prior's rights to hold such a market, but despite no evidence being presented by the Prior allowing him to hold such a market, Martyn has not executed his order and the market is still being held.

Nature of endorsement

The justice replies that he understood the writs, but had been unable to execute them since, when asked, the Prior claimed that he, his predecessors and the men of the town had sold goods in Old Carmarthen for time beyond memory, and that they ought to enjoy this freedom. He therefore felt unable legitimately to execute the writ.Pleas heard before William Martyn, Justice of South Wales and of the Bishopric of St David's, 8 October 1315.Robert, Prior of Carmarthen, who had been ordered to appear and show by what right he ought to hold his market in Old Carmarthen, came and showed nothing by which he ought to hold that market. And the provost of Carmarthen came on behalf of the king and sought judgment, and that the Justice should enforce the king's mandate.

Places mentioned

South Wales

Carmarthen, [Carmarthenshire, Wales]

Old Carmarthen, [Carmarthenshire, Wales]

Clipstone, [Nottinghamshire]

St David's, [Pembrokeshire, Wales].

People mentioned

Edward II, King of England

William Martyn (Martin), Justice of South Wales

Burgesses of Carmarthen

Edward [I], King of England

Robert [de Daviston], Prior of Carmarthen.

For an inquisition held into the rights of the Prior in Old Carmarthen see no.22 of C 145/76

For an earlier writ on this matter see SC 8/119/5909

For the petition to which this transcript was attached see SC 8/119/5908B

For the original writ recited here see SC 8/119/5908A

• Calendar of Ancient Petitions Relating to Wales, Board of Celtic Studies, History and Law, (University of Wales, 1975), pp.198-9 (translation of additional endorsement)
• Calendar of Charter Rolls, vol. III, Edw I and Edw II, 1300-1326, (Public Record Office, 1908), p.216 (confirmation of ordinance in favour of the burgesses of Carmarthen) & p.397 (inspeximus of charters in favour of the Prior)
• Calendar of Close Rolls, Edw II, vol. II, 1313-1318, (Public Record Office, 1893), p.370 (order to the Justice of South Wales to allow the Prior to hold his market in Old Carmarthen)
• Documents Illustrative of English History in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, selected from the Records of the Department of the Queen's Remembrancer of the Exchequer, Ed. H. Cole, (Record Commission, 1844), p.15 (response to a later petition from the Prior of Carmarthen on this issue)