People of Bury St Edmunds. Chancellor. The people of Bury St Edmunds state that a...

Petitioners

People of Bury St Edmunds.

Addressees

Chancellor.

Nature of request

The people of Bury St Edmunds state that a commission was issued to certain of the wealthier and better people of the town to raise 2000 marks for the King from the townspeople, from each according to his estate, but that these people have assessed themselves and their friends very favourably, so that the burden falls more heavily on the others, and many find it quite impossible to pay, so that some have left the town, and others have acquired writs to be assessed according to their estate - which are ignored. They are also exacting a greater sum than they owe the King. The petitioners ask that a commission might be made to the bailiffs of the town, associating with themselves one of the sergeants of the court and a good man, to survey the rolls of the assessment and the wealth of the people of the town, and to correct the faults made by the original commission. And the bailiffs are to inform Chancery of what they have done.

Nature of endorsement

[None]

Places mentioned

Bury St Edmunds, [Suffolk].

For a related petition, see SC 8/20/972

• Calendar of Patent Rolls, Ric II, vol. II, 1381-1385, (Public Record Office, 1898), p.592 (commission to correct the wrongs complained about, as requested in the petition)
• The Borough of Bury St Edmunds: A Study in the Government and Development of a Monastic Town, M.D. Lobel, (Archaeological Journal, XXXIV, pp.87- 88, 1935), pp.178-9 (edition of petition)