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Community of the realm who have come to parliament. King. [This document is badly...

Catalogue reference: SC 8/294/14698

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This record is about the Community of the realm who have come to parliament. King. [This document is badly... dating from [1309] in the series Special Collections: Ancient Petitions. It is held at The National Archives, Kew.

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Full description and record details

Reference
SC 8/294/14698
Date
[1309]
Description
Petitioners
Community of the realm who have come to parliament.
Addressees
King.
Nature of request
[This document is badly damaged] The seventh, eighth, ninth, first and second of a series of petitions put to the king by the community of the realm.7) The petitioners complain that receivers of prises in fairs and cities throughout the realm take more than is necessary, and pass the surplus on to others to sell at their own profit, to the great harm of the king and his people. They request a remedy.8) The petitioners complain that suits in the king's Benches are often delayed by protections and by writs under the targe, to the people's great harm.9) The petitioners complain that people indicted of theft, homicide, robbery and other felonies purchase the king's charter of peace too easily, so that those who have indicted them do not dare to remain in their country for fear of such felons, and indictments are not made for this reason. They request a remedy.[Continued on dorse] . . . the Sunday immediately after St James in the third year . . . [This appears to be the beginning of the document, as it asks for a remedy for the articles listed below]The petitioners state that they are not being dealt with as they should be according to the great charter, and request a remedy and that the king might put right their grievances against his ministers.1) They state that the king's ministers do not pay for goods which they take as prises.2) They complain about 'prises' taken by the kings ministers in the form of a tax on wine, cloth and groceries for sale.
Nature of endorsement
[On face, To seventh: the king wills that the ordinance that was made concerning such prises in the time of the king's father should be kept and upheld; and it is contained in the rolls of Chancery.To eighth: the king wills that protections with clauses of acquittance in pleas should henceforth not be granted to anyone, except to those who go out of the realm in the king's service, on the great business of the realm: and the king has charged the Chancellor not to issue them in any other manner. And with regard to writs under the targe, the king wills that the ordinance which was made in the time of the king his father, and which is in Chancery, should be kept.To ninth: the king wills that henceforth no pardon for felony should be granted, except in the cases where it used of old to be granted, that is to say, if a man kills another by misadventure, in self-defence, or in madness, and this is found by the record of the justices.[On the dorse are more petitions and responses][On dorse, to first petition] To this petition it is answered that there was an ordinance made concerning such prises in the time of King Edward, the father of the present lord king, which ordinance [is understood to be] valuable for the king [and profitable] for his people, [and our lord the king wills that this ordinance be kept and upheld] in all points.
see PROME, parliament of April 1309, Introduction.
Note
A copy of five of eleven articles submitted to Edward II by the community of the realm at the parliament of April 1309. The petition is now in a poor condition, and there may once have been other articles here.For a discussion, see PROME, parliament of April 1309, Introduction.
Held by
The National Archives, Kew
Legal status
Public Record(s)
Language
French
Closure status
Open Document, Open Description
Publication note(s)
  • Calendar of Close Rolls, Edw II, vol. I, 1307-1313, (Public Record Office, 1892), p.175 (brief calendar of these articles and others, as they appear on the Close Roll)
  • Rotuli Parliamentorum; ut et Petitiones, et Placita in Parliamento, vol. I, Edw I and Edw II, (Record Commission, 1783), pp.443b-445a (edition of another copy of these articles and others)
  • The Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, Ed. Paul Brand, Anne Curry, Chris Given-Wilson, Rosemary Horrox, W.M. Ormrod and J.R.S. Phillips, (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Appendix of Unedited Petitions, 1307-1337, Rotuli Parliamentorum I, pp.442-59 (discussion of this petition)
Record URL
https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C9735861/

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Series information

SC 8

Special Collections: Ancient Petitions

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Community of the realm who have come to parliament. King. [This document is badly...

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