High Stewards of England, from the Conqueft to the prefent Time. 1. Hugh de Grentemeifnel, Baron of Hinckley. 2. Yvo de Grentemeifnel, Baron of Hinckley. 3. Hugh de Grentemeifnel, Baron of Hinckley. 4. Robert de Bellomont, Earl of Leicester and Lord of Hinckley. 5. Robert Fitz-Parnel, Earl of Leicester and Lord of Hinckley. 6. Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester and Lord of Hinckley. 7. Simon de Montfort, jun. Earl of Leicester and Lord of Hinckley. 8. Edward Crouchbacke, Earl of Lancaster, Leicester, and Derby, and Lord of Hinckley. 9. Thomas Earl of Lancafter, &c. and Lord of Hinckley. 10. Henry Earl of Lancaster, &c. and Lord of Hinckley. 11. Henry Duke of Lancaster, &c. and Lord of Hinckley. 12. William of Bavaria, Earl of Leicester, &c. and Lord of Hinckley. 13. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Earl of Leicester, Lincoln, and Derby, conftable of France, and Lord of Hinckley. 14. Henry Duke of Lancafter, &c. and Lord of Hinckley; afterwards king of England by the title of Henry IV.. 15. King Henry V. From this period the kings of England, as fucceffive lords of Hinckley, have granted the important office of Lord High Steward to particular noblemen only pro hac vice. Tranflations of three authentic Regifters of the Monastery of St. Edmund's Bury, formerly kept by the Sacrift; from the Gentleman's Magazine for November 1783. HIS indenture certifies, "TH that mafter John Swaffham, facrift of the monaftery of St. Edmund's Bury, with the confent and permiffion of the prior and convent of the fame, hath demifed and to farm let to Simeon Lolepeke, of Bury aforefaid, yeoman, the manor called Habyrdon in Bury aforefaid, &c. to have and to hold for the term of feven years, &c. paying yearly, &c. And the faid Simeon, his executors and affigns, fhall find or caufe to be found one white bull every year of his term as often as it fhall happen that any gentlewoman (mulierem generofam) or any other women, from devotion or vows by them made, fhall vifit the tomb of the glorious king and martyr St. Edmund, to make the oblations of the faid white bull, &c. In witness whereof, to one part the feal of the facrift is affixed, &c. Dated the 4th day of June, in the 2d year of the reign of king Henry, king of England, the feventh fince the Conqueft." "The Lord High Steward of England," printed in 8vo, 1776. "Great writers," fays the ingenious author of this pamphlet, "frequently betray the dulnefs of common minds, in works looked up to by the world with admiration and awe." Another fend to fuch a counfellour, forbidding him in fuch fort to leade and counfel the king, and of fuch his evil counfel he fhall make rehearfall, enjoining him to depart from the king's prefence, and longer not to abide with him to his difhonour, and the public hurt as is aforefaid; which if he fhall not doe, they fhall fend unto the king to remove him from him, and to give no more ear unto his councell, for that amongst the people he is esteemed to be an evil councellour between the king and his fubjects. If hereupon the king do not put him away, againe and of ten fhall they fend, as well unto the king as unto him: if at the laft neither the king nor fuch councellours of his have regard unto the meffages and requests made unto them, but fhall refufe to doe thereafter, then, for the weale publick, it is lawfull for the fteward, conftable of England, noblemen, and others of the comImunaltye of the realme, with banner in the king's name dif. played, to apprehend fuch councellour, as a common enemy to the king and the realme, to commit his body to ward until the next parliament, and in the mean time to feyze on all his goods, lands, and poffeffions, till judgment be pronounced of him by advice of the whole kingdom in parliament, as it happened unto Godwyn the Earle of Kent, in the days of king Edward the Confeffour, next predeceffour to William duke of Normandy, conquerour of England, who, for fuch evil acts and councells of his, was deprived of his earldome, which efcheated to the aforefaid king: notwithstanding, at the king's fuite, and by the noblemen's permiffion, Godwyn came again to England, and did after forfeit as before. And as it happened likewife to Hubert de Burgh, Earle of Kent in the tyme of king Henry III. that was fon of king John, who for his evil deeds and bad councell was apprehended, and by the high fenefchall and other peers deprived of his earldome by the allowance and confent of the whole parliament. So likewife did it befall unto Pierce of Gaveston, who in the days of king Edward the fon of king Henry, for fuch his evil acts and councells, was banished out of all the king of England's dominions, as well on this fide as beyond the feas, which Pierce afterwards by the king's means, and the permiffion of the nobility, returned to England and had of the king's guift the earledome of Cornwall; but was after that, for his evil deeds and councell, banished the realme again by the nobles and commons, and had his faid earledome efcheated unto the king but he returned afterwards without the noblemen's confent and leave, and did resort and affociate himself to the king, as before tyme he had done which when the high fleward, conftable, and other of the nobility understood, hee was by them apprehended and beheaded att Blacklow in Warwickshire, as a public enemy to the king and the realme. Soe have you as much as in the fayd old booke is to be feene touching the office of high fteward *.” : High *Lord chief juftice Coke's account of this high office, effentially differing from that here quoted, is given at large, and freely controverted, in a tract on "The High Stewards of England, from the Conqueft to the prefent Time. 1. Hugh de Gren temeifnel, Baron of Hinckley. 2. Yvo de Grentemeifnel, Baron of Hinckley. 3. Hugh de Grentemeifnel, Baron of Hinckley. 4. Robert de Bellomont, Earl of Leicester and Lord of Hinckley. 5. Robert Fitz-Parnel, Earl of Leicester and Lord of Hinckley. 6. Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester and Lord of Hinckley. 7. Simon de Montfort, jun. Earl of Leicester and Lord of Hinckley. 8. Edward Crouchbacke, Earl of Lancaster, Leicester, and Derby, and Lord of Hinckley. 9. Thomas Earl of Lancafter, &c. and Lord of Hinckley. 10. Henry Earl of Lancafter, &c. and Lord of Hinckley. 11. Henry Duke of Lancaster, &c. and Lord of Hinckley. 12. William of Bavaria, Earl of Leicester, &c. and Lord of Hinckley. 13. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Earl of Leicester, Lincoln, and Derby, conftable of France, and Lord of Hinckley. 14. Henry Duke of Lancafter, &c. and Lord of Hinckley; afterwards king of England by the title of Henry IV. 15. King Henry V. From this period the kings of England, as fucceffive lords of Hinckley, have granted the important office of Lord High Steward to particular noblemen only pro bac vice. Tranflations of three authentic Regifters of the Monastery of St. Edmund's Bury, formerly kept by the Sacrift; from the Gentleman's Magazine for November 1783. HIS indenture certifies, "TH that mafter John Swaffham, facrift of the monaftery of St. Edmund's Bury, with the confent and permiffion of the prior and convent of the fame, hath demifed and to farm let to Simeon Lolepeke, of Bury aforefaid, yeoman, the manor called Habyrdon in Bury aforefaid, &c. to have and to hold for the term of feven years, &c. paying yearly, &c. And the faid Simeon, his executors and affigns, fhall find or caufe to be found one white bull every year of his term as often as it fhall happen that any gentlewoman (mulierem generofam) or any other women, from devotion or vows by them made, fhall vifit the tomb of the glorious king and martyr St. Edmund, to make the oblations of the faid white bull, &c. In witness whereof, to one part the feal of the facrift is af fixed, &c. Dated the 4th day of June, in the 2d year of the reign of king Henry, king of England, the feventh fince the Conqueft." "The Lord High Steward of England," printed in 8vo, 1776. "Great writers," fays the ingenious author of this pamphlet, "frequently betray the dulnefs of common minds, in works looked up to by the world with admiration and awe." Another Another Register of the faid Mo- other women, from devotion or naftery. "This indenture, made the 12th day of September, in the 11th year of the reign of king Henry the VIIIth, between master John Eye, facrift of the monaftery of St. Edmund's Bury, and Richard Skinner, of Bury aforefaid, hufbandman, certifies that the aforefaid John Eye, with the confent, &c. hath demifed and to farm let to the aforefaid Richard the manor of Habyrdon, &c. for the term of ten years, &c. And the faid Richard fhall find one white bull as often as it fhall happen," &c. as before. Another original Inftrument, with the capitular Seal of the Monaftery annexed. This indenture certifies that we John, by divine permiffion, abbot of the monaftery of St. Edmund's Bury, with the confent and permiffion of the prior and convent of the fame, have demifed and to farm let to Robert Wright, glazier, and to John Anable, pewterer, of Bury aforefaid, our manor of Habyrdon, with the appurtenances pertaining to the of fice of facrift of our faid monaftery, &c. to hold from the feast of St. Michael the Archangel next enfuing after the date of thefe prefents, for the term of twenty years, &c. paying yearly to the faid abbot and his fucceffors, for the use of the office of facrift, 201. 4s. &c. And the faid Robert and John fhall find one white bull every year of the aforefaid term, as often as it fhall happen that any gentlewoman, or any vows by them made, fhall vifit the fhrine of the glorious king and martyr St. Edmund, to make the oblations of the faid white bull, &c. In witnefs whereof, to one part of this indenture remaining with the above-named abbot, prior and convent, the faid Robert and John have affixed their feals, and to the other part remaining with the faid Robert and John, we the above-named abbot, prior and convent, have caufed the common feal of our chapter to be affixed. Given in our chapterhouse the xxvijith day of April, in the xxvth year of king Henry the Eighth, and in the year of our Lord 1533." Bes The waxen impreffion, ftill perfeet, has on the face St. Edmund fitting on a royal throne, with a bishop ftanding on each fide; on the reverfe he is bound to a tree, and transfixed with arrows, low, in another compartment, is the body of St. Edmund, headlefs; and near it a wolf, bringing back the royal head to reftore it to the body. The inftrument is thus indorfed, Irrotulatur per me, Walterum Mildemey. A tranfcript of this fealed indenture remains in the court of augmentations. Whenever a married woman wifhed to be pregnant, this white bull, who enjoyed full eafe and plenty in the fields of Habyrdon, never meanly yoked to the plough, nor ever cruelly baited at the flake, was led in proceffion through the principal ftreets of the town, viz. Church-ftreet, Guildhall - ftreet, and Cook-row, of which the last led to the principal gate of the monaftery, attended by all the monks finging, and by a fhouting crowd, |