John
de Farndale
C 1277
to c 1350
The Medieval
Inhabitants of Farndale
FAR00016A
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John may have been born in or about 1277
in Farndale, probably in the mill at Low Mill. He was the son of John the miller (FAR00021B).
By 1282, on the death of the landlord Baldwin Wake, the cultivated
acreage in Farndale had risen to 768 acres in only six years (FAR000020). There were 90 bondmen by this time in Farndale. This must have
represented a planned campaign of settlement and activity in the dale must have
been noisy and constant at this time.
1324
John de Farndale (FAR00016A) was released from
excommunication at Pickering Castle on 23 February 1324. This may
have related to a prior poaching offence. Text of Release From Excommunication;
‘To the Most Serene Prince, His Lord
Edward, by the Grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of
Aquitaine, William by Divine permission Archbishop of York, Primate of England,
Greetings in him to serve who is to reign for ever. We make known to Your Royal
Excellency, by these presents that William de Lede of Saxton, John of Farndale and John Brand of Howon, our Parishioners, lately at our ordinary invocation,
according to the custom of your Realm, were bound by sentence of greater
excommunication and, contemptuous of the power of the Church, were committed to
Your Majesty’s Prison for contumacy and offences punishable by imprisonment;
and have humbly done penance to God and to the Church, wherefore they have been
deemed worthy to obtain from us in legal form the benefit of absolution. May it
therefore please Your Majesty that we re-admit the
said William, John and John to the bosom of the Church as faithful members
thereof and order their liberation from the said prison. May God preserve you
for His Church and the people.’ Given at Thorpe (Bishopthorpe), next York,
9 April 1324. (The National Archives C 85/181/61, York
Archbishop Registers).
1334 was the year of the Eyre Court. It was therefore time to
catch up with the Farndale misbehaviour of the preceding years. A mainpernor was a person who gave a guarantee that a
prisoner would attend court. The folk of Farndale had clearly been out in
significant numbers to engaging in poaching. The hearing dealt with offences of
some antiquity, the reference to the seventeenth regnal year of Edward I
indicating offences that had taken place over several decades as the Eyre had
not sat during that time. So these records were catching up with many years of
activity in the forest (The Duchy of Lancaster
Records, from the North Riding Record Society, The Honour and Forest of
Pickering, Edited by Robert Bell Turton, Volume IV, 1897, page xiii).
Richard (FAR00016), son of John the miller of Farndale (FAR00021B) and Adam (FAR00025), son of Simon the miller of Farndale (FAR00021) had trespassed and
hunted in Pickering Forest, others including Adam (FAR00022A), son of Nicholas de Farndale (FAR00006), and John (FAR00016A), son of John the miller (FAR00021B) and John Wraghby of Farndale (WRA00001)
mainperned (provided guarantees) for their
appearance (The Great Cowcher of the Duchy
of Lancaster, The National Archives, DL42/1 Folio 227, 227v, DL 42/1/35/U7 folios 337 to 338v).
Under medieval forest law, mainpernors were individuals who acted as guarantors for
others, ensuring they appeared in court to answer for alleged offenses against
forest law. These offenses primarily involved the king's hunting rights and the
protection of forest resources like timber and vegetation. Mainpernors
essentially vouched for the accused's future appearance in court, preventing
them from fleeing justice within the forest jurisdiction.
As mainpernor
(guarantor) for Nicholas Laverock was fined 20d as mainpernor
of John de Farndale (FAR00016A), also indicted for hunting. John (FAR00016A), son of John the miller (FAR00021B) was fined 2s as mainpernor
of Richard (FAR00016), son of John the miller of Farndale (FAR00021B), also indicted for hunting. John (FAR00016A), son of John the miller (FAR00021B) was also fined 2s as mainpernor of Adam (FAR00025), son of Simon the miller (FAR00021), also indicted for hunting (The Great Cowcher of the Duchy of Lancaster, The National
Archives, DL42/1 Folios 336v and 337, DL 42/1/35/U6, Folio 335v-336v
(not on public record)).
There
are full details of this hearing at another webpage.
A number of individuals from Farndale were fined
following prior indictments for poaching in 1334 and not turning up at the
Eyre. They paid bail or had bail paid for them (North Riding Records, Volume IV by the North Yorkshire Record
Society, the Honour and Forest of Pickering, 1897, page 23, 28, and 34 not on line but I have a physical copy).
|
Date of Hearing |
Notional date of Offence |
Payer |
Guarantor (malpernor) |
Poacher |
Amount of Fine |
|
3 October 1334 |
c 1321 |
William the Smith (FAR00037) |
William the Smith (FAR00037) |
2s |
There are further details of these offences at another webpage.
There is a separate page about poaching in Pickering Forest.
1350
John might have lived until about say 1350.