Historic%20Yorkshire

BEVERLEY SANCTUARY.
"' Also, ye shal be redy at all your pouer if there be
any debates or stryf, or oder so than case of fyre within
the towne, to helpto surcess it.
"' Also, ye shal be redy at the obites of KyngAthelstan
at the dirige, and the messe,at such tyme as it is done
at the warnying of the belman of the towne,and do your
dewtesinryngying, and for to offer at the messe, on the
morne. So help you God and hies Holy Evangelistes.'
And then gar hymnkysse the book.' "
The bailiff's fee on this occasion appears to have been
two shillings and fourpence; thatofthe Clerkof theCourt
for inscribing the name of the refugee in the sanctuary
register, fourpence.
The entries in these remarkable registers comprehend
almost everydescriptionof crime, and afford a wonderfully
interesting pictureof Englishlife in early times. Nearly
the whole of them arein Latin; the record is often very
brief, andin the following form: —
Thomas Francis.
Thomas Francis, of Pullan, in the counte of Norfolk,
came to Beverley the xvij. day of October, the vii. yearof
our Sovereign Lord King Henry VIL, and craved the
liberty and sanctuaryof St. John of Beverley,for the death
of Thomas Hoffley, of Danson, of the saym counte, and
for debts; and is admitted to the liberty, etc.
John Spret, Gentleman.
MemorandumthatJohn Spret,of Barton-upon-Humber,
in the county of Lincoln, gentleman,came to Beverley
the first day of October, in the vij. year of the reign of
KingHenryVII,andasked libertyof St. Johnof Beverley
for the deathof John Weltom, husbandman, of the same
town, and confessed himself to be at the killingof the said
John with a dagger on the xv. day of August.
We have anabstractofthe BeverleySanctuaryRegister,
and it presents a curious record of the crimes and trades
of the period: —
Crimes. — Indefinite, 35. Persons concerned, 35. No
trade described, 10; labourers, 3 ; tylers, 2 ; tailors, 2 ;
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