History of corn milling .. - Centrostudirpinia.it

SOME FEUDAL MILLS. 63
Inquisition held the same year : when it has been computed by HI.
the jurors that for the time the lord the king has assigned his ^JvKipt^'
manorial lands of Chester Castle to the men of those parts in ;__
recompense for other lands assigned to the abbot and convent of 3^ Claims by
Vale Royal, Richard the Engineer by loss of multure on grain of Lessee
manorial tenants aforesaid which he should have received has sus-
tained damage to the amount of 58s. y^d. He is not able to assess
future multure to them, however.
The foregoing did not quite conclude the troubles
of the lessee of the soke. In 1289 a William Fox
purchased bread at Warwick and brought
in a^ cart to Chester, where he was promptly arrested
it for sale
at the instance of Richard and conveyed to the
castle, an action being brought against him by Fox ;
but on it being pleaded that the latter was acting con-
trary to the soke rights of the mills, the proceedings
were quashed.
In the same year, 1289, Richard's twelve years'
lease expired, and he duly claimed compensation from
the king for damages
during his term :—
sustained by several floods
1278-1280.
Breve R. Edwardi I. quo cum nuper commiserit Magistro Harl. MSS.,
Ricardo Ingeniatori suo, molendino sua Cestriae et piscarum suam 2083. 513.
in aqua de Dee pertinentem ad pontem ultra aquam illam habend.
reddendo inde ad Scaccarium suum
usque ad finem 12 annorum :
Cestriae annuatim Ducentas Libras : et idem Ricardus, occasione
inundationum aquae predicta frequenter supervenientium, jacturam
et dampna gravia sustinuerit, sicut dicit, mandat Reginaldo de
Grey Justiciario suo Cestriae, quod diligenter inquirat quantum
dampni et jacturam dictus Ricardus passus fuerit occasione predicta :
et si idem Ricardus inde culpa fuerit, nee ne. Teste &c. 7 die
Septembris anno Regni i 7.
Writ of Edward I. The king, having granted to Master Richard,
his engineer, his mill of Chester with his fishing appurtenant, at the
bridge crossing the Dee, for a term of twelve years, rendering therefor
to the king's Exchequer at Chester ;£"2oo per annum ; and the
said Richard, because of frequently occurring inundations of the said
river, having sustained breakages and serious damage at the mills,
as he says; the king issued his writ to Reginald de Grey, his
justiciary at Chester, directing that he diligently enquire what
amount of loss and damage may have been inflicted on the said
Richard, and whether or not he may have been to blame in the
matter. Witnessed, &c., September 7, the seventeenth year of our
reign [1289].