History of corn milling .. - Centrostudirpinia.it

74 HISTORY OF CORN MILLING: vol. iv.
in. without number, a penny, two pence, sometimes four pence, some-
^HESTER^' ^^^^^ ^^^ pence or six pence to their own profit which ; money they
'__ divide amongst them as well of men in the ; city dwelling as in the
7. Inquisition, country abiding : Or else their corn in the said milnes they cannot
1400. grind by the said keeper and milners : Or, other, the said corn
within the said milnes shall tarry unto they have satisfied the said
keeper and milners as is aforesaid : To the grievous damages and
extortion of the common people of the said Earl Which is worth ;
by
year a hundred shillings and more : And so that extortion hath continued
of tenne years and more.
[This extra charge appears to be the same stated in a later clause to have been
levied on the men bringing corn from Wirral by boat, viz. a rate above the onesixteenth
grist the millers were entitled to charge citizens. The complaint was
that the millers not only took money (grist toll only being legal), but, further, that
they surcharged citizens, as though "foreigners" from outside the city.]
They say also that in the said milnes ought to be five
What should
maisters and one maister above them with his knave :
me^ ^
And now fn the milnes!
they be but three with their knaves, which
also take their part after the rate of his : porcion And
the said keeper has taken the same parts [for the men not engaged]
to his own use and profit, for and in the name of the said four
maisters [and their knaves] for the rate of their : portions In prejudice
and damage of our lord the King and Earl, and in extortion of the
common : people Which
more : And
is worth by year one hundred shillings and
the same hath continued by eight years and more.
Text, III. 130. [This cause of complaint has already incidentally been explained.]
u 1 u They say also that the ofificers in the said milnes,
oueht-\o^erind'^^ which now be, and all their predecessors which afore
this time there have been, in the time of the said
Earl of Chester, were wont to take of every baker of the City of
Chester only (and of none other citizen of the said city That is
:)
to say of every xiij bushels of corn one schole full of meal Which
;
ought to contain in length one spanne, and in breadth one other
spanne, without more : And now they take, and of long time have
taken, of every six bushels of corn, in extortion and above sixteen
of a measure :
grains, one measure and a half and the fourth part
Which said measure is larger and more than the measure which was
ordained in the time of the said Rannulphe Earl of Chester :
Which
is called a schole by a great quantity [of people], that is to say one
schole and a half and three parts and more : To the great damage
and extortion of the people of our sovereign lord the King and Earl
And so
of Chester, to the yearly value of foure pounds and more :
they and their predecessors have continued for forty years and
more.
Ibid., III. 112. [Bakers, like other citizens, were bound to grind at Dee Mills. The Charter
of Incorporation granted to the company in 1463 also astricted the members to
the mills. The toll payable by bakers "and by none other citizens of the same
"
city was a special rate for the trade. Such a special rate was payable by the
bakers of Paris in 1258.]