Richard and Thomas of Farndale
Excommunicated for contempt of the
authority of the church in 1316
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The webpages
of Richard
de Farndale and Thomas
de Farndale provide links to direct sources.
The
Excommunication
Richard of
Farndale and Thomas of Farndale were both excommunicated at Pickering Castle and having
remained at large, the Crown was requested to assist the Church in their
apprehension on 12 August 1316.
To the
Most Serene Prince, his Lord Edward by the Grace of God, King of England,
illustrious Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine, his humble and devoted
clerks, the Reverend Dean and Chapter of the Church of St Peter, York;
custodians of the spiritualities of the Archbishopric while the See is vacant;
Greetings to him to serve whom is to reign for ever. We make known to your
Royal Excellency by these presents that John de Carter, William of Elington, Adam of Killeburn, John
Porter, Hugh Fullo, Peter Fullo,
John of Halmby, Adam Playceman, John Foghill, Thomas Thoyman, Robert
the Miller, Adam of the Kitchen, Richard Mereschall,
John Gomodman, John Wallefrere,
Alan Gage, Henry Cucte, Nicholas of the Stable, John
the baker, Adam of Craven, John son of Imanye,
Michael of Cokewald, Thomas of Morton, John of Westmerland, Thomas of Bradeford, Adam of Craven, John of Mittelhaue, John called Lamb, William Cowherd, Simon of Plabay, William the Oxherd, Henry of Rossedale,
John of Carlton, Peter of Boldeby, Thomas of Redmere, Walter of Boys, William of Fairland, John of Skalton, John of Thufden, Henry
the Shepherd’s boy, John of Foxton, Thomas of Farndale, John of Ampleford, John Boost, Roger of Kerby, John of Stybbyng, William of Carlton, Richard of Kilburn, Adam
Scot, Peter of Gilling, John of Skalton, Stephen of Skalton, Richard of Farndale, Richard of Malthous, John the Oxherd, Robert of Rypon,
Walter of Fyssheburn, Adam of Oswadkyrke,
William of Everley, Hugh of Salton, William Robley, William of Kilburn,
Geoffrey the Gaythirde, John of the Loge, Robert of Faldington, Nicholas of Wasse, William of Eversley, Robert
of Habym, John of Baggeby
and William Boost, our Parishioners, by reason of their contumacy and
offence were bound in our authority by sentence of greater
excommunication, and in this have remained obdurate for 40 days and more,
and have up to now continued in contempt of the authority of the Church.
Wherefore we beseech your Royal Excellency, in order that the pride of these
said rebels may be overcome, that it may please you to grant Letters,
according to previous meritorious and pious custom of your Realm, so that the
Mother Church may, in this matter, be supported by the power of Your Majesty.
May God preserve you for His Church and people.
Given at
York 12 August 1316.
We don’t
know the nature of their crime. It seems to have been a crime under canon law,
which therefore involved the church in the first instance, and in their
sentence of excommunication, and was sufficiently serious that the church felt
it necessary to involve the secular authorities when the pride of the rebels
could not be quashed.
Under canon
law, excommunication
was the most serious sanction the Church had to wield against those who
disobeyed its laws. Gratian's
Decretum (c 1140), which contained the
basic texts of the canon law, described excommunication as equivalent to handing
a person over to the Devil. Later medieval canonists echoed and amplified
this sentiment in their descriptions of the consequences of the sanction. It
cut the excommunicate off from the Church's sacraments and from most contacts
with other Christians
In England
there was an additional penalty of imprisonment for standing obdurately
excommunicate for more than forty days. This seems to explain the duration and
the language used above.
In the eyes
of medieval canonists, these consequences made it necessary that imposition of
the sentence of excommunication was governed by a series of procedural
requirements for the valid imposition of the sanction. Sentences of
excommunication could be imposed only by a proper official, acting in his
judicial capacity, normally the bishop of the diocese where the person lived or
his deputy. Excommunication required proper citation of the persons involved
and provision for them to be heard in their own defence. Imposition of the
sentence had to be accompanied by certain prescribed formalities, including
judicial deliberation and a written document.
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Excommunication in
the Middle Ages
There is a podcast
in the Gone Medieval series on the impact, or sometimes lack of impact, of
excommunication. King John was excommunicated in 1307 and initially at least
ignored it. |
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Richard
de Farndale
Richard of
Farndale had a gift of land at Marton in 1300.
De
Martona. In est Martona ad existum villae versus aquilonem et part villae orientali, Ricardus de Farendale xvd viij prec
pro tofto et orto ex dono Tosti, et j acra in campo.
‘Concerning
Marton. In East Marton on the way out of the village towards the north, on the
east side, Richard de Farendale 15d 8, for a toft and
a garden, the gift of Tosti and one acre in the field.’
Marton is
probably the village still of that name about three kilometres south of
Aldborough (the Roman provincial capital of Isurium Brigantum), some 20 km southwest of Farndale.
If this was
the same person, then if Richard de Farndale was 25 at the time of the gift, he
would have been born in about 1275. Perhaps he was one of the sons of Nicholas de
Farndale. If he lived to 70 he might have died in about 1345.
There was a
Richard, son of John the Miller of Farndale, who was charged with various
poaching offences in 1334, but this is likely to have been a different Richard,
since the excommunicated Richard would have been about 59 by then, and it seems
unlikely he would still have been referred to as his father’s son.
That would
mean that he was about 41 when he was excommunicated.
Thomas de
Farndale
Thomas might
have been Richard’s brother.
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How do
Richard and Thomas Farndale relate to the modern family? It is not possible
to be accurate about the
early family tree, before the recording of births, marriages and deaths
in parish records, but we do have a lot of medieval material including
important clues on relationships between individuals. The matrix of the
family before about 1550 is the most probable structure based on the
available evidence. If it is
accurate, then both Richard and Thomas Farndale were related to the
thirteenth century ancestors of the modern Farndale family, but are not on
the direct line of later modern Farndales. |
or
Go Straight to Act 7 –
Poachers of Pickering Forest