ing the bread used for the Holy Eucharist, they selected the wheat grain by grain, washing it carefully and transferring it to a bag devoted solely to that sacred use. This bag they entrusted to a servant, a just man, who carried it to the mill, the grindstones of which had been previously washed and covered with curtains above and below. The servant then put on an alb [an ample white linen tunic with sleeves], and covered his face with a veil, through which nothing but his eyes appeared. The meal underwent a similar precaution, and was not boulted until it had been well washed. The warden of the church, or, in his absence, a deacon, next appeared, who with two other fellow-labourers, monks of the Cluniac order, aided by a lay brother specially appointed for the purpose, completed the holy task. After matins were ended, these four men washed their faces and hands. The lay brother then retired. The remaining three put on albs, and while one of them washed the meal with pure clean water, the other two baked the hosts in the iron moulds. In their devotions they sang every day two masses. On the three days before Easter, all the monks received the communion. Upon Holy Thursday, if any one celebrated the ordinary mass before the grand or solemn mass was sung, he made use of no new light, because the new fire had not then been blessed.

Music and singing were highly cultivated by the Cluniac monks, who brought up boys of good family, arrayed in the habit of their order, to serve as choristers. After the 13th of November, upon the conclusion of matins, the elders would remain in the choir, while the younger monks would retire for the purpose of being taught to sing. It is even recorded, that while the monks were at work, they recited the Psalms.

In the course of these regular exercises, they were careful that no one among them should be interrupted by vain discourse. Silence by day and by night was strictly observed,-not to be broken before the hour of prime, when they made use of signs instead of words.

Their abstemiousness was much commended. After the 13th of September, one meal only was allowed, except on festivals of twelve lessons, or within the octaves of Christmas and the Epiphany, when they had two meals. After complin [or completorium, the last service of the day] they were never permitted to eat anything, nor to receive any gifts.

Their charity was great. All the remains of the bread and wine, saved each day in the refectory, were distributed among poor travellers. During Lent, their bounty was profusely shewn in their gifts to the indigent of salt fish and other alms.

Moral vigilance was greatly promoted among them by a mutual and public declaration of faults. And, lastly, the cause of education was advanced. Young people committed to their charge were brought up with exemplary care, who, it is stated, had the same education bestowed upon them that the sons of princes received within the mansions of the great.

From this account which has been handed down to us of the customs of the monks of Clugni, as they were met with in England as well as abroad, it will be at once seen how valuable the small religious community of Kershal, perhaps not exceeding twelve in number, must have been to the social state of the towns and vicinity of Manchester and Salford.

Some proofs of the reverence with which the monks of Kershal were regarded, are capable of being traced. The parishioners of Manchester sought for the ecclesiastical sacraments of Kershal, in preference to such as were administered by the secular clergy of the mother church of Manchester. They tendered these monks oblations, in return for the last solemn offices administered to the dying, and for the holy rites of sepulture.

On the other hand, nothing can be more unsatisfactory than the earliest known state of the secular clergy of Manchester, as pourtrayed by the parishioners of the town in a solemn protest made during the fifteenth century, upon the occasion of the Manchester College being founded. They alleged that, in by-gone days, the rectors had been very rarely [perraro] accustomed to personally reside in the parish;-that sacred offices had been filled by stipendiary and remotive chaplains, that there was a great neglect of the cure of souls, a diminution of hospitality, and a defrauding of the support of the poor.

Although it is highly probable that tradition might have exaggerated this early state of the Manchester church,-yet that there existed some grounds for the serious charge, is open to no reasonable doubt whatever.

tithes towards their support was one of the foremost, which was not corrected until the close of the reign of Henry the Third. In the mean time, Albert de Neville resisted this appropriation of tithes, and induced the prior of Lenton [the superior of the attached cell of Kershal] to agree, that he would pay two shillings annually in lieu of tithes, so long as he should cultivate the land appertaining to the monks at his own expense.

In the second place, with regard to the complaint that the monks of Kershal administered the rites of sepulture to the prejudice of the mother church of Manchester, the prior of Lenton promised, that no parishioner for the future should be admitted to the rites of burial; and, as a peaceoffering for the cemetery thus reserved exclusively for the monks of Kershal, he consented to pay annually two wax tapers, of a pound and a half in weight, at the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary.

And, thirdly, the prior of Lenton consented that the parishioners of Manchester should not be admitted for the future to any ecclesiastical sacraments, in return for oblations.

It must be confessed that the rector of Manchester drove rather a hard bargain with the worthy prior. A copy of the deed of agreement was copied for me by the late Mr. Palmer, from the manuscript collections of Kuerden, in the possession of the College at Arms.

Omnibus sancte matris ecclesie filiis E. Eliene Ep W Priori de Bracerval &c. Inter A de Nevill rectorem de Manchester et priorem de Lenton sup' cemiterium de Kersal et ejusdem loci decim' sc: Prior prestabit anʼuatim pro bene pa'e cemet'rii ecclesie de Manchester ij cerios jibe et dim' ad Ass beate Marie Et Prior promisit q'd nullus parochianus Matricis ecclesie de Manchester admitt' ad aliq' ecclesiastica sacramenta ad oblationem et sepulturam Et ij sol' pro decimis illius loci dum terram illam propriis sumptibus excol'int dabunt. Test. M'ro Rob de Ebor M'ro Jo'de Templo Mro Olivera Mro H de Kent Mro Rob de Bosco et aliis.

The date of this deed is indicated by the mention which is made of Eustachius Eliensis, who was bishop from 1198 to 1219. The name of the prior of Lenton is uncertain. Nothing is known of the first who is recorded in the archives of the monastery, except that his name was "Peter." He was elected not far from this time, namely, in the 14th of John, 1213.

It may lastly be observed, that this litigation between the rector of Manchester and the prior of Lenton, is in perfect keeping with the violent contentions which had commenced in the time of

Henry the Second, between the regular and secular orders, contentions which were continued without intermission in succeeding reigns. The monks, who professed that they were subject to no jurisdiction except that of the holy see, resisted any interference with their privileges on the part of the metropolitan and bishops, and asserted their exclusive right to institute to all benefices belonging to their presentations. But this collision of interests did not even end with the question of benefices. In whatever part of England a religious house was founded, some contention or other with the parochial clergy inevitably followed.

In Manchester, as well as in other parts of Lancashire, it will be evident, that the regular orders were a popular party. Thus, about the present time, Roger de Lacye made over the church of Rochdale to the abbey of Stanlaw, which was followed up by a munificent grant of Andrew de Merland of lands in Spotland.

Preaching and minor friars had also appeared about the reigns of John and Henry the Third, who in their teaching usurped the functions of professors, and thus added still more to the spiritual influence exercised by the monastic orders.

§ 14. ROBERT GRESLET RESIDES AT MANCHESTER.

According to Keurden, Robert Greslet was the first of the Greslet family who made Manchester his chief place of residence; but the question is, whether he dwelt at Mancastle, situated in Aldport [or the old town], or, otherwise, at the more northerly and later fortified site of the Baron's Hull, near the confluence of the Irk and the Irwell.

Many centuries after the departure of the Romans, the castrum continued to subsist, which, according to Whittaker, was an irregular parallelogram one hundred and forty yards long, bounded on the southerly side for an extent of one hundred and seventy-five yards by the irregular course of the Medelach, on the west by a high bank and morass, on the north by a long and broad ditch, and, on the east, for the distance of a hundred and forty yards, by an artificial fosse. Within this fortified enclosure stood the old Saxon fortress of Mancastle, built by Edward the Elder, which, in the Norman era, does not appear to have been entirely abandoned, as there was found about seventy years ago, near its site, a large manorial sword about five feet three inches long, which was evidently a sword of state, used on formal or ceremonial occasions, when the baron held his court and view of frank pledge, or when an oath of fealty was administered to his vassals. But it is a question, if the castle was then considered

Mancastle was then described as contained within the park of Aldport, about a mile in circumference, through the middle of which ran the Medelach. The grounds exhibited a valuable investment of oak, and were in the process of being used as a pannage, or pasture of hogs. According to a manorial survey of a later date, Aldport yielded an aery of hawks, together with herons, eagles, honey, and bees.

From the site of Aldport, or the older town, might be traced, in a northerly direction, the ancient Roman road leading eventually to Ribchester, the supposed Coccium of the Itineraries. In quitting the Mancunian station, the road traversed a locality, variously named the Brendorchard, or Walles Green, which is described as lying between Aldport and the rectory of Manchester.

The rectory of Manchester, indicated by the site which is still named "the Parsonage," lay at a distance of half a mile from Aldport, on the westerly limit of the Ribchester road. It was at the entrance of the newer town.

Opposite to the Parsonage, on the easterly side of the road, was a site of ground, amounting to about six acres and a half, whereon an ancient fair was held. It is also a conjecture, but nothing more, that, adjoining to this site, a church had been built, which was dedicated to Saint Matthew.

To the north of the Parsonage, on each side of the Ribchester road, we may suppose the houses of the newer town of Manchester to have been built, which at least extended as far as St. Mary'sgate, so named as the avenue which led to the parochial church of the town. Whether, during the time of Robert Greslet, Manchester was continued much further north may be doubted.

Beyond this point the Ribchester road was diverted by a gradual descent towards the west, to the chief passage across the Irwell, named Salford; while its continuance in a northerly direction was interrupted at right angles by the presence of a deep dell, named, in Lancashire and other northerly counties, a DENE, signifying, according to Dr. Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon glossary, "a valley." This dene, or natural ravine, contributed to the enclosure and defence of a peninsular area of ground, doomed to be the future residence of Robert Greslet. It formed the channel of a small stream, caused by the drainage of certain lands to the north-east of the town, which, in turning an ancient mill, imparted its name to the "Old Mill-gate," of Manchester,

the ford or crossing place of Salford.

The ground, thus naturally fortified, was bounded on the west by high banks and the waters of the Irwell; and on the north by the river Irke, near its confluence with the Irwell. On the north-east, however, a small space intervened between the Irke and the commencement of the dene, or valley, which became artificially strengthened by a fosse. The remaining portion of the defence, on the east and south, was formed by the dene.

There is a very great probability, that when Saxon Manchester was first removed to its more northerly site, this peninsular area, thus naturally fortified, would suggest to the thegn a convenient place for habitation. But there is a very great doubt whether much of the artificial modelling had taken place before the time of Robert Greslet, who, according to Kuerden, was the first Norman baron reported to have dwelt in Manchester. From this time, the name which it bore in ancient charters would be first applied to it, namely, of "the Baron's Hull,"-the term "hull," according to Dr. Bosworth, being a Saxon expression for "hill."

Lastly it may be mentioned, that the portion of the Roman road leading north from Aldport, until it was met at right angles by the dene, or valley by which the Baron's Hull was fortified, thence acquired the name of the Dene's-gate, now a crowded street of Manchester. The Roman road, after descending within the valley, or dene, was conducted across the rivulet, near a spot still known by the name of the Hanging-bridge, from which it ascended to the level of the peninsular site just described, and thence along the high bank of the Irwell to the Irke, which it crossed near its confluence with the Irwell. At this point, therefore, we shall quit the Ribchester road, which was directed towards Strangeways and Stony Knolls, and thence to its ultimate destination, in order to describe the civil jurisdiction which Robert Greslet exercised over the barony of Man. chester.

§ 15. THE CIVIL JURISDICTION OF ROBERT

GRESLET.

It has been the remark of later historians, that the Conqueror did not make that extensive change in Saxon institutions which has been ascribed to him;-and as for William Rufus, he was too much employed during the thirteen years of his reign in securing himself from baronial conspiracies, to busy himself in remodelling the internal constitution of the kingdom. Neither did Henry the First do much more than sanction the permission, that a few old edicts should fall into disuetude.

Under these circumstances, the spirit of the Anglo-Saxon laws continued in full force during the eleventh, twelfth, and even thirteenth centuries, the rationale of which may be now described.

The system of Saxon jurisdiction was based upon two principles, namely, residence and a mutual pledge of responsibility to the laws, whereby was produced, in every habitable district, an efficient local police. Thus, in the reign of Edward the Elder, the folk-mote, or king's gemote, was held in divers parts of the kingdom, to which all men having a fixed residence were compelled to do suit and service, pledging themselves to unite as sworn brethren (conjurati fratres) to keep the king's peace.

Again, in the course of events, local justiciary divisions were organised under the general name of shires, over which, in Saxon times, an officer of the king, or princeps, often in conjunction with a bishop, presided. He was usually an earl, or eolderman, who bore the name of reeve (præpositus).

The duty of shire-reeves extended over hundreds, or wapentakes [variously named shires, as, for instance, Salfordshire], as well as over the larger counties. The shire-reeve, or sheriff, preserved the king's peace by rendering it imperative on every man by his own oath, and by his pledges, to be forthcoming at all times, to do what justice required of him at the mote of the shire, within which he was localised.

The sheriff's tourn, or circuit, was generally made twice a year, namely, once at Easter and again after the feast of Saint Michael, when the mutual pledge of all persons was received, so as to constitute "the view of frank pledge." Every one who owned land and house was required to be put in decennary, that is, under the mutual pledge of ten householders, who, when thus linked together, formed a decenna, dizeine, or dozein. He was also enjoined obedience to the chief pledge of his decenna [the decennarius], as well as to the king.

It was likewise required that retainers or domestics should be in manupast pledge, because no one might turn away his servant until purged of all crimes with which he might have been previously charged. He who was at board and clothing, or at board only, was regarded as a menial, or hireling of the house, of the "manupast" class of domestics, for whom the master was amenable. Even guests of three nights, for whom the host became responsible, were required to be in pledge. In short, every resiant, or householder, was made responsible for the due regulation of his house and the conduct of his guests, or inmates, and if any infraction of the pledge occurred, compensa

tion was made in the hundred, wapentake, or barony, to which the offender belonged. Persons were also sworn to make public inquiries, and to decide public allegations. Nor, according to the laws of Edgar, could any one appeal to the king, unless he was denied law and right at his own domicil.

The penalty of a man not rendering himself "law-worthy," or under the protection of the law, was very great. According to the edicts of King Edgar, any one who did not attend the gemote was a laughelesman," and the same if he withdrew himself from judgment. A limitation of forty days was assigned to excuses for not appearing, unless gone to Jerusalem, when a year and a day were conceded;-but failing, omnem legem terræ amittet. Minors, however, could not be outlawed before they were twelve years of age, because before that time they were not under law, nor in decenna. As for women, they could not, under any circumstances, be outlawed, because they were not "in laugh," that is, in frank pledge or decenna.

Originally, the jurisdiction of Manchester was involved in the more general one of the shire, or wapentake of Salford, within which the town was comprehended. But, subsequently to the Conquest, the wapentake of Salford became greatly reduced in the sphere of its jurisdiction. This was in consequence of the extensive grants of baronies and manors which ensued ;-such grants having been accompanied with the privileges of holding lords' courts. It was likewise a maxim of law, laid down in the reign of Henry the First, that a man of one manor was not obliged to plead in another locality; and that persons were subject to legal responsibilities only where they resided. Hence it followed, that in the time of Robert Greslet, little more was meant by the wapentake of Salford than the jurisdiction of a few manorial possessions diffused throughout the hundred. the same time, the lords of such manors as had been exonerated, or nearly so, from the more general jurisdiction of the wapentake or hundred, among whom was the baron of Manchester, were still held under the obligation to render personal suit and service at the older court.

At

The town and wapentake of Salford have been described as the hereditary possession of the earls of Chester, but owing to Ranulf de Blundeville's frequent absence in the wars, the wapentake had been held, in the 1st of John, by Elias FitzRobert by sergeanty, and in the year 1228 by William de Ferrars.

The exact number of baronial lands, or manors, included within the immediate jurisdiction or

wapentake of Salford, in the time of Henry the Third, is unknown; but, in the early part of Edward the Second's reign, the proprietors who owed fealty to the lord of the wapentake, possessed lands, some of them widely dispersed, which may be described in their respective geographical bearings from the town of Salford, after the following manner:-To the north-east, north and north-west, Chetham, Burghtown, Prestwich, Tongue, Holonet [Hollinhurst ?], Sholesworth [Sholver, near Royton?], and even such remote focalities as Blackrod and Rivington;-nearer to Salford, on the west, Ordsall, Penulbery, Clifton, and Werkslegh, and, on the south-west, Flixton, and Cadeulheued [Cadishead?];-on the south, Hulme, Chorlton, and Radish. [Harleian MSS. apud Baines, vol. ii, p. 144.]

To the family of the Greslets a very early grant of baronial jurisdiction, distinct or separated from that of the wapentake of Salford, had been conceded. This is shewn in a record of the fourteenth century, where it was formally pronounced, that "time out of mind," the town of Manchester had been held as a market town, enjoying certain privileges as soc, sac, toll, them, infangtheof and outfangtheof, waif and stray, gallows and tumbrel, and punishment of butchers, tanners, and retailers.

Soc has been supposed to generally imply the privilege of separate and distinct jurisdiction over the territory which belonged to, or owed fealty to the lord;-Sac, to indicate the privilege of taking the issues and profits of the court;-Toll, to express the lord's profit from buying and selling;— Them, to relate to the forfeiture of stolen goods; -Infangtheof, to denote the competency of a lord to judge any thief arraigned within his fee;-Outfangtheof, to mean the power whereby a lord could summon any man dwelling within his manor to judgment in his own court, although taken for felony in another place out of his fee;-and Waif and Stray, to signify that the goods stolen and waived, or left by the felon, when for fear of apprehension he absconded, became forfeited to the lord of the manor. The tumbrel, or cuckstool, in use among the Saxons, was named in the DomBoc the cathedra stercoraria. The Manchester stool, shaped like the well-known Lateran chair of stone, was, according to Whittaker, who wrote in 1775, an open-bottomed chair of wood placed upon the end of a long pole, balanced upon a pivot, and suspended over the large collection of water (an expansion of the river Tib) at Poolhouse, or Pool-fold. This site was also called the "Plungeon or Plunging-field;" a name which, in the seventeenth century, gave rise to the vulgar

E

term of obloquy bestowed upon the Presbyterian meeting-house, north of Tib-lane, of "Saint Plungeon's Chapel." The tumbrel was afterwards removed to the water of Daub Holes, now the Infirmary pond, where, as Whittaker adds, it was used to punish common scolds and common prostitutes. The same author remarks, that the brewer of bad ale was often placed on the tumbrel, or, in commutation for this punishment, was fined four shillings.It is uncertain where the furcæ, or gallows, were placed,-perhaps on the rising ground near Tib-lane, adjacent to the ancient "plunging field;"-nothing having been more common in feudal times than the mutual propinquity of "pit and gallows." Near the town of Salford, according to Whittaker, the existence of a gallows long gave its odious name, "the Gallows-field," to a site of ground leading from Boat-house-lane towards the Lock, and opposite to the Great Hulme Meadow.

It may be remarked, in the next place, that the manors, forests, and various infeftments included within the barony of Manchester, were straggling in the extreme; the interval, for instance, between such remote points as Heton Norris on the Mersey and Brockholes on the Ribble, or, on the other hand, between Ashton-under-Line on the Tame and Childwall in the West Derby Hundred, being respectively no less than thirty-five miles. Hence, the barony was conveniently divided, in reference to the surveillance necessary to the functions of the lord's bailiffs, into two bailiwicks, namely, into an upper and into a lower bailiwick. As the support of the bailiff and his assistants was thrown upon the tenants, we learn, from manorial details connected with the enforcement of this regulation, the geographical limits of the two bailiwicks.

In the upper bailiwick of Manchester, which comprised the places most distant from Manchester, namely, such manors, woods, &c., as were found in the Amounderness Hundred, in Leyland Hundred, in West Derby Hundred, or in the more northerly portion of Salford Hundred, we learn that the bailiff and his retinue were to be supported "by the tenants of Farneworth, Heton under the Forest, Little Leure, Anderton, Burnehill, Anlasagh, the moiety of Sharples, Smithell, Westhalchton, Childwall with its members, Dalton, Parbold, Worthington, Writington, Tourton, Bradshagh, Harewood, Halliwell, Brockholes, Rumworth, Loster, Aspull, Midlewood in Hulton, Pilkington, and Longeworth."

The lower bailiwick included all the places within a circuit of not more than six or seven miles in distance from the town of Manchester. The tenantry under the obligation of supporting