the lord's bailiff, were distributed into groups after the following manner :-1st, "of Barton, Flixton, Maunton, Wygleswyke, Irwelham, Hulme, Bromyhurst ;"-2ndly, "of Whittinton, Dittsbury, Barlow, Cholerton, Denton, Hallerton (?) [variously Holnton ?], Bercles (?), Lywensholme, and le Brockel ;"-3rdly, "of Ashton-under-Line, with its members;" and 4thly, "of Moston, Notehurst, Hulme, near Aldport, and Heton Norres."

The lord's bailiff who had the general charge of these two bailiwicks, was variously named the lord's sergeant. But he was still more frequently stiled THE GRITH SERGEANT, which has been correctly interpreted in manorial records as "the keeper of the peace." But it is curious that the term GRID is not only an old Frisian but an Icelandic word, frequently met with in the usages of the Scandinavian lawting, which word (grid, or grith, PEACE) had been probably introduced in Manchester during the sojourning of the Danes.

From the various tenants described, the grith sergeant had support for himself, his boy and horse, and four sub-bailiffs. His functions were to ride about and overlook the lord's demesne, to collect the rents of the lord's out-tenants, to make levies whenever tenants incurred the lord's misericordia (an arbitrary amerciament), and to summon or attach transgressors against the liberties of the barony. As this was a very lucrative office, the lord regarded it with some little degree of jealousy, and, therefore, thought proper to require that the grith sergeant should render, for his bailiwick, an annual sum of forty shillings for himself and his retinue.

Some few details of the mode in which the grith sergeant discharged his functions are recorded.

Whenever it became necessary that this officer should visit any particular district in the execution of his duty, proper warning was given to the tenants thereof, who were required to supply him with bread, ale, and victuals, "according to the season," as well as provender for his horse. The order was accompanied by a corresponding demand for the subsistence of the grith sergeant's boy and four sub-bailiffs; but, in this latter case, the food was limited to such only as was usual in the household upon which they might be quar

tered.

When it was required that some one of the bailiffs should make a distress or attachment, this duty, upon an emergency, might be transferred to any one of the tenants, who would necessarily be sworn to the execution thereof. By virtue also of a custom called "sergeant's bode" (from the Danish and Swedish bud, and the Icelandic bod, signifying a message or command), every tenant as "ser

geant's witness," who had been entrusted with making a distress or attachment, was required to give evidence of the same at the court of Manchester.

It was also generally ordered, that if any tenant failed in complying with any of the customs. enjoined, he might be impleaded in the court of Manchester, there to amend the fault. At this court every trespass was to be tried by which the peace of the lord and his bailiffs was broken;-the trials to be at the suit of the bailiffs, and at the suit of the party..

The lord's court at Manchester was summoned every three weeks. It is, however, stated that other courts were held in the barony, which, for distinction's sake, were named Hal-motes. Of these were the hal-motes of Barton, Heton, and the hamlets of Manchester, at which the pleas, fines, and amerciaments were considerable.

It has been observed, that the various manors and infeftments of the upper bailiwick of the barony were diffused over a great extent of territory. Owing to this inconvenience, an extra facility was required for the adjustment of such frequent disputes among tenants as related to the extent or privileges of pasture, wood, or moor. Divers judicial localities were accordingly appointed, in which contentions of this kind had a hearing. Of these were Heton-subter-forest, Farnworth, Parva Lever, Sharples, Smithel, West Haughton, Turton, Bradshaw, Harwood, Halliwell, Rumworth, Lostock, Aspull, Middlewood in Hulton, Pilkington, Longworth, and various other places.

From the foregoing description it will be evident, that the preservation of justice, in so wide and scattered a sphere of jurisdiction as characterised the barony of Manchester, would be a charge impossible to be maintained by the personal and unaided attendance of the lord himself, or his seneschal. Hence the onerous character attached to what was called "judge's service," as is shewn in the feudal tenures of Manchester, as well as of other lordships. Matheus filius Willielmi et Rogerus filius Willielmi tenent feodum unius militis de Roberto Gredle in Wythinton de Antiquitate et debent invenire unum judicem domino Regi Alexander Pilkington also held the fourth part of a knight's fee, and furnished one judge, as by ancient tenure.

Nor was this imposition of judge's service considered to be less burdensome in other countries. It has been observed by Guizot, that among Germans, Bavarians, and Franks, where were anciently seen weekly or monthly assemblies of freemen held in every canton, the necessity of these judicial meetings was less felt in proportion as the social

state became more settled and established. It then became difficult to form such legislative convocations, for which reason coercive means were employed to compel freemen to attend. This, in fact, was the object of such clauses and conditions of tenure as are recorded of the Greslets, lords of Manchester.

At a period rather later than the time of Robert Greslet, we find the judges, who by the tenures of their lands became obliged to assist at the court of Manchester, enumerated as follows:-The lord of Childwall, the lord of the moiety of Harewood, the lord of Whittenton, the lord of Pilkington and Undesworth, the lord of Burnehill, the lord of Rumworth and Lostock, and the lord of Worthington, who owe suit and service, and who are called judges of the court of Manchester.

These officials were also said to be "judges by custom of old in tol, them, infangtheof and outfangtheof, fairs, and markets."

But it must now be remarked, that, at this particular period, the administration of justice in England, as well as on the continent, was undergoing an important change. This was occasioned by the rise of well-trained legists, who were every where gradually taking the place of judge-chevaliers. According to Guizot, there was introduced into feudalism another judiciary system, namely, a class of men devoted to the functions of judges. At first they were charged, in the name of the sovereign, to collect the revenues, the rents of Coloni, fines, or amends. At length the proprietors of fiefs began to discountenance the judiciary power which was exercised by judge-chevaliers, giving preference to special magistrates, provosts, or baillies. In England a somewhat different process ensued. In the time of Henry the Third the fixing of the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster took place, which led to the establishment of the inns of court, where our municipal laws, which the Universities had excluded, were studied. This circumstance had no little influence in modifying the privileges of baronial courts, and in rendering them less dependent on the arbitrary caprice, or ignorance of judge-chevaliers. It is distinctly stated in the later manorial records of Manchester, that "the pleas should be conducted according to the custom of the common law of England."

This explanation of the civil jurisdiction of the barony of Manchester will perhaps be rendered complete, by noticing its subordination to the sheriff's tourn, which took cognizance of the whole of the districts comprised within the honour of Lancaster.

King John, a year before he died, had granted to Ranulf de Blundeville, the sixth Earl of Ches

ter, the honour of Lancaster:-"Anno 17 Joh: Rex concessit Rad' Com' Cestr' comit' Lancastr' cum toto honore Lancastr'. Apud Rading, 13 Apr." As the honour of Lancaster was supposed to be vested with the crown, we must regard Ranulf as having been merely entrusted with the custody of that appendage to royalty; which custody seems to have been occasional, rather than permanent, as, in 1223, it was alternately assigned to William de Ferrars, his brother-in-law, created by King John first Earl of Derby. During many years, from the 4th to the 9th of Henry the Third, Ranulf executed the office of sheriff of Lancaster by his deputies, and, from the 10th to the 18th of the same reign, the office was in a similar manner transferred to William de Ferrars. Other individuals also appear in the list of sheriffs, by whom, unhappily, the trust was often abused.

It has been explained, that while the sheriff's tourn was held twice a year, namely, at Easter and at Michaelmas, the lord's court at Manchester was summoned every three weeks. Such as owed suit and service to the lord's court were not bound to appear at the sheriff's tourn, but simply at the court of the bailiwick wherein they were dwelling. But if any man demanded justice three successive times in the lord's court in vain, he was authorised to repair to the shire mote, or sheriff's tourn, which would appoint him a fourth day. In this respect the design of the sheriff's tourn was not only to render the mutual pledge of peace more comprehensive within the shire or hundred, but also to correct the proceedings of monthly and subordinate courts. And, in instances where lords of inferior tribunals neglected to take cognizance of criminal pleas, the jurisdiction might be claimed as belonging to the crown.

In the next place, the sheriff, as representative of his sovereign, was made responsible that every individual, whether free or bondman, within his jurisdiction, should be held either in frank pledge, or of the manupast [class of domestics] of some one. The law accordingly rendered it imperative that all archbishops, earls, or barons, who had the privileges of soc, sac, &c., should have their knights and proper servants, squires, butlers, &c., in their own fridhburg, there to be held in free pledge. It was lastly ordered, that all persons whatever, with the exception of noblemen, knights, clerks, and the like, should be bound in some place; and that every one serving with, or under the protection of an individual of higher rank in the social scale, should come under the law of manupast [or of domestic service], whereby the charge to produce him in court whenever an accusation was preferred,

became imperative upon the resiant thus held in responsibility for his family, or manupast.

§ 16. THE VIGIL OF SAINT MATTHEW, IN MAN

CHESTER.

A day of dedication, set apart in every church

of Christendom to the honour of some tutelar saint, was ever kept with unusual rejoicing.

In the beginning of Holy Church, as the old MS. legend of Saint John the Baptist relates, the people [in imitation of the primitive ayara, or love feasts held in churches] would, at the approach of night, wake, and, with lights burning, come to the church for their devotions; and, after this was done, would fall to lechery and songs and dances, harping and piping, and also to gluttony and sin, and so would turn the holiness to cursedness. This was called the vigil, waking, or eve of the saint.— [Hook's Church Dict., 5th ed., p. 324.]

Historians are, however, mistaken in supposing that the order of Pope Gregory the Great, for changing such riotous feasting and dissipation during a vigil into fasting, was universally successful. Although this lawless mode of celebration might have been somewhat subdued, it was not unknown in Britain at a very late date, particularly in Manchester, where the pageant of Robin Hood was celebrated within the interior of the church so late as the reign of Henry the Eighth. And as for such remote provinces as Orkney and Shetland, I could cite the authority of Brand the missionary, who has shewn that it bade defiance to the austerities of the Presbyterian discipline at so recent a period as the commencement of the eighteenth century.

In fact, all which could be effected in England, and more particularly in Lancashire, was to induce the people to build sheds and arbours round a church for the purpose of eating and drinking, whereby the devotion of prayers and offerings would, in most places, be confined to the interior of the church.

In the course of time, owing to the vigil, wake, or eve being esteemed and claimed as a part of the holiday of the church, the name of wake was applied to the entire of the celebration.

The foregoing explanation has been given with no other view than to establish the fact, that the incident of a vigil in honour of a saint, as, for instance, of Saint Matthew in Manchester, necessarily implied a feast of dedication; while a feast of dedication, with equal certainty, pointed to the existence of a church dedicated to Saint Matthew.

It was in reasoning after this manner that Mr. Whittaker came to the conclusion, that because a prescriptive fair had been perpetuated at Knott

Mill, in Aldport, the ancient church of St. Michael, Manchester, mentioned in the Domesday survey, must have subsisted in or near that locality. In the case, however, of the vigil of Saint Matthew, the author must have considered it as an exception to the general rule; otherwise, he would never have attempted to shew, by a tissue of conjectures at perfect variance with the ancient practices of the church, that the vigil of Saint Matthew, alluded to in the royal charter, could be kept without the presence or existence of a church dedicated to the evangelist. For instance, about this very time, namely, in the 7th of Henry the Third (1222), it was ordered, in a council held at Oxford, that among other festivals of the church there should be observed, within the proper period, the day of dedication.

Regarding the circumstances which might have led to the foundation of a church dedicated to Saint Matthew, we have no records whatever. There was a MATTHEW Stauersides, to whom an ancestor of Robert Greslet gave a knight's fee in the manor of Manchester, along with other presents. After this occurrence the family name of Stauersides, as well as the knight's fee thus granted, disappear from the records of the barony, confirmation of the grant ever occurring. Under these circumstances it may be surmised, that the knight might have alienated "in religione" the property thus granted, for the purpose of endowing a church dedicated to his baptismal saint,-Matthew the Evangelist.

no

But the validity of such a supposition cannot for a moment be defended. It is a mere conjecture, hazarded for no other purpose than to stimulate to further inquiry.

§17. THE FAIR OF SAINT MATthew.

The fair, as is well known, was first occasioned by the visit of the faithful to the feast of dedication. When they met in the church yard, booths formed of branches were erected about the church, where provisions were naturally required for entertainment. Little traders were thus induced to frequent these feasts for the purpose of vending their wares, until, at length, a fair began to be considered more in the light of a commercial mart than of a religious feast.

There would at this time, namely, during the monarchy of Henry the Third, have been three fairs kept at Manchester :

The first was held on Saint Michael's Day. Without resorting to a very forced explanation proposed by Mr. Whittaker, why it should have been celebrated near the holidays of Easter rather than on the 29th of September, it may be suf

ficient to state, that the almanack set apart no fewer than four days in honour of the archangel, namely, the 8th of May in commemoration of the Apparition of Saint Michael, the 8th of June and the 6th of September in celebration of Michael as well as of the holy angels; and the 29th of September in honour of the archangel exclusively. As a consequence, much latitude would be given to the celebration of this feast, which can, in fact, be historically proved.

The second fair held in Manchester would be on the vigil of the mother church, namely, at the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary, celebrated on the 15th of August. To this festival it has been supposed by Whittaker, that the lord of Manchester did not give a preference on two grounds, namely, that it incommoded his tenants during the midst of the harvest, and that it was interfered with by the neighbouring town of Eccles, / which held a competing vigil feast and fair at the same time, equally in commemoration of the Assumption. Upon these pleas it is added, that the baron gave a preference to

The third fair, which was held at the feast of Saint Matthew, on the 21st of September.

Mr. Whittaker has devoted much unprofitable labour towards an estimate of the causes which interfered with the days originally assigned to vigils and fairs, such causes having had far too remote a date assigned to their respective operations. For instance, it was at a comparatively late date when the bishops gave authority for transferring the observance of wakes to more convenient days, especially to the Sundays, whereon the people could best attend to the devotion and rites required by the solemnity of days of dedication. And, in a later period, Henry the Eighth enjoined that all wakes should be kept the first Sunday in October. Lastly, when the Presbyterian religion prevailed in Manchester during the Commonwealth, an open hostility was manifested towards all saint days whatever, whereby red letter days were exchanged for black letter days. And hence, in the course of a change of style, the fair of Saint Matthew, instead of being held on Old Saint Matthew's Day, the 3rd of October, was changed to the 1st of October.

§ 18. HENRY THe third grants a charter for

A FAIR TO BE HELD ON THE VIGIL OF SAINT
MATTHEW.

Early in the reign of Henry the Third, we find the first circumstance recorded incidental to the emergence of Manchester from the utter state of decadence into which it had sunk, after having been removed from its ancient site, adjoining to the

Roman castrum of Mancunium, or Mancastle of the Saxons, chiefly for the convenience of the safe ford across the Irwell, THE SALFORD. After having fallen under the sway of a succession of Norman barons, who very probably had never honoured the town with anything more than a brief temporary residence, it presented an exception to the state of civilization in other parts of England, which, since the Conquest, had never once halted. Although it can be proved, that with the Anglo-Saxons a barter had subsisted a among foreign nations, yet commerce owed much more to the Norman chiefs, who, in their own country, had been familiarized with the woollens of Flanders, and with the silks of the Italian merchants. cordingly, from the reign of Stephen, the emigration of Flemings had been encouraged. Weavers in linen and woollen were to be found in guilds, or privileged corporations, while the internal trade was conducted in fairs and markets. In the time of Henry the Second, among articles exported were leather, wool, clothes, and corn; and, in return, were received silks, wines, furs, spices, linens, &c. And again, in the preceding reign of John, the foreign trade had been placed by Magna Charta under the king's protection.

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As commerce had created new social wants, they were still further excited by the still newer scenes of gorgeous splendour which had dazzled the eyes of Anglo-Norman warriors in the course of their croisades against the glittering paynims of the east. It was then found that the requisitions of a growing taste for splendour and pageants would be the best served by encouraging a number of free artisans to work for their own profit, and for the supply of public marts, rather than by obliging the villeins attached to an estate, with their limited stock of knowledge, to be the exclusive smiths, tailors, shoemakers, or clothiers of a circumscribed barony or manor, within the confines of which the rival goods offered by strangers were not allowed to meet with purchasers. Such, in fact, was the abject condition of Manchester during the early years of Robert Greslet, the baron,-a condition, to use the language of Guizot, in which industry had not escaped from domesticity.

At that time, fairs afforded the only medium through which an interchange of commodities, or merchandise, incidental to the new requisitions of society, could be carried on, as the laws by which they were regulated had openness, fairness, and publicity for their sole aim. Edward the Elder had provided, that no man could make his purchases without the town, and that he was to have "the port-reeve" as his witness for their regularity. This precaution was intended to obviate any pro

miscuous sales made in privacy with the view of forestalling, as well as to throw an impediment in the way of thieves,-which precaution was still further promoted, by rendering it imperative that the bailiff should take a toll for entering, weighing, or measuring. Other edicts also occurred in later days, obligatory upon traders in fairs, not only that every man should buy and sell in the presence of a witness, but that two sworn men should confirm every sale. Hence the selection of the most public occasions for the holding of fairs, such, for example, as feasts of dedication, to which all the faithful belonging to a Christian community were, from religious motives, accustomed to assemble.

Upon these occasions the greatest encouragement was given to foreign merchants, who were to have free ingress and egress in England, as well as liberty to tarry there without being liable to "chimmage" [cheminage] or toll. According to ancient customs, while they were protected in buying and selling, they were compelled to give notice to the reeve of the retinue which they might have with them, for the forthcoming of whom, when required, they were obliged to provide a security; this was agreeable to the Saxon law of manupast. They were also constrained, if they remained longer than forty days in the realm, to enter into a sort of pledge, like English subjects, and be sworn to the peace of the king.

In short, fairs were the only medium through which an interchange of commodities, or merchandise, incidental to the new requisitions of society, could be carried on, for which reason their importance was so correctly appreciated by the kings of England, that they were not allowed to be held without a royal privilege, for which some pecuniary compensation was demanded. Accordingly, during the minority of Henry the Third, in the sixth year of his reign (1222), Robert Greslet, baron of Manchester, obtained from the regent a charter of license for a fair to be held during two days, namely, on the vigil of Saint Matthew and on the following day of dedication, until the king should be of age, for which he agreed to give a palfrey. [Kuerden says four marks and a palfrey.] Of this charter the following is the only memorandum which I have been enabled to obtain:

Anno Regni Regis Hen. Tertii 6to., M. 3. Lancastria: Robertus Greslei dat domino Regi unum palfredum pro habenda una feria usque ad ætatem Domini Regis singulis annis apud Manerium suum de Maincestre per duos dies duratura scilicet in vigilia Sancti Mathai et ipso die Sancti Mathai nisi feria illa &c. Et mandatum est vicecomiti Lancastriæ quod capiat &c. Teste Huberto &c. apud Leukenor xi die. Augusti.

In the 11th of Henry the Third (1227) the king came of age, when he ratified the grant which had been given during his minority of the fair of Manchester, and even extended the privilege from two days to three, whence, we may presume, that the experiment of a chartered fair in Manchester had succeeded beyond expectation.

Anno Regni Regis Hen. Tertii Undecimo M. 4. H. Rex &c. salutem Sciatis nos concecisse et hac presenti carta nostra confirmasse ROBERTO GRESLAY quod ipse et heredes sui habeant in perpetuum unam feriam apud manerium suum de Maincestria singulis annis per tres dies duraturam videlicet in vigilia et in die et in crastina Sancti Mathai Apostoli ita tamen quod prædicta feria non sit ad nocumentum vicinarum feriarum ut in aliis cartis de feriis Quare volumus et firmiter præcipimus quod predictus Robertus et heredes sui habeant in perpetuum predictam feriam bene et in pace libere quiete et honorifice cum omnibus libertatibus et liberis conscretudinibus ad hujus modi feriam pertinentibus. Hiis testibus H de Burgo Comite Kantii Justiciario nostro: R Comite Cornubiæ fratre nostro: Willielmo Comite Albermarliæ: Hugone de Mortuo Mari: Briano de Insula: Philippo de Albiniaco: Radulpho Gernon: Ricardo de Argentine et aliis. Datum per manum Venerabilis Patris Radulphi Cicestria Episcopi Cancellarii nostri apud Farendon nono decimo die Augusti anno Regni nostri xi.

PRO ROBERTO GRESLAY.}

Such was the confirmed grant of the fair of Saint Matthew in Manchester, by which a prolongation was conceded from two to three days, namely, on the vigil, festival, and morrow of the saint.

It must be kept in view, that such a grant was not the essential characteristic of a borough, as Brady and other authors have supposed. The distinction of a borough has yet to be explained. The prefect of Manchester, who derived his office from the baron, was not styled a boroughreeve, but a portreeve, while a townsman was named "a portman." We find the same in other towns. In Exeter, for instance, the ruler placed over it was named "a portreeve." The mote, or law court at Manchester, by which subordinate disputes were settled, was known by the name of "the portman's mote."

19. THE FAIR OF SAINT MATTHEW ACQUIRES

THE NAME OF ACA'S FAIR.

The ancient fair of Saint Matthew is no longer recognised by that appellation. It has been perpetuated to us under no other name than that of Aca's fair,-pronounced AKA's fair, agreeably to the common adoption of K for the Saxon c.

"In