POTU M sit omтb3 homЫb3 presentib3 et futuris hoc scriptum visuris vel audituris quod ego Ricardus filius Ricardi Doun* forestarius dñi Comitis Cestrie in foresta de la Mare, p salute anime mee, Ricardi patris mei, et Agnetis matris mee, et omnium antecessorum et successorum meorum, con- cessi remisi et omnino p me et heredib3 meis imppetuum quietucla- maui Religiosis viris Abbati et conuentui Loci Benedicti de Whalleye quondam de Stanlawe, totum ius, clameum, calumpniam, et actionem si que vel quas habui vel aliquo modo habere potui versus dictos Religiosos quoad puturam^f- habendam vel exigendam pro me vel

* ?ee ante, p. 471.

t Puture must have been an excessive tax. The earl of Chester had his grand sergeant of the peace, an office held in fee by the barons of Malpas, and under him were originally twenty deputies or subservients, who had an unlimited number of attendants, all of whom were maintained at the expense of the hundred,

üTitulue De a^snlaton ete. 485

subforestarijs meis de se vel successor^ suis aut eoram tenentib3 in villa de Wynlaton. Ita quod nec ego, nec heredes mei, nec aliquis alius iure vel nomine nostro aliquid versus dictos Religiosos vel eorum successores siue tenentes in predicts villa de cetero exigera vel vendicare poterimus quoquo modo. Sed volo et concedo

through which they were regularly perambulating. This maintenance was deno minated a puture, and was exacted according to the claims of Henry, Duke of Lancaster, as baron of Halton, from all holding "tres landas terrae, vel plures, terrarum vocatarum warelands," after this manner, the baronies, as well as the forests, having establishments of sergeants distinct from those of the earl. The master sergeant, two subservients, and one gar<¡on, supped, lodged, and breakfasted, at one tenant's; two with a second, and two with a third, and so on, till the whole were lodged, This was so arranged that they visited one half of the district in six weeks, reserving the other half for the other six weeks, so that in a year's time they visited the entire barony four times; always taking care that the place where they had billeted the last time should be free from their visits for six weeks after. By the charter of the Cheshire barons, granted by Handle the third, it was determined that in time of peace there should be but twelve sergeants only in the earldom, with one horse for the master sergeant, which should have no provender supplied from Easter until Michaelmas but by courtesy; that the sergeants should eat such meat as they found in men's houses, without buying other meat for their use; and that they should not eat in any manor houses of the barons. The foresters peram bulated their districts in the same manner and with the same powers as the ■" sergeants of the earldom, and of the baronies; but their jurisdiction was not exclu sive of that of the sergeants. — Ormerod, vol. ii. p. 52. The complaint of the shepherd might have been made after their visitations:

Thei goo aboute be viij or nyne, And done the husbondes mycull pyne,

That carfull is their mele. Thei take geese, capons, and henne, And alle that ever thei may with renne,

And reves us our catell.

I have fayre chamburg thre, But non of them may be with me,

While that thei be thare, Into my cart-hows thei me dryfe, Out at the dur thei put my wyfe,

For she is olde grey-hare.

486 2TituIue De годnШon ete.

pro me et heredib3 meis quod dicti Religiosi et eorum successores, ac etiam omnes tenentes in eadem villa, imppetuum quieti sint de hac putura et omnimoda alia seruitute vel consuetudine mihi vel heredib3 siue subforestarijs meis inde facienda, preter preces et orationes. Et ut hec mea concessio et remissio et quietaclamatio rata et stabilis imppetuum preseruet huic scripto sigillum meum apposui. Hijs testib3, dñis Willmo Trussel, et Ricardo de Mascy, militib3, Willmo de Heskayth balliuo de Haleton, Willmo Gerardo, Jacobo de Pulle, Ricardo de Aston, Ricardo de Schoresworth, Rogero de Toxtath clerico, et multis alijs.