POLITICAL HISTORY Geoffrey le Brun, Stephen le Blunt, and many others, whose names are set out in the Crown Plea RoU,^ and among whom are no less than fifteen clergy and chaplains, met with the result now to be described. They attacked the priory by the Ethelbert gate, against which they placed fire and so burnt it down. The parish church of St. Ethelbert, which then stood just within these gates, being probably held as a kind of outwork by the defenders, was next taken and burnt, and, it is said, all its ornaments, books, and images stolen.* The pope's bull says the cathedral, the belfry, dormitory, refectory, infirmary, treasury, sacristy, guest chamber, and so on ; in fact, all the place, ' except three or four buildings,' is said to have been burnt. The London chronicler referring to the mischief done, says, ' what could be burnt was reduced to ashes,' and that of the cathedral itself the woodwork only suffered. We know that only thirteen of the defenders were slain, so that if the '32,000' infuriated rioters of whom the chronicler speaks' were as moderate in their arson as in their manslaughter, it is unlikely they did as much mischief as has been said. As, moreover, only 173 of the assailants could be identified, but little reliance can be placed on the accuracy of a historian who estimates their numbers at 32,000. That the chief men of the city condescended to plunder is not probable, but, like others who have appealed to force, they probably lost control of their followers. Though they may not have been able to prevent plundering they were certainly able to prevent any massacre. They seem, when in possession, to have acted deliberately. The bull * admits that regular sentence of death was passed on some of those killed, and Cotton ^ goes further in saying that some were taken out and executed and others imprisoned in the city, while John de Oxenedes ° says that the thirty servants were taken out and brought before the city tribunal and so condemned. Where the monks rallied and took refuge we cannot say, but it is clear that they made a stand, for on the day after the assault the prior, William de Brunham, himself slew a man Qohn Casmus) by striking him on the head with a falchion. '^ The news of this disturbance soon came to the king, nor was he long in acting on it. He sent Hugh Pecche, Geoffrey de Percy, and Ralph de Bakepuz' to Norwich to take charge of the city, and ordered the sheriffs of Norwich and Suffolk and the burgesses and commonalty of the city to assist them in every way. On the same day he commanded the bailiffs of Colchester to stop and detain the person and goods of any Norwich burgess who came into their district ; he also sent letters patent to Walter Giffard,^ constable of Norwich Castle, or to his sub-constable, apprising them of the appointment of Pecche and the others, and commanding that they should be received into the castle and aided in every way. Not long after he set out for Norfolk, via Bury St. Edmunds, whence he sent letters patent, 6 September, to Walter Giffard,'" stating that he was coming in person to Norwich to punish the offenders, and ordering him to summon thither all knights and free tenants holding ' Crown Plea Roll, 14 Edw. I, 6, m. 72. ' Barth. de Cotton, op. cit. (Rolls Ser.), 146. ' John de Oxenedes, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 240
- Barth. de Cotton, op. cit. (Rolls Ser.), 422. ' Ibid. 147.
' Op cit. (Rolls Ser.), 241. ' Norw. Coroner's Roll, 56 Hen. III. (This roll is now lost, vide 'Norf. Atitiq. Miscell. ii, 55). •Pat. 56 Hen. III. ^ Norf. Antiq. Miicell. W, li. '"Ibid. 475
