On 27/06/16 10:08, Matt Tompkins wrote: > > Yes, those early 14C pledgors do sound like part-time low-level village lawyers. I'll send the article direct. Thanks. A most interesting read. John Kay, the man I'm most interested in in the years about 1300, was also a burgess of Wakefield and in a number of cases, sued, apparently on his own behalf, others. In fact he was the creditor for a stone and 2lb of wool at 5s a stone in the case where another pledgor lost because his principal didn't turn up (having checked the original the unfortunate victim was surety which presumably was distinct from being a pledge in court). On the other hand he was, like many other tenants, fined for offences such as having his pigs in the parks of Alverthorpe. It's clear he held customary land. He was fined for not attending the election of the grave of Wakefield being a tenant of villein [nativa] land (the office seems to have gone in strict rotation amongst certain holders of villein land despite the formality of an election). He was elected and refused the office, his land was then seised into the lord's hand. He eventually fined to retain his land, relieved of some of his services including the graveship, at an increased rent. His refusal might have been a consequence of his age and possible infirmity as he was probably aged about 70 by then and died not long afterwards. There were other land deals one of which went sour about the time of his death which enabled me to identify his heir, and presumably son, who had to make good. In short, he was a man of varied business dealings as well as holding villein land and acting as a kind of proto-solicitor was one of the several strings to his bow. There's a much later sidelight on the drafting of documents for the court. The C18th diary of Arthur Jessop mentions a meeting with someone who brought the surrender and someone else was then to court it. Presumably "the surrender" was such a draft. -- Hotmail is my spam bin. Real address is ianng at austonley org uk