The first time, on Friday (3rd February) after the Purification, 1290, marching from the contested ground, they entered two leagues; the second time on Monday (5th June), before St. Barnabas, five leagues; and the third time, on Monday (27th Novem.), before St. Andrew, they entered seven leagues.
In these incursions they lifted and carried home 1070 head of cattle, 50 farm horses and colts, and sheep, goats and swine unnumbered. Also they wasted the land, and killed several people. The damage was rated by a jury at £100. Of the spoil, De Clare, according to the custom of marcher war, received one-third.
On other occasions, following this example, the loose rogues, “latrones et esketores,” of the district, perhaps some of those who gave name to “Bwlch-y-Lladron” above Aberdare, and “Rhyd-y-Milwr” above Rhymney, repeated the forays; and, besides other outrages, burned the house of “Tyraph,” and the church of Penderyn, taking from the latter a chalice, certain ornaments, and other matters. The earl and his captains were not charged with any knowledge of, or share in, these robberies or sacrileges.
It seems probable that the league (leuca) was not above an English mile, and that their depredations were confined to the south side of the Beacons. If so, that tract of country must have been at least as well stocked as it is now. And it may be doubted whether the modern church of Penderyn, with its hassocks and cassocks, and old prayer-books, would yield as much to any modern “esketores.”
Upon the receipt of this complaint, the king appointed by letters patent William de Luda Bishop of Ely, whom Nicholas calls Lord Chancellor (a statement unconfirmed by the very accurate Foss), William de Valence the king’s uncle, John de Mettingham the honest Chief Justice, and Robert de Hertford one of the judges of the Common Pleas, to inquire into the matter, and especially as to whether the outrages were committed after the royal inhibition. They were to summon witnesses from the counties of Hereford, Caermarthen, and Cardigan, and the parts of Gower, Ewyas, and Grosmont, and they were to report to the king by fifteen days from Easter (22d April), 1291.
The sheriff of Berkshire was to summon the Earl of Gloucester, and Robert de Typetoft, justiciary of West Wales, was to summon his captains. The sheriff of Hereford, the justiciary, Geoffrey de Genville and Theobald de Verdun bailiffs of Ewyas, and Edmund the king’s brother’s bailiff of Grosmont, were to provide the jury. Strathwelly, in Brecknock, was to be the place; and the Monday (12th March) after Quadragesima the time of meeting. Also, to prevent any collusion, the inquiry was to proceed, even should one of the parties withdraw.
The following magnates were also summoned by the king as jurors: John de Hastings, John Fitz-Reginald, Edmund and Roger Mortimer, Theobald de Verdun, John Tregoz, William de Braose, Geoffrey de Cammill (no doubt “Camville,”), and Roger Pycheworth, together with the king’s Welsh seneschals, and his brother’s seneschals of Monmouth, Grosmont, Skenfrith, and Whitecastle. Also were summoned the sheriffs of Hereford and Gloucester, and the seneschal of Crickhowel, so as to provide a jury of twenty-four knights and others. The preparations were not unsuitable to the rank and power of the offenders, and to what it is clear our English Justinian regarded as the excessive heinousness of the offence.
On the appointed Monday, Hastings, then Lord of Abergavenny, and his companions, met the commissioners at Brecknock, and were adjourned to Wednesday, at Laundon; but the commissioners proceeded the same day to Strathwelly, which they reached about three o’clock.
The Earl of Hereford was punctual, but Gloucester and his captains were not forthcoming, though the sheriff and Typetoft proved their summons. It was, perhaps, the probability of this contumacy that had caused the previous adjournment to Laundon, to which place the commissioners next proceeded.
Here, his opponents being still absent, the Earl of Hereford stated his complaint, and demanded an inquiry. Upon this the magnates were called upon to swear, placing their hands upon the book. Hastings and the rest unanimously refused compliance. Their ancestors, they said, in those parts, had never heard of a compulsory oath, except in certain march affairs, sanctioned by custom. They were admonished that the king’s power was supreme, but they still, each for himself, declined, without consulting their peers.