[209] He forbids those on guard to stay in the cemetery, unless there is imminent danger of flight. The felon may have the “necessaries of life” in the sanctuary.
[210] “Statutes of the Realm,” i. p. 250, text of uncertain date, but probably of the reign of Edward II. All this was classified as “Abuses” by the not very trustworthy author of the “Mirror for Justices” (Andrew Horne?), early fourteenth century, ed. Whittaker and Maitland, Selden Soc., 1895, p. 158. At all events it was the law. According to “Fleta,” lib. i. cap. xxix, at the end of forty days in sanctuary, if the malefactors have not abjured the kingdom, food must be refused to them, and they will no longer be allowed to emigrate. On the road to the port, according to the same, the felon wore a garb which would cause him to be recognized, being “ungirt, un-shod, bare-headed, in his bare shirt, as if he were to be hanged on the gallows, having received a cross in his hands,” “discinctus et discalceatus, capite discooperto, in pura tunica, tanquam in patibulo suspendendus, accepta cruce in manibus.” “Fleta” stated that he must try to cross, till he got into water, not up to the knees, but up to the neck. On the “Abjuratio Regni,” see the capital article, with a complete bibliography of the subject by André Réville, in the “Revue Historique,” Sept. 1892.
[211] “The Sanctuaries and Sanctuary Seekers of Mediæval England,” by the Rev. J. Charles Cox, quoting a coroner’s roll of the time of Edward III. London, 1911, p. 28.
[212] Statute 2 Rich. II, stat. 2, chap. 3. These frauds had been already complained of under Edward III. A petition of the Commons in the parliament of 1376–77 (“Rolls of Parliament,” ii. p. 369), declares that certain people, after having received money or merchandise on loan, and having made a pretended gift of all their property to friends, “flee to Westminster, St. Martin’s, or other such privileged places, and lie there a long time, . . . so long that the said creditors are only too pleased to take a small part of their debt and release the rest.” Then the debtors return home, and their friends give them back their property.
[213] See Appendix X, p. [435].
[214] A. J. Kempe, “Historical Notices of . . . St. Martin le Grand,” London, 1825, p. 135.
[215] Statute 9 Ed. II, cap. 15.
[216] “Croniques de London,” Camden Society, 1884, p. 42.
[217] See Appendix X.
[218] “Croniques de London,” Camden Society, 1844, p. 52.