5. Grant of a Fair at St. Ives to the Abbey of Ramsey[Cart. Rams., f. 191 b.], 1202.
John by the grace of God King of England, etc., greeting. Know ye that we, for our salvation and for the souls of our ancestors and successors, have granted and by our present charter have confirmed to God and the church of St. Mary and St. Benedict of Ramsey, and to the abbot and monks there serving God, a fair at St. Ives, to begin on the fourth day before the feast of St. Laurence and to endure for eight days[207]; to have and to hold for ever, so nevertheless that it be not to the nuisance of neighbouring fairs.
Wherefore we will and straitly command that the aforesaid abbot and monks have and hold the aforesaid fair well and in peace, freely and quietly, entirely, fully and honourably, with all liberties and free customs to such fair pertaining. Witnesses:—Robert earl of Leicester, William earl of Arundel, and others.
Given by the hand of Simon, archdeacon of Wells, at Harcourt on the seventh day of June in the fourth year of our reign.
[207] August 6-13.
6. Grant of a Market at St. Ives to the Abbey of Ramsey[Cart. Rams., f. 191 b.], 1293.
Edward by the grace of God King of England, lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine, to archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, justices, sheriffs, reeves, ministers and all his bailiffs and faithful, greeting. Know ye that we have granted and by this our charter confirmed to our beloved in Christ, the abbot and convent of Ramsey, that they and their successors for ever have a market every week on Monday at their manor of St. Ives in the county of Huntingdon, unless that market be to the nuisance of neighbouring markets. Wherefore we will and straitly command, for us and our heirs, that the aforesaid abbot and convent and their successors for ever have the aforesaid market at their manor aforesaid with all the liberties and free customs to such market pertaining, unless that market be to the nuisance of neighbouring markets, as is aforesaid. These witnesses:—the venerable fathers John, of Winchester, Anthony, of Durham, William, of Ely, bishops, William de Valencia, our uncle, Roger le Bygod, earl of Norfolk and marshal of England, John de Warenna, earl of Surrey, Henry de Lascy, earl of Lincoln, William de Bello Campo, earl of Warwick, Robert de Tybetot, Gilbert de Thornton, John de Metingham, Robert de Hertford, Robert Malet, and others. Given by our hand at Westminster on the fourteenth day of May in the twenty-first year of our reign.
7. Proceedings in the Court at the Fair of St. Ives [Court Roll, 178, 93, m. 1d.], 1288.[208]
Court on Saturday [24 April, 1288].
John son of John of Eltisley makes plaint of Roger the Barber that he has unjustly broken a covenant with him, because, whereas the same John was in the town of Ramsey on Monday next after the Epiphany of the Lord last past, a year ago, in the house of Thomas Buk, the said Roger came there and undertook to cure his head of baldness for 9d., which he paid in hand. On Tuesday the aforesaid Roger put him in plaster, and on Wednesday likewise, and afterwards withdrew from the town, so that from that day to this he would have nothing to do with the matter, to John's damage of ½ mark; and he produces suit. The aforesaid Roger, being present, denied [tort and force] and put himself on his law, and in finding pledges of his law withdrew from the bar without licence. Therefore the aforesaid John craved judgment on him as on a man convicted. Wherefore it is awarded that the said Roger satisfy him of the 9d. principal, and of his damages, which are pardoned him; and that for the trespass he be in mercy, 6d. Pledge,——