15. And the lord King forbids that any waif, that is vagabond or unknown person, shall be entertained anywhere except in the burgh, and there he shall not be entertained more than a night, unless he become ill there, or his horse, so that he can show an evident excuse.
20. The lord King forbids, moreover, that monks or canons or any religious house, receive any one of the petty people as monk or canon or brother, until they know of what testimony he is, unless he be sick unto death.
21. The lord King forbids, moreover, that any one in all England receive in his land or his soc or the house under him any one of that sect of renegades who were excommunicated and branded at Oxford. And if any one receive them, he himself shall be at the mercy of the lord King; and the house in which they have been shall be carried without the town and burned.
[1] The Judgment of Boiling Water.—"The priest shall sprinkle over them some of the water itself; and to those who are about to go into the judgement of God, to all of them, he shall give to drink of that same holy water. And when he shall have given it, moreover, he shall say to each one: 'I have given this water to thee or to you for a sign to-day.' Then pieces of wood shall be placed under the cauldron, and the priest shall say ... prayers when the water itself shall have begun to grow warm.—And he who puts his hand in the water for the trial itself, shall say the Lord's Prayer, and shall sign himself with the sign of the cross; and that boiling water shall hastily be put down near the fire, and the judge shall suspend that stone, bound to that measure, within that same water in the accustomed way: and thus he who enters to be tried by judgement shall extract it thence in the name of God himself. Afterwards with great diligence, his hand shall be thus wrapped up, signed with the seal of the judge, until the third day; when it shall be viewed and judged of by suitable men."—Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, p. 316. (Published by G. Bell & Sons.)
"THE KING'S OFFICERS AT FAULT."
THE INQUEST OF SHERIFFS, 1170.
Source.—MS. in Bodleian Library.
§ 5. Let an enquiry be made concerning the goods of those that fled on account of the Assize of Clarendon and of those that perished through that assize. Let it be known what was done and what left each hundred and vill and let it be written down exactly and in order. In like manner let an enquiry be made, whether any man was unjustly accused at that assize through bribery, malice, or any unjust cause.
§ 6. Let an enquiry be made concerning the aids for the marriage of the king's daughter. What left each hundred and vill, whether it be in revenue or pardons and to whom this money was given up and delivered.
§ 9. An enquiry shall be made, whether the sheriffs or any bailiffs whatsoever have returned anything of the goods they have taken and whether they have made their peace with men after they heard of the king's coming, in order to prevent a complaint coming from them to the lord king.