They then summoned him to yield himself
to the peace of "our lord the King." If they came in the first instance
armed in a warlike manner with swords, etc., it was lawful for him to
defend himself, and there is one instance on record in which a man did
this, fighting a pitched battle with the bailiffs in the garden of his
inn, and being afterwards upheld by the court. If, however, the person
would not surrender, when summoned in a peaceable way, force might be
employed against him. But the officers had first to find or overtake
him; and in this they might be anticipated by those who had suffered
injury. Obviously, therefore, the homicide, who had no confidence in the
justice of his case, would be well advised in flying without delay to
"the bosom of Mother Church."
The refugee was as often as not an habitual criminal, who might have
broken out of prison on the eve of execution. Some light on this point
is derived from the Northumberland Assize Rolls of the years 1256 and
1279. For instance: "Robertus de Cregling et Jacobus le Escoe', duo
extranei, capti fuerunt pro suspicione latrocinii per ballivos Willelmi
de Valencia et imprisonati in prisona ejusdem Willelmi apud Rowebyr'
(Rothbury). Et predictus Robertus postea evasit de prisona ad ecclesiam
de Rowebyr' et cognovit ibi latrocinium et abjuravit regnum coram
Willelmo de Baumburg tunc coronatore."
Offenders were obliged to state the nature of the crimes alleged against
them, and the Durham register shows that by far the largest number were
murderers and homicides.
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