LXIX.
6 November 1446.
Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, France, Lord of Ireland ; to all his Bailiffs and Lieges to whom the present letters shall come — Greeting.
Know that, of our special grace and of our certain know- ledge, and by our mere motion, we have pardoned, remitted, and released to Ralph Toke, otherwise called Ralph Touke, Mayor of the town of Dover, and Walter Nysham, Bailiff, and the Commonalty of the said town, by whatsoever other names they be enrolled, all manner of trespasses, offences, misprisions, contempts, and impeachments committed or perpetrated by the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty before the ninth day of April last past against the form of the Statutes for the Livery of Cloths and Tapestries, for which punishment might befall in fine and ransom, or in other pecuniary penalties or imprisonments, the statutes aforesaid notwithstanding : and, furthermore, of our motion and knowledge, we have pardoned, remitted, and released to the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty the Suit of our Peace which belongs to us against them for all kinds of treasons, murders, rapes of women, rebellions, insurrections, felonies, conspiracies, champerties, maintenances, and em braceries, and all other trespasses, offences, negligences, extortions, misprisions, ignorances, contempts, concealments, forfeitures, and frauds, however committed and perpetrated by the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty before the said ninth day of April ; and also the outlawries which may have been promulgated for these reasons, or any one of them, against the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty ; and we grant them our firm peace on that behalf, so that, however they may abide the sentence in our Court, if any shall have wished to plead against them for the premises, or any one of the premises ; provided that, nevertheless, the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty be not traitors, openly or secretly, for any treason concerning our person : and, furthermore, we have pardoned, remitted, and released to the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty all kinds of escapes of felons, the chattels of felons and fugitives, the chattels of outlaws and suicides, deodands, wastes, impeachments, and all kinds of complaints in Eyre, destructions and trespasses of vert and venison, the sale of woods within and without the forests, and of other things whatsoever witnessed and proved before the said ninth day of April, within our kingdom of England and the Marches of Wales, for which punishment might befall in due demand, or in fine and ransom, or in other pecuniary penalties, or in forfeiture of goods and chattels, or imprisonments, or amercements of Commonalties, towns, and singular persons, or in the taxing of the free tenement of those who never trespassed, for example [the taxing] of heirs, executors, or of tenants of land, escheators, sheriffs, coroners, and of others of this sort, and all that which pertains, or might pertain, to us against the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty from the abovesaid causes : AJso we have par- doned, remitted, and released to the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty all their donations, alienations, and perquisi cions of lands and tenements held in capite from us or our progenitors, formerly Kings of England : And also all kinds of donations and perquisitions made and had in mortmain without the royal licence ; also all kinds of intrusions and entries made on their inheritance, in part or in whole, after the death of their ancestors without due information of the same without the royal hand, before the said ninth day of April, together with the issues and profits in the meantime therefrom received : And, furthermore, we have pardoned, remitted, and released to the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Com monalty all kinds of penalties forfeited before the said ninth day of April, before us, or our Council, the Chancellor of the Treasure , or other of our Judges, for any cause ; and all other penalties forfeited, and to be levied for our use, not only to us, but also to our dearest father deceased, by the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty for any cause before the said ninth day of April ; and all kinds of sureties of peace likewise forfeited before the said ninth day of April ; and also the thirds and thirds of thirds of all manner of prisoners captured in war howsoever due appertaining and belonging on the said ninth day of April by the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty ; also all manner of trespasses, offenses, misprisions, contempts, and impeachments com mitted or perpetrated by the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty before the said ninth day of April, against the form as well of all statutes, ordinances, and provisions made or published before the said ninth day of April, con- cerning the perquisitions, acceptances, readings, publications, notifications, and executions whatsoever of any letters and bulls apostolical before the said ninth day of April, and of all other statutes, ordinances, and provisions, by pretext of which any suit may be made against the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty by bill or by writ of praemunire made, or in any other way whatsoever, for any matter before the said ninth day of April, as of any other statutes whatsoever, these statutes, ordinances, and provisions notwithstanding : And also we have pardoned, remitted, and released to the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty all manner of fines, adjudicated amercements, issues, forfeitures, reliefs, scutages, and all manner of debts, accounts, imprests, arrears of ferms and accounts howsoever due and pertaining to us before the first day of September in the twentieth year of our reign ; also all manner of actions and demands which we alone, or we conjointly with persons, or with another person, shall have, or shall be able to have, against the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty for any fines, amercements, issues, reliefs, scutages, debts, accounts, imprests, and arrears of this sort due to us before the said day of Sep tember ; and also the outlawries promulgated against the said Mayor, Bailiff, and Commonalty for any of the causes abovesaid, all manner of debts and accounts due and pertaining to us, which are secured by the vigour of our letters patent, or of our writs of great or privy seal, by mortgages or assignments, altogether excepted, so that our present pardon does not, as regards the premises, or any one of the premises, tend to the hurt, prejudice, or derogation of any other person than our own person ; provided always, more over, that none our pardon of this sort in any way avail, be allotted, nor become, nor in any way be extended to * Eleanor Cobham, daughter of Reginald Cobham, knight ; John Bolton, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, blacksmith ; William Wighall, lately Warden of our gaol of Nottingham, nor to any one of them, nor to the felony recently perpe trated concerning the death of Christofer Talbot, knight, feloniously murdered ; nor that our present pardon, nor any our pardon of this sort, be in any way extended to any wool or wool fleeces or other merchandise of the staple carried and transported to any foreign parts without our kingdom of England, contrary to the form of the statute passed in our Parliament held at Westminster, on the morrow of S. Martin in the eighteenth year of our reign, or of any other statutes, nor to any fines pertaining or belonging to us on this behalf, nor to the exonerations and acquittances of any persons for punish ments to be executed upon them, according to the form of the statute for any wool or woollen fleeces or other mer chandise of the staple being carried or transported to any foreign parts of this sort, contrary to the form of the said statutes, nor that our present pardon, nor any our pardon of this sort, shall be in any way extended to any of our chief accountants, to wit, the Treasurer of Calais and of our household, the Victuallers of Calais, the Chamberlains of Chester, North Wales, and South Wales, the Keepers of the Wardrobe of our household, or the Keepers of our Great Wardrobe, or the Keepers and Clerks of our Ward robe, the Clerks of our Works, the Constables of Bordeaux, the Treasurer of our Territory of Ireland, and the Receivers of our Duchy of Lancaster and our Duchy of Cornwall, as well general as particular, so tar as appertain to any of their offices of this sort, or their occupations of this sort, or of any one of them in any way.
* Probably Eleanor Cobham, daughter of Lord Cobham^ of Sterborough, the second wife of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. She tvas accused in 1441 of plotting against the life of the young King, and was imprisoned for life.
In testimony whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent.
Witness myself at Westminster on the sixth day of November in the twenty-fifth year of our reign.
[By the King himself in Parliament — Goding.]
A portion of the seal remains.