252 THE STAMFORD SCHISM April It is probable that he is the man of this poem and that he died from the results of the attack. The date of the poem is uncertain. If Herford is the Thomas de Herford who was one of the beadles in 1326, 1 the date must be not later than midsummer 1332 ; for Thomas de Herford died in the autumn of that year. 2 It may be pointed out that the beadles were the university police, as far as the university had any police, and in a parliamentary petition 3 which the sheriff of Oxford sent to parliament in 1334 he com- plains that the chancellor of the university from day to day orders his beadles to deliver to the sheriff northern and southern clerks, committed in the chancellor's court for acts of violence, to remain in the castle prison at the chancellor's pleasure. Possibly Roger was another beadle, for a witness to a deed 4 of 1332 is ' Rogerus le Bedel '. Wyk may be mag. Edward de Wyke who was elected proctor 5 in spring 1333. A certain Alexander Sporman was chaplain of St. Anne's chantry in the church of All Saints in the years 1351-62, and rector of All Saints in the years 1368-83, but this seems to be rather late for the Sporman in our poem. A Thomas de Winnesbury, a married man, owned a house at the north-east corner of Queen's College, and deeds at Queen's College show that he was alive in 1304 and dead in 1341, but there is no indication that he was a beadle. Fulco vir australis, quern gens laicana colebat, non mordebat te, Fulco, canis borealis ? Fulco, Fulco, spes non fuerat tibi lesus ; In tetro sulco latitas, quia vermibus esus. Forsan novisti quid fert elatio mentis ; In famulos Christi sevisti more furentis. Sanguinis effusor, mutulator quando fuisti, Ultor et illusor, Dominum cur non metuisti ? Criminis ortator fueras quando potuisti, Stultus bellator, set cum fastu cecidisti. Mortis condigna funus pro funere restat 6 In te sunt signa ; digno deus omnia prestat. cinis ex cinere, quo sint tibi carnis honores, Egisti temere tot devastando cruores. Die ubi Rogerus, Sathane tuus ille satelles, In feriendo ferus ; vellet quod dicere velles. Herford vexilli lator, dux ille sinister, Et Sporman belli ductor mortisque minister. Die in conflictu finali, quo latuerunt ; Veraci dictu fugerunt, terga dederunt. 1 Munimenta Academica (Rolls Series), p. 116. 2 Liber Albus or Book of Wills, p. 13. 3 Rot. Parl. ii. 76. 4 Merton deed, no. 2649. 5 Munimenta Academica, p. 128.
- Apparently ' funus pro funere restat ' is a parenthesis.
