41
Visit of King Edward the Second to Battle and Other Parts of Sussex in 1324.
By W. H. Blaauw, Esq., M.A., F.S.A.
Read at the Battle metting, JULY 23, 1852.
Extensive journeys across every part of England are in modern days made with so much ease by all classes of society, that it is becoming difficult to appreciate the strong contrast afforded by the slow, laborious, and costly progress of travellers over the same ground at an earlier period of our history. The poor necessarily staid at home, and generation after generation of the same humble families were gathered into the same churchyards, unless when their feudal duties summoned them to the perils of foreign war. Even to the rich baron a movement to or from his own estates and castle was a matter not lightly to be undertaken, nor without serious thoughts as to the furniture and bedding, the food and drink, the household menials, and the armed retinue, the animals and vehicles, which he must take with him on the road.
In tracing from ancient MSS.[1] some of the details of a royal progress of King Edward II in Sussex, it will be seen what preparation his officers had to make beforehand by sending even almonds, spices, and sugar, the accustomed luxuries of his table, into the country, as he could not expect there to meet with them, and it will be remarked how much he depended for
- ↑ The MSS. referred to in the following pages by capital letters are:—
a. Carlton Ride, MSS. 2582; E.B. xv. Rotulus de summ' exhennior' et almort' staur' expens' in Rot' Hospitii Regis. 18o Edw. II.
b. C.R. MSS. 3191. W.N. xiii. Rot' liber' cere speciar' pann' ad aurat' per Th. de Useflete, clericum magne Garderobe. 18o Edw. II.
c. C.R. MSS. 3154. W.N. x. Rot' divers' expens' per Th. de Useflete.
d. C.R. MSS. 3202. WN. xiii. Rot' de presentis. 18o Edw. II.
e. C.R. MSS. 3500. Compot' forins' expens. 18o Edw. II.
f. Tower MSS. Close Bolls, 18o Edw. II.
g. C.R. MSS. xv. Compot' diurn' expens' Hospitii Regis. 18o Edw. II. Imperfect.
h. C.R. MSS. 2920. FLH. Rot' expensar' forinsecarum.
