Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/119

Rh was held before the king and his barons, and because the bishops and others who were present at that day on which the suit was pleaded were not present, that judgment was deferred to five weeks after Easter. Afterwards, when the five weeks after Easter were past, the judgment was deferred to the quinzaine of the feast of St. John (May 6?), and we hear no more of the affair."

On this relation Mr. Hartshorne observes, "the legal question involved in this long dispute appears to be whether the royal writ or the charter was of the highest authority." This we think is not the case; the writ issued only as a natural consequence of the privilege contained in the charter of the Londoners, viz., the right of not pleading without their walls; the difficulty arose from the same immunity having been granted by Henry himself to the men of Northampton; the latter were clearly wrong in detaining their prisoners in contempt of the royal writ.

The burgesses of Northampton were not incorporated until the year 1460, by a charter of Henry the Sixth. The minutes of the council do not go back to so early a period; they appear, as far as we can gather from Mr. Hartshorne's remarks, to commence about the year 1552.

Not the least important chapter in Mr. Hartshorne's work, is a valuable catalogue of the records still remaining in the custody of the corporation, commencing with the charter granted by Richard the First. It is very desirable that accurate returns of the municipal records throughout the country should be made and published; the reports furnished to the Commissioners of the Public Records being notoriously incomplete.

The cross erected by Edward the First in memory of his consort Eleanor of Castile, is one of the most remarkable architectural monuments connected with the town of Northampton. Mr. Hartshorne has given a sketch of the queen's life, and reprinted all the information respecting the erection of the cross contained in the volume illustrative of Domestic Manners and Expenses in the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, presented to the Roxburgh Club by Mr. Botfield. It is at least doubtful that the crosses were erected by order of Edward; the queen certainly made a will, hitherto undiscovered; and the only particulars respecting these monuments known to exist, occur in the accounts of her executors. Therefore, either the executors built them in pursuance of testamentary instructions, perhaps in the exercise of a discretionary power not unfrequently granted by testators in those times; or the king had no share in the matter, unless indeed he were one of his consort's executors, a more than probable supposition, although he is not named in the accounts. One fact is certain, that whoever may have directed the construction of these memorials, their cost was defrayed out of the estate of the deceased queen. Mr. Hartshorne's account of the Northampton cross is illustrated by a clever engraving in outline of the elevation of that monument and by two plates of details.

Chapters on the churches and religious foundations of the town, on the local mint, and a reprint of the interesting letter describing the great fire which ravaged Northampton in 1675, conclude this popular contribution to topography.