Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/115

 THE BLACK PRINCE. 97 i$oraucr[) of latmctbcton. The Mayor and Commonalty of the borough of Launceveton have done their fealty to the Lord the Duke ; And they give to the said Lord Duke, for their acknowledgment, five marks ; And they admit that they hold of the Lord Duke the borough aforesaid, in fee farm, rendering therefor yearly, at the feasts of Easter and St. Michael, in equal portions, one hundred shillings and one pound of pepper, — and at the same feast of St. Michael, for a certain escheat, seven shillings and sixpence, — and to the Prior and Convent of Launceveton, for a certain daily chant to be sung within the aforesaid Castle, sixty shillings, — and to the same Prior and Convent, to find a lamp burning every night before the image of the blessed Mary, in the aforesaid Priory, five shillings and tenpence, — And also for the lepers of Gillamartin, of ancient royal alms, 100s., — so that they may pay to the aforesaid lepers on every seventh day 2s., except on the two seventh days next before the feast of St. Michael : And they claim jto have all pleas within their aforesaid borough, the taking of assize of bread and ale, with all the profit of fairs and markets there. And they say that they, and their ancestors and predecessors, burgesses of the said borough, from the time whereof memory runneth not to the contrary, have always hitherto held the aforesaid borough in fee farm, together with all the pleas, perquisites and profits aforesaid, by the services aforesaid ; and they show no other title for the same. Claim. The aforesaid burgesses claim that they may hold yearly, within their aforesaid borough, three Courts for Suit, and not elsewhere in the County of Cornwall; and they say that all other County Courts were accustomed, in times past, to be held there, and so ought, like as the aforesaid three Courts for Suit, until the Lord Richard, lately Earl of Cornwall caused the same, of his own authority, to be removed and held at Bodmin, and afterwards the Lord Edmund, lately Earl, &c, ap- pointed them to be removed thence, and held at Lostwythiel, and there they are held even at present, to the hurt of the liberty of the aforesaid borough, to the detriment and manifest impoverishment of the same, concerning which they seek to provide for themselves a suitable remedy ; but they show nothing for the same except the aforesaid prescription of time. The sum, — 107s. 6d., also one pound of pepper, worth i2d. JotmU in tlje lortl'fi fjantl. They also say that there is pre- H