in the Ward of King Henry in the Nonage of Robert Fitzwater. This Robert took to his Second Wife, Ælianor, Daughter and Heir to the Earl of Ferrars, in the Year 1289. And in the Year 1303. on the 12th of March, before John Bland, Maior of London, he acknowledged his Service to the same City for his Castle Baynard; and sware upon the Evangelists, that he would be true to the Liberties thereof, and maintain the same to his Power, and the Counsel of the same to keep, &c.

THe said Robert and his Heirs, ought to be, and are Chief Banners of London, in Fee for the Chastiliary, which he and his Ancestors had by Castle Baynard, in the said City. In Time of War, the said Robert and his Heirs ought to serve the City, in manner as followeth; that is,

The said Robert ought to come, he being the Twentieth Man of Arms on Horseback, covered with Cloth, or Armour, unto the great West Door of St. Paul, with his Banner displayed before him of his Arms. And when he is come to the said Door, mounted and apparelled, as before is said; the Maior, with his Aldermen and Sheriffs, armed in their Arms, shall come out of the said Church of St. Paul unto the said Door, with a Banner in his Hand all on Foot; which Banner shall be Gules, the Image of St. Paul, Gold; the Face, Hands, Feet, and Sword, of Silver. And as soon as the said Robert shall see the Maior, Aldermen, and Sheriffs come on Foot out of the Church, armed with such a Banner; he shall alight from his Horse, and salute the Maior, and say to him; Sir Mayor, I am come to do my Service which I owe to the City.

And the Maior and Aldermen shall answer:

We give to you, as to our Banneret of Fee in this City, the Banner of this City to bear and govern, to the Honour and Profit of this City, to your Power.

And the said Robert and his Heirs shall receive the Banner in his Hands, and go on Foot out of the Gate, with the Banner in his Hands; and the Maior, Aldermen, and Sheriffs, shall follow to the Door, and shall bring an Horse to the said Robert, worth Twenty Pound; which Horse shall be saddled with a Saddle of the Arms of the said Robert, and shall be covered with Sindals of the said Arms.

Also they shall present to him Twenty Pounds Sterling Money, and deliver it to the Chamberlain of the said Robert, for his Expences that Day. Then the said Robert shall mount upon the Horse which the Maior presented to him, with the Banner in his Hand: And as soon as he is up, he shall say to the Maior, that he cause a Marshal to be chosen for the Host, one of the City; which Marshal being chosen, the said Robert shall command the Maior and Burgesses of the City, to warn the Commons to assemble together, and they shall all go under the Banner of St. Paul; and the said Robert shall bear it himself unto Aldgate, and there the said Robert and Maior shall deliver the said Banner of St. Paul from thence, to whom they shall assent or think good. And if they must make any Issue forth of the City; then the said Robert ought to chuse Two forth of every Ward, the most sage Personages, to foresee to the safe keeping of the City, after they be gone forth. And this Councel shall be taken in the Priory of the Trinity near unto Aldgate. And again, before every Town or Castle, which the Host of London shall besiege, if the Siege continue a whole Year, the said Robert shall have for every Siege, of the Commonalty of London, One hundred Shillings for his Travel, and no more.

These be the Rights that the said Robert hath in the Time of War. Rights belonging to Robert Fitzwater, and to his Heirs in the City of London, in the Time of Peace, are these; That is to say, The said Robert hath a Soke or Ward in the City; that is, a Wall of the Canonry of St. Paul, as a Man goeth down the Street before the Brewhouse of St. Paul, unto the Thames, and so to the side of the Mill, which is in the Water that cometh down from the Fleet Bridge; and goeth so by London Walls, betwixt the Friars Preachers and Ludgate; and so returneth back by the House of the said Friars, unto the said Wall of the said Canonry of St. Paul; that is, all the Parish of St. Andrew, which is in the Gift of his Ancestors, by the said Seniority: And so the said Robert hath appendant unto the said Soke, all these Things underwritten: That he ought to have a Sokeman, and to place what Sokeman he will, so he be of the Sokemanry, or the same Ward; and if any of the Sokemanry be impleaded in the Guildhall, of any Thing that toucheth not the Body of the Maior that for the Time is, or that toucheth the Body of no Sheriff, it is not lawful for the Sokeman of the Sokemanry of the said Robert Fitzwater, to demand a Court of the said Robert; and the Maior and his Citizens of London ought to grant him to have a Court; and in his Court he ought to bring his Judgments, as it is assented and agreed upon in the Guildhall, that shall be given them.

If any therefore be taken in his Sokemanry, he ought to have his Stocks and Imprisonment in his Soken; and he shall be brought from thence to the Guildhall, before the Maior, and there they shall provide him his Judgment that ought to be given of him: But his Judgment shall not be published till he come into the Court of the said Robert, and in his Liberty.

And the Judgment shall be such, that if he have deserved Death by Treason, he to be tied to a Post in the Thames at a good Wharf, where Boats are fastned, Two Ebbings and Two Flowings of the Water.

And if he be condemned for a common Thief, he ought to be led to the Elms, and there suffer his Judgment as other Thieves. And so the said Robert and his Heirs hath Honour, that he holdeth a great Franchise within the City, that the Maior of the City and Citizens are bound to do him of Right; that is to say, that when the Maior will hold a great Council, he ought to call the said Robert and his Heirs, to be with him in Council of the City; and the said Robert ought to be sworn to be of Council with the City, against all People, saving the King and his Heirs. And when the said Robert cometh to the Hustings of the Guild-Hall of the City, the Maior or his Lieutenant ought to rise against him, and set him down near unto him, and so long as he is in the Guild-Hall, all the Judgments ought to be given by his Mouth, according to the Record of the Recorders of the said Guild-Hall. And so many Waifes as come so long as he is there, he ought to give them to the Bailiffs of the Town, or to whom he will, by the Council of the Maior of the City.

These be the Franchises that belonged to Robert Fitzwater in London, in Time of Peace; which, for the Antiquity thereof, I have noted out of an old Record.

This Robert deceased in the Year 1305, leaving Issue, Walter Fitzrobert, who had Issue, Robert Fitzwalter; unto whom, in the Year 1320, the Citizens of London acknowledged the Right which they ought to him and his Heirs for the Castle Baynard. He deceased 1325; unto whom succeeded Robert Fitzrobert, Fitzwalter, &c. More of the Lord Fitzwalter may ye read in my Summary and Annals, in the 51st of Edward III. But now how this Honour of Baynards Castle, with the Appurte-