.. protesting that no goods of the
same William in the said inn were carried away by the said John
his servant or any strange malefactors other than the persons of
the household of the said William."
On the Coram Rege Roll of 1395 is a case on the issue of whether a
court-crier can be seized by officers of a staple:
"Edmund Hikelyng, 'criour', sues William Baddele and wife Maud,
John Olney, and William Knyghtbrugge for assault and imprisonment
at Westminster, attacking him with a stick and imprisoning him for
one hour on Wednesday before St. Martin, 19 Richard II.
Baddele says Mark Faire of Winchester was prosecuting a bill of
debt for 18s. against Edmund and John More before William
Brampton, mayor of the staple of Westminster, and Thomas Alby and
William Askham, constables of the said staple, and on that day the
Mayor and the constables issued a writ of capias against Edmund
and John to answer Mark and be before the Mayor and the constables
at the next court. This writ was delivered to Baddele as sergeant
of the staple, and by virtue of it he took and imprisoned Edmund
in the staple. Maud and the others say they aided Baddele by
virtue of the said writ.
Edmund does not acknowledge Baddele to be sergeant of the staple
or Mark a merchant of the staple or that he was taken in the
staple. He is minister of the King's Court of his Bench and is
crier under Thomas Thorne, the chief crier, his master.
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