He had the
house of one pulled down. The pregnant wife and a naked child were
turned out and had to lie in the streets because no one dared to
take them in, even when a justice so directed. The witness, his
wife, and family took refuge in an unheated outbuilding in the
winter. He and his wife and one child died there. The knight had
another witness cudgeled so that she was black and blue from the
waist up, and could not put on her clothes for a month. The knight
threatened to set fire to the house of another witness, and sent
his men to pull him out of doors and keep him prisoner for some
hours. The Star Chamber imprisoned the knight and his men. The
knight was fined 1,000 pounds and the men 50 pounds each. The
knight also had to pay one witness 100 pounds in reparation to the
surviving children of the family whose house had been pulled down.
But the power of the Star Chamber was abused by King Charles I.
For instance, one lord was accused by another of calling him a
base lord. The evidence was paltry. But he was fined eight
thousand pounds, one-half going to the King. A lord who was
accused of converting agricultural land to pasture was fined four
thousand pounds. The lord was fined ten thousand pounds. A person
who exported fuller's earth, contrary to the King's proclamation,
was pilloried and fined two thousand pounds. A man who defaced a
stained-glass window in a church was fined 500 pounds and ordered
to pay for a plain glass replacement.
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