Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Westminster Jurors Aug. 6, 1303

Summary: Westminster jurors had nine non-guilty names for royal justices holding court Aug. 6, 1303, on the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid in their town.

The Royal Justices sat Aug. 6, 1303, at New Temple Church, consecrated for the Knights Templar Feb. 10, 1885, for a disappointing meet with Fleet and Westminster juries; view of New Temple Church from southeast, Wednesday, March 14, 2007: Michael Coppins, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

The king's appointed investigator and four appointed justices assembled Aug. 6, 1303, at New Temple to access Fleet and Westminster jurors about the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid April 30-May 3, 1303.

New Temple belonged to the Templar Order that brought brave soldiers to the Crown in England and Holy Places in Palestine and international bankers throughout Europe. The court at the fortified barracks, church hall, curtain wall and guarded gates on consecrated, neutral ground constituted the last convened by the five royal commissioners. The Fleet Street and Westminster juries differed from London, Middlesex, Suffolk and Surrey jury members by dodging designating burglars and dwelling upon discoverers of dispersed treasures.

The royal writ June 6, 1303, emphasized "all who are guilty of this deed, or have helped and advised in it, or received the said treasure."

Apprenticeship to tradesmen seven years in their trades, inheritance of trades and purchase of citizenship from aldermen, the chamberlain and the mayor furnished firefighting, law-enforcing citizens.

Citizens gathered into 12- to 24-member ward juries to give evidence in London July 3-4, 1303, Westminster July 5, 1303, and London again Aug. 6, 1303. Fleet Street and Westminster jurors held that sacristan Adam de Warfield happened upon, and had in his care, one each of the royal bowls and cups. They indicated that monks William de Chalk, Alexander de Newport, Raymond de Wenlok and John Wenlok impressed upon Warfield the importance of informing John de Foxley.

Richard de Burgh, Abbey bailiff and William de Chalk's brother-in-law, and Warfield joined John de Foxley, Steward of Abbey lands, at Foxley manor in Bray, Berkshire.

Foxley keynoted Walter de Wenlok's (died Dec. 25, 1307) knowledge as Abbot since Dec. 31, 1283, and Customary and diktat promulgator for his community and household. Wenlok looked at anything lying in Abbey buildings and on Abbey lands as Abbey property and so Westminster jurors looked at New Temple Aug. 6, 1303.

Westminster jurors mentioned nothing about armed guards and overgrown hemp in the Abbey cemetery and locked gates to Abbey and Palace walls April 30-May 3, 1303. They noted nothing about nightly noises around the Abbey Chapter House Crypt, over Abbey grounds and through Westminster gates to Kings Bridge and the River Thames.

Fleet and Westminster jurors offered Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid inquirers and investigators observations on the order of London goldsmiths at the Guildhall July 4, 1303.

John Bakewell, Ralph de Sandwich, Roger de Southcote and Walter of Gloucester pondered "Why had the linen draper [and monks' messenger and receiver] moved the treasure?"

The quartet queried "Were the jewels moved by day or night?" and "If the jewels were removed in a basket, where did the basket come from?" Gerin of St. Giles relocated the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid treasures "because he was frightened of his house being searched by ministers of the Crown." Westminster jurors said that "they did not know" shifts when "they know people [from the Abbey] were involved [in supplying baskets] but can't recall any names."

The justices turned the testimonies June 17, July 4-6 and Aug. 6, 1303, over to King Edward I (June 17, 1239-July 7, 1307) Aug. 7, 1303.

The four justices appointed by Edward I for the 1303 royal treasury raid investigation learned that Westminster Abbey monks relied on linen draper Gerin of St. Giles as a messenger and recruited him to move treasury items to the fields of London's St. Pancras parish; the parish centered on St. Pancras Old Church; illustration of St. Pancras Old Church (upper left), Edward Walford's Old and New London (1873), vol. V, page 336: Public Domain, via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

The Royal Justices sat Aug. 6, 1303, at New Temple Church, consecrated for the Knights Templar Feb. 10, 1885, for a disappointing meet with Fleet and Westminster juries; view of New Temple Church from southeast, Wednesday, March 14, 2007: Michael Coppins, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_Church,_Round_Church_from_the_south_east.jpg

The four justices appointed by Edward I for the 1303 royal treasury raid investigation learned that Westminster Abbey monks relied on linen draper Gerin of St. Giles as a messenger and recruited him to move treasury items to the fields of London's St. Pancras parish; the parish centered on St. Pancras Old Church; illustration of St. Pancras Old Church (upper left), Edward Walford's Old and New London (1873), vol. V, page 336: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/oldnewlondonnarr05thor#page/336/mode/1up

For further information:

Doherty, Paul. 2005. The Great Crown Jewels Robbery of 1303. New York NY: Carroll & Graf Publisher.

Harvey, Barbara F., ed. 1965. Documents Illustrating the Rule of Walter de Wenlok, Abbot of Westminster 1283-1307. Vol. II. Camden Fourth Series. London, England: Offices of the Royal Historical Society.

Keay, Anna. 2011. The Crown Jewels. London UK: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Marriner, Derdriu. 20 April 2018. "Richard Puddlicott and the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/04/richard-puddlicott-and-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 May 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid in April and May 1303 in England." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 May 2018. "Mysteries of the April-May 1303 Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/mysteries-of-april-may-1303-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 June 2018. "King Edward I's Letter on the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/king-edward-is-letter-on-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Royal Proclamation June 16, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_8.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Palmer Confession June 17, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Arrests June 18-19, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_22.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Indenture June 22, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_29.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 July 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Palmer Confession July 6, 2013." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 July 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Goldsmiths Talk July 4, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_13.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 27 July 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Aldermen Interviews July 29, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_27.html

Thompson, Sir Edward Maunde, ed. 1902. Customary of the Benedictine Monasteries of St. Augustine Canterbury and St. Peter Westminster. Vol. I: Text of Cottonian MS. Faustina, C. XII. Henry Bradshaw Society volume XXIII. London, England: Harrison and Sons.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/customaryofbened01stau

Thompson, Sir Edward Maunde, ed. 1904. Customary of the Benedictine Monasteries of St. Augustine Canterbury and St. Peter Westminster. Vol. II: Texts of Cottonian MS., No. 211. Otho C. XL; and Gonville and Caius. Henry Bradshaw Society volume XXVIII. London, England: Harrison and Sons.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/customaryofbened28thomuoft

Walford, Edward. 1873. Old and New London. Vol. V: The Western and Northern Suburbs. London, England; Paris, France; New York, NY: Cassell, Petter & Galpin.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/oldnewlondonnarr05thor