Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Two Freed Female Suspects

Summary: What happened to the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid female suspects incarcerated summer 1303 in Newgate and the Tower of London Prisons?

Newgate Prison was the fearsome abode of sisters Alice and Castanea Barber, Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid (1303) suspects, until Edward I's second wife, Queen Margaret of France, mercifully arranged for their release; depiction of front of Newgate Prison in Thomas Bayly's Herba Parietis (1650), frontispiece: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Descriptions by goldsmiths and indictments by aldermen and jurors acknowledge women as assistants to the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid April 30-May 3, 1303, and raid aftermaths June 6, 1303-Nov. 28, 1304.

The Westminster Abbey refectory burglary November 1302 became the business of monks even though the Abbey Chapter House Crypt raid six months later became the king's. King Edward I's (June 17, 1239-July 7, 1307) writs June 6, Aug. 14, Oct. 10, and Nov. 10/14, 1303, and March 25, 1304, never contemplated gender. Edward demanded that "all who are guilty of this deed, or have helped and advised in it, or received the said treasure, be arrested without delay."

Edward expected that all advisers, assistants, recipients and thieves "be kept safe and secure in our prison until we have reached a decision on the matter."

And yet Edward's second wife, Queen Margaret (1279-Feb. 14, 1318), from Paris, France, freed two Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid female suspects from Newgate Prison cells.

The first commission per Edward's writ June 6, 1303, garnered arrests June 16-23, 1303, and gathered sisters Alice and Castanea Barber into Newgate by month end. Newgate likewise held Joanna (or Joanne), daughter of Richard Picard the tailor and mistress of merchant Richard de Puddlicott (hanged Nov. 28, 1304, as raid "malefactor"). Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid inmates in the Tower included Cecily, wife of Benedictine clerk Richard of Kent, and Edelina, daughter of Nicholas (Henry) the Cook.

Margaret juggled the sisters' release despite Edward's fourth writ, Nov. 10/14, 1303, judging priority "Ad negocium illud audiendum et terminandum secundum legem et consuetudinem nostri regni."

London, Middlesex, Suffolk, Surrey and Westminster residents knew of Edward keeping as priority appointed justices "hearing and terminating that business per our kingdom's law and custom."

Margaret nevertheless loosed two Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid suspects on bail ("Ad Mandatum Dominae Reginae predict Castanea et Alicia, soror ejus dismissive sunt per Mancaptores"). She made no move, or maneuvered unsuccessfully, for Joanna/Joanne, whom justices for final inquiries Jan. 9 and 13-14, 1304, in the Tower of London never mentioned. Paul Doherty never notifies readers of The Great Crown Jewels Robbery of 1303 for Carroll & Graf Publishers, Sept. 26, 2005, of reasons netting Cecily's imprisonment.

Doherty observes occurrences in the Tower of London Prison as for "principal organizers and malefactors" ("Principales ordinatores et malefactores") of the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid.

Justices John Bakewell, Ralph de Sandwich, Roger de Southcote and Walter of Gloucester put Edelina in the Tower Prison by Edward's second writ, Aug. 14, 1303.

Edelina queued up suspicious associations as mistress of married William Palmer (hanged March 25, 1304, as raid "malefactor"), Fleet Prison Keeper and Westminster Palace deputy Keeper. She received three indictments Jan. 9 and 13-14, 1304: she "advised and helped the burglars. She sheltered William of the Palace and knew of his wickedness." Her relative, John the Cook of Lechesman, staged in 1296 an unsuccessful Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid that sent him to Newgate Prison for high treason.

History turns silent on what transpired for Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid imprisoned female suspects, even for the two sisters that Margaret took out of prison.

Edward I's second wife, Margaret of France, mercifully arranged for releases of sisters Alice and Castanea Barber from London's Newgate Prison; (left to right) obverse (front) and reverse (back) of Margaret's seal as Queen of England, drawn by British illustrator R.B. (Robert Brooke) Utting (Feb. 13, 1817-July 14, 1886), in Charles Boutell's English Heraldry (1867), pages 124 (No. 251: reverse) and 163 (No. 316: obverse): Not in copyright, 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:

Newgate Prison was the fearsome abode of sisters Alice and Castanea Barber, Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid (1303) suspects, until Edward I's second wife, Queen Margaret of France, mercifully arranged for their release; depiction of front of Newgate Prison in Thomas Bayly's Herba Parietis (1650), frontispiece: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Engraving_Of_Newgate_Prison.jpg

Edward I's second wife, Margaret of France, mercifully arranged for releases of sisters Alice and Castanea Barber from London's Newgate Prison; (left to right) obverse (front) and reverse (back) of Margaret's seal as Queen of England, drawn by British illustrator R.B. (Robert Brooke) Utting (Feb. 13, 1817-July 14, 1886), in Charles Boutell's English Heraldry (1867), pages 124 (No. 251: reverse) and 163 (No. 316: obverse): Not in copyright, via Internet Archive:
obverse (front) of Queen Margaret's seal via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/englishheraldry00boutrich#page/n188/mode/1up;
reverse (back) of Queen Margaret's seal via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/englishheraldry00boutrich#page/n149/mode/1up

For further information:

Bayly, Thomas. 1650. Herba Parietis, or the Wall Flower as It Grew out of the Stone-Chamber Belonging to the Metropolitan Prison of London, Called Newgate. London, England: J.G.
Available via University of Michigan EEBO-TCP (Early English Books Online-Text Creation Partnership) @ https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A27117.0001.001?view=toc

Boutell, Charles. 1867. English Heraldry. London, England; New York NY: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/englishheraldry00boutrich

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.

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

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/04/richard-puddlicott-and-westminster.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/mysteries-of-april-may-1303-westminster.html

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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

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_13.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_27.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/edward-is-second-letter-on-westminster.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/09/westminster-abbey-refectory-raid-and.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/edward-is-third-letter-on-westminster.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/appellants-not-involved-in-westminster.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_26.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/queen-of-mercy-to-westminster-abbey.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_9.html

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