Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Female Suspects Left Behind

Summary: What happened, when the king Nov. 10/14, 1303, headed justices to closure, to women who heard about or helped the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid?

Among Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid (1303) female participants not indicted was an unnamed washerwoman who sheltered goldsmith John of Newmarket's takings in her Southwork home; London as viewed across the Thames from Southwark at London Bridge crossing, with heads of executed criminals spiked atop Southwark gatehouse (inserted blue arrow) in detail of 1616 panorama of London by Dutch Golden Age draughtsman Claes Jansz Visscher (1587-June 19, 1652): Public Domain via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Some of the few women perhaps acquainted or assisting with the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid of the Chapter House Crypt April 30-May 3, 1303, avoided imprisonment and indictments and others not.

The historical record bears only an occupation and a residence for the unnamed washerwoman to whose house in Southwark goldsmith John of Newmarket brought burgled treasures. It calls Abbey-raiding monk William de Chalk's mistress "the French lady Roesia de Gisors," but his wife the unnamed sister of Abbey bailiff Richard de Burgh. Bread Street jurors July 3, 1303, at the Bishop of London's Palace described the object of Abbey sacristan Adam de Warfield's desire broker Walter/William Russell's daughter.

Warfield endeavored to entice her with "a brooch and a gold ring from the jewels of the said Treasury so that she might become his friend."

Not one of the named associate or three unnamed associates found themselves among the women whom seven Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid justices forced into prison.

Yet knowing Abbey-raiding Westminster Palace Keeper William Palmer's "wickedness" in burglarizing the king's Cross of Neith and Unicorn Horn to their bed got Edelina into Newgate. Perhaps having Benedictine clerk Richard of Kent as her husband headed Cecily into the Tower of London Prison with "principal organizers and malefactors" in July-August 1303. Perhaps Abbey-raiding Oxford merchant Richard Puddlicott inundating their Dowgate-area house with £2,200 in stolen royal treasures imprisoned Joanna/Joanne, his mistress and Richard Picard the Tailor's daughter.

King Edward I's (June 17, 1239-July 7, 1307) appointed commissioners judged sisters Alice and Castanea Barber Newgate Prison-worthy for sheltering Newmarket, Palmer and Puddlicott in London.

Posterity knows nothing about the quintet other than the justices kept the Barber sisters in Newgate until Queen Margaret's (1279-Feb. 14, 1318) intercession in November 1303.

William Stubbs's (June 21, 1825-April 22, 1901) published editing of 13th-century manuscripts let readers look at Annales Londonienses's ("London Chronicles") Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid-related proceedings. The Chronicles mentioned Palmer, and likely John de Lenton, John de Rippinghale, Newmarket and John of St. Albans, hanging March 25, and Puddlicott Nov. 18, 1304. Associations with Lenton and Newmarket netted the Barber sisters, not Lenton's wife Gillelma or Newmarket's fellow goldsmith Imania la/La Porteresse, prison time until Queen Margaret's intervention.

Commissioners John Bakewell, John de Drogensford, Ralph de Sandwich, Roger de Southcote and Walter of Gloucester observed Lenton the week of his arrest, June 16-23, 1303.

Somebody purloined "six hampers of silver" along with "thirty or more dishes of silver" and "baskets containing drinking cups" during the Westminster Abbey refectory raid in November 1302.

The refectory key queued up among Lenton's possessions before his imprisonment in the Tower with "principal organizers and malefactors" of the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid. It revealed relationships with Abbey-raiding subprior Alexander de Pershore who received papal indulgences in 1298 for all those praying for "good friend" Thomas de Lenton's soul. It never sent Gillelma de Lenton or Pershore's "two ladies, Matilda of Durham and Beatrice of Baldok" in and out of Newgate, Tower or Westminster Prisons.

The London Chronicles totaled ten monks and one clerk incarcerated after Palmer's hanging so justices or Margaret turned female suspects "Ally, ally out" and home "free."

Edelina, daughter of Nicholas (Henry) the Cook and mistress of William Palmer, numbered among Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid (1303) female indictees; her knowledge that William Palmer hid precious takings, the Cross of Neith and a unicorn horn, under his bed sent her to Newgate Prison; the golden, jeweled crown of the Welsh royal dynasty of Gwynedd, known as the Cross of Neith (Welsh Y Groes Naid), contained a piece of the true cross; Edward I added the Cross of Neith to the crown jewel collection in 1283 after defeating the last Prince of Wales, Dafydd ap Gruffydd; depiction of Cross of Neith on heraldic badge of Wales Herald of Arms Extraordinary: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Among Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid (1303) female participants not indicted was an unnamed washerwoman who sheltered goldsmith John of Newmarket's takings in her Southwork home; London as viewed across the Thames from Southwark at London Bridge crossing, with heads of executed criminals spiked atop Southwark gatehouse (inserted blue arrow) in detail of 1616 panorama of London by Dutch Golden Age draughtsman Claes Jansz Visscher (1587-June 19, 1652): Public Domain via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division @ http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004669334/

Edelina, daughter of Nicholas (Henry) the Cook and mistress of William Palmer, numbered among Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid (1303) female indictees; her knowledge that William Palmer hid precious takings, the Cross of Neith and a unicorn horn, under his bed sent her to Newgate Prison; the golden, jeweled crown of the Welsh royal dynasty of Gwynedd, known as the Cross of Neith (Welsh Y Groes Naid), contained a piece of the true cross; Edward I added the Cross of Neith to the crown jewel collection in 1283 after defeating the last Prince of Wales, Dafydd ap Gruffydd; depiction of Cross of Neith on heraldic badge of Wales Herald of Arms Extraordinary: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Badge_of_the_Wales_Herald_Extraordinary.svg

For further information:

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