pre-requisite: See my earlier post the fog of genaeology...
Today I learned my 14th c. ancestor, Roger La Zouche, had a grand-nephew (i.e. his brother Eudo's grandson, also named Roger) who committed one of the most notorious crimes in 14th century England when he slayed the powerful nobleman, Roger Bellere. The Ashby Folville Cross (see photo) still marks the site where La Zouche slayed Bellere in 1326.
Eustace Folville was blamed for the murder, but in fact Roger La Zouche had struck the fatal blow against no less a victim than Bellere, the baron of the exchequer, the founder of the chantry chapel at Kirby and the owner of nine estates. The murder of Bellere was a first-rate scandal and a warrant was issued for the immediate arrest of... not La Zouche but the better-known Eustace Folville. Folville was quickly concealed by locals, even as he himself concealed the guilt of La Zouche, a small land owner who ironically had to conceal his concealer.
Eustace Folville was blamed for the murder, but in fact Roger La Zouche had struck the fatal blow against no less a victim than Bellere, the baron of the exchequer, the founder of the chantry chapel at Kirby and the owner of nine estates. The murder of Bellere was a first-rate scandal and a warrant was issued for the immediate arrest of... not La Zouche but the better-known Eustace Folville. Folville was quickly concealed by locals, even as he himself concealed the guilt of La Zouche, a small land owner who ironically had to conceal his concealer.
Likeness to the mythical Robin Hood gains momentum here; the Folville Gang found themselves pursued by the Sheriff of Nottingham. Eustace Folville and his brother took to their roles as fugitive outlaws and graduated to multiple murders, robberies, and kidnappings of nobles for huge ransomes. At one point, the brothers sought refuge among another notorious band of felons, the Cotterel Gang in the Peak District of Derbyshire. Agents of the king pursued them there, unsuccessfully. Written indictments from the period describe Eustace and his brothers as mercenaries acting on behalf of "the ostensibly law-abiding...to commit acts of violence on their behalf." Among the clientelle for the Folville Gang's mercenary services were a priory, an abbey, and on several occasions a wealthy nobleman.
In the decades following the lives of La Zouche and Folville, reports of their valor only swelled. They came to represent, not outlaws, but enforcers of a law more true than the King's own, perhaps more divine than man's law itself. In William Langland's epic poem, Piers Plowman, the "Folvyle lawes" are named among the treasures of God's own grace, an antidote to the assails of the "Antecrist." In this passage, Langland personifies Grace to describes the means of man's salavation through the varied provenance of God.
My very quick translation of the passage:
Says Grace, "before I go, I'll give you
treasure
and weapon to fight the Antecrist when he assails
you."
And gave each man a grace to give unto
himself
So that Idleness would not encumbre him, neither
Envy nor Pride.
To some are given wit and words to win their life's
lode.
[...]
And some are given to ride and recover what was won
unrightfully.
God wished them to win it back by strength of hand,
to fetch it from false men by Folvyles
lawes.
Forthi,' quod Grace, "er I go, I wol gyve yow
tresor,
And wepne to fighte with whan Antecrist yow assailleth.'
And
gaf ech man a grace to gye with hymselven,
That Ydelnesse encombre hym noght, ne Envye ne
Pride:
Divisiones graciarum sunt.
Some [wyes] he yaf wit, with wordes to
shewe--
Wit to wynne hir liflode with, as the world
asketh,
[...]
And some to ryde and to recovere that unrightfully was
wonne:
He wissed hem wynne it ayein thorugh wightnesse of
handes,
And fecchen it fro false men with Folvyles
lawes.
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=cme;cc=cme;view=text;idno=PPlLan;rgn=div1;node=PPlLan%3A20
Stretching across the centuries, another relative of Roger La Zouche would gain his own infamy in the Great Basin of Utah, Isaac Perry Decker. Subject of a future post.
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