Roger Milne of Farndale
c1295 to c1370
A miller who committed multiple
poaching offences
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The webpage
of Roger
Milne of Farndale includes a chronology and link to sources.
If Roger was say 35 at the time he was outlawed in 1330, he might have
been born in about 1295. He was possibly the son of Peter de Farndale and the brother of Robert, son of Peter, with whom he was
often involved in poaching adventures. He might have died in about 1370.
The 1330s poaching gang
In 1330, Richard Mosyn, of that part of Rossedale which belongs to the
Abbot of S. Mary's (i.e. Rosedale West), William Troten of Spaunton, Roger
del Mulne of Farndale, Robert son of Peter of Rossedale, Walter Blackhous
of Farndale, went on a Monday in January to some unknown place within the
forest and killed a soar and slew a hart with bows and arrows. All are
outlawed. If we are right about his age, he was about sixty five by then.
A hart is a male deer and a soar is a sow or pig.
In 1334 Roger del Mulne of Farndale, together with Robert, son of
Peter of Farndale, Walter Blakhous of Farndale, and Ralph de Heued of Farndale
on Monday after the feast of the Epiphany, came in the forest in an unknown
place with bows and arrows and killed one four year old buck and hunted one
stag and carried away with them the game and thereupon did their will.
It appears they evaded justice since at a hearing at Pickering on
Monday 13 Mar 1335 before Richard de Willoughby and John de Hambury, the
Sheriff was ordered to summon those named to appear this day before the
Justices to satisfy the Earl for their fines for poaching in the forest of
which they were convicted before the Justices by the evidence of the foresters,
venderers and other officers. They did not appear and the Sheriff stated
that they could not be found and are not in his bailiwick and he had no way
of attacking them. He was therefore ordered to seize them and keep them
safely so that he could produce them before the Justices on Monday 15 March
1335. A long list of names follows including Robert filium Simonis de
Farndale, Rogerum de milne de Farndale, Robertum, filium Petri de
Farndale.
Another record of 1335, on the Pleas of the forest of Henry, earl of
Lancaster, of Pikeryng, held at Pickering before the Richard de Wylughby and
John de Hambury, justices itinerant on this occasion assigned to take pleas of
the said forest in Yorkshire also indicates their evasion of justice. A
very long list of names included Robert, son of Simon de Farnedale, Roger
del Milne of Farnedale, Robert, son of Peter de Farndale, Walter Blachose,
regarding whom the sheriff was ordered to cause the aforesaid people to come
before the justices here on this day to make satisfaction to the earl about
their redemption for trespasses of hunting made in this forest, whereof
they are convicted before the said justices by the foresters, verderers and
other ministers. And they have not come.
In 1337 on Pleas of the forest of Henry, earl of Lancaster, of
Pikeryng, held at Pickering before the said Richard de Wylughby
[Willoughby] and John de Hambury, justices itinerant on this occasion
assigned to take pleas of the said forest in Yorkshire another long list of
names was presented including Robert, son of Simon de Farnedale, Roger del
Milne of Farnedale, Robert, son of Peter de Farndale, Walter Blachose, Ralph
del Heued, and William de Ergom [Argam], chaplain, regarding whom the
sheriff is ordered to cause the aforesaid people to come before the justices
here on this day to make satisfaction to the earl about their redemption for
trespasses of hunting made in this forest, whereof they are convicted
before the said justices by the foresters, verderers and other ministers. And
they have not come. This might have been their continued evasion of
justice, or perhaps this followed a further poaching offence.
In 1338 on the Pleas of the forest of Henry, earl of Lancaster, of
Pikeryng, held at Pickering before the said Richard de Wylughby and John
de Hambury, justices itinerant on this occasion assigned to take pleas of the
said forest in Yorkshire, another long list of names included Robert, son
of Simon de Farnedale, Roger del Milne of Farnedale, Robert, son of Peter de
Farndale, Walter Blachose, Ralph del Heued, and William de Ergom, chaplain, regarding
whom once again the sheriff is ordered to cause the aforesaid people to be
exacted from county to county, until, etc, they are outlawed, if they do
appear. And if they do appear, he is then to take them, in such a way that
he has their bodies here at this day to make satisfaction to the earl about
their redemption for trespasses of hunting whereof they are convicted
before the said justices by the foresters, verderers and other ministers.
This suggests an order to locate the gang who had perhaps by then been escaping
evasion for several years.
Clearly efforts were made to apprehend Robert, son of Simon of Farndale,
Roger the miller of Farndale, Robert son of Peter of Farndale, Walter
Blackhaus, Ralph Heved and apparently even the chaplain of Ergom in 1335 and
1337 and in 1338 they were outlawed with orders that they be apprehended and
brought before the forest officers if found.
Ergom seems to be a reference to the ancient village of Argham, 6
kilometres west of Bridlington, or Arram near Hornsea, both near the coast.
So it is not obvious why he was part of the grang.
The assumption is that Robert, son of Peter de Farndale, was the brother of Roger the miller
and cousin of Robert, son of Simon de the Miller of Farndale. Although they appear in a long list
of other names, this seems to have been a consistent gang, who seem to have
hunted together regularly during the 1330s.
William Blackhous was involved in another incident in 1366 which may have
involved Roger milne of Farndale.
A poor miller perhaps
We know that Simon de the Miller of Farndale was a miller in Farndale who seems
to have perhaps about thirty years older than Roger. We also know that there
were two mills in Farndale. So perhaps, Roger was the second miller of
Farndale. The only Roger listed in the 1301 subsidy was Rogero Bernard who paid 21d tax, but Roger the miller seems to have
been from a later generation. Simon was the wealthiest tenant in Farndale in
1301. Perhaps Roger was the miller of a secondary watermill, with less wealth,
and driven to supplement by poaching. Perhaps he was a miller for a short
period, say from about 1320 to 1334 when he seems to have started his poaching
career, continuing to be referred to as Roger the miller of Farndale, but at
large and on the run from the law, seemingly hiding outside the county.
Perhaps Roger the miller became an
outlawed vagrant, who might have poached and lived in the forest, escaping
justice. If so, he seems to have been something of a Robin Hood character, though we can’t tell
whether he was a noble rogue or a violent criminal.
|
How does
Roger Milne de Farndale relate to the modern family? It is not
possible to be accurate about the early family tree,
before the recording of births, marriages and deaths in parish records, but
we do have a lot of medieval material including important clues on
relationships between individuals. The matrix of the family before about 1550
is the most probable structure based on the available evidence. If it is
accurate, Roger Milne de Farndale, was related to the thirteenth century
ancestors of the modern Farndale family, but not on the direct line of later
Farndales. |
or
Go Straight to Act 7 –
Poachers of Pickering Forest