Robert de Farndale
c1296 to c1360
A gang member of the 1330s
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The webpage
of Robert
de Farndale includes a chronology and link to sources.
If Roger was say 34 at the time he
was outlawed in 1330, he might have been born in about 1296. We know he was the
son of Peter de Farndale and was probably the brother of Roger milne of Farndale, with whom he was often involved in poaching adventures. He might have
died in about 1360.
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.
Fugitive
gangmember
Robert seems
to have 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 Robert 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 Robert de Farndale, was related to the thirteenth century ancestors
of the modern Farndale family, but not on the direct line of ancestry of
later Farndales. |
or
Go Straight to Act 7 –
Poachers of Pickering Forest