His Solution to a Neighbour Dispute? Throw Rocks at the House.
He threw stones at his neighbour's door.
In the middle of the night.
Then his neighbour raised the hue and cry.
It's 1249, in Ogbourne, Wiltshire.
A man identified in the court record as Robert Carter's son went to the house of Peter Burgess after dark.
And started throwing stones at his door.
Peter responded by raising the hue β the medieval public alarm that called on neighbours to come and help pursue an offender.
The court record tells us:
βIt was presented that Robert Carter's son by night invaded the house of Peter Burgess and in felony threw stones at his door so that the said Peter raised the hue. Therefore let the said Robert be committed to prison. Afterwards he made fine with 2s.β
Robert was ordered to be committed to prison.
Then he made a fine of two shillings.
And that's where the record leaves us.
But why was he throwing stones?
We have absolutely no idea.
The court doesn't tell us what had happened between Robert and Peter beforehand.
We don't know whether there had been an argument.
We don't know whether Robert had been drinking.
We don't know whether Peter had done something to annoy him.
We don't even know whether the stones actually hit the house, although the record certainly makes it clear that Peter thought the incident serious enough to raise the hue.
All we have is the aftermath.
Robert went to Peter's house at night.
He threw stones at the door.
Peter raised the alarm.
Robert ended up before the court.
And two shillings later, presumably, everyone went home.
And that is the brilliant thing about court records.
They don't give us a neat story with a beginning, middle and satisfying explanation.
Sometimes they give us a tiny glimpse of something that happened to two people nearly 800 years ago.
We know what Robert did.
We know what Peter did.
We know what the court decided.
But the argument that started it all has disappeared.
Which leaves us with one extremely important unanswered question:
Peter, what did you do?
Sources
- Manor Court of the Abbey of Bec, Ogbourne (Wiltshire), Whitsun Week 1249. Translated manor court roll recording the prosecution of Robert Carter's son for attacking the house of Peter Burgess and the raising of the hue.