John ap Hwyel
¶ Johannes ap Howel testis supra iuratus. Respondit requisitus se esse liberum .xl. annorum, et ultra et vivit de labore suo conducticio conducticio sub temporali dominio domini dicti Wilhelmi de Brewes, in quo habet domum et Added later in darker ink. quod non fuit de parentela, vel familia dicti domini Thome predicti nec credit dictum dominum de Brewes fuisse.'va et quia non fuit de parentaela, vel familia domini Thome predicti nec credit dictum dominum de Brewes fuisse' repeated at the top of the next folio. the repetition of this line could be the place holser thing between quires. However it is too long for this really. Also the ‘va’ written in the margin comes next to a cross through the first few words of the phrase which runs to two lines. It is therefore more likely that this was a mistake: someone paused at the bottom of the previous page and got confused. This in turn would suggest that it was being copied into this text from another source, more than just notes too to have got the whole phrase verbatim. Interesting.
vaNew hand, new quire. et quia non fuit de parentaela, uel familia domini Thome predicti nec credit dictum dominum de Brewes fuisse.
¶ Item requisitus si habuerat noticiam dicti Willelmi Cragh, et miraculi quod in eius personam dicitur contigisse. Respondit se nouisse eiusdem Willelmi per xii annos, priusquam idem Willelmus suspensus fuisset, nescit tamen aquibus parentibus fuerit ortus, set fuit oriundus de parochia vocata Lanrede diocesis Menevensis, postmodum dictus Willelmus dominoAdded in neater hand in margin. de Brewes delatus super quibusdam criminibus fuit incarceratas in castro de Swayneseie.
¶ Item dixit quod die lune post instans festum Beati Martini erunt xvi anni, ipse testisTestis re-drawn over an erasure. existens cum centum personis ut estimat in platea ville de Swayneseie prope ecclesiam Sancte Marie post horam none, ut sibi videtar, quia tunc commederat, vidit dictum Willelmum Cragh, suspendi in trabe transuersali furcarum dicte ville, distantium a predicta platea, ut estimat per medium miliare, non tamen fuit nouit qui fuerint illi, qui suspenderunt eum, et vidit eum pendere in dicta trabe per tantum spatium temporis ut estimat, scala subtracta quod homo potuisset iuisse circa quartam partem unius miliarisFinal 's' added in darker ink. et transacto dicto spacio temporis, vidit Trahern ap Hoel, qui erat nobilis, et fuerat ductus ad patibulum cum dicto Willelmo trahi et eleuari cum quadam corda super trabem in qua pendebat dictus Willelmus, et cum dictus Trahern'ern' ending tidied in darker ink, with thin vertical line drawn to separate it from the next word. esset magnus, et ponderosus, et traheret violenter, fracta trabe ceciderunt ambo ad terram, et postmodum unus eorum fuit suspensus in una tibia furcarum, et alter in alia, et post secundam suspensionem, vidit ambos pendere in tibiis dictarum furcarum tanto tempore quod ipse potuisset iuisse, ut estimat per quartam partem unius miliaris et post premissa ipso teste non recedente de platea, et vidente fuerunt depositi de furcis, et dictus Willelmus fuit portatusOriginally 'deportatus' but the initial 'de' have been removed by dots beneath them. ad ecclesiam et cum non potuisset intrare, fuit positus in quadam domo Thome Mathei propinqua ecclesie sancte Marie predicte, et hora vesperarum intrans ipse testis dictam domum, vidit eundem Willelmum iacentem super terram in dicta domo suppinum, et clamide quadam opertum in corpore et in facie, et dicebaturSomething seems to have been erased here between these two words. communiter, et publice ab omnibus quod ante secundam suspensionem fuerat mortuus, et valde gaudebant, quia dictus Willelmus fuerat 't' added in darker ink. frequenter ductor multorum malefactorum, et in crastinum audiuit referri quod Added in much lighter ink. reviverat postquam fuerat mensuratus ad dictam sanctum Thomam, et visitauit eum in dicta domo, et respexit eum dictus Willelmus malo wultu, et habebat linguam dentibus suis perforatum, et de quindecim diebus uix potuit se tenere pedibus suis, et post mensem fuit per dominum, et dominam, dicti castri adductus ad tamulum dicti Sancti Thome in Ecclesia Hereford', et ex tunc dictus Willelmus cessauit malefacere, nec audiuit aliquid de uisione quam dicebatur dictus Willelmus habuisse.
¶ Item requisitus super sex ultimis interrogatoriis, factis dicto Willelmo testi C.xlviii., respondit idem in effectu sicut ipse, et deposuit in Anglico quia nesciebat loqui litteraliter nec Gallicum sicut dixit.
John ap Hywel the witness sworn in above, replied when questioned he was a free man, 40 or more years old, and living from his own hired labour under the temporal lordship of the said lord William de Briouze, in which he has a house; and that he was not related to or from the household of the aforesaid Lord Thomas, nor believed the said lord de Briouze was.
¶ Further they asked if he had the acquaintance of the said William Cragh and the miracle that was said to have occurred in his person. He replied he knew the same William himself for 12 years before William was hanged; yet he did not know from what parents he was born, but he was originally from the parish called Llanrhidian in the diocese of St Davids. After the said lord William de Briouze accused [him] of certain crimes, he was incarcerated in the castle of Swansea.For a contemporary chronicler’s account of the attack, [CLICK HERE].
¶ Further he said that sixteen years ago on the Monday immediately after the feast of blessed Martin, the witness himself was with one hundred people (in his estimate) in the squareIn reality, the market place was more triangular shaped [CLICK HERE] to see the map. in the town of Swansea near the church of St Mary. [It was] after the hour of NonesFor an explanation of the canonical hours, see ‘Introduction’. as it seemed to him, because at that time he had eaten.
He saw the said William Cragh hanged on the cross-beam of the gibbet of the said town half a mile away from the said square (in his estimate) yet he did not know who it was there who hanged him; and, the ladder having been taken away, he saw him hanging on the said beam for such an interval of time that a man would be able to go around a quarter of a mile (in his estimate). And at the end of the said interval of time he saw Trahaearn ap Hywel, who was a noble, and was led to the gibbet with the said William, being hauled up and elevated with a certain rope over the beam on which the said William was hanging. And when the said Trahaearn [who] was big and heavy [was hanged], and was hauled violently, breaking the beam. They both fell to the ground and after a little while one was suspended on one arm of the gallows, and the other on the other. And after the second hanging he saw both hanging from the legs of the said gibbet for such a time that he himself could have walked (in his estimate) for quarter of a mile. And afterwards the witness himself did not withdraw from the square and he saw them being taken off the gibbet, and the said William was carried to the church and when they were not able to enter he was placed in a certain house of Thomas MathewsThe structure of society in many Welsh towns was such that the majority of burgesses tended to be English, hence the apparently English name of this particular burgess. For a discussion of commonly found names, see Beverley-Smith (2007: 142-3).
neighbouring the aforesaid church of St Mary. This is probably an error; it could be scribal, due to the previous recording of John’s position during the hanging, or John’s faulty memory. Given the overwhelming evidence provided by the other witnesses that the church in question was St Johns Chapel, I believe the latter to be the real destination. And at the hour of vespers, entering the said house the witness himself saw the same William lying prostrate on the ground in the said house, head downwards and a certain cloak covering over [his] body and face. And it was said commonly and publically by everyone,A fundamental requirement for the initiation of any inquisitorial or enquiry process called for by the papacy was ‘publica fama’. See Kelly (2013: 8-29) for a full discussion. that before the second hanging he was dead, and they were rejoicing greatly because the said William had been frequently leading many malefactors. And on the next day he heard reported that he was revived after he had been measured to the said St Thomas. And he visited him in the said house, and the said William looked back at him with a bad face; and he had a tongue perforated by his teeth. It is a typical sign of death by hanging for the corpse to have a protruding tongue, with blood exuding from the mouth (Sharma, 2008: 56).The face also swells, with open and protruding eyes, while the tongue is often thrust out and damaged by ‘the convulsive action of the jaws’. The longer it takes to die, the more swollen the face neck, lips eyes and tongue become, because the heart and lungs only slowly shut down, meaning that blood continues to be pumped to the head, but cannot return to the heart due to the effect of the rope on the jugular vein, resulting in a build-up of blood in the face and features (Forbes et al., 1833: 175). And for fifteen days he was hardly able to hold himself on his feet, and after a month he was led to the tomb of the said St Thomas in Hereford Cathedral by the lord and lady of the said castle. And from that time the said William ceased to do mischief,Reformation of character was deemed to be an important part of the miracle process, (Koopmans, 2011). nor did he hear anything about a vision which the said William was said was said to have had.
¶ Further they asked on the six final questions made to the said William (witness 148). He replied, in effect, the same as him, and he testified in English because he did not know how to speak Latin nor French, as he said.
Notes
John ap Hywel the witness sworn in above, replied when questioned he was a free man, 40 or more years old, and living from his own hired labour under the temporal lordship of the said lord William de Briouze, in which he has a house; and that he was not related to or from the household of the aforesaid Lord Thomas, nor believed the said lord de Briouze was.
¶ Further they asked if he had the acquaintance of the said William Cragh and the miracle that was said to have occurred in his person. He replied he knew the same William himself for 12 years before William was hanged; yet he did not know from what parents he was born, but he was originally from the parish called Llanrhidian in the diocese of St Davids. After the said lord William de Briouze accused [him] of certain crimes, he was incarcerated in the castle of Swansea.For a contemporary chronicler’s account of the attack, [CLICK HERE].
¶ Further he said that sixteen years ago on the Monday immediately after the feast of blessed Martin, the witness himself was with one hundred people (in his estimate) in the squareIn reality, the market place was more triangular shaped [CLICK HERE] to see the map. in the town of Swansea near the church of St Mary. [It was] after the hour of NonesFor an explanation of the canonical hours, see ‘Introduction’. as it seemed to him, because at that time he had eaten.
He saw the said William Cragh hanged on the cross-beam of the gibbet of the said town half a mile away from the said square (in his estimate) yet he did not know who it was there who hanged him; and, the ladder having been taken away, he saw him hanging on the said beam for such an interval of time that a man would be able to go around a quarter of a mile (in his estimate). And at the end of the said interval of time he saw Trahaearn ap Hywel, who was a noble, and was led to the gibbet with the said William, being hauled up and elevated with a certain rope over the beam on which the said William was hanging. And when the said Trahaearn [who] was big and heavy [was hanged], and was hauled violently, breaking the beam. They both fell to the ground and after a little while one was suspended on one arm of the gallows, and the other on the other. And after the second hanging he saw both hanging from the legs of the said gibbet for such a time that he himself could have walked (in his estimate) for quarter of a mile. And afterwards the witness himself did not withdraw from the square and he saw them being taken off the gibbet, and the said William was carried to the church and when they were not able to enter he was placed in a certain house of Thomas MathewsThe structure of society in many Welsh towns was such that the majority of burgesses tended to be English, hence the apparently English name of this particular burgess. For a discussion of commonly found names, see Beverley-Smith (2007: 142-3).
neighbouring the aforesaid church of St Mary. This is probably an error; it could be scribal, due to the previous recording of John’s position during the hanging, or John’s faulty memory. Given the overwhelming evidence provided by the other witnesses that the church in question was St Johns Chapel, I believe the latter to be the real destination. And at the hour of vespers, entering the said house the witness himself saw the same William lying prostrate on the ground in the said house, head downwards and a certain cloak covering over [his] body and face. And it was said commonly and publically by everyone,A fundamental requirement for the initiation of any inquisitorial or enquiry process called for by the papacy was ‘publica fama’. See Kelly (2013: 8-29) for a full discussion. that before the second hanging he was dead, and they were rejoicing greatly because the said William had been frequently leading many malefactors. And on the next day he heard reported that he was revived after he had been measured to the said St Thomas. And he visited him in the said house, and the said William looked back at him with a bad face; and he had a tongue perforated by his teeth. It is a typical sign of death by hanging for the corpse to have a protruding tongue, with blood exuding from the mouth (Sharma, 2008: 56).The face also swells, with open and protruding eyes, while the tongue is often thrust out and damaged by ‘the convulsive action of the jaws’. The longer it takes to die, the more swollen the face neck, lips eyes and tongue become, because the heart and lungs only slowly shut down, meaning that blood continues to be pumped to the head, but cannot return to the heart due to the effect of the rope on the jugular vein, resulting in a build-up of blood in the face and features (Forbes et al., 1833: 175). And for fifteen days he was hardly able to hold himself on his feet, and after a month he was led to the tomb of the said St Thomas in Hereford Cathedral by the lord and lady of the said castle. And from that time the said William ceased to do mischief,Reformation of character was deemed to be an important part of the miracle process, (Koopmans, 2011). nor did he hear anything about a vision which the said William was said was said to have had.
¶ Further they asked on the six final questions made to the said William (witness 148). He replied, in effect, the same as him, and he testified in English because he did not know how to speak Latin nor French, as he said.
