Henry Skinner
Henricus Pelliparius testis supra iuratus. Respondit requisitus Added in a neater hand. se esse liberum xxxiiii annorum et habere possessiones de quarum prouentibus vivit in villa de Swaynseye sub temporali domino domini Willelmi de Brewes quod non audiuit fuisse de parentela dicti domini Thome nec ipse testis est nec fuit de eius familia sicut dixit.
¶ Item requisitus ut narrauit si habuerit noticiam predicti Willelmi Cragh et si quid sciebat de miraculo quod in eius personam dicitur contigisse dixitAdded in the same neater hand. quod non habuerat eius noticiam ante diem inqua fuit suspensus idem Willelmus, que fuit dies lune post instans festum Beati Martini erunt sexdecim anni elapsi et illa die vidit eum cito post meridiem, ut arbitratur prope furcas castri de Sweyneseye propinquas ipsi castro per duos tractus directos bone baliste, et existens ipse testis circa pedem furcarum vidit dictum WillelmumAdded in the same neater hand. Cragh per David Assa et quosdam alios de cognatione ipsius Willelmi, de quorum nominibus non recordatur suspendi in trabe transuersali dcarum furcarum, cum quadam corda, sed non euertit ad quam partem colli ipsius Willelmi applicaretur nodus cursilis dicte corde, et cum esset suspensus fuit scala subtracta a pedibus eius, et vidit dictum Willelmum post scale amocionemAdded in the same neater hand. admoniconi per inferiores meatus corporis sui emittere superfluitates nature, quas audiuit esse signum mortis in suspensis. Et cum dictus Willelmus ab ipso teste et ab aliis astantibus reputaretur esse mortuus, post aliquod spacium in quo spacio existimat hominem posse iuisse communi gressu quartam partem unius miliaris, voluerunt suspendere in eadem trabe transuersali Trahen ap Howel, et non ascendit per scalam sicut fecerat predictus Willelmus, sed corda cum nodo cusili, apposita ad eius collum dum erat in terra subtus trabem proiecto alio capite corde super et ultra trabem, volebant carnifices ad illud officium deputati, ipsum trahere sursum cum dicta corda, et quia dicta trabs intermedia erat debilis, et dictus Traher magnus et ponderosus priusquam elevassent eum trahere volentes a terra fuit dicta trabs transversalis fracta circa medium, et dictus Willelmus Cragh cecidit ad terram mortuus ut'ut' has been written over the top of the sign for 'et' which has been crossed out. ipsi testi et aliis astantibus fuit visum, et postmodum unus ex eis fuit suspensus in una tibia furcarum et alius in alia, et post dictam secundam suspensionem, ipse testis stetit per tantum spacium prope furcas, quod ipse potuisset cucurrisse per unum miliare, et eis relictis in furcis suspensis et mortuis recessit - - - -
Item requisitus qui fuerunt in prima et secunda suspensione dictorum Willelmi et Traher presentes.Added in the same neater hand. Respondit quod Johannes de Bergham testis proximus examinatus, qui equitauit post secundam suspensionem ad castrum aliis pluribus armatis ibi relictis et Henricus Scurlage.
¶ Item dixit quod ex tunc de quuidecim diebus non vidit dictum Willelmum Cragh. Set ex tunc vidit eum viuum et ad huc vivit, et est ille Willelmus Cragh supra cum ipso teste iurato, ut dixit. Sed audiuit publice et communiter referri in dicta villa, quod mensuratus dictus Willelmus per dominam dicti castri ad sanctum Thomam de Cantelupo miraculose resuscitatus fuerat, et dictus Willelmus narrauit ipsi testi, dum venirent ad ferendum testimonium super negotio isto, quod habuerat unam Added in darker ink. visionem quod quidam episcopus debebat liberare ipsum.
¶ Item requisitus super sex ultimis interrogatories, factis dicto Willelmo Cragh teste C.xlviii. Respondit idem in effectum sicutWord retraced in darker ink. ipse, et deposuit in AnglicoAgain, word retraced in darker ink. quia nesciebat Gallicum loqui literaliterThe word order has been changed in the manuscript. sicut dixit.
Acta in dicta Capella Sancte Katerine die octaua mensis Nouembris, presentibus fratribus Johanne et Waltero de ordine minorum predictis et nobis . . . . . notariis huius processus.
Henry Skinner, the witness sworn in above, replied when asked that he was a free man of 34 years of age and had property from which he was able to live in the town of Swansea under the temporal lordship of lord William de Briouze that he had not heard that he was from the family of the said Thomas nor is the witness himself, nor was he from his household as he said.
¶ Further they asked if he had the acquaintance of the aforesaid William Cragh and if knew anything about the miracle that was said to have occurred in his person. He said that he did not have his acquaintance before the day on which the same William was hanged, and it was the Monday immediately after the feast of the blessed Martin, 16 years ago. And on that day he saw him soon after midday, [as] he observed, near the gallows of the castle of Swansea neighbouring the castle itself by two good direct shots of a crossbow. And the witness himself being around the foot of the gallows,It was common for people to gather round to witness the spectacle of a public execution; it was intended as a public display and warning
(Merback, 1999: 18).
he saw the said William Cragh [hanged] by Dafydd Asser and certain other kinsmen of William himself, concerning whose names he could not remember. He was hanged on the cross-beam of the gallows, with a certain rope, but he did not notice on what part of the neck of William himself it might have been in contact with. And when he had been hanged, the ladder was taken away from his feet, and he saw the said William, after the removal of the ladder, emit through the lower passages of his body the natural wastes, which he had heard was a sign of death in hanged men.Many of the witnesses corroborate this. {CLICK HERE}. It was a natural consequence of being hanged; for medical opinions on the subject, see Sharma (2008: 56) and Forbes et al. (1833: 176). And when the said William was thought dead by the witness himself and by those standing nearby, (after such a time in which time he estimated a man would be able to walk at a common pace quarter of one mile,) they wanted to hang Trahaearn ap Hywel on the same cross-beam. And he did not ascend by a ladder as the aforesaid William had done, but [was pulled up] by placing a rope with a running knot around his neck while he was on the ground underneath the beam, throwing the other end over and onto the other side of the beam. The executioners wanting to do their deputised duty [threw] the said rope over the high beam itself. And because the said beam was weak in the middle and the said Trahaearn was big and heavy, before they had lifted him - hauling him violently from the ground - the said cross-beam broke around the middle. And, as it seemed to the witness himself and others standing nearby, the said William Cragh fell to the ground dead. And after a while one of them was hanged on one leg of the gallows and the other on the other; and after the said second hanging the witness himself remained near the gibbet for such a time interval that he himself could have run for one mile. And leaving them behind hanging and dead on the gallows, he withdrew.
Further they asked who was present at the first and second hanging of the said William and Trahaearn. He replied John of Baggeham,Manuscript gives ‘Bergham’. the witness examined previously, who rode after the second hanging to the castle, leaving many other armed men and Henry Scurlage behind there.
¶ Further he said that from that time he did not see the said William Cragh for 15 days. But from that time he saw him alive and to this point living, and he is that William Cragh sworn in above with the witness himself, as he said. But he heard publically and commonly reported in the said townA 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 by the measuring of the said William by the lady of the said castle to St Thomas of Cantilupe he had been miraculously rescusitated. And the said William told the witness himself while he was coming to bear witness to this business, that he had had a vision that a certain bishop gave himself his freedom.
¶ Further they asked on the last six questions put to the said William Cragh (witness 148). He replied in effect the same as him, and testified in English because he could not speak Latin or French, as he said.
Conducted in the said Chapel of St Katherine on the eighth day of the month of November, in the presence of the aforesaid brothers John and Walter of the Minor order as said before and us notaries of this process.
Notes
Henry Skinner, the witness sworn in above, replied when asked that he was a free man of 34 years of age and had property from which he was able to live in the town of Swansea under the temporal lordship of lord William de Briouze that he had not heard that he was from the family of the said Thomas nor is the witness himself, nor was he from his household as he said.
¶ Further they asked if he had the acquaintance of the aforesaid William Cragh and if knew anything about the miracle that was said to have occurred in his person. He said that he did not have his acquaintance before the day on which the same William was hanged, and it was the Monday immediately after the feast of the blessed Martin, 16 years ago. And on that day he saw him soon after midday, [as] he observed, near the gallows of the castle of Swansea neighbouring the castle itself by two good direct shots of a crossbow. And the witness himself being around the foot of the gallows,It was common for people to gather round to witness the spectacle of a public execution; it was intended as a public display and warning
(Merback, 1999: 18).
he saw the said William Cragh [hanged] by Dafydd Asser and certain other kinsmen of William himself, concerning whose names he could not remember. He was hanged on the cross-beam of the gallows, with a certain rope, but he did not notice on what part of the neck of William himself it might have been in contact with. And when he had been hanged, the ladder was taken away from his feet, and he saw the said William, after the removal of the ladder, emit through the lower passages of his body the natural wastes, which he had heard was a sign of death in hanged men.Many of the witnesses corroborate this. {CLICK HERE}. It was a natural consequence of being hanged; for medical opinions on the subject, see Sharma (2008: 56) and Forbes et al. (1833: 176). And when the said William was thought dead by the witness himself and by those standing nearby, (after such a time in which time he estimated a man would be able to walk at a common pace quarter of one mile,) they wanted to hang Trahaearn ap Hywel on the same cross-beam. And he did not ascend by a ladder as the aforesaid William had done, but [was pulled up] by placing a rope with a running knot around his neck while he was on the ground underneath the beam, throwing the other end over and onto the other side of the beam. The executioners wanting to do their deputised duty [threw] the said rope over the high beam itself. And because the said beam was weak in the middle and the said Trahaearn was big and heavy, before they had lifted him - hauling him violently from the ground - the said cross-beam broke around the middle. And, as it seemed to the witness himself and others standing nearby, the said William Cragh fell to the ground dead. And after a while one of them was hanged on one leg of the gallows and the other on the other; and after the said second hanging the witness himself remained near the gibbet for such a time interval that he himself could have run for one mile. And leaving them behind hanging and dead on the gallows, he withdrew.
Further they asked who was present at the first and second hanging of the said William and Trahaearn. He replied John of Baggeham,Manuscript gives ‘Bergham’. the witness examined previously, who rode after the second hanging to the castle, leaving many other armed men and Henry Scurlage behind there.
¶ Further he said that from that time he did not see the said William Cragh for 15 days. But from that time he saw him alive and to this point living, and he is that William Cragh sworn in above with the witness himself, as he said. But he heard publically and commonly reported in the said townA 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 by the measuring of the said William by the lady of the said castle to St Thomas of Cantilupe he had been miraculously rescusitated. And the said William told the witness himself while he was coming to bear witness to this business, that he had had a vision that a certain bishop gave himself his freedom.
¶ Further they asked on the last six questions put to the said William Cragh (witness 148). He replied in effect the same as him, and testified in English because he could not speak Latin or French, as he said.
Conducted in the said Chapel of St Katherine on the eighth day of the month of November, in the presence of the aforesaid brothers John and Walter of the Minor order as said before and us notaries of this process.
