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Showing posts from October, 2017

Three Stories from Norwich cathedral: one true, one legend (sort of) and one fiction

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Story Number 1: True: The Riots of 1272 Some of the monks were put to death by the rioters. Every year in this period of history, a fair was held in Tombland on Trinity Sunday at which the prior had a given right to impose tolls on any sales. On 12th June 1272 a squabble broke out (almost definitely over these resented tolls) and at least one citizen was killed. This lead to an inquest which resulted in the city's coroner issuing warrants for some of the prior's men, 'wherever they be found.' The significance of this was that it implied they could be arrested within the grounds of the priory. This was an affront to the prior's jurisdiction and his inflated response was to excommunicated the citizens, shut the gates to the Close and send for mercenaries from Yarmouth with the intention that they would help defend the walls of the Close. Over the next few weeks men from the priory increased tensions by carrying out a raid on a local tavern and a house and firing f