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Reference:CP.H.5348
Repository:Borthwick Institute GB 193
Court:undefined
Case:Tithe (hay, rye, oats, mixed corn, cattle, milk, sheep, wool,)
Details:1 Pieces;
No deposition;
Has libel;
No sentence
Outcome:
Date:
1639
—
1639
This section provides information about the participants in
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Participant:Alice
Elland [Eland; Elande]
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information on this field, please see the section on
places below.
Notes:
This field was used by the project team to provide any
significant additional information about the participant,
and sometimes to highlight unusual or problematic features
about the cause.
Participant:John
Mason
[Mason;
Maison]
Role:plaintiff
Details:male; gentleman
Location:Middleton
(YorkshireNorthRiding)
Place(s):Middleton (Middleton, Midleton)
: ecclesiastical parish
Notes:farmer of tithes in Middleton
Participant:Edward
Chamberlain
[Chamberlaine]
Role:defendant
Details:male
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under their data. Locations which featured in the
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individual appear in the 'Associated Places' section.
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sections of the record. To understand how locations
are presented, it is necessary to bear in mind that
place-names have been standardized to account for historic
variations in language and spelling.
For each place, the project team recorded a modern version
of the place-name. Listed after this in brackets is the
original spelling of that name (and any noted variations
in spelling), as given in the documents for that cause.
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it was, such as a field, town or parish; otherwise this
was left as 'undefined'. Note that if a place is listed
as a 'field name', this may indicate either a specific
field or group of fields.
The team then assigned each place to a standardized,
large, modern location: normally a parish, town, city
or county. These standard locations appear in
bold type in the database. Each
place listed after a standard location indicates that
it is either within that location or identical to it.
An example might be:
Location:Whitby
(YorkshireNorthRiding)
Place Names:Whitby (Whitbie, Whiteby):
ecclesiastical parish
Robin Hood's Bay (Robin Hood Bay): township
In this example, the project team identified two places
in the cause associated with the modern, standardized
place of Whitby. These were the parish
of Whitby (spelt Whitbie and Whiteby in the original
documents) and Robin Hood's Bay (spelt Robin Hood
Bay in the original documents), a township within
Whitby.
Location:Westminster (Westmonasterin)
: city
John Mason v Edward Chamberlaine, CP H5348 - abstract
This four page Cause Paper is almost entirely written in Latin. It has been transcribed and translated into English.
The preamble was not fully translated but it basically sets out that William Easdale, a deputy commissar of the church at York, is appointed to hear the dispute between John Mason, gent and Edward Chamberlain.
Item 1 confirms Mason was proprietor of the tithes at Middleton, near Pickering, for five years.
Items 2 & 3 state that Chamberlain received 5 wagon loads of hay in 1639 and he had 200 acres of mixed grain, 100 acres of rye & 100 acres of oats.
Items 4 & 5 state that Chamberlain received 10 cows and calves, and weekly had 100 curds. He also had 300 sheep which yielded 200 lambs and 300 fleeces.
Item 6 sets out, partly in English, the appropriate clause from a 1548/50 Act of Parliament which still requires tithes to be paid if they have been missed for some reason.
Item 7 sets out the values of items 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the locality of Middleton.
Item 8 confirms that Chamberlain has not paid anything and, to date, has refused to pay.
Items 9 & 10 confirm that Chamberlain knows the law and what is public knowledge.
Item 11 confirms that the tithes were not set aside and that John Mason is making a straightforward claim to obtain judgement for payment. The final judgement is not stated.
John Mason was born in Norton, near Malton in 1597/8. His father died in 1600 and his mother remarried to William Simpson in 1602. John Mason inherited a number of leasehold properties from his father and several were sold when he was aged 21. Mason became a merchant in York but continued to have property dealings. In 1635/6 he acquired the rectory at Middleton, near Pickering, as well as tithes in the Middleton area and on the Yorkshire Moors. Tithes were payments in kind (e.g. crops, milk, wool, etc) comprising an agreed proportion of the yearly profits from farming made by parishioners for the support of the parish church and its clergy. Tithes were payable on all things arising from the ground (grain, wood, vegetables) i.e predial tithes, all things nourished by the ground (cattle, sheep) i.e mixed tithes, and produce of man’s labour (profits from mills, fishing) i.e personal tithes. Corn, grain, hay were ‘great’ tithes and others were ‘small’ tithes. It was common for great tithes to be payable to the rector. Following dissolution of the monasteries many rectoral tithes passed into lay ownership and were the personal property of the new owners or lay impropriators.
In August 1637, the church authorities brought Mason before their court for not repairing the church at Middleton. Mason promised to carry out repairs and, as this would be a sizeable expense, it spurred him on to gain an increase in his tithe income (and increase the value of his tithe holdings which could then be sold off at a profit at a future date). In 1639, Mason commenced Exchequer Court proceedings in London against James Swales & others who had not paid their tithes. The result of that court case has not yet been found. Two years later Mason commenced an action against Chamberlain as described in the Cause Paper below.
In 1640 Mason had given a £400 bond effectively guaranteeing that his mother would properly execute the Will of Ursula Simpson, a relative. However, execution of the Will was disputed by his nephew, Thomas Simpson. Simpson doggedly pursued Mason through the courts (and pursued Mason’s sons after Mason’s death) for the amount of the bond. Eventually, Simpson caused Mason to be imprisoned in York Castle. Mason died there in 1665 having been a prisoner for 4 years. Prior to imprisonment Mason set up a trust which contained his assets, including the tithes. The trust was held and managed by solicitors. As the assets were in trust, Simpson could not force their sale to get his hands on the money. A number of tithes were sold during Mason’s imprisonment in order to pay for his food as well as his prison accommodation. As far as is known, Simpson never received a penny.
