His father, however, was still a
villein, liable to all the villein services, and _belonging_ to
the manor and the lord, he and all his offspring. Young Ralph did not
like it, and at last, getting the money together somehow, he bought
his father's freedom, and, observe, with his freedom the freedom of
all his father's children too, and the price he paid was twenty
marks. [Footnote: N.B.--A man could not buy his own freedom,
Merewether's "Boroughs," i. 350. Compare too Littleton on "Tenures,"
p 65, 66.] That sounds a ridiculously small sum, but I feel pretty
sure that six hundred years ago twenty marks would be almost as
difficult for a penniless young chaplain to get together as L500 for
a penniless young curate to amass now. Of the younger Ralph, who
bought his father's freedom, I know little more; but, less than one
hundred and fifty years after the elder man received his liberty, a
lineal descendant of his became lord of the manor of Rougham, and,
though he had no son to carry on his name, he had a daughter who
married a learned judge, Sir William Yelverton, Knight of the Bath,
whose monument you may still see at Rougham Church, and from whom
were descended the Yelvertons, Earls of Sussex, and the present Lord
Avonmore, who is a scion of the same stock.
When Ralph Red bought his father's freedom of William le Butler,
William gave him an acknowledgment for the money, and a written
certificate of the transaction, but he did not sign his name.
Pages:
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75