On August 29, 1283, there was a great wrestling match at
Hockliffe, in Beds, and a huge concourse of people of all sorts were
there to see the fun. The roughs and the "fancy" were present in
great force, and somehow it came to pass that a free fight ensued. I
am sorry to say that the canons of Dunstable were largely represented
upon the occasion. We are left to infer that the representatives were
chiefly the servants of the canons, but I am afraid that some at
least of their masters were there too. In the fight one Simon
Mustard, who appears to have been something like a professional
prize-fighter, "a bully exceeding fierce," says the annalist, got
killed; but thereon ensued much inquiry and much litigation, and
Dunstable and its "religious" had to suffer vexations not a few. In
fairness it should be remembered that these Dunstable people were not
monks but canons--regular or irregular--and those canons, we all
know, would do anything. We protest against being confounded with
canons!
The amusements of monks were more innocent. The garden was always a
great place of resort, and gardening a favourite pastime. We may be
sure there was much lamentation and grumbling at St. Alban's when
Abbot John de Maryns forbade any monk, who from infirmity could only
be carried on a litter, from entering the garden at all.
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