Edward, first-born son of the illustrious Edward, King of England and France,
Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester, to all to whom the
present letters shall come,
Greeting.
We have inspected the charter which our very dear father, the aforesaid King,
made to the burgesses of the town of Helston in these words:
[Here follows a recital of the Inspeximus charter of King Edward III.]
Moreover we, considering the aforesaid grants and confirmations to be valid
and agreeable, do grant and confirm them, for us and our heirs, as far as
in us lies, to our beloved burgesses of the said borough and their heirs and
successors for ever, as the said charters reasonably bear witness. Moreover,
because from the serious complaint of the aforesaid burgesses we have heard
that whereas they and their ancestors have held the said borough of Helston
with its appurtenances and certain lands annexed to the same borough and have
been in possession of them from a time to which memory does not run, and that
John of renowned memory, long since King of England, confirmed the said status
of the same burgesses, and Richard, King of Germany and Earl of Cornwall,
whilst confirming in like manner the status of the same in the said borough
and annexed lands, granted and con firmed to them the mills and the water
of the Cober flowing to the same mills, with 33 acres of land in the same
town, they paying therefrom £12 annually to him and his heirs, and granted
to the same burgesses the meadow which is below the town, they paying therefrom
26s. 8d. annually, as is set forth more fully in the above- mentioned charters;
in such sort that they paid twenty marks of annual rent and no more for the
borough and all the other rights aforesaid and have neither rendered anything
more at any time nor in any way been wrongfully called upon to pay more until
by our uncle Lord John of Eltham, of good memory, lately Earl of Cornwall,
stimulated by unfounded suggestions, and his ministers, basing their claim
on an unfavourable suggestion of the same kind, there was imposed on the same
burgesses a demand of another twenty marks beyond the said ancient rent or
farm, to the perpetual destruction of the said borough, and against the form
of its said charters, had the said exaction taken effect: and even though
they have paid no part of the said new demand—as it was unjust—yet
our officials, by reason and pretext of the said wrongful claim made in the
time of our said uncle, from the time when the Lordship of Cornwall came into
our hands, have demanded and still demand from the said burgesses the said
twenty marks thus newly imposed beyond the said ancient rent, and have charged
and continue wrongfully to charge them with the same sum annually; Concerning
which matter they have entreated us that a remedy may be found, lest the said
borough, already so impoverished and ruined that it is not now able to pay
the old rent, be rendered altogether uninhabitable: We, wishing to obtain
fuller information, as far as we can, about the matters set forth above, that
a more seasonable opportunity of yielding to their petition and of doing them
a greater favour may be obtained, specially requested our beloved lords, William
de Shareshull, Richard de Stafford, and John de Wengefeld, knights, justices
of the said Lord our father and King, then sitting at Lostwithiel, by order
of our said father, for the dispatch of various business, to investigate these
matters carefully. And because, on such inquest being at our request made,
under oath, of honest and lawful men in their presence, it was shown that
all the premises were true, we have granted for us and our heirs, as far as
in us lies, that the said burgesses and their successors shall hold hereafter
for ever the above-mentioned borough, with the appurtenances and annexed lands,
the mills with the water of the Cober running to them, the 33 acres of land
and the meadow aforesaid, for the twenty marks a year, which they used to
pay for them of old, to be paid annually as they have been accustomed to pay
for them; and we have excused them altogether, for us and our heirs, the other
twenty marks demanded from them beyond the said ancient rent, as above stated,
and we have entirely remitted and do now waive every wrongful claim or demand
which may be made on them by us, our heirs or our officials, whosoever they
may be, alike for the past and the future. In witness whereof we have drawn
up these our letters patent, furnished with our private seal. These are the
witnesses: Sirs John de Mohun, Lord of Dunster, John de Montacute, Nigel de
Loharyng, our Chamberlain, John de Sully, and Walter de Wodeland, Knights
of our Household, and others. Dated at our Castle of Restormel on the second
day of September in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of our aforesaid father
and King of England and his fifteenth year as King of France.