Popular Memory and Gender in Medieval England

In the middle of the fourteenth century, two Yorkshiremen had an argument. John de Gertham owed Thomas Chapman some money; he repaid his debt, but then Thomas demanded another 3d. When John refused, the disagreement turned into a public brawl in a local tavern. Thomas ‘pulled many hairs’ from John’s beard, and John retaliated by knocking Thomas to the ground with a chair. Eventually, their friends intervened: the two men bought each other ale, and they drank together until sunrise. But, despite their apparent reconciliation, John remained angry with Thomas for some time. Such a minor dispute between two ordinary men would normally have been long since forgotten, but in 1365 John acted as a witness in a marriage case, and described these events as part of his testimony. Consequently, his memories of this argument, and of the injuries he received, were set down in the records of

Ancient history · Argument (complex analysis · Debt · Middle Ages · Minor (academic · Political science · Witness · Classics · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History