early 1330s. The Folvilles were, on occasion, employed by apparently
respectable people, including churchmen and monks, as mercenaries. In 1331
they were employed by monks from Sempringham Priory and Haverholm
Abbey to destroy a rival’s water mill, for a fee of £20. Like most of the
Folvilles, the Coterels never faced trial for their crimes. In fact, later they
gained important civil and military positions. The Coterels were a wealthy
family; the three brothers who founded the gang were supported by numerous
religious foundations and local lords. They preyed upon travellers, demanding
ransoms, and undertook commissions to attack churches and manors. They
engaged in robbery, extortion, kidnapping and murder, and pillaged widely,
including the estates of the Earl of Lancaster. Efforts to arrest James Coterel
failed because he was tipped off in advance by one of his clients, the Prior of
Lenton. Their reputation grew to such a level that all they had to do was to
send a victim a letter demanding money and he would pay up.
Other knights were involved in similar forms of crime, and their thefts were
on a much greater scale than those of the lower classes. The lords Simon de
Montecute and Ulfrid de Beauchamp carried off a hundred trees from the
woods of the abbot of Glastonbury, killing one of his men in the process. No
one was safe–Sir Henry Beaumont, travelling to Durham with his brother the
bishop and two cardinals, was abducted and the cardinals were robbed by a
gang of gentry. Sir Henry and his brother were taken to the castle at Mitford,
seat of his kidnapper, Sir Gilbert de Middleton, where they were kept until a
ransom was paid. In other cases, people were abducted and forced to sign
charters handing over land and estates.
A favourite way for these knights to avoid justice was to volunteer to serve
in royal armies. Members of the Folville and Coterel gangs served in the
king’s wars in Scotland, as did Simon de Montecute.^6
Witchcraft was not in itself a crime in England, unless there was a death
brought about by spells or sorcery. However, some unusual burials may
represent a local reaction to witches. The body of a teenage girl found in Hoo,
Kent had been decapitated, with the head laid beside the rest of the skeleton.
The burial was in unconsecrated ground, under a holly bush. The site director
believes that the decapitation indicates that this girl may have been seen as a
witch, although she may have committed some other type of crime, or had
committed suicide.^7
An even more macabre burial was found in Piombino, Italy dating from the
fourteenth century. The cemetery in which this body was found may have
been dedicated to witches or criminal women. The body of a twentyfive to
thirtyyearold woman was found to have seven nails driven through her jaw
MEDIEVAL CRIME