Note 210 — Chapter III · SECURITY OF THE ROADS

“Statutes of the Realm,” i. p. 250, text of uncertain date, but probably of the reign of Edward II. All this was classified as “Abuses” by the not very trustworthy author of the “Mirror for Justices” (Andrew Horne?), early fourteenth century, ed. Whittaker and Maitland, Selden Soc., 1895, p. 158. At all events it was the law. According to “Fleta,” lib. i. cap. xxix, at the end of forty days in sanctuary, if the malefactors have not abjured the kingdom, food must be refused to them, and they will no longer be allowed to emigrate. On the road to the port, according to the same, the felon wore a garb which would cause him to be recognized, being “ungirt, un-shod, bare-headed, in his bare shirt, as if he were to be hanged on the gallows, having received a cross in his hands,” “discinctus et discalceatus, capite discooperto, in pura tunica, tanquam in patibulo suspendendus, accepta cruce in manibus.” “Fleta” stated that he must try to cross, till he got into water, not up to the knees, but up to the neck. On the “Abjuratio Regni,” see the capital article, with a complete bibliography of the subject by André Réville, in the “Revue Historique,” Sept. 1892.