Action for debt against
Jonson
taken by Robert Browne
, January 1600 , in the records
for the Court of
the Queen
's Bench , Hilary Term 1600. The Marshalsea, where
Jonson
was incarcerated, was a prison on the Bankside, one of five in the immediate area
of Southwark. The document
occupies the lower half of the verso side of membrane mlxxv.
Eugene Giddens
[membrane mlxxv, item d]
london
memorandum quod alias scilicet
Termino sancti michaelis vltimo
preterito coram domina Regina apud Westemonasterium
venit
Rob
ertus Browne de
parochia Sancti Salvatoris in Southwarke in
Comitatu
Surrey generosus alias
dictus Robartus Browne of the parish of S Saviours
in Southwarke in the county of Surrey Gent per
Willelmum langhorne Attornatum suum
et pro tulit hic in Curiadicte
domine Regine tunc ibidem
quandam billam suam versus Beniaminum
Iohnson Civem & Bricklayer londonii alias
dictum Beniaminum Iohnson Citizen
and Bricklayer of london in
Custodia Marrescalli &c de
placito debiti et sunt plegii de
prosequendo scilicet Iohannis Doo
& Ricardus Roo que quidem billa
sequitur in hec verba londonii
Robertus Browne de
parochia Sancti Salvatoris in Southwarke in
Comitatu Surrey generosus
alias dictus
Robartus Browne of the
parish of S Saviours in Southwarke in the
County of Surrey Gent queritur de Beniamino Iohnson
Civem& Bricklayer londonii
alias dictum Beniaminum
Iohnson Citizen and Bricklayer of london
in Custodia Marrescalli Marescalie
domine Regine coram ipsa
Regina existentemde
placito quod reddat ei decem libras
legalis monete Anglie quas ei debet & iniuste
detinet pro eo videlicet quod cum
predictus Beniaminus septimo die
Aprilis Anno regni domine
Elizabeth
nunc Regine Anglie quadragesimo primo apud
londonii videlicet in par ochia
beate marie de Arcubus in Warda de Cheape londonii quandam billam suam
obligatoriam sigillo ips ius Beniamini sigillato
Curiaque dicte
domine Regine nunc
ostensamcuius dataest eisdem die &
Anno cognovit se debere prefato
Roberto predictas
decem libras solvendas eidem Roberto
superfestum diem Pentecoste alias
dicti Whitsunday
proximum venientem post
datum bille predicte
Et idem Robertus dicit quod festum
dies Pentecoste alias dictiWhitsunday
pro ximum venientempost
datum bille predicte
contingebat supervicesimum septimum diem
Maii Anno quadragesimo primo supradicto
predictus tamen Beniaminus licet
sepius postea requisit &c predictas
decem libras prefato Roberto nondum soluit Sed illi
adhuc usque soluere omnino
contradixit et adhuc contradicit ad
dampnum ipsius Roberti quinque librarum. Et inde
producit sectam&c Et modo ad
hunc diem scilicet diem mercurij proximum
post Octavam Sancti Hillarij
isto eodem Termino usque quem diem
predictus Beniaminus
habuit licenciam ad billam
predictam
interloquendam Et tunc ad
respondendum &c coram domina Regina apud Westmonasterium
veniunt tam
predictus Robertus
Browne
per Attornatum suum
predictum quam
predictus Beniaminus
per Robertum Whithand Attornatum
suum Et idem Robertus Browne
petit quod
predictus Beniaminus ad
narracionem suam
predictam respondet
Superquo predictus
Attornatus predicti
Beniamini dicit quod ipse non est
informatus pereundem
Beniaminum magistrum
suum de aliquo responsione eidem
Roberto Browne in
premissis dando nec aliquid aliud inde
dicit in barram siue proclamacionem accionis
predicti Roberti Browne
predicte perquod
idem Robertus Browne
remanet versus
prefatum Beniaminum inde
indefensum &c- Ergo
Consideratum est quod
predictus Robertus Browne
recuperet prefatum
Beniaminum debitum suum
predictum necnon vigintis solidos
pro dampnis suis que sustinuit tam accione
detencionis debiti illius quam
pro misis & Custagiis suis
per ipsum circa sectam suam in hac
parte appo sitis
eidem Roberto Browne ex assensu suo per Curiam
dicte domine Regine hic
adiudicatis Et
predictus Beniaminus in
misericordia &c.
Misericordia
exoneratur
debitum & dampnum in toto-xjli
[Trans.:
London
Memorandum that previously that is to say in Michaelmas term last past
before the lady queen at
Westminster
came Robert
Browne of the parish of St Saviour’s in
Southwark in the county of Surrey gentleman otherwise
called Robart Browne of the parish of St
Saviours in Southwark in the county of Surrey gentleman
by William Langhorne his attorney and proffered here in
the court of the said lady queen then there a certain bill of his
against Benjamin Johnson citizen and bricklayer of
London
otherwise called Benjamin Johnson citizen and
bricklayer of
London
in the custody of the Marshal etc. of a plea of
debt and there are pledges to prosecute that is to say John
Doo and Richard Roo the which bill follows in
these words
London
Robert Browne of the parish of St
Saviours in Southwark in the county of Surrey gentleman
otherwise called Robart Browne of the
parish of St Saviours in Southwark in the county of Surrey gentleman complains of
Benjamin Johnson
citizen and bricklayer of
London
otherwise called Benjamin Johnson citizen and
bricklayer of
London
in the custody of the Marshal of the Marshalsea of the lady queen being before the
queen
herself of a plea that he render to him ten pounds of lawful money of
England
which he owes him and unjustly detains from him that is to say that
whereas the aforesaid Benjamin on the seventh day of
April in the forty-first year of the reign of the lady
Elizabeth
now queen of
England
at
London
that is to say in the parish of St Mary
-le-Bow [Literally St
Mary
of the Arches (commonly called St Mary
-le-Bow)] in the ward of Cheap in
London
by his certain bill obligatory sealed with the same Benjamin’s seal and which is now
shown to the court of the said lady queen the date of which is the same day and year
acknowledged himself to be indebted to the aforementioned Robert in the aforesaid
ten pounds to be paid to the same Robert upon the feast day of Pentecost otherwise
called
Whitsunday next coming after the date of the aforesaid bill And the same Robert says
that the feast day of Pentecost otherwise
called Whitsunday next coming after the date of the aforesaid bill fell upon the
twenty-seventh day of May in the aforesaid
forty-first year however the aforesaid Benjamin although
often thereafter asked etc. has not yet paid the aforesaid ten pounds to the
aforementioned Robert but he always until now absolutely
refused and now refuses to the damage of the same Robert
of five pounds And thereof he produces suit etc. And now at this day that is to
say Wednesday next after the octave of St Hilary that
same term until which day the aforesaid Benjamin had
licence to the aforesaid bill to imparl And then to answer etc. before the lady
queen at
Westminster
there come both the aforesaid Robert Browne
by his attorney aforesaid and the aforesaid Benjamin by Robert Whithand his attorney
and
the same Robert Browne
asks that the aforesaid Benjamin respond to his
aforesaid count upon which the aforesaid attorney of the aforesaid Benjamin says that
he is not informed by the same Benjamin his master of any answer to the same Robert
Browne
in the matter nor says anything else thereupon in bar or proclamation of
the aforesaid action of the aforesaid Robert
Browne by which the same Robert Browne
remains against the aforesaid Benjamin thereupon
undefended etc. Therefore it is considered that the aforesaid Robert
Browne recover from the aforementioned
Benjamin his aforesaid debt and also twenty shillings
for his damages which he sustained both by the action the detention of his debt
as by his costs and charges by him the same Robert Browne
about his suit in this part applied by his assent by the court of the said lady queen
thus adjudged And the aforesaid Benjamin in the mercy etc. [The marginal note is ‘Judgment’]
Mercy
He is discharged
Debt and damage in total 11 pounds]
Bibliography
Bell (1938), 21-2
H&S, 11.572-3
Eccles (1988), 445-6