Geoffrey of Bourne

FLOURISHED 1292-1303

Although we know a fair amount about the aristocrats who were lords of Bourne in the Middle Ages, we are not so well informed about members of the class which came just below them in the social scale. In 1303, there were 449 knights' fees in the whole of Lincolnshire, but sub-infeudation makes it impossible to ascertain how many persons held land by knight service. Yet there must have been such men, knights or local gentry, men of moderate wealth and considerable influence, who played a big part in the affairs of a town like Bourne.  

We do have a few facts about one man of this type, who is referred to as Geoffrey of Bourne in a late 13th century Assize Roll. His name appears first in 1292 in a list of those having £40 worth of land and rents who ought to be knights but are not. It appears, however, that by 1298, he had assumed his knighthood. Geoffrey seems to have been a man of some standing because in 1295 and up to 1298 at least, he was chief constable of Kesteven.  

One of his duties is clearly evident in this Assize Roll: there had just been a rebellion in Wales (it was at a time when King Edward I was occupied in a war against France) and troops had been levied from different parts of the country to go and subdue the rebels. Some of these soldiers had been raised in Lincolnshire and the chief constable of Kesteven, Geoffrey of Bourne, was responsible for summoning and equipping them in his part of the county. Thus we find an entry in the Assize Roll to the effect that Geoffrey had received some money from one, William le Wayte, whose duty it had been to levy funds in Grantham to support foot soldiers going to Wales. Another entry shows Geoffrey going to Stamford, still on the business of troops for Wales: “Memorandum that on Sunday on the morrow of St. Lucia the virgin (14th December 1298) came to Stamford Geoffrey of Bourne, chief constable of Kesteven, about money levied for foot-soldiers going to Wales . . ." 

As a knight, Geoffrey was also liable for military service with the king, when required, and in 1300, when the monarch was contemplating calling out the feudal army to fight against Scotland, Geoffrey's name was on the list by virtue of having at least £40 worth of land but it appears that he was not eager to leave his Bourne lands for adventures in the distant north because his name was also on the list of those who might be prepared to take service with the king in Scotland. 

As to the extent of Geoffrey's lands, our only clue lies in an entry of the Assize Roll which says that in 1303, he held "a third part of one knight's fee in Bourne, of the fees of John de Baiocis; half a fee in Lobthorpe, with Nicholas de Eton, of the fees of the Archbishop of York, and a fourth part of one fee in Thurlby, in chief and other honours". A knight's fee varied in size and in 13th century documents, it ranged from two to as many as 48 carucates and was sometimes divisible into fractions as small as one-sixtieth. Therefore a whole fee would probably be a considerable amount of land.  

From the fragments of information which the Assize Roll affords us, we can see that Geoffrey was a person of some consequence in his own locality and was probably typical of others of his class who lived at Bourne during the mediaeval period, but whose existence is not known to us. 

Note: This is an edited version from A History of Bourne by J D Birkbeck, published in 1970.

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