Deciphering the Finalis Concordia in Healing - Ancient Document!

**I would firstly like to apologise for the lack of articles on the site recently; I  will endeavour to update and continue to update this blog.

This article begins with an email, sent to me by Mr. N. Sissons. Regular visitors of the site may recall his comment under the name of Amiguru on the 'Healing in Domesday' post. Attached to this email was some interesting text, simply entitled '1392 Healing'. It was, of course, my duty to decipher this, and in the process, bring it to readers of this website.

A finalis concordia can be defined as a final or conclusive agreement. It defines an act or custodial sentence that the guilty party must do, as decided by a court, or was used to make exchanges or dealings within property legal. In 1392, the owner of Healing Manor, then Thomas Mussenden (often spelled 'Myssingden' in documents), bought the manor from Sir John de Helyng. To make the deal or grant official, a Finalis Concordia was issued.

Without further ado, here is the text of the document. Abbreviations (of which there are lots) are highlighted with an apostrophe.:

Hec est finalis concordia facta in curia domini Regis apud Westm' in octava Sa' Hillarii anno regno'm Ricardi Reg' Angl' & Franc' quincodecimo coram Robto de Cherston Will'o Thirnyng Will'o Rikhill Johe' Wadham & Rico' Sydenham Justic' et postea a die Pasche in quin'decim dies anno regnor'm eiusde' Reg' Ricardi sup'd'm ibidem concessa & recordata coram eisdem justic' et aliis d'm Reg' fidelib'stunc ibi p'sentib's Int' Thomam Missyngden' quer' et Joh'em de Babyngton' & Kat'inam ux'em eius deforc' de Manio' de Helyng cum ptni'. Unde pl't'm convenc'onis sm'm fuit int'eos in eadem Cur' Scil't qd pd'a Joh'es & Kat'ma' recogn' p'd't'm man'm' cum ptn'i esse iusipius Thome Et illud remiserunt & quitumclam' de ip'is Joh'e Kat'ina & her' i'iusKatine p'dto Thome & her' fino [miss'n't] Et p' hac recogn' remissione quietaclam' fine & concordia idem Thomas dedit pdci's Johi' & Kat'rie Centu' marcas argenti

Lincoln

So, what does it say? Well, after much deliberation and debate, Mr Sissons sent me a translation of the document...

This is the final agreement made in the court of the lord King at Westminster, in the octave of St. Hillary, in the 15^th. Year of the reign of Richard
 King of England & France; at the court of Robert of Cherston, William Thirnyng, William Rikhill, John Wadham and Richard Sydenham, justices;
 fifteen days before Easter Day, [in the] above year of the reign of King Richard. Given and recorded before the above justices and all the Lord King's
 faithful, here present. Between Thomas Mussenden, plaintiff, and John of Babyngton & Katherine his wife, defendants, of the Manor of Healing
 with appurtenances.

Hence, a plea of covenant was summoned between them in the said court. To wit, that the aforesaid John & Katherine recognised the said manor

 with its appurtenances remains to be the right of Thomas and they give it back to him; and they declare that they John & Katherine and their heirs

 quitclaim it and Thomas receives it at the end of this. And they quitclaim in favour of this acknowledged remission, and in agreement at the end of this, Thomas has given to the said John & Katherine one hundred marks of silver.

Lincoln

Wow! What a fantastic document! You can actually view the original in the image below; thanks again to Mr Sissons for providing this:

I hope you have enjoyed this, and my sincerest thanks go to Amiguru for providing all of the information mentioned in this text.
James