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

Healing Wells in 'County Folk-Lore' by Gutch and Peacock

This is an entry for Healing Wells in 'County Folk-Lore' by Gutch and Peacock, written in 1908:

"Two of the most frequently patronized springs in the county (Lincolnshire) rise within a few feet of each other in a narrow plantation by the roadside on Healing Wells Farm, in the parish of Healing, near Great Grimsby.
Between the two springs grows a large thorn, and the bushes around them are hung with rags.

Mr. Cordeaux visited them not long since for the purpose of discovering whether pins are ever dropped into them, 'but the bottom of the water in both cases was too muddy and full of leaves to allow accurate examination. It is said, however, that large numbers of pins have been found near the curative waters at Kingerby.

The twin wells at Healing are popularly credited with influencing totally different maladies. According to one account, the iron spring is chiefly of benefit in diseases of the eye, and the other in skin diseases. A middle-aged man, who grew up in an adjoining parish, states that when he was a lad, one spring was used for bathing, and the second for drinking. The latter was considered good against consumption, among other forms of sickness. . . . What the special gift of the bathing well was ‘F S’ cannot say. He often plunged his feet into it when a boy, but he does not venture to assert that it had any great power in reality, although ' folks used to come for miles,' and the gipsies, who called the place Ragged Spring or Ragged Well, frequently visited it.

A gentleman who hunts with the Yarborough pack every winter, says that he notices the rags fluttering on the shrubs and briars each season as he rides past. There is always a supply of these tatters, whether used superstitiously or not, and always has been since his father first knew the district some seventy years ago."

Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales

Between the years 1870 and 1872, a topographical survey was conducted by John Marius Wilson. It was called The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales. The survey has a listing for Healing:

"HEALING, a parish in Caistor district, Lincoln; 1½ mile SSW of Great Coates r. station, and 4 W of Great Grimsby. Post town, Great Coates, under Ulceby. Acres, 1, 327.  Real property, £1, 647. Pop., 96. Houses, 18. The property is divided among three. There are two medicinal springs, within 3 feet of each other, but of very different qualities. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Lincoln. Value, £250. Patrons,
the Landowners. The church consists of nave and chancel, with a tower; and is pretty good.
The parsonage was built in 1860."

This survey was incredibly inaccurate - Wilson often didn't visit the places, and his sources were out of date. However, from what I see, the listing for Healing seems rather accurate.

Healing in Domesday

In the year 1086, King William I ordered a great survey of all the land, farm animals and people in England to take place. Every area south of the R. Tees (then the border with Scotland) was surveyed, which was a total of 13,418 settlements. William could then share this land between his soldiers who had assisted during the Conquest. To the Saxons, this was land seizure and they called the survey ‘Domesday’, meaning ‘Judgement Day’. Some of the settlements mentioned in Domesday are now lost.

Healing
In the Domesday Book, Healing is listed as Heghelinge or Hechelinge. In Saxon, this means ‘the Settlement of Haegal’s people’.

The Domesday Book calls an area of land a ‘manor’. Healing was under two separate manors in Domesday, which were near the church and what is now called the moated site. The former (Manor 1) was owned by the Earl Morcar in 1066, and the latter (Manor 2) by Earl Sigar. Both of these men were Saxon.

The land then passed over to relatives of William and soldiers who had fought at the Conquest. Manor 1 was given to to Alfred of Lincoln and Manor 2 was given to the Bishop of Bayeux. The Domesday Book also mentions that the Archbishop of York owned a small part of Healing, which was attached to the manor at Stallingborough.

Because these Norman owners weren’t present to keep charge, stewards were appointed to represent their lords. Wadward was the Bishop of Bayeux’s steward, and Bernard was Alfred of Lincoln’s.

Domesday EntriesManor 1
27/5 In 1066 Morcar had land taxed at 2 carucates when it could have been taxed at 4 carucates. In 1086 Bernard, as Alfred’s steward, oversees 320 acres of land on the demesne farm.
13 sokemen work 80 acres of the demesne land and there are 2 villeins and 2 bordars with 20 oxen (2.5 ploughs). Half of the rental for a water mill brings in 3 shillings.
There are 326 acres of meadow. Value in 1066 40 shillings, value in 1086 50 shillings. Tallage 10 shillings.
27/6 Inland of this manor in Swallow is taxed at 3 bovates but with a true rateable value of 6 bovates. 1 villein has an ox in a plough team.



Manor 24/31 In Healing (in 1066) Sigar was paying a tax of 7 bovates, when he could have been paying tax at 1 carucate and 6 bovates.
In this time (1086), Wadard is the Bishop’s steward and oversees the land for one plough in demesne.
There are 3 villeins and 5 bordars in the village and 2 sokemen with land for 1 plough.
There are 5 acres of meadow. In 1066 it was valued at 30 shillings. In 1086 it’s value is 40 shillings. There is tallage of 20 shillings.
4/32 There is also sokeland of this manor in Clee, which is rated at 3 or 4 bovates.
Here live 4 sokeman, 2 villeins and 1 bordar who work land for 5 ploughing oxen. There are 25 acres of meadow land.
4/33 There is land belonging to this Manor in Thrunscoe which is rated at 4 bovates. 1 villein and 3 sokemen work half a plough of arable land.

Regards,
James