662 N. M. Trenholme ringing of bells, and soon a vast multitude of people, of whom many were outsiders, were gathered together. The townsmen organized a confederation and swore to resist the abbot to the end. Then the conventual buildings were attacked, and either burned or in great part destroyed. The monks, driven desperate by these outrages, armed their servants and retainers and stoutly defended the remain- ing buildings. Under guise of treating of peace, however, the rioters captured twenty-four of the monks. These they cast into prison and menaced with death. Meanwhile equally riotous pro- ceedings took place in twenty-two of the manors belonging to the convent. Property belonging to the monks was everywhere de- stroyed and encroached on. No attention whatever was paid to a second mandate from the King commanding a cessation of hostilities. The losses which the abbot and convent suffered at this time were enormous and beyond computation.' But assistance was at hand. The abbot had at last succeeded in securing a royal precept to the sheriff of Norfolk to quell the in- surrection." Thirty cart-loads of those arrested for their connection with the troubles were sent to Norwich to be tried, and four royal justices sat on the bench there. Several of the ringleaders expiated their misdoings on the gallows and many others were outlawed. The townsmen as a body were mulcted for damages in the sum of .^140,000, an almost incredible amount for that time, and their rep- resentatives had to appear before the royal council and disclaim for themselves and their heirs any right to a coniinunitas} The troubles were not yet ended, however. The outlawed members of the community bore a grudge against the abbot, Thomas de Draughton, whom they held to have perjured himself These desperate men seized the abbot in his manor-house ; con- veyed him secretly to London, where he was left for some little time, and then had him taken over to Brabant, where he was left in confinement for many months. It was discovered that he had been abducted and the perpetrators were solemnly excommunicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Finally, in 1329, the poor abbot was discovered and brought back after his long captivity.^ No less than eleven different commissions and writs were issued in connection with the troubles at Bury St. Edmunds,^ and it was 1 Memorials, II. 337-394 ; Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1327-1330, 213-214. "^ Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1327-1330, 213-214. ^Memorials, II. App. A ; III. 46-47. The Cronica Buriensis gives the damages awarded as being only ;^40,ooo, but this seems to be an error. ^Memorials, II. 349-353. His abductors were certain of the townsmen, under the popular mayor, John de Berton, who had managed to break gaol. ^Cal. Pat. Rolls.; 1327-1330, pp. I93, 217-219, 411, 425.
