the Kynge at Ermynton aforsaid ryotusly and ayenste the lawe come and tooke your seid Oratour oute of his hows as his prisoner, and hym ladd unto the hows of the seyd Richard Fortescue, and ther hym in pryson kepte by the space of iiij dayes unto the tyme your seid Oratour had payed for the delyveraunce and raunsom to the seid Richard Fortescue v. marc. And gracyous lord, your seid Oratour is in such poverte that he is not of power to sue for his remedy accordyng to the cours of the comone lawe of the londe, and so standyth as withowte remedy withowte your good grace be shewed to hym in this behalf. Wherfore, plese it your good lordeship gracyusly to concydre the pre|misses, and ther uppon to graunte a writte sub pena to be directed to the seid Richard Fortescue, commaundyng hym by the same to appere before the Kynge in Chauncerye at a certene day and under a certene peyne by you to be lymytyd ther to answer to the premisses, and to do and resceyve as concyence askyth and requyreth, and this for the love of god and in the wey of charyte.
Plegii de prosequendo; Thomas Stonour de London, armig.; Thomas Mulle de London, gent.
This is the answere of Richard Fortescue to the bill putt ageynst hym by John Frende.
Fyrst, the seid Richard seith bi protestacion that the mater conteyned in the seid bill is mater determinable by the comon lawe of the land and noght in this Courte: bott for his answer and pleyn declaracion of the same he seith that he longe tyme before the seid arrest had a Wryte of Supplicavit oute of this Courte ageynst the seid John, directed to the Shyrryf of Devonshyr, the which Shyrryf made a Warraunte uppon the same Wryte to John Hillyour, John Saundre, William Screch, and Thomas Horne, jointly and severally to tak and arrest the seid John accordyng to the content of the seid Wryte: bi vertue of which Warraunte the seid John, John, William and Thomas arrestyd þe seid John in pesible wyse at Ermyngton, beyng oute of his hows, and hym from thens had toward the Kynges comon Jale by the howse of the seid Richard, and thair taried with hym bi the space of half an houre: and the same John so beyng in the howse of the seid Richard, the same Richard fortunyd to come home fyndyng the seid John in his howse undre arrest as is afforseid, withoute that the seid Richard in riotous wyse or in such fourme tok and imprisonyd the seid John in
