The MS. from which it was taken by Morant, was an account of
the Rents of the hundred of Ongar, in the time of John Stonar of Loughton,
who had a grant of it for his life in the 34th year of King Henry VIII. He
seems to have died 12th June, 1566, holding of the Queen, by the twentieth
part of a knight's fee, and the yearly rent of 13l. 16s. 4d., the manor,
park, chase, &c., of Hatfield Broad Oak, with the hundreds of Ongar and
Harlow; and the _Wardstaff_ of the same hundreds, then valued at 101l. 15s.
10d. As the _Wardstaff_ is said by Morant to make a considerable figure in
old records, it is reasonable to hope that a more satisfactory account of
it may still lie amongst unsunned ancient muniments. All the old Teutonic
judicial assemblies were, as Sir F. Palgrave remarks, held in the open air,
beneath the sky and _by the light of the sun_. The following is a part of
the ancient rhyme by which the proceedings of the famous Vehm-Gerichte were
opened, which were first printed by Schottelius, and the whole of which may
be found in Beck's _Geschichte der Westphalischen Fehm-Gerichte_, and in
Sir F.
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