Posted by bhattacharya
16 December 2024We’re delighted to bring you one more post before the Christmas break, courtesy of returning writer for the blog, Shagnick Bhattacharya: a historical mystery from the collections of the Devon Heritage Centre. The blog will return in January; on behalf of all of us here at the Centre for Medieval Studies, we wish you a happy and restful festive season.
We first meet Johanna Sopere on 26th February 1356, when her case is brought before the lord of Waddeton. A villein — or a feudal tenant living on the land of, and subject to, the local lord — in the demesne, she is accused of having defaulted on the payment of rent against her tenancy.
Unmarried, and probably a young woman, Johanna was likely one of the few women at the time who had a tenancy in her own name. She appears to have missed the court proceedings against her, and as a result the lord not only ordered a ‘distraint’ against her (meaning the seizure of her property), but also fined her a shilling (equivalent to two days’ worth of wages for a skilled craftsman at the time) and issued an arrest warrant for her.
In the very next court, held on 7th April 1357, Johanna is presented as a defaulter again, whereupon the lord once again orders for her distrain and arrest. The same arrest warrant for the same crime against the same person is issued again at the next court (that we have record of), held on 18th September 1359; by the beginning of 1360, the fine against Johanna has reached 40d. (equivalent to the cost of half a cow). This was just the beginning of a twenty-five-year-long struggle documented across fourteen court rolls, as the lord of Waddeton sought to bring Johanna Sopere to justice. These rolls are now held at the Devon Heritage Centre (CR1-7, 11, 15-20).
Johanna goes on to be mentioned in most of the court proceedings at Waddeton Manor up until 2nd November 1381, with her arrest and distraint ordered by the lord whenever she appears. Interestingly, every time she is mentioned following the court proceedings of 7th January 1362, she is mentioned as a ‘villein and fugitive’. Had Johanna completely gone into a life of crime by this point, or was this merely the frustration of a lord finding himself powerless against a woman who was supposed to be under his control? It is obvious that Johanna was by this point not a villein at all, or at least not under this manor: if she was found living on the same land, she would have been easily caught by the lord or the other villeins. By continuing to call her a ‘villein’ in official records for twenty-five years, was the lord not attempting to claim control over her legally?
In front of a subaltern woman, then, the lord was indeed powerful, and yet powerless at the same time. While the court rolls do not find space to mention how she evaded capture so many times, they nevertheless do mention the time when Johanna marries Richard Broun of Abbotskerswell sometime between May 1367 and May 1376, and make it a legal issue against her as well. The lord once again orders for Johanna to be arrested on the basis this time that she ‘left the demesne and married…without the lord’s licence.’ Notably, the original case of default against her is of no consequence anymore; even though the court of Waddeton has been made aware of her marriage, they never switch to mentioning her with the surname Broun instead of Sopere (a symbolic act of defiance ‘from above’ in face of defiance ‘from below’).
At some point in time before November 1376, Johanna Sopere meets another woman with the same first name: Johanna Cole. We have practically no information about Johanna Cole, except that she was also a villein from the demesne, but we know these women knew each other, and probably collaborated towards an unknown objective which nevertheless surely had to do with defying local authority in some way. Between Johanna Cole’s first mention in a court roll on 6th November 1376 and 2nd November 1381, the lord of Waddeton orders for the arrest of both the ladies eleven times. The two women are always mentioned together, with the phrase ‘villeins and fugitives’. However, the court rolls never provide a reason why exactly these women were being called fugitives (or even villeins, for that matter, as both women were clearly living somewhere far enough from the reach of the lord). Even more unfortunate is the fact that we never get to know the ultimate fate of both the Johannas — did they die, or end up getting caught and punished by the lord of Waddeton, or did the lord realise his powerlessness over two subaltern women and just give up?
And yet, that is not the end of it. During this entire time, there was yet another woman named Johanna living in the same demesne, and her story goes in a slightly different direction to the other two. Married to a man named John Stone, Johanna Stone’s story in the court rolls from Waddeton begins when her husband dies (most likely between September 1361 and January 1362).
After the death of her husband, Johanna Stone is asked to do fealty to the lord, an act of showing allegiance and acknowledging the lord’s authority in court (in lieu of paying the rent). And this is where her case becomes exceptional, like the other Johannas, because she refuses to do so. For the next five years, the lord tries to coerce her into fealty through a series of distraints ordered against her. But unlike Johanna Sopere, she neither does anything to become a ‘fugitive’, nor does she move out of the demesne, and yet she remains undeterred in her decision to not do fealty to the lord. The last time we find her mentioned in the court rolls is from the proceedings of 25th May 1367, wherein an entry (in CR7) simply states: ‘The plaint between the lord and Johanna Stone concerning fealty remains.’ We never hear anything about this matter again, indicating that either Johanna gave in to the constant harassment from the lord, or that the lord gave up on trying to impose his authority on a widow. Either way, we do not know her ultimate fate.
While the three Johannas shared a name, and attempted to balance personal agency against feudal obligations while defying the local authority, their methods differed. Whereas Johanna Stone is empowered to stand against feudal authority when her husband dies, Johanna Sopere finds true empowerment in her marriage to her husband and her ability to move out of the feudal lord’s control, which in turn empowers Johanna Cole through her solidarity. While one’s defiance is a more subtle and quotidian disobedience, the other’s is an overt rebellion. And while we do not know what became of these subaltern women, we can see that they have managed to speak.
Featured image: detail from the Luttrell Psalter (London, British Library, Additional MS 42130, p. 172)