Out of Time: The Mysterious Story of Margery Lister

Chances are you’ve never heard of Margery Lister. Like most ordinary medieval folk, there are few traces of the life she lived over 700 years ago. It’s not known where or exactly when she was born, whether she ever married or had any children, who she lived with, who her parents were or how they made their living. But between 1303 and 1325 she appeared before the Nottingham Borough Court in relation to eleven separate cases. 

Borough courts like the one in Nottingham were civil courts, where disgruntled individuals could pay a small fee to bring cases against others. These might be disputes about debt, theft, physical or verbal attacks or property matters. The mayor oversaw proceedings and clerks recorded details of the cases on parchment rolls in Latin script. Although many of these records for towns and cities across England have been lost or destroyed, some, including many covering the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in Nottingham, have miraculously survived. Nottinghamshire Archives holds the original Nottingham Borough Court rolls which exist in sufficient numbers to allow for research, and academics have used them to study various aspects of medieval Nottingham. 

Although deciphering medieval Latin is no easy task, thanks to the amazing work of Dr Trevor Foulds and Dr J. B. Hughes, there is a transcribed calendar of the rolls translated into English, accessible online through the University of Nottingham’s website. Interesting reading if you like that sort of thing.

So, back to Margery Lister. There is no actual record of what she did for a living but her name might be a clue. Lister usually meant ‘dyer’ and dyeing was one of Nottingham’s medieval trades, probably based around Lister Gate, so Margery may have lived and worked in that area. What is certain is that on 21 December 1303 she accused Alice, wife of William Wynne, of calling her a thief and a whore and hitting her with a knife in the public arena of the Saturday market. Despite their denials, William and Alice were found guilty and the couple were ordered to pay damages to Margery. You might wonder what William had to do with this, as the dispute was between Margery and Alice, but as the latter was a married woman, her husband was obliged to be present in court and share responsibility for her actions. Women were often identified in the court records in relation to men, as either ‘wife of’, ‘daughter of’, ‘widow of’ or ‘servant of’ a named man. Interestingly, Margery is always identified by her name alone, which suggests she was probably single. 

In 1315, Margery was back in court, this time complaining about John Boothby and his wife Dulcia. This couple both seem to have been jointly involved in a fracas which took place ‘opposite the house of Henry of Wollaton’ where Dulcia called Margery ‘a false woman and a whore’, then hit her before John knocked Margery over. An inquiry was called for but unfortunately no record of the outcome exists. 

There is no further mention of Margery at the court until December 1323, when her name appears in two separate cases. First she was accused of trespass by Emma Sterling. Trespass covered many types of action, so this could have been a verbal or physical altercation or other matter, but no details are recorded. Margery and Emma were back in court in early January of 1324 in the same case and, at their request, a ‘love day’ was granted. This was a type of arbitration whereby both parties could reach an out-of-court agreement and hopefully settle their differences, which these two seem to have done. In the second case, Margery was accused of trespass by John le Taverner and a couple of weeks later admitted her guilt and was fined.

Margery and the le Taverner family did not get on. As well as being accused by John, Margery was brought to the court during January and February of 1325 by Mabel le Taverner and William le Taverner, and by John again in cases of trespass and debt. Le Taverner is one of the many names that relate to the occupation or trade of a person, so it’s likely that this family were involved in running a tavern or ale house of some sort. Perhaps Margery had a bit too much to drink one night, couldn’t pay her bar bill and got into a brawl - it’s possible, but there is no evidence for this. What is clear from the records, though, is that time and time again, despite being summoned, Margery failed to appear at court, the clerk noting on the court rolls ‘does not come’. However, one way or another, these cases were eventually resolved and Margery was again found guilty.

In 1325 she was back in court once more, accusing Robert Lifthand of trespass and bloodshed, although full details of the incident are not given. In mid-July it was Robert’s turn to accuse Margery and her accomplices Robert le Cancur and William le Cancur. The three were said to have beaten and wounded Robert and made him bloody. They denied the charge and an inquiry was called for. The case dragged on until the end of August due to jurors failing to show up, which was quite a common problem. Although the fate of William is not clear, Robert and Margery failed to attend the court and the instruction was given to arrest Robert. Margery was found guilty and it was declared that she ‘should be taken and held safely and securely in gaol until she has fined for the trespass to the king and has satisfied the party concerning the damages’. 

What happened next remains a mystery, but thanks to the preservation of the court rolls, Margery Lister and the many others whose names and actions are recorded will forever be part of Nottingham’s fascinating history.