Edition of the records of a medieval Suffolk eyre reveal rich details of life at the time. The eyre was an organised judicial visitation to the counties of England by the king's justices to hear all types of plea, civil and crown, as well as to investigate any matters for the king that pertain to the county; it was thus a hugely important part of the legal process. This volume, edited by Eric Gallagher with an introduction by Henry Summerson, follows on from Dr Gallagher's edition and translation of the civil pleas of the same eyre, published by the Suffolk Records Society in 2009. But whereas the civil pleas deal primarily with litigation between landowners, the crown pleas are mostly concerned with the actions of townsmen and peasants, recorded both as killers and thieves, and as the victims of crime. Like the civil pleas, the crown pleas illuminate the workings of the common law, but in addition they illustrate the functions and purposes of local and central government, shedding light in sometimes vivid detail upon the lives of the humbler members of society, upon their occupations, relationships, misfortunes and quarrels - and the sometimes bizarre ways in which they met their deaths. The eyre was led by William of York, the King's justiciar and later bishop of Salisbury, and his colleagues who met at Ipswich, Cattishall (outside Bury St Edmunds) and Dunwich. The eyre roll, now in the National Archives, is the first from Suffolk surviving in full to have been edited and published; it has the particular interest of coming from a county that was then one of the most populous and prosperous of English shires.

A collection of over eighty poems, stories and doodles by self-proclaimed writer Eric Gallagher that run the gamut from weird to also weird.

Written between 2009 and 2012 by self-proclaimed writer Eric Gallagher, this collection of ninety short poems of self-indulgence and pseudo-intellectualism range from dark to slightly less dark.

Edition and translation of an important legal document, shedding new light on legal developments in medieval England. The eyre was an organised judicial visitation to the counties of England by the king's justices to hear all types of plea, civil and crown, as well as to investigate any matters for the king that pertain to the county; it was thusa hugely important part of the legal process. This volume presents an edition and translation of the civil pleas in the Suffolk Eyre Roll of 1240, now in the National Archives, the first civil pleas from a Suffolk eyreroll to be fully published. It throws light on common law in mid thirteenth-century England and its application within the county. It shows that the development of the King's justice in the counties was in accordance with the 13th century De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae, commonly called Bracton after the 13th century judge, who supposedly wrote this book of medieval jurisprudence. And, more widely, it also illustrates the nature and government of local society and how people at all levels fared in this particular eyre. The editor's introduction provides a summary of the eyre system and an analysis of those attending the eyre, the types of plea used and the outcome of those pleas. It attempts to estimate how much money was raised for the king and why the system became such a huge source of royal revenue. Finally it provides reasons for the demise of the eyre system in the latethirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.