Just doing his job, the sad tale of the monk, John Lakenheath

An impression of the Abbey at Bury St Edmunds prior to the Reformation

Don’t be too efficient because it could end in tears.

This is the message that might be taken away from a recent article on the British Library's Mediaeval Manuscripts site.  This tells the sad story of one John Lakenheath, a monk at th abbey in Bury St Edmunds at the time of the Peasants Revolt that took place in the summer of 1381.

Of course in Sudbury we all know about the late Fourteenth Century disturbances due to the sticky end that was met by our very own Simon of Sudbury, who was unfortunate enough to be Archbishop of Canterbury at the time.

This story from nearby Bury St Edmunds is no less gruesome and the fate of the victim possibly even more undeserved.

Lakenheath had made the mistake of reconstructing the abbey's  manor records which had been damaged in a much earlier riot by the local townspeople in 1327.  He created a book containing the information called the Lakenheath Register, which has survived to this day in the British Library.  

John Lakenheath;s introduction to his Register

 John was very proud of his work which was completed just a couple of years before the later troubles.   The existence of the Register meant, of course, that the monks were better able to continue to collect dues and fines from their properties.   It seems that they had set about this work with a vigour that was not much appreciated by the locals.  As a result when the abbey was attacked during the Revolt,  Lakenheath was singled out, among others,  for revenge.  The full story, with quotes from Lakenheath himself, and a witness of his fate,  can be found HERE.