The carnal use of her body

The sorry tale of Alse Mathewe of Pentlow is the very stuff of ballads. By the 1580s, when this happened, the 1572 Vagrancy Act had led to considerable changes in the way that the poor were cared for in Britain. It is possible that Robert Gosnold of Pentlow had originally agreed with the parish to take the vagrant Alse in as a servant. When she became pregnant, she moved across the 'border' to Belchamp St Paul. Pentlow Parish must have been relieved that they were no longer liable to care for the mother and baby, but it looks as if parish of Belchamp St Paul attempted to pass the bill back to Pentlow by getting Alse to testify that Robert Gosnold was the child's father….

From the EPIPHANY 1589 Sessions Rolls

24 September 1588

...he allured her to
commit whoredom with him

Examination, taken before Israel Amyce, esquire, at Tilbury-near-Clare, of Davie Cox, servant to Robert Gosnold of Pentlow, yeoman, who says and confesses that he is of the age of sixteen years or thereabouts, and also that he is servant to the said Gosnold, and that one Alse Mathewe, his fellow-servant, did about three quarters of a year past fall in love with him, and that she about that time earnestly entices him to commit adultery with her, whereunto he confesses that he gave his consent, and further says that he had the carnal use of her body three or four sundry times since.

Examination of Alse Mathewe, taken as above, who says and confesses that about the time aforesaid she was fellow-servant with the said [Davie], and that he allured her to commit whoredom with him, and that he has had the carnal use of her body divers and sundry times since, but how often she remembers not.

• she confesses that one John Stebbing, late servant also to the said Gosnold, committed whoredom with her "aboute haye tyme last paste".
• whereas in the forenoon of the said 24th day of September the said examinate did affirm her said [master] Robert Gosnold to be the father of the child, she being re-examined in the after-noon of the same day concerning [the same], and greatly sorrowing for that she had said before, affirmed and confessed that she had very greatly abused her said master in that she had very lowdly, untruly and ungodly charged him to be the father of the [child], upon her said master standing by she earnestly upon her knees asked him forgiveness in the presence of Mr. Fryar and one Peter Wilson, one of the constables of Belchamp St. Paul, and [says] and confesses that her said master had never the carnal use of her body neither that he at any time moved much unlawful matter of her.

he had the carnal use of her body
three or four sundry times since
• being required to charge to declare her said moved her in the forenoon to charge her said master as above [and in the ] afternoon to discharge him, the said examinate says and confesses that being put out of service[ and going] about the country for relief she happened to come into the parish of Belchamp St. Paul aforesaid, where [she stayed] three days begging for relief,
  and furthermore says that the aforesaid Mr. Frayer and the said Peter Wilson meeting with her demanded of her what she was and from whence she came [and what she] had to do in that parish, unto whom she declared her name, whom she last served and for what cause [she was] out of service, and that she was with child, and the above-named Davie was the father thereof;
  and [they there] upon demanded of her what the said Davie was of, whence and of what wealth, whereunto she [said] he is a young man of the age of sixteen years, as she has heard him say, and that he was her friend [and a ] very poor young man and as destitute of friends as herself, whereupon they very earnestly persuaded her not to charge such a beggarly fellow with the child but rather such a one as [could keep her] and the child,
  and the said examinate demanding of them whom they would wish her [to charge] says that they the said Mr. Friar and Wilson wished her to charge her said master [as father of the] child, being a man well able to endure the charge of the maintenance of her and of her child, which if she should steadfastly stand unto they would procure not only the favour of the Justice to be extended towards [her but also such sums] of money for her from her said master as should suffice as well for her relief as also for [the maintenance] of her child; unto which bad and uncharitable notion the said examinate answered and said [how shall I be able to behold my master,
  howbeit she says that through their importunate persuasion [she charged] her said master as before is declared. And lastly she affirmed that as the said Mr. [Fryar and Wilson came with her] towards Tilbury hall in the aforesaid afternoon to be re-examined as above-said they, forasmuch as she had so unjustly charged her master in the forenoon through their persuasions, threatened her [that if she did not] lie and constantly stand unto her confession made in the forenoon they would so whip her that for one month after, the said Mr. Fryer promising still to procure a good piece of money saying unto her, that beforetime he had done the like for a poor wench whom he also persuaded to charge one of her neighbours named Thomas Parker, who very willingly at his request yielded to give her money rather than he would have his credit to be brought in question,

6 January 1589

and that the last time he had
to do with her was about
the Feast of Pentecost last in a field
called "Morefyld" at a gate

Scope and Content Examination, taken before Israel Amyce, esquire, of Clemence, wife of Edmund Jervis of PENTLOW, husbandman, Alse, wife of William Lumly of the same, husbandman, Margaret, wife of John Shelly of the same, husbandman, Alse, wife of Richard Hardie of Belchamp St. Paul, husbandman, Ann, wife of Christopher Hardie of the same, husbandman, and Ann Carter of Foxearth, widow, who say and confess that they, with two other midwives, were at the birth of the child of Alse Mathewe at PENTLOW, and that they were present when one Mother Lamberd a midwife in Clare, co.Suffolk, came thither, and that the said midwife did earnestly persuade the said [Alse] to confess the truth concerning two honest men, namely Mr. Friar and the Goodman Wilson, whom [she] had slandered; unto whom the said Alse answered, being in very grievous pain and great peril [of death], that she never said anything of or against the said Fryar or Wilson but that which is very true; and further[ they say] that she confessed that one Davie is the father of the child and that she would take her death thereupon, and [that] he had to deal with her divers and sundry times, and that the last time he had to do with her was about the Feast of Pentecost last in a field called "Morefyld" at a gate.

Also the said examinates say and affirm that the said Alse, being in her greatest pain, [said] no man had ever to do with her but the said Davie, and that she protested and took God to witness that her [master was] clear from any wickedness committed against her, and that she cried out saying "Woe worth Mr. Friar [and Peter] Wilson who persuaded and enticed me wrongfully to accuse my master before the Justice".

• they say that the said Alse at the said time affirmed that the said Mr. Friar and Wilson [did] threaten her at the second time to whip her homewards if in case she did alter her speech she used of her first examination.
• they say and affirm that the said Alse likewise earnestly protested that she had [spoken the ] truth at her last being at the Justice, and that she would stand unto that during her life.
• they say that the said Alse said and confessed as abovesaid both before the coming [of the said] midwife and also after, and that she was in very extreme pain and danger before the midwife until her deliverance.

On 16th Feb 1589, there is the following entry of a birth in the Pentlow parish register.
    'Isabel, dau of Isabel Mathew a harlot;'