Catalogue description Copy petition of complaint in the court of Star Chamber by John Rolf of Rye, yeo man v. John Hebylthwaite and 20 others, including John Fagge, mayor, and William Appleton, recorder. 6 fos. paper, sewn at head.

The plaintiff recites that he held by lease of John Reynolds of Brodhurst, Kent, yeo man, a principal messuage in Rye, which descended to the lessor as heir at law, being the eldest son of John who was the eldest brother of George Reynoldes of Brodhurst, deceased. George died on 1 October 1577 and his will (dated 17 September) was proved on 4 October of the same year. (Registered in the Archdeaconry of Lewes Probate Records, A7, fo. 67 in the East Sussex Record Office.) The plaintiff alleges that the will was a draft which had been added to by the executor, John Hebylthwaite; that further proof of the will was required on 10 October, when the executor removed the case to the Court of Arches [Canterbury], where judgment was pronounced against the will. Hebylthwaite, having failed to obtain control of the property of the deceased, proceeded to vex the plaintiff with the collaboration of others, including the proclamation of his civil outlawry in Rye for a debt owed to William Barham, when in fact pardon for this had already been obtained, and the incitement of a riot on 11 November endangering the life and property of the plaintiff, so that the latter was forced to give up his lease of the premises to John Fagge, one of the conspirators.