The murder of a priest in 14th-century London is shedding new light on class tensions, ecclesiastical power, and noble defiance, thanks to fresh research from Cambridge University’s Medieval Murder Maps project. The dramatic case of John Forde, a clergyman whose throat was cut in 1337 near St Paul’s Cathedral, has been reexamined by Professor Manuel Eisner, who uncovered evidence linking the killing to one of the era’s most audacious aristocratic women: Ela Fitzpayne.
Eisner, Director of the Violence Research Centre at Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology, suggests the slaying was a revenge killing orchestrated by Fitzpayne, following years of humiliation imposed by the Church — possibly instigated by Forde himself.
“We are looking at a murder commissioned by a leading figure of the English aristocracy. It is planned and cold-blooded, with a family member and close associates carrying it out, all of which suggests a revenge motive,” said Eisner.
The case features in the Medieval Murder Maps database, which charts hundreds of 14th-century killings in cities such as London, Oxford, and York. The Forde case stands out not only for its political implications but also for its remarkably public nature. According to the coroner’s roll, Forde was killed at twilight on May 3, 1337, while walking with fellow cleric Hasculph Neville along Cheapside — a bustling area near St Paul’s known for being London’s homicide hotspot.
A Cleric’s Fall and a Lady’s Fury
Image of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letters to the Bishop of Winchester on the subject of Ela Fitzpayne, from the register of John de Stratford. Reproduced with permission of Hampshire Archives and Hampshire County Council.
Eisner found that five years before the murder, in 1332, Archbishop Simon Mepham had accused Ela Fitzpayne of widespread adultery, naming only one of her alleged lovers: John Forde. Mepham ordered Ela to perform humiliating public penance, including barefoot walks across the nave of Salisbury Cathedral, bearing a four-pound wax candle, every autumn for seven years.
“The archbishop imposed heavy, shameful public penance on Ela, which she seems not to have complied with, but may have sparked a thirst for vengeance,” said Eisner. “Not least as John Forde appears to have escaped punishment by the church.”
Punishments also barred her from wearing gold or jewels and required financial gifts to monasteries and the poor. By April, Ela had reportedly fled and was hiding in Rotherhithe, then under the Diocese of Winchester, leading to her excommunication.
The records suggest a breakdown in alliances: Forde may have once been her co-conspirator in criminal raids, her lover, and a Fitzpayne insider. But at some point, he became a liability. When he was murdered, at least three of his attackers — including Hugh Lovell, Ela’s brother — were known associates of the Fitzpayne household.
“Attempts to publicly humiliate Ela Fitzpayne may have been part of a political game, as the church used morality to stamp its authority on the nobility, with John Forde caught between masters,” Eisner said. “Taken together, these records suggest a tale of shakedowns, sex and vengeance that expose tensions between the church and England’s elites, culminating in a mafia-style assassination of a fallen man of god by a gang of medieval hitmen.”
The Attack in Westcheap
The London Archives. Inquest number 15 on 1336-7 City of London Coroner’s Rolls (in CLA/041/IQ/01/006)
The coroner’s roll describes how Forde was lured by Neville into conversation. Then four men ambushed him. Lovell sliced his throat with a 12-inch dagger; Hugh Colne and John Strong — recently in service to the Fitzpaynes — stabbed his abdomen.
The jury investigating the case numbered 33 men, one of the largest groups in the Medieval Murder Maps project, indicating the murder’s high-profile nature. But despite identifying all the killers, the jury claimed not to know their whereabouts.
“Despite naming the killers and clear knowledge of the instigator, when it comes to pursuing the perpetrators the jury turn a blind eye,” said Eisner.
“A household of the highest nobility, and apparently no one knows where they are to bring them to trial. They claim Ela’s brother has no belongings to confiscate. All implausible. This was typical of the class-based justice of the day.”
Only one perpetrator, Hugh Colne, was ever charged — and that came five years later in 1342, when he was imprisoned at Newgate.
Westcheap, where the killing took place, was known as a volatile area filled with markets, taverns, and guild houses. It was a centre for civic rituals like public punishments and, as Eisner notes, sometimes for extrajudicial ones.
“Westcheap was a site for displays of civic justice, such as the pillory or stocks,” said Eisner. “As a setting for public rituals of punishment, this appears to have included extrajudicial killings.”
From Priory Raider to Marked Man
Eisner’s investigation also uncovered a record from 1322 showing Ela, her husband Robert Fitzpayne, and John Forde indicted by a Royal Commission for raiding a nearby Benedictine priory the year before. They allegedly stormed the property, damaged buildings, and took livestock — up to 18 oxen, 30 pigs, and 200 sheep and lambs — driving them back to Stogursey Castle.
Given the priory’s ties to a French abbey and the growing tensions that would soon erupt into the Hundred Years’ War, the raid may have had political dimensions. Eisner believes the attack and Forde’s involvement likely worsened his standing with Church authorities.
“John Forde may have had split loyalties,” said Eisner. “One to the Fitzpayne family, who were likely patrons of his church and granted him the position. And the other to the bishops who had authority over him as a clergy member.”
“Taking part in the raid would have shown Forde’s loyalty to the Fitzpaynes rather than the church, which would not have gone down well with the Archbishop.”
It’s possible Forde confessed his relationship with Ela under pressure from Mepham, triggering the Church’s disciplinary wrath. That betrayal may have sealed his fate.
“Public humiliation can have poisonous effects, breeding hatred and revenge in humans both today and in the distant past,” said Eisner. “Feeling humiliated motivates wars, extremism, mass killings, and here it’s probably a motivation for assassination. Humiliation creates emotions of anger and shame in the short term. Over time this can harden into a desire for violence.”
A Noblewoman Beyond Her Time?
While the Archbishop died in 1333, Forde’s murder in 1337 may have been a delayed but deliberate reckoning. The precision, the timing, and the location suggest a staged warning — and not only to Forde.
“The public execution style of Forde’s killing, in front of crowds in broad daylight, is similar to the political killings we see now in countries like Russia or Mexico. It’s designed to be a reminder of who is in control,” said Eisner.
“Where rule of law is weak, we see killings committed by the highest ranks in society, who will take power into their own hands, whether it’s today or seven centuries ago.”
Curiously, Eisner found no sign of discord between Ela and her husband Robert Fitzpayne. When Robert died in 1354, still married to Ela, she inherited all his property.
“A woman in 14th century England who raided priories, openly defied the Archbishop of Canterbury, and planned the assassination of a priest. Ela Fitzpayne appears to have been many things, including an extraordinary person,” added Eisner.
You can learn more about this case and others from the Medieval Murder Maps project website. The article, “Spatial Dynamics of Homicide in Medieval English Cities: The Medieval Murder Map Project,” by Manuel Eisner, Stephanie Emma Brown, Nora Eisner and Ruth Schmid Eisner, appears in Criminal Law Forum. Click here to read it.
Top Image: Location of the murder of John Forde, taken from the Medieval Murder Maps. Image courtesy University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology and the Historic Towns Trust.
The murder of a priest in 14th-century London is shedding new light on class tensions, ecclesiastical power, and noble defiance, thanks to fresh research from Cambridge University’s Medieval Murder Maps project. The dramatic case of John Forde, a clergyman whose throat was cut in 1337 near St Paul’s Cathedral, has been reexamined by Professor Manuel Eisner, who uncovered evidence linking the killing to one of the era’s most audacious aristocratic women: Ela Fitzpayne.
Eisner, Director of the Violence Research Centre at Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology, suggests the slaying was a revenge killing orchestrated by Fitzpayne, following years of humiliation imposed by the Church — possibly instigated by Forde himself.
“We are looking at a murder commissioned by a leading figure of the English aristocracy. It is planned and cold-blooded, with a family member and close associates carrying it out, all of which suggests a revenge motive,” said Eisner.
The case features in the Medieval Murder Maps database, which charts hundreds of 14th-century killings in cities such as London, Oxford, and York. The Forde case stands out not only for its political implications but also for its remarkably public nature. According to the coroner’s roll, Forde was killed at twilight on May 3, 1337, while walking with fellow cleric Hasculph Neville along Cheapside — a bustling area near St Paul’s known for being London’s homicide hotspot.
A Cleric’s Fall and a Lady’s Fury
Eisner found that five years before the murder, in 1332, Archbishop Simon Mepham had accused Ela Fitzpayne of widespread adultery, naming only one of her alleged lovers: John Forde. Mepham ordered Ela to perform humiliating public penance, including barefoot walks across the nave of Salisbury Cathedral, bearing a four-pound wax candle, every autumn for seven years.
“The archbishop imposed heavy, shameful public penance on Ela, which she seems not to have complied with, but may have sparked a thirst for vengeance,” said Eisner. “Not least as John Forde appears to have escaped punishment by the church.”
Punishments also barred her from wearing gold or jewels and required financial gifts to monasteries and the poor. By April, Ela had reportedly fled and was hiding in Rotherhithe, then under the Diocese of Winchester, leading to her excommunication.
The records suggest a breakdown in alliances: Forde may have once been her co-conspirator in criminal raids, her lover, and a Fitzpayne insider. But at some point, he became a liability. When he was murdered, at least three of his attackers — including Hugh Lovell, Ela’s brother — were known associates of the Fitzpayne household.
“Attempts to publicly humiliate Ela Fitzpayne may have been part of a political game, as the church used morality to stamp its authority on the nobility, with John Forde caught between masters,” Eisner said. “Taken together, these records suggest a tale of shakedowns, sex and vengeance that expose tensions between the church and England’s elites, culminating in a mafia-style assassination of a fallen man of god by a gang of medieval hitmen.”
The Attack in Westcheap
The coroner’s roll describes how Forde was lured by Neville into conversation. Then four men ambushed him. Lovell sliced his throat with a 12-inch dagger; Hugh Colne and John Strong — recently in service to the Fitzpaynes — stabbed his abdomen.
The jury investigating the case numbered 33 men, one of the largest groups in the Medieval Murder Maps project, indicating the murder’s high-profile nature. But despite identifying all the killers, the jury claimed not to know their whereabouts.
“Despite naming the killers and clear knowledge of the instigator, when it comes to pursuing the perpetrators the jury turn a blind eye,” said Eisner.
“A household of the highest nobility, and apparently no one knows where they are to bring them to trial. They claim Ela’s brother has no belongings to confiscate. All implausible. This was typical of the class-based justice of the day.”
Only one perpetrator, Hugh Colne, was ever charged — and that came five years later in 1342, when he was imprisoned at Newgate.
Westcheap, where the killing took place, was known as a volatile area filled with markets, taverns, and guild houses. It was a centre for civic rituals like public punishments and, as Eisner notes, sometimes for extrajudicial ones.
“Westcheap was a site for displays of civic justice, such as the pillory or stocks,” said Eisner. “As a setting for public rituals of punishment, this appears to have included extrajudicial killings.”
From Priory Raider to Marked Man
Eisner’s investigation also uncovered a record from 1322 showing Ela, her husband Robert Fitzpayne, and John Forde indicted by a Royal Commission for raiding a nearby Benedictine priory the year before. They allegedly stormed the property, damaged buildings, and took livestock — up to 18 oxen, 30 pigs, and 200 sheep and lambs — driving them back to Stogursey Castle.
Given the priory’s ties to a French abbey and the growing tensions that would soon erupt into the Hundred Years’ War, the raid may have had political dimensions. Eisner believes the attack and Forde’s involvement likely worsened his standing with Church authorities.
“John Forde may have had split loyalties,” said Eisner. “One to the Fitzpayne family, who were likely patrons of his church and granted him the position. And the other to the bishops who had authority over him as a clergy member.”
“Taking part in the raid would have shown Forde’s loyalty to the Fitzpaynes rather than the church, which would not have gone down well with the Archbishop.”
It’s possible Forde confessed his relationship with Ela under pressure from Mepham, triggering the Church’s disciplinary wrath. That betrayal may have sealed his fate.
“Public humiliation can have poisonous effects, breeding hatred and revenge in humans both today and in the distant past,” said Eisner. “Feeling humiliated motivates wars, extremism, mass killings, and here it’s probably a motivation for assassination. Humiliation creates emotions of anger and shame in the short term. Over time this can harden into a desire for violence.”
A Noblewoman Beyond Her Time?
While the Archbishop died in 1333, Forde’s murder in 1337 may have been a delayed but deliberate reckoning. The precision, the timing, and the location suggest a staged warning — and not only to Forde.
“The public execution style of Forde’s killing, in front of crowds in broad daylight, is similar to the political killings we see now in countries like Russia or Mexico. It’s designed to be a reminder of who is in control,” said Eisner.
“Where rule of law is weak, we see killings committed by the highest ranks in society, who will take power into their own hands, whether it’s today or seven centuries ago.”
Curiously, Eisner found no sign of discord between Ela and her husband Robert Fitzpayne. When Robert died in 1354, still married to Ela, she inherited all his property.
“A woman in 14th century England who raided priories, openly defied the Archbishop of Canterbury, and planned the assassination of a priest. Ela Fitzpayne appears to have been many things, including an extraordinary person,” added Eisner.
You can learn more about this case and others from the Medieval Murder Maps project website. The article, “Spatial Dynamics of Homicide in Medieval English Cities: The Medieval Murder Map Project,” by Manuel Eisner, Stephanie Emma Brown, Nora Eisner and Ruth Schmid Eisner, appears in Criminal Law Forum. Click here to read it.
Top Image: Location of the murder of John Forde, taken from the Medieval Murder Maps. Image courtesy University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology and the Historic Towns Trust.
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