ABSTRACT
'Violence was part of the pattern of life in the later middle ages and men did not shed tears over it easily' as Bellamy remarked. In the case of William Ayscough the murder at nearby Edington caused worries in Wells close, prompting renewal of the licence to crenellate. The other prelate to die violently was Archbishop Scrope of York, tried and executed for treason at Bishopsthorpe in 1405. It reflects changed attitude towards the episcopate that could happen. The licences are not normally for castles but often for buildings that would have been left unfortified in the twelfth century. The most conspicuous examples are cathedral closes: Wells, Lichfield, Lincoln, raise wall, Salisbury. The numbers of licences to crenellate then begins to fall in the fifteenth century when it was regarded more as unnecessary and expensive formality. The firm hand of Tudor government with the prerogative courts raised security to much higher level, so that fortification was no longer needed.
