marshalsea Hist.
(ˈmɑːʃəlsiː)
Forms: see marshalcy; also 4 marchasye, 5 marschalse, 6 marshialshy, mareshelsey, marchese, marshashey, 7 marshall sea, (martial sea), 6– marshalsea.
[The same word which in other senses is spelt marshalcy. In the 16–17th c. the word was imagined to be f. marshal + see, seat.]
1. A court (abolished in 1849) formerly held before the steward and the knight-marshal of the royal household of England (latterly before a barrister appointed by the knight-marshal), originally for the purpose of hearing cases between the king's servants, but afterwards with wider jurisdiction. Also, a prison in Southwark under the control of the knight-marshal (abolished in 1842).
| 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 354 He sholde make whitbred, and wel y-bake, after þe sale of corn, and vp-on þe a-syse of þe marchasye. 1428 in E. E. Wills (1882) 78 The prisons of Ludgate, Marchalsie, Kyngesbenche. 1436 Ibid. 106 To the Prisoners of the Marchalse. c 1500 God speed the Plough 77 Then commeth the tipped-staves for the Marshalse, And saye they haue prisoners mo than Inough. 1501 in Bury Wills (Camden) 89 The prisoners in Newgate, Ludgate, to the Kyngs Benche, and to the Marshalsy. c 1550 Manifest Detect. Diceplay (Vele) C iij b, Your fine chets..made both in y⊇ kings bench & in y⊇ marshalsea. 1545 Brinklow Compl. xi. C vj, The court of the marshalse. 1549 Latimer 4th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 120 Thre wekes sessions at newgate, and fourthnyghte sessions at the Marshialshy. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 63 He was send unto the Marchese. 1591 Lambarde Archeion (1635) 21 The Marshalsey for matters within the Verge or limits assigned to the Kings House or Palace. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. iv. 90 Ile finde A Marshallsey, shall hold ye play these two Monthes. 1639 in Verney Papers (1853) 215, I praye lett mee heare how businesses goes att the marshall seas, boat[h] in the prison and in the courte. 1641 Prynne Antip. 239 He was committed to the Marshashey among Rogues and murtherers. 1654 Warren Unbelievers 236 We..must commit his Minor to the Marshalsie as a Rebel against reason. 1660 Trial Regic. 146 In the Case of Martial sea, and in the Common Pleas. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 76 The court of the marshalsea, and the palace court at Westminster, though two distinct courts, are frequently confounded together. 1855 Dickens Dorrit i. xxxii, The Marshal of the Marshalsea..had got him hard and fast. |
| attrib. 1764 Burn Poor Laws 48 A reasonable allowance to the constable..to be paid out of the gaol and marshalsea money. 1813 Gentl. Mag. i. 480 The Southern boundary wall of the Marshalsea Prison. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Marshalsea-money, the county rate. |
2. Used as the name of certain prisons elsewhere than in London.
| 1657 Pittington etc. Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 309 For payment of the arreares for the jaole and marshalsey [Houghton-le-Spring]. |
¶ 3. Used
Hist. for
marshalcy 2 b.
| 1904 M. Bateson Miscell. Scot. Hist. Soc. II. Introd. 10 [A record of 28 Ed. I] shows that a number of persons were not ‘at the king's wage in the roll of his marshalsea’ [orig. in rotulo Marescalcie sue]. |