The Mob

What does this word mean? According to some linguists or philologists, like Friedrich Diez, its etymology is that of co-huer, to boo or jeer in unison, in reference to all the noise that occurred during the local court rulings. For others, the word stems from  an old Celtic word, coui, or the low Latin word, cohua. The expression was used in the north and the north-west of the country in the 13th century and was found in Furetière’s universal dictionary in 1690, with the following definition, ‘it has since been used to signify the place where judicial proceedings were held by village judges, the baron’s or seigneur’s legal officers, who had no official, physical court’.

From the beginning of the 12th century the Fontaine-le-Bourg barony was tied to the Benedictine Abbey temporal jurisdiction in Fécamp. It held both civil and penal proceedings. In fact the power of justice was primordial. How, otherwise, could the Abbey collect its various taxes, inspire respect and demand obedience without  coercive power? It held the right to exercise both low and high justice.

Naturally these legal proceedings took place in the centre of the barony under the jurisdiction of the deputy justice officer. The first legal officer oversaw the more serious cases.

The prisoners were taken to Rouen Saint Gervais to be judged. If they were found guilty they were brought back to a crossroads in Fontaine-le-Bourg where they were beaten and chastised by the whole village.

It is well known that medieval thinking was very sensitive to this kind of situation and people had great faith in the power of example. The most serious criminals were sentenced to execution by hanging on a hill in a hamlet overlooking the town.

The stone chimneys, the chapel and the prison no longer exist but the building has retained its beautiful 16th century mullioned windows.