"quandam minutam placeam vocatam Shoford in parochia de Maideston per communes nuper insurgentes prostratam, ... ad superplicationem ven. patris Willielmi de Courtenay, archiep. Cantuar.
Licence, at the supplication of William de Courtenay, archbishop of Canterbury, for William de Topclyve to crenellate and fortify a small 'place' called 'Shoford' in the parish of Maideston, lately levelled by the insurgents."
Granted at Westminster, by privy seal.
Coulson writes "William's involvement with the sheriff and the cathedral probably explains why his house was the target of popular vindictiveness. When it was all over he may, of course, have felt that a substantial stone-built, crenellated new house (perhaps with parapets to protect the roof) would reduce the risk of arson and afford him more security in the future. But such dwellings were frequently (in fact, normally) built without any licence to crenellate. Without doubt, the function of the licence to William was to reaffirm his status and his association with the great. It was an emphatic and demonstrative response to the menu peuple who had dared to resent and attack his standing."
Original source is
(In fact, the original source given is usually a transcription/translation of what are precious medieval documents not readily availably. It should be noted that these transcription/translations often date to the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries and that unwitting bias of transcribers may affect the translation. Care should also be taken to avoid giving modern meaning to the medieval use of certain stock words and terms.)
Significant later source are;
More details about licences to crenellate can be found here.
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