Endorsed "Hec mulier suam egit penitentiam secundum modum et formam suprscriptos die et loco supradictis, per me Richardum Ffison."
Probably written, signed and addressed (on verso) "To my lovinge frend Mr. ffeson Curate of Trinity parish in Ely give thes" elsewhere, and endorsed in Ely.
With trace of a seal.
This document appears to be a citation announcing the sentence of the Consistory Court.--Cf. Hall, p. 264.
Part of a collection of 14 penances enjoined upon members of Protestant congregations in the diocese of Ely (MA 665-1-14); 5 maps of Cambridgeshire (MA 665.15-19); and 1 leaf on Ely from Philemon Holland's English translation of William Camden's Britain (MA 665.20). Items are cataloged individually in 20 records.
Requiring that on "the xxijth daie of February next cominge" (12 February 1595/1596) Margaret Stannard, clothed in a white sheet and holding a white wand, stand on the porch of the church in Trinity parish, Ely, from before morning prayer until the reading of the second lesson and ask the passing parishioners to forgive and pray for her. Stating that after the minister retrieves her from the porch (while the congregation sings the psalm Misere in English), she must kneel during the reading of the ten commandments and then confess "I have broken his devine lawes and commaundementes in committinge the most shamefull and abhominable sin of adultrie or fornication." Stating that she must then stand before the congregation while the minister reads a homily against adultery and fornication. She is required to do this three Sundays or holy days in a row, and on the third day the minister will read a homily on repentance. Signed "Concordat cum Decreto domini Judicis Ita testor Tho[mas] Amy, Notarius Publicus."