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Robberies: Podelicote

There is little reason to doubt that a large quantity of the treasure-that consisting of the plate and jewels-was recovered. One of the principal thieves, Richard de Podelicote, was found with two thousand pounds' worth in his possession. This man subsequently confessed the whole matter, and so did another of the robbers. Their accounts are not quite consistent, as is usually the case. Podelicote is always spoken of as the great culprit, and in his confession he takes the whole blame of the matter, as well as the previous robbery of the conventual plate from the refectory. A portion of his confession runs thus:- "He was a travelling merchant for wool, cheese, and butter, and was arrested in Flanders for the king's debts in Bruges, and there were taken from him pound 14 17s., for which he sued in the King's Court at Westminster, at the beginning of August, in the thirty-first year, and then he saw the condition of the refectory of the Abbey, and saw the servants bringing out silver cups, and spoons, and mazers. So he thought how he might obtain some of these goods, as he was so poor, on account of his losses in Flanders; and so he spied about all the parts of the Abbey. And on the day when the king left the place for Barnes, on the following night as he had spied out, he found a ladder which was at a house near the gate of the Palace, towards the Abbey, and put that ladder to a window of the Chapter-House, which he opened, and closed by a cord; and he entered by this cord, and thence he went to the door of the refectory, and found it closed with a lock, and he opened it with his knife, and entered, and there he found six silver hanaps in an ambry behind the door, and more than thirty silver spoons in another ambry, and the mazer hanaps under a bench, near together; and he carried them all away, and closed the door after him without shutting the lock. And having spent the proceeds by Christmas, he thought how he could rob the king's treasury. And as he knew the ways of the Abbey, and where the treasury was, and how he could get there, he began to set about the robbery, eight days before Christmas, with the tools which he provided for it, viz., two 'tarrers,' great and small knives, and other small 'engines' of iron; and so was about the breaking open during the night hours of eight days before the Christmas to the quinzain of Easter, when he first had entry on the night of a Wednesday, the eve of St. Mark (April 24); and all the day of St. Mark he stayed in there, and arranged what he would carry away, which he did the night after, and the night after that, and the remainder he carried away with him out of the gate behind the Church of St. Margaret, and put it at the foot of the wall, beyond the gate, covering it with earth, and there were there pitchers, cups with feet and covers. And also he put a great pitcher, with stones and a cup, on a certain tomb. Besides, he put three pouches full of jewels and vessels, of which one 'hanaps' entire, and in pieces. In another, a great crucifix and jewels, a case with silver and gold spoons. In the third 'hanaps,' nine dishes and saucers, and an image of Our Lady in silver-gilt, and two little pitchers of silver. Besides, he took to the ditch by the Mews a pot and a cup of silver. Also, he took with him spoons, saucers, spice-dishes of silver, a cup, rings, brooches, stones, crowns, girdles, and other jewels, which were afterwards found with him. And he says that what he took out of the treasury he took at once out of the gate near St. Margaret's Church, and left nothing behind within it."

The other robber, who confessed, speaks of a number of persons-two monks, two foresters, two knights, and about eight others, being present at the "debrusure." His account, too, makes it a week earlier than the other. The affair was evidently got up between the sacrist of Westminster, Richard de Podelicote, and the keeper of the palace, with the aid of their immediate servants and friends. Doubtless they speculated upon comparative impunity, while the king was so far away and occupied with such important matters, and they arranged accordingly. An extraordinary instance of the amount of cunning and foresight exercised by the robbers is shown by the circumstance of the cemetery-the green plot enclosed by the cloisters-being sown with hemp early in the spring, "so that the said hemp should grow high enough by the time of the robbery that they might hide the treasure there, and the misdeed be unknown." This shows that the plot was deeply laid, and the crime long prepared for. From the confession will be seen that upwards of four months were consumed in making an entry into the treasury.

Doubtless the criminals had their deserts, though the record does not give the sentence passed upon them.-[Dean Stanley's "Westminster."] In 1449, the precious hoard of saintly relics, valuable jewels, and other riches, in the treasury of the Republic of Venice, very narrowly escaped dispersion through an artful robbery. Among the suite of the house of Este, indulged, according to custom, with an inspection of the wonders of the treasury of St. Mark's, was a Canadian, named Stammato, in whose bosom the sacred spectacle awakened more desire than veneration. Watching his opportunity, and closely noticing the localities of the spot, the ingenious plunderer secreted himself behind an altar in the body of the Cathedral, and obtained fresh access by means of false keys. After numerous difficulties, and by the labour of many successive nights, he removed one compartment of the marble panelling which girded the lower part of the treasury. Having thus gained access at will to the interior, he carefully replaced the panel, leaving it removable at pleasure, and, renewing his nightly visits, he selected, without fear and without suspicion, such portions of the entire spoil at his command as most gratified his fancy. It was, doubtless, a lust for gold which allured him, in the first instance, to the Birretta, or ducal cap of the Doge, studded with gems of inestimable price. For the full enjoyment of his plunder, it seemed necessary that another should know of its possession. Accordingly, having exacted a solemn oath of secrecy from one of his countrymen, Grioni, a Candian of noble birth, he led him to an obscure lodging, and poured before the astonished eyes of his companion the dazzling fruits of his plunder. While the robber watched the countenance of his friend, he mistrusted the expression which passed across it, and the stiletto was already in his grasp to insure his safety, when Grioni averted the peril by saying that the first sight of so splendid a prize had almost overcome him. As a token of benevolence, perhaps as a bribe, Stammato presented his unwilling accessory with a carbuncle, which afterwards blazed in the front of the ducal bonnet. Grioni, seeking an excuse for a short absence, and bearing in his hand this well-known and incontestable evidence of his truth, hastened to the palace, and denounced the criminal. The booty, which amounted to the scarcely credible sum of two million golden ducats, had not yet been missed, and was recovered undiminished. Stammato expiated his crime between the two columns; the rope with which he was executed having been previously gilt, in order that, like Crassus, he might exhibit in his death a memorial of the very passion which had seduced him to destruction.