Ralph de Pokethorpe is an incumbent of particular interest because his tenure comes to an end with the arrival of the Black Death, leaving the village without an incumbent for 13 years. The Black Death is estimated to have killed between a third and a half of the population of England so it is entirely possible that he was a victim.
Unfortunately, the only reference that we have found to Ralph de Pokethorpe relates not to his clerical office in Hempstead but to his (presumed) son. It is not relevant to Hempstead but is still an amusing anecdote.
In July 1399, a woman from Scameston named Alice Redynge appeared in the consistory court at York claiming that one John Boton was her husband, a charge which he denied. She produced witnesses, including a local beggar named William de Bridsall, who testified that he had overheard the marriage contract.
By way of background, under canon law at the time, a marriage could be contracted by any man or woman (provided there was no impediment) simply by an exchange of words of consent, followed by sexual intercourse. Had the exchange of words (not the intercourse!) taken place in a public place her case would have been much stronger: as it was, it was alleged to have taken place outside the sheepfold and Alice could only produce the bare legal minimum of two witnesses.
Boton’s defence largely turned on the witness’s mental capacity: he argued that William was a notorious drunk, a beggar and a stultus (imbecile). De Pokethorpe was called as a witness, and testified as follows:
Alice won her case.