The Smarts of Fleckney
A Seventeenth‑Century Scandal
Every village has its stories, and Fleckney is no exception. Among the more colourful entries in our parish records sits the tale of Edward Smart senior — a man who managed to fall foul of both canon law and common sense in spectacular fashion.
The trouble began after the death of his first wife, Elizabeth Arnold. Edward took up with Alice Arnold, who happened to be Elizabeth’s own sister. Today this would raise eyebrows; in the seventeenth century it raised the full weight of the ecclesiastical courts. Marriage to a deceased wife’s sister was strictly forbidden, and the parish clerk recorded Alice as Edward’s “pretended wife” — a wonderfully frosty phrase meaning not lawful, and we all know it.
The church acted swiftly. Edward and Alice were formally pronounced excommunicate in Fleckney chapel on 26 September 1663, and Edward again on 5 November 1664. According to the minister, William Burkley, no record of absolution ever appeared. In other words: they stayed out in the cold.
But the Smarts’ difficulties didn’t end there. Years later, in March 1680, both Edward senior and Edward junior were hauled before the ecclesiastical court once more — this time over money. The court ordered them to pay £24 to the minister, plus £4 a year from their share of local impropriations (essentially church revenues held by laymen). The Smarts attempted to dodge the judgement by seeking a legal prohibition, claiming that nothing was owed to the minister at all.
Unfortunately for them, Fleckney’s witnesses were made of sterner stuff. Six “substantial” parishioners swore under oath that the minister’s allowances — both “more and less” — were entirely justified. The court was unmoved by the Smarts’ manoeuvring, and the judgement stood.
Taken together, the record paints a vivid picture: a family determined to bend the rules, a minister determined not to be bent, and a parish determined to keep its house in order. It’s a small story, but it reminds us that village life has always had its dramas — some whispered, some written down in gloriously indignant ink.
And so the Smarts of Fleckney pass into local legend: excommunicated, litigated, and ultimately immortalised in the parish books. Proof, if ever we needed it, that our village history is anything but dull.
The Transcription
Memorand.
Edward Smart senior & Alice Arnold his pretended wife (own sister to Eliz. Arnold his first wife, by whom he had issue Elizabeth baptised Dec. 3 1643) were pronounced excommunicate in the chapel of Fleckney Sept. 26 1663, and the said Ed. Smart again Nov. 5 1664, not absolved by ought that hath yet appeared from the ecclesiastical court, thus signified April 5 1681 by Will. Burkley, minister of Fleckney.
March 10 1680 – Sentence in ye ecclesiastical court against Ed. Smart senior & Ed. Smart junior for £24 to be paid to Will. Burkley, minister of Fleckney, and £4 yearly out of Smart’s part of impropriations by that in Fleckney.
They were stayed (or delayed) by a false suggestion to get a prohibition, alleging nothing was due to a minister, though allowance for more and less was sufficiently proved by six substantial witnesses upon oath.
