Alphred Duport (also written as Alured de la Porte) was a 13th-century freeman of the

City of Exeter A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, in England. He served as

Mayor of Exeter The Mayor of Exeter, granted Lord Mayor of Exeter in 2002, is the Mayors in England, Mayor of Exeter in the ceremonial county of Devon, England and is elected by and from within the councillors of the City of Exeter City councils, council. The posi ...

eight times, first in 1269, and for the last time in 1284. He was executed following his last tenure, for dereliction of duty.

Mayoralty

Duport was elected as

eight times, during the reigns of Henry III and

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...

. He was appointed in 1269, 1275, 1276, 1278, 1280, 1281, 1283, and 1284.

Execution

The

Precentor A precentor is a person who helps facilitate worship. The details vary depending on the religion, denomination, and era in question. The Latin derivation is ''præcentor'', from cantor, meaning "the one who sings before" (or alternatively, "first ...

of the cathedral, Walter Lechlade (also written as Lichlade or de Lecchelade) was murdered in the Cathedral Yard in November 1283, as he left from

Matins Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning (between midnight and dawn). The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which w ...

at around 2am. The Cathedral Yard had six gates, and it was the responsibility of the City Council to lock the gates, and to keep the peace. It was assumed that the culprit fled through the South gate, which should have been locked an hour previously. As the gate should have been locked, the keeper of the gate, Duport as the responsible officer of the city, and possibly some others, were both put on trial in 1285 and

hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

. George Oliver, in his 1861 ''History of the city of Exeter'' asserts that the execution of Duport may never have happened, and claims other sources are mistaken, primarily as he does not believe that this execution was within the character of the King, although other authors dismiss Oliver's position for lacking evidence, and pointing to the contemporary records.

References

{{Reflist Mayors of Exeter 13th-century births 13th-century deaths Executed people from Devon English politicians convicted of crimes People executed by hanging Executed politicians