A writ directed to the sheriff, commanding him to take sureties, called mainpernors, for the prisoner's appearance, and to let him go at large. This writ is now obsolete.
(b)
Deliverance of a prisoner on security for his appearance at a day.
... notwithstanding, condemned him to prison and kept him in prison in Oxford till he contented the said William with a large sum of money, and made an obligation of L20 to be at the will of the said University, and still he had to find mainprise before he could be set free. And because when he was taken and led to prison by the bedels of the University, he entered his house and shut his coffers and chests and the door of his room for the safety of his goods and chattels, the said Chancellor ... — The Customs of Old England • F. J. Snell
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