By J. E. Nightingale, F.S.A. 351. 



document belonging to the Corporation of Wilton, eleventh Edw. II. 



Lucy. This abbess Lucy has not appeared before. Her name 

 occurs in a Pem. charter of thirty-fifth of Edw. III. — L36L This 

 must have been about the time of her death, as Hoare says that her 

 successor, Sibilla Aucher, was elected in this year. 



SiBiLLA Aucher. A document of this abbess, from the Pem. 

 charters, dated from Wilton in 1371, with the principal portion of 

 her beautiful seal attached (plate. No. 4) will be found further on. 

 Her name is also met with, in conjunction with her co-nun, Eliza- 

 beth Strode, in the previous year. This abbess is No. 9 in Hoare^s 

 list ; she was elected in 1361. The family of Aucher was established 

 at Fisherton, hence the name of Fisherton Aucher, or Anger. A 

 Margaret Auchier was elected Abbess of Shaftesbury in 1314, her 

 name occurs again in 1318 and 1327. Johanna Aucher was con- 

 secrated Nun at Amesbury on Ascension Day, 1327 (see Jackson, 

 Wills Mag., vol 18, p. 287) . 



Matilda de Bokeland. This abbess occurs in a Pem. charter of 

 the fiftieth of Edw. III. — 1376. It is also found in a MS. preserved 

 in the British Museum (Cart. Harl., 45 a. 37) of forty-ninth Edw. 

 III. — 1375. The purport of this latter document, together with a 

 re-production of her seal (plate, No. 6) , will be given subsequently. 

 The name !of this abbess is not found in Hoare^s list, although he 

 afterwards prints her name in some extracts from the public records. 

 Brown Willis, in his scanty list of the Wilton Abbesses, quotes 

 ''Matilda de la Mar 1372.^^ This error, as before mentioned, no 

 doubt arose from there being two Abbesses Matilda. The Matilda 

 of 1372 was a Bokeland, and not a de la Mar. The discipline of 

 the monastery had at this time considerably deteriorated, as appears 

 by a long episcopal ordinance of Bishop W^yville, in 1379, for its 

 future regulation. One rule was that no nun was to possess a seal, 

 and any one who kept a seal was to be punished as a,proprietari/. 



After the year 1400 the list of abbesses, as given by Hoare, is 

 pretty complete. The vacancies to be supplied occur between 

 Radegunda, A.D. 871, and ^Ifgyth, 955. Also the names of the 

 two abbesses who governed between Wulftrude and Bryghtwyde. 

 After the conquest there is a period to be bridged over between tlie 



