Early Owners or Holders of Lands. 257 



be told about Potterne. In the begmning- of this period flourished 

 Richard of Devizes/ a Benedictine Monk of Winchester, the author 

 of " Tempera Regis Ricardi I." and " Epitome Rerum Britani- 

 carum," extending from Brute to Stephen. About the same time 

 also lived William of Poterne, who seems to have been in a post of 

 some authority, inasmuch as he was applied to by Richard, Prior 

 of Bath (1198-12ii3), to examine the record of Domesday to ascer- 

 tain the terms in which the town of Bath was described, It was 

 no doubt the same ecclesiastic who held the Pn^bend of Twyford as 

 Canon of St. Paul's London, at the time.^ His letter is published 

 in Ellis' " Original Letters," ^ from the old royal collection in the 

 British Museum, (6 c. si,) and consists simply of a summary of the 

 entries from the Domesday Book for Somerset respecting Bath. 

 It is written in the hand of the early part of the thirteenth century, 

 on a leaf of an ancient volume of the letters of St. Jerome and St. 

 Augustine. 



A little later on, the names of RanulfdeLovethorpe, William Nigel, 

 and Roger Fitz-Everard occur, amongst others, as those of holders 

 under the manor, and mention is made of Mimberie, Maserige, 

 Thorp, and Poterne Wike. Meanwhile "The Devizes," was rising 

 daily in importance, throwing into the shade the older manors of 

 Potterne and Cannings. Not a year passes but King John comes 

 to his castle at " The Devizes," which is made in short a provincial 

 treasury. Thus on July 5th, 1'215, the King was here and received 

 " a golden cabinet, set with stones and other precious gifts." The 

 following day he acknowledges the receipt of a more substantial 

 present, in the shape of "66 sacks of money." Then in the 

 following year, on June 9th, the entry runs, — "' We received in our 

 chamber at 'The Devizes,' 60 marks, &c." No wonder that thus 

 basking in the sunshine of royal favour, the inhabitants of this 

 town waxed bold in asking favors, and sometimes it must be con- 

 fessed with but a slender regard for their neighbour's interests. 



' See Waylen's " Devizes," p" 16. 



»See Le Neve's Fasti, ii., 441. 

 s Ellis's " Original Letters," i., 26. 



