By Harold Brakspear, F.S.A. 197 
The village of Lacock is about three miles south of Chippenham, 
near the river Avon, and formed part of the extensive possessions 
of the first Norman Earls of Salisbury—whose heiress, Ela, was 
married to William Longespeé, natural son of Henry II., who in 
consequence became possessed of all the titles and possessions of 
her wealthy house. 
The ‘ Book of Lacock,’”’ formerly in the collection of Sir Robert 
Cotton, suffered severely from the fire that so injured his collection 
‘in 1731, but still remains, in a much damaged state, in the British 
Museum.! 
Fortunately some extracts had previously been taken, and are 
printed in the Monasticon and elsewhere, from which we learn with 
reference to the foundation of the abbey that :— 
‘Ela vero uxor ejus vij annis supervixit in viduitate, et proposuit autem 
 sepius ut fundaret monasteria Deo placentia, pro salute anime sue et mariti 
sui et omnium antecessorum suorum: que per revelationes habuit ut in 
prato testudinum, Anglice Snaylesmede, prope Lacock monasterium ‘edificaret 
in honorem Sanctze Mari, Sanctique Bernardi, et usque ad finem complevit 
sumptibus suis propriis, id est Comitatu Sarum quod fuit hereditas sua. Fun- 
davit etiam Prioratum de Henton? ordinum Cartusize ; una die duo Monasteria 
-fundavit, primo mane xvj Kal Maij a° mcexxxij apud Lacock, in quo sancte 
dejent Canonisse continuo Deo famulantes et devotissime ; et Henton post 
monam; a° vero extatis sue xly. Alicia Garinges apud Lacok prima 
Canonissa velata. A° vij post fundationem domus de Lacock, hoc est a? D’ni 
meexxxviij., Domina Ela Lungespee, nobilis matrona, assumpsit habitum 
religionis apud Lacock, a° etatis sue li. vij kal. Januarii, in suis et actibus et 
‘prepositis, omnibus perpetratis secundum consilium et auxilium 8. Edmundi 
Cantuar. Archiepiscopi et aliorum virorum discretorum semper seipsam 
indulgens. A° D’ni mecxl. xviij kal. Septemb. confecta est D’na Ela Lungespee 
eidatrix in Abbatissam primam de Lacock, a°® vero etatis sue liij. Ubi 
Monasterium suum et gregem sibi commissum multis annis strenue gubernavit 
et Deo devotissime servivit, arctam vitam ducens, in jejuniis, in vigiliis, sanctis 
meditationibus et disciplinis assidue rigidis, ac aliis operibus bonis caritativis 
decem et octo annis. Demum vero, cernens se senio et nimia debilitate 
affectam, cum non potuit ut voluit religioni sue prodesse, renunciavit et 
usavit presse, et dum vixit Abbatissam preficit nomine Beatricem de 
antia, pridie kal. Januarii a° meclvij, a° etatis suilxx. Sicque fare quinque 
| Cott. Vitellius, A. VIII. I beg to thank my friend Mr. W. H. St. John 
Hope for discovering this for me, it having always been supposed, on the 
au thority of Bowles and Nicholls, History of Lacock, preface, p. 5, that the 
latter parts, including this extract, had been completely destroyed. 
2 Henton, now Hinton Charterhouse, in Somerset : eleven miles from Lacock. 
