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the desire to avoid any possible cause of disagreement, in conse- 
quence of the divided patronage, and states that the appropriation 
of the Rectory is to be subject to Royal Licence. The reason for 
this was in all probability, that the statute of mortmain (1279) 
forbade the acquisition by a religious house, except under Royal 
Licence, of any lay fee, and the right of presentation of the Bluet 
family would be reckoned as such. Accordingly we find in the 
Patent Rolls a licence issued 4th March, 1312, empowering them 
to acquire Bluet’s half of the advowson, and to appropriate the 
Church. For this licence they had to pay a fine of 100s., repre- 
senting the capitalized value of the fines which the Crown might 
_ expect to levy on each successive owner of this turn of patronage: 
The Bishop thereupon issued, on March 6th, 1312, a set of “ ordi- 
nations,” or conditions to be observed in the appropriation, which 
are summarized here as follows, the full text being printed in the 
Appendix (No. V.) 
The Bishop appropriates the church to the nuns, who were 
to:— 
(1) Find a priest to say mass for Bluet’s soul daily in the Lady 
Chapel of the Abbey Church which was to be built at 
their joint cost. 
(2) Cause one of their chaplains to say daily a mass of the B. 
Virgin in the aforesaid chapel. During these two masses 
four candles to burn in the four corners of Bluet’s tomb. 
(3) On his anniversary to distribute $d. each to one thousand 
poor people. (This was still kept up at the Reformation 
where the Valor Eccl. shows a payment of £2 1s. 8d. to 
the poor on St. Petronilla Virgin, May 31st). 
1Pat. Roll Cal. 1311-2. ‘Licence, after inquisition ad quod damnum 
taken by Walter de Gloucestre, escheator beyond Trent, for the alienation in 
mortmain by John Bluet, tenant in chief, to the abbess and nuns of Lacok, 
tenants in chief, with whom alternately he has the right of patronage in the 
advowson of the Church of St. Cyriac, Lacok, of his turn of presentation to 
that Church. Licence also for them to appropriate the Church. By fine of 
VOL. XXXIII.—NO. Cll. 2 8B 
