96 The Priory of Marciyny rind its connexion ivith Wiltshire. 



which they had likewise adopted with regard to their property in 

 Wiltshire, as will shortly be shown. 



That the alms were royal there can be no doubt, even if the 

 king who gave them cannot be determined. That Stephen en- 

 dowed the nuns of Marcigny might be inferred without direct 

 evidence at all, for his mother Adela, daughter of the Conqueror, 

 ended her days as one of them. The same Adela was sister of 

 King Henry I., whom she survived two years, and it may well be 

 that to him it is that the descriptioi; the " old King Henry " refers. 

 Indeed a charter to them of this king is extant: — 



Henricus rex Angloruui archiepiscopis episcopis abbatibus comitibus 

 vicecomitibus baronibus et omnibus tidelibus suis toe us Anglie Salutem. 

 Sciatis me concessisse monialibus de Marciniaco ubi soror mea monialis est 

 quod tota terra et homines et omnia sua sini in pace et quieta de placitis et 

 querelis et syris et hundredis et danegeldis et murdris et omnibus aliis rebus 

 et habeant soeam et sacam et tol et team et infangenethoef cum omnibus 

 consuetudinibus et libertatibus aliis sicut mea dominica maneria et nullus 

 vicecomes vel servientes sui se de rebus earum intromittant nisi per eas 

 et si aliquod placitum vel querela super earn {sic) undecunque evenerit 

 ponatur in respectum usque in presentiam meam ut quod mihi inde placuerit 

 precipiam. Teste G. cancellario. 



Carton Antiqiicc, Cc. No. 19. 



Adela, or Alice," says Sandford {Genealogical Histoi'y of the 

 Kings of England, A.D. 1677), " countess of Blois, fourth daughter 

 of the Conqueror, and " Queen Maud," married " Stephen, earl 

 of Blois," whom she survived, " and in her widowhood governed 

 the " county palatine of Blois, during the minority of her sons." 

 She then took " orders in the priory of nuns at Marsigny in 

 France," dying there two years after the death of King Henry 1., 

 her brother. 



The further available evidence with regard to Marcigny and its 



endowments is much later in date. It appears by the Calendar 



of Close EoUs that : — 



1275, Oct. 10. Roger atte Brok, Henry le Conestable, John le Kyng, 

 William le Hay ward, Walter de Whitewell, William de Whitewell, Walter le 

 Blund, William Oppershull, Beatrice Harding, and Roger Gornard, put in 

 their places William Snel and John Harding, in the suit before the King 

 between them and the prior of Farleye of a plea that he shall not exact 

 customs and services. 



