196 The Earliest Cliarters of the Abbey of Lacock. 



in its course received the Koyal confirmation Feb. 4th, 1237, and 

 was entered on the Charter Rolls (Calendar 1, 225), and was also 

 confirmed by William Longespee, with almost the same list of 

 witnesses. The original confirmation is in the Record Office, Court 

 of Wards, Box 94, E. 59, and it is copied into both the Old (13a) 

 and the New Cartulary {2b). At some time, not now to be exactly 

 fixed, he also executed a deed, whereby he promised, in view of 

 his mother's transference to him of her manors, not to exact any- 

 thing contrary to the agreement made between them (Old Cart., 

 11a, i. J New, 7a). It probably does not refer to the last agreement 

 of all, since it is marked " vacat' " in the margin, signifying that it 

 had been voided by some later arrangement. The witnesses are 

 the same as those of the cancelled charter and its successor. 



These negotiations having been thus satisfactorily concluded, 

 there was nothing to prevent Ela from carrying out her project of 

 retiring into religion, and accordingly we find that she took the 

 habit of an Austin Canoness at Lacock on Christmas Day, 1238, as 

 is recorded in the Book of Lacock. The post of Abbess had been 

 kept vacant, in anticipation of her election to the office, which in 

 due course came to pass ; but it seems that the Book is wrong in 

 placing the event on Aug. 15th, 1240, since there is extant at 

 Salisbury (Sarum Charters, Rolls Series, p. 251/) a letter from the 

 Prioress Wymarca, bearing on Ela's election, and dated Aug. 15th, 

 1239. It states that the special arrangement whereby Ela, Abbess 

 elect, is to receive the episcopal blessing in Sherston Church, is 

 not to prejudice the rights of the Cathedral Church, in which 

 subsequent Abbesses are to be blessed. Tlie profession of canonical 

 obedience made by Ela at this time and bearing her signature in 

 the form of a cross, is preserved among the Chapter Records at 

 Salisbury, and is illustrated in photographic facsimile in Words- 

 worth's Cartulary of St. Nicholas' Hospital, Salisbury. 



In 1240 William Longespee went to the Holy Land, having taken 

 the cross as early as 1227. He returned in 1242, and in 

 1248, in view, we may gather, of his intended second expedition, 

 from which he was destined never to return, he executed a charter, 

 confirmed by the King, July 12th of the same year (Cal. Charter 



