By Rev. W. G. Clark- Maanvell, F.S.A. 197 



Rolls, I., 332), whereby he gave the nuns of Lacock the manor of 

 Chittern, with certain reservations, including the knight's fees and 

 the land of his sister Ela, Countess of Warwick. This latter land, 

 which his sister surrendered to him together with the service of 

 Robert de Holt, he gives to the nuns by a later charter, which, 

 however, cannot be later than 1249, when he left England for the 

 last time. On February 8th, 1250, he was slain at the assault of 

 Mansoura, in Egypt, and as soon as the news of his death reached 

 England the King issued letters, dated Sept. 27th, for the adminis- 

 tration of his goods (Bowles and Nichols, p. 372). Thereupon the 

 Abbess Ela and Convent of Lacock obtained a confirmation of her 

 last charter from William Longespee III., son of the deceased 

 crusader, which is preserved at the Record Office (Box 94, B. 11, 

 New Cart., 3b). This is witnessed among others by William de 

 Tenhyde, who is described as Sheriff of Wilts; and, as his 

 shrievalty extended from 1249 to 1255 (John his son being his 

 deputy from 1253) it seems clear that the date of this last con- 

 firmation must fall between the end of 1250 and 1253. William 

 Longespee III. died in 1256, in consequence of injuries received 

 at a tournament at Blyth, in Nottinghamshire ; and at the end of 

 this year the Abbess Ela resigned her office, nominating Beatrice 

 of Kent as her successor; in 1261 she died, being then about 

 seventy years old. 



Of the exchanges which she had endeavoured to effect in 1236 

 one was accomplished in 1312, when the nuns acquired the Bloets' 

 portion of the advowson of Lacock, proceeding at once to obtain 

 the impropriation of the rectory, as detailed in vol. xxxiii. of the 

 Magazine, p. 358^; the other was never carried out, but the 

 Canons of Bradenstoke retained their interest at Hatherop till the 

 Dissolution, when it was bought by Sir William Sharington, to- 

 gether with the Lacock estate, in the year 1548 (B. and N., p. 308). 



N.B. — It would appear that the foundress' intention that Lacock 

 Abbey should be named " Locus Beate Marie " was never realised, 

 since we never find it so styled at any time except in her first 

 charter and in that of Constance de Leigh, which seems to have 

 been executed at the same time. A like fate seems to have 



VOL. XXXV. — NO. CVIII. O 



