56 The Will of Thomas Polton, Bishop of Worcester, A.D. 1482. 
vna cum tribus capis albis alterius secte 
valde bonis que fuerant Domini Ducis 
Exon vltimo defunct. 
Item lego cuilibet commonacho eius- 
dem ecclie xl, 
Item cuiuslibet alterius Monasterii 
Prioratus Domus Collegii aut alterius 
loci conuentualis exempti et non exempti 
ve dioc viro Religioso seu mulieri xx‘, 
Volo tamen qd Priorissa de West- 
wode habeat pro se vnum nobile et que- 
libet Monialis ibidm xl*. ad orand pro 
anima et aliorum vt infra patet Et xx" 
solidos lego eciam ad sustentacoem et 
reparacoem illius pauperimi Prioratus. 
Item lego ecclie parochiali de Melden- 
haleSarum dioc vnum par vestimentorum 
cum vno portiferio magno quod illuc 
nuper tr*nsmisi eciam cum vno corporali 
et ij tuellis pro sumo altari ibm. 
of the same suit, together with three very 
good white capes of another suit, which 
belonged to the late deceased Duke of 
Exeter.* 
Also, I leave to each monk of the same 
Church 40d. 
Also, to every religious man or woman 
of every other Monastery, Priory, House, 
College, or other Conventual Place ex- 
empt and not exempt in my diocese 2Ud. 
I desire however that the Prioress of 
Westwode+ shall have for herself one 
noble, and each Nun of the same 40d. to 
pray for my soul and the souls of others 
as explained below, and I also leave 20s. 
for the sustentation and repair of that 
very poor Priory. 
Also, I leave to the Parish Church of 
Mildenhall in the diocese of Sarum one 
set of vestments for the altar, together 
with one large Breviary, which I lately 
sent there, together with one corporal ¢ 
* Thomas Beaufort, second Earl of Dorset, youngest natural son of John of 
Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by Catherine Swinford, created in Parliament Duke 
of Exeter for life, 18th November, 1416; Earl of Harcourt, in Normandy, 1st 
July, 1418, by the service of rendering to the King at Rouen “unum florene 
deliciarum” annually on the Feast of S. John the Baptist; K.G.; ob. 27th 
December, 1426, s.p., when that dignity became extinct. Historic Peerage of 
England, by Sir Harry Nicholas, revised, &c., &c., by William Courthorpe. He 
was Chancellor of England for two years. “ He could not have been very fit 
for the office, but reached the highest dignity in the peerage of any man who 
ever held the Great Seal.” ‘He afterwards made a most distinguished figure 
in the wars of Henry V.” Campbell’s Lives of the Chancellors. 
+ The Priory of Westwood, Co. Worcester, was a cell to Fontevrault, in Nor- 
mandy. ‘‘An Hermaphrodite order of monks and nuns in which, contrary to 
others of a similar complexion, the weaker sex was allowed the preeminence. The 
founder (Robert d’Arbrissel) erected for their accommodation cells in the woods 
of Fontevrault. After lodging the women in separate apartments, and subjecting 
them to the control of the Abbess, he placed the order under the rules of 8S. 
Benedict, and appainted this house to preside over the whole. Previous to the 
French Revolution there were about fifty of these monasteries in France.’’ 
Ambresbury was another of their houses. Westwood was a favourite school for 
young ladies of rank in the diocese. 
t Corporale, or Corporas. The linen cloth on which the elements were conse- 
crated at the Eucharist. Dict. Christian Antiquities. 
a 
