80 PAPEBS, ETC. 



The House was dedicated to the Apostles, St. Peter, 

 and St. Paul ; and considerable care was taken to supply 

 by art and generosity what was deficient in the nature of 

 the locality itself. Few human beings would have selected 

 such a spot for their habitation, apart from that love of 

 religious privacy to which its lonely position so eminently 

 ministered. 



According to an ancient calendar, the conventual Church 

 was dedicated on the 7th of January, a.D. 939. Athelstan 

 endowed it with many and princely benefactions — " pra> 

 diis multis et possessionibus ampliavit," (Harl. MS. 261, 

 f. 107, b.) — an example which, according to Collinson, was 

 followed by many monarchs both before and after the 

 Norman Conquest.* Unfortunately the charter of the 

 founder is not extant. At the period, however, of the 

 Domesday record, about a Century and a half subsequent 

 to the foundation, the Abbey was possessed of four caru- 

 cates of land in the three islands of " Michelenie," 

 " Midelenie," and " Torleie ;" two hides and a half at 

 " Cipestaple ;" twenty hides in " Ileminstre ;" six hides 

 and a half in " Ile ;" twenty hides in " Draitune ;" ten hides 

 in "Camelle;" and a hide and a half in "Cathangre." 

 In the specification of the property there occur woods, 

 meadows, pastures, a fishery, mills, a vineyard at Muchel- 

 ney, a market at Ilminster, &c. The rents are stated to 

 amount to £51 16s. 



In the Taxatio of Pope Nicholas IV, made about 1291, 

 the following notices occur : 



Decanatus Ivelcestr'. 

 Eccl'ia de Muchelneye ... 6 p. 197. 



* Collinson's Histovy of Somerset, vol. iii, p. 134. 



