51YNCIIIN 15UCKLAND riUOIlY. 33 



^vith a considerable amount of Information as to tlie legal 

 Position of tlie Sisters. It is clear, from tlie very terms of 

 their Constitution, that they were necessarily subject to 

 the Prior at Clerkenwell in no Inconsiderable degree. 

 Bracton, indeed, specially cites tliem as instances of legal 

 inability of acting apart from the Prior and Head of their 

 Order.* It appears that the Sisters had represented to 

 the king the ancient grant which had been, as we have 

 Seen, conceded to them so early as the reign of Henry III., 

 and the further permission accorded of removing their fire- 

 wood, for greater convenience, between the Festival of 

 Easter and that of S. Peter ad vincula. It is added, 

 though hardly as it would seem borne out by the facts, 

 that these concessions had been enjoyed by them from 

 that time to the present without let or hindrance either 

 from the king or the custodians of the park. The present 

 keeper, however, had resisted their demand on the ground 

 that they were but officials, " obedienciarie " of the Prior of 

 S. John, and therefore not competent to accept the grant 

 in their own persons. The Prioress and her Sisters, ac- 

 cordingly, petitioned the king to interfere in their behalf 

 and to provide a remedy. This result it is the Intention 

 of the writ to efFect. The king, taking it into bis royal 

 consideration that the Prioress and Sisters would instantly 

 and devoutly pray for the health of himself and bis dearest 

 consort Johanna during their lives, and for their souls 

 after their deaths, and for the king's dearest consort Maria, 

 deceased, granted their request, by conveying to Walter 

 Grendon, Prior of S. John, the gift already conceded, so 

 that the samc might be to the use and profit of the Prioress 

 and Sisters at Buckland. Various ambiguities also in the 



* De legibus, lib. v. tr. v. c. 18, de cxceptionibus. 

 VOL. X., 1860, PAKT n. E 



