2»4 S. IX. June 16. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



469 



terre. 2d. Pierre de Priaulx, qui signs en 1204 la capitu- 

 lation de Rouen pour Jean SapS -terre, Roi d'Angleterre. 

 31. Robertus Pratellis, Archidiaconus Rhothomagensis 

 et autres de la raeme famille toutes des ll me , 12 me , et 

 13 mo Sibcles. Ces tom'ues portent les Armes des Seig- 

 neurs de Priaulx. Les Vitraux de l'eglise contiennent 

 aussi ces armes originaires." 



These may be seen on the monument to the 

 memory of Dr. Jno. Priaulx (one of this family), 

 on the western wall of the nave of Salisbury 

 Cathedral, viz., Gules an eagle displayed, or. Viae 



" A Brief Account of the Nature, Use, and End of the 

 Office of Dean Rural, addressed to the Clergy of the 

 Deanery of Chalke. a.d. mdclxvi.-vii. By John Pri- 

 aulx, D.D., Rural Dean. Edited by Rer. Wm. Dansey, 

 M.A., B.M., &c. London: Bohn, 1832." 



The account from which I have quoted also 

 mentions, as recorded in Heralds' College, the 

 cession of the ancient domain in the fourteenth 

 century on the departure of John, eleventh Lord 

 of Priaulx, as one of the hostages in England for 

 the ransom of the King of France, John the Good, 

 and that t; Jean de Bourbon, arriere petit neveu 

 de Jean IV. de P." having in right of his wife 

 Jeanne de P. become possessed of the Barony of 

 Preaux, had the same confirmed to him by an 

 " arret du Parlement de Norrnandie du l cr Fev- 

 rier, 15-12." It was subsequently sold with other 

 estates by the last heir to Anne de Montmo- 

 rency, Constable of France, and by this sale the 

 title and estates passed to the royal family of 

 France, and were possessed by the house of Conde 

 at the period of the French Revolution, when it 

 was declared national property, and finally ali- 

 enated to the family from whom I have derived 

 these particulars as stated. About four miles 

 west of Shaftesbury, co. Dorset, is the village of 

 Stour Provost, " called," says Hutchins (Hist. 

 Dors.) " in ancient records, S. Pratel, de Pratellis, 

 preaux, priaulx, and prewes, from the monastery 

 of Pratel or Preaux to which it belonged." * 



In a communication recently furnished to 

 Woolraer'i Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of 19th 

 May, 18(iO, in reply to an enquiry on the origin 

 of the name Prideaux, the Rev. Dr. Oliver, after- 

 proposing the derivation from " the two French 

 words pri, a meadow, and eau, water," i. e. water- 

 meadow, adds : — 



" With regard to the first word Pie's or Preaux (which 

 is rendered into Latin de J'ratis Or de Pratellis), we find 

 in the diocese of Rouen a Benedictine monastery, ' St. 

 Mary Preaux,' founded on the land where Matilda, the 



liters were all married to princes and noblemen of 



land and France, from whom arc descended many 



worthy families; particularly one . . . married lb l'it/.- 



Herbert, Lord Chamberlain to the King, from which the 



Fitz-H. is descended, &c. &c." — Baker's Chron. 



:.. 48. 



* It is from the latter of these aliases its present name 

 rrnpted, and not, as may be supposed, from its later 

 . iii< Provotl and scholars of King's College, Cam- 

 bridge. 



wife of Witt. Cimq. first received the news of the victory 

 of Hastings." 



Dr. Oliver then refers to the two Benedictine 

 Monasteries called Preaux or De Pratellis in the 

 diocese of Lisieux in Normandy (previously re- 

 ferred to), and then adds, as his authority for as- 

 suming the identity of the two names, " I am 

 confirmed In my opinion by what is stated in 

 p. 52. of vol. ii. of Bishop Edmund Lacy's Re- 

 gister" giving an account of the admission of 

 Adam Prianho to the Priory of Modbury, and 

 referring lastly to p. 94. of the same volume, 

 where it is recorded that " "William Benselyn 

 succeeded to the same priory, void by the free 

 resignation of Adam de Pratellis, alias de Pry- 

 deaux, ultimi prioris ejusdem." 



I am of opinion that the foregoing account, 

 and the records from the tombs at Preaux, will 

 sufficiently prove that the " alias " in the last 

 quotation is assumed on mistaken grounds, con- 

 firmed by the fact that the Prideaux's of Devon 

 and Cornwall were located there prior to the 

 Norman Conquest; "the name being adopted," says 

 Burke, " from the Lordship of Prideaux in the 

 parish of Luxilian, co. Cornwall," and have always 

 borne different arms to those of Preaux or Priaulx. 

 (Vide " Commoners, Art. Prideaux, Brune of 

 Place." With regard to the etymology of Preaux, 

 it may be added that the word in its singular 

 form, Preau, is applied at the present day in 

 France to the courtyard surrounding any large 

 building, such as convents, prisons, college.', &c, 

 similar to our use of the word green or lawn in 

 England, — '' the churchyard or lawn of the close" 

 being the description given of the enclosed area 

 surrounding the Cathedral of Salisbury in a re- 

 cent publication, The Post Office Directory of 

 Hants, V/ilts, and Dorset, by Kelly & Co., — a 

 work containing in a condensed form much 

 valuable information on the topography of the 

 above counties. Hoffmann, quoted by Hutchins 

 (ut supra) seems to countenance this rendering 

 of Pratellum or pratum (vide Lexicon, in voce) — 

 " locum, sub dio seu atrium quod claustri por- 

 traits cingunt in monasteriis," — but Hutchins 

 favours the translation " meadow," " whence," 

 says he, " many religious houses in Franco and 

 England were denominated." (Cf*. St. Mary 

 de "Pratis Abbey, Leicester, and the local rhyme 

 attaching to the ecclesiastical edifices of Salis- 

 bury, which designates the cathedral as " St. 

 Mary in the Merefield," or Mcrrificld, for I have 

 never seen it in print, though its memory still 

 lingers with me. Perhaps some one of the local 

 histories of the place may solve the doubt, and 

 afford the origin of the word. I have consulted 

 Dodsworth'a Historical Account of tn£ Cathedral 

 without success.) Henry W. S. Taylor. 



