350 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 



only four canons at the Priory;* and that these, and their four 

 household servants, during this sequestration for their clothing, 

 wages, and diet, were allowed per annum xxx lib. ; and that the 

 annual pension of the lord prior, reside where he would, was to 

 be x lib. 



In the year 1468, Prior Berne, probably wearied out by the dis- 

 sensions and want of order that prevailed in the convent, resigned 

 his priorship into the hands of the bishop. Reg. Waynflete, torn. 

 I., pars i ma ., fol. 157. 



March 28th, A.D. 1468. " In quadam alta camera juxta magnam 

 portam manerii of the Bishop of Wynton de Waltham coram eodem 

 rev. patre ibidem tune sedente, Peter Berne, prior of Selborne, 

 ipsum prioratum in sacras, et venerabiles manus of the bishop, 

 viva vocelibere resignavit : and his resignation was admitted before 

 two witnesses and a notary- public. In consequence, March 2Qth, 

 before the bishop, in capella manerii sui ante dicti pro tribunali 

 sedente, comparuerunt fratres " Peter Berne, Thomas London, 

 William Wyndesor, and William Paynell, alias Stretford, canons 

 regular of the priory, "capitulum, et conventum ejusdem ecclesie 

 facientes ; ac jus et voces in electione futura prioris dicti prioratus 

 solum et in solidum, ut asseruerunt, habentes ;" and after the 

 bishop had notified to them the vacancy of a prior, with his free 

 license to elect, deliberated awhile, and then, by way of compromise, 

 as they affirmed, unanimously transferred their right of election to 

 the bishop before witnesses. In consequence of this the bishop, 

 after full deliberation, proceeded, April 7th, "in capella manerii 

 sui de Waltham," to the election of a prior; "etfratrem Johannem 

 Morton, priorem ecclesie conventualis de Reygate dicti ordinis 

 S tf . Augustini Wynton. dioc. in priorem vice et nomine omnium 

 et singulorum canonicorum predictorum elegit, in ordine sacer- 

 dotali, et etate licita constitutum, c." And on the same day, 

 in the same place, and before the same witnesses, John Morton 

 resigned to the bishop the priorship of Reygate viva voce. The 

 bishop then required his consent to his own election : " qui licet 



* If Bishop Wykeham was so disturbed (see "Notab. Visitatio") to find the 

 number of canons reduced from fourteen to eleven, what would he have said 

 to have seen it diminished below one-third of that number? 



