DORSET AND KING JOHN. 



123 



Rents gmuted by tlie King from ecclesiastical benefices in his own 

 gift were of a similar nature. Thus there was granted to 11. do 

 Cornhull clerk 100s. rent in the Church of Soles " Centu' 

 solidat' reddit' i' eccles' de Soles,' " which benefice was vacant and in 

 the King's gift (6 John, Memb. 4), and to Henry the Abbot, partly 

 on account of his poverty, the King granted 12 marks in an eccle- 

 siastical benefice (16 John, Memb. 14). And to John dc Fcireford 

 "100s. of rent in an ecclesiastical benefice" (16 John, Memb. 14). 

 There are five instances also on Memb. 13 of the same year. 



Sometimes the payment was made under the name of pension. 

 As to Eudo Martell, who had resigned the benefice of Stradbrook, 

 but received letters patent for one besant to be paid out of the 

 perpetual vicarage of the same Church under the name of pension, 

 "i bisant' nomi'e pensionis " (9 John, Memb. 1), and to the 

 Archdeacon of Suffolk who received " de pensio'e j aurci in eccl' 

 ia de Semer' " (16 John, Memb. 10). 



The payments or grants are to men of all degrees and conditions 

 of life, and for various services or for none. After the grant to 

 the Carthusians at "Witham comes a pension to " A, the (^uecn 

 mother of the King, £28 a year in Ilchester." The Patent Rolls 

 give very little information about Alienora, the Queen mother. 

 She lived but a short time after this, for by letters patent dated 

 April 15, 1205, the King informs the sheriff of Dorset and other 

 sheriffs that "for the love of C4od and for the safety of the soul of 

 our very dear mother who is recently dead " he had discharged and 

 quitted claim on all prisoners except those taken in the late war, 

 and the Jews who were his prisoners, and charges the sherill' to 

 liberate all prisoners in Dorset except such as came under either of 

 these classes (Rot. Pat., 6 John, Memb. 11 in dorso). 



Robert Berkely, the recipient of £30 a year, was in the King's 

 confidence. He was one of three persons sent on a confidential 

 errand to the barons, knights, and freeholders of Dorset in Feb., 

 1215 (16 John, Memb. 7). 



Towards the close of this portion of the Pipe Roll is a list 

 of defaults at Congresbury, and of payments made in resi^ect of 



