A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



give Badby at his death to Evesham, he having inherited the remainder 

 of the lease. On the expiry of the lease, he tells us, the abbot of Crow- 

 land (i 1 09- 1 124) claimed the manor from Evesham, and urged the 

 Domesday entry in support of his suit. But, continues the writer, the 

 abbot of Evesham, Reginald, was a nephew of Milo, earl of Hereford, 

 who gave him his support. Abbot Reginald insisted that his house had 

 been given the manor by Avicius the prior and by ' Wulsi ' the hermit, 

 whose patrimony it had long been. The support of so powerful a man 

 as earl Milo of Hereford made resistance useless, and the abbot of Crow- 

 land returned to his house unsuccessful in his claim.' 



Unluckily for this story, there were only twenty years of the lease 

 to run in 1086, according to ' Ingulph,' and abbot Reginald was not 

 appointed till i 122 ; ^ while earl Miles of Hereford, his ' uncle,' did not 

 obtain that dignity till 1141. On the other hand, the Evesham story 

 was that Badby was given to the abbey by Canute in 1018, and after- 

 wards ' restored ' by prior Avitius and ' the blessed Wlsi ' as of their 

 inheritance.' This ' Wlsi ' appears to have died under William Rufus.* 

 Canute's charter was printed by Kemble, who did not throw any doubt 

 on its authenticity. ** But this charter dates itself as granted in 1020, and 

 it does not profess to give, but only to ' concede ' the manor." Its con- 

 tents certainly are more consistent with a confirmation by Canute of a 

 gift by ' Avicius ' than with the subsequent detention and final restora- 

 tion of the manor by Avicius. Evesham documents themselves are not 

 above suspicion, and in the absence of any real evidence, one can only 

 conjecture that the Domesday entry may have been due to Wulfsige 

 being connected with Crowland in 1086. 



No Norman religious house is found, in Northamptonshire, ' hold- 

 ing in chief,' save that abbey of Grestain on which the count of Mortain 

 had bestowed endowments in several counties. As he held here so many 

 manors, it is probable that in this county also the abbey owed its posses- 

 sions to his favour. Indeed, as I have elsewhere shown, it obtained 

 Harrington, at least, from his wife Maud, to whom it had been given 

 by her father, earl Roger de Montgomery.' The countess Judith had 

 given to the Norman abbey of St. Wandrille, which enjoyed the duke's 

 favour, an estate at Boughton 'by the king's leave' (fo. 229) ; but the 

 abbey is not entered as a tenant in chief. On the Norman abbey of St. 



* Ed. Gale, pp. 123-125. ^ Chron. Evesham, p. g8. It may even have been as late as 1 130. 

 ^ ' Iste prior quasi ex paterna hereditate duas villas Baddebi et Neueham huic sanctse 



ecclesiae reddidit. Hoc idem fecit postea beatus Wlsius quum parentes sui easdem villas 

 iterum injuste occupassent ; de una enim erant parentela. — Ihid., p. 83. 



* Il>'d., p. 394. 



* Codex Diplomaticus, VI. 178, from Harl. MS., 3763 (in which I have verified the 

 readings). Mr. Stevenson tells me that he thinks it is forged on the basis of the genuine 

 charter in Cod. Dip., IV. i8 (Brit. Mus. Facsimiles, IV. 16), granting to 'j^uic' five hides 

 at ' Niweham.' 



'' ' Ob beneficium et reverentiam nostri dilectissimi monachi nomine Euich, aecclesiae 

 in Eovesham iiii."'' mansas in Badebi et in Newaeham in aeterna concedimus 

 hxreditate.' Euich (Evich) is Avicius. ' Feudal England, p. 104. 



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