A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



demesne tithes in Bunny and Bradmore, by Odo 

 de Bunny. 4 



Fortunately for the sake of peace, it very rarely 

 happened that the gift of a pious founder gave 

 rise to whole centuries of litigation and strife, as 

 was the case with one part of the benefactions of 

 William Peverel to this priory we allude to the 

 various tithes of the Peak district just enumerated. 

 When the vast estates of the Peverels were con- 

 fiscated to the Crown in the reign of Henry II, 

 they were bestowed by the king on his second 

 son John, Count of Mortain. No sooner had 

 Richard ascended his father's throne than John 

 began to play the part of a conspirator. One of 

 John's most ready and able tools in the Midlands 

 was Hugh de Nonant, the turbulent Bishop of 

 Coventry and Lichfield. When his attachment 

 to John began to wane, the count secured his 

 further support by the gift of the churches of 

 Bakewell, Hope, and Tideswell, with all their 

 appurtenances. When John came to the throne, 

 he confirmed the gift of these churches to the 

 then occupant of the see, Geoffrey Muschamp, 

 but Geoffrey's successors in the bishopric, William 

 Cornhill (1215-1224) and Alexander Stavenby 

 (1224-1240), transferred these rights to the dean 

 and chapter of Lichfield. 



Almost immediately after this transfer had 

 been completed, litigation broke out between the 

 priory and the chapter, which extended, with 

 certain intervals of peace, over three centuries, 

 during which period there were five several ap- 

 peals to the Roman court. The matter at issue 

 between Lenton and Lichfield, though presenting 

 slightly different phases of the same questions, 

 always related to (i) the extent of the lordships 

 of William Peverel, (2) the right of bequeathing 

 tithes of land not under cultivation at the time 

 of the donation, and (3) more especially how far 

 the charters of the Count of Mortain overrode 

 those of William Peverel, whose descendants had 

 suffered sequestration. 



The disputes assumed a violent form in the 

 years 1250-1, when the monks of Lenton by 

 force of arms seized on certain tithes of wool 

 and lambs in the parish of Tideswell. The 

 chapter of Lichfield actually ordered the wool to 

 be stored and the flocks to be folded within the 

 nave of the church for security ; but the adher- 

 ents of the priory disregarded sanctuary rights 

 and burst open the doors. Thereupon a free 

 fight ensued between the two parties ; many of 

 the sheep and lambs were butchered under the 

 horses' hoofs or by the weapons of the combat- 

 ants ; and the pollution of both church and 

 churchyard rendered the suspension of all reli- 

 gious rites obligatory until they had been form- 

 ally reconciled by the bishop. In this encounter 

 eighteen lambs were killed in the church and 

 fourteen were carried off to the grange of the 



4 Dugdale, Mon. v, 112. 



Lenton monks. Geese, hay, and sheaves of oats 

 were also seized by violent methods about the 

 same time. Bishop Weseham of Lichfield found 

 that it was high time to interfere to check such 

 a scandal, and himself suggested an appeal to 

 Rome. Pope Innocent IV, after failing with 

 earlier-appointed commissions, nominated a com- 

 mission of three with extended powers, consisting 

 of the warden of the Franciscans of Leicester, 

 the Archdeacon of Chester, and the Prior of the 

 Dominicans of London. A decision was given 

 in 1252 in the church of St. Mary at Leicester 

 to the effect that (i) the priory should pay 100 

 marks fine to the sacrist of Lichfield, in addition 

 to the j6o already voluntarily paid by the priory 

 to the chapter as compensation for the damage ; 

 that (2) all the greater and lesser tithes of Tides- 

 well belonged to the chapter, except two-thirds 

 of the tithes of lead on the demesnes formerly 

 held by William Peverel, of the tithes of the mill 

 of Richard Daniel, and of the tithes of the stud- 

 farm and of the venison ; that (3) the chapter 

 should pay 14 marks yearly out of the tithes of 

 Bakewell and Hope to the priory ; and that (4) 

 two-thirds of the great tithes only should go to 

 the priory in other parts and of pastures and 

 places then under cultivation at Bakewell, Ne- 

 ther Haddon, Ashford, and Chapel en le Frith. 



This decision was respected and secured peace 

 for about a quarter of a century, but the dispute 

 broke out again with some vehemence in 1275, 

 and was frequently renewed up to the time of 

 the dissolution of the religious houses. 6 



The connexion of the Cluniac house of Len- 

 ton with the adjoining town of Nottingham was 

 as close and important as that of the monastery 

 of St. Andrew, of the same order, with the town 

 of Northampton. The first charter of Henry II 

 freed from every form of tax, toll, or custom the 

 whole of the priory of Lenton, and any one dis- 

 turbing the monks or their tenants in this re- 

 spect was liable to the then huge penalty of ^10. 

 By his second charter the same king granted the 

 priory a fair of eight days at the feast of St. 

 Martin, with full toll of all things from which 

 toll may be taken, excepting on those purchases 

 which were made for food or clothing. In the 

 same charter Henry II warned both the sheriff 

 and castellan of Nottingham not to molest the 

 monks of Lenton in the slaughter of oxen, nor 

 in anything else to which they have been accus- 

 tomed, such as the right of buying freely in the 

 markets. No complaints or pleadings against 

 the monks were to be permitted in any of the local 

 courts, but only before the king or his chief 

 justice. 



6 For a summary of this Lis Lentonensis, see Dr. Cox, 

 Cat. oftht Lich. Mun. 66-g also Derb. Arch. Sot. 

 Journ.v, 129-64, where Dr. Cox has given tran- 

 scripts of nine of the more important of the Lichfield 

 documents treating of this subject. See also Cox, 

 Ch. of Derb. ii, 140, 270. 



