A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



wood, who was to render fealty to the king's 

 foresters and verderers. 11 



The Abbot of Rufford in 1275 maintained his 

 right to all manner of chartered privileges for his 

 house and its tenants on their Nottinghamshire 

 lands, including freedom from every form of 

 secular exactions on all that they bought or sold 

 and on all that was conveyed to them, whence- 

 soever it came, whether by land or water. The 

 right of free warren in all their lordships was also 

 upheld." 



Four years later the abbot was equally suc- 

 cessful in maintaining his full manorial rights at 

 Rotherham, including assize of bread and ale, 

 tumbrel, pillory, standard measure and gallows, 

 as well as free warren at Rotherham and Carle- 

 cotes. 13 



Reference has already been made to Arch- 

 bishop Wickwane's action in ordering the release 

 in 1280 of two convent of this house from the 

 civil prison of Nottingham and their transference 

 to canonical confinement. 14 



Early in the reign of Edward I John de Vescy 

 granted to Thomas de Stayngreve, Abbot of 

 Rufford, and to his monks eight bovates of land 

 at Rotherham, together with the manor of the 

 same, the advowson of the mediety of the church, 

 the fair, market, mills, ovens, courts, and other 

 appurtenances. 18 



In August 1288 Henry, Abbot of Rufford, 

 obtained a licence to cross the seas to attend the 

 general chapter of his order, and to be absent 

 until a fortnight after Easter. 16 Edward I spent 

 September 1290 in Nottinghamshire, Derby- 

 shire, and Northamptonshire ; on the 1 8th he was 

 at Rufford Abbey, where he sealed a variety of 

 documents. 17 



Licence was granted to the abbot in 1291, 

 after an inquisition ad quod damnum by John 

 de Vescy, justice of the forest, to fell and sell the 

 wood growing on 40 acres of his wood within 

 Sherwood Forest. 18 



In 1292 the Abbot of Rufford again obtained 

 royal licence to leave the kingdom, from May 

 until All Saints tide, to attend a general Cister- 

 cian chapter. 19 In 1 300 the abbot was allowed 



11 Chart. R. 36 Hen. Ill, m. 22. 



" Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 632-3. 



13 Ibid. 206-7. 



14 York Epis. Reg. Wickwane, fol. 178 d. 



14 As set forth in a confirmation and inspection 

 charter of 1283 ; Chart. R. 1 1 Edw. I, m. 6. 



16 Pat. 16 Edw. I, m. 10. The rule obliging all 

 abbots to attend each annual chapter was relaxed in 

 favour of England owing to distance. A deputation 

 attended yearly from England. On this occasion the 

 Abbot of Rufford was accompanied by the abbots of 

 Pipewell, Calder, Kirkstead, Vaudey, and Comber- 

 mere. 



"Pat. 1 8 Edw. I, m. 10, 8, 7 d. ; Close, 18 

 Edw. I, m. 3. 



18 Pat. 19 Edw. I, m. 15. 



" Pat. 21 Edw. I, m. 12. 



to cross the seas from July until Christmas for a 

 like cause. 20 



The Taxation Roll of 1291 gives the annual 

 income of the temporalities from the three 

 counties of Nottingham, Lincoln, and Derby as 

 1 1 8 45. ; by far the largest part of this 

 (jiio 5*.) came from the county in which the 

 abbey was situated. 21 The valuable church of 

 Rotherham is entered in the text of the MS. as 

 subdivided without any mention of Rufford, but 

 a variant reading states that it was appropriated 

 to the Abbot of Rufford in totum. 



References to the woods by which the abbey 

 was surrounded occur with some frequency in 

 the rolls. Thus in 1300 the abbot and convent 

 obtained licence to sell the cablish or windfalls in 

 their woods, although they were within the metes 

 of the forest of Sherwood. 23 In 1323 the abbot 

 was licensed by Edward II to grant to Henry le 

 Scrop twelve oaks fit for timber in his wood 

 within the king's forest of Sherwood, and for 

 the same Henry to fell them and carry them 

 away. 34 Again, in 1328 Edward III licensed 

 the abbot to give twelve oaks from his wood to 

 John de Roos, who might fell them and take 

 them to his manor of Eakring. 2 ' In 1334 the 

 king licensed the same John de Roos to fell 

 and take away whither he will twelve living oaks 

 and twelve old oaks not bearing leaves given 

 him by the Abbot and convent of Rufford. An 

 indemnity was given so that they might not 

 hereafter be charged by the ministers of the forest 

 in respect of the same. 2 * John de Horton, who 

 had served the late king well and faithfully, was 

 sent by Edward II in 1307 to Rufford Abbey, 

 there to receive sustenance. 27 William le 

 Lound, king's clerk, was licensed in the same 

 year to fell three oaks in the woods of the Abbot 

 of Rufford, and two in the woods of the Prior of 

 Newstead, respectively given him by the two 

 houses, and to take them wherever he will. 28 



It would be tedious to continue enumerating 

 many like entries during the I4th century, but 

 perhaps an exception may be made in mention- 

 ing that in 1336 the abbot was licensed to 

 grant to Henry de Edwinstowe, king's clerk, 

 trees out of his woods within the forest of 

 Sherwood, sufficient to make a hundred quarters 

 of charcoal. 29 



The references to the rorest woods are fairly 

 frequent in the chartulary. The Abbot and 

 monks of Rufford claimed to cut and take green 

 wood in their wood within the regard of Sher- 



10 Pat. 28 Edw. I, m. n. 



11 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 72, 262, 312. 

 " Ibid, 299^, 300. 



"Pat. 28 Edw. I, m. 15. 

 14 Pat. 1 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. I. 

 " Pat. 2 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 20. 

 "Pat. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 16. 

 17 Close, i Edw. II, m. i 5 d. 

 " Pat. 9 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 23. 

 19 Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 23. 



IO2 



