310 WHITE 



"Item that the said bishop, dicto prioratui et personis 

 ejusdem pie compatiens, sollicitudines pastorales, labores, et 

 diligentias gravissimas quam plurimas, tarn per se quam per 

 suos, pro reformatione premissorum impendebat ; et aliquando 

 illius loci prioribus, propter malam et inutilem administra- 

 tionem, et dispensationem bonorum predicti prioratus, suis 

 demeritis exigentibus, amotis ; alios priores in quorum circum- 

 spectione et diligentia confidebat, prefecit ; quos tamen male 

 se habuisse ac inutiliter administrare, et administrasse, usque 

 ad presentia tempora post debitam investigationem, &c., in- 

 venit." So that he despaired with all his care ; " statum ejus- 

 dem reparare vel restaurare ; et considerata temporis malicia, 

 et preteritis timendo et conjecturando, futura, de aliqua bona 

 et sancta religione ejusdem ordinis, &c., juxta piam intentionem 

 primevi fundatoris ibidem habend. desperatur." 



William Wainfleet, bishop of Winchester, founded his col- 

 lege of St. Mary Magdalene, in the University of Oxford, in 

 or about the year 1459; but the revenues proving insuffi- 

 cient for so large and noble an establishment, the college sup- 

 plicated the founder to augment its income by putting it in 

 possession of the estates belonging to the Priory of Selborne, 

 now become a deserted convent, without canons or prior. The 

 president and fellows state the circumstances of their numer- 

 ous institutions and scanty provision, and the ruinous and 

 perverted condition of the Priory. The bishop appoints com- 

 missaries to inquire into the state of the said monastery ; and, 

 if found expedient, to confirm the appropriation of it to the 

 college, which soon after appoints attorneys to take posses- 

 sion, September 24th, 1484. But the way to give the reader a 

 thorough insight respecting this transaction will be to tran- 

 scribe a farther proportion of the process of the impropria- 

 tion, from the beginning, which will lay open the manner of 

 proceeding and show the consent of the parties. 



IMPROPRIATIO SELBORNE, 1485 



" Universis sancte matris ecclesie filiis, &c. Ricardus Dei 

 gratia prior ecclesie conventualis de Novo Loco, &C., 1 ad uni- 

 versitatem vestre notitie deducimus, &c., quod coram nobis 

 commissario predicto in ecclesia parochiali S 1 ! Georgii de Esher 



