218 THE ANTIQUITIES [LETT. 



dissensions and want of order that prevailed in the convent 

 resigned his priorship into the hands of the bishop. lleg. Wayn- 

 nete, torn i. pars i mft , fol. 157. 



March 28, A.D. 1468. " In quadam alta camera juxta mag- 

 nam portam mrnerii of the Bishop of Wynton de Waltharn 

 coram eodem rev. patre ibidem tune sedente, Peter Berne, prior 

 of Selborne, ipsum prioratum in sacras, et venerabiles manus of 

 the bishop, viva voce libere resignavit : and his resignation was 

 admitted before two witnesses and a notary-public. In conse- 

 quence, March 29th, before the bishop, in capella manerii sui 

 ante dicti pro tribunal! sedente, comparuerunt fratres" Peter 

 Berne, Thomas London, William Wyndesor, and William Pay- 

 nell, alias Stretford, canons regular of the Priory, " capitulem, et 

 conventum ejusdem ecclesie facientes ; ac jus et voces in elec- 

 tione futura prioris dicti prioratus solum et in solidum, ut 

 asseruerunt, habentes ; " and after the bishop had notified to 

 them the vacancy of a prior, with his free license to elect, de- 

 liberated a while, and then, by way of compromise, as they 

 affirmed, unanimously transferred their right of election to the 

 bishop before witnesses. In consequence of this the bishop, 

 after full deliberation, proceeded, April 7th, "in capella manerii 

 sui de Waltham," to the election of a prior ; " et fratrem Johan- 

 nem Morton, priorem ecclesie conventualis de Eeygate dicti 

 ordiuis S u Augustini Wynton. dioc. in priorem vice et nomine 

 omnium et singulorum canonicorum predictorum elegit, in ordine 

 sacerdotali, et etate licita constitutum, &c." And on the same 

 day, in the same place, and before the same witnesses, John 

 Morton resigned to the bishop the priorship of Keygate viva voce. 

 The bishop then required his consent to his own election ; " qui 

 licet in parte renitens tanti reverendi patris se confirmans," 

 obeyed, and signified his consent orat.ulo vive vocis. Then was 

 there a mandate citing any one who would gainsay the said 

 election to appear before the bishop or his commissary in his 

 chapel at Farnham on the 2nd day of May next. The dean of 

 the deanery of Aulton then appeared before the chancellor, his 

 commissary, and returned the citation or mandate dated April 

 22nd, 1468, with signification, in writing, of his having pub- 

 lished it as required, dated Newton Valence, May 1st, 1468. 



