CRANBORNE AND TEWKESBURY. 35 



often solicited her, she at last answered like a good and courteous 

 maiden ' Sir,' said she, ' I see plainly that your heart is set on 

 me more for the sake of my inheritance than of myself; having 

 such an inheritance as I have, it would be dishonourable to me to 

 have a lord who had not two names.. My father's name was Sir 

 Robert le FitzHayme, and that inheritance ought not to be any 

 man's that was not of his rank, therefore, for God's love, let me 

 have no man for a husband who has not two names whereby he 

 may be known.' ' Damsel,' quoth the King, ' thou sayest well in 

 this case ; thy father's name was Robert le FitzHayme, and I 

 will take care that my son shall have one as fair, for his name 

 shall be Sir Robert Fitz le Roy.' ' Sir,' said the maiden, ' that is 

 a fair name and of great repute as long as he shall live, but what 

 shall his son be called, or any other of his descendants ? Unless 

 care be taken of that also they may soon come to have no name !' 

 The King perceived that the maiden said nothing unreasonable, 

 and, knowing that Gloucester was the chief part of her heritage 

 ' Damsel,' said he, ' thy lord shall have a fair unobjectionable 

 name for himself and his heirs ; his name shall be Robert Earl of 

 Gloucester, and he and his heirs shall be Earls of Gloucester.' 

 ' Sir,' quoth the maiden, ' then I like this well ; on these terms I 

 consent that all my land shall be his.' " * 



And thus this important matter was happily settled to the lady's 

 satisfaction, and, no doubt, to the gentleman's also. FitzHamon 

 died A.D. 1107, two years before the marriage. At the time of 

 his death the building of Tewkesbury Abbey was unfinished, so 

 that his remains were deposited there in a temporary vault, from 

 which they were subsequently removed to a more eligible position 

 in the church, and it was reserved for Abbot Parker, towards the 

 end of the i4th or the beginning of the i5th century, to erect a 

 sumptuous monument over his tomb. This must have taken 

 place at about the time of the rebuilding of our chancel by the 

 same worthy abbot, and we may not unreasonably conjecture, if 



* Seyer's History of Bristol, vol. 1, p. 353. The rhyming monk's un- 

 couth language is transferred into modern English. 



