Club JJlotes. 



A MEDIAEVAL BURIAL CUSTOM IN DORSET. 



Among the Middleton manuscripts at Wollaton Hall, 



Northamptonshire, is the probate of the will of Robert de 



Bingham, county Dorset, an abstract of which is appended: 



To be buried in the cemetery of St. Andrew of Tolr' 



(Toller) on the south side of the chancel of the 



same church, near the tomb of Nichole de Tornay, 



my wife, et ante corpus meum unum bovem. 



Among the legacies are the following : For the fabric 



of the church of Tolr', 2s. ; to the lesser friars 



of Dorsetre (Dorchester), half a mark (6s. 8d.) ; 



to my chapel of Stafford, 4s. ; to Henry, rector 



of the church of Tolr', four spoons (coclearia) 



of silver, and to the same, one mark of silver. 



The rector to be one of the executors, with the 



testator's son Ralph and " Johanna de Ralcghe, 



my wife." 



Proved before the official of the Archdeacon of Dorset 

 in the church of the Blessed Mary of Bridport 

 quinto kalendas Maii (27 April) 1303. Adrnin- 

 instration granted to Henry, rector of Toller, 

 and Ralph, two of the executors, Joan being 

 released on account of weakness (Historical 

 Manuscripts Commission Report). 



The instructions to bury an ox before the body of the 

 testator is so unusual as to be worth noting in these pages. 

 The custom seems to be near akin to paganism and somewhat 

 reminiscent of Hittite burial practices. Through the kindness 

 of a friend at the Public Record Office, the puzzle was sub- 

 mitted to Mr. E. S. Hartland, of Gloucester, an authority 



