A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



the Crown to Prior Edmund, in mortmain, of 

 the advowson and lordship of the house of St. 

 Leonard, Rishton, by Palmersbridge, on pay- 

 ment of a fine of ten marks. The original 

 grant of the premises had been made by 

 Elias Deverel without the licence of Edward I., 

 and the king, in consideration of the fine 

 made by the present prior, pardoned the 

 trespass committed by his predecessor, Prior 

 Quyntyn, in entering upon the premises 

 without licence. 1 



On 9 February, 1337, Bishop Orlton visited 

 Christchurch and preached in the chapter 

 house from the text, l Aicendmtt *Jesu in 

 navicu/am, secuti sunt eum discipuli ejus.' * 



In the following month Prior Edmund 

 died, and the convent, with the consent of 

 their patron, William Montague, Earl of 

 Salisbury, elected Richard de Bustehorne as 

 their fourteenth prior. 3 There was clearly 

 some great irregularity about this prior, for in 

 July, 1337, after a rule of only a few months, 

 the bishop ordered the sub-prior to administer 

 the affairs of the priory, and appointed a 

 commission to inquire into and punish the 

 excesses noted in his late visitation. 4 The 

 bishop held another visitation in July J339- 6 



During the previous voidance of the 

 priory on the death of Prior Edmund, the 

 Crown ordered Ralph de Middleneye, the 

 escheator, not to meddle further in the 

 manors of Piddleton, Little Piddle, Bernardsley, 

 and Fleet, co. Dorset, removing the king's 

 hands and restoring the issue. The king 

 had granted to William Montague and his 

 wife the castle and manor of Christchurch, 

 and the escheator had considered that the 

 custody of the priory (which was appurtenant 

 to the castle and manor) pertained to the 

 king during a vacancy, and had not per- 

 mitted the sub-prior and convent to inter- 

 meddle with it. For this action the zealous 

 escheator was reprimanded. 8 



In March 1342 licence for alienation in 

 mortmain was obtained on payment of the 

 heavy fine of twenty-four marks, by William 

 Everard and Elizabeth his wife, of a mes- 

 suage, 60 acres of land, 4^ acres of meadow 

 and 71*. zd. of rents in Odeknolle, South- 

 welbergh and Eccinswell, to find a canon 

 of the priory as chaplain to celebrate at the 

 altar of St. Andrew in the parish church of 

 Twyneham for their good estate and their 



1 Pat. 7 Edw. III. pt. i, mm. 15, 13. 



2 Winton. Epis. Reg., Orlton, i. f. 50. 

 8 Ibid. f. 53 ; and chartulary lists. 



* Ibid. f. 56b. 

 6 Ibid. f. 77b. 

 6 Close, II Edw. III. pt. i, m. 17. 



souls after death, and for the ancestors and 

 heirs of Elizabeth, and also a wax light to 

 burn before the altar on the five feasts of Our 

 Lady, from the beginning of first vespers to 

 the end of second vespers. The chaplain 

 was to be paid 131. 4^. beyond what other 

 canons received, to celebrate the anniversary 

 of William and Elizabeth as was usual for a 

 founder of the house, to transmit the obits to 

 every religious house of the same order in 

 England, as was wont to be done for a de- 

 ceased canon, and to distribute early on the 

 days of the obit and anniversary, bread and 

 beer and a dish from the kitchen to sixty poor 

 persons of the town of Twyneham. 7 



From a relaxation of penance enjoined on 

 the canons of Christchurch at a recent visita- 

 tion, dated 23 May, 1343, we learn that 

 Bishop Orlton must have held another 

 visitation shortly before this date. 8 



By the feudal aid of 1346, it appears that 

 the prior of Christchurch held a quarter of a 

 knight's fee in Whippingham and a twelfth 

 part in Delbourne. 9 



In 1359 Prior Henry made a most interest- 

 ing and precise statement before the bishop's 

 official as to the vicarage of Twyneham, 

 giving the value of all the numerous payments 

 in kind, and citing the original ordination of 

 the vicarage and its augmentation in 1312. 

 It was stated that the annual value of the 

 corrody for the vicar and his servant came to 

 jio 145. The vicar received weekly seven 

 loaves of convent bread, 3^. ; twenty-one 

 gallons of good beer, 2id. ; and a daily dish 

 from the kitchen, 14^. His servant received 

 fourteen loaves (one of oats and one of barley, 

 daily), l\d. ; three gallons of beer, ^\d. ; and 

 dishes from the kitchen at \d. per day, $\d. 

 He received for his horse a share of a meadow 

 worth 131. 4<f., and oats worth $s. He was 

 also paid a salary of IOJ., as well as "id. every 

 Sunday and a candle worth id. As to 

 offerings, there was a population of 2,000 at 

 Christchurch, and the confession offerings of 

 one penny were estimated at 411. 8^., showing 

 that a fourth were expected to be of age for 

 that sacrament ; and the pennies at burial 

 masses, purifications and marriages were 

 estimated at 10. The parish also gave the 

 vicar ten quarters of oats valued at 165. 8d. 

 The rental value of the vicar's manse was 

 13*. 4^., and it was repaired by the priory ; 

 so that the profits beyond the corrody were 

 worth 1 5 13;. a year. The vicar had no 

 synodal or procuration burdens, nor had he 



7 Pat. 16 Edw. III. pt. i, m. 32. 



8 Winton. Epis. Reg., Orlton, i. f. i zob. 



9 feudal Aids, ii. 337,340. 



156 



