A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



In 1349 Robert de Bromore, sub-prior, 

 was elected prior, Prior Dernford having prob- 

 ably died of the plague, and in the following 

 year Richard de Caneford was elected prior, 

 on the death of Prior Bromore, probably from 

 a like cause. In 1352 Ralph de Thorleston, 

 a canon of Leicester, was made superior, as 

 there was apparently no suitable priest left of 

 their own house. 1 



In December, 1353, Henry of Lancaster 

 petitioned the pope for an indulgence 

 to those who visited the Augustinian priory 

 of Mottisfont on Trinity Sunday, or who 

 contributed to it. The petition stated that 

 the duke's mother Maud was buried in 

 the priory church. 2 A special effort was 

 apparently being made to revive the house 

 after the shock of the Black Death, which 

 must have greatly reduced the income of the 

 priory as well as thinned its numbers. Pope 

 Innocent VI. lent a ready ear to this influen- 

 tial petition, and in the same month that the 

 application was received, granted the relaxation 

 of a year and forty days' penance to peni- 

 tents who gave helping hands to the priory of 

 Mottisfont, the indulgence to hold good for 

 five years. At the same time a relaxation of 

 a year and forty days of enjoined penance was 

 granted to penitents who visited this church 

 on the feasts of the Holy Trinity, the Assump- 

 tion and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, and 

 those of the Holy Cross and St. Michael. 3 



In July, 1354, Pope Innocent VI. granted 

 a dispensation to Walter de Bocland, canon 

 of Mottisfont, being the illegitimate son of a 

 married woman, to hold any dignity or office 

 in the Austin order, short of the abbatial. 4 



During the vacancy of the see in 1404, 

 this priory was visited by the commissioners 

 of Archbishop Arundel on 8 November, when 

 all was found to be satisfactory. 6 



In 1456 a commission appointed by Bishop 

 Waynflete declared the priory vacant, because 

 William Marlynburgh, the prior elect, did not 

 exhibit sufficient title. Whereupon William 

 Westkarre was elected. 8 



Henry VII., patron of Mottisfont (through 

 the duchy of Lancaster), finding the priory 

 seriously reduced in numbers and income, and 

 being desirous to change it into a collegiate 

 church for a dean and prebendaries, applied 

 to the pope for a bull for its suppression. 

 In response to this application Alexander VI. 



1 Winton. Epis. Reg., Edingdon, i. ff. 48b, 6<)b, 

 74 b. 



2 Cal. of Papal Petitions, i. 253. 



3 Ibid. iii. 514. 4 Ibid. iii. 537. 

 6 Cant. Archiep. Reg., Arundel, i. f. 504. 

 8 Winton. Epis. Reg., Waynflete, i. f. 13. 



in 1494 issued a bull for the suppression of 

 the priory, in favour of a college. It is stated 

 that the priory, instead of supporting eleven 

 canons, according to the original foundation, 

 was then only able with difficulty to maintain 

 three, and that the annual income did not 

 exceed ^I2O. 7 Henry however changed his 

 mind and resolved to annex the priory to his 

 Windsor foundation ; but, changing yet again, 

 he determined to assign it to his great chapel 

 at Westminster Abbey. Alexander VI. com- 

 placently issued another bull, in the year 

 1500, authorizing the suppression of Mottis- 

 font priory, together with Luffield priory in 

 Lincoln diocese for the last of these purposes. 8 

 But, strange to say, neither Henry VII. nor 

 the abbot of Westminster availed themselves 

 of this papal sanction to seize the priory, and 

 it continued until the dissolution of the lesser 

 monasteries. 



The priory was visited by the commis- 

 sary of the prior of Canterbury, during the 

 vacancy of the sees of both Canterbury and 

 Winchester, on 30 March, 1501. John 

 Edmunds, the prior, stated that the annual 

 rents had increased to two hundred marks ; 

 that when he entered on his office the house 

 was burdened to the extent of ^40 ; but 

 that at the present time it was not in debt, 

 save with respect to 300 marks, due to the 

 king within a certain time for excusing the 

 appropriation of the house to the monastry 

 of Westminster. Richard Wraxton, subprior, 

 John Colmer, sacristan, Thomas Edmunds, 

 the cellarer, and Robert Marleys, another of 

 the canons, were also examined. 



The report of the first commission to visit 

 Hampshire houses, made by Sir James Wors- 

 ley and his brother commissioners on 30 May, 

 1536, stated that the priory of Mottisfont 

 had been ' dissolved and possession thereof de- 

 livered to Sir William Sandes of the most 

 honourable Order of the Garter, Lord Cham- 

 berleyne, according to the King's pleasure.' 

 It was stated to be of the annual value of 

 164 1 2s, 6d. ; that there were ten canons, 

 eight of them priests and two novices ; that 

 one of them had been committed to the 

 monastery of Christ Church, Twyneham, eight 

 given ' letters of capacity,' and 401. ' of the 

 kinge's reward,' and one novice sent to his 

 friends with 30;. ; that there were twenty- 

 nine other inmates who had been discharged ; 

 that the church and mansion were in conven- 

 ient repair, but the outhouses in ruin and 

 decay ; that the lead and bells were worth 

 155, which had been delivered to the Lord 



7 Rymer's Faedera, xii. 562. 



8 Ibid. 738. 



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