A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



years ago by the Rev. W. Dunn Macray, 

 M.A., F.S.A. 1 In 1891 the Hants Record 

 Society issued a printed calendar of the 

 charters and documents relative to Sel- 

 borne and its priory, the more important of 

 them being given in extenso, which was 

 edited, with a valuable preface, by Mr. Mac- 

 ray. In 1894 this society issued a second 

 volume, edited by the same gentleman, giving 

 a calendar of the deeds relating to lands of the 

 priory in other places than Selborne itself. 

 To these scholarly volumes we are indebted 

 for all the information given in this brief 

 notice, save where it is otherwise stated. 

 Much, too, of the history of this priory has 

 long been accessible in the fairly accurate 

 account given of it by the immortal Gilbert 

 White in his Natural History of Selborne. 



By the foundation charter, dated 2O January, 

 1233-4, the canons acquired the manor of 

 Selborne, with every possible privilege, the 

 lands which the bishop had obtained by the 

 gift of James de Acangre, James de Norton, 

 and King Henry III., and the churches of 

 Selborne, Basing and Basingstoke were at the 

 same time appropriated to their use. In Sep- 

 tember, 1235, Pope Gregory IX. confirmed 

 the foundation and conferred certain pri- 

 vileges. 



The first prior was John, whose name 

 occurs in charters from 1234 to 1258. In 

 1250 there is an early instance of a corrody. 

 Roger de Cherlecole conveyed to the prior, in 

 free alms, two messuages, a mill, and divers 

 acres of land and meadow, on condition that 

 the priory should provide him and his wife 

 Isabel with the weekly allowance, during 

 life, of 1 8 canons' loaves, 28 servants' loaves, 

 15 gallons of the convent beer, 14 gallons of 

 the second beer, and 120". for meat and 

 pottage ; the allowance was to be reduced by 

 one half on the death of either of them. 



In July, 1254, the vicarage of Selborne was 

 formally ordained. The vicar was to receive 

 the tithes of gardens and plots tilled by spade 

 husbandry, as well as all the small tithes, 

 oblations, legacies, and other obventions that 

 pertained both to the mother church and to 

 the chapels of Oakhanger and Blakemore. 

 The vicar was to reside at the mother church, 

 and pay annually loo*, to the priory. He 

 was to be provided with a suitable manse near 

 the church, and also to hold the land with 

 garden and a curtilage at Oakhanger. The 

 priory was to be responsible for all episcopal, 

 archidiaconal, and other dues, to keep the 

 chancel in repair, and to make good all pre- 



1 Hist. MSS. Commission, Eighth Report, pp. 

 163-4. 



sent defects in books, vestments and other 

 ornaments of the church, for which however 

 the vicar was to be responsible in the future. 



The second prior was Richard of Kent.* 

 He succeeded in 1261, and ruled the convent 

 till 1267. Prior Richard granted leave, on 

 24 June, 1262, to Sir Adam Gurdun and his 

 wife Constance to construct an oratory in 

 their manor house at Selborne and to celebrate 

 mass therein. This Sir Adam Gurdun be- 

 came the outlawed adherent of Simon de 

 Montfort, who fought in 1266 his famous 

 duel with Prince Edward. 3 



Whilst Peter de Disenhurst was prior, there 

 were special bequests for maintaining the 

 light of the high altar and the light of St. 

 Katherine in the conventual church. In 

 1270 Henry III. granted a weekly market 

 and yearly fair to the priory, to be held in the 

 town of Selborne in a place called ' La Pley- 

 stowe,' to the south of the church. 4 In- 

 quests at the beginning of the reign of 

 Edward I. show that the prior had the right 

 to gallows, assize of bread and ale, and view 

 of frank-pledge on the manor of Selborne, 

 and also the right of chasing fox and hare 

 within the king's forests. 6 



In 1285 Prior Richard and the convent of 

 Selborne granted to Lady Ela Longespeye, 

 Countess of Warwick, in return for 100 

 marks, that one canon should always celebrate 

 for her at the altar of Sts. Stephen, John 

 Baptist, and Thomas the Martyr, specifying 

 the collects to be used. It was also provided 

 that high mass should be celebrated for her 

 monthly at the high altar, that her name 

 should be written in every missal and in the 

 martyrology, and her soul mentioned in all 

 prayers when the soul of the founder was 

 mentioned ; and that on the news of her 

 death the classicum with all the bells should be 

 tolled, as for a prior, every priest-canon cele- 

 brating thirty masses and saying ten psalters, 

 and every lay-brother one hundred and fifty 

 ' Our Fathers ' and the like number of ' Hail 

 Marys.' 



In 1290 Bishop Pontoise re-ordained the 

 vicarage, specifying the small tithes, and 

 adding to the former endowment 10 acres 

 of arable land and i acre called Orchard's 



2 Dugdale in the Monasticon gives Nich. de 

 Cantia, which is a misprint for Rich, de Cantia. 



3 Mr. Macray corrects the errors into which 

 Gilbert White fell with regard to the pedigree of 

 Gurdun of Selborne (Charters and Documents of 

 Selborne Priory, I. x.) 



4 Charter R. 54 Henry III., pt. i. m. 3 ; 

 Macray's Selborne Charters, i. 64. 



5 Hund. Rolls (Rec. Com.) ii. 224. 



I 7 6 



