RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



volved about the middle of the fifteenth 

 century. From an estimate of the revenues 

 and debts of the house, drawn up in 1462, it 

 appeared that the total income was 86 IQS. 6d., 

 and the clear value 71 los. 8d. The house 

 then sustained only four canons and their four 

 servants, the cost of whose board and cloth- 

 ing was estimated at 30 ; divers creditors 

 had received 15 15*. 4^. ; the repairs of 

 churches, houses, and the walls and cloister 

 of the priory had also consumed 15 131. 4^.; 

 whilst 10 was the annual life pension as- 

 signed to the prior. In 1463-4 the prior was 

 twice sued for debts in the sheriff's court. 



In 1468 Prior Richard resigned, and John 

 Morton was elected fourteenth prior. 1 He 

 held office till 1471, when William Windsor 

 was appointed ; but owing to irregularity 

 of election this appointment was almost 

 immediately annulled, and Thomas Farwill 

 or Fairwise elected as fifteenth prior in his 

 place. In 1472 Peter at Berne was re- 

 appointed prior, and held office for the second 

 time until 1478. On 21 April, 1478, a 

 visitation was made of the priory by the 

 priors of Breamore and Tortington, under the 

 authority of the general chapter of the 

 Augustinian Order. 



Prior Assheford seems only to have been 

 appointed to further the suppression of this 

 overburdened house. On 2 September, 1484, 

 Bishop Waynflete appointed Richard, prior of 

 Newplace, and two others to hold a com- 

 mission for the annexing of the priory to 

 Magdalen College of the bishop's founding. 

 The greatest care was taken to justify this 

 action to the church and the world by the 

 elaborate nature of the evidence taken on 

 oath before the commission. The evidence 

 of the prior (an old man of seventy-two), of 

 the bishop, and many others as to the hope- 

 less condition of the priory, which was then 

 destitute of a single canon and utterly dilapi- 

 dated, was conclusive, and the decree of an- 

 nexation was pronounced on 1 1 September. 

 In the following year the transfer was con- 

 firmed by Pope Innocent VIII. 



On the suppression of the priory an annual 

 pension of 6 1 31. \d. was assigned to Asshe- 

 ford, and a chantry priest was maintained at 

 Selborne, who received yearly from the 

 College 9 6s. 8d. -The founder of the 

 priory was also, by Waynflete's order, com- 

 memorated at one of the quarterly obits 

 observed at Magdalen College. 8 



1 Winton. Epis. Reg., Waynflete, i. f. 1576. 



1 The commemoration of Peter de Roches at 

 Magdalen, long forgotten, has recently been re- 

 vived, and is now regularly maintained. 



An inventory of goods remaining at the 

 priory in May, 1 490, in the custody of Simon 

 Hiltofte, chaplain there, shows that there were 

 then a full equipment of church service books, 

 altar plate, vestments, and other ornaments. 

 There were also some books remaining in one 

 of the chambers, including a copy of the Acts 

 of the Apostles, and commentaries on the 

 Gospels and on the Book of Job. 



In 1534 a grant was made by the presi- 

 dent and scholars of Magdalen to Nicholas 

 Langerige, M.A., of the chaplaincy in the late 

 priory of Selborne, for forty years, if he should 

 live so long, to celebrate there for the souls of 

 all the benefactors of the priory and college, 

 assigning him an annual pension of 8 with 

 two chambers on the north side of the chapel, 

 with a kitchen, a stable for three horses, and 

 the orchard ; also 265. annually to find a 

 clerk to serve him at the altar and in other 

 necessary matters ; and ten cartloads of wood 

 to be given him at the Easter progress of the 

 president and fellows, provided he did not sell 

 or give away any of it. It was further pro- 

 vided that Nicholas was not to absent himself 

 from the priory more than two months in the 

 year without special leave from the college, 

 and when absent must provide a sufficient 

 substitute. 



PRIORS OF SELBORNE 



John, about 1234, 1250 

 Richard of Kent, 3 1261-7 

 Peter de Disenhurst, 1267, 1271 

 Richard, 1277, 1291 

 William de Basing, 4 1299-1323 

 Walter de Insula, 6 elected 1323 

 John de Winton, 1339 

 Edmund, 1352, 1357 

 Nicholas de Wynton, 8 1361-78 

 Thomas Weston, 7 1378-1410 

 John Winchester, 8 1410, 1413 



John Stepe, 



Peter at Berne," 1459-68 



John Morton, 10 1468-71 



3 Dugdale gives Nich. de Cantia, which is a 

 misprint for Rich, de Cantia. 



4 Winton. Epis. Reg., Pontoise, f. 22. 



B Pat. 17 Edw. II. pt. i, m. 14; Winton. 

 Epis. Reg., Stratford, f. 6. In the margin there is a 

 curious entry relative to customary episcopal fees in 

 kind. It is stated that the official who inducted 

 Prior Walter received, in nomine episcopi, his pal- 

 frey, saddle, bridle, cloak and boots. 



* Winton. Epis. Reg., Edingdon, f. 113. 



7 Ibid. Wykeham, i. f. 90. 



8 Ibid. Beaufort, f. 23. 



9 Ibid. Waynflete, i. f. 6<)b. Peter at Berne 

 resigned in 1468, and was re-elected in 1472. 



10 Ibid. f. 1576. 



179 



