A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



its manors and granges of the year before the 

 plague. In the eighth year of the rule of 

 Abbot Peter de Winton, namely on 4 July, 

 1348, the monastery and its manors had 170 

 quarters of wheat, 175 of barley, 198 of oats 

 and 22 of winter wheat ; also 41 horses, 24 

 draught horses (a/ri), 30 oxen, 9 bull-calves, 

 182 bullocks, 10 bulls, 93 cows, 118 heifers, 

 20 calves, 273 swine, 940 muttons, 18 rams, 

 137 ewes and 768 lambs. In the tenth year 

 of Abbot John Thorny, namely on 27 June, 

 1370, the condition of the monastery was so 

 exhausted and its burdens so heavy that there 

 was no wheat in the house or in its manors, 

 and but 5 quarters of barley, 2 quarters of 

 dredge l and 1 6 quarters of oats. As to live- 

 stock, they had 23 horses of both kinds, 27 

 oxen, 21 colts, 190 bullocks, 10 bulls, 66 

 cows, 44 steers, 38 heifers, 16 yearlings, 24 

 calves, 9 boars, 2O sows, 50 pigs, 100 hogs, 

 25 suckling pigs, 780 muttons, 19 rams, 550 

 ewes and 280 lambs. 



The chief reason of the great contrast in 

 bread stuffs between 1348 and 1370 (when 

 it might have been thought that the country 

 would have recovered from the shock of the 

 plague), was that the great scarcity of labour 

 and its higher price caused so much of the 

 arable land to remain unfilled or to be. 

 changed into pasture. 



In 1370 an inventory was also taken of the 

 plate as follows : 



A small cross with foot, silver gilt ; a gospeller 

 (textus), silver-gilt (cover) adorned with relics ; a 

 crystal vase for relics ; 17 chalices, of which 9 

 were gilt ; a silver-gilt pix for the high altar ; 4 

 silver cruets ; 6 silver bowls, of which 2 are large 

 and 4 smaller, for double feasts ; 2 pastoral staves ; 



3 silver candlesticks, one of which is small for mid- 

 night mass on Christmas Day ; 3 silver-gilt censers ; 



4 silver-gilt cups, 3 with covers ; 3 great silver 

 goblets (belief) with feet, with covers ; 42 pieces 

 (pecie) of silver, 5 of which have small feet and 

 covers ; 5 ' once pedate,' * with silver covers ; 2 

 flagons (olio) of silver, for wine ; 2 small silver 

 basins (lavatoria) ; a silver plate with a foot ; a 

 silver gilt pipe (fistula) for communicating the in- 

 firm ; and 8 1 spoons. 



There was no money found in the treasury, 

 and the debts of the house amounted to the 

 serious sum of 202 i6i. gd. 3 



At the end of the second register of Titch- 



1 Dragium is considered by Thorold Rogers 

 (Agriculture and Prices, i. 27) to be a peculiar 

 and inferior kind of barley ; but the term dredge 

 is still used for a mixture of barley and oats. 



a No satisfactory solution of once has been 

 suggested. 



3 A third schedule dated 9 November, 1 390, 

 is also entered in this register. 



field is written out this prayer, to be said with 

 the greatest devotion on getting into bed : 



In Monte Celyon requiescunt Septem Dormi- 

 entes, Malchus, Maximus, Constantinus, Dionysius, 

 Serapion, Martinianus, atque Johannes. Per istorum 

 merita det michi Deus noctem quietam et soporem 

 quietam. Amen. 



To this is added 



Haec oratio abunde testatur quibus in tenebris 

 istud versabatur seculum. 



The reference is of course to the beautiful 

 Syrian legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, 

 first made known in western literature by 

 Gregory of Tours. 



In the third register of Titchfield, which 

 is termed a rental, particulars are given of the 

 customs of their manors. 



In 1334 the king's officials of the New 

 Forest seized certain cattle belonging to the 

 Abbey of Titchfield, for continuous feeding 

 within the bounds of the forest to the grave 

 prejudice of the king. 4 The abbot claimed 

 through his attorney the right of common 

 pasture for his beasts of Cadlands in the New 

 Forest ; the abbot also claimed a parcel of 

 land within the forest, lying in la Whitefeld 

 at ' Wyndhall,' as part of his manor at Cad- 

 lands. The chief forester, on the part of the 

 Crown, admitted the abbot's right to the par- 

 cel of land within the forest, but that his cattle 

 and sheep did not remain there, and strayed 

 generally in the forest. To this the abbot's 

 attorney replied that they made an annual 

 payment of 18*. for this very right, and 

 prayed a search of the rolls. Search was 

 made and judgment was given in favour of 

 the abbey. 



By the aid for making Edward the Black 

 Prince a knight in 1346, we find that the 

 Abbot of Titchfield held half a knight's fee 

 in Soberton, half a fee and a quarter of a fee 

 in Crofton and a third part of a fee in Cad- 

 lands. 6 



The Premonstratensian Order was abso- 

 lutely free from diocesan visitation or control, 

 but the energetic Wykeham secured certain 

 recognition from Titchfield as a house founded 

 by one of his predecessors in the episcopal 

 chair of Winchester. 



On 2O November, 1390, Richard, abbot 

 of Halesowen, presented John Romsey, abbot- 

 elect of Titchfield, appointed by the brethren 

 of that convent, rightly and canonically, 

 according to the privileges of their order 

 (to which house he stood in the position of 



Harl. MS. 1603, ff. 130-3. 

 B feudal Aids, ii. 336, 340. 



184 



