RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



HOUSE OF KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS 



1 8. THE PRECEPTORY OF BAD- 

 DESLEY OR GODSFIELD 



Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester 

 (112971), granted his land of Godsfield to 

 the knights of the Hospital of St. John of 

 Jerusalem in England, 1 and in 1207 Adam de 

 Port gave to the same community all his lands 

 and manor of Godsfield in free alms. 2 Walter 

 de Audely also granted lands in Chilton Can- 

 dover, Laurence rector of the church of Ser- 

 veton granted his small tithes, and many other 

 persons made grants of small parcels of land 

 and houses in Preston Candover and Child 

 Candover. How early a preceptory of the 

 Hospitallers was formed here is not exactly 

 known, but the first preceptor of whom we 

 have mention is Thomas le Archer, whose 

 name appears in a deed concerning a tenement 

 in Fishmonger Street, Winchester, in 1304. 

 From this date the grants are for the most part 

 to the brethren of Godsfield, and not as here- 

 tofore to the parent house in London. 



In 1355 John Pavely, prior of the Hospi- 

 tallers, confirmed to Thomas Purchas a messu- 

 age and lands in Ibsley at a yearly rent of 

 I id. to the preceptor or warden of Baddesley. 

 This is the first mention in the chartulary of a 

 preceptor of Baddesley ; it probably denotes 

 the date, soon after the Black Death, when 

 the headquarters of this preceptory were moved 

 from Godsfield to Baddesley. 



In 1338, when Prior Philip de Thame made 

 a return to the Grand Master of the possessions 

 of the Hospitallers in England, full particulars 



pension of 20, but in 1538 he offered to re- 

 sign it if Wriothesley would obtain for him the 

 living of Horsted in Sussex (Letters and Papers, 

 Hen. mi. Jim. (i), 381, 7*8. 



1 Charter Roll, I John, p. I, No. 1 14, printed in 

 Dugdale's Monasticon vi. 808. 



2 Harleian MSS. 6603 (pp. 141-252). This 

 is a transcript of a register of the preceptory of 

 Baddesley, in the possession of the Duke of Portland, 

 made in the year 1739, and collated with the 

 original in 1830 by Sir F. Madden. By its title 

 this register claims to be a calendar of all the char- 

 ters and muniments of Godsfield, Baddesley, Rown- 

 hams and all other manors pertaining to the manor 

 of Godsfield, drawn up by William Hulles, brother 

 of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England, 

 and preceptor of Baddesley in the year 1 397. The 

 register gives extended copies of upwards of one 

 hundred deeds and indentures. At the end is 

 added a rental, with a customal of the manor of 

 Baddesley as it was held in 5 Henry IV., and also 

 in 9 Henry VIII. when brother William Weston 

 was preceptor. 



were given of the ' Bajulia de GodesfieldJ with 

 its members of Baddesley and Runham. 



At Godsfield there was a messuage with the 

 buildings in poor repair, with a garden valued 

 at 3*. ifd. a year ; 300 acres of land worth 

 585. 4d. ; house rents that were actually fixed 

 at ,20 35. ifd. were then only 14. los. od. 

 on account of the sterility of the land and the 

 firing of Portsmouth and Southampton by 

 foreigners ; an acre of meadow at Swarton, 2s. ; 

 harvest work of the villeins, 105. 6d. ; pleas 

 and perquisites of the court, 135. d. ; pastur- 

 age for 9 oxen and 6 horses, 1 5*- ; and pastur- 

 age for 900 sheep, 75*. Another important 

 item of the income of every preceptory, though 

 bound to be fluctuating in amount, was the 

 voluntary contribution from the district, which 

 was probably regularly collected. The total 

 of this amount, usually termed confraria, from 

 the whole of England, even in a bad year like 

 1338, reached the large sum of ,888 45. ^d. 

 The voluntary contributions of the Hampshire 

 preceptory averaged 60 marks ; but that year, 

 owing to the distress of the country, the royal 

 exactions, the taxes on tenths and fifteenths 

 of all movables from year to year, the dues on 

 wool, the warding of the seas, and many other 

 oppressions that crop up (emergunt) from day to 

 day, as the return states, there had been great 

 difficulty in gathering 40 marks. 



At Baddesley there was a messuage with a 

 garden, the herbs of which, together with a 

 pigeon cote, were of the yearly value of ids. ; 

 360 acres of land ; 1 8 acres of pasture ; 40 

 acres of meadow ; pasturage for 24 oxen ; 

 pannage for pigs ; pasturage for 30 cows ; pas- 

 turage for 400 sheep ; with certain rents and 

 works of tenants. At Baddesley there was 

 also a wood of large timber, i oo acres in ex- 

 tent, which was common, so that nothing 

 could be taken from it for sale, but it was 

 reserved for repairing the houses of the pre- 

 ceptory, and of the bailiwicks of Templecombe, 

 Ansty, and other places of the Templars that 

 were in decay. 



At Rownham there was a messuage in decay 

 and ruin, of the annual value of izd. ; 80 

 acres of land ; pasturage for 200 sheep ; pas- 

 turage for 8 oxen ; and pasturage for 30 

 bullocks. 



The whole realized a total annual receipt of 

 66 13*. n^d. for the preceptory. 



As to the outgoings, the members of the 

 house were brother William de Multon, the 

 preceptor, and brother John Couffen, the chap- 

 lain. The number of the household servants 

 was four ; and it is noted that the expenses in- 



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