A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



eluded hospitality to visitors, which they were 

 bound to exercise according to the will of the 

 founder of the house. Thirty-three quarters 

 of corn had been used in the year for making 

 bread, at 3*. a quarter, 4 1 95. od. ; for brew- 

 ing beer, 20 quarters of barley at 2s., and 20 

 quarters of oats at 1 6d., 66 os. Sd. ; flesh, fish, 

 and other victuals in the kitchen, 104*. ; robes, 

 mantles and other necessaries for the preceptor 

 and the chaplain-brother, 69*. ^.d. ; a life cor- 

 rody to Ralph de Basing of 6 quarters of corn, 

 at 35., igs. 6d. ; a steward's robes for use at 

 courts, 2OJ. ; dress for four servants, 325. ; the 

 wage of a labourer acting as wood-warden, I os. ; 

 at the visitation of the prior for four days, 4. ; 

 repair of the houses, 2Os. ; and the stipend of 

 a chaplain (without board) serving the chapel 

 of Godsfield, 4 marks. There were also 

 small payments due every year to the Bishop 

 of Winchester, the church of Afford, the 

 abbess of St. Mary's, Winchester, the prior 

 of St. Swithun's and others. The total of the 

 expenses and payments came to 30 31. 8</., 

 leaving a balance for the treasury of 

 36 i os. 3*/. 1 



The house at Baddesley had the honour of 

 having among its preceptors three who became 

 much distinguished in the Order, two of them 

 being Grand Priors of England. Thomas 

 Launcelyn, who was preceptor of Baddesley, 

 and afterwards of Dalby and Rothely, was ap- 

 pointed Turcopolier by bull of the Grand 

 Master, dated Rhodes, 3 October, 1421. He 

 died in 1442." William Tornay, preceptor of 

 Baddesley and Mayne, became successively 

 Receiver-general of England and Bailli of 

 Aquila, and was finally appointed Grand 

 Prior of England by bull of the Grand 

 Master, dated Rhodes, 29 August, 1471. He 

 died in I476. 3 



Sir William Weston, preceptor of Baddes- 

 ley, was elected Turcopolier in the chapter 

 held in Candia after the expulsion of the Order 

 from Rhodes in 1523. He commanded the 

 grand carracque of the Order, and was named 

 Grand Prior of England by bull of the Grand 

 Master, dated Corneto, 27 June, 1527. 

 During his rule came the conflict between 

 Henry VIII. and the pope, when the Order 

 resolutely resisted the divorce of Queen Kath- 



1 Larking's Knight Hospitallers in England (Cam- 

 den Society, 1857), pp. 21-3. 



J Porter's Knights of Malta, ii. 288. 

 3 Ibid. ii. 284, 293. 



arine. The result was the complete overthrow 

 of the English Order or Language and a bitter 

 persecution which lasted from 1534 to 1540, 

 during which many of the knights died on the 

 scaffold. In April, 1 540, an act of parliament 

 vested all their property in the Crown. A 

 pension was granted to the venerable prior, 

 but he died of grief at the utter annihilation 

 of the English Language, on Ascension Day, 

 1540, in the very year that it was granted. 

 He had been present at the siege of Rhodes 

 in 1522, when he greatly distinguished him- 

 self. 4 



The Valor of 1 535 returned the total annual 

 value of the preceptory of Baddesley, both in 

 spiritualities and temporalities, at 13 1 14*. id., 

 and the clear value at 118 i6s. jd. After 

 the suppression of the preceptory, its lands 

 were granted first to Sir Thomas Seymour, 

 and afterwards, in 1551, to Sir Nicholas 

 Throckmorton. 



It has been conclusively established that the 

 preceptory of Baddesley, which first bore the 

 name of Godsfield, had its headquarters in later 

 years at North Baddesley, and not at South 

 Baddesley as usually asserted. 



PRECEPTORS OF GODSFIELD OR BADDESLEY 



Thomas le Archer, 5 1304, 1306 

 Robert de Coneygrave, 1312 

 Simon Launcelyn, 1315 

 William de Basing," 1325 

 William Hulles, 1388, 1397 

 William de Multon 

 Thomas Launcelyn 

 William Tornay 



Sir William Weston, 1518, time of Hen. 

 VIII. 



In addition to the preceptories or comman- 

 dories, the Order also possessed smaller estates 

 called camera or chambers, where there was 

 usually no establishment, and which were as a 

 rule farmed out. This was the case with 

 their estate at Woodcote, Hants ; it was farmed 

 out in 1338, and produced a rental of 

 13 6;. Sd. 



* Ibid. 284, 289, 319. 



B This list is compiled from entries in Harl. 

 MSS. 6603. 



6 He describes himself in a deed relating to 

 North Shorewell as custos humilis et devotus domus de 

 Godesjeld (ibid.). 



1 88 



