A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



prior left the island and the monk joined the 

 Carisbrooke community. 1 



Brother Aymo, the prior of St. Helen, to- 

 gether with the majority of the beneficed 

 priests of the Isle of Wight, got into serious 

 trouble with Bishop Sandale, apparently for 

 resisting his diocesan authority, and were ex- 

 communicated. In the case of Prior Aymo, 

 the excommunication was relaxed, and due 

 intimation of his absolution forwarded to the 

 secular authorities on 20 November, 1316.* 

 In 1347 Peter de Chirlu, prior of St. Helen, 

 quitclaimed to John de Wallup, prior of Brea- 

 more, the advowson and rectory of Brading. 3 



On 8 May, 1388, Richard II. remitted for 

 seven years the annual farm of 50*. with all 

 the arrears, by which the priory of St. Helen 

 was held of the Crown by Richard Newbury, 

 the prior thereof, during the wars with France 

 on account of the poverty of the house. 

 This remission was made on condition that 

 Prior Newbury continued in residence, and 

 maintained divine service and the buildings so 

 far as the means of the priory admitted. 4 



St. Helen was suppressed with other alien 

 houses in 1414 and made over to the Crown. 

 At Michaelmas, 1461, the priory was granted 

 by Edward IV. to William Beaufitz for ten 

 years, and in the following year this grant 

 was renewed for twenty years. 5 Neverthe- 

 less, in 1467, Edward IV. granted it to Eton 

 College; and again in 1474, in free alms, to 

 the warden or dean and canons of the king's 

 free chapel of St. George within the castle of 

 Windsor. 6 



PRIORS OF ST. HELEN 



Aymo, 1316 



Peter de Chirlu, 1347 



Richard Newbury, 1388 



35. THE PRIORY OF HAYLING 



The island of Hayling is stated by the 

 Winchester Annals to have come into the 

 possession of the cathedral church of St. 

 Swithun, partly by the gift of Queen Emma, 

 the wife of Ethelred, and partly by the gift of 

 Bishop Alwyn. 



A charter of William I., probably of the 

 year 1067, in which he describes himself as 



Stone's Arch. Antiq. I. W. ii. 197. 

 Winton. Epis. Reg., Sandale, ff. 5, zzb. 

 Ancient Deeds P.R.O., B. 533-5, 539, 677; 

 the account of Breamore Priory. 

 Pat. ii. Rich. II. pt. 2, m. 4. 

 Ibid, i Edw. IV. pt. 4, m. 22, p. 5, m. 6. 

 Ibid. 7 Edw. IV. pt. 3, m. 13 ; 14 Edw. IV. 

 pt. I, m. i. 



Lord of Normandy and King of England by 

 hereditary right, for the profit of his soul and 

 at the urgent advice of his councillors, bestows 

 on the famous abbey of St. Peter of Jumieges 

 the manor of Hayling. The charter con- 

 cludes with a prayer that any one infringing 

 this gift may be removed from the communion 

 of saints. 7 A charter of Henry I. between 

 noi and 1 1 06, addressed to Archbishop 

 Anselm, William, Bishop of Winchester, 

 Henry de Port, sheriff, and all his lieges of 

 Hampshire, granted to the abbey of Jumieges, 

 Hayling with all its appurtenances and privi- 

 leges. A charter of Bishop Henry de Blois, 

 between 1139 and 1142, refers to the strife 

 between the churches of Winchester and 

 Jumieges concerning the right to a portion of 

 Hayling Island, and states that he and the 

 whole convent of Winchester at the prayer of 

 Pope Innocent, and in consideration of the 

 poverty of the church of Jumieges, grant the 

 said portion of the island to that church as its 

 possession for ever, and will never again stir 

 up strife concerning it. The first witness to 

 this charter was King Stephen, and the second 

 Archbishop Theobald. But notwithstanding 

 this solemn covenant the dispute still lingered. 

 In 1150 Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, 

 wrote to Bishop Henry of Winchester saying 

 that the monks of Jumieges had lately 

 approached him, imploring him to bear witness 

 to the truth as to the agreement made in his 

 presence between them and Bishop Henry as 

 to Hayling. He therefore stated simply what 

 he remembered of it. His recollection was 

 that, for the peaceful and quiet possession of 

 the land, the monks promised him to pay 100 

 marks, of which Henry, if he will kindly 

 remember, remitted 20 ; of any other under- 

 taking given him, neither Theobald nor any 

 of those who were present have any recollec- 

 tion. He bears witness to what he heard. 

 The archbishop concluded with the pious 

 aspiration that Henry might be pleased to 

 approve what so many witnesses declare to 

 have been done, and that God would grant him 

 eternal bliss. 8 



About the year 1174 Henry II. granted a 

 general charter of confirmation to the abbey of 

 Jumieges of their English possessions. There- 

 in is specified the ' greater part of the island 

 of Hayling, with the church and tithes of the 

 whole island, except the tithes of pulse and 

 oats in the land of the Bishop of Winchester, 

 and in the same island sac and soc and thol 



7 Round's Cal. of French Documents, i. 526 ; see 

 also vol. i. V.C.H. Hants, p. 435, as to the 

 Domesday entry. 



8 Round's Cal. of French Documents, i. 55, 56. 



216 



