RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



two men, William and Ernulf, dwelling on it, 

 together with their children. 1 



In 1273 Lawrence, abbot of St. Vigor, set 

 forth in a deed, still preserved at Queen's Col- 

 lege, that his monastery had two priories, one 

 the priory of Deux-Jumeaux (De Duobus Ge- 

 mellis) in Normandy, and the other of Sher- 

 borne in England, and that the prior and 

 monks of both these priories desire to act 

 honorably to each other ; therefore the chapter 

 of St. Vigor, Cerisy, for their own good and 

 peace and that of the two priories, ordained 

 that the sum of ten shillings a year, which the 

 Bishop of Salisbury has been wont to pay to 

 the priory in Normandy from ' Lavintone ' 

 [Lavington, Wilts] should henceforth be 

 always paid to the priory of Sherborne (the 

 expense and trouble of transferring the money 

 to France being so great), due compensation 

 having been made to the French priory by the 

 monks of Sherborne. There is also another 

 deed of the same year by which the abbot and 

 convent of Cerisy appointed Richard de Bour- 

 digny, prior of Sherborne, and Bartholomew, 

 called ' Robyn,' of Cerisy, dwelling in that 

 priory, their attorneys to receive the rent of 

 los. payable yearly by the Bishop of Salisbury. 

 Licence was granted by the Crown, during 

 pleasure, in 1275, to the priors and monks of 

 Shireburn to take weekly two cartloads of dead 

 wood in the forest of Pamberfor their hearth. 3 



The priory acquired other endowments ; 

 for in 1291 the prior was rector ex officio of 

 Aldermaston, Berks, and his house was in re- 

 ceipt of ' pensions ' from the churches of Pad- 

 worth, Sulhamstead, and Shaw in that county, 

 of St. Frideswide's at Wallingford, and of 

 Lavington, Wilts, in addition to owning 

 temporalities at Sotwell, Berks, which was held 

 by the family of De Port under Hyde Abbey. 3 

 And in 1316 the prior was returned as one of 

 the lords of West Shiffbrd, Berks,* where his 

 house had received an early endowment from 

 the same family. That the house had received 

 benefactions from other quarters is shown 

 by an interesting suit of 1233 ^ t ' le resu lt of 

 which the prior lost the advowson of Windle- 

 sham, Surrey, which had been given to his 

 house by a huntsman of Henry II. who made 

 his son a monk there. 



The extent and inventory of Sherborne 

 priory, taken in 1294, names 300 acres of land 



1 ' . . . cum duobus hominibus, videlicet Guil- 

 lemo et Ernulfo, in eadem terra manentibus, et 

 simul infantes eorum ' (Genea&giit as above). 



* Pat. 3 Edward I. m. 32. 



3 Taxation of Pope Nicholas. 



4 feudal Aids, i. 50 (where the entry is wrongly 

 assigned to Sherborne Abbey, Dorset). 



of the annual value of 65*., 20 acres on the 

 hill (super montana de Schireburn unde potest 

 seminar e\ 3*. 4</., 10 of meadow, lev., 6 of 

 moor, 3*., pasture, 2s. 6d., common pasture, 

 6s. 8d., and pannage, 2y. ^d. ; total, j6 3*. 

 led. The rents paid by twenty-four tenants 

 realized ^22 19*., and their labour for the lord 

 was estimated at 20s. Pensions, spiritual dues, 

 and portions came 10^57 12*., yielding a total 

 income for the priory of 87 141. lod. The 

 livestock inventory reached ^27 141. 6d. 

 The monks had an abundance of corn-seed, 

 including wheat enough for forty-three acres 

 and oats for 86 acres. The dependent churches 

 paid the monks 42 ; namely, Upton, 9 marks, 

 Chinham, 10 marks, Sherborne, 106;., and 

 Bramley 36 marks ; the church of Aldermaston 

 was farmed to Nicholas, clerk of Herriard. It 

 had been a bad wet year for the hay ; it is 

 entered at only 131. 4^., residuum inundatum.* 



In June, 1338, the prior, who was in 

 arrears to the extent of 53 of an annual pay- 

 ment of 80 to the king for the custody of his 

 priory, was ordered to pay that sum forthwith 

 to Menaudus Brocas, one of the keepers of the 

 king's great horses." 



In the autumn of the same year, distraint 

 was made on the prior of Sherborne to find a 

 man-at-arms by the keepers of the seaboard of 

 Hampshire ; but, on the petition of the prior 

 to the king, alleging that he and his monks 

 had nothing left wherewith to live after ren- 

 dering the j8o yearly, the distraint was super- 

 seded. 7 



The heavy rent demanded by the Crown 

 involved this unhappy priory in such financial 

 difficulties that resort was had to exceptional 

 measures. In July, 1340, protection with 

 clause no/umus, that is to say, immunity from 

 the seizure of his cattle by the Crown officials, 

 was granted for the prior, whilst Nicholas de 

 la Beche and James de Wodestok were ap- 

 pointed overseers and chief keepers of the priory 

 during pleasure, to receive the revenues and to 

 apply them to relieve the estate of the house by 

 advice of the prior and some of the more dis- 

 creet members of the convent. The priory is 

 described as grievously burdened with debt and 

 of the foundation of the ancestors of the heir 

 of John de St. John, tenant in chief, the 

 king's ward. 8 



The election of the prior Inguerand de 

 Duino, monk of Cerisy, on the death of prior 

 William Bernand, is set forth with much detail 

 in Wykeham's first register. On 12 August, 



6 Add. MS. 6164, f. 7. 



8 Close, 12 Edw. III. pt. 2. m. 23. 



7 Ibid. p. 3, m. 15. 

 8 



Pat. R. 14 Edward III. pt. iii. m. 52. 



227 



