ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORXE. 325 



impense et labores levantur ita quod predicto priori vel uni canoni- 

 corum suorum superbiis simplici verbo credatur sine alterius honere 

 probacionis ; et quod utrique predictorum virorum in unam marcam 

 argenti pro cujuslibet distrincione super me facienda tenear. Dat. 

 apud Wareborn die sabati proxima ante festum St. Marci evange- 

 liste, anno regni regis Edwardi tertio decimo." * 



But the reader, perhaps, would wish to be better informed 

 respecting this benefactress, of whom as yet he has heard no 

 particulars. 



The Ela Longspee, therefore, above-mentioned, was a lady of 

 high birth and rank, and became countess to Thomas de New- 

 burgh, the sixth earl of Warwick : she was the second daughter 

 of the famous Ela Longspee, Countess of Salisbury, by William 

 Longspee, natural son of King Edward II., by Rosamond. 



Our lady, following the steps of her illustrious mother,f " was a 

 great benefactress to the University of Oxford, to the canons of 

 Oseney, the nuns of Godstow, and other religious houses in 

 Oxfordshire. She died very aged, in the year 1300,1 and was 

 buried before the high altar in the abbey church of Oseney, at the 

 head of the tomb of Henry D'Oily, under a flat marble, on which 

 was inlaid her portraiture, in the habit of a vowess, engraved on a 

 copper-plate." " Edmondson's History and Genealogical Account 

 of the Grevilles," p. 23. 



* Ancient deeds are often dated on a Sunday, having been executed in churches and 

 church-yards for the sake of notoriety, and for the conveniency of procuring several 

 witnesses to attest. 



t Ela Longspee. Countess of Salisbury, in -1232, founded a monastery at Lacock, in the 

 county of Wilts, and also another at Hendon, in the county of Somerset, in her widowhood, 

 to the honour of the Blessed Virgin and St. Bernard. CAMDEN. 



+ Thus she survived the foundation of her chantry at Selborne fifteen years. About 

 this lady and her mother ccnsult Dugdale's " Barcnage," i. 72, 175, 177; Dugdale's 

 " Warwickshire," i. 383 ; Leland's "Itin." ii. 45. 



