272 THE ANTIQUITIES 



Samford to the priory of a tenement and its appurtenances in the 

 village of Selborne, given to the Templars by Americus de Vasci. 1 

 This property, by the manner of describing it, "totum tene- 

 "mentum cum omnibus pertinentiis suis, scilicet in terris, & 

 " hominibus, in pratis & pascuis, & nemoribus," &c. seems to 

 have been no inconsiderable purchase, and was sold for two 

 hundred marks sterling, to be applied for the buying of more 

 land for the support of the holy war. 



Prior John is mentioned as the person to whom Vasci 's land is 

 conveyed. But in Willis's list there is no prior John till 1339, 

 several years after the dissolution of the order of the Templars in 

 1312 ; so that unless Willis is wrong, and has omitted a prior 

 John since 1262 (that being the date of his first prior) these 

 transactions must have fallen out before that date. 



I find not the least traces of any concerns between Gurdon and 

 the Knights Templars ; but probably after his death his daughter 

 Johanna might have, and might bestow, Temple on that order in 

 support of the holy land : and, moreover, she seems to have been 

 moving from Selborne when she sold her goods and chattels to 

 the priory, as mentioned above. 



Temple no doubt did belong to the knights, as may be asserted, 

 not only from it's name, but also from another corroborating 

 circumstance of it's being still a manor tithe-free ; " for, by virtue 

 " of their order," says Dr. Blackstone, " the lands of the Knights 

 " Templars were privileged by the pope with a discharge from 

 " tithes." 



Antiquaries have been much puzzled about the terms preceptores 

 and preceptorium, not being able to determine what officer or 

 edifice was meant. But perhaps all the while the passage quoted 

 above from one of my papers " per manum preceptoris vel ballivi 

 "nostri, qui pro tempore fuerit ibidem," may help to explain the 

 difficulty. For if it be allowed here that preceptor and ballivus 

 are synonymous words, then the brother who took on him that 

 office resided in the house of the Templars at Sudington, a pre- 

 ceptory ; where he was there preceptor, superintended their 

 affairs, received their money ; and, as in the instance there 

 mentioned, paid from their chamber, " camera," as directed : so 

 that, according to this explanation, a preceptor was no other than 

 a steward, and a preceptorium was his residence. I am well aware 



1 Americus Vasci, by his name, must have been an Italian, and bad been 

 probably a soldier of fortune, and one of Gurdon' s captains. Americus Vespucio, 

 the person who gave name to the new world was a Florentine. 



