THE FOREST OF DEAN 275 



Queen of forests all that west of Severn lie, 



Her broad and bushy top Dean holdeth up so high, 

 The lesser are not seen, she is so tall and large. 



It derives its name from Dean, the old market town of that 

 name within the forest bounds. The tithes of the forest 

 venison were granted by Henry I. to the abbey of Gloucester. 

 Henry II. granted to the abbey of Flaxley, founded in 1140, 

 the right to have two forges for the making of iron in the 

 forest, one stationary and the other itinerant. For the feeding 

 of these forges the abbey was allowed two trees every week. 

 The keepership of the forest was usually associated with the 

 custody of the castle of St. Briavel, which is said to have 

 been built by Milo, Earl of Hereford, in the reign of 

 Henry I. 



The restless King John, as is shown from his itinerary, was 

 frequently sojourning in the forest between the years 1207 and 

 1214, doubtless for purposes of the chase; he generally stopped 

 a day or two both at the abbey of Flaxley and the castle of 

 St. Briavel during his visits. In February, 1215, when staying 

 at Maryborough, he directed Hugh de Nevill to permit William 

 de Cliff to take four hinds in the forest of Dean, and John de 

 Monmouth and Walter de Lasey three each. In June, 1216, 

 the king appointed John de Monmouth to the custody of the 

 castle of St. Briavel and to the keepership of the forest, and 

 directed the verderers, foresters, and other officials to submit 

 themselves to him as the king's bailiff. Two months later 

 John instructed the newly-appointed keeper to find everything 

 that was necessary for Alberic, his huntsman, with twelve dogs, 

 two horses, two grooms, and a berner. 



On 3oth September, 1216, John wrote from Lincoln to the 

 constable of St. Briavel, ordering that cattle were only to be 

 agisted on the fringes of the forest, and not in the forest 

 itself, nor in those places frequented by the wild boars (porci 

 silvestres). 



The Close Rolls of Henry III. abound in references to this 

 great Gloucestershire waste, but lack of space prevents the 

 majority of these cases being cited here. 



Boar hunting at this period was sufficiently important for 

 Henry III. to grant in 1226 a tithe of the boars thus killed to 



