A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



Gilbert Boweles, 1 elected 1346 



Ralf of Aston, 2 elected 1368, died 1396 



John of Tring, 3 elected 1396 



Abel 4 



Robert Farneburgh, 5 occurs 1416 and 1428 



John (Audelee), 6 occurs 1435 and 1445 



John Whytton or Wilton, 7 occurs 1482 and 



1492 

 Ralf 8 



John of Berkampstead, 9 resigned 1521 

 John Maiden, 10 elected 1521, died 1529 



Thomas Waterhouse, 11 last rector, elected 

 1529 



Red pointed oval seal of the fourteenth cen- 

 tury, of which only a fine fragment remains 

 attached to the Acknowledgment of Suprem- 

 acy I534- 18 The impression represents on an 

 altar with large cover the Agnus Dei. In 

 base a lion rampant in allusion to the arms of 

 the founder, Edmund, son of Richard, Earl of 

 Cornwall, 1283. Legend: COMVN . . . VIR. 



HOUSE OF KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS 



17- 



THE COMMANDERY OF HOG- 

 SHAW 



The Commandery of Hogshaw was prob- 

 ably founded during the reign of Henry II. 

 on lands which were originally the gift of 

 William Peverel. 11 The commandery was 

 never an important one. There was a survey 

 taken of its lands, income, expenses, etc., in 

 I338, 12 when there was a preceptor in resi- 

 dence with one other knight. It had then all 

 the ordinary accessories of a small monastery 

 a court, garden, mill and dove house, with 

 arable land and pastures attached ; the chap- 

 lain serving Hogshaw Church, with the chap- 

 lain who served the house, and a certain 

 Thomas Fitz Neel, who held a knight's cor- 

 rody, sat at table with the preceptor and his 

 brother. There were the usual servants in the 

 house, an attendant squire, a porter, a cook, 

 a pistor, and two grooms for the preceptor. 

 Twice a year the prior of the Hospitallers in 

 England visited the house. 13 Beyond this 

 little is known of its inner or outer life. It 

 was suppressed with the rest of the com- 

 manderies of the order in 1541. 



Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Bek, 113. 

 1 Ibid. Memo. Bokyngham, 6^d. 

 3 Ibid. Inst. Bokyngham, ii. 420. 



* Todd, History of Ashridge, 24 ; he also in- 

 serts a certain John between John of Tring and 

 Abel. 



6 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Repingdon, 138 ; 

 the second date is given by Todd. 

 8 Todd, History of Ashridge, 24. 



* Sloane MS. 747, sgd, alludes to John Wilton, 

 rector of Ashridge, 1482 : Todd gives John Whyt- 

 ton, 1492. 



s Todd, History of Ashridge, 24. Ibid. 



10 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Longland, ig6d. 



11 Dugdale, M on. vi. 809 ; from the Confirma- 

 tion Charter of I John. The lands and tenements 

 granted by Richard Malet (ibid. 835) in Quainton 

 were probably a separate gift. 



12 L. B. Larking, The Knights Hospitallers 

 (Camden Soc.), 68-9. " Ibid. 



The manor of Wydende or Widmer in 

 Great Marlow also belonged to the Hos- 

 pitallers, and the remains of a chapel, with a 

 crypt below, have been thought to indicate 

 the existence of a small commandery there. 16 

 In 1338 however the 'camera' of Wydende 

 was being farmed by William de Langford, 

 and there were no knights there " ; it is quite 

 uncertain whether there were any at an earlier 

 date. The survey of the property of the 

 order in 1314 merely states that the manor of 

 Wydende, as well as that of Hogshaw, had 

 always belonged to the Hospitallers and not 

 to the Templars. 18 



The commandery of Hogshaw was origin- 

 ally endowed with the manor of Hogshaw 

 and the churches of Cholesbury, Hogshaw, 19 

 Oving, Addington, Creslow and Ludgershall. 20 

 In 1302 the lands at Hogshaw were held as 

 half a knight's fee ; in 1312 the preceptor also 

 held half the vill of Drayton. 21 Its valuation 

 in 1338 amounts to 74 i^s, iod., including 

 pensions from the churches of Oving, Adding- 

 ton, Creslow and Ludgershall, and the whole 

 revenue of Hogshaw Church (only nine 

 marks) ; the expenses of the household, with 

 the chaplains who served the house and the 

 church, amounted to 28 i6s. ^d." At the 

 dissolution the lands of the Hospitallers at 

 Hogshaw and Claydon, were valued only at 

 2 121. annually. 



The name of the preceptor in 1338 was 

 William Warde 33 : no others are at present 

 known. 



14 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Longland, ig6d. 



15 P.R.O. Acknowl. of Supremacy, No. 3. 



16 Records of Bucks, iii. 121. 



17 L. B. Larking, The Knights Hospitallers, 125. 

 It was only worth 10 marks. 



18 Cott. MS. Nero E, vi. .90. Ibid. 



20 L. B. Larking, The Knights Hospitallers, 68-9. 



21 Feud. Aids, i. 96, ill, 112. 



22 Ibid. 



23 L. B. Larking, The Knights Hospitallers, 69. 



390 



