A HISTORY OF DORSET 



of their advovvson.' " In 1324 Robert de Faren- 

 don alienated to the community loox. rent from 

 a messuage and land in Upper Sydling for the 

 provision of a monk to celebrate daily in the 

 chapel of St. Mary Milton for his soul and the 

 souls of his ancestors ; -'^ and in 1329 a further 

 grant was made by Nicholas de Weye and 

 William de Wydecombe, chaplain, in aid of the 

 maintenance of a monk who should celebrate 

 daily in the abbey for their souls and those of 

 their ancestors and successors.^' In 1336 the 

 convent were permitted to purchase the manor 

 with the advowson of the church of Winter- 

 borne Stickland from the chapter of Coutances 

 in Normandy ; at the same time it was ordained 

 that 10 marks should be paid annually out of the 

 same, and other lands in Milton and Osmington, 

 to the chapter of Salisbury for a chantry estab- 

 lished in the cathedral for the kings of England 

 and Simon of Ghent, late bishop ; another 

 5 marks for a chantry in the church of Mel- 

 combe Regis for the soul of Edward III, and 

 5 marks for a chantry in the church of Milton 

 for the good estate of the king. Queen Philippa 

 his consort, and their children, and for their souls 

 after death. -^ A carucate of land in Bryanston 

 was conveyed to the convent in 1344 for the 

 yearly observance, on 31 January, of the anni- 

 versary of William de Stokes."" In 1392 the 

 brethren, on payment of a fine of 100 marks, 

 obtained from Richard II licence to acquire 

 various parcels of land in Hunsworth, Langford, 

 Milton, and Bedeshurst to be assigned towards 

 the yearly maintenance of the anniversaries of 

 Roger Manyngford ^° and Margaret his wife, and 

 other works of piety. 



Henry IV, on 22 October, 1400, inspected 

 and confirmed an agreement made in 1386 

 between the abbot and convent and Nicholas 

 Langford, whereby the former consented to re- 

 ceive the latter into their confraternity so that 

 in life he should participate in all the spiritual 

 benefits of the monastery and order, should 

 receive a weekly corrody of bread and ale, a 

 robe with fur every year, a 'good chamber' within 

 the abbey with fuel and litter, stabling, and keep 

 for his horse, and a yearly rent of 40s., and 

 after death that his name should be sent round 

 with the names of other dead monks throughout 

 England ; in return for these benefits it was 

 stipulated that he should assist the community in 

 their business with his counsel.'' 



The abbey was spared none of the charges im- 

 posed on houses of any standing belonging to the 



" Pat. 6 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 16. 

 *' Ibid. 18 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 28. 

 " Ibid. 2 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 29. 

 »■* Ibid. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 8 ; 15 Edw. Ill, 

 'pt. 3, m. 6 ; 21 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 31. 

 " Ibid. 1 8 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 9. 

 "' Ibid. 16 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 30. 

 ^' Ibid. 2 Hen. IV, pt. I, m. 35. 



Benedictine order and of the royal patronage.'" 

 Pensioners were bestowed on the house with un- 

 failing regularity by Edward II and Edward III," 

 and on the appointment of a new abbot they did 

 not fail to present a clerk for the pension due at 

 the royal nomination.'* In 1332 the abbot was 

 requested to contribute towards the subsidy raised 

 on the occasion of the marriage of the king's 

 sister ; '* and two years later to give a tenth 

 towards the expenses incurred by the Scotch 

 war.'^ 



The community, which is said to have origin- 

 ally numbered forty,'' was considerably reduced 

 in numbers in the latter part of its existence, the 

 change being attributed in the first place to the 

 loss incurred by the fire of 1309." Other 

 causes were not wanting, and the strain on the 

 resources of the abbey became marked during 

 the rule of Richard de Maury, 1331-52.'' On 

 24 April, 1344, the king ordered the chancellor 

 of Salisbury, John de Tylvyngton, Thomas Gary, 

 and John Maury to take the house, now in a state of 

 great depression and indebtedness owing to dissen- 

 sions between the abbot and convent, into their 



" With the exception of the year following its 

 loss by fire, when Milton w.is omitted from the list 

 of abbots who were requested to aid the king with 

 victuals for the Scotch war ; Close, 3 Edw. II, 

 m. 5 J. 



" Close, 8 Edw. II, m. I l </.; 12 Edw. II, m. 1 94'.; 

 6 Edw. Ill, m. 18a'. ; 7 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 3d'.; 

 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i,m. I a'.; 21 Edw. Ill, pt. l,m. zd. ; 

 23 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 12 d. 



" Ibid. 8 Edw. II, m. 20,2'.; 26 Edw. Ill, m. 5 J. 



^Ihld. 6 Edw. Ill, m. 16 a'. 



'= Ibid. 8 Edw. Ill, m. 5 d. 



" Hutchins {His/, of Dorset, iv, 390) cites this from 

 ' an anonymous author in the Cotton Library.' 



^ The excuse put forward by the community in 

 1320 for declining to receive a certain Robert 

 Oysel, clerk, who desired to enter the monastery, 

 was that their house was already burdened beyond 

 its capacity to sustain its present number, and would 

 not admit of another; Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, ii, 

 fol. 99. 



" The abbot, who received the benediction on his 

 election in I 33 I at the hands of Simon, archbishop 

 of Canterbury, ' in the exercise of his right of visita- 

 tion in the diocese of Salisbur}' ' (Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, 

 pt. 2, m. 32), does not seem to have been acknow- 

 ledged by his bishop till the year I 336, when he was 

 formally pardoned for his irregularity in seeking con- 

 firmation from the primate instead of from his ordinary 

 (Sarum Epis. Reg. Wp'ille, fol. 30 </.). A commission 

 of oyer and terminer was issued in 1338 and 1340 to 

 investigate complaints of trespass against the superior 

 (Pat. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. i6</. ; 14 Edw. Ill, 

 pt. I, m. 41 d.'), who in 1342 appears to have been 

 imprisoned for trespass at Rockingham (Close, 16 Edw. 

 Ill, pt. I, m. 22). In 1348 he was charged with 

 breaking the park of Alesia, countess of Lincoln, at 

 Kingston Lacy (Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 43 d). In 

 1351 'Richard Maur)', monk, formerly for more than 

 eighteen years abbot of Milton, in which time the 

 abbey acquired more than 60 marks annual rent,' 



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