RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



martlienshire/" cell to Sherborne ; the towns of 

 Stalbridge, Weston, Oborne, Thornford, Brad- 

 ford, Wyke, and ' Hloscum ' with all their ap- 

 purtenances ; Compton with Over and Nether 

 Compton, ' Propeschirche ' and Stockland with 

 woods, meadows and two mills ; the street before 

 the monastery in Sherborne, extending as far as 

 the church of St. Andrew, with the mill by the 

 monastery and the mill by St. Andrew's church ; 

 three taxable houses in Sherborne with other 

 houses belonging to them, the taxable houses 

 round the court [atrium) of the monastery with 

 their orchards and appurtenances ; all the taxable 

 houses in the burgh of Wareham with the chapel 

 of St. Andrew ; the towns of Horton, King- 

 ton, Halstock, Coringdon, Corscombe, Stoke, 

 Bromley, ' Laurechestoc,' Fleet, Beer, and Seaton 

 with their salt-pits and other appurtenances ; the 

 fisheries of Fleet, Beer, and Seaton ; Littleham 

 with its fisheries, meadows, woods, &c. ; Carswell 

 and Bromley ; various tithes with three cart-loads 

 of hay yearly in Bere, and one cart-load from the 

 demesne of the bishop ; the sepulture of the place 

 free for those who should desire to be buried 

 there, except for such as should die excommuni- 

 cated and saving the rights of the mother church. 

 On the death of the abbot or any of his successors 

 no one should be set over them except by the 

 common consent of the brethren or the counsel 

 of the wiser of them.^" The bull of Alexander III, 

 with some additions, confirms to the abbey in 

 1 163 the possessions enumerated in the bull of 

 1 145." Th&Taxat'io oi 1291 gives the abbot and 

 convent pensions amounting to f^() I2s. 6d. from 

 the churches of Stalbridge, Holy Trinity Ware- 

 ham, and Corscombe in the diocese of Salisbury;'^ 

 their temporalities assessed at ;^I26 15J. 2d. in- 

 cluded lands and rents valued at £2^ ^s. Sd. in 

 the diocese of Exeter '' ; £^ in the diocese of 

 Bath and Wells ^* ; and ^^66 2s. 2d. in the 

 deanery of Shaftesbury in the Salisbury diocese.'^ 

 The possessions of the abbey rendered it liable 

 to various services and taxations, and the demands 

 incidental more especially to houses of the Bene- 

 dictine order and of the royal patronage. The 

 abbot in 1 1 56 and 1160-1 acquitted himself to 

 the king for the holding of two knights' fees.'' In 

 1 166 the fees ot the house were certified by 

 charter thus : — Richard Fitz Hildebrant holds of 

 the abbey half a knight's fee, Thomas de Has- 

 weria one fee, Jordan de Netherstock half a fee, 



" Roger, bishop of Salisbury, gave a carucateof land 

 at Kidwelly and ' the mountain called Salomon's ' ; 

 the churches of Pennalt, Kidwelly, and Penbray were 

 granted to the abbey by Richard Fitz William. Dug- 

 dale, Mon. i, 424. 



™ Leland, liin. ii, 53, 54 ; Dugdale, Mon. i, 335. 

 Chart, of Sherborne, No. v. 



^' Ibid. No. vi, i, 339. 



»- Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 178-9. 



'" Ibid. 151. " Ibid. 203. " Ibid. 184-5. 



^ Red Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), i, 15, 27. 



Geoffrey de Stokes one-fifth of a fee, the above 

 constituting fees of the old feoffment ; of the 

 new feoffment Simon de Cherd holds two parts 

 of a fee, Walter Fitz Hugh one-fifth, Robert de 

 Thorncombe one-fifth.'' From that date the 

 abbot appears to have rendered service for two 

 knights' fees and a fifth part of a fee.'' In the 

 course of the war with Scotland he was sum- 

 moned by writ to send his service against the 

 Scots, and in 1324 was requested to raise forces in 

 defence of the duchy of Aquitaine;'^ his tenure 

 entitled him to a seat in Parliament,^" and he 

 leceived the usual notifications to attend. The 

 convent on frequent occasions received requests 

 or orders from Edward II and Edward III to 

 supply maintenance in their abbey for boarders 

 of the king's nomination,*' and in accordance 

 with the usual custom, were expected to provide 

 a pension for a clerk whenever a new abbot was 

 appointed.*^ An order was issued to the 

 escheator in July, 1 3 10, respiting until Michael- 

 mas a demand of a palfrey and a silver cup from 

 the abbot of Sherborne by reason of the last void- 

 ance, the abbot protesting that he was not 

 chargeable, as his predecessors had been quit of 

 this special payment * from time out of mind.'*' 

 On more than one occasion the monastery was 

 used as a depository for taxes and subsidies col- 

 lected in the county,** a strong and suitable 

 room being requisitioned within the abbey in 

 I 334 for the reception of the moneys collected in 

 Dorset for the tenths and fifteenths voted to the 

 king for the expenses of the war, with free ingress 

 and egress to be permitted to the collectors, who 

 were bound to answer for the amount." 



The history of Sherborne, from the date of its 

 elevation in the twelfth century to the dignity of 

 an abbey down to the stirring incident which 

 led to the destruction of the church by fire in the 

 fifteenth century, is very uneventful, and con- 

 sists chiefly of small disconnected incidents. 

 Henry II, by one charter, confirmed a composition 



" Ibid. 213. 



" Ibid. 34, 64, 80, loi, 125, 166 ; ii, 344. 



" Pari. Writs (Rec. Com.), i, div. viii, 1427-8. 



'» Ibid. 



" In I 309 William Beausamys was sent to the abbey 

 to receive maintenance for himself, a horse and groom 

 (Close, 2 Edw. II, m. 12). Hugh Cade was sent in 

 I 3 1 5 to receive such allowance as Richard le PoLiger 

 had had (ibid. 8 Edw. II, m. 1 1 d^. From the man- 

 ner in which on the death of one boarder another was 

 sent to take his place, it would seem that two was the 

 number maintained at a time (ibid. 10 Edw. II, m. 

 izd. \ ibid. 1 1 Edw. II, m. 9 </. ; 12 Edw. II, m. 30; 

 6 Edw. Ill, m. 2 d.). A complaint was lodged in 

 1335 that the abbey declined to provide full and 

 proper maintenance, and contented itself with merely 

 admitting the king's candidate. Pat. 9 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, 

 m. 21 (/. 



"Close, 4 Edw. II, m. \% d. 



" Ibid. m. 26. " Ibid. 4 Edw. I, m. 3 ./. 



" Pari R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 45'- 

 65 9 



