A HISTORY OF DORSET 



4 May, 1233, released to the Abbess Amicia 

 and her successors the demand made by the king 

 and his ancestors of the service of three knights 

 and the fourth part and sixth part of a fee in 

 addition to the seven already enumerated, ordain- 

 ing that in future the said abbess should be 

 accountable only for the service of seven knights, 

 which she admitted to be due." At the close 

 of the thirteenth century the Taxatio assessed 

 the temporalities of the abbey in the diocese of 

 Salisbury at ;^5o6 14^,'* in the diocese of Chi- 

 chester at ;^50,'' and ^^33 in the diocese of 

 Bath and Wells.^" The spiritualities of the 

 convent, reckoned only at;^i4, consisted of pen- 

 sions from the churches of St. James, Shaftes- 

 bury, Tisbury, and Bradford.*' The power and 

 influence in the district possessed by the abbess 

 can have been only less than supreme ; to her 

 belonged a moiety of the manor of Shaftesbury — 

 the other half pertaining to the king*^ — and 

 the custody of the vill for which she paid a 

 \ fee farm of j^i2.*' The patronage in her 

 hands and those of the community was above 

 that of any other religious house in the county ; 

 in addition to the presentation of all the churches 

 in Shaftesbury, at that time numbering twelve 

 with the abbey, and the advowson of the hos- 

 pital of St. John super montem, she had within 

 her gift the four prebends or portions for secular 

 priests within the conventual church, viz., 

 Iwerne Minster, Gillingham, Liddington, and 

 Fontmell, the appointment of the various chap- 

 lains officiating at the different chantries, and 

 the presentation to the office of deacon of the 

 high altar within the church, collation to which 

 fell to the crown in the vacancy of the abbey .^ 

 In the return of church property of 1535 the 

 receipts and disbursements are entered of an 

 official appointed by the abbess and removable 

 at her will, William Breton, clerk, who held the 

 office of sacrist of the abbey and to whom was 

 assigned certain rents for the maintenance and 

 repair of the church, the provision of bread, wine, 

 and other necessaries for the celebration of 

 divine offices, and the payment of salaries and 

 pensions for certain priests officiating in the 

 church.*' 



On the eve of the Dissolution the net income 

 of the abbey was assessed at ^^ 1,3 29 if. -T^d. ; '* 

 the spiritualities of the community included the 

 parsonages of Bradford and Tisbury and tithes 

 from Barton,*' their temporalities the manors 



" Chart. R. 17 Hen. Ill, m. 10. 



"^ Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 183. " Ibid. 1 39. 



^Ibid. 203. «' Ibid. 178, 180-1. 



" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 11-13. 



''In 1 39 1 Richard II made a life-grant to John Rods 

 of this fee farm paid by the abbess for the town. 

 Pat. 14 Rich. II, pt. I, m. 30. 



" Ibid. 18 Rich, II, pt. I, m. 10. 



" Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 280. 



" Ibid. " Ibid. 276. 



of Barton, Downton, Fontmell, Tarrant, Lid- 

 dington (Wiltshire), Hinton, Felpham (Sussex), 

 Kingston, Donhead (Wiltshire), Stour, Tisbury 

 (Wiltshire), Cheselbourne, Combe (Somerset), 

 Caundle, ' Arne,' ' Kulmyngton,' Handley, Mel- 

 bury, Sedgehill (Wiltshire), Berwick (Wiltshire), 

 Aimer, Iwerne Minster and Kelston (Som- 

 erset). ** But if the revenues of the abbey were 

 enormous,*^ the charges on the house were by 

 no means trifling, and the management of so 

 vast an estate and the direction of so large a 

 community called for powers of government and 

 organization which it is more than probable 

 every abbess did not possess. Whether the diffi- 

 culties that arose were due mainly to the too 

 frequent absence of these qualities or sprang 

 from other causes the fact remains that from the 

 fourteenth century, and even earlier, onwards, 

 the house with every outward sign and manifes- 

 tation of wealth and influence was continuously 

 crippled by insufficient means and its existence 

 chequered by the constant recurrence of debt 

 and insolvency. As regards the charges on the 

 house, the abbess was summoned by writ to 

 furnish soldiers for the field in proportion to the 

 number of her fees ;"* the summons to Parliament, 

 to which by tenure she was entitled, was omitted 

 on the ground of her sex. The convent, in 

 common with the majority of houses under the 

 royal patronage, was called on to provide mainten- 

 ance for boarders at the king's presentation,'' 

 and was expected on the occasion of the new 

 creation of an abbess to furnish a pension for a 

 clerk at the royal appointment.'^ In addition 

 the king claimed a right to present a nun on 

 the occasion of the voidance of the abbey," 

 and the episcopal registers record that the bishop 

 of Salisbury, on his promotion to the see, had the 

 right of placing an inmate in the house and of 

 appointing one of the nuns to act as her instruc- 

 tor.'* Henry V, in the first year of his reign, 

 presented lodonia Wodehill to the convent in 

 accordance with his prerogative to nominate a 

 nun to the abbey on his coronation." Henry VI, 

 in 1480, recalling this ancient privilege, presented 



«* Ibid. 276-9. 



^' The contrast between the wealth of Shaftesbury 

 and that of all the other houses in the county is per- 

 haps most vividly brought home to us when we read 

 the list of grants made by the spirituality in 1 527 

 towards the king's expenses in the recovery of the 

 crown of France ; Shaftesbury, like Glastonbury, 

 contributed j{^ 1,000, double the contribution of the 

 chapter of Salisbury and ten times the amount paid 

 by Sherborne. L. and P. Hen. Fill, iii, 2483. 



" Pari. Writs (Rec. Com.), ii, dlv. 3, 1424. 



" Close, 4 Edw. II, m. 25 a-.; 1 8 Edw. II, m. 5 </.; 

 13 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. \6d. 



" Ibid. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. l^d. 



" Ibid. pt. 2, m. 17. 



" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mitford, fol. 139 ; Neville, 

 fol. 51a'.; Blyth, fol. 40. 



" R) mer, Foed. ix, 11. 



76 



