A HISTORY OF DORSET 



The cell of Frampton as a typical example 

 affords very good material for a study of these 

 alien dependencies, and from its history we may 

 learn in a measure the vicissitudes of fortune that 

 during the greater part of their existence alter- 

 nately despoiled and restored them. As regards 

 the attention they evidently attracted in this 

 county it should be noted that their number 

 and position near the coast made them legitimate 

 objects of suspicion, and we have to remember 

 that their prayers were naturally engaged, or sup- 

 posed to be engaged, not for the armies of England 

 and her king, but for her adversaries and an alien 

 cause.* On the seizure of lands held by Nor- 

 mans in England following the loss of Normandy 

 in 1204, the prior of Frampton is said to have 

 secured his property from John by promising to 

 pay a fine of 100 marks in two moieties, the 

 first at Michaelmas, 1204, and the second at the 

 Feast of St. Hilary following, and afterwards 

 ;^8o yearly at the usual four terms, in return for 

 which he was allowed the custody of the lands 

 of the abbot of Caen in Somerset and Dorset.' 

 From this time ;^8o per annum, or a propor- 

 tionate fraction of it, seems to have been tlie 

 sum demanded by the crown on the vacancy 

 of the parent house occasioned by the death or 

 cession of the abbot of Caen.^° Hugh de Neville 

 was ordered 10 April, 1208, to restore to the 

 prior of Frampton all his lands taken into the 

 king's hands by reason of the interdict. ^^ The 

 reign of Henry III passed without incident, 

 but early in the reign of Edward I the cell 

 excited suspicion, and the prior was required on 

 a summons from the sheriff, April, 1275, to 

 certify that neither he nor his house were in any 

 way bound to any foreign merchant, nor had 

 received from them money or 'arras' in ex- 

 change for their wool, which on the contrary the 

 prior declared had been sold to Geoffrey and 

 Thomas de Aune, burgesses of ' Corcestree,' and 

 to Stephen Bray, burgher of Sefton.^^ 



In 1294 the prior obtained letters of protec- 

 tion from Edward I for a year with other 

 ecclesiastics who had granted a moiety of their 

 benefices and goods to the crown," and, in 

 accordance with the principle of allowing the 

 foreigner to escape none of the burdens imposed 

 on the native clergy, in 1332 he was requested 



* This reason is set out among others in a letter of 

 Edward II to the bishop of Salisbury in 1326 res- 

 pecting the foreign cells in his diocese. Sarum Epis. 

 Reg. Mortival, i, 274 a'. 



' Rot. Norman. (Hardy), 126; Rot. de oblat'ts et finibus 

 (Hardy), 199. In Oct. 1209, the king notified 

 the sheriff that the first moiety had been paid into 

 the Camera at Winchester on the Monday follow- 

 ing the Feast of St. Michaelmas. Close, 6 John, 

 m. 15. 



" Close, 8 Edw. II, m. 30. 



" Ibid. 9 John, m. 3. 



" Anct. Corresp. xvii, I 2 5. 



"Pat. 22 Edw. I, PI 8. 



to assist the subsidy raised on the occasion of the 

 marriage of the king's sister.** In December, 

 1 295, the protection granted to him the previous 

 year was renewed, with the restoration of his 

 lands and goods on condition that he should 

 pay yearly a fixed sum at the exchequer for the 

 custody,'^ the grant being repeated March, 1297, 

 on the same terms.*' 



On the general seizure of the property of 

 aliens in 1324, the issues of the manors belong- 

 ing to Frampton Priory taken into the hands of 

 custodians by the king's orders from 8 October 

 to the 10 January following were valued at 

 ^^260 "Ji. \dy An inquisition held to inquire 

 as to the yearly value of the priory lands esti- 

 mated Frampton with the advowson of the 

 vicarage at 100;. and the church held 'in pro- 

 prios usus'at ^^13 6j. to be worth ^^58 4J. ()d}^ 

 This measure, however, did not satisfy the king, 

 and in September, 1326, in anticipation of a 

 French landing, Edward II addressed a letter to 

 the bishop of Salisbury pointing out the danger 

 that lay in the position of the enemy's confederates 

 near the coast, and desiring certain brethren 

 dwelling in these parts to be transferred to other 

 houses of the same order further inland. The 

 bishop in his reply notified the king that in 

 obedience to his order he had sent William 

 Pyequier of the priory of Frampton up country 

 to the monastery of Sherborne.*' As Edward III 

 restored the lands and possessions of no alien 

 houses a few days after his accession the follow- 

 ing January, Frampton belonging to the abbey 

 of Caen being of the number, this transference 

 was probably not of long duration.^ 



A period of tranquillity ensued till the year 

 1337, when an outbreak of war caused foreign 

 dependencies to be again seized, and Henry de 

 Haydok, clerk, was deputed to take into the 

 king's hand the lands and rents ' of foreign 

 religious men of the power and dominion of the 

 king of France ' in this county, the sheriff to 

 whom they had been delivered accounting for 

 the issues of Frampton Priory then valued at 

 j^294 19J. "jd}^ The prior meantime was 

 granted protection and allowed the custody of 

 his house on condition of paying a yearly 



"Close, 6 Edw. Ill, m. xd d. 



'^ Pat. 24 Edw. I, m. 21. 



'' Ibid. 25 Edw. I, m. \zd. 



" Mins. Accts. bdle. 1125, No. 7. 



■' B.M. Add. MS. 6164, fol. 270. The allowance 

 made by the king to those foreign ecclesiastics whose 

 goods and benefices he had seized was at the rate of 

 I %d. a week with 40/. per annum for clothing and 

 boots. Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, i, fol. 236. 



" Ibid. fol. 274. 



'" Rymer, Foed. iv, 245-6. In fact the prior in 

 1338 was ordered to take up his station near the sea 

 for the protection of the coast under penalty of being 

 regarded as an adherent of the enemy. Rymer, Foed. 

 (Rec. Com.), ii (2), 1062. 



" Mins. Accts. bdle. 1 125, No. 9. 



114 



