A HISTORY OF DORSET 



the souls of the Conqueror and Matilda his 

 queen, for the weal and prosperity of William 

 king of the English, as well as for the souls of 

 his own parents, Roger and Adelina, for himself 

 and Henry his brother and all his predecessors, 

 had been allowed and confirmed by King William 

 at Whitsuntide when he first held his court in 

 his new hall at Westminster.*'* The valuation 

 in the reign of John of the lands of Nor- 

 mans in England seized into the king's hand 

 states that Spettisbury belonging to the abbot of 

 Pr^aux was worth ^12 unstocked, and with the 

 stock already there ;^I5; if stocked to the extent 

 of its capacity it should be worth ^20; nothing 

 had been removed therefrom.'" In 1 29 1 the 

 church of Spettisbury, in the deanery of Whit- 

 church, together with the chapel of Charlton 

 Marshall was assessed at ;^io. The prior of 

 Spettisbury had a pension therein of 30J., and 

 received ^^'4 ds. 8d. from tithes ; the temporalities 

 in Spettisbur)' were reckoned to the abbot of 

 Pr^aux or de Pratellis as worth ^^12 6s}^^ On 

 27 October, 13 12, Thomas de Marisco of Spet- 

 tisbury obtained a licence from the king enabling 

 him to alienate a moiety of a mill in Spettisbury 

 to the abbot and convent of Preaux in exchange 

 for 2 acres of land and I rood of meadow in the 

 same town.''' 



Little is known of the history of this alien 

 cell up to the period, at any rate, of the French 

 wars. Edward II in 131 7 ordered his escheator 

 to restore the manors of Toft (Norfolk), Spettis- 

 bury (Dorset), Warmington (Warwickshire), and 

 Aston (Berksiiire) belonging to the abbot and 

 convent of Pr6aux, which had been seized into 

 the king's hand on the pretext of the vacancy 

 of the abbey, alleging that these were originally 

 granted by Robert, earl of Leicester and count of 

 Meulan, with the consent of his progenitors, and 

 that neither he nor they had been accustomed to 

 receive any of the profits on the death of the 

 foreign superior."* The abbey seems to have 

 placed a monk here at an early date to look after 

 the property and conduct divine service, for the 

 prior of Spettisbury is included among those 

 ecclesiastics who in 1294 received from Edward I 

 a grant of protection in return for a contribution 



'" Ca/. Dec. Franc/; III. By 3 subsequent charter 

 in the reign of Henry II, Robert count of Meulan 

 confirmed to the monks of Preaux all the land be- 

 stowed on them in Charlton by the gift of his knight 

 Hugh, named the villein {cognomento Villanus) ; ibid. 

 1 17-18. Henry II confirmed the grant made to the 

 abbey, his charter being inspected and confirmed by 

 Edward I. Chart. R. I 3 Edvv. I, m. 2 i , No. 69. 



'" ^oA Norman. (Hardy), 122. 



"" Pope Khh. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 178, iS+/^. 



'" Pat. 6 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 13. The following 

 May the monks, on payment of a fine of 20/., were 

 pardoned their trespass in having acquired the above 

 premises without obtaining a royal licence. Ibid. pt. 

 2, m. 6. 



'"Close, II Edw. II, m. 22. 



I2i 



to him from their goods and benefices ; '" and 

 in 1328 protection for a year was conceded by 

 Edward III.'^ Previous, however, to the year 

 1324 the foreign superior annexed this manor to 

 the priory of Toft in Norfolk, the head house 

 of the abbey in England ; and in the capacity 

 of proctor to the abbot the prior of Toft pre- 

 sented to the rectory of Spettisbury in March, 

 1327, the king directing the bishop of Salisbury 

 not to institute until it had been ascertained 

 whether the late rector, Ralph Moreb, an alien, 

 had died before or after 5 February, on which 

 date Edward III restored the possessions of alien 

 religious men seized during the late king's 

 reign.'^"' 



On the seizure of aliens' lands under Edward II 

 the issues of the manor of Spettisbury, taken into 

 custody as parcel of the temporalities of the prior 

 of Toft, 8 October, 1324, and restored to his 

 proctor the following 25 February, were valued 

 at ^^61 4/. Sd'.'"' On their re-seizure by 

 Edward III in 1337 the issues with which the 

 sheriff was charged amounted to ^^25 1 7^.'** 

 The goods belonging to the rectory, held by a 

 Frenchman [Gcil/ictis), were seized at the same 

 time and estimated at ^I2 O^ 4(/.'^' They 

 were subsequently restored to the foreign incum- 

 bent on condition that he should pay the king 

 annually a farm of loos}^* 



Towards the end of the century the abbot of 

 Preaux was successful in letting his English 

 property. Lewis de Clifford obtained a licence 

 from the crown, 12 October, 1390, to acquire 

 for life, with remainder to his son, the manor of 

 Toft with Spettisbury and other possessions of 

 the abbey of Preaux, on condition that he should 

 pay annually during the continuance of the 

 French war the sum of ;^8o to the king's 

 exchequer, the payment of this farm being re- 

 mitted later in the year.'-' Henry IV, in 1403, 

 confirmed a grant of these manors by Lewis de 

 Clifford to Thomas Erpingham,'-"^ in whose pos- 

 session they remained down to the suppression 

 of alien houses by the Parliament of Leicester 

 in 1 4 14, after which they were held in trust to 

 the use of the said Thomas for the term of his 

 life ; '■' and subsequently, with the approval of 

 Henry V, made over to the priory of Witham 

 (Somerset), the first house of the Carthusian 

 order in England.'-' Edward IV, in the first 

 year of his reign, confirmed to the Carthusian 



'" Pat. 22 Edw. I, m. 8. 



""Ibid. 2 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 17. 



""'Close, I Edw. Ill, pt. 1, m. 9 ; see also Rymer,. 

 Foedera, iv, 246-7. 



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



'" Ibid. No. 9. '" Ibid. 



"* Close, I 5 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 6 a". ; 17 Edw. III,, 

 pt. 2, m. 27 d. 



'-' Pat. 14 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 21 ; ibid. pt. 2, m. 46. 



"« Ibid. 4 Hen. IV, pt. 2, m. 8. 



'" Ibid. 1 Hen. VI, pt. 4, m. i 5. 



'" Ibid. 7 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 12. 



