A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



with a tenant-in-chief of that name in Essex held a third of the 

 church (a noteworthy division) with a hide of glebe. The other two- 

 thirds of the church, with four appurtenant hides, had been held by 

 bishop Peter (of Lichfield) formerly a chaplain of the Conqueror. If, 

 however, he was the Peter who had been chaplain to Edward (as I have 

 suggested), 1 his tenure may have dated from before the Conquest, as 

 may that of the wealthy Reimbald, in favour with both sovereigns, who 

 held the livings of Cookham and of Bray. It should be observed that 

 he secured at Cookham the lion's share of the endowment, the church 

 with a glebe worth fifty shillings a year, while the share of * two other 

 clerks ' (possibly his deputies) was only five shillings between them. A 

 clear case of an alien rector succeeding a native is found at Blewberry, 

 where William (de) Belfou had secured a living valued at 5. He had 

 been given another at Marlborough, and was probably at this time 

 William's chaplain and chancellor. It is worth noting that he seems to 

 have obtained the East Anglian see ju.st about the date of the survey, 

 namely at Christmas 1085, and that in the other volume of Domesday 

 he is styled, under Norfolk and Suffolk, William bishop of Thetford. 

 Another alien was ' Ralf the priest,' to whose share had fallen the 

 church and glebe of ' Nachededorne,' and who seems to have also 

 secured livings in Sussex, Hampshire, and Wiltshire. An Englishman, 

 however, continued to hold the living of Sparsholt, as he had done 

 under Edward, possibly because it was not rich enough to tempt the 

 foreign clergy. The nuns of Amesbury also remained patrons of 

 Letcombe, where the glebe was but small. The King's manor of 

 Sutton Courtenay had still an English priest, whose case is of peculiar 

 interest. Of him there is no mention under the King's land ; but 

 under that of Abingdon Abbey we read that jElfwi the priest held of it 

 a hide at Sutton as his father had done before him. The chronicle of the 

 house explains that, in the days before the Conquest, the abbey held two- 

 thirds of the tithes of Sutton the same division as at Wantage with 

 a hide of land, which was held of the abbot by the priest of Sutton, 

 and that it further received from William Rufus Sutton church (i.e. the 

 advowson) with a recommendation that ./Elfwi should continue to hold 

 it for life, as he was learned in the law. Subsequently ./Elfwi petitioned 

 the abbot that his son might hold it for life after him, a favour which 

 he obtained on paying 5 and releasing to the abbey the chapel of 

 Milton, one of the abbey's manors. 3 Here, it would seem we have an 

 English clerical family holding the same living for three generations. 



In Berkshire the survey, it is said, mentions some fifty churches, 

 of which seventeen were on royal manors, and sixteen on those of 

 ecclesiastical holders. 3 A chapel occurs at Harwell and a small church 

 (ecclesiola) at White Waltham. It is well recognized, however, that the 

 mention of churches in the survey is only incidental and is generally 

 due to the existence of taxable glebe ; at Wallingford, although so 

 lengthily described, not a church is spoken of, although we learn inci- 



Feudal England, p. 320. a Vol. ii. pp. 26-9. 3 Domesday Studies, pp. 435~6. 



300 



