A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



Thusthis endowment included, besides the site, the 

 meadow called Castle Mead, a tithe of the fishery 

 by the castle and of Quedgeley, the chapel within 

 the castle, the chapels of St. Kinburga and Elmore, 

 besides other tithes in the earl of Hereford's de- 

 mesnes. Afterwards he granted the church of 

 Barton in Hampshire and in 1141 the manor of 

 Heyhampstead. 1 In 1137 Robert de Braci died, 

 and was succeeded as prior by William de Wy- 

 combe, the familiar friend of Robert de Bethune. 

 The chronicler implies that Robert de Bethune 

 stipulated for the return of the canons to the 

 mother church if peace were concluded, leaving 

 only thirteen of their number at Gloucester. 2 In 

 1 1 46, at the bishop's request, Pope Eugenius III 

 confirmed the possessions of the two priories, and 

 decreed that the house at Gloucester should con- 

 tinue as a cell to the mother church of St. John 

 the Baptist. 3 The canons of Gloucester were 

 soon afterwards joined by a band of twenty 

 brethren, who were constrained to leave the 

 mother house because their property lay barren. 4 

 Robert de Bethune granted lands and churches 

 in the diocese of Hereford that the newcomers 

 might not be a burden on the younger founda- 

 tion. The thought of returning to the mother 

 house was hateful ; they appreciated the contrast 

 between the town of Gloucester and the desolate 

 Hatteril mountains. 6 The chronicler told how 

 he had heard some of the canons say that they 

 wished each stone of the mother church was a 

 hare, and others that they longed for the earth to 

 open and swallow it up. They devoted their 

 revenues to the fabric of the new church to 

 the neglect of the elder. As it could not be 

 deserted, all the old, weak, and more humble 

 brethren were sent thither and left in want of 

 clothing and food, while the canons at Gloucester 

 enjoyed plenty. Everything of value was gradu- 

 ally removed to Gloucester, the books of the 

 library, silken cloths, charters, and muniments, 

 even the bells. 6 William de Wycombe, himself 

 a man of austere life, strove, though in vain, to 

 maintain discipline at Gloucester. 7 The canons 

 hated him, and used his work on the life of 

 Robert de Bethune to get rid of him. In the 

 course of a serious quarrel, the bishop excom- 

 municated Milo, earl of Hereford, and in 1143, 

 while under the ban, he was killed when hunting 

 in the Forest of Dean. William de Wycombe, 

 the bishop's familiar friend, wrote vehemently 

 against the tyrant, as he styled the earl. The 

 canons informed his son Roger, earl of Hereford 



1 Dugdale, Mon. vi, 137. 

 'Ibid. 132. 



3 MS. Top. Glouc. C. 5, Bodl. Lib. fol. 607. This 

 manuscript of Richard Furney, archdeacon of Surrey 

 (ob. 1752), contains a valuable collection of notes 

 extracted from a series of registers of Lanthony by 

 Gloucester which were then in the possession of the 

 Scudamores of Holme Lacy. 



4 Dugdale, op. cit. vi. 132. 6 Ibid. 133. 

 Ibid. 133. 'Ibid. 133. 



of this, and he swore vengeance on the house. 



' O 



William de Wycombe resigned, and left Glou- 

 cester to dwell for the rest of his life at Canon 

 Frome in Herefordshire. His successor, Clement, 

 compelled the brethren to dwell with him for a 

 year at the mother house leaving but thirteen at 

 Gloucester, but they would not stay ; 8 on 

 account of St. John, he said, ' we shall all 

 descend into hell.' The Welsh house pleased him 

 as a place for study 9 and prayer 10 but the chroni- 

 cler deemed that the wisdom of the serpent 

 would have profited him more than the inno- 

 cence of the dove. 11 



It is difficult to discover the relations between 

 the two houses during the latter half of the 

 twelfth century. In 1157 Adrian IV confirmed 

 a composition which had been made by Prior 

 Clement, but the details are not forthcoming. 12 

 The Bohuns were generous patrons of the 

 monastery at Gloucester. In the reign of 

 Henry II Margery de Bohun, the daughter of 

 Milo, earl of Hereford, gave the manor of South 

 Cerney, 13 his son Henry gave the churches of 

 Haresfield and Caldicote, in Ii6i. u In 1198, 

 Richard I confirmed the possessions and liberties 

 of the priories of St. Mary and St. John the 

 Baptist in one charter. 15 The Irish Conquest 

 brought a great increase of property ; Hugh de 

 Lacy II gave lands to Lanthony Prima, 16 other 

 benefactors favoured Lanthony Secunda. 17 Shortly 

 before 1205 Hubert Walter, archbishop of 

 Canterbury, required Mauger, bishop of Wor- 

 cester, and Giles, bishop of Hereford, to consider 

 the question of a repartition of the possessions of 

 the two priories as a former division had been made 

 void. 18 In 1205 it was agreed that each monastery 

 should have its own prior and convent and that 

 neither should be subject to the other. 19 The 

 possessions were to be divided, but no record of 

 the settlement is known to have survived. Later 

 evidence suggests that the mother house had the 

 lands and churches in the counties of Monmouth, 

 Hereford, and Wales, while the monastery at 

 Gloucester kept the lands and other possessions 

 in that county. 20 In 1 2 1 1 an amicable compo- 

 sition was made about the Irish property. 21 



The Irish possessions were an important but 

 fluctuating source of revenue. One or two of 

 the canons acted as the prior's proctors in Ireland, 22 



8 Ibid. 134. 



9 Cf. MS. Top. Glouc. C. 5, fol. 644. 



10 Gira/Jus Cambrensls, Opera (Roll Ser.), vi, 30. 



11 Mon. vii, 134. 



12 MS. Top. Glouc. C. 5, fol. 607. 



13 Brut, and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Tram, xviii, 43. 



14 Ibid, xix, 283. 



15 MS. Top. Glouc. C. 5, fol. 609. 



16 Dugdale, Mon. vi, 138. 



" MS. Top. Glouc. C.- 5, fol. 613. 



18 Ibid. 6 1 1. "Ibid. 612. 



80 Fosbrooke, Hist, of Glouc. 293 note b. 



81 MS. Top. Glouc. C. 5, fol. 613. 



" Cal. of Pat. Edw. I, Edw. II, Edw. Ill, passim. 



88 



