A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



account of the parochial cure, but had no juris- 

 diction over the monks of the priory. 1 



In 1319 Edward II granted the right or 

 holding two fairs of three days in the manor of 

 Deerhurst, at the feasts of the Invention and 

 Exaltation of the Cross.* Like other alien 

 priories, Deerhurst was seized on account of the 

 revenues which were sent to the mother house 

 during the wars with France. The effect of the 

 king's action was that the prior and convent held 

 their lands of him on payment of a ferm to the ex- 

 chequer, which may have represented the amount 

 sent yearly to the mother house. 3 The crown 

 also presented to churches of which the advow- 

 sons belonged to the priory, as they fell vacant. 4 

 In time of war the abbots of St. Denis presented 

 the priors to the king, 8 who notified to the bishop 

 of Worcester his will that they should be insti- 

 tuted. In the reign of Edward III the alien 

 priories were in the king's hands from 1337 to 

 1361. In 1345 he leased the priory to Thomas 

 de Bradeston for 1 10 a year. 7 Under such an 

 arrangement as this the administration of property 

 and receipt of revenues was, of course, taken 

 from the prior, and there can be no doubt that 

 Thomas de Bradeston was bound to pay the con- 

 vent a fixed sum for their maintenance and the 

 provision of a chaplain to serve the parishioners. 

 However, the priory was then vacant, and when 

 John Godelli was appointed in 1346 the king 

 restored the custody to him on payment of i 10 

 a year to the exchequer so long as the war 

 lasted. 8 In 1389 the custody of the priory was 

 granted to John Russell, a knight, and William 

 Hitchcock, a chaplain, at a rent of 200.' The 

 prior was entitled to receive 46 marks a year 

 from certain tithes and oblations, and bound to find 

 chaplains for the parish church. In a previous 

 grant all the spiritualities of the priory were 

 reserved to his use, and it is not clear if he was 

 supposed to provide for himself and his monks and 

 find the chaplains for 46 marks. 10 In 1394 John 

 Russell complained that the prior had received 

 the money and had not paid the salaries of the 



1 Wore. Epis. Reg. Giffard (Wore. Hist. Soc.), 

 22, 382. The monks denied the right of the 

 bishop to visit the priory, and although it is stated 

 (ibid. p. Ixxxix) that GifFard did so, there is no 

 evidence of it. On the contrary he received procura- 

 tions from the prior of Deerhurst on account of the 

 parish churches which he held ; Reg. Sede Vac. (Wore. 

 Hist. Soc.), 63, 121. 



'Cart. R. 12 Edw. II, No. 19. 



* Cal. of Close, I Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 22; Pat. 

 39 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 12. 



* Cal. of Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, 1 1, 12, &c. passim. 



6 Ibid. 20 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 31 ; I Hen. IV, 

 pt. v, m. 25. 



6 Dugdale, Man. vii, 985. 



' Cal. of Pat. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 31. 



8 Cal. of Close, 20 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 13. 



9 Cal. of Pat. 13 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 38. 

 10 Ibid. II Ric. II, pt. i, m. 23. 



chaplains. 11 On Christmas Eve, 1394, the prior 

 was killed, but no presentation was made by the 

 abbot of St. Denis, and after a vacancy of nearly 

 three years the king presented John Todenham, 

 a monk of St. Mary's, Thetford, to the priory. 1 * 

 The temporalities were still let for a ferm, and 

 under that system it was inevitable that the 

 property should suffer. In 1374 the value of its 

 spiritualities and temporalities was estimated at 

 only 200 marks, and at that time a prior and 

 two monks were living at Deerhurst. 13 In 1400, 

 immediately after the restitution of the priory to 

 St. Denis by Henry IV, 14 the new prior, William 

 Forestar, prevailed on the king to issue a com- 

 mission to several persons, including the sheriff" 

 of Gloucester, to inquire about divers wastes, 

 sales, and destructions committed on divers lands 

 and possessions pertaining to the alien priory of 

 Deerhurst, and the removal of divers charters, 

 writings, rent rolls, and muniments by the late 

 farmers of the priory and others of those parts. 1 * 

 The payment due from the prior to St. Denis 

 was 1 20 marks a year, 16 which was probably made 

 until 1415, when war broke out with France. 

 Deerhurst was one of the alien priories which were 

 not confiscated under the Act of Parliament of 

 141 5. 17 It was not made denizen until 1443^* 

 and in that grant Henry VI declared that he 

 acted on the petition of Hugh de Mantyazon, 

 who had been presented as prior by the abbot of 

 St. Denis in I4H. 1 ' Deerhurst was placed on 

 the same footing as other priories in England, and 

 the right of freedom of election was assured to 

 the convent. Four years later Henry VI can- 

 celled the grant, and gave the priory and posses- 

 sions of Deerhurst to Eton College. 20 In 1461 

 Edward IV granted Deerhurst to William Buck- 

 land, a monk of St. Peter's, Westminster, that it 

 might be fully restored to the abbot and convent 

 of St. Denis, provided that they supported monks, 

 a secular chaplain, and servants, all of whom 

 should be English, and that no pension or impost 

 was paid to the mother house. 21 On 1 8 January > 

 1466, Carpenter, bishop of Worcester, collated 

 William Buckland to the priory on the ground 

 that there were not a sufficient number of monks 

 to proceed to an election, and that the abbot of 

 St. Denis had made no presentation. 88 In 1467 

 Edward IV took the priory from William Buck- 



11 Ibid. 17 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 39. 



18 Wore. Epis. Reg. Winchcombe, fol. \% d. It 

 was stated that the king had presented the last prior 

 also. 



13 Wore. Reg. Sede Vac. (Wore. Hist. Soc.), 308. 



" Cal. of Pat. I Hen. IV, pt. v, m. 25. 



15 Ibid. I Hen. IV, pt. v, m. 7 d. 



16 Felibien, Histoire de Saint Denis, 128. 



17 Dugdale, op. cit. iii, 664. 



18 Ibid, iii, 666. 



19 Wore. Epis. Reg. Peverell, fol. 37^. 



20 Dugdale, op. cit. iii, 665. 



" Cal. of Pat. 2 Edw. IV, pt. i, m. 5. 



11 Wore. Epis. Reg. Carpenter, i, fol. 192 d. 



104 



