A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



for admission and institution as prior of St. Mary's, 

 Sporle, whereof the superior was the Benedictine 

 abbot of St. Florent, by Saumur, a subject of 

 France. The priory is described as being vacant 

 by the death of John Codes, the late prior, and 

 in the king's gift on account of the war with 

 France.* 



This priory was dissolved at the general sup- 

 pression of the alien houses, decreed by the Parlia- 

 ment held at Leicester in 1424. In 1428 the 

 spiritualities of the suppressed priory were valued 

 at £2,2 6s., and the temporalities at 8s. bd. It 

 was assigned for life as part of the dower of Joan, 

 queen-dowager of Henry VI, and soon after her 

 death was granted, in 1 440, by Henry IV to- 

 wards the endowment of his college at Eton. 

 This grant was confirmed by Edward IV in 

 1462.^ 



Priors of Sporle 



John,' temp. Henry II 



Alan Make,^ appointed 1334 



Thomas Eliot,' resigned 1345 



John de Braidesdale,^ appointed 1345 



William de Leke,^ appointed 1349 



John Godes,* appointed 1 36 1 



William Sporle,^ appointed 1379 



Thomas de Methewold,^" appointed 1385 



121, THE PRIORY OF TOFT MONKS" 



Robert de Bellomonte, earl of Meulan in 

 Normandy, and of Leicester in England, granted 

 to the abbey of Pr^aux in Normandy, in the time 

 of William Rufus, the manor of Toft, with the 

 tithe of ' Cerlentone ' and ' Posteberics,' and the 

 churches of those two towns, for the souls of 

 King William and Maud his queen, and for the 

 weal and prosperity of his son William, king of 

 the English, and for the souls of his own parents, 

 Roger and Adelina, and for himself and his 

 brother Henry, and all his predecessors. The 

 gift was allowed and confirmed by King William 

 at Whitsuntide, when he held his court in his 

 new hall at Wesminster.'^ 



In the reign of Henry I, the earl renewed his 

 gift of the manor of Toft with its appendages, 

 adding sac and soc, tol and team, and infangen- 

 theofe and exemption from all exaction of dues.'' 



' Cal. of Pat. 2 Rich. II, pt. ii, m. 24. 

 ' Pat. I Edw. IV, pt. iii, m. 24. 

 ' Blomefield, Hist. o/Norf. 

 * Pat. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. ii.'m. 32. 

 ' Norw. Epis. Reg. iv, 52. * Ibid. 



' Ibid, iv, 97. « Ibid, v, 56. 



' Pat. 2 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 24. 

 '"Ibid. m. 35. 



" Blomefield, Hist. 0/ Nor/, viii, 61-3 ; Dugdale, 

 Mon. 1927 ; Taylor, Ini^ex Monasticus, 9. 



"Round, Cal. Doc. France, \, ill. Blomefield, 

 followed by others, wrongly assigns the date of this 

 gift to the reign of Henry I. 

 '^ Ibid, i, 112. 



464 



Henry II granted a charter of confirmation of 

 their English possessions to the abbey of Prcaux,. 

 including the gift of Roger de Bellomonte of the 

 tithes of Cherlinton and the manor of Toft.'* 



Edward I in 1285 confirmed previous grants 

 to the abbey, and added thereto the advowson of 

 the churches of St. Margaret Toft, and St. Mary 

 Haddiscoe, with other advowsons in other counties, 

 and various lands.'* 



Two or three monks were placed here from 

 the abbey at an early date, to look after this part 

 of their English property, and to conduct divine 

 service, their superior being termed prior. At 

 the beginning of the reign of Edward I the prior 

 of Tofts was prosecuted at the hundred court 

 for obstructing the king's highway.'^ 



The taxation roll of 1291 gives the annual 

 value of the rents, mill, etc. at Toft pertaining 

 to the abbey of Prcaux as ^^40 165. io|</." 



An extent of the lands and tenements of the 

 abbey of Prcaux ' in villa de Monkstoft,' taken 

 in 1325, estimated the capital messuage with 

 fruits and herbs in the gardens, 300 acres of land, 

 of which 86 were enclosed, and nine acres of 

 meadow, of the annual value of j^39 in. 2\d. 

 The abbot of Preaux had also two parts of 

 the tithes of the church of Toft Monks worth 

 ^13 65. 8^. a year.'* 



Another inventory of 1337 returns the issue 

 ofthemanorat;r39 13;. 5(^.,and values the abbot's 

 property at Toft at ;^77 17^. \d., these sums 

 being distributed over the furniture of the hall, 

 ' Dispenserie,' chamber, kitchen, larder, bake- 

 house, &c.'^ 



Considering the small size of this alien cell it 

 is not surprising that very little history attaches 

 to it beyond the records of its frequent seizure 

 into the king's hands during wars with France, 

 but in 1200 we find the prior of Toft acting 

 with the abbots of Holm and St. Edmunds in 

 deciding the claims of Honorius to the arch- 

 deacony of Richmond, and in 1327 the prior of 

 Toft was acting as proctor in England for the 

 abbot of Pr&ux. In that capacity he presented 

 in March to the church of Spettisbury, Dorset, 

 but the king directed the bishop of Salisbury to 

 ignore the presentation until the courts had de- 

 cided whether the vacancy had occurred before 

 the date of February when Edward III had 

 restored the advowsons, etc. of alien men of 

 religion, which had been seized by the late king 

 during the wars with France.'*' 



When the war with France was in progress ia 

 1390, Lewis de Clifford had the licence of the 

 crown to acquire for life, with remainder to his 

 son, the manor of Toft and other possessions of 



" Chart. 13 Edw. I. m. 21, ^o6(), fer inspex ; cited 

 Dugdale, Mon. vi, 1027. 

 " Ibid. " Hund. R. (Rec. Com ), i, 540. 



" Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 1 14. 

 ■'Add. MS. 6164, fol 133. 

 " Chanc. Misc. bdle. 18, file 4, No. 13. 

 Close, I Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 9. 



