THE DOMESDAY SURVEY 



when the leeches had given him over that he learnt, by divine revelation, 

 the cause of his severe illness. On ceasing to pray for the soul of 

 iEthelwig, he recovered in a few days ' without human medicine.' To 

 this notable illustration of medieval, or at least monastic, Christianity one 

 may add the fact that both of these religious houses are suspected with 

 good reason of concocting or altering the charters they produced in 

 support of their rights. 



In Heming's Cartulary and the Evesham Chronicle we have the 

 stories of the rival houses, and, in spite of certain contradictions, can 

 form a fair idea of the facts of the case. Abbot iEthelwig and bishop 

 Wulfstan had both enjoyed the favour of Harold ; ^ but both, in Mr. 

 Freeman's opinion, ' were among the first prelates in England to submit 

 to the Conqueror.' * It was iEthelwig, however, who secured, we read, 

 ' his lasting favour.' ' The monks of Worcester insist upon his power,* 

 and on their own disadvantage in the disinclination of their saintly 

 Bishop to occupy himself in secular affairs. JEthelwig, they alleged, 

 attracted to himself certain knights and tenants of the Bishop by promis- 

 ing to protect them against the Normans, but ended by defrauding them 

 of their lands. This led to protests from the Bishop, and iEthelwig, 

 though owning at length his rights, retained the lands, they said, till his 

 death. Now these lands, according to them, were two Warwickshire 

 estates, which do not here concern us, and, in Worcestershire, Acton, 

 ' Earesbyri' ;° Bengeworth with several houses in Worcester, Evenlode 

 and Daylesford. Bengeworth will be dealt with separately below ; as 

 to Acton, the monks themselves, in the detailed narrative ® of their losses, 

 made out rather a weak case against iEthelwig's possession, while Domes- 

 day not only ignores their claim (fo. 176), but expressly states that 

 Evesham held it T.R.E. It similarly states, of Evenlode and Dayles- 

 ford, that Evesham had held them, though recognising Worcester's 

 rights (fo. 173). Its evidence, therefore, is dead against the above story 

 that ^thelwig had only obtained these lands after the Norman Conquest. 

 The story told by the monks of Evesham^ was that ^Ethelwig had ac- 

 quired by fair purchase (per dignam pecuniam) all the lands above men- 

 tioned except ' Earesbyri.' ^ 



But the real battle was over Bengeworth, which formed part, with 

 Hampton by Evesham, of the Bishop's Hundred of Oswaldslow. The 

 first fight for its possession was on the death of abbot ^thelwig (1077). 

 The Evesham story was that these were among the manors acquired by 

 iEthelwig which bishop Odo compelled a great gemot at ' Gildene- 



* Freeman's Norman Conquest, III. (1875) 55. 



« Ibid. V. 759. 3 mj IV, (187 1) 176. 



* ' Devicta namque patria hac a Normannis perditisque cunctis melioribus baronibus 

 istius provincie, cepit ipse abbas multum crescere seculari potentia, eo quod ingenio et calliditate 

 at scientia secularium legutn qua sola studebat cunctos praecelleret.' 



^ Estbury in Hallow. * Heming's Cartulary, I. 250-1. 



' Evesham Chronicle, p. 97. 



* I can throw no light on the case of this estate, which Domesday (fo. 173^) represents 

 as having been continuously possessed by Worcester. 



253 



