ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 243 



produced good effects ; for in it are to be found bills of repairs to 

 a considerable amount. 



By this evidence also it appears that there were at that juncture only 

 four canons at the Priory ; * and that these, and their four household 

 servants, during this sequestration for their clothing, wages, and diet, 

 were allowed per annum xxx. lib. ; and that the annual pension of the 

 lord prior, reside where he would, was to be x lib. 



In the year 1 468, Prior Berne, probably wearied out by the dissen- 

 sions and want of order that prevailed in the convent, resigned his 

 priorship into the hands of the bishop. Eeg. Waynflete, torn. I., 

 pars i ma ., foL 157. 



March 28, A.D. 1468. "In quadam alta camera juxta magnam 

 portam manerii of the Bishop of Wynton de Waltham coram eodem 

 rev. patre ibidem tune sedente, Peter Berne, prior of Selborne, ipsum 

 prioratum in sacras, et venerabiles manus of the bishop, viva voce libere 

 resignavit : and his resignation was admitted before two witnesses and 

 a notary-public. In consequence, March 29th, before the bishop, in 

 capella manerii sui ante dicti pro tribunal! sedente, comparuerunt 

 fratres" Peter Berne, Thomas London, William Wyndesor, and William 

 Paynell, alias Stretford, canons regular of the priory, " capitulum, et 

 conventum ejusdem ecclesie facientes ; ac jus et voces in electione 

 futura prioris dicti prioratus solum et in solidum, ut asseruerunt, 

 habentes ;" and after the bishop had notified to them the vacancy of a 

 prior, with his free license to elect, deliberated awhile, and then, by 

 way of compromise, as they affirmed, unanimously transferred their 

 right of election to the bishop before witnesses. In consequence of this 

 the bishop, after full deliberation, proceeded, April 7th, " in capella 

 manerii sui de Waltham," to the election of a prior; "et fratrem 

 Johannem Morton, priorem ecclesie conventualis de Reygate dicti 

 ordinis S li . Augustini Wynton. dioc. in priorem vice et nomine omnium 

 et singulorum canonicorum predictorum elegit, in ordine sacerdotali, 

 et etate licita constitutum, &c." And on the same day, in the same 

 place, and before the same witnesses, John Morton resigned to the 

 bishop the priorship of Reygate viva voce. The bishop then required 

 his consent to his own election : " qui licet in parte renitens tanti 

 reverendi patris se confirmans," obeyed, and signified his consent 

 oraculo vive vocis. Then was there a mandate citing any one who 

 would gainsay the said election to appear before the bishop or his com- 

 missary in his chapel at Farnham on the second day of May next. The 

 dean of the deanery of Aulton then appeared before the chancellor, his 

 commissary, and returned the citation or mandate dated April 22nd, 

 1468, with signification, in writing, of his having published it as 

 required, dated Newton Yalence, May 1st., 1468. This certificate being 

 read, the four canons of Selborne appeared and required the election to 

 be confirmed ; et ex super abundanti appointed William Long their 

 proctor to solicit in their name that he might be canonically confirmed. 



* If Bishop Wykeham was so disturbed (see "Notab. Visitatio") to find the 

 number of canons reduced from fourteen to eleven, what would he have said to 

 have seen it diminished below one third of that number? 



ii 2 



