96 ON A CHARTER OF DARLEY ABBEY. 



(ubi sup.) is dated in that year, and mentions the land " which 

 the Abbot and Convent of Darley have of the gift of Vincent, 

 formerly Chaplain of Wirksworth." Be this as it may, it is 

 observable that in the above-mentioned Fitz-Herbert charter 

 No. 1 (undated), to which Robert Fitz-Gilbert was a witness., 

 William Godmon, clerk, is also named as a witness. This 

 charter No. 1 was a grant of land in Wirke (Wirksworth), 

 and William Godmon was vicar there in 1275 (Cox's Derby- 

 shire Churches, vol. iv,, 520), and it is certain that he was 

 still vicar there in 1287, for in the Fitz-Herbert charter 

 No. 2 already mentioned, and which is actually dated in that 

 year, one of the witnesses is referred to as Domino Willelmo 

 dido Godmon tunc vicario ecclesie de Wyrke. I have already 

 stated why it is extremely improbable that my deed belongs to a 

 later date than 1290. 



The following may be of interest with reference to the early 

 practice of omitting dates from grants of land. " In former times 

 deeds were not dated, because the limitation of prescription or 

 time of memory often changed ; and then it was held for a law 

 that a deed bearing date before the limited time of prescription 

 was not pleadable. But it became customary about the time of 

 Edward II. (1307-1327), to insert the date in all deeds, which 

 has been practised ever since." Cruise, Dig. Tit. 32. s. 3. 



Upon the establishment of the Normans in England, in the 

 eleventh century, the practice of authenticating all written instru- 

 ments by waxen seals only, without signatures, was introduced, 

 and sealing alone was sufficient to authenticate a deed, till the 

 passing of the Statute of Frauds, in the 29th year of Charles II., 

 since which date signature has been necessary. 



In the thirteenth century every freeman, and even such of the 

 most substantial villeins as were fit to be put upon juries, had 

 their particular seals. 



