RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



convent in uninterrupted possession till the 

 year 141 7, when, a writ of ' Quo Warranto ' 

 being brought against them, they were suc- 

 cessful in obtaining a verdict in their favour.^ 

 Other gifts quickly followed, many of 

 which are recorded in the foundation charter 

 of Rufus confirming the manor of Ber- 

 mondsey and church of St. Saviour ' to the 

 monks of Caritate.' Among them may be 

 mentioned the manor of ' Bridesthorn ' with 

 lands in ' Widon ' and in Hardwicke,and arent 

 charge of loj. a year out of a mill at Sutton, 

 the grant of Wynebald de Baalun, sold later 

 by the convent in order to purchase the 

 manor of Richmond in Bengeo, Herts, for 

 which they gave 1 60 marks ; the church of 

 Hardwicke with tithes of Easington in the 

 county of Gloucester, a moiety of the manor of 

 Upton, Berks, with advowson and tithes of the 

 church granted by the same benefactor.^ The 

 advowson of the church and tithes of Amp- 

 ney Crucis in Gloucestershire were granted 

 to the brethren by Odo de Tirone, a knight of 

 Wynebald's, in 1092, and in the same year 

 the manor of Preston * near Yeovil in Somer- 

 set by Ansger Brito, also a knight of this 

 same donor.* Robert Bluet, the chancellor, 

 in 1093, when he was appointed to the see 

 of Lincoln, bestowed on the monks of Ber- 

 mondsey the manor of Charlton in Kent, and 

 in this same year a manor in Little Hailing- 

 bury in Essex was granted to them by 

 Geoffrey Martel by the consent of Geoffrey 

 de Mandeville, with tithes of Alferton in 

 Great Dimmow.^ The manor of Cowick, 

 now called Quickbury, in Essex, was added 

 to the endowment in 1098 by Richard 

 Guet.° When Alwin Child died in 1094^ 

 he had ample grounds for confidence in the 

 security and future prosperity of the founda- 

 tion so richly endowed. 



The affection and respect displayed towards 

 the order of Cluny by the Norman kings and 

 their descendants was especially marked in 

 the case of Henry I. and he was regarded by 

 the abbots of Cluny as one of their most 



1 Inq. p.m. 5 Henry V. No. 60 (a). 



2 Arm. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 427. 



3 This manor was confirmed to the convent in 

 the Crown suit of 141 7 already referred to, when it 

 appeared that the religious were bound to provide 

 two chaplains to pray for the soul of the donor 

 for ever (Inq. p.m. 5 Hen. V. No. 60 [a]). 



* Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 427. 



6 Ibid. 428. 



» Ibid. 429. He is styled the brother of the 

 Countess of Warren in the Annals, a statement 

 which is challenged by Manning, Hist, of Surrey, 



Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 428. 



generous patrons and friends.^ He confirmed 

 to St. Saviour's, Bermondsey, the donations 

 of Rufus and his followers, to which had 

 been added other gifts : the advowson of 

 the rectory of Fyfield in Essex by Maud, 

 the wife of Asculf, and Graald her son, 

 with a confirmation of the tithes granted 

 by Roger, knight of John Fitz-Waleran, 

 in 1094,^ the gift by Nigel de Mandeville 

 of lands in Balham," the advowson of 

 the rectory of Inglishcombe in Somerset 

 by Hawise de Gurnay, wife of Roger de 

 Baalun, and the manor and advowson of the 

 church of Kingweston bestowed on the 

 convent in 11 14 by Mary, the wife of 

 Eustace, count of Boulogne, and sister of 

 Queen Maud, her husband confirming the 

 gift ' for the repose of her soul ' in the follow- 

 ing year." The king himself granted by 

 charter out of his domain Rotherhithe, Dul- 

 wich, a hide of land in Southwark," and the 

 manor of Waddon in Croydon,^^ and in the 

 year 1132 the advowson of the churches of 

 Shorne and Cobham." The brethren also 

 received the royal licence for the exchange of 

 the manor of ' Andretesbury ' granted to them 

 by Ivo de Grentmaisnil for the manor of 

 Widford, Herts,'^ and for other gifts within 

 and without the city of London, including a 

 grant by Thomas de Ardern and his son of 

 the church of St. George, Southwark, with 

 tithes of corn in Horndon and lands belong- 

 ing to London Bridge.'" 



8 Duckett : Rec. Evid. of Cluny, p. 42. 



9 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 431. 

 ii> Ibid. 430. 11 Ibid. 431-2. 



12 This comprised a moiety of that part of the 

 manor of Bermondsey still retained by the Crown 

 (See note 22, p. 64). 



13 Charter of Hen. I. (Dugdale, Mon. v. 100). 

 Waddon was afterwards exchanged with the 

 Archbishop of Canterbury for the rectory of 

 Croydon {Pafal Letters, iv. 327). 



1* Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 434. 



16 Ivo mortgaged his estate to Robert, Count of 

 Meulan and Earl of Leicester, before starting for the 

 Holy Land, and died on the journey. Robert re- 

 versed the exchange, but it was renewed by his son, 

 subsequently the convent came to regard the Earl of 

 Leicester as the original donor. This manor with 

 the manors of Upton, Cowick, Little Hallingbury 

 or Monksbury, and Bengeo or Richmond, was 

 afterwards demised to Adam de Stratton, who was 

 ejected in the reign of Edward I. and the manors 

 seized into the king's hand, who restored them to 

 the convent in 1 290 {Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii. 

 467), being demised a second time to Stratton, 

 they again became forfeited but were restored and 

 confirmed by Edward II. (Pat. 11 Edw. II. pt. i. 



m. 10). 



18 Ann. Mon. (Kolls Ser.) iii. 433. 



65 9 



