66 



SALISBURY IN 1455. 



{Liber Niger.) 

 By the Rev. Edmund B. Nevill, B.A., F.S.A. 



In Wilts Arch. Mag., xxxvi., 413, was printed " A Royal Aid and 

 Supply," which practically formed a Directory for the Salisbury 

 of 1667. The present paper gives Salisbuiy as it was in 1455, and 

 is taken from the Liber Niger of Bishop Beauchamp by the per- 

 mission of A. R. Maiden, Esq., E.S.A., Diocesan Registrar. Mr. 

 Maiden says that it appears from folio 74 of the Liber Niger that 

 Bishop Beauchamp, who was translated to Sarum in 1450, upon 

 the murder of his predecessor, Ayscough, collected in 1451, in an 

 irregular manner, into several volumes, the documents of the 

 greatest importance lying in his palace at Salisbury and at his 

 various manors, which muniments, consisting of rolls, accounts, 

 evidences, and books, were in danger of being burnt by the insurrec- 

 tionary leaders, as well as of being forgotten and of perishing through 

 age; and that being himself largely engaged in the affairs of the diocese 

 and of the kingdom he employed certain young men in the com- 

 pilation, giving such personal supervision to the work as he was able. 



The present list is called "Ren tale Civitatis Sarum de Assisis," 

 folio 155, and consists of a list of the tenants of the Bishop in 

 Salisbury. Besides this there are lists of tenants of the episcopal 

 manors and tenants in Chardstock, Compton, Wokingham, Sonning,. 

 Sherborne, Ramsbury, Potterne, and other places. 



CIVITAS NOVE SARUM. 



A.D. 1455. 



Liber Niger., folio 155. 



Nevus Vicus. 



Redditus assise ibidem Episcopo ibidem qui pro tempore fuit ut de jure 

 ecclesie et ne partem et prepositis ibidem existentibus colligendo videlicet 

 ad nunc per Johannem Congesby aliter dictus Johannem Noble et Robertum 

 Eston prepositis ut ex antique jure dicte ecclesie et renevatus fuit in feste 



