82 



FEUDALISM IN GUERNSEY. 



inexplicable cause not only has its name become most bar- 

 barously corrupted, but an imaginary Abbot of La Rue 

 Prairie has dispossessed the Abbot of Longues from the 

 list of Seigneurs owing suit at the Court of Chief Pleas 

 and consequently the Abbot of La Croix Saint Leufroy 

 virtually figures twice over. At the Assizes held in 1304 

 the Abbot of La Croix St. Leufroy was sued for failing 

 to perform his duties in connection with this manor and 

 by an inquisition then held it appears that he was bound 

 to keep monks at La Refrerie (apud Refreria) in the parish 

 of St. Andrew's to say masses for the souls of " our lord 

 the king, his ancestors 'and successors." The suit ended in 

 a compromise, the Abbot being permitted to let his lands 

 in Guernsey for a year, and was excused the saying of the 

 masses on payment of 100 sols tournois to the king. 



Another reference to this manor is to be found in the 

 accounts of John des Roches, Governor of the Isles, 1327-1330, 

 as follows : — " labe de la ref erie (corrected to l'abe de la 

 Croes) a une priorte a Saint Andre et i doivet estre moignez 

 residens et chantez III messes checune semaine en la dite 

 eglise por le roi dengletere et fera aumones." 



The correction of "l'abe de la refrerie" to "l'abe de la 

 Croes" is instructive as it gives a possible clue to the origin 

 of our modern " Abbe de la Rue Frairie" and it would seem 

 to indicate that the Abbot of La Croix Saint Leufroy was 

 locally called l'Abbe de la Refrerie as early as the 14th 

 century. 



At the Inquest held 1248 it is recorded that the Abbot 

 of La Croix Saint Leufroy held three carucates of land 

 by service of keeping the king's prisoners. 



The charters of this Abbey are now in the Bibliotheque 

 Nationale, Paris, but as far as I am aware they have never 

 been examined by our local historians. It is quite possible 

 that much interesting matter concerning the Abbey's Guernsey 

 fief might be found in them. 



