The Society's MSS. Chiseldon. 51 



of St. Frideswide " issued by that society for doing first-rate work 

 in the best possible way, the Oxford Historical Society, vol. 11., 

 pp. 359 — 362, you will see how Henry Foliot confirmed to Richard 

 Foliot, his brother Ralph Foliot' s gift to Roger Foliot of land in 

 Chilton ; how Richard gave it to the Canons of St. Frideswide, and 

 how Henry Foliot and Sampson his son confirmed the gift. In 

 the same volume (p. 349) " Henry le Tyer's " occurs quit claiming 

 to the prior and convent his right in land in Hungerford. From 

 this time on, what is true of Chilton is true of Dray cot. Through 

 the families indicated above both passed to the Duchess Eleanor. 

 In the document now presented to your attention there is no 

 mention of Chilton, but a most minute statement of what befel 

 Dray cot after the Duchess' decease. The cause of existence of this 

 document, and of the proceedings detailed in it, was the claim by 

 Lord Rutland to an estate of inheritance from the Duchess in 

 Draycot. Now there is a very curious and charming book by Mr. 

 Hubert Hall, of particular interest to Wiltshiremen, called " Society 

 in the Elizabethan Age." Based very largely on the Darrell 

 papers in the Public Record Office, it essays, somewhat perversely, 

 the whitewashing of the character of " Wild " Darrell, and in it are 

 set out, among other injustices endured by the cultured lord of 

 Littlecote at the hands of unsympathetic cotemporaries, the pro- 

 ceedings of Lord Rutland to recover from him the manor of Chilton. 

 It appears that Chilton was sold by the Crown to DarrelPs ancestor. 

 The Crown title to Chilton and to Draycott was one and the same, 

 and it becomes apparent that the claim by Lord Rutland to Draycot 

 was, if not a test case, part and parcel of an assertion of his claim 

 to lands of which Draycot itself was but a small and unimportant 

 detail. No book displays more clearly than Mr. Hall's the 

 extraordinary uncertainty of titles to lands existing on all hands in 

 the reign of Elizabeth, and the personal violence and court interest 

 resorted to to enforce them. To a great extent, over large areas, 

 this resulted from the leases granted by religious houses on the eve 

 of dissolution ; in the particular case we are concerned with from a 

 direct usurpation by the Crown. Mr. Hall has a hero, and a 

 command of language which leaves us in grave doubt as to the 



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