252 



Edingdon Monastery. 



bs. a year to the Prcceptory of Hospitallers at Ansty, in South 

 Wilts, and £9 6s. Sd. a year to the Chapel of St. Katharine, of 

 Wanborough, Co. Wilts, to which the monastery presented. After 

 the Dissolution the payment last mentioned was made to Magdalen 

 College, Oxford. The Bonhommes had the whole Rectory of Market 

 Lavington, including Easterton. After the Dissolution the Rectory 

 of Market Lavington proper and the presentation to the vicarage 

 were given to Christ Church College, Oxford. The Easterton tithes 

 were shared by many owners. 



From the same Robert Forestall the bishop purchased some land 

 at Coulston and Seend (I. p. M., 41 Edw. III.). 



1358. March 29th. The consent of the Bishop and Dean and 

 Chapter of Sarum to the Commutation into a Monastery is embodied 

 in a Latin charter of Foundation (printed in the New Monasticon> 

 vol. vi.), of which the following is a translation : — 

 " 1358. 29 March. 



" To all, &c, Robert [Wyvill] by Divine permission, Bishop of Salisbury, 

 greeting in the Saviour of all. 



"Under the holy sanction both of the law of the land and of the rules of the Church 

 Religious foundations, though in their origin wise and wholesome, and formed 

 after much wakeful consideration, have been sometimes changed with a view to 

 improvement. And whereas some years ago the Reverend Father in Christ, 

 William, by the grace of God, Bishop of Winchester, thoughtful of his own 

 salvation, and desirous to make a blessed exchange of things earthly and transitory 

 for things heavenly and eternal, founded in the Parish Church of Edingdon, in 

 the diocese of Sarum, the village whence he derived his birth, a perpetual chantry 

 of certain secular chaplains, for the health of his own soul, those of his parents 

 and others of the faith, for the praise and worship of God, and in honour of the 

 Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Katharine and All Saints, under which title the said 

 Church had been dedicated : and did further endow the same sufficiently for 

 maintenance of the said chaplains and other things necessary for the said chantry. 



"But afterwards carefully reflecting that though whilst leading a secular life, 

 men might, under Divine grace, very well discharge their duties, blot out sins 

 and render a good account of the talent entrusted to them ; still, they have more 

 undisturbed leisure for these duties, when, despising honours, and withdrawn 

 from those worldly distractions that disturb contemplation, they prefer to seek a 

 heavenly country by submitting their own will to the power of another, to live 

 according to the observances of holy rule and to serve the Lord continually. He 

 [the said William] has long since desired and still earnestly desires that the 

 chantry and secular society [" ecclesia "] united with it may be elevated into a 

 Religious House : wherein may be settled in (as it is hoped) the perpetual service 

 of God and his most blessed Virgin Mother, Brethren of the Order of St. Au- 

 gustine, commonly called Boni Homines, by whom as by vigilant husbandmen, a 



