By J. E. Nightingale, F.S.A. 347 



The four great monastic establishments presided over by abbesses, 

 which are found constantly referred to in mediaeval times, occur in 

 | the following order: — Wilton, S. Mary's Winchester, Shaftesbury, 

 j and Barking. These abbesses were, at least on one occasion, sum- 

 moned to sit in Parliament, although Fuller, in his Church History, 

 • states the contrary, (book vi.) The Abbess of Wilton was sum- 

 i moned to Parliament at Westminster, 34th Edw. I. 1 — 1306, on 

 ; the morrow of the Holy Trinity, for the purpose of treating upon 

 « an aid for making the King's eldest son a knight. The presentation 

 j of a nun to this monastery appears to have been a royal prerogative 

 , upon every coronation, according to charters printed by Dugdale. 



Hawise, Abbess of Wilton, occurs twice in Pem. MSS. of about 

 ! the middle of the twelfth century. To one of these charters is 

 i attached an impression of her seal in a fragmentary condition ; it 

 i is a large pointed-oval seal of green wax, having a standing female 

 figure with arms extended and holding what seems to be a key in 

 ; her left hand. In these documents, which are apparently early in 

 } the reign of Henry II., the Church of S. Olave, as well as that of 

 < S. Edith, is mentioned, also a grant of land to R. Salvage at Fovant. 



Leland, in his Itinerary (vol. 6, p. 74, second ed., 1774), says that 

 : Robert Fitz-Hamond, in the time of Rufus was much connected 

 ! with Tewkesbury Abbey — that of his four daughters, Hawisia was 

 I made Abbess of Wilton, and Cecilia Abbess of Shaftesbury. In 

 , Dugdale's list Cecilia is duly entered as having been made Abbess 

 of Shaftesbury by Henry I. in 1107, and her name occurs again in 

 1 135, but a curious mistake has been made as regards Hawisia. 

 Leland was no doubt right in saying that she was made Abbess of 

 Wilton, but Dugdale, both in his first and subsequent editions of 

 the Monasticon, in the account of Tewkesbury Abbey, states that 

 j the two daughters of Fitz-Hamon were made Abbesses of Shaftes- 

 > bury and Winton — instead of Wilton. From this confusion of 

 : the two places, Hawisia has hitherto been included amongst the 

 ' Abbesses of S. Mary's, Winchester, and is so appropriated by all 

 j subsequent authorities as " Hawysia, about 11 20." Fitz-Hamon, a 



1 Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs, vol. i., p. l(>t. 

 I VOL. XIX. — NO. LVII. - D 



