10*4 Passages in the History of Downton. 



was the bishop's bailiff, an officer not necessarily identical with the 

 " alderman " in later times called " mayor," the latter being repre- 

 sentative by election of the people of the borough. The bishop's 

 bailiff, however, was the officer for the return of burgesses to 

 Parliament, and in later times we find this duty in the hands of 

 the " mayor." In Hoare's History of Wiltshire, the first visit of 

 King John is recorded to have been made on January 2nd, 1206. 

 On the 7th February in the same year the King wrote to the 

 Bishop of Bath from Lexington, saying that he is sending to 

 him, among other things, six palfreys and two grooms (gar cones) 

 which are at Downton. 1 Of the two other visits mentioned in 

 Hoare's history, there is additional proof of one, and mention of 

 another, making four in all. The second, then, was on January 

 30th, 1207, 2 and the third, about the beginning of July, 1209, 3 

 when the King left Odiham on a Wednesday, arrived at Clarendon 

 on the following Saturday, and the next day stayed at Downton 

 on the way through Grillingham, Wells, Bristol, &c, to the north. 

 Three payments are made during his stay at Downton 4 — two 

 through the Bishop of Winchester, whose guest he was, and who 

 seems to have accompanied him through the greater part of this 

 journey. Another visit was made on the 19th of August, 1215, 

 that is, a few months after the sealing of Magna Charta. On the 

 above date he wrote, at Downton, a letter to Hugh Mortimer ; 

 and on the following day three others, to Greoffrey Luttrell, to the 

 Justiciary of Ireland, and to Greoffrey de Mar respectively. 5 



In order to account for these visits of King J ohn, which may 

 have been made much more frequently than these records show, it 

 will be well to recall shortly the circumstances of the time. 



Peter des Roches, or de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester, and 

 hence the owner of the castle at Downton, was one of the most 

 devoted of King J ohn's adherents, and in the time of his successor, 



1 Rot. Lit. Claus. 



2 Hoare's Wilts. 



3 i.e., the first Monday after the festival of SS. Peter and Paul. 

 4 Rot. de Liberate, Misis et Praestitis. 

 5 Rot. Lit. Patentium, 1215. Government Ed. 



