106 Passages in the History of Downton. 



reform into Dorsetshire and Wiltshire, where he was told that one 

 Sir Osbnrn Giffard had carried off two nuns from the monastery of 

 Wilton. Sir Osburn was excommunicated and made to perform 

 severe penance, of which one of the least rigorous parts was that 

 he was to be stripped to the waist on three following Sundays in 

 Wilton Parish Church and beaten with rods. 1 



The next few notices of Downton are chiefly concerned with the 

 holders of the benefice, of whom a list is given below ; but there 

 is a curious instance of the disputes between the Pope, the King, 

 and the lawful patrons — the Bishops of Winchester — as to the 

 rights of patronage, in the presentation of William Burnell. 



In 1290 Pope Nicholas IV., then at Orvieto, issued an Indulgence 

 to William " Burnell," who, being aged 21, had already, at the 

 request of Odo de Ghrandison, received a papal dispensation to retain 

 the Provostship of Wells, the Rectory of Westerham, Canonries 

 - and Prebends of Lichfield, Salisbury, Llandaff, St. David's, and S. 

 Omer. A further licence was given to him by this Indulgence to 

 accept the Church of Downton, on his resignation of Westerham, and 

 to retain also a Canonry and Prebend of York. 2 This appointment to 

 Downton seems to have been disputed by the authorities in England 

 on the technical ground of the invalidity of the papal document 

 because the name of the beneficiary was spelt " Brunell," instead of 

 " Burnell," and his age had been stated as twenty- two, instead of 

 twenty-one, in the quotation of the former dispensation. In the 

 following March, therefore, the Pope wrote again to confirm the 

 Indulgence, notwithstanding these mistakes, and further allowed 

 that Burnell might hold the Rectory of Downton for five years 

 without residing or being ordained priest, while engaged in his 

 studies. 3 In 1292 William Burnell was elected Dean of Wells, but 

 retained the Rectory of Downton by dispensation from Robert 

 Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells, probably a near relative. The 

 Bishop of Winchester, however, on the ground that BurnelPs 



1 Collier's Eccl, Hist. 



2 Papal Letters. 



3 Papal Letters. 



