200 Ancient History of Shaftesbury. 



Shaston : and the advowsons and in some cases the manors of 

 Iwerne, Ilinton S. Mary, Henley, Gussage, Fontmell, Compton 

 Abbas, Melbury Abbas, Fifehead Kingston, and others in Dorset. In 

 Wiltshire the Abbey held advowsons, manors, or lands at Bradford, 

 Fovant, Tisbury, the Donheads, Sedgehill, Berwick 8, Leonard's, 

 Kynell (Keevil) ad Edington, Salisbury and other places. In 

 Somersetshire, Combe Porter, and lands at Bristol ; other possessions 

 are also mentioned in Hampshire and Essex. Indeed this list 

 might be greatly extended, but enough has been said to show the 

 large and wide possessions of the house. Fuller, records an old 

 saying that, "If the Abbess of Shaftesbury might wed the Abbot of 

 Glastonbury their heir would have more land than the king of 

 England." The Abbess was one of the four, who held of the king 

 by an entire barony, the others being those of Barking, "Wilton, 

 and Winchester. The manor of Shaston was from ancient times 

 divided into two moieties, one held by the King, the other by the 

 lady Abbess. In 1302 Edward I. granted "the pleas and per- 

 quisites of court yet belonging to the crown in this vill, value £12, 

 to Queen Margaret, in part dower." In the year 1313, the Abbey of 

 Shaftesbury again became the prison of a captive princess. By a 

 warrant dated at Windsor October 13th, 1313, directed to the 

 sheriffs and bailiffs, &c, they are commanded to aid in conducting 

 Elizabeth, wife of Robert Bruce (king of Scotland) from Carrick to 

 Shaston. Another record dated February 12th, 1314, states that 

 the king (Edward II.) allows twenty shillings a week for the 

 maintenance of Robert Bruce's wife and her family while at 

 Shaftesbury. The Bishop of Salisbury was visitor of the Abbey, 

 instituted the Abbess, appointed her confessors, and exercised epis- 

 copal control over the house and its inmates. In 1326, Bishop 

 Mortival certified that there was an excessive multitude of Nuns in 

 the Abbey ; and two years later declared the revenues equal only to 

 the maintenance of one hundred and twenty Nuns, and ordered no 

 more to be admitted. Bishop Wyvil, May 12th, 1368, granted a 

 dispensation to the Abbess "to go out of the monastery to one of 

 her manors to take the air and divert herself." The king on coming 

 to the throne had a right to nominate a Nun ; and the Bishop on 



