500 
THE ANTIQUITIES 
[LETT. 
much influenced by tlie belief and superstition of the times, 
much more might the hearts of his ladies and daughter. And 
accordingly we find that Ameria, by the consent and advice 
of her sons, though said to be all under age, makes a grant for 
ever of some lands down by the stream at Durton ; and also 
of her right of the common of Durton itself.^ Johanna, the 
daughter and heiress of Sir Adam, w^as married, I find, to 
Eichard Achard ; she also grants to the prior and convent lands 
and tenements in the village of Selborne, wdiich her father 
obtained from Thomas Makerel ; and also her goods and chattels 
in Selborne for the consideration of two hundred pounds sterling. 
This last business was transacted in the first year of Edward II. 
viz. 1307. It has been observed before that Gurdon had a 
natural son : this person was called by the name, of J ohn 
Dastard, alias Wastard, but more probably Bastard ; since 
bastardy in those days was not deemed any disgrace, though 
dastardy was esteemed the greatest. He was married to Gun- 
norie Duncun ; and had a tenement and some land granted him 
in Selborne by his sister Johanna. 
LETTEE XL 
The Knights Templars,- who have been mentioned in a former 
letter, had considerable property in Selborne ; and also a pre- 
ceptory at Sudington ; now called Southington, a hamlet lying 
^ Durton, now called Dorton, is still a common for the copyholders of 
Selborne manor. 
^ The Military Orders of the Religious : — 
The Knights Hospitalars of St. John of Jerusalem, afterwards called 
Knights of Rhodes, now of Malta, came into England about the year 1100, 
1 Hen, I. 
The Knights Templars came into England pretty early in Stephen's reign, 
which commenced 1135. The order was dissolved in 1312, and their estates 
given by act of Parliament to the Hospitalars in 1323 (all in Edw. II.) 
though many of their estates were never actually enjoyed by the said 
Hospitalars. — Vid. Tanner, p. xxiv. x. 
The commandries of the Hospitalars, and preceptories of Templars, were 
each subordinate to the principal house of their respective religion in London. 
