XIII.] 
OF SELBORNE. 
507 
of tlie famous Ela Longspee, Countess of Salisbury, by William 
Longspee, natural son of King Henry 11. by Eosamond. 
Our lady, following the steps of her illustrious mother/ " was 
a great benefactress to the University of Oxford, to the canons oi 
Oseney, the nuns of Godstow, and other religious houses in 
Oxfordshire. She died very aged in the year 1300,^ and was 
buried before the high altar in the abbey church of Oseney, at 
the head of the tomb of Henry D'Oily, under a flat marble, on 
which was inlaid her portraiture, in the habit of a vowess, 
engraved on a copper-plate." — Edmonson's History and Genea- 
logical Account of the Grevilles, p. 23. 
LETTEE XIII. 
The reader is here presented with the titles of five forms 
respecting the choosing of a prior : No. 108. " Charta petens 
licentiam elegendi prelatum a Domino episcopo Wintoniensi : " 
— " Eorma licentie concesse : " — " Forma decreti post electionem 
conficiendi : " — 108. ''Modus procendendi ad electionem per 
formam scrutinii : " — et " Eorma ricte presentandi electum.' 
Such evidences are rare and curious, and throw great light 
upon the general monastico-ecclesiastical history of this kingdom, 
not yet sufficiently understood. 
In the year 1324 there was an election for a prior at Selborne ; 
when some difficulties occurring, and a devolution taking place, 
application was made to Stratford, who was Bishop of Win- 
chester at that time, and of course the visitor and patron of the 
convent at the spot above mentioned.^ 
^ Ela Longspee, Countess of SaHsbury, in 1232, founded a monastery at 
Lacock, in the county of Wilts, and also another at Hendon, in the county 
of Somerset, in her widowhood, to the honour of the Blessed Virgin and St. 
Bernard. —Camden. 
^ Thus she survived the foundation of her chantry at Selborne fifteen years. 
About this lady and her mother consult Dugdale's Baronage, i. 72, 175, 
177. — Dugdale's Warwickshire, i. 383. — Leland's Itin. ii. 45. 
^ Stratford was Bishop of Winchester from 1323 to 1333, when he was 
translated to Canterbury. 
