244 
ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE 
John Morton also appeared, and proclamation was made ; and no one 
appearing against him, the commissary pronounced all absentees con- 
tumacious, and precluded them from objecting at any other time; and, 
at the instance of John Morton and the proctor, confirmed the election 
by his decree, and directed his mandate to the rector of Hedley and the 
vicar of Newton Yalence to install him in the usual form. 
Thus, for the first time, was a person, a stranger to the convent of 
Selborne, and never canon of that monastery, elected prior ; though the 
style of the petitions in former elections used to run thus, — 
"Yos rogamus quatinus eligendum ex nobis unum confratrem 
de gremio nostra, — licentiam vestram — nobis concedere dignemini." 
LETTEE XX. 
Prior Morton dying in 1401, two canons, by themselves, proceeded 
to election, and chose a prior ; but two more (one of them Berne) com- 
plaining of not being summoned, objected to the proceedings as 
informal ; till at last the matter was compromised that the bishop 
should again, for that turn, nominate as he had before. But the 
circumstances of this election will be best explained by the following 
extract : — 
« 
Eeg. Waynfletb, tom. XL, pars I*"*., fol. 7. 
Memorandum. A.D. 1471. August 22. 
William A¥yndesor, a canon-regular of the priory of Selburne, having 
been elected prior on the death of brother John, appeared in person 
before the bishop in his chapel at South Waltham, He was attended 
on this occasion by Thomas London and John Bromesgrove, canons, 
who had elected him. Peter Berne and William Stratfield, canons, 
also presented themselves at the same time, complaining that in this 
business they had been overlooked, and not summoned ; and that 
therefore the validity of the election might with reason be called in 
question, and quarrels and dissensions might probably arise between 
the newly chosen prior and the parties thus neglected. 
After some altercation and dispute they all came to an agreement 
with the new prior, that what had been done should be rejected and 
annulled ; and that they would again, for this turn, transfer to the 
bishop their power to elect, order, and provide them another prior, 
whom they promised unanimously to admit. 
The bishop accepted of this offer before witnesses ; and on September 
2'rth, in an inner chamber near the chapel abovementioned, after full 
deliberation, chose brother Thomas Fairwise, vicar of Somborne, a 
canon-regular of Saint Augustine in the priory of Bruscough, in the 
diocese of Coventry and Litchfield, to be prior of Selborne. The form 
is nearly as above in the last election. The canons are again enume- 
rated; W. Wyndesor, sub-prior, P. Berne, T.London, W. Stratfeld, 
J. Bromesgrove, who had formed the chapter, and had requested and 
obtained license to elect, but had unanimously conferred their power 
