250 
ANTIQUITIES OP SELBORNE. 
" Lecta et facta sunt hfsec in quodam alto oratorio," belonging to the 
bishop at Suthwaltham, May 25, 1478, in the presence of John Sharp, 
who gave his assent, and then took the oath before witnesses, with the 
other oaths before the chancellor, who decreed he should be inducted 
and installed, as was done that same day. 
How John Sharp, alias Glastonbury, acquitted himself in his prior- 
ship, and in what manner he made a vacancy, whether by resignation, 
or death, or whether he was removed by the visitor, does not appear ; 
we only find that some time in the year 1484 there was no prior, and 
that the bishop nominated canon Ashford to fill the vacancy. 
LETTER XXIII. 
This Thomas Ashford was most undoubtedly the last prior of Sel- 
borne ; and, therefore, here will be the proper place to say something 
concerning a list of the priors, and to endeavour to improve that already 
given by others. 
At the end of Bishop Tanner s " Notitia Monastica," the folio edition, 
among Brown Willis's " Principals of Religious Houses," occur the 
names of eleven of the priors of Selborne, with dates. But this list 
is imperfect, and particularly at the beginning ; for though the priory 
was founded in 1232, yet it commences with Nich. de Cantia, elected 
in 1262, so that, for the first thirty years, no prior is mentioned ; yet 
there must have been one or more. We were in hopes that the register 
of Peter de Rupibus would have rectified this omission ; but, when 
it was examined, no information of the sort was to be found. From 
the year 1410 the list is much corrected and improved, and the reader 
may depend on its being thenceforward very exact. 
A List of the Priors op Selborne Priory, from Brown Willis's 
" Principals op Religious Houses," with additions within [ ] 
BY the Author. 
[John . . . was prior, sine datY 
Nich. de Cantia el. ...... 1262 
[Peter was prior in . . . . . . 1271] 
[Richard was prior in ... . . 1280] 
WiU. Basing was prior in . . . . . . 1299 
Walter de Insula el. in . . . . . . 1324 
[Some diflO-culties, and a devolution ; but the election 
confirmed by Bishop Stratford.] 
John de Winton . . . . . . . 1339 
Thomas Weston ....... 1377" 
* See, in Letter XI. of these Antiquities, the reason why Prior John . . ., who 
had transactions with the Knights Templars, is placed in the list before the 
year 1262. 
