The Cartulary of Bradenstoke Priory
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Zlflfliltsbire 3312:0111 Qutietp (formerly the Records Branch of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society) VOLUME XXXV FOR THE YEAR 1979 THIS VOLUME IS PUBLISHED WITH THE HELP OF A GRANT FROM THE TWENTY-SEVEN FOUNDATION Impression of 450 copies THE CARTULARY OF BRADENSTOKE PRIORY EDITED BY VERA C. M. LONDON DEVIZES 1979 © Wiltshire Record Society I979 ISBN: O 901333 12 3 Set in Times New Roman 10/ l l pt. PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY J. G. FENN LTD. (Print Div:'.s'|'on) STOKE-ON-TRENT STAFFS. CONTENTS Preface page vii Abbreviations viii INTRODUCTION Bradenstoke priory and its records l B.L. Cotton MS. Vitellius A.Xi 2 B.L. Stowe MS. 925 6 The content of the cartularies 3 Benefactors and estates ll Growth and consolidation l4 Leases IS The agricultural background I7 History and external relations 18 Editorial method 20 Concordance 22 CALENDAR OF STOWE MS. 925 28 APPENDIX I: Later additions in Stowe 925 170 APPENDIX II: Charters from Vitellius A.Xi not in Stowe 925 178 APPENDIX III: Henry lll’s charter of confirmation, 1232 197 APPENDIX Iv: List of priors 199 INDEX 200 List of members 245 Publications of the Society 251 PREFACE Bradenstoke Priory, which stood high on the Corallian ridge west of Lyneham, but of which little now remains, was founded in 1139 for Augustinian canons by Walter of Salisbury. The foundation gained independence from its mother- house, Cirencester Abbey, in 1189. Its endowments, although mostly in Wiltshire, included far-flung properties elsewhere in England, and also in Wales and Normandy. The story of the foundation of the house, and that of the period of consolidation and growth which followed, are recorded in two l4th-century cartularies in the British Library. The later teXt, Stowe MS. 925, forms the basis of the present volume. Additional deeds from the earlier, but imperfect, Cotton MS. Vitellius A. Xi are calendared in an appendix. The deeds of both manuscripts are correlated in a concordance. Not only students of ecclesiastical and economic history, but also those of genealogy, place-, and field-names, have cause to be grateful to MIss London for her eXpertise and care in preparing this edition. Miss London began her work under the guidance of Dr. D. A. Crowley, honorary editor 1972-6, and completed it under that of Dr. D. C. CoX, honorary editor 1976-9. She wishes to record her thanks to them, and also to Professor C. N. L. Brooke, Professor C. R. Cheney, Dr. Dorothea Oschinsky, and Professor W. L. Warren for their friendly interest and eXpert help with various problems. The Society has to record its thanks to the British Library for permission to publish a calendar of the texts, and to the Twenty-Seven Foundation for making a generous grant towards the cost of printing. December I979 JANET H. STEvENs0N Vll ABBREVIATIONS Ann. Mon. .‘ Annales Monastici, ed. H.R. Luard (RS, 1864-9) Bk. Fees: The Book ofFees (HMSO, 1922-31) Cal. Inq. p.m. .‘ Calendar of Inquisitions post rnortem Cal. Misc. Inq. .‘ Calendar of Miscellaneous Inquisitions Cat. Anct. Deeds.‘ Descriptive Catalogue ofA ncient Deeds (H MSO, 1890-1915) CChR.‘ Calendar of Charter Rolls CCR.‘ Calendar of Close Rolls CDF.‘ Calendar of Documents preserved in France, ed. J.H. Round (HMSO, 1899) Chronology.‘ Handbook of British Chronology, ed. F.M. Powicke and E.B. Fryde (Royal Historical Soc. Guides and Handbooks, II, 2nd edn., 1961) Civil Pleas: Civil Pleas of the Wiltshire Eyre, I249, ed. M.T. Clanchy (WRS, XXVI, 1971) Collectanea: Wilts. Archaeological and Natural History Soc., Records Branch, XII (1956) CP.‘ The Complete Peerage, ed. G.E.C.; new edn., ed. V. Gibbs, G.H. White, and others (1910-59) CPI...‘ Calendar of entries in the papal registers relating to Great Britain (HMSO, 1894) CPR.‘ Calendar of the Patent Rolls CR.‘ Close Rolls of the reign of Henry HI Crown Pleas.‘ Crown Pleas of the Wiltshire Eyre, 1249, ed. C.A.F. Meekings (Wilts. Archaeological and Natural History Soc., Records Branch, XVI, 1961) CRR.‘ Curia Regis Rolls Ctl. Bruton.‘ Two cartularies of the Augustinian Priory of Bruton and the Cluniac Priory of Montacute, ed. H.C. Maxwell Lyte and others (SRS, XVIII, 1894) Ctl. Cirencester.‘ The Cartulary of Cirencester Abbey, I—II, ed. C.D. Ross (1964); I11, ed. M. Devine (1977) Vlll Ctl. Glastonbury.‘ The Great Chartulary of Glastonbury, ed. Dom Aelred Watkin (SRS, LIX, LX111, LX1v, 1947-56) Ctl. Malmesbury.‘ Registrum Malmesburiense, ed. J.S. Brewer and C.T. Martin (RS, 1879-80) Earldom of Gloucester Chts.: ed. R.B. Patterson (1973) Eyton: Eyton, R.W., Court, Household, and Itinerary of King Henrv ll (1878) Glam. Charters.‘ Carta et alia munimenta quae ad dominium de Glamorgan pertinent, ed. G.L. Clark (1910) HMC Var. Coll..‘ Report on manuscripts in Various Collections (1901-14) HMC Wells.‘ Calendar of the manuscripts of the Dean and Chapter of Wells (1907-14) HMSO: Her Majesty's Stationery Oflice Holtzmann: Holtzmann, W., Papsturlcunden in England, I-111 (1930-52) KBL.‘ The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales, 940-1216, ed. D. Knowles. C.N.L. Brooke, V. London (1972) KH.‘ Medieval Religious Houses, England and Wales, ed. D. Knowles and R.N. Hadcock, 2nd edn. (1971) ML WL.‘ Medieval Latin Word List, ed. R.E. Latham, 2nd edn. (1965) Monasticon.‘ Dugdale, W., Monasticon Anglicanum, ed. J. Caley, H. Ellis, and B. Bandinel (1817-30) Oxford Fines.‘ Feet of Fines for Oxfordshire, 1195-1291, ed. H.E. Salter (Oxford Record Soc., X11, 1930) PR.‘ Pipe Rolls, cited by regnal year PRO: Public Record Oflice Rec. Com.: Record Commission Reg. Black Prince.‘ Register of Edward the Black Prince (H MSO, 1933) Reg. Gandavo.‘ Registrum Simonis de Gandavo, 1297-1315, ed. C.T. Flower and M.C.B. Dawes (Canterbury and York Soc., XL, XLI, 1934) Reg. Martival.‘ The Registers ofRoger Martival, bishop ofSalisbury, 1315-1330, ed. Kathleen Edwards, C.R. Elrington, and Susan Reynolds (Canterbury and York Soc., LV, LVII, LIX, 1959-72) Rot. Cht..‘ Rotuli Chartarum (Rec. Com., 1837) Rot. Lit. Claus..‘ Rotuli Litterarurn Clausarum (Rec. C0m., 1833-4) IX Rot. Lit. Pat..‘ Rotuli Litterarum Patentiunt (Rec. C0m., 1835) RS: Rolls Series Sanders: Sanders, I.J., English Baronies, 1086-1327 (1960) Sarum Chts..‘ Charters and Documents illustrating the history of Salisbury, ed. W.R. James and W.D. Macray (RS, 1891) Soms. Fines.‘ Pedes Finium for the County of Somerset, ed. Emanuel Green (SRS, VI, 1892) SRS: Somerset Record Society Taxatio .‘ Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliae et Walliae, auctoritate Nicholai IV (Rec. Com., 1802) VCH.‘ Victoria History of the Counties of England WAM .‘ Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Wells Cath. Misc. .‘ Dean Cosyn and Wells Cathedral Miscellanea, ed. Dom Aelred Watkin (SRS, LVI, 1941) Wilts. Fines 1.‘ Calendar of the Feet of Fines relating to Wiltshire, 1195-1272, ed. E. A. Fry (Wilts. Archaeological and Natural History Soc., 1930) Wilts. Fines 11.‘ Abstracts of Feet of Fines relating to Wiltshire for the reigns of Edward 1 and Edward 11, ed. R.B. Pugh (Wilts. Archaeological and Natural History Soc., Records Branch, 1, 1939) Wilts. Fines 111.‘ Abstracts . for the reign of Edward 111, ed. C.R. Elrington (WRS, XXIX, 1973) Wilts. lnq. p.m. 1.‘ Abstracts of Wiltshire lnquisitions post mortem, 1242-1326, ed. E. A. Fry (Wilts. Archaeological and Natural History Soc., 1908) Wilts. lnq. p.m. I1: lnquisitions . 1327-1377, abstracted by Ethel Stokes (Wilts. Archaeological and Natural History Soc., 1914) WRS: Wiltshire Record Society INTRODUCTION BRADENSTOKE PRIORY AND ITS RECORDS The Augustinian house of St. Mary at Bradenstoke was founded in 1139 by Walter ‘le Eurus’, father of Patrick, first earl of Salisbury,l and after an existence of four hundred years was surrendered on 17 January 1539.1 It was an ofi‘shoot of the abbey of Cirencester, where regular life had begun only eight years earlier,3 and was in subjection to the mother-house until 1189 when, with the help of William, earl of Salisbury, their patron, and of Richard I, patron of the royal foundation of Cirencester, the canons obtained their independence.4 By 1194 their numbers had increased sufficiently for them to be able to send canons to colonize William Marshall's new foundation at Cartmel.5 Bradenstoke was never one of the great Augustinian houses and its income in 1535 was only £21215 The only important surviving records of the priory are the two cartularies: the earlier, now imperfect, forms the major part of B.L. Cotton MS. Vitellius A.xi, a codex containing two other texts? the other, completed only a few years later, is B.L. Stowe MS. 925.3 No account-rolls, extents, or surveys are known for the period covered by the cartularies, but Tanner recorded that a rental was in the possession of William Aubrey of Kington St. Michael in 1695.9 A few original deeds survive, some in the Public Record Office, and others in private hands!" The ownership of the cartularies for a long period after the Dissolution is unknown, but it is probable that they passed with the site of the priory into the possession of Richard Pexsall, the king’s servant, to whom the estate was granted in 1546.11 The two texts cover practically the same period: both have early charters and neither records any grant after 1344, except the licence for a fair and market issued by Edward III in 1361 (564), but leases and disputes were entered in Vitellius up to 1382 (673) and in Stowe, in the main hand, up to 1390 (255), with divers additions in a number of later hands up to 1484 (572).