THE HISTORY OF ROTHLEY INTRODUCTION By A. HAMILTON THOMPSON. F.S.A. The object of the following account of the history of the manor and church of Rothley has already been explained in the notes on three other Leicestershire manors recently published in our Transactions. The manor of Rothley is of special interest as one of considerable size and importance, with widely scattered members, and with customs which give it a peculiar individuality. The questions of jurisdiction and tenure which arise in connection with it are of more than local importance, appealing particularly to the general student of manorial history and local government. On another side of the subject, the relation of the manor and church to the two military religious orders of medieval England is illustrated in a concrete form by the survival of the house and chapel of the Knights Templars in the parish. These buildings are described in the following pages by Mr. Fosbrooke, while Mr. Watts is responsible for the description of the church. Ecclesiastically, the parish, with its distant chapelries, while not unique, is at any rate quite exceptional. The list of incumbents has been drawn up from records of institutions kindly supplied by the Rev. C. W. Foster, prebendary of Leicester St. Margaret's in the cathedral church of Lincoln. Unfortunately, owing to the fact that the priests of the various chapels were appointed by the vicars of Rothley at their pleasure, according to the universal custom in such cases, so that there is no consecutive record of their appointments, no satisfactory lists can be made of them. Their names, however, even if they could be obtained, would be of little or no value to the historian. Photo, by A. Newton fr1 Sorts, Leicester. kOTHLUY TEMPU CHAl'UL—LOOKING EAST. ROTHLEY I. The preceptory, by T. H. Fosbrooke, F.S.A. II. The descent of the manor, by George Farnham, F.S.A. III. The church, by Rev. J. Wallace Watts. IV. The vicars of Rothley, by A. Hamilton Thompson, F.S.A. I.-THE PRECEPTORY By T. H. Fosbrooke, F.S.A. There is probably no manor in the county of Leicester which offers greater attractions to archaeologists than the manor of Rothley. Certainly no other manor boasts so large a number of members within the orbit of the jurisdiction of its lord, the soke of Rothley at the time of the Domesday survey of 1086, com­ prising manorial rights in no less than twenty two outlying hamlets, besides Rothley proper. The student of ancient customs connected with manorial Courts as well as the lover of ancient buildings will find in Rothley a field for his investigation, the former in the peculiarities of gavelkind and tenants holding ancient demesne lands, the latter by inspecting the thirteenth century chapel and the other remnants of the home of the Knights of the Temple. From Edward the Confessor, through Norman and Plan- tagenet kings, the Knights Templars, the Knights Hospitallers, and a long line of Babingtons who hailed from Chilwell and Dethick, the very names of the lords of the manor of Rothley add to the interest connected with the place; while in later times its associations with lord Macaulay, whose birthplace it was, with Wilberforce, the champion for the abolition of slavery, who, amid the groves of Rothley Temple drew up in conjunction with his friend and host Mr. Babington, his long indictment of the cruelties practised in this inhuman traffic, and lastly with lord Kitchener, summoned from a visit at Rothley to conduct his campaign in Egypt, will always render Rothley famous. 2 LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. The village of Rothley is situated half a mile to the west of the main road which leads from Leicester to Loughborough and equidistant from both places. About a quarter of a mile further west stands the manor house known as the Temple from its con­ nection with the Templars. The situation of the Temple is typically monastic, lying low amid pastures of vivid green through which the Rothley brook winds its course from the hills of Charnwood to join the river Soar near Cossington, the ancient preceptory, surrounded by fine timber and charming gardens, greatly enlarged and much modernised, makes a delightful residence. THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. The manor and soke of Rothley were granted to the Knights Templars by King Henry III. in the year 1231. This famous Order was started during the first Crusade, in the year 1118, by nine French Knights, who took the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and depending solely on the alms of the faithful, they were termed "Poor Knights." At one time their poverty was so great, that only one horse was allowed to every two knights, a condition portrayed on their seals where two Knights are seen riding on one horse. (See Appendix A.) The special object of the fraternity was to protect pilgrims on their way from the coast to the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. They also undertook to wage perpetual war against the infidel in defence of the Cross.* Baldwin II., King of Jerusalem, assigned to them *St. Bernard de Clairvaux, who died in 1153, has given a wonderful picture of the Knights Templars in his discourse on the New Chivalry :— "The soldiers of Christ live together in common in an agreeable but "frugal manner, without wives and without children; and that "nothing may be wanting to evangelical perfection, they dwell "together without property of any kind, in one house, under one rule, "careful to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace............ "There is but one heart and one soul, as each one in no "respect followeth after his own will or desire, but is "diligent to the will of the Master. They are never idle "nor rambling abroad, but when they are not in the field, "that they may not eat their bread in idleness, they are fitting and "repairing their armour and their clothing, or employing themselves "in such occupations as the will of the Master requireth, or their "common necessities render expedient. Among them there is no "distinction of persons; respect is paid to the best and most virtuous, "not the most noble. They participate in each other's honour, they "bear one another's burthens, that they may fulfil the law of Christ." ROTHLEY. THE PRECEPTORY. J a portion of his palace in that city, and the abbot of the adjoining convent, having granted them a piece of ground near the Temple for their home, the Knights assumed the name of Templars. The Knights wore a white mantle, to which a red cross was added on the left breast in 1166, by order of Pope Eugenius III., as a sign of their constant exposure to martyrdom. They observed the rule of St. Austin, and admitted spiritual members to the Order termed chaplains; married knights were admitted, but there were no sisters of the Order. Their patroness was the Virgin Mary and the head of the Order was termed the Grand Master. Owing to the fame of the Templars and their feats of arms in the Holy Land, the sons of the nobility in France and England flocked to their standard.* Lands and riches were showered upon the Templars to such a degree, that they soon became as noted for their wealth as they were formerly for their poverty. A third class of humble servitors was added to the Order, and each Knight possessed no less than three horses, t The Templars had their headquarters in Palestine, where they acquired defended houses, which were in fact strong castles, the ruins of some still remain. They also acquired estates in nearly every country in Europe. They first came to England about 1140, and established them­ selves in London, at a spot known as the Old Temple on the south *The Templars either received or adopted their far-famed Banner called in old French BEAUSEANT, in consequence of the black and white stripes of which it was composed, this name generally being applied to a horse of these colours, and Beauseant became also the War Cry of the Templars —a word of terror wherever it was heard. The banner itself bore the Red Cross of the Order, painted upon it, and the humble self-denying text of Scripture : "Non Nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tno da gloriam."—[Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give the glory.] tin the early part of the XIII cent. GUYOT de PROVINS who had been a minstrel and became a monk, wrote as follows, concerning the Templars :— "They are honoured in Syria, much dreaded by the Turks, and their "Order would suit me well enough, were it not necessary to fight; but "they are too brave. As for me, if I die, it will never be, I hope "through prowess or courage. I had rather be a living coward, than "have the most illustrious death in ( the whole world. Those worthies "of the Temple are very exact in all'which concerns the services of the "Church; and respecting that point, I should yield to them in nothing; "but the moment fighting commenced............they should go without "me. A battle is not wholesome. I willingly leave that honour to "them; and please God, I hope to be neither killed nor wounded." 4 LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. side of Holborn. In 1185 they migrated to another site in Fleet Street where their establishment still continues, though long con­ verted to other uses. Here stands that wonderful and beautiful building with its circular nave, still known as the Temple Church, designed on the same plan as the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.