Introduction: The Manuscript

Summary

This edition of the cartulary of the Augustinian priory of Bushmead is taken from the Wade-Gery manuscript in the possession of Mr. Richard Wade-Gery of Bushmead, whose ancestor acquired the site and lands of the priory in 1552.

An earlier cartulary, which may be called the Trevor manuscript, is known to have existed. This gave no list of priors, in at least one case gave the names of witnesses where the Wade-Gery version does not, and was apparently written in a book of which the first sixteen folios contained some other matter. The date of the latest charter which it is known to have contained is 1274. It appears to be this cartulary to which reference is made as “ the old book of charters “ on fo. 55 of the Wade-Gery manuscript. In 1640 it was in the possession of Arthur Trevor of the Inner Temple. Possibly he acquired it for its antiquarian interest, for there is no known connection between the property and the Trevor family. Arthur Trevor was second son of Sir Edward Trevor, knight, of Brynkinalt; he was called to the bar in 1633, was in the service of Prince Rupert in 1644, a bencher 1659, Lent reader in 1662, and probably died about 1667 without issue. The subsequent fate of the Trevor cartulary has not been discovered. Mark Trevor, younger brother of Arthur, became Baron Trevor of Rosetrevor; his three sons died without issue. A distant branch of the same family still bears the title, but the present holder of it has no knowledge of the cartulary.

The Wade-Gery cartulary seems after the Dissolution to have followed the descent of the property. There is no direct evidence that it belonged to Sir William Gascoigne, who received the site and lands in 1537 : possibly the direction on the cover that the book is to be delivered to Mr. Goodman in Paternoster Row, a proctor in the Court of Arches, belongs to this period. It passed through the hands of Anthony Cokett, to whom Sir John Gascoigne conveyed the property in 1545 ; and it appears to have been handed to William Gery at or after the transfer of the property in 1552; it was certainly in his hands in 1581.