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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 December 2009
1. Assignment by Abbot William Humez for the Monks' Kitchen. [4 May 1214–Aug. 1215].
Carta Willelmi abbatis Westm' de redditu c et l librarum xj solidorum et ix denariorum contingenti firmam coquine.a
Omnibus sancte matris ecclesie filiis ad quos presens scriptum pervenerit, Willelmus Dei gracia abbas Westm', eternam in Domino salutem. Noverit universitas vestra me bono animo et pro utilitate ecclesie nostre et conventus nostri dedisse et concessisse et presenti carta nostra confirmasse dilectis filiis nostris monachis ad instanciam et peticionem ipsorum redditum centum et quinquagintab librarum et undecim solidorum et novem denariorum, que summa annuatim contingebat ad firmam coquine predictorum monachorum in maneriis et redditibus assisis, scilicet manerium de Eswelle pro sexaginta et octo libris et duobus solidis, manerium de Langeton' pro decem et novem libris et octo solidis et novem denariis, manerium de Mordon' pro decem libris. In redditibus vero assisis, videlicet de Mulesham et dec Kenleveden' viginti libras, de Wynentune centum solidos, de Hendon' et de Braynte tresdecim libras, de Broma viginti solidos, de Chelchehuthe quatuor libras, de Wokendon' decem libras. Ita scilicet quod predictus conventus percipiet annuatim predictas decem libras quousque manerium de Thodinton', quod R. quondam abbas Westm' tenet, de manibus ipsius vel in vita vel in morte absolute liberatum fuerit. Et tunc liceat predicto conventui predictum manerium de Tudinton' cum omnibus pertinenciis suis tam in stauris quam rebus aliis habere sine mea vel alterius cujuscunque reclamacione. Cum autem predictum manerium predictus conventus plenarie possederit, predictus redditus decem librarum de Wokendone ad me et ad successores meos abbates revertetur. Ego vero mihi et successoribus meis abbatibus advocaciones ecclesiarum predictorum maneriorum et homagia corporaliter prestita tantum servari disposui, salvis predicto conventui releviis, auxiliis, eschaetis et omnibus aliis exitibus et pertinenciis ex predictis maneriis provenientibus. Si autem vel ex placitis vel ex debitis quibuscunque vel ex aliis casibus fortuitis predictus conventus impeditus fuerit quo minus predicta maneria et predictos redditus pacifice possideat, ego et successores mei abbates omnia predicta contra omnes homines predicto conventui warantizabimus et indempnitati ipsius modis omnibus providebimus. Quod si forte predictas possessiones warantizare non poterimus, predicto conventui antiquam prestacionem octo solidorum per singulos dies dicto conventui restituemus. Contestor igitur omnes successores meos abbates per tremendum Dei judicium ne ipsi faciant vel fieri permittant ullam infractionem seudiminucionem huic mee donacioni et concessioni in maximo vel in minimo, immo augeant et confirment. Hanc autem concessionem spontanea voluntate in propria persona feci in capitulo Westm', augmentatores et conservatores commendans Deo patri. Infractores vero seu diminutores hujus mee donacionis et concessionis seu etiam consilioa consensu vel auxilio vel etiam ausu temerario coadjutores ex auctoritate Dei et beatorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli et beati regis Eadwardi ipsiusb ecclesie patroni et omnium sanctorum Dei etc ex potestate michi tradita excommunicacionis vinculo innodavi. Ut autem hec mea donacio et concessio inconcussam et ratam et perpetuam optineat firmitatem eam sigilli mei munimine corroboravi. Hiis testibus domino Willelmo Elien' domini regis thesaurario, magistro Jocelino marescallo, Roberto Mauduit, Henrico Foliot, Johanne filio Willelmi, Thoma de Chimeli, Willelmo de Castell', Johanne de Storteford', Roberto de Bassingeburn', Alexandro, Ludovico, clericis de scaccario, Ricardo de Mulesham, Ricardo de Dol, Theodbaldo de Feringe, Huliano Chesneduit, Sampsone clerico de Essewell', Roberto de Clavill', Odone aurifabro, magistro Thoma Foliot, magistro Simone de London', magistro Nicholao de Humeto, Roberto de Chauntemerle, Stephano de Berking', Roberto de Crokesle, Roberto de Cleygate, Ricardo marescallo, Waltero marescallo, et multis aliis.
page 215 note a The title is rubricated.
page 215 note b no', written in a later hand against the line containing the last thirteen words.
page 215 note c de, interlined.
page 215 note 1 Humez was elected abbot on 4 May 1214 (Monks, p. 47Google Scholar). The last-known royal writ addressed to William of Ely as treasurer—the style he bears in the list of witnesses—is dated 2 Aug. 1215 (Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc., 4th Ser., xv (1932), p. 55Google Scholar). On general grounds it is likely that this assignment was made in the early months of Humez's abbacy.
page 215 note 2 The manor of Teddington was assigned to Abbot Ralph de Arundel for life on his deposition in 1214 (Flete, p. 100Google Scholar). He died in 1223 (ibid.).
page 216 note a consilio, consilio, MS.
page 216 note b The last letter of this word was erased but reinstated.
page 216 note c et, interlined.
page 216 note 1 This sentence uses phrases in spurious charters of William I, Henry II and Richard I for Westminster (C.Ch.R., 1327–41, p. 335Google Scholar; Westminster Abbey Charters, xliii, xlv).
page 217 note 1 Bruges lay in Battersea, where Richard Dol held land (Westminster Domes-day, fos 162v–63). Dol is described as the abbot's steward (W.A.M. 1855, 4501, etc.).
page 217 note 2 Ware's Customary says that from the time of Abbot Gilbert (1085–1117) the abbot of Westminster had received 10 marks yearly from the chamberlain instead of clothing (Customary, ii, p. 150Google Scholar, where Berking's renunciation of this allowance is recalled).
page 217 note 3 The tithe of the king's farm of Droitwich, granted to Westminster Abbey by William I (Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066–1154, i, ed. Davis, H. W. C. and Whitwell, R. J. (Oxford, 1913), no. 166Google Scholar; Domesday Book (Record Comm. Edn, 1783), i, fo. 174).Google Scholar
page 218 note a Sic in MS.
page 218 note 1 A Bishop Hugh of Lincoln, probably Hugh de Grenoble (1186–1200; see V.C.H. Rutland, ii (London, 1935), p. 14Google Scholar, note) granted to the abbot and convent of Westminster a pension of 30 marks from the churches of Oakham and Hambleton for the entertainment of guests (Westminster Domesday, fo. 594). Abbot Ralph de Arundel (1200–14) and Abbot William Humez (1214–22) assigned 21 marks of this pension to the convent, but for the use of the infirmarer (ibid., fos 577V, 578). Presumably the sum of £6 mentioned above was that part of the pension which came from Oakham.
page 218 note 2 The prior and convent of Hurley leased the manor of Easthampstead from the abbot and convent of Westminster for a rent of 100s. a year (W.A.M. 2251; this reference, however, is later in date than Berking's composition).
page 218 note 3 By the terms of an arbitration settling a dispute with the bishop of Lincoln over Wheathampstead church, the abbot and convent of Westminster enjoyed half the tithes of the church, and a portion of the other half to the value of 6 marks; their share was to be assigned to the hosteller for hospitality and alms (Westminster Domesday, fos 449–49v).
page 218 note 4 See Customary, ii, p. 51.Google Scholar
page 219 note b qui, written over an erasure.
page 219 note c pro, and the first letter of tempore, written over an erasure.
page 219 note d The last letter of quod, and de, written over an erasure.
page 219 note 1 The ordinance about the church of Wheathampstead (see p. 218, note, above) required the hosteller to render account for the tithes twice a year. The more rigorous requirement of an account four times a year may be made in deference to Langton's statutes, published at Oxford in 1222, but even here the requirement is that obedientiaries shall account quater vel bis ad minus in anno (Wilkins, D., Concilia Magnae Britanniae ct Hiberniae (London, 1737), i, p. 590).Google Scholar
page 219 note 2 Above, pp. 215–16.
page 219 note 3 Above, p. 8 and note.
page 220 note 1 Cf. above, p. 216.
page 220 note 2 Cf. ibid.
page 221 note a The last three letters of this word are written over an erasure.
page 221 note 1 William de Ste-Mère-Eglise, bishop of London (1199–1221), was gratefully remembered at Westminster because he had permitted the abbey to appropriate the church of Staines (Westminster Domesday, fo. 447).
page 222 note 1 Cf. Chapters of the English Black Monks, i, p. 9.Google Scholar
page 223 note 1 A dispute between the abbot of Westminster and Gilbert de Hendon about a messuage and three carucates of land in Hendon was terminated by a final concord on 3 Feb. 1226 (P.R.O., C.P.25(i), 146/7/58; C.R.R., xii (1225–26), nos 271, 604, 1241, 1940; see also Trans. Bristol and Gloucs. Archaeol. Soc., lxxvi (1958 for 1957), pp. 56–57)Google Scholar. See also above, p. 217.
page 223 note 2 Later it appears that the convent paid the abbot 10 marks for this barn (below, p. 224).
page 223 note 3 Cf. above, pp. 215–16, 219.
page 224 note 1 In 1258, in a plea of darrein presentment relating to Sawbridgeworth brought by the king during the vacancy of Westminster Abbey, the bishop of London pleaded an agreement between the abbot of Westminster and Eustace, bishop of London (1221–28) whereby the former had relinquished his claim to the advowson of the church in return for a pension of £10 a year; he lost his case because the document which he produced did not bear the seal of the abbot of Westminster (P.R.O., K.B.26/160, m. 9d).
page 224 note 2 Above, p. 223.
page 224 note 3 6 Nov. 1225.
page 225 note 1 In 1226 the abbot of Westminster waived his right to a yearly hospice at Sudborough in return for an increase of £3 in the rent due from the Abbey's tenant there (P.R.O., C.P.25(i), 172/18/124; C.R.R., xi (1223–24), no. 2575; ibid., xii (1225–26), nos 776, 2517).
page 226 note a The first letter of this word is written over an erasure.
page 226 note 1 Above, p. 223.
page 226 note 2 Above, pp. 216, 220.
page 226 note 3 I.e. Humez's assignment (III, 1).
page 227 note 1 For the articles in question, see above, pp. 218–21.
page 227 note 2 Sancti Benedicti Regula Monasteriorum, ed. C. Butler (Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 2nd. edn., 1927), cc. xxi, lxv. The General Chapter of 1249 recognized the abbot's right to dismiss obedientiaries provided he did so in chapter (Chapters of the English Black Monks, i, p. 43).Google Scholar
page 227 note 3 The provision of meat in the misericord for able-bodied monks, which Berking's first composition countenanced (above, p. 220), wasat odds with Gregory IX's decretal Quum ad monasterium and with decrees of the General Chapter in 1237 and 1249 (Corpus Juris Canonici, II, Decret. Greg. IX, lib. III, tit. xxxv, cap. vi; Chapters of the English Black Monks, i, pp. 24, 37Google Scholar; see also Knowles, D., Religious Orders in England, i (Cambridge, 1948), pp. 281–82).Google Scholar
page 228 note a MS. illegible; tam, supplied from W.A.M. 5957.
page 228 note 1 Cf. Chapters of the English Black Monks, i, p. 9.Google Scholar
page 228 note 2 Berking had assigned the manor of Oakham to the convent for pittances, reserving for himself and his successors the right to a yearly hospice there lasting two days (Westminster Domesday, fo. 596). This grant was made after the compositon of 1225, which assigned to the convent only a pension of £6 from the church at Oakham (above, p. 218 and note).
page 228 note 3 Cf. above, p. 218.
page 228 note 4 The decrees of papal visitors included a similar provision in 1234; this, however, committed the fourth key to the precentor (English Historical Review, xxvii (1912), p. 738).Google Scholar
page 228 note 5 Above, pp. 218–19.
page 228 note 6 Above, p. 219.
page 229 note b per, written over an erasure. The title is rubricated.
page 229 note 1 Cf. above, p. 219 and note; Les Registresde Grégoire IX, ii, col. 325; Chapters of the English Black Monks, i, p. 36.Google Scholar
page 229 note 2 In 1249 Innocent IV granted Westminster Abbey licence to appropriate Feering church, the profits to be used for the anniversaries of Henry III and his queen (Les Registres d'Innocent IV, ii, ed. Berger (Bibliothèque des Ecoles Françaises d'Athènes et de Rome, 1884–1887), no. 4570).Google Scholar
page 230 note a Sic in MS.
page 230 note b Marginal brackets enclose this entry in MS.
page 230 note c Part of this word has been written over an erasure.
page 230 note 1 Ware died on 8 Dec. 1283 (Monks, p. 52).
page 230 note 2 Above, p. 218.
page 230 note 3 Above, pp. 219, 228.
page 230 note 4 Cf. above, p. 223; below, p. 236.
page 230 note 5 Cf. above, pp. 218–19, 227.
page 230 note 6 Above, p. 229.
page 230 note 7 Above, p. 221.
page 230 note 8 Customary, ii, p. 72.Google Scholar
page 230 note 9 This is the first known reference to the abbot's obligation to find liveries for Exchequer clerks; Ware's Customary is damaged at the material point (Customary, ii, pp. 102–3Google Scholar). Berking's first composition assigned to the convent the obligation of paying certain liveries which fell due whenever the king came to Westminster (above, p. 218). A sentence in Hadham's composition suggests that the liveries to the Exchequer had once been a charge on the conventual portion (below, p. 237).
page 231 note d de bosco, interlined.
page 231 note e Sic in MS.
page 231 note f The last letter of this word has been altered from i.
page 231 note g The second letter of this word has been altered.
page 231 note 1 Above, pp. 216, 220, 226.
page 231 note 2 Presumably Stanningele Wood was the wood at Ashford reserved for the abbot when the manor was assigned to the convent in 1227 (above, p. 225).
page 231 note 3 See above, p. 228, note.
page 231 note 4 In 1225 Berking assigned to the convent the abbot's clothing allowance of 10 marks (above, p. 217). According to Ware's Customary he renounced at the same time all claim on the convent for clothes for himself or his successors (Customary, ii, p. 150Google Scholar). Berking assigned this sum to the cellarer; Crokesley transferred it to the chamberlain (ibid.).
page 231 note 5 ibid., ii, p. 153.
page 231 note 6 Laurence de Wendleswrth had granted all his lands in Todenham to Abbot Ware (W.A.M. 8207); these included land which he held of the inflrmarer of Westminster for 10s. a year (W.A.M. 5079).
page 231 note 7 Above, p. 228.
page 231 note 8 Westminster Abbey purchased the manor of Amwell from Ralph de Limesy c. 1270 (V.C.H. Herts., iii (London, 1912), p. 416Google Scholar). Wenlok duly assigned this to the cellarer; his release of the manor on 21 Dec. 1288 notes that it had been purchased with conventual funds and that Ware had promised to assign it to the convent (W.A.M. 4241).
page 232 note a a, in the margin opposite this entry; a later entry has the same marginal note. The scribe wished to call attention to the fact that both entries deal with the manor of Combe, not to mark the later entry, which was one of the additions made on 2 Jan. 1284, for insertion at this point.
page 232 note b This entry comes later but is marked for insertion at this point. Minuti hic, in the margin in a later hand.
page 232 note 1 The assignment of Combe to the kitchener contravened an ordinance of Abbot Ware, said to have been made with the assent of the convent in full chapter, in 1265; this ordinance assigned Combe to the sacrist, the profits to be used after Ware's death for his anniversary (Westminster Domesday, fos 591v–92).
page 232 note 2 From Ware's Customary, read in conjunction with the Customary of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, it appears that permission to remain outside the choir might be renewed after three days, but on the ninth day the monk who was still sick went to the infirmary (Customary, ii, p. 234Google Scholar; ibid., i, p. 299).
page 232 note 3 ibid., ii, pp. 241–42.
page 232 note 4 I.e. 31 Dec. 1283.
page 232 note 5 The church of St Martin-in-the-Fields (Valor Ecclesiasticus, temp. Henrici VIII, auctoritate regia institutus (Record Comm., 1810–1834), i, p. 412).Google Scholar
page 233 note c a, in the margin opposite this entry; see above, p. 232, note.
page 233 note d The title is rubricated.
page 233 note e abbatem, written over an erasure.
page 233 note f xxvj, written in the margin opposite the line containing the last eleven words.
page 233 note g predicti followed, but has been struck out.
page 233 note h Walteri de, interlined.
page 233 note 1 For the prior's double allowance of bread and drink see Customary, ii, p. 129Google Scholar; see also ibid., pp. 120, 128.
page 233 note 2 Cf. above, pp. 228–29. Papal visitors at Westminster in 1268 required obedientiaries to account four times a year (Westminster Domesday, fos 28v–29), but in 1277 the General Chapter had reduced its own requirement to an account once a year (Chapters of the English Black Monks, i. p. 84).Google Scholar
page 234 note a nos omnes, written over an erasure.
page 234 note b Sic in MS.
page 234 note 1 Wenlok died on 25 Dec. 1307. He had deprived Hadham of his office in Sept. and Hadham, at the time of this ordinance, was awaiting a decision in his appeal to Rome (above, pp. 17–18).
page 234 note 2 Above, p. 217.
page 234 note 3 From this entry it would appear that the pension from the church at Oakham assigned to the convent for the above-mentioned purposes in 1225 (above, p. 218) had not been kept separate from the profits of the manor of Oakham, which Berking had later assigned to the pittancer (above, p. 228, note).
page 234 note 4 Customary, ii, p. 51Google Scholar; see above, pp. 218, 230.
page 234 note 5 Above, pp. 219, 228, 230.
page 234 note 6 Above, pp. 219, 228–29. Hadham's composition brought the rule at Westminster into line with the requirement of the General Chapter of 1277 for an account only once a year (Chapters of the English Black Monks, i, p. 84Google Scholar). By implication the composition of 1283–84 recognized this change (above, p. 233 and note).
page 235 note c quondam, interlined.
page 235 note 1 Cf. above, pp. 215–16, 219, 223.
page 235 note 2 Above, p. 219.
page 235 note 3 Above, p. 220; see also pp. 226, 231.
page 235 note 4 Above, p. 220.
page 235 note 5 The Maundy was dealt with in the first part of the Customary, which is not extant; see Customary, ii, p. 177.Google Scholar
page 235 note 6 Above, p. 220.
page 235 note 7 Above, pp. 220–21.
page 235 note 8 Above, pp. 221, 230.
page 235 note 9 Above, p. 231; see also p. 228.
page 235 note 10 Above, p. 222. By now this rule was in the abbey customary (Customary, ii, pp. 98, 127–28Google Scholar). Later, when dealing with the prior's allowance of food, the Customary explains that if the prior is outside the monastery he may draw his allowance only if he is near enough for it to reach him before prime each day (ibid., p. 129). At ‘La Neyte’ (Insula) the abbot would fulfil this requirement.
page 236 note a quod, followed, but has been erased.
page 236 note 1 Above, p. 222.
page 236 note 2 According to the Customary, the abbot never took supper or the evening drink in the refectory (Customary, ii, p. 105Google Scholar). Nothing is said in Hadham's composition about the abbot's allowance of drink at dinner, though, according to the Customary, he might draw this even if he were at ‘La Neyte’ (ibid., pp. 112, 127–128).
page 236 note 3 Above, p. 230; cf. p. 223.
page 236 note 4 Above, p. 228 and note.
page 236 note 5 Above, pp. 229, 230.
page 236 note 6 Above, pp. 225, 231.
page 236 note 7 Above, pp. 218–19, 227, 230.
page 236 note 8 Above, p. 230.
page 236 note 9 From this entry it appears that land in Westminster had already been assigned to the prior; see Valor Ecclesiasticus, i, p. 412.Google Scholar
page 236 note 1 0 Cf. above, p. 230.
page 237 note b A short erasure follows.
page 237 note c pro abbate, in the margin opposite this entry.
page 237 note d Nota pro camerario, in the margin opposite this entry, in a later hand.
page 237 note e Another de, crossed out in MS.
page 237 note 1 Above, p. 230.
page 237 note 2 ibid.
page 237 note 3 This sentence suggests that the corrody in question had once been a charge on the conventual portion (see also ibid., note).
page 237 note 4 Above, pp. 228, 231.
page 237 note 5 Above, p. 232.
page 237 note 6 Cf. above, p. 231.
page 237 note 7 ibid.
page 237 note 8 See above, p. 235, note.
page 237 note 9 Above p. 231.
page 238 note a pro infirmario, in the margin opposite this entry.
page 238 note b pro sacrista, in the margin opposite this entry.
page 238 note c nota pro priore, in the margin opposite this entry.
page 238 note d Sic in MS.
page 238 note 1 Above, p. 232 and note. Henry de Bluntesdon had been Edward I's almoner (Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 3rd. Ser., xx–xxi, p. 75).Google Scholar
page 238 note 2 Customary, ii, pp. 234, 243Google Scholar. However, the Customary speaks of a pittance for sick monks from the hostelry (ibid., p. 235).
page 238 note 3 The reference is to Henry III's charter of 1235 exempting the Abbey and its tenants from tolls in all markets and fairs (C.Ch.R., 1226–57, p. 208).Google Scholar
page 238 note 4 Edward I provided that the surplus issues of the manors of Queen Eleanor's foundation at Westminster should remain to the prior and convent for pittances (C.Ch.R., 1257–1300, p. 425Google Scholar). The prior and convent had wanted Wenlok to sanction the division among them of the money surplus itself. At first Wenlok resisted on the grounds of proprietas, but on 18 Dec. 1307 he agreed to the distribution of the surplus in either way (Flete, pp. 118–19Google Scholar; see also ibid., p. 121).
page 238 note 5 Cf. Customary, i, p. 373.Google Scholar
page 238 note 6 Ware's Customary says that formerly four sub-sacrists were chosen by the sacrist with the prior's licence; two, however, had achieved the full rank of obedientiary and were now appointed by the abbot in chapter (Customary, ii, p. 52).Google Scholar
page 239 note 1 In 1299 Wenlok had redeemed the farm of Deerhurst by granting William de Derneford, the farmer, and Cecily, his wife, the abbatial manor of Islip for their lives (V.C.H. Oxon., vi, p. 209Google Scholar). On 18 Dec. 1307 he yielded to the convent's demand that the manor be assigned to them, the surplus issues to be divided among them or disposed of in any way they chose (Flete, pp. 118–19Google Scholar). The next sentence of this composition makes it clear that the convent agreed in 1307 to pay the abbot £60 yearly during the life-time of Cecily de Derneford (who had survived her husband) and to keep his anniversary after his death; for the latter promise see also Flete, p. 118Google Scholar. Wenlok's release of Deerhurst did not take effect after his death (ibid., p. 119).
Flete also says that Wenlok acquired from Stephen de Cornhill stalls (domos) in the fair at Westminster—when Flete wrote they were held by the sacrist—and that he assigned to the convent the wood at Bradhegge in Greenford (ibid., pp. 116–17). Bradhegge Wood had been reserved for the abbot in 1227(above, p.225).
page 239 note 2 This was a claim to some £40 or £50, the profits from the fair being £91 1s. 4d. in 1306 and £94 l¼d. in 1307 (above, pp. 200, 209). See above, p. 20.
page 240 note 1 23 or 24 Jan.