with other more like good considerations herein not mentioned, which shall not onely seem for the commonweal but also for the maintaining of the King his Grace's said towne and his pore subjects the inhabitants of the same towne and the countrey nigh adjoining to the same, by whom your said pore Orators, for the true declaration of the premises, are contented to be reported. And your said Orators, during their lyves, according to their bounden duties, shall pray unto Almighty God for the long preservation of your good Lordship's estate, long to endure to his pleasure. Amen.

No. IV.-LETTER FROM PHILIP HOBY, ESQ. TO JOHN SCUDAMORE, ESQ.5 Referred to on page 145.

AFTER my right hartty commendacions hadd, where at my last communycacion hadd with yow I desyred yow that I myght have hadd some partt off the stone that shuld be solde at Evisham ffor my money, the princypall and best whereoff, as I am informed, ys sold, yett fforasmoche as my necessyte which shall shorttely happen in buyldyng wyll requyre a grett partt off that stone that ys unsold there, this shalbe, therefore, right harttely to desyre and praye yow that ye wyll sell me resydew that there remaynyth, and I will paye thereffore yeven as ye shall thynke reasonable. And iff ye shuld nott shew me this pleasure, I were lyke in tyme of my necessyte to be very destitute; and as consernyng the spoyle or waste that ye wrate to me off that hath be done there, I assure yow both I and myne be gyltles thereoff, besydes that hit did cost me money to persons ffor a long tyme nyghtly to weche and to take hede lest any thyng shuld to be mysordered there. I trust alsoo that att your there beyng and others the kynge's highnes' commyssyoners, ye remember that there was no lytell spoyle made, and I promyse yow sythens then your departure there hence there hath byn nothyng mynyshed to my knowlege; and iff it bee, I wold the offenders were ponysshed to the example of other. Thus I wyll leve to wrytt unto yow any more at this tyme, trustyng that we shall mete shorttely and talke thereoff more largely, commyttyng yow to Godde's tuycion, who preserve yow with as good health as I wold to my selff, desyryng to use me as ye know ffor your assuryd to my power. Wrytten at the Courtt, the last of October:

"Hæc sunt Nomina Benefactorum, fratrum et sororum viventium, Monasterij Eveshamia, scripta per fratrem Thomam Wynchecombe Præcentorem, A. D. MCCCCXLIIII."-Cott. MS. Vitellius E xvii.

DOMINUS dominus Willelmus Nevyle, Domina Elizabeth Boteler, uxor de

dominus de Fawkenbrugge, miles.

Johannes Hende armigeri et filij ejus

Edwardus Nevile dominus, de Bergevenye.

Johannes Hende

dem E. Botelar.

5 Scudamore and Burgoyne were the king's officers charged with the monastic property transferred within this county.

Names of other Benefactors, Brethren and Sisters then living: A.D. 1444, 23d of

Henry VI. From fol. 251 of same MS. DOMINUS Th. Ascheby.

Johannes Walle, et Maria uxor ejus.

6 "Lay people of all sorts, men and women, married and single, desired to be enrolled in spiritual fraternities; as thereby enjoying the spiritual prerogatives of pardon, indulgence, and speedy dispatch out of purgatory."-MS. in Fosbroke's British Monachism, 8vo. p. 173.

Johannes Kynge.

Laurentius Moyne, et Agnes uxor ejus.
Wills. Broysaldowne, et Emota uxor ejus.
Georgius Capul.
Thomas Henley.

Johannes Rolnes, et Alicia uxor ejus.
Ricardus Mynsterworth, et Sibilla uxor
ejus.

Mauritius Panter, et Johanna uxor ejus.
Willelmus Golde, et Elizabeth uxor ejus.
Edwardus Arthur, et Johanna uxor ejus.
Johannes Aleyn, et Matilda uxor ejus.

Johannes Huntley.
Henricus Crocher.

Johannes Barbone.

Hugo Jones, et Elizabeth uxor ejus.
Matheus Grenys.

Johannes Hale.

Johannes Mylys, breviator Xpo. Cantuar. sancti Augustini, et de Broys fuit hic vigilia sancti Mathæi apostoli. Johannes Devell, breviator de Stodley et Bordesley, fuit hic die Veneris post festum exaltationis snctæ crucis.

Other Benefactors.-Cott. MS. Vitellius E xvii., incidentally, on fol. 229.

Philip, son and heir of Walter Cook, of
Evesham.

Walter Morice, of Evesham, son and heir

of Maurice de Baddeseye.

John de Bampton.

Walter Credan, son and heir of John
Credan, of Worcester.

Simon de Hocwyk, called also Howyk,
of Honwyke.

Simon, son of the aforesaid Simon.

"The Principal Benefactors of Evesham Monastery."-Compiled from Harl. MS.

3763, and copy of lost MS. in Dugd. Mon. ii. 14 b.

Ethelred, king of the Mercians-son of
king Penda-the Founder.
Ceolred, king of the Mercians, son of
Ethelred the Founder.

Kenred, king of the Mercians, son of
Wulphere.

Ethelbald, called also Ethelard, king of
the Mercians, son of Alwy.

Offa, king of the Mercians, son of Tunfrith.

Beortulph, king of the Mercians.

Offa, king of the East Saxons, son of king Sigher.

Ailric, son of king Osher.

Ethelred, king of England, brother of
king Edward the Martyr.
Canute, king of all England.
Ethelward or Aylward, governor of the
Wiccians under king Kenred.
Ufa, earl of Warwick.
Warin Bushell.

Richard Bushell, son of Warin.
Albert Bushell, son of Richard.
Robert Bushell.

Galfred Bushell, son of Robert.?

No. VI. CHARTER OF WILLIAM I. CONFIRMING TO THE ABBEY OF EVESHAM LANDS IN THE SHERIFFDOM OF WARWICK,. Translated from MS. Cott. Vesp. B xxiv.

WILLIAM King of the English to W. the Bishop and R. the Sheriff greeting: I ordain and command you, as to Adelwin the Abbot, with respect to the Lands of the Church of Evesham, namely-Saltford, and Edicestun, and Milecote, and Ragele',

7 The names of Benefactors were solemnly read at the high-altar during mass, from tablets which were called "Diptycha.”—Mores Catholici, 8vo. 1844, p. 35.—And at the present day, in the Oxford University pulpit, the preacher in "bidding prayer" recites the names of the founders and benefactors of his own college or hall.

and Arrowe, and Eccleshal, and Hildeburgwrth, and Grafton, and Withlakesford, and Dorsiton, and other lands which he hath in the Sheriffdom of Warewic, that you take heed that he may hold them in great honour peaceably; and that he hath and holdeth them for the use of the Servants of God, with my good peace and protection. And I command thee, R. Sheriff, not to suffer any one to do wrong to the Abbot, in any matter, because I will not permit it; but will that he shall hold his own possessions fully, with sac, soc, and all customs; and if any one presumes to do injustice to him and he makes complaint to me, I will afford him full satisfaction as to the matters of which he complains.

No. VII.-CHARTER GRANTED BY WILLIAM II. TO THE ABBEY. Translated from MS. Cotton. Vesp. B xxiv.

WILLIAM King of the English to Urso the Sheriff, and other Sheriffs and Officers under whom the Church of Evesham holds lands, greeting:-Know ye that I will and command that the said church shall have and hold all the honour pertaining to it in peace and liberty, with the lands, and under such laws and customs, as to clerks and laymen, as it ever held them in the time of King Edward, and of my father, and from me; and as claimed by the Abbot when he pleaded before me against the Bishop S. and objected to the interference of that prelate or any other powerful person to the prejudice of the rights and privileges of the Church of Evesham. Therefore if the Bishop or any other should make any claim on the Abbot as to the privileges granted to his church by my Father or by me, he shall not be bound to answer the plea, except in my court. Neither shall the Bishop hold ordinations or synods there alone, or by his sole authority, unless he is requested by the Abbot so to do. This Charter was written in the year of the Incarnation of Our Lord, 1100, by the command of King William.

Dated, Winchester,

at the Paschal feast.

Witnesses:

A. Archbishop of Canterbury.

M. Bishop of London.

R. Bishop of Lincoln.

R. Bishop of Durham.

G. Abbot of Westminster.

R. Abbot of St. Albans.
EUDO, the Steward.

W. the Chancellor.

And many other Barons.

No. VIII. CHARTER OF HENRY I. CONTAINING A GRANT OF THE HUNDRED OF BLACAHURSTE TO THE ABBOT AND MONKS OF EVESHAM.-Translated from Harl. MS. 3763, fol. 69.

HENRY King of England to the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, Barons, Sheriffs, and Officers, and to all his liegemen, French and English, in all England, greeting Know ye that I have granted and by my present Charter confirmed to God and the Church of the Blessed Mary of Evesham, to the Abbot and all his Successors, and to the Monks there serving God, and their successors, that they shall

8 Samson Bishop of Worcester, who died A.D. 1112.

have and hold, in frank-almoigne, the Hundred of Blacahurste, with all things pertaining to it, as their full and free property. See ye that no Sheriff or any of his officers shall question their legal right to it. I will also and firmly command, for the health of my soul and those of my ancestors that the Abbot and Monks shall have and hold all their lands and possessions, in all places wherever they have lands, in good peace, freely, quietly and honorably, in churches, in tithes, in other property, in parishes, in wood, in plain, in meadows, in pastures, in waters, and mills, in paths and highways, likewise in all other places, with sac and soc, tol and teme, and infangthof, and customary rights, exempt from pleas of the shire and hundred, from geld and Dane-geld, from hidages and talliages, from taxes for building or repairing castles, roads, and bridges, from murchre, and carriage, and purveyance, and from every secular service, and servile work, and from scutage, save and except the service for four knights' fees and a half, in military expeditions which I undertake in person. Also, on the petition of Randulf, Chancellor, I will and allow that at Edwardestowe shall be a port and a market on Thursday every week, and that the said Church of Evesham shall have there for ever all customs and dues, for the use of that church, as I have myself in all my ports and burghs. And I will and command that the Abbot and Monks and their servants shall be exempt from toll throughout all England for all goods which their men can attest to be their own property.

No. IX.-VALUATION OF THE ABBEY POSSESSIONS, AS GIVEN BY THE ROYAL COMMISSIONERS.

Abstracted and translated from Roll 33 Henry VIII. in Augmentation Office, entitled "Monasterium de Evesham: Comput' Ministrorum Domini Regis."

Perpetual payment from the Church of St. Lawrence [made
by the curate to the abbot and his successors-see p. 169] 3 13 4

Synonymous with "murage," a tax levied for repairing the walls of fortified towns.