40. THE PRIORY OF MONK SHERBORNE
The largest of the alien priories established
in Hampshire was that founded by Henry de
Port, in the time of Henry I., at Monk Sherborne, otherwise called West Sherborne, which
pertained to the Benedictine abbey of St.
Vigor, at Cerisy in Normandy, now Cerisy-laForêt (Manche). His selection of this abbey
for his gift was doubtless due to the fact that
it lay only some twelve miles from his Norman
home at Port-en-Bessin, while its priory of
Deux-Jumeaux was half way between the
two. Though subject to St. Vigor and sending doubtless from the earliest times its apport
or tribute to the parent house, Sherborne was
in the exceptional position of being an alien
priory or cell which had its true conventual
life and a certain degree of genuine, independence. The prior and convent of Sherborne,
not the abbot and convent of St. Vigor, were
accepted by the Bishops of Winchester as
patrons of such livings as Bramley and Church
Oakley, whilst the later priors received episcopal institution. It is on this account, we
suppose, that Bishop Wykeham paid no attention to Sherborne when drawing up for the
crown, in 1401, the list of institutions to alien
priories that were to be found in the various
episcopal registers of the diocese. Nevertheless, as will be noted, Sherborne was regarded
throughout as an alien priory by the civil
authorities.
Hugh de Port, at the Domesday Survey, was
possessed of a great barony, of which Basing
was the head. He had too a son and heir,
Henry, who, in his foundation charter, gave to
God and St. Vigor of Cerisy the whole of
West Sherborne with its woods and church
and tithes. To this he added the meadow of
Longbridge and the mill and meadows of ' the
other Sherborne ' (Sherborne St. John), all his
tithes in Basing and certain other lordships,
and the churches of Bramley, Newnham,
and Upton (Grey). (fn. 1) These gifts were confirmed by John de Port, Henry's son, together
with small additional gifts by himself and his
mother Hadwise. His confirmation is granted
to the monks of Sherborne (among whom he
desired to be buried) and not to the abbey of
St. Vigor. John de Port was living as late
as 1167. His son Adam, who succeeded
him, granted to the Sherborne monks the
tithes of all his mills at Sherborne in exchange for the possession of the mill granted by
his grandfather as above; the first witness to
his charter is his wife Sibyl, who is styled
comitissa. William de St. John, son and heir
of Adam de Port, who took the name of St.
John from his mother Mabel, granted a short
charter of confirmation of certain lands which
had been bestowed on William Fitz-William
by Adam de Port in conjunction with the prior
and convent of Sherborne. (fn. 2) There is another
charter of this William de St. John extant,
wherein he makes mention of William, prior
of Sherborne; it is witnessed by Gervase, prior
of Andwell.
The charter of Bishop Henry de Blois confirming those of Henry and John de Port to
the monks of Sherborne is amongst the Queen's
College muniments; it is witnessed by Ralph,
archdeacon of Winchester and Robert de
Inglesham, archdeacon of Surrey, and dates
therefore between the years 1130 and 1140.
Amongst the same muniments is a grant,
probably of the time of Henry II., to the priory
of St. Fromond, Normandy, of the church of
Shaw (Berks), a grant to the same prior of a
'pension' of 40s. out of the rectory of that
church made by Herbert, Bishop of Salisbury,
in 1207, and also a notification by James, prior
of St. Fromond to R., Bishop of Salisbury (probably Richard Poore, 1217-28), of the grant
of the church of Shaw by. his house to the prior
and convent of Sherborne, together with the
grant itself from the one priory to the other. (fn. 3)
Among the Sherborne evidences now at
Oxford, is an interesting deed from a social
point of view, whereby Baldwin de Portseat, a
knightly tenant of John de Port in 1166, conveyed a virgate of land at 'Froditonia' (Fratton
in Portsea) to the monks of Sherborne, and
two men, William and Ernulf, dwelling on it,
together with their children. (fn. 1)
In 1273 Lawrence, abbot of St. Vigor, set
forth in a deed, still preserved at Queen's College, that his monastery had two priories, one
the priory of Deux-Jumeaux (De Duobus Gemellis) in Normandy, and the other of Sherborne in England, and that the prior and
monks of both these priories desire to act
honorably to each other; therefore the chapter
of St. Vigor, Cerisy, for their own good and
peace and that of the two priories, ordained
that the sum of ten shillings a year, which the
Bishop of Salisbury has been wont to pay to
the priory in Normandy from 'Lavintone'
[Lavington, Wilts] should henceforth be
always paid to the priory of Sherborne (the
expense and trouble of transferring the money
to France being so great), due compensation
having been made to the French priory by the
monks of Sherborne. There is also another
deed of the same year by which the abbot and
convent of Cerisy appointed Richard de Bourdigny, prior of Sherborne, and Bartholomew,
called ' Robyn,' of Cerisy, dwelling in that
priory, their attorneys to receive the rent of
10s. payable yearly by the Bishop of Salisbury.
Licence was granted by the Crown, during
pleasure, in 1275, to the priors and monks of
Shireburn to take weekly two cartloads of dead
wood in the forest of Pamber for their hearth. (fn. 2)
The priory acquired other endowments;
for in 1291 the prior was rector ex officio of
Aldermaston, Berks, and his house was in receipt of ' pensions' from the churches of Padworth, Sulhamstead, and Shaw in that county,
of St. Frideswide's at Wallingford, and of
Lavington, Wilts, in addition to owning
temporalities at Sotwell, Berks, which was held
by the family of De Port under Hyde Abbey. (fn. 3)
And in 1316 the prior was returned as one of
the lords of West Shifford, Berks, (fn. 4) where his
house had received an early endowment from
the same family. That the house had received
benefactions from other quarters is shown
by an interesting suit of 1233 as the result of
which the prior lost the advowson of Windlesham, Surrey, which had been given to his
house by a huntsman of Henry II. who made
his son a monk there.
The extent and inventory of Sherborne
priory, taken in 1294, names 300 acres of land
of the annual value of 65s., 20 acres on the
hill (super montana de Schireburn unde potest
seminare), 3s. 4d., 10 of meadow, 10s., 6 of
moor, 3s., pasture, 2s. 6d., common pasture,
6s. 8d., and pannage, 23s. 4d.; total, £6 3s.
10d. The rents paid by twenty-four tenants
realized £22 19s., and their labour for the lord
was estimated at 20s. Pensions, spiritual dues,
and portions came to £5 7 12s., yielding a total
income for the priory of £87 14s. 10d. The
livestock inventory reached £27 14s. 6d.
The monks had an abundance of corn-seed,
including wheat enough for forty-three acres
and oats for 86 acres. The dependent churches
paid the monks £42; namely, Upton, 9 marks,
Chinham, 10 marks, Sherborne, 106s., and
Bramley 36 marks; the church of Aldermaston
was farmed to Nicholas, clerk of Herriard. It
had been a bad wet year for the hay; it is
entered at only 13s. 4d., residuum inundatum. (fn. 5)
In June, 1338, the prior, who was in
arrears to the extent of £53 of an annual payment of £80 to the king for the custody of his
priory, was ordered to pay that sum forthwith
to Menaudus Brocas, one of the keepers of the
king's great horses. (fn. 6)
In the autumn of the same year, distraint
was made on the prior of Sherborne to find a
man-at-arms by the keepers of the seaboard of
Hampshire; but, on the petition of the prior
to the king, alleging that he and his monks
had nothing left wherewith to live after rendering the £80 yearly, the distraint was superseded. (fn. 7)
The heavy rent demanded by the Crown
involved this unhappy priory in such financial
difficulties that resort was had to exceptional
measures. In July, 1340, protection with
clause nolumus, that is to say, immunity from
the seizure of his cattle by the Crown officials,
was granted for the prior, whilst Nicholas de
la Beche and James de Wodestok were appointed overseers and chief keepers of the priory
during pleasure, to receive the revenues and to
apply them to relieve the estate of the house by
advice of the prior and some of the more discreet members of the convent. The priory is
described as grievously burdened with debt and
of the foundation of the ancestors of the heir
of John de St. John, tenant in chief, the
king's ward. (fn. 8)
The election of the prior Inguerand de
Duino, monk of Cerisy, on the death of prior
William Bernand, is set forth with much detail
in Wykeham's first register, On 12 August,
1375, Inguerand appeared before the bishop at
Waltham, bringing a letter from the prior and
convent of Cerisy, sealed with green wax and
verified by Master Stephen de Rippia, notary
public, praying that their choice might be confirmed. On 28 August the bishop issued his
mandate to the official of the Archdeacon of
Winchester, ordering him to proceed to the
priory of Sherborne on 30 August, and there
to make proclamation that if any wished to
object to the form of the election of Inguerand
or to him personally, they were to appear before the commissary and before Giles and Peter,
monks of Sherborne and their fellows, and
John Atte More, steward of the house, and
John the porter, on a day and time named.
The due. setting forth of this proclamation was
testified to the bishop under the seal of the
rural dean of Basingstoke who was present.
Any objectors were cited to appear on the
Wednesday after the feast of the Exaltation of
the Holy Cross in the chapel of the Castle of
Farnham. Subsequently, on 26 September,
the bishop, at his manor at Southwark, commissioned Master William Lozinge, canon of
Salisbury, his chancellor, to sit in the church of
St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey, and there
to give his judgment. The chancellor pronounced the election null and void by reason
of various defects of procedure and form, but
admitted Inguerand on account of his many
virtues (as stated elaborately in the usual form),
in exercise of a power of provision delegated
by the bishop. (fn. 1)
In May, 1370, the bishop commissioned
his official to correct a delinquent monk of
Sherborne, William le Valeys, for abusive
words to his prior and brother monks and for
general disobedience to the rule. (fn. 2)
In April, 1380, a grant was made to Inguerand, the prior, of the custody, without rent,
of the priory of Sherborne, with the issues,
from the death of William, the late prior (in
the king's hands on account of the French war),
by mainprize of John Atte More and Roger
Savage as granted to William in 1369. (fn. 3) Three
years later, certain letters patent which had
been granted to one John Slegh, as custodian
of Sherborne priory, were revoked in favour of
Prior Inguerand, as neither John, after notice
from the sheriff, nor the king's attorney had
shown cause against the revocation. (fn. 4) Nevertheless, as is shown by frequent entries about
this date on the Patent Rolls, the king presented to various benefices pertaining to the
priory, as holder of the temporalities during the
war.
Among the official instruments in Wykeham's registers is a form, undated, of commission to take an inventory of the goods of
Sherborne, when it was thought that Prior
Inguerand was dying. His condition is therein stated to be so serious as to render him
quite incapable of attending to the affairs of
his house, and that there was hardly any
hope of his recovery. It was also alleged
that in the event of his death the priory,
in which there were but few monks,
would be in sore straits in both sacred and
secular affairs. (fn. 5) Inguerand died early in
1397, and on 2 February of that year, the
bishop admitted as prior Walter Marshall of
Bristol, a Benedictine monk. The form of
admission recites that the priory of Sherborne,
under the rule of an alien priory, was vacant
by the death of Inguerand, and that in accordance with the legislation of I Richard II.,
during the war with France, the bishop
entrusted Walter with the rule and governance of the priory (on the nomination of
Sir Thomas de Poynings, Lord St. John),
on condition of his supplying mattins, mass,
and the other desired offices according to
ancient use, and of his keeping the conventual church and house and buildings in proper
repair, and checking all waste. (fn. 6)
In the same year there was another vacancy,
apparently through the resignation of Walter
Marshall. On 3 October, 1397, Bishop
Wykeham having first formerly annulled his
election made by the alien abbey, as he was
willing to act graciously, accepted Guilliaume
Trenchefan, monk of St. Vigor, as prior of
Sherborne, with the personal assent of Sir
Thomas Poynings. After the general suppression of the alien houses, the priory of Monk
Sherborne was given by Edward IV. to the
Hospital of St. Julian, or God's House, Southampton. God's House had, however, been
given by Edward III. to Queen's College, and
hence the endowments and muniments of this
priory were transferred to that college, which
college still holds them.
Priors Of Monk Sherborne
William, early thirteenth century
Richard de Bourdigny, 1273
Thomas, (fn. 7) about 1329
Robert Corbet, 1347-9
Denis Vanceyo, (fn. 1) 1349
William Bernand, (fn. 2) about 1369
Inguerand de Duino, (fn. 3) 1375-97
Walter Marshall, 1397
William Trenchefan, (fn. 4) 1397