Westminster Abbey Charters, 1066 - c.1214. Originally published by London Record Society, London, 1988.
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'Charters of the abbots: Vitalis (nos. 234-5)', in Westminster Abbey Charters, 1066 - c.1214, (London, 1988) pp. 108-109. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol25/pp108-109 [accessed 23 April 2024]
CHARTERS OF THE ABBOTS, PRIORS AND CONVENT
234. Grant by Abbot Vitalis to Gerald and his heirs of land called Vuerc in the city of London for £3 annual rent. [1076 × 1085]
Antique peritie crebris instructus ammonitionibus literarum serie in primi presentibus et futuris utillimum fore, censeo quod ego Vitalis abbas monasterii Sancti Petri quod Westmonasterium nominatur, cum consensu fratrum nostrorum, cuidam Giraldo, suisque heredibus, quandam terre mansionem quam Anglica lingua Vuerc appellatur apud Lundoniam civitatem concedo, ea ratione ut sexaginta solidos denariorum per tres Sancti Petri festivitates partitos annuatim solvant, quos quamdiu in arcuus [sic] monasterii intulerint, liberam possidendi habeant potestatem. Si autem desidie in commodo sibi inerti predictum censum reddere noluerint quicquid edificii terre cum pactum ab illis fuerit tollent, terra vero libera ecclesie remanebit. Herbertus de Curtono; Walterius de Valelia; Edricus de Deorhestria; Lambertus cocus; Willelmus et Rodgerius frater eius de Torsi; Willelmus frater Geraldi; Aelwinus cocus.
MS: WAD f. 462.
Rubric: telligrafphus Vitalis abbatis Westmonasterii de quadam mansione terre apud London' vocata Vuerc.
Note: This obviously corrupt text is written on a slip of thin parchment 17.7 × 12.6 cm in the same hand as neighbouring folios which are headed by the rubric Elemosinarius. 'Vuerc' is not otherwise traceable, even in the Abbey indices.
235. Letter of confraternity of Abbot Vitalis with William of St Calais, bishop of Durham, and the cathedral priory. [1080 × 1085]
Hec est conventio (fn. 1) Willelmi Dunelmensis episcopi et domini Vitalis abbatis: si aliquid eorum obierit, fiat pro eo in utroque monasterio sicut pro eiusdem monasterii episcopo vel abbate; cum vero aliquis Dunelmensis monachus obierit fiant pro eo apud Westmonasterium vij plenaria officia in conventu et unusquisque sacerdos cantet pro eo unam missam; ceteri vero fratres cantent pro eo unusquisque unum salterium [sic]; laici vero qui salterium nesciunt cantent unusquisque centies et quinquagesies Pater Noster. Et hoc idem faciant Dunelmenses monachi pro monachis de Westmonasterio. Et huius conventionis (fn. 2) sit particeps Turstinus Dunelmensis archidiaconus.
MS: BL Cotton Domitian A VII, f. 52.
Pd: Durham Liber Vitae, ed. A. H. Thompson, Surtees Soc. 136 (1923), f. 52, in facsimile.
Date: Accession of Bp. William and d. of Abbot Vitalis (Fasti II, 29; Heads, 76). Thurstan occs. May 1083 × June 1085 (Fasti II, 37).
Note: The agreement with Westminster was the model for Durham's similar agreement with Carlisle (Liber Vitae, f. 36v). Abbot Laurence of Westminster and Prior Alquin were commemorated at Durham (Liber Vitae, pp. 142 and 143 respectively). Also W[alterus] de R[okesbure], [sacrist] monk of Westminster: (ibid., f. 57, p. 94). Alquin and Walter were contemporaries of Abbot Laurence.