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.