page vii note a In 1629 Ralph Verney married Mary, daughter and heiress of John Blacknall, of Abingdon, Esquire, a descendant of the purchaser from the Crown grantee. It is stated that “ John Verney ” possessed a Register of this abbey ; and “ Nasmith, in a note, queries whether the Register seen by Leland was not the same as this.” (Collectanea Top. et Gen., i. 74.) One would like to know what has become of this cartulary.

page viii note a The lotorium may possibly hare been the laundry, which at a later date seems to have been a building of goodly size ; but the lavatory was also a separate office, where the monks performed their ablutions at stated times of the day. See the Charters, &c, of the Priory of Finchale (Surtees Society).

page viii note b Some of the Burcester rolls have been printed in full in Dunkin's History of Bullingdon and Ploughley Hundreds. Several extensive collections of accounts of the Priories of Coldingham, Finchale, Jarrow, and Wearmouth were published many years ago by the Surtees Society, under the editorship of James Eaine, but these accounts were rendered mostly by the heads of small houses, and not by the obedientiars of a large one. The Durham Household Booh, published by the same Society, consists of the Bursars' Accounts of the monastery of Durham.

page x note a Numerous inventories of a similar nature are given among the accounts of the northern monasteries published by the Surtees Society.

page xi note a Vol. ii., pp. 335–417 (Eolls Series).

page xii note a Appendix to Chronicle of Abingdon, TOI. ii; p. 351.

page xiii note a Letters and Papers of the Verney Family, p. 9.

page xiii note b “Hugh” in a later account, p. 42. Abbot Hugh held office from 1180 to 1221 ; Robert de Gareford was Abbot from 1330 to 1333. As to King Edgar, though he was not the founder of the abbey, he gate it the first royal charter ; and about the time of this account the abbey obtained a confirmation of it from Richard II. In the next reign the Abbot and Convent petitioned for a further confirmation in respect of the manors of Whisshelee and Hurst, in which the Foresters of Windsor made some claim. (County Placita, Berks, No. 31.)

page xiv note a This does not appear in the accounts, but the treatise De Consuetudinibus Abbendoniæ gives a list of the days, and of the officers who had to furnish the wine on each occasion (Chronicle of Abingdon, ii. 314). The Lignar is there mentioned among the obedientiars, but not the Curtar, nor the Hostiler.

page xiv note b “ Robert” on p. 42.

page xiv note c That account states that 53^s 4^d was received from each of the three, and that the Treasurers had to “ find ” out of the sum total for five signationes 40^s, viz., for each signatio 8^s. Nothing was received from the Kitchener, “ because he shall serve the same signationes daily on flesh days, like as it is served to the Socii of favour ” (de muericordia). This word signatio appears to have two meanings in these rolls, one being “ the signing with the cross,” the other being the “ assignment” of lands, rents, &c. As to the latter, see the Cartulary of Ramsey, ii. 215, seq.

page xv note a Pittances, p. 44.

page xv note b This was a fixed yearly amount ; see p. 44.

page xv note c His full name was Nicholas of Coleham, or Culham. That village is in Oxford-shire, but only a mile from Abingdon, on the opposite bank of the Thames. It may be remarked that we do not know the real surnames of many of the abbots and monks. As Mr. Blomfield says, “ it was a rule of the religions that, when they took upon themselves monastic vows, they abandoned the use of their family name, and assumed that of the place from which they came.” Hence we find many of the mouks of Abingdon named after localities adjacent. (History of Bicester, pp. 117, 122.) Abbot Nicholas is said to have built the church of Saint Nicholas without the west gate of the abbey, that Saint being the patron of the people ; but according to Lysons, the church was much older than the time of Abbot Nicholas, who held office from 1289 to 1307.

page xvi note a Wine was also supplied by the Treasurers at Easter ; see p. 45.

page xvi note b Not long previously there had been two royal licences for the conveyance of messuages and lands to the Abbot and Convent in support of the fabric of the Abbey. Two of the messuages were in Oxford ; and nine messuages, one toft, two shops, seven virgates of land, and 40^s of rent were in Abingdon, Cumnor, Wootton, and Bradley, Berks. (Patent Rolls, 37 Edw. III., p. 1, m. 10 ; 47 Edw. III., p. 1, m. 25.) The entries in the accounts may be compared with the Fabric Rolls of York Minster. (Surtees Society.)

page xvii note a See also Mr. Brace's remarks on this account, p. 11.

page xvii note b Spices are frequently referred to in these rolls, in the Appendices to the Chronicle of Abingdon, and in the Burcester Rolls, without any further description. What was included under the head of spicery or grocery in those times may be seen in the Durliam Household Book, and in the Rolls of Finchale Priory. The following is a list: almonds, aniseed, biscuits, cinnamon, cloves, confects, currants or small raisins, dates, figs, ginger, grains (pepper unground), liquorice, mace, nutmegs, pepper, plate (a sweetmeat so called), pomegranates, prunes, great raisins, rice, saffron, sanders, sugar, sukkets, turnsole. Maigne d'Arnis describes them generally as “ aliments qui composent le repas du soir les jours du jeûne, tels que les pâtisseries, les snereries, les confitures, les fruits, &c.”

page xviii note 1 This use of the word oylets is rather unusual; it does not appear in this sense in Mr. Parker's Architecture.

page xix note a This Abbot was William Assbendon, who held office from 1436 to 1469. The Monasticon, quoting Willis, says of him: “ He and his successor, John Saute (1469–1495), with his two immediate predecessors, Hamme (1427) and Salford (1428–1436), built the tower in the middle of the church, all the body of the church, and the towers at the west end of it.” He had formerly been the Abbot's Treasurer in 1424–5 ; p. 152. He also appears to have been Keeper of Cuddesdon in 1440–1, and as such to have paid “customs.”

page xiv note b See the episcopal licence of 1432, p. 166.

page xx note a It is not stated where this general chapter was held. In 1225 the Abbots of Evesham and Abingdon had presided at a general chapter of the Benedictine monks held at St. Andrew's, Northampton. The Constitutions made by them are preserved in Cott. MS., Jul. D. II., 162. (Monasticon, i., 509.) As to the chapter of 1279, see post. In 1290, a general chapter was held at Abingdon. (Annales Monastioi, ed. by Dr. Luard, ii., 153.)

page xxi note a “The ceremonial at the profession of novitiates” in this abbey is described in Cott. MS., Claud. C. IX., f. 184 (Monasticon).

page xxi note b There were two kitchens, the Abbot's and the Monks'. “The Kitchener of the monks” had jurisdiction over the latter only. The special qualities expected in him are described in the treatise on the Obedientiars. See Mr. Stevenson's Appendix, pp. 322, 323, 324, 391, and p. 153 of this volume.

page xxii note a Professor Vinogradoff, in his Villainage in England, p. 295, writes as follows : “The church had also an ancient claim on the faithful ; the church-scot of Saxon times often occurs in the feudal age under the name of churiset or cheriset. It is mostly paid in kind, but may be found occasionally as a money-rent.”

page xxii note b Many estates all over the kingdom had to pay “castle-guard rents” to neighbouring castles, sometimes even after the castles had been destroyed or had fallen into decay. The rent due to “the King's Exchequer in Oxford” is mentioned in Mr. Stevenson's Appendix, p. 332. In 29–30 Henry VIII. it was pajable to “the bailiffs of the town of Oxford” for tenements in Abingdon, as “landgable rent.”

page xxviii note a The number of courses at dinner is not specified. The Ramsey accounts in one place mention “the third dish.” Perhaps this was the usual number. At a much earlier date the monks of Saint Swithin complained to King Henry II. that the Bishop of Winchester had reduced the number of their dishes to ten, but the King replied that he had only throe himself, and ordered the Bishop to reduce the monks' dishes to that number. Giraldus Cambreusis, who tells this story, adds that he had in his own time counted sixteen coursss at a monastic repast. (Giraldus, De rebus a se gestis, lib. ii., cap. 5.)

page xxiv note a See Mr. Stevenson's Appendix, p. 384. The Chamberlain occasionally went to the fair at Winchcomb (300, 326). The Abbot had a chamberlain of his own.

page xxiv note b The shoes were greased with hog's fat thrice in the course of the year (MS. Cott. Claud. C. IX. f. 178b). At Ramsey there were two masters in the sartaria, and three servants in the laundry. The “lotrix ecclesiæ” and her servant, and the “lotrix Refectorii” are also mentioned. (Monastticon, ii. 519.) In the Ministers' Accounts of Ramsey these laundresses are described as “ij Jotrices Conventus,” and “lotrix manutergiorum.”

page xxiv note c “In stipendijs sissoris et sutoris de sartrino,ixs. ixd. ob.” (Ramsey Accounts.)

page xxv note a “The Chamberlain has in his hand the town of Welford and the town of Chieveley with the hamlets appertaining.” He also received certain “customs” from the Abbot. (Chronicle of Abingdon, ed. Stevenson, ii., 299.) In like manner the Chamberlain of Ramsey had the manor of Lawshall, to which he sometimes went in person, and sometimes sent his groom and other servants, to levy moneys. (Ministers' Accounts.)

page xxvi note a “Moneys paid to the Abbot and monks” are alluded to by Mr. Bruce. The Canons of Burcester likewise received money to provide themselves with clothes. (Blomfield's History, p. 117 )

page xxvi note b The Oleries, or Anthems in Advent beginning with O, are frequently referred to in these accounts and in those of Ramsey Abbey. In the latter they are described somewhat differently, as the following examples will show :—

In O Abbatis, iij s. iiij d. In O Camerarij, &c. In expensis Abbatis et Prioris ad 0, cum exennij sad Natale et Pascha, xix s. In seruisia ad le O Elemosinarij et pro distribucione, xx s. ; et pro tercio ferculo, xiij s. iiij d. In seruisia ad le O Elemosinarij nichil, quia in materia ; in speciebus et ij ferculis pro eodem, xxviij s. viij d. In expensis ad le O Camerarij cum ceruicia, piece, speciebus, et amigdalis, lj s. ijd. (Ministers' Accounts, Public Record Office.)

The late Archdeacon Hale gives other variations in the use of the “O” in his Introduction to the Register of Worcester Priory, and explains that “they relate to the pittances or additions to the ordinary diet of the monastery made on festival days” in Advent. (Camden Society.)

page xxvi note c John Chaundeler, elected 15 Nov. 1417.

page xxvii note a See also Mr. Brace's remarks on this account, p. 10.

page xxvii note b Lyson's Magnet Britannia, vol. i. part ii. p. 220 : Brayley and Britton, Berkshire, 162.

page xxvii note c It is stated that a pension was given to Salford. A previons Abhot, John Dorset, had resigned in 1422, and in 1425 had a licence to study for three years in either of the Universities of England. (Eeg. Channdeler, Salisbury, quoted in the the Monastieon.)

page xxix note a See the Register of Worcester Priory, p. xciii. Two years after the date of this account, in 1431, there was an insurrection against the clergy, of which William Mandeville, bailiff of Abingdon, was one of the ringleaders. He was seized by the Duke of Gloucester, and executed. (Lysons, Berkshire, p. 220.)

page xxix note b Mr. Stevenson quotes a reference to the lignarium, or woodhouse, where the fuel was stored, and which would he under the supervision of the Lignar. There were three “lignarii” in Ramsey Abbey, but they were not obedientiars. One of them was “in the hall,” the other two “in the kitchen.” Only the first was permitted to dine in the hall, along with the master-porter and the two dispensers. (Monasticon, ii. 549.)

page xxxi note a The number of the bells is not stated. In the tower at Burcester there were at first three, and afterwards four bells. (Mr. Blomfield's History, p. 108.) There was a guild for ringing the bells of Westminster Abbey. (Patent Roll, 39 Henry III., m. 12.)

page xxxi note b Several accounts of the Sacristan of Burcester are abstracted in Mr. Blomfield's History. There are also Sacristan's accounts of Coldingham Priory.

page xxxii note a In a later Warden's account they are called “the ringers of the Church.” See also the Sacristan's account, as above.

page xxxii note b There was also a Guild of the Holy Trinity in Abingdon, as well as a Guild of St. Helen.

page xxxiii note a He was afterwards called “Servians” and rent-collector ; see p. 130.

page xxxiii note b A later account has : “To the Kitchener for excusing our tenants upon Sterte at the day of frankpledge, 3^s 4^d.”

page xxxiii note c There were stsveral ponds within the walls of the Priory of Burcester ; see Mr. Blomfield's plan.

page xxxiii note d Compare pp. 16, 18. ^e Ompare p. 74.

page xxxiii note e There were two servants in the garden of Ramsey Abbey.

page xxxiv note a Weals, or fishing baskets, were also used ; see p. 76.

page xxxiv note b Sometimes he felled trees on his own land ; see p. 75.

page xxxiv note c That is, the system of “high culture,” as distinguished from “low culture.” (The Wines of the World, by Henry Vizetelly, pp. 18, 143.)

page xxxv note a The Vineyard, however, continued to be mentioned as a locality in other accounts. In the Monasticon it is stated that “north of the Abbey is a place still retaining the name of the Vineyard” (i. 510).

page xxxv note b His first account is dated 1322–3. This is the only roll which has survived the “destruction” of the abbey, in 1327, by unruly persons of Oxford and Abingdon, of whom twelve were hanged and sixty more condemned. (Monasticon, i. 508 ; Addit. MSS. Brit, Mus., 28,666, f. 154 ; Mr. H. C. Maxwell Lyte's History of the University of Oxford, p. 132.)

page xxxvi note a A parcel of land arid marsh called “the Pitensarie” is mentioned in the letters patent of 1585 (p. 167).

page xxxvii note a There were two hospitals, in the old sense of the word, in Abingdon, one of St. Helen, founded in the reign of Henry V., by Geoffrey Barbar and John de St. Helen, for thirteen poor women ; the other, called St. John's, founded by one of the Abbots, for six poor people. A payment to the latter was made by the Lignar in 1355–6. (Lysons, Berkshire, p. 229.)

page xxxvii note b The esquires are seldom mentioned. A Glastonbury cartulary mentions the esqnires of that abbey, who each had a livery, some of them being married. (Prof. Vinograaoff's Villainage, p. 322.)

page xxxvii note c See p. lxxxviii. The Infirmarer of Worcester's revenues are specified at p. 98b of the Register.

page xxxviii note a This is referred to again on p. 13.

page xxxviii note b The reason for observing this feast is obvious. King Alfred took the town of Abingdon from the monks, but it was restored to them by his grandson Eadred, who employed St. Æthelwold to superintend the new foundation, which was completed in the reign of Eadgar. (Monastieon, i. 505.) Æthelwold was Abbot of Abingdon in 954, and afterwards Bishop of Winchester. (Stevenson, ii. 253, and Index.)

page xxxviii note c One or two gave me much trouble, but they have been kindly interpreted by Dr. Edward Liveing, Registrar of the College of Physicians, who has made a special study of ancient pharmacopoeias.

page xxxix note a Exchequer, Treasury of the Receipt, Miscellaneous Books, B⅙, f. 61.

page xxxix note b A composition was made in 1289 hetween the Abbot and the Vicar of St. Ellen's for a yearly quit-rent of 5s. to be paid to the latter for the Chapel. (Ministers' Accounts, 29–30 Henry VIII.)

page xxxix note c A wonderful account of the “translation” of this saint at Pontigny is given by Matthew Paris, in Chroniea Majora, iv. 631, v. 76, 192, 369, vi. 128.

page xl note a Annales Monastici, ed. Dr. Luard, iv. 199. There had been a confederation between the Convent of Abingdon and the Priory of Worcester in 1253 ; ib. 442.

page xl note b This seems to have belonged to the Chapel, but the Abbey cemetery was more famous. The Monasticon, quoting Leland, says : “In old times many of the villages about Abingdon had but chapels of ease, and Abingdon Abbey was their mother church, and there they buried.” It is a pity there are no vicar's accounts for Abingdon and other places as there are for Burcester, serving in some sort as parish registers. The cemetery of the Priory was shaded by ash-trees.

page xl note c Rushes were used in later years.

page xl note d This day is in one place only described as “the feast of the Deposition of St. Edmund the Confessor,” i.e., 16th November. The Translation seems to have been on the 9th June. (Nicolas's Chronology, p. 145.) There has been some confusion as to the festivals of the two St. Edmunds, but the observance at Abingdon is of great authority, and shows that the Archbishop had a Translation as wellas the King.

page xli note d See a similar inventory on pp. 134, 135.

page xlii note a See Mr. Brace's remarks on this inventory, p. 8. The duties of this officer are referred to in the introduction to the Register of Worcester Priory, p. lxxxviii. As to the Worcester Refectorer's revenues, see p. 99a of the Kegister.

page xliii note a The Curtarius is seldom mentioned in these accounts, but occurs more frequently in the bailiffs' accounts. This form of the word appears to be uncommon. In the Abingdon Chronicle, the more intelligible form of Curiarius is used. It was his province to look after the abbey close—curam tutius curiæ agat; but he was one of the Abbot's officials, on the same footing with the Treasurer and Steward (ii. 351), and not one of the conventual oledientiars. He had the keys of the larder and granary, and visited the various manors to superintend the supplies of corn and malt. He was the first person to be informed by the porter of the arrival of a guest. His socius might be a cleric or a layman, at the Abbot's pleasure.

page xliv note a See p. xxxvi.

page xlv note a For diagrams of such boards in the royal Exchequer, see Introduction to the Pipe Bolls, pp. 37, 41 (Pipe Roll Society).

page xlvi note a Giraldi Cambrensis Opera, edited by the late Professor J. S. Brewer, IV., Preface, p. xv.: Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages, by the Eev. E. L. Cutts, p. 6.

page xlvii note a See the Bishop of Salisbury's licence to this effect, so far as related to lands in his diocese ; p. 132.

page xlvii note b See Mr. Blomfield's plan, before referred to.

page xlvii note c “In Glastonbury Abbey there were 66 servants, besides the workmen and foremen employed on the farm.” (Prof. Vinogradoff's Villainage, p. 320.) The servants in Burcester Priory were also numerous; see History of Bicester, p. 130. The duties and privileges of the servants at llamsey are set out in the Monasticon, ii. 519. The baker and the brewer of Abingdon are referred to chiefly in the Appendix.

page xlvii note d Villainage, p. 324.

page xlviii note a The Priory had, however, a special endowment for the purpose. Mr. Lyte says that the first known provision for the support of scholars at Oxford is contained in a deed of 1243, by which the Priory undertook to carry out the will of Alan Basset, and to maintain a chantry at Oxford, served by two scholars. (History of the University, p. 70.)

page xlviii note b Brayley and Britton (Berkshire, p. 161) assert that William I. passed the Easter of 1084 at Abingdon, and on leaving entrusted the education of his youngest son to the monks, to whose care Henry I. owed his surname of “Beauclerk.” But the Chronicle of Abingdon merely states that Prince Henry spent that Easter at Abingdon, while his father and brothers were in Normandy, by command of the former. Mr. Stevenson considers that Eobert, Earl of Leicester (1118–68), was educated in the Abbey in the time of William I. (Chronicle, vol. ii., pp. lxvi., lxxviii., 229).

page xlviii note c See Charters, &c, of Finchale, pp. lxx., ciii., exxv. In the first of these places three students are named, apparently.

page xlix note a History of the University, p. 69. Mr. Anstey appears to consider that these houses were necessarily “halls,” bat it is evident that they were merely ordinary tenements. (Munimenta Academica, p. xlv.) He also says, that “every religions house had, it would appear, its own schools” (p. lxii.), and that each house had a school for every purpose, grammar as well as the higher faculties. Compare Mr. Lyte's History, p. 103, note.

page xlix note b History of the University, pp. 102, 103.

page xlix note c The Valor Ecclesiasticus shows that the following sums of money were due from certain Colleges in Oxford to the Convent of Abingdon, some evidently being quit-rents for tenements in Oxford belonging to the Abbey, and which had been acquired by the Colleges :—A pension of 3^s 4^d from Queen's College ; a rent resolute of 20^s from University College out of the farm of Eastwevke in co. Berks ; a quit-rent of 4^s from Oriel College ; a rent resolute of 10^s from King Henry VIXI.'s College ; a quit-rent of 10^s from Merfcon College, for [a tenement called] “Flowerdeluce”; a reut resolute of 14^d from Lincoln College, and another of 18^d from Magdalen College. On the other hand, the Abbot and Convent owed “certain customs” in West Drayton to New College. (Pp. 224, 229, 232, 239, 242, 250, 257, 273.) But the Valor does not show that the Abbey then had any tenements in Oxford. Its houses and shops in that “town” are however fully described in the Ministers' Accounts of 30–31 Henry VIII. Besides the above rente, St. Frideswide's College paid 10^s 6^d and “the Brodeyates Inn” 13^s 4^d yearly. A rent of 4^d by the year was due from the Abbey to the churchwardens of St. Aldate's from tenements in “le Wynyarde,” Abingdon.

page I note a History of the University, p. 69. For an account of the career of a Benedictine student, see p. 104 of the same work. Mr. Lyte makes two other references which are interesting to us. “Through the exertions of the Abbot of Abingdon at the Papal Court, the University obtained from Sixtus IV., in 1479, a hull confirming the privileges granted by Innocent IV. in 1254” (p. 325). “The Abbot of Abingdon contributed twenty trees from his wood at Cumnor” towards the fabric of All Souls' College, founded by Archbishop Chicheley (p. 354).

page I note b History of Bicester, p. 117.

page I note c The Hospital also had a portion in Chilton church.

page li note a He is not noticed in the accounts, but his duties are described at length in the treatise on the Obedientiars, p. 411. The Sacristan seems to have been attending to the Hospice in 1396–7.

page li note b See Cutts, p. 55,

page li note c It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the two meanings of hospitium : sometimes it is an inn, sometimes a household. For the latter meaning, see pp. 150, 151. The Hospitium has been confounded with the Hostilaria, which in these accounts means “the office (or the estate) of the Hostiler,” and not a “hostry” or “hostelry.” The Latin term should rather be Englished as “the Hostilary,” to avoid misconception. The new inn may have been identical with “Britonesin” (p. 119).

page lii note a P. 202. There is only one Hostiler's account of that priory, showing that very svnall sums were expended in the years 1377–9.

page lii note b MS. Cott. Claud. B. VI. f. 141⁶. (Stevenson, ii. 80.)

page lii note c The Abbot claimed to be lord of the whole town. See Assize Rolls, Divers Counties, 7 Edw. I., m. 1, and County Placita, 19 Edw. III., No. 14. The former contains a long record touching tenements held of the Abbot in villenage.

page lii note d Chronicle of Abingdon, ii., 332, 333, 404.

page liii note a The Almoner's other expenses were : “In the spices of the Abbot and Convent, with the Master of the Novices, II¹ 13^s 4^d. In the jewels of the Abbot and Convent, 7¹ 2^s 10^a,” Besides payments for ale, “dishes,” nuts, gifts to the Abbot and Prior, expenses of the office, stipends, &c. Total, 101¹ 5^s 9^d. But his receipts for the year were only 77¹ 15⁸ 10^d. (Ministers' Accounts, Ramsey.)

page liii note a Vol. i., 66, 103 ; ii., 218, 223 ; also 175, 176.

page liii note a The passage on which this statement is based begins with the words: “Hasc snnt quindecim principalia festa in quibus Abbas tenetur comedere in Refectorio” ; their names being given. It ends thus : “et in quolibet festo pascet Abbas centum pauperes.” See before, p. xiv.