Egerton MS 3033

CHARTULARY of the Priory of St. Mary, Canons Ashby, co. Northt., apparently founded (cf. f. 1) by Stephen de Leya, temp. Rob[ert de Chesney], Bishop of Lincoln [d. 1166]; compiled early in the reign of Edward I [1272-1307], with additions (mostly on inserted leaves) to 19 Hen. VI [1441] (ff. 37, 97). Latin (f. 57 b French). Apart from a group of seven fines on ff. 98 b-99 b and a series of episcopal indulgences at the end (ff. 119-120 b), the arrangement is topographical; for a list of the places, which are usually named and numbered at the head of each page, see the description of the MS. in Hist. MSS. Comm., 3rd Rep., Append., p. 274. At least one deed has been twice entered (see ff. 18 b, 23 b). The account of Canons Ashby by John Bridges, Hist. and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, i (1791), pp. 223-228, is largely derived from this MS., the grants of the supposed founder and his family within the county (ff. 1-6) being described in some detail; the MS. is also cited under the various Northamptonshire parishes in which the Priory owned property, e.g. Moreton Pinkney (ff. 17-32 b; cf. Bridges, pp. 250-252). Bridges' original extracts from the chartulary, taken in 1721, are now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (MS. Top. Northants c. 19; cf. Madan, Summary Cat. of . . . MSS., iii, p. 647, no. 16636, p. 283). An even more elaborate analysis of the entire contents of the book was made by George Baker in his Hist. and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, ii (1822). Some notice of the possessions of the Priory in cos. Bedf., Hertf. and elsewhere will be found in the Victoria County History, for Northampton, ii, pp. 130-133; Bedford, iii, pp. 85-87, 104-109; and Hertford, ii, p. 264. Documents occurring in the chartulary have been printed (from other sources) as follows:-Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, vi (1830), pp. 442, 443 (ff. 58 b, 61 b); Madox, Formulare Angliranum (1702), nos. ccccxxxix, dxxxvii, dcxc (ff. 88, 70, 43) ; Rotuli Roberti Grosseteste, 1235-1253 (Canterbury and York Society; Dioc. Lincoln, iv), p. 327 (f. 116 b). The originals of the deeds on ff. 31, 61 b, 9, 9 b, 67, 109, 18 b are now Add. Ch. 5882, 5883, 5884, 7527, 7535, 19817, and 22320. Many others are preserved in the Public Record Office and are calendared in the Catalogue of Ancient Deeds, vols. i-iii, passim. Vellum (ff. i, 37, 97 paper) ; ff. v (f. i is a memorandum by Henry Etough, Minister of Elstow, co. Bedf., and later rector of Therfield co. Hertf., dated 8 May 1723, recording Bishop Tanner's opinion of the date of the MS) + 122. 9 in. x 5½ in. Temp. Edw. I (early), with later additions. Gatherings irregular. Binding of oak boards covered with leather, with brass stud and leather thong. On f. 80 b are the opening lines (late 15th cent.) of a Christmas carol "In bedlem in Pat fere Citte / born he was of a mayden fre..." (cf. Carleton Brown, Register of Middle English . . . Verse, ii, nos. 889, 891, and R. L. Greene, The Early English Carols, 1935, no. 21, pp. 14-16). At the end, reversing the volume, are fragments of two leaves from a gathering of a Collectar, written in England, circ. A.D. 1200, containing (in double columns) portions of the offices (a) Second Sund. of Advent--Ember Frid. in Advent (f. v b);-(b) Epiphany-first Sund. after the octave (f, iv b). According to Baker, Hist. . . . of Northampton, ii, p. 13, this chartulary passed with the title deeds of the Podington and Hinwick estate, co. Bedf., once part of the possessions of the Priory. In 1647 (cf. V.C.H., Bedf., iii, p. 82) this estate became the property of George Orlebar of Hinwick, and the chartulary thenceforward remained in the hands of his family, at Hinwick House. From the Farnboroough Fund.