Egerton MS 3034

TERRIER of the Somersetshire estates of Glastonbury Abbey; 1514-1517. Latin. The first of a series of registers, of which two other volumes are Egerton MS. 3134 (for co. Somerset), written in 1514-1517, and Harley MS. 3961 (for co. Wilts), written in 1518-1520. The present volume was compiled, at the orders of Abbot Richard Beere, by Thomas Sutton, "cellerarius forinsicus." assisted by John fitz James, steward of the Abbey, William Lange, auditor, Thomas Gunwyn, a clerk with a special knowledge of the Glastonbury muniments and "circa terrarium mensuratorem precipuum," and John Horner, bailiff of Whitstone, who made the actual measurements. In the preamble Sutton, after an account of the Abbot's motives in ordering the survey, states that the work was begun in the twenty-second year of his abbacy, i e. 1515 (but see f. 62, where the year is given as the twenty-first, i.e. 1514). The survey, which is preceded (ff. 3-8) by a perambulation of the twelve hides of Glastonbury, made by the Abbot between 1503 and 1510, relates to Glastonbury (ff. 9-38); Street (ff. 39-41 b) West Pennard (ff.43-60b); Godney (ff.62-69); Meare (ff.70-91b); Northload [in Glastonbury] (ff. 94-102 b); East Brent (ff. 105-130 b); Lympsham (ff. 132-147b); South Brent (ff. 149-170 b); Berrow (ff.172-193b); Wrington (ff.195-234); Houndstreet [in Marksbury] (ff. 235-236 and ff. 246-247b); Marksbury (ff. 236b-245 b); Middleton (f. 249 and f. 250 b, the former cancelled, the latter formerly pasted to the wooden cover). The manors appear to have been surveyed independently and the resulting terriers bound up later (not in chronological order) ; blank pages are left at the end of many of them, and with few exceptions each begins at a new gathering. Notes on changes of tenancy, etc., have been inserted subsequently. Extracts from the MS., omitting details of actual holdings, have been printed by T. Hearne, Johannis Glastoniensis Chronica, 1726, ii, pp. 287-357; and see also British Museum Quarterly, x (1935), pp. 69-72. On ff. 131-131 b are copies of an indenture dated 1331, and of an undated inquisition, relating to conmmon pasture rights on Thurlemere and Edington moors. Latin. Inserted after f. 188 are the following, all in Latin:-(i) An inspeximus by John [de Holand], Earl of Huntingdon [Duke of Exeter 1397], Admiral in the West, of a record and process in the Court of Admiralty, concerning the claim of the Abbey to salt from the river Axe and certain customs from ships anchoring there; 2 Aug. 15 Ric. II [13911. f. 189:-(ii) Memorandum reciting the limitations imposed on the jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty by the statutes 13 Ric. 11 [st. 1, c. 51 and 15 Ric. II [c. 3], and the penalties prescribed by the statute 2 Hen. IV [c. 11] for infringement of those enactments; temp. Hen. VI. f. 191:-(iii) Commission to John [de Holand], Earl of Huntingdon, as Admiral, 2 Oct. His appointment is recorded under two different dates in 1389 on the French Rolls, viz., 18 May and 22 June; see Carte, Cat. des Rolles Gascons, Normans et François, ii, pp. 159, 160. f. 191 b;-(iv) Exemplification of a suit in the Court of Admiralty, admitting the claim of John [de Sellwode], Abbot of Glastonbury, to certain tackle of a ship called "le Christoffer de Luxbon," late owned by Bartholomew Fornand, a merchant of Bilbao, in Spain, who had murdered Peter Cutt at Berwe [Berrow], co. Som., and absconded; 12 Sept.

3 Hen. VII [1487]. f. 192 b. Vellum ; ff. ix + 250. 15 in. x 10 in. A.D. 1514-1517, in several hands. Gatherings of 8 leaves (i^4, ii^10, viii^10 [l cancelled], ix^4 [2 and 3 cancelled], xv^4 [3 cancelled] , xxxii [3 and 4 cancelled]). The catchword on f. 250 b suggests that the volume is imperfect. Contemporary binding of oak boards, covered with white leather, with circular brass bosses at the four corners and at the centre (2 missing); one leather thong with brass buckle and stud (the second thong missing). On the back cover is a vellum table of contents, covered with horn, in a rectangular brass frame. At the Dissolution the present MS. apparently passed to Richard Watkyns, who received (5 Sept. 1543) a grant of manors formerly belonging to the Abbey (Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, xviii, pt. 2, p. 141). Pasted in at the beginning of the volume (f. vii) is a warrant, dated 16 Feb. 1543 [1544], from [Sir] Richard Southwell and [Sir] Thomas Moyle [General Surveyors] and William Stainford [Attorney to the Court of General Surveyors] to the High Steward, the Particular Surveyor, the Auditor and the Receiver of Glastonbury lands, to deliver the evidences and muniments to Watkyns. Belonged in the 17th cent. to [Sir] Thomas Cotton [2nd Bart.], who in Cotton Appendix xlv, art. 13, f. 2, records the loan of "The booke of Glastonbury" to Selden in 1637, but this might have been another MS., e.g. Cotton MS. Vitellius E. v or Tiberius A. v, and in any case the book appears to have been returned, the entry having been cancelled. A list of contents in a 17th cent. hand is on f. ix b. In 1726, when Hearne published his extracts, the MS. belonged to Charles Bruce, Lord Bruce [3rd Earl of Ailesbury 1741], and a letter, 10 Jan. 1877, from Canon J[ohn] E[dward] Jackson to the Rev. T. L. Kingsbury bound in as ff. ii, iii shows that it was then in the possession of George William Frederick Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Marquess of Ailesbury, at Savernake.