Egerton MS 3098

INVENTORY OF MUNIMENTS OF THE BENEDICTINE ABBEY OF SHAFTESBURY, co. Dorset (founded circ. 888), compiled and written at the direction of Alexander Katour al. Cator, sacristan, who began the task in 1500, at the request of the then abbess, Margery Twynyho (acting upon the advice of her brother Christopher, the abbey's steward), but apparently (see the Preface, ff. 1-2) did not complete it until after her death in 1505. Latin with occasional English. For Cator (d. bef. 1516) and for Christopher Twynyho (d. 1509) see A. B. Emden, Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500, i, P. 371 , and iii, p. 1919, respectively. The inventory notes briefly

the subject-matter of each deed, with the names, etc., of grantors. An abstract of it is printed by J. Hutchins, History of Dorset, 3rd ed. 1868, iii, pp. 86-88; see also G. R. C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain, 1958, no. 887; Brit. Mus. Quart., viii, 1933-1934, pp. 18-22. A number of the deeds, etc., listed are copied in two early 15th-cent. chartularies of the abbey, viz. Egerton MS. 3135 (described pp. 325-6 below) and Harley MS. 61 (Davis, op. cit., nos. 885, 886). Arranged as follows:-(i) Preface. The first part is printed in

English translation in Brit. Mus. Quart., loc. cit. ff. 1-2;-(2) Lists of deeds arranged under topographical headings. For the names of the places referred to, which are in cos. Dorset, Somerset, Sussex, Wilts, and in Bristol, see Hutchins, op. cit. ff. 3-25 b;-(3) 'Bulle papales': a list of six bulls. The names of the popes are not given and the heading has been partially erased. ff. 25 b- 26;-(4) 'Cantarie': a list of deeds relating to the endowment of chantries and obits. ff. 26-27;-(5) 'Pro Abbatissa': a list of charters and deeds relating to the spiritualities and temporalities of the abbess, including notes of a number of royal and papal charters and documents, inventories, etc. The last entry, relating to a final sentence of Edmund [Audley], Bishop of Salisbury [1502- 1524], is added in a later hand. ff. 27-30b;-(6) Lists of miscellaneous documents, etc., relating to the abbey's spiritualities and temporalities. ff. 31-32b. Vellum; ff. iii + 34. 240 mm. x 160 mm. Early XVI cent. Gatherings of 8 leaves, except i2. Catchwords, except i (preface) and v (last). Ruled and written out in a single hand, with red paragraphs, line-endings, and pendecoration of initials. Contemporary binding of dark brown hide, covered with doeskin, and originally with two tie-fastenings. Inscribed in the upper right-hand corner of the turndown inside the front cover 'T. Rowe/ffol. 32', 17th-18th (?) cent. (f. i). According to Hutchins, loc. cit. (see ist ed., 1774, p. 511), the MS. belonged, when he used it, to the 'Rev. Mr. Twyniho', i.e. the Rev. Christopher Twynihoe of Turnworth (d. 1773), a member of the same family as the abbess referred to above, see Hutchins, op. cit., iii, P. 468. 'Ex libris' inscription of his descendant T[winyhoe] W[illiam] Erle (of Lincoln's Inn, d. 1908), f. ii. Sotheby'ssale-cat., 22-23 May 1933, lot 335. From the Farnborough Fund.