Egerton MS 3667

CARISBROOKE PRIORY CHARTULARY

CHARTULARY OF CARISBROOKE PRIORY, Isle of Wight; temp. Henry III [between 1216-1272], with additions down to the 15th cent. Latin and French (on f. 75). See G. R. C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain, 1958, p. 25, no. 213. Founded circ. 1156 as a cell of the Benedictine Abbey of Lyre, in Normandy, Carisbrooke was therefore an alien house. After various vicissitudes, it was finally suppressed in 1414 by Henry V and given to the Charterhouse of Sheen. The latest dated entry in the MS. is 10 June 1444 (f. 97b) and relates to holdings by Sheen in the Isle of Wight. The original part of the chartulary occupies ff. 17-59 and contains deeds arranged by grantors in the following order: founders and royalty (ff. 17-22b); bishops of Winchester and Salisbury, with some archdeacons and others (ff. 22b-30); popes (ff. 30-34b); knights and free men (ff. 34b-59). The additional material is in miscellaneous order and a number of hands. On ff. 12-15 is a table of the contents of ff. 17-75, partly in the original hand of the MS., partly in other hands. Also in the MS. are:- (1) obligation by Ricardus de Berga to pay his grandmother's legacy of one pound of wax annually to Carisbrooke, 15 Nov. 1257, followed by a list of 'redditus de forinseco servicio'. f. 11 b;-(2) notes on the payment of heriot and mortuary, 14th cent. ff. 78b, 90;-(3) assessment of the churches of the Isle of Wight for taxation by the Valuation of Norwich of 1254 (not printed in W. E. Lunt, The Valuation of Norwich, 1926). ff. 93-93b;-(4) details of tithes due to the Abbey of Lyre, through their proctor, i.e. the Prior of Carisbrooke. Transcripts of the chartulary are:- (1) one by Francis Harris and John Pottinger, 1573-1574, formerly Worsley MS. 12 at Brocklesbury Park, co. Linc., the seat of the Earls of Yarborough, now in the Lincolnshire Archives Office;-(2) an English translation by John Kingeswell, 1600, Society of Antiquaries of London, MS. 254, ff. 1-100;-(3) extracts, 1573, by William Camden (who, in Britannia, ed. R. Gough, i, 1789, p. 124, says that the present MS. was shown to him by Robert Glover), Lansdowne MS. 229, ff. 116b- 118b;-(4) an incomplete copy of the last made for Sir Richard St George, 1607, Lansdowne MS. 259, ff. 73b-75, which was probably the source for the extracts printed in Sir W. Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum vi, 1830, pp. 1040-1041. The chartulary was used by Sir Richard Worsley for his History of the Isle of Wight, 1781 (see p. 163, note, etc.). Vellum; ff. iii+ 102. 220 mm. × 160 mm. XIII cent. (temp. Henry III), with additions to xv cent. Gatherings (including flyleaves, ff. 1- 11, 101- 102) of 8 leaves, except for i¹², iv¹², viii¹⁰, x⁶, xiii¹⁰ (2 and 12 of i cancelled, 3 and 7 of ii cancelled, 9 and 10 of iv cancelled, 3 and 9 of viii cancelled and the gathering is misbound: the order should be ff. 59, 65, 61-64, 60, 66, 8 of ix cancelled, 5 of x cancelled, 8 of xi cancelled, 4 of xii cancelled). Occasional catchwords. A probably 15th cent.. foliation, 1-82, runs from ff. 17-101. Numerous marginal notes in medieval and later hands. Binding, 13th- 14th cent., of brown leather over poplar boards (repaired by Roger Powell, 1950, see note by him, ff. iii-iiib). On f. 2 is a note: 'S^r John Oglander of y^e Isle of Wyght hath reade most of this booke - 1646'. Belonged possibly to Robert Glover, Somerset Herald (d. 1588); to Sir Richard Worsley, 7th Bart. (d. 1805); and to Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart. (MS. 11532, bought from Thomas Rodd, 1845; see number on spine and bookplate of William H. Robinson Ltd., f. ii).