Egerton MS 3772

THE BRUTON CHARTULARY Chartulary of the Augustinian Priory of Bruton, co. Som. (f. circa 1142; abbey, 1511), topographically arranged; bef. 1294 (f. 95b)-aft. 1408 (f. 131). Latin. Imperfect, by the loss of the first 72 folios, the contents of which have been supplied (ff. 1-76b) by copies made for Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., circa 1840, of Phillipps MS. 4808, abstracts made when the chartulary was still complete by the Rev. George Harbin, 1719. See ff. iii-x. Sewn in as f. 106* is an indenture relating to Yeovilton, co. Som., 1346 (copy on f. 106, 15th cent.). Ff. 108-119b relate to the exchange of property between Bruton and Troarn Abbey, near Caen, 1260-1262. See D. J. A. Matthew, Norman Monasteries and their English Possessions, 1962, pp. 9, 99-101. Calendared as a whole, with Bruton charters from St Lô, in Two Cartularies . . . of . . . Bruton and . . . Montacute, ed. Members of the Council, Somerset Record Society, viii, 1894. See also B.M.Q., xxvii, 1963-4, pp. 5-9. G. R. C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain, 1958, no. 83. Belonged to William Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley of Stratton, 1719. See f. vii. Presumably this was by descent from Sir Maurice Berkeley, to whom Bruton Abbey and Manor was granted, 1546. The property was subdivided following the extinction of this peerage, 1773. The chartulary, by then mutilated, was in the possession of the Earls of Ilchester by 1840, in whose family it remained until 1962.

Paper and vellum (ff. 77-135); ff. xi+135+106*. 285 x 195mm. Late XIII cent-early XIV cent., XV cent. (ff. 120-135), 1840 (ff. 1-76). Gatherings now i4, 4 cancelled; ii-iii12; iv4 (an original indenture, f. 106*, stitched to 3); v12; vi8 (2, 3, 4 so numbered in romans; catchword); vii12 (1, 2, 11, 12 cancelled). The deed begun on v12, f. 119b, in the earlier hand is completed in vi1, f. 120, in a later hand. See below. Arabic foliation 73-129 on ff. 77-134, 17th cent. Single columns. Ff. 77-105, 108-119b are written in a single fine book-hand with titles and marginal headings in red, and pen-work in red and blue, late 13th-early 14th cent. Ff. 106-107, 120-135 are written in more than one hand, with red titles, 15th cent. Binding of white skin on oak boards, secured to bosses on the back cover by metal catches on leather thongs, the lower of which is now missing; 14th-15th cent. Marks of a title plate on back cover. The number '61', altered from '60' and '67', is written on the fold-over of the skin on the upper inside cover, 17th cent.