14

EXTENT AND POPULATION OF CHRIST-CHURCH.

parish of Christ-church on the Ringwood road, close by Fillybrook Plantation." Under these acts the number of electors has been increased to about 400. The present member for this borough, (being the first returned by the inhabitants to the reformed parliament,) is George William Tapps, Esq., of Hinton Admiral, near Christ-church,

This is a borough by prescription, and its present municipal government is vested in the mayor and burgesses, with a bailiff and town-clerk; but the members of the corporation do not exercise any judicial authority, the town being wholly within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates. The elective franchise was formerly exercised by the corporation as composed of resident and non-resident burgesses; and it is a remarkable fact, that, although many petitions were at different times presented to the House of Commons against the return of members so chosen, yet no decision was ever made subversive of that right.* From the papers laid before Parliament during the recent reform measures, it appears that the right of election was vested in the free burgesses only, their number (including two royal dukes) being thirty-six ;-that the rated houses. within the borough in 1832, amounted to 267, of which 130 only were rated at £10 and upwards; that the population of the whole parish in 1831, was 5,244 (an increase of 600 having taken place within ten years); and that the extent of the parish was estimated at 30,000 acres, of which one hundred were built on.†

Much misapprehension respecting the former state of this borough has arisen from the supposed existence of a Charter, which appears to have been drawn up in the time of Charles the Second. But it was certainly either never issued, or immediately withdrawn; and although twenty-four persons are named as burgesses under it, yet nine years elapsed before any one of those persons was entered on the list of mayors ;—and he, only, of the twenty-four named in the Charter, ever became mayor. There is a minute of Privy Council, of George the First's time, to grant a Charter to Christ-church, on account of it not having one.-From MS. information communicated by the Right Hon. Sir G. H. Rose.

↑ Vide "Returns respecting Parliamentary Representation," ordered to be printed by the House of Commons, March 22, 1832.

Chap. H.

HISTORICAL PARTICULARS OF THE PRIORY OF CHRIST CHURCH-ESTATES OF THE CANONS, ETC., FROM THE DOMESDAY BOOK-BISHOP RANULPH FLAMBARDREBUILDING OF THE PRIORY CHURCH-CONSTITUTED A PRIORY OF CANONS REGULAR-BENEFACTIONS AND PRIVILEGES-LIST OF SUPERIORS, DEANS, AND PRIORS-SURRENDER OF THE PRIORY TO HENRY VIII.-MISCELLANEOUS INFOR

MATION.

THE origin and early history of the PRIORY OF CHRIST-CHURCH are entirely unknown; and although we may reasonably presume that it was founded in the seventh century, soon after the introduction of the order of St. Augustine into this kingdom, yet there are no records of the Saxon times extant relating to this establishment. The earliest documentary evidence concerning it, is contained in the Domesday Book, from which the following are extracts, the contractions being supplied.

"Terra Canonicorum de Thuinam.* In Egheiete Hund. Canonici Sanctæ Trinitatis de Thuinam tenent in ipsa Villa 5 hidas et una virgata: et in Wit Insula unam hidam. Hæ hidæ semper fuerant in ipsa Ecclesia. Tunc se defendit pro 6 hidis Tempore Regis Edwardi virgata et modo. 'In Dominio sunt 5 Carucatæ, et 11 Villani, et

et una

13 Bordarii cum una carucata. Ibi 2 Servi, et Molinum de 30 denariis, et 108 acræ Prati. Silva de 2 Porcariis. In Burgo 6 Masuræ de 13 Solidis et 4 denaiis. Ad hanc Ecclesiam pertinent tota Decima de Tuinam, et tertia pars Decimarum de Holeherst.†

Tempore Regis Edwardi val. 6 libras: Modo 8 libras.

"Alnod Prebendarius tenet de Rege Bortel. In paragio tenuit de Rege Edwardo. Tunc se defendit pro una Virgata et dimidio: modo similiter. Terra est dimidium carucatæ, et ibi est cum duobus Servis, et tertia

pars unius

* Now Christ-Church.

+ Now Holdenhurst.

‡ Now Barton.

16

COLLEGIATE, OR PRIORY ESTATES AT THE CONQUEST.

Molini de 25 denariis; et 10 acre Prati et dimidium, et duæ Masuræ in Tuinam. Valuit 5 Solidos; modo 10 Solidos.

"Alsi Prebendarius tenet de Rege Bailocheslei.* Ipse tenuit de Rege Edwardo. Tunc se defendit pro una Hida et 3 Virgatis : modo pro 3 Virgatis tantum. Terra cum 1 Carucata ibi est in dominio, cum duobus Servis, et uno Villano, et uno Bordario; et dimidio Molini de tribus Solidis: et 16 acris Prati. Valet et valuit 20 Solidos.

"In Bovere Hund.† habuit Ecclesia Sanctæ Trinitatis de Thuinam 8 acras terræ in Andret. Modo est in Foresta hæc terra."‡

It appears then, from the Domesday survey, that, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, there was at Twynham, a Priory, or College of Secular Canons, holding possessions in the township of Twynham, the Isle of Wight, and elsewhere, within the county of Southampton; and that the Priory church had been dedicated to the Holy Trinity. From the specification of the land, it seems that some portions belonged to the members of the Convent generally, and others to two of the prebendaries or canons, who are distinctly mentioned by name. The general property of the Priory consisted of five hides and one virgate of land in the township of Twynham, one hide in the Isle of Wight, eight acres in the hundred of Bovere, the whole of the tithes of Twynham, and a third part of the tithes of Holeherst. It is stated that the hides of land here mentioned had always belonged to this church, whilst the eight acres in Bovere are merely mentioned as having been the property of the church in the time of King Edward the Confessor, but, when the Domesday Book was compiled, as being included in the [New] Forest.

It does not appear when, nor from what source, this property was derived, but from the allegation with respect to the principal part,-" that it had always belonged to this church,"§ it may be inferred that the Canons rested their claim to it on prescription, having no charter to shew by whom it was transferred to them. Probably it was from this circumstance that Camden affirmed the Priory to have been founded "early in the Saxon times,"-as donations were

PREBENDAL ESTATES:-CANONICAL ESTABLISHMENT.

17

then frequently made without the formality of a written grant or charter.* The lands separately held by the two Prebendaries are thus specified :—

"Alnod, the prebendary, holds of the King Bortel, which he held in coparcenary of King Edward. It was then assessed for one virgate and a half, and now in the same manner. There is half a carucate of land in demesne, with two Serfs; the third part of a mill, producing twenty-five pence; ten acres and a half of meadow land, and two messuages in Twynham. It was valued at five shillings; now at ten shillings.

"Alsi, the prebendary, holds of the King Bailocheslei, which he held of King Edward. It was then assessed for one hide and three virgates, now for three virgates only. There is one carucate of land in demesne, with two Serfs, and one Villain, and one Bordarer; and half a mill, producing three shillings; and sixteen acres of meadow land. It was, and is, valued at twenty shillings."

It has been stated by Dugdale and Bishop Tanner, that, in the time of King Edward the Confessor, there were a Dean and twenty-four Canons belonging to the church of the Holy Trinity at Twynham; and Tanner further says, that they "continued till after the conquest.' Strictly speaking, however, these averments are not authorized by existing records, although not unfairly surmised from the known state of this establishment in the reign of William Rufus. Neither a Dean nor any fixed number of Canons is mentioned in the Domesday Book, as belonging to this Priory; yet it appears from the "Historia Fundationis Cœnobii de Twynham," in Dugdale's "Monasticon," that after the accession of the Conqueror, the office of Dean was held by RANULPH Flambard, or Flammard, who is said to have been the son of a priest of Bayeux, in

* The conveyance of estates to a purchaser or grantee was, in ancient times, confirmed by the delivery of something to be preserved as a sign or symbol of property, as the Horn of Ulphus, in the archives of the Chapter of York; and the Borstall Horn, in Buckinghamshire.

+ Ex Registro de Twynham, in Bibl. Cotton., sub effigie Tiberii, D. 6, fol. 194, a. The Register itself was destroyed in the fire which burnt a part of the Cottonian Library in the year 1731. Vide Appendix, No. I.

In the "Saxon Chronicle," and other annals of a subsequent age, Ranulph is called Passeflambard.

D

18

NOTICES OF BISHOP FLAMBARD-KING WILLIAM RUFUS.

Normandy, and whose name is registered among the feudal tenants of the crown in the Domesday Survey of Hampshire.*

Although of ignoble origin (Malmesbury says "ex infimo genere"), and probably of restricted education, the superior talents and address of Flambard advanced him to rank and power. He was removed from Twynham by Maurice, Bishop of London, who made him his chaplain and gave him the deanery of St. Paul's. Not satisfied, however, with ecclesiastical preferment, the ambition and enterprize of Flambard sought for temporal ascendency, and, by his unprincipled servility, he so highly ingratiated himself in the favour of William Rufus, that the tyrannical prince invested him in the high offices of Justiciary of England and Procurator-General, and made him his chief counsellor. Whilst thus situated he became the willing instrument of the grievous exactions and oppressions of the monarch, who, in 1099, rewarded his docility by raising him to the bishoprick of Durham, which had been retained in his own hands from the time of the decease of William de Karilipho, in 1095. Even in this instance the king's avarice was not ungratified, for the bishop elect found it prudent to secure his own nomination by a present of one thousand marks.

It was probably through the influence of his favourite that William Rufus was induced to become a benefactor to the church of Twynham, for he is recorded to have bestowed on this church the manor of Prestipidela [Priest's Puddle] in the county of Dorset, with all the liberties and customs belonging to it. If, however, the grant originated in the suggestion of Flambard, his purpose in obtaining it was rather to benefit himself than to enrich the ostensible objects of the king's bounty.

On his elevation to the deanery of St. Paul's he had probably resigned that

* It is mentioned (vide Appendix, No. I.) that when Flambard presided at Twynham, and "before his time," the churches of Bolre [Boldre], Brokenhurst, and Hordhull, appertained to the church of Twynham and the secular canons of that establishment.

+ Peter of Blois, who wrote in the reign of Henry II., characterized Flambard as being a most cruel extortioner, and the king's principal counsellor, then, of all men on the earth, the worst and the most covetous, miserably oppressing the whole kingdom." "Exactore crudelissimo, Regisque Consiliaro præcipuo, tunc omnium virorum in terra cupidissimo et pessimo, universum Regnum miserabiliter opprimente." Continuatio Ingulphi Historia.