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The Nature and Use of the Westminster Abbey Muniments
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009
Extract
The Muniments of Westminster Abbey form one of the largest and most important collections of medieval and later manuscripts in England in private or semi-private hands. No English Cathedral or Abbey Church has so complete a collection of documents dealing with its history and internal administration, and the fact that Westminster, apart from its London properties, had manors and estates all over England, and that the documents connected with these have been largely preserved, gives the collection an importance from various points of view which is only gradually becoming recognised by scholars and students.
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- Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1936
References
page 43 note 1 See below, p. 77.
page 44 note 1 Appendices to the First Report (pp. 94–7) and to the Fourth Report (pp. 171–99), 1870, 1874.
page 45 note 1 For a fuller description, see Westminster Papers, No. 1. The Library and Muniment Room, by Tanner, L. E. (O.U. Press, 2nd Ed., 1934).Google Scholar
page 45 note 2 W.A.M. 19869. The initials indicate Westminster Abbey Muniments.
page 46 note 1 W.A.M. 33251, f. 99. Cf. W.A.M. 25095.
page 46 note 2 W.A.M. 42506; 33705, f. 5.d.
page 46 note 3 London in IJIO, ed. W. H. Quarrell and M. Mare, p. 75.
page 46 note 4 For Widmore, see Nichols, , Literary Anecdotes, III, pp. 617Google Scholaret seq. and J. E. B. Mayor's Preface to Richard, of Chichester's, Speculum Historiale, Vol. II, pp. viiet seq., in Rolls Series.Google Scholar
page 46 note 5 Preface to his History of … Westminster Abbey, p. vi.
page 47 note 1 Widmore was persuaded to present copies to the Archbishop of Canterbury (Secker) and writes: “The two Prefaces to the History and Enquiry, I have been told, are not much amiss; and I suppose, if his Grace looks at all into it, it will be hardly further than these …” I Nichols, , Lit. Anecdotes, III, p. 619.Google Scholar
page 47 note 2 Church Quarterly Review (April, 1907), p. 58.
page 47 note 3 W.A.M. 25105.
page 48 note 1 Chapter Book, 5 Jan., 1758.
page 48 note 2 He was buried in the Chancel of the Parish Church of Lasham, Hants –a living he had held for many years. By his will (P.C.C. Simpson, f451), after bequests to his friends and relations, and after making due provision for his old servant to whom among other things he left his “Cow and dogg at Lasham,” he bequeathed many of his books to the Abbey Library. From the list given in his will it has been possible to identify these and record the bequest on their fly-leaves.
page 48 note 3 Chapter Book, 6 Aug., 1770.
page 48 note 4 Cf. The Royal Commission on Public Records, Appendix to the Third Report, Vol. Ill, Pt. II, p. 117. In 1902, two hundred rolls and other papers relating to Hampstead and Hendon Manors, which had been taken out of this Muniment Room for a Chancery Suit in 1819, were found in a cupboard in the Jericho Parlour in the Deanery
page 49 note 1 Part I, Appendix, pp. 171–99. See also First Report (1870), pp. ix, 94–7.
page 50 note 1 The correspondence between the Dean and Dr. Scott, which is preserved in the Muniment Room, shows how constant was the Dean's encouragement and support.
page 50 note 2 Report to Dean and Chapter, 10 Feb., 1904.
page 51 note 1 Dr. Scott's Calendar describes 54,000 documents, while the Index contains about 133,500 slips. There are three copies of both. One is kept in the Muniment Room, one in the Library and one has been deposited at the British Museum (though not, except in exceptional circumstances, available for students) as a precautionary measure.
page 51 note 2 In 1933 a tablet to Dr. Scott was placed in the Muniment Room with the following inscription: In honorem viri tarn pietate quam diligentia praestantis Edwardi Ioannis Long Scott A.M. D.Litt. Oxon. usque ab a.s. MDCCCXCIII ad a.s. MCMXVIII huius ecclesiae commentariensis que tabularii thesauros summo studio curaque ita ordine digessit ut aliis quoque paterent historicis Decanus Canonicique bene merentis memorem tabellam figendam curaverunt a.s. MCMXXXIII.
page 51 note 3 Westlake, H. F., Westminster Abbey, 2 Vols., 1923.Google Scholar
page 52 note 1 See Westminster Papers, No. I, op. cit., pp. 17–19.
page 52 note 2 The majority have been printed by Birch (Cart. Sax.) and transcribed in Facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon MSS., 1874–1884, Pt. II, ed. W. B. Sanders and H. James (Ordnance Survey).Google Scholar
page 53 note 1 The actual words are “dedi sancto Petro et plebi Domini degenti in Torneia,” etc.
page 53 note 2 W.A.M. Charter No. IX; and W.A.M. 12753.
page 54 note 1 Flete's History of Westminster Abbey, pp. 15, 16; Gilbert Crispin, Abbot of Westminster, pp. 125 et seq.
page 55 note 1 W.A.M. 9464: “pro nobis et regni nostri imminentibus necessitatibus … quorum partem iam vendimus partem obligavimus et alia intendimus pro eisdem necessitatibus obligare.” Cf. W.A.M. 9464* and 9465-the record of the restitution of the jewels.
page 55 note 2 W.A.M. 2001.
page 55 note 3 See Wethered, F. T., St. Mary's, Hurley (1898), and Lands and Tythes of Hurley Priory (1909), wherein are abstracts from nearly all these charters.Google Scholar
page 56 note 1 “Domesday,” f. 45.b. (Muniment Book 11).
page 56 note 2 82 Manorial Account Rolls (1267–1369); 262 Court Rolls (1287- 1804).
page 57 note 1 The Manuscripts of Westminster Abbey, pp. 93–102.
page 57 note 2 Ibid., pp. 93–4. The folios have since been renumbered.
page 57 note 3 Cf. ibid., p. 95.
page 58 note 1 Robinson, , op. cit., pp. 101–2 (No. VII). It is, as Dr. Robinson supposed, the book referred to by Widmore and Stanley.Google Scholar
page 58 note 2 For contents, see Appendix.
page 58 note 3 Ibid.
page 59 note 1 Saunders, H. W., An Introduction to the Rolls of Norwich Cathedral Priory, pp. 18et seq. The Norwich collection contains sixty thirteenthcentury rolls.Google Scholar
page 59 note 2 Vol. II, pp. 273–417.
page 59 note 3 Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol. IV.Google Scholar
page 59 note 4 The longest actual roll the Abbey possesses is a Roll of Lands belonging to the Abbey in 1654. It contains 63 membranes and is 96½ feet in length (W.A.M. 18244).
page 61 note 1 W.A.M. 12771.
page 61 note 2 Precentor's Book.
page 61 note 3 W.A.M. 5667. The Liber Regalis is preserved in the Library.
page 61 note 4 W.A.M. 9482.
page 61 note 5 W.A.M. 6342.
page 62 note 1 W.A.M. 6389**.
page 62 note 2 W.A.M. 19606.
page 62 note 3 W.A.M. 12181, etc.
page 62 note 4 W.A.M. 16016, etc.
page 62 note 5 Somersetshire Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. LX, 1914, Part II, pp. 1–10.Google Scholar
page 63 note 4 W.A.M, 12261.
page 63 note 5 W.A.M. 12271.
page 63 note 6 W.A.M. 12281.
page 63 note 7 Royal Commission on Public Records, op. cit., pp. 116–19.
page 64 note 1 W.A.M. LVII.
page 64 note 2 W.A.M. 33289.
page 64 note 3 W.A.M. 9612.
page 64 note 4 W.A.M. 9482.
page 64 note 5 W.A.M. 18056.
page 64 note 6 W.A.M. 14177 * and 57061.
page 64 note 7 W.A.M. 4582.
page 65 note 1 W.A.M. 6590.
page 65 note 2 W.A.M. 43047.
page 65 note 3 W.A.M. 25320.
page 65 note 4 W.A.M. 9588.
page 65 note 5 W.A.M. 43192.
page 65 note 6 W.A.M. 24838.
page 65 note 7 Walter de Wenlok, E. H. Pearce (1920).
page 65 note 8 Dr. Scott's Report to Dean and Chapter, 26 Dec, 1908. Cf. W.A.M. 9231, etc.
page 65 note 9 W.A.M. 9225, 9226, and Liber Niger, i. 146b. Cf. The Manuscripts of Westminster Abbey, pp. 4–7.
page 66 note 1 A particularly fine example is a Bull of Innocent III addressed to Luffield Priory on 26 May, 1214 (W.A.M. 3012).
page 67 note 1 W.A.M. 5447: it is dated 1518.
page 68 note 1 The Calendar has reached (Dec, 1935) Vol. 21 (1678–83) and the Index Vol. XIII (1625–9).
page 68 note 2 The Accounts for the year 1663–4 a r e missing. They are, however, in the British Museum, Harl. MS. 4184, and have been printed in full in Londinium Redivivum, J. P. Malcolm, Vol. I, p. 245.
page 71 note 1 See Report to Dean and Chapter 27 Dec, 1915. It is numbered W.A.M. 57067.
page 71 note 2 Cf. a curious note by Widmore in W.A.M. 25105.
page 73 note 1 Bodleian, Rawl. MSS. D. 68. CfStanley, , Memorials of Westminster Abbey, 2nd ed., Appendix, p. 610, where the Bodleian reference is given incorrectly as Rawlinson MS. Miscell. 68.Google Scholar
page 73 note 2 Longleat MS. 38. The present owner most kindly allowed me to examine the manuscript and establish the identity of the writer.
page 73 note 3 Canterbury MS., Y.AX. See the paper on it and transcript by J. Wickham Legg in Archaologia, Vol. LII (1890), pp. 195–286.Google Scholar
page 73 note 4 Cotton MS., Otho C.xj. Printed by the Henry Bradshaw Society, Vol. xxviii. (1904).
page 73 note 5 Ibid., Faustina Aiii. Cf. Manuscripts of Westminster Abbey (Robinson and James), pp. 98–100.
page 73 note 6 Flete's History of Westminster Abbey (ed. J. Armitage Robinson), Introduction, pp. 12 et seq.
page 74 note 1 Proceedings Society of Antiquaries, 1907, pp. 240, 319. Cf. “The Obituary Roll of Iohn Islip,” by Sir Hope, W. St. John in Vetusta Monumenta, Vol. VII.Google Scholar
page 74 note 2 Royal Commission on Public Records, op. cit.
page 74 note 3 B.M. Harl. MSS. 1498; an Inventory of the personal effects of Henry VIII in the Palace of Westminster, made 14 September, 1547 (Harl. MS. 1419A), contains the entry: “In the lytle study nexte the Kynges olde Bedde Chambre: Item A booke of Kynge Henry the vijth his foundation of his Chappell at Westm’.”l Exch. T.R. Foundation Indentures, I.
page 75 note 2 This includes further deposits which were made in 1873 and 1889.
page 75 note 3 Royal Commission on Public Records, op. cit.
page 75 note 4 See Burke, A. M., Indexes to the Ancient Testamentary Records of Westminster (1913), pp. v-xii, and Royal Commission on Public Records, Appendices to Second Report, 94b, 95a, 202.Google Scholar
page 77 note 1 Those already published are Robinson and James, The Manuscripts of Westminster Abbey (1909); Robinson, Flete's History of Westminster Abbey (1909); Robinson, Gilbert Crispin, Abbot of Westminster (1911); Robinson, The Abbot's House at Westminster (1911); Pearce, The Monks of Westminster (1916). These were all published by the Cambridge University Press.
page 78 note 1 “The Benedictine Abbey of Westminster,” in Church Quarterly Review, April, 1907.