Description
a collection of 13 items, the documents: (a) Grant by Robert, 'dominus de Petraponte', lord of Pierrepont, dépt. Aisne, his mother Clementia and his wife Eustachia to the community 'de valle sancti petri', the abbey of Val Saint Pierre, near Vervins, of all freedom of taxes, 242mm. by 105mm., 24 lines in a fine and on occasion elaborate early Gothic hand in Latin, some minor water damage to top, else in good condition, dated 1190; (b) Deed of Gift by Robert de Maunton, 'viker del Esglise de Eccles', ie. Eccles in Lancs., and John Cupper, chaplain, to five other men of the manor of 'Slaghtwayt', Slaithwaite, southwest of Huddersfield, in trust to enfeoff John son of William Cay for life, 205mm. by 222mm., remains of 30 lines in good secretarial hand in French, with five intact seals of the beneficaries: the first with capital 'R' within a shield, the second armorial shield with clasped hands, the third ecclesiastical, a kneeling figure before a saint within a church with partial legend S[ ] IO DE STOLES P, the fourth and fifth armorial within decorated rings (each 20mm. to 25mm. in width), in excellent condition and framed, dated 7 January 1376; (c) Quitclaim by Robert Deyghere of Crewkerne, Somerset, and his wife Avicia, to Sir Thomas Brooke all of rights in the manor of Weycroft, nr Axminster, 250mm. by 120mm., in Latin, witnessed with seal of Forde Abbey (Cistercian foundation now in Dorset), now damaged and with another seal tag present but no seal, good condition, laid down on card, dated 23 November 1395; (d) Grant to William Hobson, cleric and master of the College of Cobham of property in Cobham for a payment of £4 to be made in the local church, 312mm. by 142mm., in Latin, with the seals of the two witnesses intact, dated 10 January 1465; (e) Sale by Piers Maynwaryng 'yeoman of the Coronne' to John Morecotte of land and an inn in Markyate, Herts., called 'the Signe of the Belle', on the provision that the owner keep up a chapel to the Virgin on the side of the building, 280mm. by 390mm., in Middle English, slight discolouration to localised areas, else good with seal tags present, dated 8 December 1502; (f) Grant by Elizabeth Otley, widow of London, of her late husband's revenue from tithes, originally held by the abbey of Catesby, Northants., for 21 years, and transferred to them by Henry VIII on 20 March 1537, 340mm. by 400mm., in Latin, some creasing and a few small holes, else fair, dated 12 December 1546; the leaves and fragments from medieval manuscripts: a leaf from an illuminated Psalter, 142mm. by 95mm., with one 2-line gold initial on coloured grounds and 18 smaller initials in gold and blue, northern France, late thirteenth century; a bifolium from a small illuminated breviary, each leaf 115mm. by 150mm., with 15 gold initials on coloured grounds, northern France, fifteenth century; a leaf from an illuminated Book of Hours, 109mm. by 152mm., in Dutch, with one 2-line gold initial, laid on nineteenth-century card and bought at Mr. Wallace's Church Bazaar in Glasgow on 27 December 1861, Netherlands, fifteenth century; and four fragments of a liturgical or legal nature, thirteenth or fourteenth century, recovered from bindings and hence somewhat defective
Catalogue Note
A number of these items are of particular interest. Item (a) is an excellent early medieval document from the abbey of Val Saint Pierre, owned by Sir Thomas Phillipps: 'Phillipps ms 36641' on reverse in hand of his son-in-law Fenwick, sold in our rooms 19 February 1947, lot 525 to A.W. Fuller for £3, 10s. (his notes in pencil at foot of dorse). The monastery was founded in 1140, only a few decades before the writing of this document, and as the only recorded cartulary of the house is now lost (H. Stein, Bibliographie générale des cartulaires français, 1907, item 2090), the present document makes a valuable addition to our knowledge of its history. Item (c) is also of historical interest, being a grant to Sir Thomas Brooke (d. 1418) of Weycroft who held office as MP. for Somerset on numerous occasions in 1386-1413, and in contrast to the appearance of the monastic seal on this document he appears to have had strong Lollard sympathies. His son Thomas married a stepdaughter of the English Lollard leader Sir John Oldcastle, and despite the elder Thomas leaving numerous bequests in his will, none were to the Church or any religious order. Item (d) belonged to the Master of Cobham College (it bears the witnesses' seals and so is his personal copy), an institution begun under royal licence in 1362 and composed of five chaplains based in the church of Cobham. William Hobson, the master mentioned here, was appointed in 1458 and died in 1473 (VCH. Kent II, 1926, p. 231). Item (f) is an important local witness to the effects of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Northamptonshire, describing how Henry VIII under the Great Seal of the Court of Augmentations on 20 March 1537 transferred the ownership of the tithes of the estates of Over Catesby and Newboldfield from the monastery of Catesby to John Onley, the late husband of the granter. John Onley was the attorney of the Court of Augmentations and at the same time took possession of the buildings of the nunnery of Catesby to use as a residence.
