This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Keil, I. J. E Title: The estates of the Abbey of Glastonbury in the later Middle Ages General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact [email protected] and include the following information in your message: •(cid:9)Your contact details •(cid:9)Bibliographic details for the item, including a URL •(cid:9)An outline nature of the complaint Your claim will be investigated and, where appropriate, the item in question will be removed from public view as soon as possible. THE ESTATES OF THE ABBEY OF GLASTONBURY .IN THE. LATER MIDDLE AGES A dissertation submitted to the University of' Bristol f'or the degree of' . . Doctor of' PhilosophY by I. J. E. Keil, B.A. (Bristol) Memorandum prescribed I, Ian John Ernest Keil, Bachelor of Arts of the university of Bristol, hereby certify that this thesis: The Estates of Glastonbury Abbey in the Later Middle Ages, which is presented for tIle degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the abovesaid University, is my own original and unaided work except where the text indicates the contrar,y, and for the guidance of my supervisor, c.n. Ross, Esq., M.A., n.phil., and for such general or specific help acknowledged in the preface of the thesis. • Ian Keil ;0 !Uguat,196;. .J Synopsis of a ph.D. Thesis ~~states of Glastonbury Abbel in=the ~2!=Middle Agea A study in administration and economic chango. BY I. J. E. Keil, B.A. This thesis is a consideration of the administration and exploitation of the estates of the wealthiest English abbey in the latter middle ages. The major part of it is based upon manuscript sources whose bulk forced the author to leave aside some questions dependent upon a detailed analysis of court rolls. The first chapter is a discussion of the abbots and monks between 1320 and 1539 indicating the main policies followed in estate management. There are some suggestions made about the w~ the abbey disposed of its income: keeping a high standard of material comfort for the community, paying taxes, new building and in protectirg its status and prestige by lawsuits. All of these activities have been set against the background of an analysis of the social origins and achievement of abbots and monks. In the second chapter attention is paid to the gains and losses of privileges and possessions of some economic significancq. There is also a short description of the geographical nature of the ". An examination of the administrative system in chapter three shews its limited response to changing economic and social conditions. The social origins of the officials are among the questions discusaed. Manorial agriculture is examined in chapter four with special consideration of land use, grain production, livestock husbandry, use of labour, and dead stocks. This relates changes in the scale and scope of demesne farming to the needs of the abbey and the market. A sample of manors provides inaight into the activities of a great land owner as a farmer until th I th 1 e unusua ly late period of e ear Y 1490s. Chapter five is an analysis of the financQs of themanorial economy. The first part deals with the era of demosne farming drawing attention to the significance of rents in the incomes of manors still in demesne, and also to labour costs in the expenditure upon farming. some attention is directed to the problem of capital assots and how far they changed'in periods of depression. The second part of the chapter shews the nature of the rentier economy and suggests some reasons for its slow progress upon the abbey estates. The final chapter seeks to emphasise the unusual wealth of Glastonbury and its apparent reluctance to adopt a fully rentier economy until the last decade of the fifteenth century. It is suggested that the administrative and economic organisation in the later middle ages departs little in most respects from the trends observed in studies of other great estates. Three maps are provided to illustrate the thesis and supporting evidence is provided in some appendices which cover corrodies and corrodiar.k5 (I), land use (II), cropping rotations (III), manorial exploitation in the era of demesne farming upon a sample of manors (IV), the rentier economy (V) and net total receipts expenses and rents for the same sample of manors (VI), total income as revealed in some taxation returns (VII), a calendar of abbatial regnal years (VIII), and lists of sources in manuscript (IX) and in print (X). 2 Preface It is a pleasant task to offer my thanks to the many people and institutions whose help has made this thesis possible. I have an inexpressible debt to the Universit,y of Bristol for extending my tenure of aT." H. Green Open Scholarship to enable me to undertake full-time research from October 1955 until September 1957, and also to the Minister of Education who supplemented this award with a state scholarship. MY obligation to the Most Noble, the Marquess of Bath is of equal 'magnitude. He allowed me to use whatever manuscripts he possessed relating to Glastonbur,y Abbey. His librarian, Miss Doroth1 coates, arranged for manuscripts to be made available at Longleat. and she also enabled me to borrow them for considerable periods of time for use in the libraries of the universities of Bristol and Liverpool. MY best thanks are a~o due for permission to use documents in the custody of the Master of the Rolls in the Public Record Office. the archivists of the City and County of Bristol, and the county of somerset, the Trustees of the British Museum, and the librarian of Lambeth palace Library. In my search for manuscripts I have received help from the National Register of Archives; the county archivists of Berkshire, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire; the diocesan registrars of Bath and Wells, and Salisbury; and the librarians of the Cities of Bath and Bristol. My best thanks are due to the librarian of the University of Bristol, Mr. J. Shum Cox, and his staff especially Mr. J. R. Barker, M.A., and Mr. :M. Edwards, and also to the librarians of the university of Liverpool, Mr. K. Povel, :M.A., and Mr. D. A. Clarke, and their staff, particularly Mr. D. F. Cook, M.A., for their patience and help in dealing with all manner of quests. 3 w. Professor R. Steele, Professor of Geography in the univeroit1 of Liverpool, generously provided time and facilities for the making of the maps in this thesis. His technicians, Mr. Alan Hotchkiss and Mr. Douglas Birch, prepared the maps and photographs used and made several helpful suggestions. During the preparation of this thesis I had helpful correspondence and conversation 'with Dom Adred Watkin, O.S.B., M.A:, of Downside Abbey. I benefited from attending some of the meetings of a group of scholars preparing volume III of the Agrian Histor,y of England under the editor ship of Professor M. M. Postan and Dr. R. H. Hilton. Finally, I wish to acknowledge ~ deep debt of gratitUde to Dr. C. D. Ross of the Department of Histor,y in the Universit1 of Bristol whose friendship has been a source of encouragement through the years of composing this thesis. August, 1963. Inn Keil TABLE of CONTENTS page 1 Title 2 Prefa.ce + Table of Contents 5 List of Mapa 6 List of Ta.bles in the text 8 List of Abbreviations g A Note on Spelling of Personal and Place Names 10 List of Abbots of Glastonbury n Introduction to the Thesis lS Chapter I Abbots and Convent 3~ chapter II Possessions and privileges 52 Chapter III Administration 72. Chapter IV Manorial Farming 1i7 chapter V Finances and Profits 185 Chapter VI Some Conclusions 191 Appendicea: 192. I corrodies and corrodiaries 201- II Land Use on some Manors in the early Fourteenth century 223 III cropping Manorial Demesnes 230 IV selected Manorial statistics Until the End of Demesne Farming 395 V cash Accounts of GlastonbuT,1 Abbey Manors ~1'1o VI Manorial Rents and Revenues, 1300-1539 i-2Z VII Some Taxation Assessments of the Income of Glastonbury Abbey f~S"' VIII i A Calendar of Accounting and Abbatia1 years 428 ii Dates of Abbots' Elections and Deaths from Geoffrey Fromond to the Dissolution +31 IX Manuscript Sources Consulted -1t~3 X Select Bibliography 5 List of Maps Page 35 Estates of Glastonbur,y Abbey c.1500 A.D. ~ Bailiffs' Circuits Shewing Principal Demesne Manors ~ Relief Map of the Estates These maps shew modern coast lines and do not shew the effects of drainage on the Somerset Levels. The county boundaries in the first map follow the preaent ones which suffered changes under the revisions of 1894. This resulted in Damerham passing to Hampshire from Wiltshire, but throughout the thesis Damerham is regarded as a Wiltshire manor. List of Tables in the Toxt No. Title Page 1 Abbey Revenues in Cash 23 2 Monastic Population 30 f9 3 Somerset Manorial Land Use 75 4 Land use in the early 14th. century: Somerset Marshland 7b 5 Land use in the early ll..th. century: Mendip and E. Somerset 6 Land use in the early 14th. century: Wiltshire 77 7 Land use in the early 14th. century: Dorset 77 8 Sales of wool, fells, and ekdns 1333-34 SO 9 Nominal seeding rate per acre 1330s ~{, 10 Manorial Exchanges of Grain 1333-34 88 . 90 11 Issues of Grain 1333 and acrea@es of grain sown 1334 12 Issues of Grain in 1333: Summary ~1 96 13 Grain used on the Levels manors in detail 1333-34 97 14 Grain used on other manors, with details of Mel1s 1333-34 15 Grain exports from manors 1333-34 /00 16 Surplus grain exports 1333-34: Summary 101: 17 Demesne Contraction: areas sown JOb t09 18 Proportions of types of crop sown 19 Distribution of breeding herds of cattle 1333-34 ~ 112- 20 Ploughs and draught animals on manors 1333-34 115 121 .• 21 Swine 1333-34 22 Composition of Sheep Flocks 1333-34 12Ff 23 Labour Services at Walton 14t2 24 Rents at Ashcott and total Net Charge and Discharge 152. 25 "Issues of the Manor" at Walton 1ISi' 26 Perquisites from two manors in select years .4S' 27 Entry Fines and Holdings at Walton ,_ J5'J 28 t61 A Walton: Sales of Demesne Produce and Total Net Charge 28 B MOnkton Deverill: Sales of Demesne Produce and Total ~2 Net Charge