bert the Second, and with his son Bernard was 
present at the siege of Nice in 1096. Ranulph de St. Walery, who is 
recorded in Domesday Book, attended Duke William upon his expedition 
to England. Guy de St. Walery seems to have been his son, or younger 
brother, and died about the year 1141; leaving, by his wife Albreda, 
Reginald his son and heir . 

k Kennet, p. 70, from Ordericus Vitalis, b. iv. p. 546. ' Ibid. p. 70. Mon. Ang. torn. i. 
p. 134. b. m Ibid. p. 83. Regist. de Oseney. See the History of the House of Yvery, 
written by John, Earl of Egmont; printed, but not published, in 1764. 

" Kennet first states, that this honor was given soon after the death of Geoffrey de Ivery 
to Guy de St. Valori, p. 83, but afterwards, p. 104, he says this is a mistake, and that it 
was first given to his son Reginald by Henry II. about 1155, and that Jeffrey was living 
in 1149. 

° Kennet, p. S3. 

3 G 2 



412 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. book iv. 

Reginald de Saint Valori having assisted the Empress Matilda, King 
Stephen seized his lordship of Haseldone in Gloucestershire, which he 
gave to John Saint John of Stanton. Henry the Second, upon his acces- 
sion to the throne, restored it to Reginald, but as in the mean time it had 
been given to the Abbey of Kingswood, the monks were unwilling to 
relinquish their claim to it. At length Reginald having been enjoined as 
a penance by the Pope to found an Abbey of the Cistertian order, they 
surrendered it upon condition of his performing this injunction. The 
abbey was erected at Haseldon, and the Abbot of Kingswood, with 
many of his monks, were translated thither. From hence, from a defi- 
ciency of water, they removed to Tettebiri, and afterwards, being ill supplied 
with wood, his son, Bernard de Saint Valori, procured from Roger de 
Berkley forty acres of land in Mireford near Kingswood, and transferred 
the Cistertian Abbey to that place. For which Bernard granted to Roger 
de Berkley freedom from toll in his port of Saint Valori''. Reginald soon 
after confirmed to the nuns of Godstow, Heringesham, and Boieham, and 
whatever John Saint John had given them' 1 . 

Reginald de St. Valori was in great favour with Henry. In 1 15.5, soon 
after the death of Geoffrey de lvery, the King conferred upon him the 
honor of lvery, which from this time was called the honor of Saint 
Valori, or Walery r . Bishop Kennet has no where defined the exact ex- 
tent of this honour. The lands of Roger de Iveri are thus stated in 
Domesday-book. In Peritune Hundred, Mixbury, Astall, Fulbrook, 
Etone, Northbrook, Horspath, Hensington, Heathrop, Clanfield, Barton, 
Beckley, Cheping Norton, Sherborn, Holton, North Leigh, Hampton- 
Gay, Wistelle, Cutslowe, Rousham. In the first Gadre Hundred, 
Norbrook, Stoke Line. In the second Gadre Hundred, Walcot, Wool- 
vercot 5 . I think it extremely probable that the whole of these lands con- 

p Mon. Ang. vol. i. p. 811. b. S12. b. Kennet, p. 97, 113, 126. ■» Monastic on, -vol. i. 
p. 525. b. r Kennet, p. 113. 

* I state the modern names as they are given by Kennet, Par. Ant. p. 67- In Domesday 
they are, Misseberie, Estalle, Fulebroc, Etone, Noidbroc, Horspadan, Hansitone, Trop, 
Chenefclde, Berton, Bechelie, Nortone, Scirburne, Eltone, Lege, Hantone, Wistelle, Cods- 
laue, Rovesham, Norbroc, Stoches, Waltone, Ulfgarcote. The wife of Roger de Iveri in 
Besentone Hundred held Letelape, (Islip) and Oxendone, (Oddington.) In Edward the 
Confessor's time, the manors of Burcester, (Bicester,) Ambroseden, Stratton, Weston, &e. 
belonged to Wigod de Walingford. Domesday Book. 



CHAP. II. 



HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 



stituted the honour of Iveri, and afterwards of Saint Valori. Some manors 
might in process of time have been detached from it by sale or gift, but 
it must be observed that it was held of the Crown by the same service of 
ten knights' fees, as long as it continued in the hands of a subject. At the 
death of Richard, King of the Romans, in 1272, the manors of Beckley, 
Ambrohappyn, Blackthorn, Henley, and Willarstone only are mentioned'. 
The capital seat of the honour was at Beckley, where was a castle, in 
which Richard, King of the Romans, his son Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, 
and the other Lords resided. Upon the site where it stood, are still to be 
seen an ancient pigeon-house, and evident remains of foundations. Here of 
course the Lords of the dependent manors performed their suit and ser- 
vices". 

Reginald was appointed a Commissioner to enquire what rents were due 
to the King in Normandy in 1161, and to collect a scutage, which was as- 
sessed in the same year upon the county of Oxford. He confirmed like- 
wise to the monks of St. Frideswide at Oxford the manors of Knittinton 
in Berkshire, which had been given by his father. In 1164, he was one 
of the Barons in the Council of Clarendon, and was deputed with other 
Lords to wait upon Lewis, the King of France. He died about 1 166, and 
left a son named Bernard, and a daughter called Matilda". 

Matilda married William de Braose, a powerful Baron, and for her bold 
and resolute behaviour to King John, was miserably famished, with her 
eldest son, in Windsor Castle in ^lO?. 

His son, Bernard de Saint Valory, the founder of the monas- 
tery at Studley, being abroad at his father's death, the King issued a pre- 
cept to the Sheriffs of the counties in which his lands were situated, to 
secure his rights and property till his return 2 . For the livery of his lands 
he paid to the King five marks and a half, in which were included, half a 
mark for Beckley, and one mark for Horton. It appears by a charter of 
the year Il69 5 that he was still in possession of the original hereditary 
lordship of St. Valori in Normandy. 

In 1171 he fell under the King's displeasure, his lands were seized, and 
the rents paid into the Exchequer. But his peace was soon made, and it 

' Kennet, p. 276. u Ibid. p. 1Q5. * Kennet, in annis. * Mat. West, sub 

anno. * Kennet, p. 123. 



414- HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. hook iv. 

seems to have been a condition that he should give to the King his manor 
of Wolvercott, and the advowson of the nunnery of Godstow, near Oxford, 
both which estates he had acquired in frank marriage with his second wife 
Avoris, the daughter of John de St. John, Lord of Stanton a . 

He was a considerable benefactor to the monks. In 1172 he gave to 
the Abbey of Oseney a pool near the Thames, with a watercourse running 
to the mill, and the moiety of seventeen acres and a half of his demesne 
lands in the isle of Oseney. To the Hospital of St. Giles in London he 
gave rents and privileges at Isleworth, and confirmed and enlarged his 
father's gifts to the nuns at Ambesbury\ He granted likewise a charter 
to the nuns of Godstow near Oxford, about 1 172, with lands and fisheries". 
King Henry the Second bestowed upon him the manor of Ardington, now 
Yarnton, in Berks, in 1 1 SO *' . 

In the year 1 184 according to Kennet, but Bishop Tanner supposes in 
1176, or 1179, he founded the Priory of Studley, for nuns of the 
Benedictine order, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and endowed it with 
half a hide of land in Horton. This is the earliest charter which is known, 
but it seems rather to imply that the convent was already in existence 6 . 

He was attending Richard the First in Normandy, when his father, 
Henry the Second, died in 1189- Soon after the coronation he again ac- 
companied the King into Normandy, where he went to prepare for his ex- 
pedition to Palestine. Bernard assumed the Cross with his sovereign, 
and, for his better success, in his passage through France, he founded an 
Abbey, which he called Locus Dei, Lieu Dieu, or Godestow, in 119 1, 
in the county of Eu, upon the river Breston, which divides Normandy 
from Picardy f . To the convention which was made at Messina between 
Philip Augustus, King of France, and Richard, amongst the fidejiissores, 
or securities, was Bernardus de St. Walery, or such of his heirs as should 
inherit St. Valori 8 . 

The events of this memorable crusade are well known, and the immortal 
honour acquired by Richard Cceur de Lion, and his brave associates. 



* Kennet, p. 127. b Ibid. c Kennet, p. 128. '' Ibid, in anno. 

' Studley Chartukry. ISryan Twyne's MSS. Kennet, in anno. Tanner's Notitia Mo- 
nastica. Dugdale's Monasticon. ' Kennet, p. 1 49. Gallia Christiana, vol. x. p. 328. 

5 The new edition of Kennet, in anno, from Ryuier. 



chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 415 

The siege of Acre was then the principal scene of action. It was here 
that the romantic bravery of Richard, and the Franks, met with a worthy 
adversary in the courage and virtues of Saladine. After two years the city 
was compelled to surrender ; but this siege and victory were purchased at 
an immense expence of money, troops, and heroes. More than one hun- 
dred thousand Christians were slain, and every country in Europe had to 
lament the loss of its princes, nobles, and knights. Amongst these is 
enumerated Bernard de Saint Valori, who was shot through the head by 
an arrow from an arbalet, or cross-bow h . 

He was succeeded in his baronies by Thomas de St. Walery, who 
paid one hundred and seventy marks for the relief of his barony', and was 
likewise a considerable benefactor to the service of religion, and the second 
founder of the Priory of Studley. He married Adela, or Edela, heiress to 
the lordship of Saint Albine, near Dieppe in Normandy, and daughter of 
the Count of Ponthieu k , of whom the following extraordinary story is 
related in the History of Picardy. 

" Thomas de Saint Valery was travelling with his wife Adela, daughter 
of a Count de Ponthieu. They were attacked near a forest by eight 
armed men. St. Valery, after a severe struggle, was seized, bound, and 
thrown into a thicket. His wife was carried off, exposed to the brutality 
of the banditti, and afterwards dismissed in a state of nudity. She, how- 
ever, sought for and found her husband, and they returned together. 
They were soon after met by their servants, whom they had left at an 
inn, and returned to their father's castle at Abbeville. The barbarous 
Count, full of false ideas of honour, proposed, some days after, to his 
daughter, a ride to his town of Rue, on the sea shore. There they en- 
tered a bark, as if to sail about for pleasure ; and they had stood out three 
leagues from the shore, when the Count de Ponthieu starting up, said, 
with a terrible voice, " Lady, death must now efface the shame which 
" your misfortune has brought on all your family !" The sailors, pre- 
viously instructed, instantly seized her, shut her up in a hogshead, and 
threw her into the sea, while the bark regained the coast. Happily a 
Flemish vessel passing near the coast, the crew observed the floating hogs- 
head, and expecting a prize of good wine, took it up, opened it, and with 

" Roger de Hovedon, p. 685. '< Kennet, p. IhQ. k Ibid. p. 156. 



416 HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 



BOOK IV. 



great surprise found a beautiful woman. She was, however, almost dead, 
from terror and want of air ; and at her earnest entreaty the honest 
Flemings sent a boat ashore with her. She gained her husband's house, 
who was in tears for her supposed death. The scene was extremely 
affecting — but Adela survived it only a few hours. John, Count of Pon- 
thieu, repenting of his crime, gave to the Monks of St. Valery the right of 
fishing three days in the year in and about the spot where his daughter 
had been thrown overboard 1 ." 

In 1193, Thomas de St. Valori gave his manor of Mixbury to the 
Abbey of Oseney. In 1202, he confirmed to the Abbot of Thame some 
land in Stoke, and in 120:3 he confirmed his father's foundation of the 
Priory of Studley, with some new gifts" 1 . 

In 1205, he confirmed to the monks of Bittledon lands in Dodford". 
In 1206, he owed the King ten marks and nine shillings for arrears of 
scutage". In 1207, he confirmed his father's foundation of Godstow in 
France. He afterwards incurred the King's displeasure, and his lands 
were seized by the Crown ; for in 1209 he paid a composition of one 
thousand marks to recover them. The custody of his barony having been 
in the mean time committed to Robert de Braibroc''. 

In 1212, an Inquisition was taken of the honor of Saint Valori q . In 
1213, Thomas de St. Valori, by adhering to the Pope and the French 
interests, again offended the King, who sent a precept to the Sheriff of 
Oxfordshire, with orders for putting in some discreet steward to take care 
of his lands and chattels, commanding him to be summoned to appear on 
a certain day. And another precept was sent to Ralph Hareng, Seneschal 
of the honor of St. Valori, requiring him to assign to Gerard de Rodes 
land to the value of twenty pounds out of the said estate 1 ". 

In 1216, the King committed his estate to Ralph Harengod, to keep 
for the use of Thomas de Saint Valori', who confirmed the grants to 
Godstow Nunnery in Oxfordshire. In 1217 5 a precept was issued to the 
Sheriff of Oxfordshire to give Thomas de St. Valori possession of the lands 

1 The History of Picardy, quoted by Horace Walpole, from whom the above is taken. 
Walpoliana, vol. ii. page 128. 

m Kennet, in anno. Mon. Ang. torn. i. p. 147- Studley Chart, and Brian Twyne. 

n Kennet, p. 16?. ° Ibid. p. 168. p Ibid, in anno. q Ibid. p. 175. 

' Ibid, in anno. 6 Ibid. p. 183. 



chap. ii. HISTORY OF STUDLEY PRIORY. 417 

of his brother Henry, of which he had been disseized in the Barons' war, and 
Henry had seizen of his lands in Fulbroc in Oxfordshire, Northon and 
Sutton in Huntingdonshire, and Henton in Berks, where he had obtained 
a market'. 

Henry de St. Valori, brother of Thomas, late lord of the manor of 
Ambrosden, at a trial before the itinerant Judges in the county of Buck- 
inghamshire, lost his lands in the said county by default to the King, 
because his attorney had not personally appeared in the court, after four 
days admonition ; but would have pleaded for an Essonium de malo lectin 
that is, that upon sickness of the party summoned, attested in the open 
court for four days successively, the Judges shall then appoint four knights 
to attend the sick person, and see him depute an attorney to appear for 
him. Which plea was now overruled by the Judges, because no attorney 
could have an attorney, as no proctor could have a proctor. Upon which 
Henry de St. Valori was judged in default, and his lands taken into the 
King's hands". 

Thomas de St