Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/64

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
46
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.

XXs. Item, lego Johanni Brown Careetario xs. Item, lego Willelmo West v. marcas. Item, lego fratri Thomæ Horton iiiili. Item, lego Waltero Clerico ecclesiæ de Warneford vis. viiid. Item, volo quod expensæ funerariæ fiant ad dlspositionem executorum meorum. Item, lego executoribus meis cuilibet eorum xx. marcas. Item, volo et humiliter supplico quod dominus meus Reverendus Episcopus Wyntoniensis supervideat et adjuvet executores meos in executione testamenti mei. Hujus autem testamenti me! ordino, facio, et constituo executores meos Magistrum Adam de Wygemere, dominum Petrum de Mundeford, Rectorem Ecclesiæ de Earde, et dominum Robcrtum Madherst, Vicarium de Bernham, ac etiam Hugonem Hakkere. Residuum vero omnium bonorum meorum lego secundum dispositionem executorum meorum.

The testator, Luke de Ponynges, younger brother of Michael de Ponynges who took a distinguished part in the wars of Edward III., married Isabella, widow of Henry de Burghersh, as stated in Dugdale's Baronage (vol. ii. p. 136). But in the "Historia fundationis Prioratus de Boxgrave, et fundatoris stemma,"[1] she is called the widow of Bartholomew de Burghersh. She was younger sister, and ultimately heiress of Edmund de St. John, of Basing, the last descendant in the male line of William, son and heir of Adam de Port, who assumed the name of St. John, from his mother Mabel, granddaughter and heiress of Roger de St. John.[2] The testator's purpose with regard to his burial in the Church of Boxgrave Priory, of which he was regarded as patron, and to which the St. Johns had been for several generations such liberal benefactors, would seem not to have been carried out. He subsequently changed his mind as to the disposal of his body; and having expressed a desire to be buried in the Parish Church of Warneford, Hants, and that fact having been established by evidence to the Bishop's satisfaction, the will, with that exception, was proved at Southwark, on 4th July, 1376, as appears by an entry in the Register preceding that of the will. Shortly afterwards, the Prior of Boxgrave, in the name of himself and his convent, by a special instrument entered on the Register immediately after the will, renounced all their right to the sepulture of the body, which entry is as follows:—

"Subsequenterque XXVII. die mensis Julii Anno Domini MCCCLXXVI. in castro Reverendi in Christo patris et domini, domini Willelmi Dei gratia Wynton' Episcopi apud Farnham, Indictione XIIII. pontiticatus sanctissimi in Christo patris et domini, domini Gregorii, divina providentia Papaæ ximi anno vito, Constitutus personaliter religiosus vir, frater Johannes de Londa, prior prioratus beatæ Mariæ de Boxgrave prædicti Cicestrensis, quandam renunciationem in scriptis redactam publice perlegit, cujus tenor talis est:—In Dei nomine amen. Ego Johannes de Londa, Prior Prioratus beatæ Mariæ de Boxgrave Cicestrensis diocesis, nomine meo et oonventus ejusdem Prioratus, omni juri [sic], si quod habui vel habeo, ad sepeliendum corpus domini Lucæ de Ponynges, militis, defuncti, ex legato ipsius in testamento suo relicto sive facto, dum in humanis agebat languens in extremis pure, sponte, et absolute renuncio in hiis scriptis, et omni [sic] juris remedio [sic] michi et dicto conventui competenti [sic] in hac parte: Recognovit insuper idem prior publice et expresse, ex quibusdam informa-

  1. Dugdale, Mon. Ang. vol. iv. p. 646, Caley's edition.
  2. See Archæological Journal, Vol. IX. p. 259.