We are indebted to the kindness of the Rector of Exeter College, Oxford, for the following authentic particulars from the deeds preserved in the archives of the college.
The advowson was conveyed by the prior and convent of the Cluniac order at Longueville Giffard in the diocese of Ronen in Normandy, to Walter de Stapeldon, bishop of Exeter, the founder of Exeter College, for the consideration of 100 marks, A.D. 1320-21. It was appropriated to the college under the authority of Pope John XXII. by the bishop of Winchester, his commissary, and confirmed by Pope Clement VI. A.D. 1333. The college was finally inducted by its proctor A.D. 1355. It is styled the Church of the blessed Virgin of West Wittenham, or Wittenham Comitis. This seems to have been the first regular appropriation of the living, though a claim had been set up by the abbey of Longueville to the appropriation, and tithes are said to have been paid to them by Hugh de Plessy, John de S. Elena, and Robert de Sandford, but in a suit promoted against them by W. de Braybrook, rector of the parish, the bishop of Salisbury by his proctor decided in the church of St. Nicholas, Abingdon, that he had made no appearance and no good claim. In this suit the proctor for the abbey was the nominee of the prior of Northampton, who is styled proctor general in England for priories alien. The ordination of the vicarage bears date A.D. 1358, John Brendon, vicar, and successor to Richard Pyni, who was the rector in possession at the time of the appropriation.
The manor was purchased by Sir Thomas White, founder of St. John's College, Oxford, and given by him to his new foundation. I. H. P.
