Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/243

C^riginal iDocununls. BOND BY THE ABBOT AND CONVENT OF WINCHCOMBE, ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE ANCIENT USAGE OF CHANGE OF SURNAME. Amongst tlic miscellaneous documents collected by tlio late Mr. Ambrose Glover, and cbiefly relating to the county of Surrey, one relating to the Benedictine Abbey of Wiucbcombe, Gloucestershire, has been preserved. It might perhaps be regarded as of trilling moment, were it not that it supplies a striking illustration of the usage of change of surname, frequently observed, as it would appear, in monastic establishments, and occasionally practised by the higher dignitaries of the Church. It may seem needless to remind our readers that this practice had been customary with the popes, and commenced, as Platina (cited by Camden in his " Remaines ") states that some had asserted, by Sergius II., a.d. 844, who had, previously to being raised to the papacy, the less euphonous appellation of Hog's Mouth, — Os Porci. Adrian III., Burius informs us, had been called Aga- patus, and Stephen VI. had borne the name of Basilius ; Sergius IV. also, that of Peter, which out of humility and respect to the Prince of Apostles, he abandoned, and thenceforward was known by that of Sergius. The Popes have from that period always changed their baptismal name on being advanced to the pontificate. The document in question, for which we are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Thomas Hart, of Reigate, in whose possession the collections of Mr. Glover remain, is a bond by the Abbot and Convent of Winchcombe to William IMownslowe, of the city of London, Mercer, in the sum of two hundred marks, conditioned for further assurance by the said abbot and convent, and quiet enjoyment by William Mownslowe, his heirs, and assigns, of a messuage, <kc., in the parish of St. Bride's, London. Such bonds not unfrequently accompanied conveyances, in the place of the covenants for title now in use. It is remarkable, however, that, in addition to the conventual seal, which was all that was required to make the bond an effectual legal instrument, the abbot and prior, and several of the monks testified their privity and assent to it, by signing their names between the bond and the condition. The concurrence of the monks did not indeed render them individually liable, they being civilitcr mortui, but served to show their assent to the transaction ; a precaution taken, probably, because the bond was made (judging from the identity of surname) to a relation of the abbot's. A conveyance of some kind had most likely accompanied the bond, and was, probably, a step taken in consequence of the apprehension the abbot and convent began to entertain that their possessions were not safe against the king, seeing he had, in the preceding year, seized those of the lesser monasteries. It may have been a fictitious sale to W'illiam Mownslowe for the preservation of the property, or a real sale, the abbot and convent knowing that money was more easily concealed than messuages or lands. In the Act of 31st Hen. VIII. c. 13, by which the greater monasteries (of which this was one) were dissolved, is contained a clause making void all sales by the abbots, etc. (within a year previous) of lands, (tc, of their ancient foundation. VOL. IX. D li