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254 THE ANCESTOR east, together with the adjoining plot of land as bounded by the ditch and two chambers extending towards the hall called " Brittoneschamber with the little plot adjoining as far as the stable.* John Cley and Elizabeth his wife received ' all the kitchen with annexed chambers with the chambers from the hall-door extending to the kitchen on the west, with the plot round it as bounded by a ditch ' ; and the share of William Chonesone and Alice his wife was 'all the grange with the little plot adjoining towards the hall on the south with the barton adjoining the grange on the north.' Such deeds as this, it will be observed, throw no little light on the domestic arrangements of the time. Glancing at a few miscellaneous entries, we find the value of a nun's life as a provision for the superfluous daughter illus- trated (1308) by a royal order to the abbess and nuns of Winchester 'to receive into their house and to veil Matilda daughter of John le Mareschal, of Aulton, who wishes to re- ceive the habit of their order, they being bound to admit a maiden of the King's nomination upon his accession.' The King's nominee, who was thus admitted ' on the cheap,' can hardly, one fears, have been made welcome. Another entry (September 7, 131 1) proves that Matilda wife of Richard de la Ryvere was sister and heir of John son of John son of John le Bretun, knight, who held of Richard Basset at Blatherwyk and Laxton. From others we learn that John de Hodebovill, a tenant-in-chief, left at his death a widow Hilaria and a son heir Walter ; that this Walter, dying very shortly afterwards, left a sister Alice as his heir, and a widow Margery, who received as her dower a third part of his messuage, in which was a room called ' Knyghtchaumbre,' together with rents from free tenants, among whom were James, son, and Agatha, daughter, of James de Hodebovyle, who were doubtless cadets of the house. There are some entries which put us on the track of curious little discoveries. For instance, on April 8, 13 12, the king's escheator was ordered to give seisin to Hugh de Hornle and Alice his wife of a tenement in Winchester ' which William de Dunstaple held in chief by the service of rending a pilch of grey work {pellicium grisonis) yearly,' as Alice had been found by Inquisition to be next heir of William. The escheator certified that he had been unable to carry out the king's order ' on account of the resistance of William Fraunceys and others