DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0086
44
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
the completion of so extensive a building; particularly, as the stone of which it is
composed was probably conveyed from a distance of fifteen or twenty miles.*
The most reasonable conjectures, therefore, appear to be, that Roger de Clinton
erected the abbey, upon a part of the episcopal lands belonging to him; that he'
afterwards placed a society of monks in it, and endowed it with his village of Build-
was, and with various other premises, by a charter granted to Ingenulfus and his
brother monks, when they had taken possession of the abbey; which might be in
the year 1135.
If this statement be conclusive, Buildwas, which is thereby supposed to have been
finished in the year 1 ] 35, must be esteemed of greater antiquity than St. Cross ;
which, according to Rudborne, was only begun A. D. 1136.
There is a passage in Leland's Itinerary, (Vol. viii. p. 50,) which, as it does not
correspond with what has been here advanced, respecting the founder of the abbey,
it may be proper to notice : Leland writes, that " Matilda de Bohun, wife of Sir
Robert Burnell, founder of Bildevois Abbey, (thowghe some for only the gifte of
the scite of the house, toke the Byshope of Chester for founder) was burried in the
presbitery at Dour, an abbey six miles from Herefore, flat south." This assertion
is unsupported by any collateral testimony, and is, also, contrary to the tenor of the
early records which now exist. The charter of Roger de Clifton, already mentioned,
is recited in several others of later date ; and proves that he did more than give the
site of the abbey; for, besides his " Village of Buildwas," he also gave lands at
Meol, near Salop, and tythes in the hundreds of Wroekwardyn and Cundore. No
* It is worth)' of remark, that in the original charter of King Stephen, just alluded to, there is an error in the
date; which, considering the deliberate manner in which such instruments were usually prepared, is equally
extraordinary and unaccountable. The concluding sentence runs thus: "Apud Salopesbiriam. In obsidione.
Anno Inc. Dince. MCXXXIX. Regni vero mei tcio." The enor is apparent in two ways ; first, from a dis-
cordance in the charter itself; and secondly, from the evidence of history. It will be obvious, on consideration
that as Stephen was crowned Dec. 26th, A. D. 1135, no part of the year 1139, could, by any method of compu-
tation, be in the third of Stephen's reign. The testimony of Ordericus Vitalis, a native of Attingham, near
Shrewsbury, who wrote about A. D. 1141, and who minutely describes the transactions of this siege, clearly fixes
that event to have happened in 1138, the third year of Stephen's reign. He says, that William Fitz-Alan, the
governor, sustained the siege almost a month; and that the town was taken by assault, in August, 1138. It is
therefore manifest, that the date 1139, in the manuscript, is erroneous.
The following are the words in Ordericus Vitalis, p. 017- " Guillelmus Alanni filius, municeps & Vicomes
Scrobesburise—in regem rebellavit; et pradictam urbem contra ilium, fere uno mense tenuit. Tandem mense
Augusto, regia virtute victus, aufugit; et Rex forti assultu munitionem subegit."
Tin charter of King Stephen, above referred to, is in the Cottonian Library, marked Nero. C. 3. It is clearly
written, and in fine preservation. I have often examined it, and have taken an exact fac-simile copy.
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
the completion of so extensive a building; particularly, as the stone of which it is
composed was probably conveyed from a distance of fifteen or twenty miles.*
The most reasonable conjectures, therefore, appear to be, that Roger de Clinton
erected the abbey, upon a part of the episcopal lands belonging to him; that he'
afterwards placed a society of monks in it, and endowed it with his village of Build-
was, and with various other premises, by a charter granted to Ingenulfus and his
brother monks, when they had taken possession of the abbey; which might be in
the year 1135.
If this statement be conclusive, Buildwas, which is thereby supposed to have been
finished in the year 1 ] 35, must be esteemed of greater antiquity than St. Cross ;
which, according to Rudborne, was only begun A. D. 1136.
There is a passage in Leland's Itinerary, (Vol. viii. p. 50,) which, as it does not
correspond with what has been here advanced, respecting the founder of the abbey,
it may be proper to notice : Leland writes, that " Matilda de Bohun, wife of Sir
Robert Burnell, founder of Bildevois Abbey, (thowghe some for only the gifte of
the scite of the house, toke the Byshope of Chester for founder) was burried in the
presbitery at Dour, an abbey six miles from Herefore, flat south." This assertion
is unsupported by any collateral testimony, and is, also, contrary to the tenor of the
early records which now exist. The charter of Roger de Clifton, already mentioned,
is recited in several others of later date ; and proves that he did more than give the
site of the abbey; for, besides his " Village of Buildwas," he also gave lands at
Meol, near Salop, and tythes in the hundreds of Wroekwardyn and Cundore. No
* It is worth)' of remark, that in the original charter of King Stephen, just alluded to, there is an error in the
date; which, considering the deliberate manner in which such instruments were usually prepared, is equally
extraordinary and unaccountable. The concluding sentence runs thus: "Apud Salopesbiriam. In obsidione.
Anno Inc. Dince. MCXXXIX. Regni vero mei tcio." The enor is apparent in two ways ; first, from a dis-
cordance in the charter itself; and secondly, from the evidence of history. It will be obvious, on consideration
that as Stephen was crowned Dec. 26th, A. D. 1135, no part of the year 1139, could, by any method of compu-
tation, be in the third of Stephen's reign. The testimony of Ordericus Vitalis, a native of Attingham, near
Shrewsbury, who wrote about A. D. 1141, and who minutely describes the transactions of this siege, clearly fixes
that event to have happened in 1138, the third year of Stephen's reign. He says, that William Fitz-Alan, the
governor, sustained the siege almost a month; and that the town was taken by assault, in August, 1138. It is
therefore manifest, that the date 1139, in the manuscript, is erroneous.
The following are the words in Ordericus Vitalis, p. 017- " Guillelmus Alanni filius, municeps & Vicomes
Scrobesburise—in regem rebellavit; et pradictam urbem contra ilium, fere uno mense tenuit. Tandem mense
Augusto, regia virtute victus, aufugit; et Rex forti assultu munitionem subegit."
Tin charter of King Stephen, above referred to, is in the Cottonian Library, marked Nero. C. 3. It is clearly
written, and in fine preservation. I have often examined it, and have taken an exact fac-simile copy.