Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/327

 THE ALIEN I'liloliY oT ANDWELL. 2.')! the witnesses occur " WiU'nius de pulchra Quercu," k " Joh'cs fr' meus." This grant was ratified by Hugh^ Bishop of Coventry, and appropriated to the use of the kitchen of the Abbey. To such an extent were the monks of Tyrone indebted to the hberahty of the de Ports for tlie endowment of their dependent Priory of Andwcll. Of the other numerous benefactors of tliis house I need not speak, except of Maude the Empress, who gave them ^ XX sohdates of land at Estrop. The church of the Priory was dedicated between a.d. 1215 and 1238, as appears by an indulgence of forty days granted by John,"* Bishop of Ardfcrt, who had officiated for Peter,^ Bishop of Winchester, to all, who, having confessed and re- pented, had come to the consecration of the church and offered alms ; and ten da3's, on like terms, for attendance at the dedication of the altars, which had taken place on the feast of the Holy Innocents. The church was dedicated to St. John the Baptist ; and the seal of the Priory, which is here figured, represented that saint, clad in his garment of camel's hair, and carrying in his right hand the " Agnus ^ In Arch. Coll. Winton. Hugh de Nonant. a.d. 1186 to l'J9. •' Of this grant no mention is made in the charter of the Archbisiiop noticed above ; but with reference to the land at Estrop there is an endorsement on the charter, " terra regis Stephani." •• John, an English Benedictine Monk, was consecrated Bishop of this see, about the year 1215 ; but for some unknown cause he was deprived of his see, by the Pope's Legate in r221 (or perhaps not effectually till 1'224), and passed the re- mainder of his life in the Abbey of St. Alban's, to which he bequeathed many valuable jewels. He died there in Oct. 124.5. Cotton's Fasti. Ecc. Hib. vol. i. Besides jewels he gave the abbey a number of" useful books." The following description of the jewels, printed in the Mon. Ang!., is very curious. Johannes, Episcopus Ardfertensis, praetor libros, quos huic nionasterio contulit, dedit unam jietrain nobilem, aerii coloris, distiiictain albis niaculis, (ju;e dicitur vulgaritcr serpentina, qua; fertur mul- tum vaiere lunaticis, cujus forma est fere quadra, et circumligatur argcnto, in cujus margine plures reliquiie conti- nentur : Dedit etiam tres nobiles aureos annulos, in quorum uno haljotur .saphirus orientalis mine mn;;nitudinis ; in alio lapis, qui dicitur pcridotes, sive pederotes, in cujus medio saphirus oxcellentis pul- chritudinis colloeatur ; et halict virtutem spasmum potenter refra3nandi ; istc lapis ad modum clipei fere formatur ; in tertio vei'o annulo alius .^ajjhirus includitur ori- entalis, sed minor (juam prior, de quo locuti ?umus. ■^ Peter de Rupibus, was Bishop of Winchester from a.d. 1205 tol23«.