Page:Somerset Historical Essays.djvu/73

 was at Gloucester, where he attested in presence of the king a composition between the abbey and Roger the archbishop of York.

Four letters from the dean and chapter of Salisbury are preserved in the Liber Albus I. Two of them are addressed to Dean Ivo, and relate to the rights of the dean and canons in their own churches and estates, setting forth how they are 'wholly emancipated from the vexation and servitude of archdeacons'. The other two belong to the period of his successor, and deal with various points on which guidance was sought from the usage of the church of Sarum.

The original endowment of the deanery is of sufficient interest to detain us for a few moments. It is called by Bishop Robert Wedmoreland, and is the high ground which separates the marshes of the rivers Axe and Brue. Wedmore itself is eight miles due west of Wells. Its name recalls historical memories of Alfred and the Danes. This territory was part of the ancient demesne of the Saxon kings. Glastonburyin deed showed charters which recorded that K. Centwine (676-85) gave it to Bishop Wilfrid, who in turn gave it to Abbot Beorhwald (c. 705-9). But the abbey failed to hold it, and we find K. Alfred in his will granting it to Edward his eldest son. In later days it was given to Bishop Giso by K. Edward the Confessor, whose queen Edith gave Merk and Mudgeley as well. Out of this great property the new deanery was endowed by Bishop Robert, and six prebends also were created. Four of these consisted of yearly payments by the dean of 100 shillings each: another was the church of Wedmore, which was the portion of the subdean: the sixth was Biddisham, which (with the exception of one virgate) was constituted 'a prebend for the repair of the church of St Andrew and the purchase of ornaments for the same', with the obligation however of providing a vicar. Besides Wedmore and the excepted virgate at Biddisham the dean held Merk and Mudgeley, and also the church of Wookey. The prebend of Litton was also assigned by Bishop Robert to the deanery. Dean Ivo received from K. Henry II a grant of free warren on his lands at Wedmore.