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Rh The first point of interest in connexion with these is the ordination of vicarages. The Liber Antiquus of Bishop Hugh of Wells names forty-five vicarages in this archdeaconry, already ordained ; but it is most probable that some of these (described as ' ex dudum ordinatae ') were arranged before his time, though their actual date cannot be fixed. There is, indeed, a charter of Bishop Robert de Chesney, confirming to the monastery of Tickford a large number of churches, and contain- ing also the provision that the monks should ' choose and present to the bishop vicars,' to whom they should secure a vicarage therein. As this charter is witnessed by Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, it must be earlier than the year 1 1 54, and it is interesting as showing an effort to assign proper portions for the vicars even before the Lateran Council of 1179, from which they are usually dated.

The portions assigned in this archdeaconry are of the usual value, comprising the lesser tithes, and the ordinary offerings made at the altars of the church, amounting altogether, in most cases, to about £5 a year : this, with addition of a ' competent manse," seems to have been enough for a single man to live upon until the Great Pestilence brought such changes in the value of property. The portions of the vicars of New- port Pagnel and Great Missenden differ slightly from the rest, as their churches were closely connected with the monasteries to which they were appropriated. There was, indeed, in both cases a manse outside the monastery ; but the vicars were to take their meals in the refectory with the monks, and only to have a small stipend (20s. annually) out of the altarage to provide them with clothes and other necessaries : a clerk and a horse were also to be furnished by the monks.

During the episcopates of Grossetete, Gravesend and Sutton, a few more vicarages were ordained, though they cannot all be accurately