Lands of Bec in England. Anselm had thus many ties of friendship and kindly association with England, even before he had any official connexion with the land or its inhabitants. And a strictly official connexion began long before he became archbishop. The Abbot of Bec had both temporal possessions and spiritual duties within our island. He was the lord of English estates and the spiritual father of brethren settled on English soil. The house of Bec appears in four places in Domesday as holder of lands in England; but one manor only was held in chief of the king. The church of Saint Mary of Bec held the lordship of Deverel in Wiltshire, once the possession of Brihtric, whether the son of Ælfgar or any less famous bearer of the name. This had been the gift of Queen Matilda, and it is worth noting that the value of the land had lessened in the few years between her death and the taking of the Survey.[1] A smaller estate at Swinecombe in Oxfordshire, held of Miles Crispin, was more lucky; it had grown in value by one third.[2] In Surrey the house held lands at Tooting
- [Footnote: mentioned in the Letters, i. 57, 58. This last Osbern is demanded by Lanfranc
for his monastery at Canterbury ("domnus Osbernus quem ad se reduci auctoritas vestra jubet"), and he is sent to Prior Henry at Christ Church with a letter of recommendation from Anselm. In this are the words, "domnus Osbernus vester, qui ad vos redit, pristinæ vitæ perversitatam sponte accusat et execratur." This and a good deal more would exactly suit the Osbern of the Life, yet it is hardly possible that they can be the same. But this second Osbern may be the same as the one who writes the most remarkable letter to Anselm (iii. 2), on which see Appendix Y. Osbern, Osbiorn, is one of those names which are both English—or at least Danish—and Norman. That the second Osbern at least was English seems clear from Epp. i. 60, 65, where we hear of "domnus Hulwardus [Wulfward] Anglus, consobrinus domni Osberni." Did Lanfranc claim all English monks anywhere?]
- ↑ Domesday, 69 b. "Totum manerium valet xii. libras; valebat xv. libras vivente Mathilde regina, quæ dedit eidem ecclesiæ." There were six hides and a half in demesne, and one hide held by the church of the place.
- ↑ Domesday, 159 b. "Valuit xl. solidos; modo lx. solidos. Hæc terra nunquam geldum reddidit." This exceptional privilege, designed or casual, might become a ground of disputes.
