A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE give Badby at his death to Evesham, he having inherited the remainder of the lease. On the expiry of the lease, he tells us, the abbot of Crow- land (i 1 09- 1 124) claimed the manor from Evesham, and urged the Domesday entry in support of his suit. But, continues the writer, the abbot of Evesham, Reginald, was a nephew of Milo, earl of Hereford, who gave him his support. Abbot Reginald insisted that his house had been given the manor by Avicius the prior and by ' Wulsi ' the hermit, whose patrimony it had long been. The support of so powerful a man as earl Milo of Hereford made resistance useless, and the abbot of Crow- land returned to his house unsuccessful in his claim.' Unluckily for this story, there were only twenty years of the lease to run in 1086, according to ' Ingulph,' and abbot Reginald was not appointed till i 122 ; ^ while earl Miles of Hereford, his ' uncle,' did not obtain that dignity till 1141. On the other hand, the Evesham story was that Badby was given to the abbey by Canute in 1018, and after- wards ' restored ' by prior Avitius and ' the blessed Wlsi ' as of their inheritance.' This ' Wlsi ' appears to have died under William Rufus.* Canute's charter was printed by Kemble, who did not throw any doubt on its authenticity. ** But this charter dates itself as granted in 1020, and it does not profess to give, but only to ' concede ' the manor." Its con- tents certainly are more consistent with a confirmation by Canute of a gift by ' Avicius ' than with the subsequent detention and final restora- tion of the manor by Avicius. Evesham documents themselves are not above suspicion, and in the absence of any real evidence, one can only conjecture that the Domesday entry may have been due to Wulfsige being connected with Crowland in 1086. No Norman religious house is found, in Northamptonshire, ' hold- ing in chief,' save that abbey of Grestain on which the count of Mortain had bestowed endowments in several counties. As he held here so many manors, it is probable that in this county also the abbey owed its posses- sions to his favour. Indeed, as I have elsewhere shown, it obtained Harrington, at least, from his wife Maud, to whom it had been given by her father, earl Roger de Montgomery.' The countess Judith had given to the Norman abbey of St. Wandrille, which enjoyed the duke's favour, an estate at Boughton 'by the king's leave' (fo. 229) ; but the abbey is not entered as a tenant in chief. On the Norman abbey of St.
- Ed. Gale, pp. 123-125. ^ Chron. Evesham, p. g8. It may even have been as late as 1 130.
^ ' Iste prior quasi ex paterna hereditate duas villas Baddebi et Neueham huic sanctse ecclesiae reddidit. Hoc idem fecit postea beatus Wlsius quum parentes sui easdem villas iterum injuste occupassent ; de una enim erant parentela. — Ihid., p. 83.
- Il>'d., p. 394.
- Codex Diplomaticus, VI. 178, from Harl. MS., 3763 (in which I have verified the
readings). Mr. Stevenson tells me that he thinks it is forged on the basis of the genuine charter in Cod. Dip., IV. i8 (Brit. Mus. Facsimiles, IV. 16), granting to 'j^uic' five hides at ' Niweham.' ' Ob beneficium et reverentiam nostri dilectissimi monachi nomine Euich, aecclesiae in Eovesham iiii." mansas in Badebi et in Newaeham in aeterna concedimus hxreditate.' Euich (Evich) is Avicius. ' Feudal England, p. 104. 386
