The rental roll archive for Taunton Priory, manuscripts for 1299 to 1441

The rental roll archive for Taunton Priory, an Augustinian foundation, for the years 1299 to 1441, in Latin with names of estates in Middle English, manuscripts on parchment[England (Taunton), late thirteenth to mid-fifteenth century] Nine rolls: (i) Rental accounts for the year 1299, in Latin, specifying annual rents due from properties in Somerset owned by the Priory, with lists organised by the names of the stewards of the manor, entries in good English secretarial hand, on 5 membranes, 2400 by 240mm.; (ii) another such roll for the year 1309, in Latin with Middle English placenames, entries in another English secretarial hand, on 4 membranes, 2180 by 220mm.; (iii) another such roll for the year 1313, with the final entry dated 20 July 1313, in Latin with Middle English placenames, entries in another English secretarial hand, on 4 membranes, 1520 by 220mm.; (iv) another such roll for the years 1316 and 1317, in Latin with with Middle English placenames, entries in another English secretarial hand, on 5 membranes, 2070 by 230mm.; (v) another such roll for the year 1322 and 1323, in Latin with Middle English placenames, entries in another English secretarial hand, on 4 membranes, 2400 by 240mm.; (vi) another such roll for the year 1330, in Latin with Middle English placenames, entries in another English secretarial hand, on 6 membranes, 3330 by 220mm.; (vii) another such roll for the year 1422, dated Feast of St Michael the Archangel (ie. 29 September), "1 Henry VI" (ie. 1422), in Latin with Middle English placenames, entries in another English secretarial hand, confirmed on the dorse at the head with the name of the prior, "Thomas Uffculiup" (Vffenlup), on 10 membranes, 5280 by 270mm.; (viii) another such roll for the year 1439, dated Feast of St Michael the Archangel (ie. 29 September), "18 Henry VI" (ie. 1439), in Latin with Middle English placenames, entries in another English secretarial hand, confirmed on the dorse at the head with the name of the prior, "Thomas Uffculiup"(Vffenlup) on "27 Henry VI" (ie. 1448/9), on 8 membranes, 5520 by 260mm.; (ix) another such roll for the year 1441, dated Feast of St Michael the Archangel (ie. 29 September), "20 Henry VI" (ie. 1441), in Latin with Middle English placenames, entries in another English secretarial hand, confirmed on the dorse at the head under the name of the prior, "Thomas Uffculiup" (Vffenlup) on "29 Henry VI" (ie. 1450/51), on 8 membranes, 5850 by 250mm.; all with some tears to edges with occasional losses there, cockling, spots and stains, but overall in fair and presentable condition Provenance: 1. Written for Taunton Priory, an Augustinian Priory dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, Taunton, Somerset, and retained throughout the Middle Ages in their archive there. The house was founded c. 1115 by William Giffard, bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor, absorbing an earlier foundation which dated back to late Anglo-Saxon times (the community later remembering their own foundation before 1016). It grew to be a large house through royal and noble patronage, with 26 canons in 1339, though it suffered under the Black Death. The prior was granted the right to use the ring, pastoral staff and other insignia of the rank of bishop (besides the mitre) in 1499. It yielded to Henry VIII's commissioners on 12 February 1539, and was dissolved. Leland visited in 1540 and 1542. These records presumably entered local lay ownership at that time, along with crucial estates once owned by the community, and appear to have descended to a Somerset lawyer's archive until their sale in 1991.2. Sotheby's, 17 December 1991, lot 41 (but there erroneously called "Court Rolls").3. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 1562, acquired in Sotheby's. Text:The destruction and sweeping away of this large English medieval house is almost entirely complete. Only one book from their library is known to survive (a late twelfth-century Bible, once owned by R.J.A. Arundell, Wardour Castle, his sale at Sotheby's, 24 November 1947, lot 63, now Morgan Library and Museum, New York), and their buildings were almost entirely demolished in the decades following the Dissolution - so that now only a late medieval barn stands (and presently holds the Somerset Cricket Museum). No cartulary is known and only a handful of charters mention the house, usually from other archives. In fact, this small bundle of parchment rolls contains virtually all the facts that we can know from the community, written down by themselves, and surviving together by some fluke of chance. They are unstudied and unpublished, and in much the same state as they were on the dissolution of the house half a millennia ago.Please note: These items are subject to the Manorial Documents Rules. As such they cannot be taken out of England and Wales without the consent of the Master of the Rolls, and future owners must inform the secretary of the Historical Manuscripts Commission of their acquisition.