History of corn milling .. - Centrostudirpinia.it

SOME FEUDAL MILLS. 29
CHAPTER II.
SHREWSBURY ABBEY MILIvS.
1. The history of the mills of Shrewsbury ^ffo^ds g^j^^^ig^^^^Y
an excellent illustration of the manner in which, in abbey
the early days of the feudal system of the Conqueror,
a milling soke was established and built up ; as well ^' Foundation,
as of the manner in which, later, despite fully con-
firmed rights, such a property was destroyed by, or
in deference to, public agitation.
It also illustrates,
unfortunately, how scantily, incorrectly, and even
unwillingly popular historians have bestowed their
attention upon the uncongenial, yet not unimportant
theme of corn milling.
The earliest actual title of Shrewsbury Abbey to the
rights
we have to consider is found in a charter of
Roger Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury ; but as the
standard local historians, Owen and Blakeway, question
the authenticity of this and other charters, we
may, before quoting it, seek some confirmatory evidence
of interest in earlier records. The historian Ordericus
Vitalis, himself a Salopian and a monk, though not of
this foundation, briefly recounts the circumstances of
the establishment of Shrewsbury Abbey ; a matter
upon which much of the point of this sketch
depends.
Coenobium quoque novum ad orientalem portam propriae urbis Eccl. Hist.,
id est Scroburiae in honore Sancti Petri principis apostolorum coepit S7^y S^i, 594.
edificare, Rogerius comes scilicet, super fluminum qui Mola dicetur
ibique in Sabrina delabitur.
Anno igitur ab incarnatione Domini mlxxxiij indictione qua'rta
Rogerius comes, ut hortatus fidelis consiliarii commodos esse
comprobavit, Guarinum vicecomitem et Picotum de Saia cseterosque
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