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34 HISTORY OF CORN MILLING: vol. IV.
II.
Subsequently, by the council of King William, Bishop Robert,
^^^ARmA^^^ "^y ^^'^^^ Adelaisa, and my sons, one of them [the monks] I have
* and have made the abbey free, so that it
MILLS. placed there as abbot ;
. '. shall
not be obnoxiously subject to any other whatever.
2. Grant of I have given them also a house in the city for an office or registry
City Multure, for the use of the church [monastery] ; t and the multure of all the
1087. city and of my court when I reside in the . . .
city.
The whole of which I have conceded and by the authority of my
seal confirmed to them.
Also I have enjoined my sons to take care of that place and
hold it dear. And if it happen that I should die in England they
shall place me there, and shall provide thenceforth what may be
necessary for the brethren of the place.
Witnesses to these— Robert, Bishop of Chester, Hugo and
Robert Belismo [sons of the founder], and others.
From this document we gather how vivid was
the interest of the founder in the monastery he had
built and the abbey he had established at the old
church of St. Peter, where he had laid his gloves
on the altar. Since then he had at different times
endowed it with many valuable gifts, had solemnly
commended it to his sons' care, and had desired to
be buried there ; and there, on July 27, 1094, having
died a monk of his own foundation, in the place of
honour between the altars he was accordingly interred.
The local historians question the genuineness of this
charter ; but finally admitting its
*'
general unstudied
correspondence with Domesday," accept it as evidence ;
Hist. Shby., and agree that ''it must be considered the earl had
11. 10.
granted to his monks the multure of the whole city."
Round this grant all the following events directly
centre. The thirty-nine burgages in the city
* The faulty phrasing of the original suggests that Roger appointed one of
his sons to be abbot : an error into which, as several commentators point out
without explanation, the antiquary Stowe has fallen. Owen and I31akeway
omit this clause in their rendering of the charter (ii. ii), and elsewhere remark
(ii. 106) : " Stowe calls the first abbot the founder's son, but on what authority
we cannot learn."
t " Sabulonem " (a gravel pit) is a misprint by Dugdale in Monasticon (1682),
and the same appears in the edition of 1846. Owen and Blakeway reproduce
this, and add, *'The gift of a house for the purpose of digging gravel is not very
intelligible" {Hist.^ ii. 12). The obvious reading, however, is " tabulonem,"
a house for an office, a counting-house.