History of corn milling .. - Centrostudirpinia.it

SOME FEUDAL MILLS. 39
Roger and Adelaisa, with the consent of King William, the H-
Archbishop Lanfranc, and the principal father [of the diocese of^^^^-^^^^^
Chester] Peter, placed the monks, servants of God, in a certain MILLS.
church, built in the suburbs of the city of Shrewsbury, in honour of 'the
holy Peter and Paul, that assiduously they might exhort the Lord 3. An alleged
for the souls of them and their heirs ; the said monks rightly possess- Forged
ing such honour before [as being of Roger's monastery at Seez], even Charter, 1094.
as they are its possessors now.
The earl and countess, who, be it remembered, out of their own
resources were rebuilding this church from its foundations, commenced
the erection of a suitable habitation for the monks ; but
death intervened, and they did not it.
complete
To this church, for the welfare of the souls as well of themselves
as of all Christians, they gave and conceded in perpetuity as herein
contained.
First, they gave to the congregation of brethren there a certain
road situated near the said church, with three mills, and the whole
revenues known to appertain thereto. This road is separated from
the city of Shrewsbury only by the course of the river, called the
Sabrina, running between. The road is called Biforieta, which in
our Gallic tongue we term Before the Gate.
The whole of these acts were of the year of the incarnation of our
Lord 1087.
This second recital of the ''first" grant again omits
any mention of the city multure ; and, as before,
"the whole revenues appurtenant to the mills" are
claimed— including the town multure by Roger's uncon-
tested charter. No doubt, had the scribe who wrote
the foregoing (or the abbot who drafted the charter
of William II., from which the transcriber evidently
made this copy) been able to foresee the trouble shortly
to arise over what they (like their recent historians)
may have deemed mere "petty, minor details," we
should have had in each case a more precise statement
of what the rights of these mills were.*
*
Another mill (one of Saxon origin, and still existing) on the same Meole
brook, as it is now called, in the suburbs of Shrewsbury, is that of Meole Brace.
In Saxon times it gave name to the hamlet, Mela; this being held by Edith,
queen of the Confessor, and the mill being scheduled in Domesday at the high
valuation of 20s. per annum. During very early times the mill seems to have
been a malt mill (mola brasium) ; hence the present name of the village, Meole
Brace. Throughout all the contests between the abbey and the burgesses the
name of this mill does not occur ; because on one hand it was outside the city,
and on the other it was beyond the lands of the abbey. Still, it certainly would
be one of those to which the disaffected were wont to repair during the continuance
of the conflict.