Note note 4 — THE REIGN OF WILLIAM RUFUS.

[949] It was held by the new grantee and his son till it was got back from King Henry by Abbot Faricius (Hist. Ab. ii. 288), “retracto inde ecclesiæ in hoc temporis spatio servitii omni genere” (Ib. ii. 37). This seems to be the Sparsholt of which I spoke in N. C. vol. iv. p. 726, as being held by “Godricus unus liber homo,” a different person from Godric the Sheriff. He is distinguished in the Abingdon History (i. 477) as “Godricus Cild,” and his Sparsholt is said to be “juxta locum qui vulgo Mons Albi Æqui nuncupatur.” In Domesday (59) we find Anschil holding Sparsholt of the Abbot. It had been held T. R. E. by Eadric. Eadric and Godric are clearly the same man, and there must be a mistake of name in one place or the other, just as in Domesday, 146, Eadwine Abbot of Westminster is miscalled Godwine. But a most curious entry follows, from which it appears that Eadric or Godric had given the lordship for the support of his son as a monk in the abbey as long as he lived, after which it was to come back to himself. The shire therefore threw a doubt on the right of the abbey to its possession. They had seen no writ or seal of King William granting it to the abbey; but the abbot and all his monks produced a writ and seal of King Eadward, from which it appeared that Eadric had given the manor to the abbey; “Abbas testatur quod in T. R. E. misit ille manerium ad ecclesiam unde erat, et inde habet brevem et sigillum R. E. attestantibus omnibus monachis suis.” The words “unde erat” show that Eadric or Godric held the lordship of the abbey (for its possession of Sparsholt see Hist. Ab. i. 283, 478), but that he gave up his rights in it to the church. It was then again granted to Anskill.