Helen J. Nicholson's Blog, page 8

Women working on the Templars’ estates

As I progress through the records of the Templars’ former estates I have been noting which jobs were done by men and which by women. So far it appears that although the bulk of employees on these estates were men, women were employed on the farms and in the houses, particularly as cooks — see my ‘Knights Templars’ estates’ blog here.

Templar treasure found!

Good headline, eh? Well — I haven’t exactly found Templar treasure; I’ve found what happened to some of it. It ended up in the royal chapel.

Horse theft!

In the winter of 1308–9 one of the affers or draught horses was stolen from the Templars’ manor at Bulstrode in Buckinghamshire. Some people have no respect for law and order.

(With thanks to Phil Slavin for the photo of TNA: E 358/18 rot. 7 dorse.)

Villeins, cottars, and rent at Horspath

I have now transcribed the ‘extent’ (or list of tenants and rents due) for the Templars’ manor at Horspath in Oxfordshire in 1308. See my blogpost here. The rent was partly in cash and partly in work. As all the work was given in monetary values (one day’s hoeing was worth three farthings, that is three quarters of a penny), we may assume that the tenants generally paid cash rather than turning out in person to dig ditches, plough fields in winter and wash sheep.

Crusading masculinities conference

There will be a conference on ‘Crusading Masculinities’ at the University of Zürich, 30th March-1st April, 2016, organised by Dr Matthew Mesley (University of Zurich), Dr Katherine J. Lewis (University of Huddersfield, UK) and Dr Natasha Hodgson (Nottingham-Trent University, UK). For more details, click the link below.

Source: Welcome!

A widow’s rights

Much has been written on the problems faced by widows during the later middle ages and how difficult it could be to claim their rights. However, in autumn 1310 one widow at Hill (or Hull) Croome in Worcestershire succeeded in her claim on the Templars’ property: I’ve written about it here. You can also see a transcription of the document here.

A tour of Northamptonshire

Oh, the joys of identifying placenames in manuscripts! I’ve been transcribing a 1308 rental listing the rents due to the Templars from 21 locations in Northamptonshire – for the transcription so far, see my blog post here. To identify the placenames, I referred to
But this placename eluded all my efforts. Is it Olmesford? Of course, it must be a place that existed and that was in Northamptonshire – and that one didn’t and wasn’t. Wilmesford? Ditto. After much searching my best guess is Walmesford – now Wansford. If anyone has any better suggestions …

Particulars of Account

So far I’ve found two sets of the sheriffs’ ‘particulars of account’ from which the three great rolls of accounts for the former Templar estates in the National Archives (E 358/18–20) were complied: one set is from Upleadon in Herefordshire, and the other from Worcestershire. I discuss them further here.

Obviously the detailed records are extremely valuable, because they contain information that was lost when the information was formally enrolled at the Exchequer — such at that information about visitors at Upleadon. But once the ‘particulars’ had been enrolled, they were no longer of obvious use and it’s not surprising that most of them are no longer traceable. However, I’ll keep looking …

A Templar found: Henry of Halthon

… in fact, he wasn’t really lost, only mislaid after July 1311. We all knew he was sent to a monastery in the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, but which monastery? The answer is ‘St Peter’s Shrewsbury’, and I explain here how he was found.

The hospitality question

Did the Templars regularly offer hospitality to visitors? The accounts drawn up by the royal custodians of the former Templar estates suggest that they didn’t, but readers of this blog will know that the inventories for these estates refer to almsgiving. When the local people were asked about the subject, they said that the Templars did give donations to the poor — so why don’t the accounts mention such donations?

Most of the sheriffs’ detailed rolls of account submitted to the Exchequer each year have been lost, but where these rolls survive they give details of expenses which the Exchequer clerks left out of the official enrolled accounts. One of the rolls, from Upleadon in Herefordshire, suggests that at this former Templar estate at least visitors could expect to receive food; but the Exchequer clerks deliberately omitted this from the enrolled account. Read more about this here.