HOUSE OF KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS
18. THE PRECEPTORY OF BADDESLEY OR GODSFIELD
Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester
(1129-71), granted his land of Godsfield to
the knights of the Hospital of St. John of
Jerusalem in England, (fn. 1) and in 1207 Adam de
Port gave to the same community all his lands
and manor of Godsfield in free alms. (fn. 2) Walter
de Audely also granted lands in Chilton Candover, Laurence rector of the church of Serveton granted his small tithes, and many other
persons made grants of small parcels of land
and houses in Preston Candover and Child
Candover. How early a preceptory of the
Hospitallers was formed here is not exactly
known, but the first preceptor of whom we
have mention is Thomas le Archer, whose
name appears in a deed concerning a tenement
in Fleshmonger Street, Winchester, in 1304.
From this date the grants are for the most part
to the brethren of Godsfield, and not as heretofore to the parent house in London.
In 1355 John Pavely, prior of the Hospitallers, confirmed to Thomas Purchas a messuage and lands in Ibsley at a yearly rent of
12d. to the preceptor or warden of Baddesley.
This is the first mention in the chartulary of a
preceptor of Baddesley; it probably denotes
the date, soon after the Black Death, when
the headquarters of this preceptory were moved
from Godsfield to Baddesley.
In 1338, when Prior Philip de Thame made
a return to the Grand Master of the possessions
of the Hospitallers in England, full particulars
were given of the 'Bajulia de Godesfield,' with
its members of Baddesley and Runham.
At Godsfield there was a messuage with the
buildings in poor repair, with a garden valued
at 3s. 4d. a year; 300 acres of land worth
58s. 4d.; house rents that were actually fixed
at £20 3s. 4d. were then only £14 10s. 0d.
on account of the sterility of the land and the
firing of Portsmouth and Southampton by
foreigners; an acre of meadow at Swarton, 2s.;
harvest work of the villeins, 10s. 6d.; pleas
and perquisites of the court, 13s. 4d.; pasturage for 9 oxen and 6 horses, 15s.; and pasturage for 900 sheep, 75s. Another important
item of the income of every preceptory, though
bound to be fluctuating in amount, was the
voluntary contribution from the district, which
was probably regularly collected. The total
of this amount, usually termed confraria, from
the whole of England, even in a bad year like
1338, reached the large sum of £888 4s. 3d.
The voluntary contributions of the Hampshire
preceptory averaged 60 marks; but that year,
owing to the distress of the country, the royal
exactions, the taxes on tenths and fifteenths
of all movables from year to year, the dues on
wool, the warding of the seas, and many other
oppressions that crop up (emergunt) from day to
day, as the return states, there had been great
difficulty in gathering 40 marks.
At Baddesley there was a messuage with a
garden, the herbs of which, together with a
pigeon cote, were of the yearly value of 10s.;
360 acres of land; 18 acres of pasture; 40
acres of meadow; pasturage for 24 oxen;
pannage for pigs; pasturage for 30 cows; pasturage for 400 sheep; with certain rents and
works of tenants. At Baddesley there was
also a wood of large timber, 100 acres in extent, which was common, so that nothing
could be taken from it for sale, but it was
reserved for repairing the houses of the preceptory, and of the bailiwicks of Templecombe,
Ansty, and other places of the Templars that
were in decay.
At Rownham there was a messuage in decay
and ruin, of the annual value of 12d.; 80
acres of land; pasturage for 200 sheep; pasturage for 8 oxen; and pasturage for 30
bullocks.
The whole realized a total annual receipt of
£66 13s. 11½d. for the preceptory.
As to the outgoings, the members of the
house were brother William de Multon, the
preceptor, and brother John Couffen, the chaplain. The number of the household servants
was four; and it is noted that the expenses in
cluded hospitality to visitors, which they were
bound to exercise according to the will of the
founder of the house. Thirty-three quarters
of corn had been used in the year for making
bread, at 3s. a quarter, £4 19s. 0d.; for brewing beer, 20 quarters of barley at 2s., and 20
quarters of oats at 16d., £66 0s. 8d.; flesh, fish,
and other victuals in the kitchen, 104s.; robes,
mantles and other necessaries for the preceptor
and the chaplain-brother, 69s. 4d.; a life corrody to Ralph de Basing of 6½ quarters of corn,
at 3s., 19s. 6d.; a steward's robes for use at
courts, 20s.; dress for four servants, 32s.; the
wage of a labourer acting as wood-warden, 10s.;
at the visitation of the prior for four days, £4;
repair of the houses, 20s.; and the stipend of
a chaplain (without board) serving the chapel
of Godsfield, 4 marks. There were also
small payments due every year to the Bishop
of Winchester, the church of Afford, the
abbess of St. Mary's, Winchester, the prior
of St. Swithun's and others. The total of the
expenses and payments came to £30 3s. 8d.,
leaving a balance for the treasury of
£36 10s. 3d. (fn. 1)
The house at Baddesley had the honour of
having among its preceptors three who became
much distinguished in the Order, two of them
being Grand Priors of England. Thomas
Launcelyn, who was preceptor of Baddesley,
and afterwards of Dalby and Rothely, was appointed Turcopolier by bull of the Grand
Master, dated Rhodes, 3 October, 1421. He
died in 1442. (fn. 2) William Tornay, preceptor of
Baddesley and Mayne, became successively
Receiver-general of England and Bailli of
Aquila, and was finally appointed Grand
Prior of England by bull of the Grand
Master, dated Rhodes, 29 August, 1471. He
died in 1476. (fn. 3)
Sir William Weston, preceptor of Baddesley, was elected Turcopolier in the chapter
held in Candia after the expulsion of the Order
from Rhodes in 1523. He commanded the
grand carracque of the Order, and was named
Grand Prior of England by bull of the Grand
Master, dated Corneto, 27 June, 1527.
During his rule came the conflict between
Henry VIII. and the pope, when the Order
resolutely resisted the divorce of Queen Katharine. The result was the complete overthrow
of the English Order or Language and a bitter
persecution which lasted from 1534 to 1540,
during which many of the knights died on the
scaffold. In April, 1540, an act of parliament
vested all their property in the Crown. A
pension was granted to the venerable prior,
but he died of grief at the utter annihilation
of the English Language, on Ascension Day,
1540, in the very year that it was granted.
He had been present at the siege of Rhodes
in 1522, when he greatly distinguished himself. (fn. 4)
The Valor of 1535 returned the total annual
value of the preceptory of Baddesley, both in
spiritualities and temporalities, at £131 14s. 1d.,
and the clear value at £118 16s. 7d. After
the suppression of the preceptory, its lands
were granted first to Sir Thomas Seymour,
and afterwards, in 1551, to Sir Nicholas
Throckmorton.
It has been conclusively established that the
preceptory of Baddesley, which first bore the
name of Godsfield, had its headquarters in later
years at North Baddesley, and not at South
Baddesley as usually asserted.
Preceptors of Godsfield or Baddesley
Thomas le Archer, (fn. 5) 1304, 1306
Robert de Coneygrave, 1312
Simon Launcelyn, 1315
William de Basing, (fn. 6) 1325
William Hulles, 1388, 1397
William de Multon
Thomas Launcelyn
William Tornay
Sir William Weston, 1518, time of Hen. VIII.
In addition to the preceptories or commandories, the Order also possessed smaller estates
called camerœ or chambers, where there was
usually no establishment, and which were as a
rule farmed out. This was the case with
their estate at Woodcote, Hants; it was farmed
out in 1338, and produced a rental of
£13 6s. 8d.