"Ela uxor Gullielmi Longespee primi, nata fuit apud Ambresbiraim, patre et
matre Normannis.
"Pater itaque ejus defectus senio migravit ad Christum, A.D. 1196. Mater ejus
ante biennium obit... Interea Domina charissima clam per cognatos adducta fuit in
Normanniam, et ibidem sub tuta et arcta custodia nutrita. Eodem tempore in Anglia
fuit quidam miles nomine Gulielmus Talbot, qui induit se habitum Peregrini [Anglice,
A Pilgrim] in Normanniam transfretavit et moratus per duos annos, huc atque illuc
vagans, ad explorandam dominam Elam Sarum. Et illa inventa, exuit habitam
peregrini, et indarit se quasi Cytharisator et Curiam ubi morabatur intravit. Et ut erat
home Jocosus, in testis Antiquorum valde peritus, ibidem gratanter fuit acceptus quasi
familiaris. Et quando tempus, aptum invenit in Angliam repatriavit, habens secum
istam venerabilem Dominam Elam et hæredem comitatus Sarum; et eam Regi
Richardum præsentavit. Ac ille lætissime cum suscepit, et Fratri suo Guillemo
Longespee maritavit...
"A.D. 1226, Dominus Guill. Longespee primus nonas Marti. obiit. Ela vero
uxor ejus 7 annis supervixit... Una die DUO monasteria fundavit primo mane xvi.
Kal. Maii, A.D. 1232, apud Lacock, in quo sanctæ, degunt Canonissæ... Et Menton
post nonam, anno vero ætatis sue xlv." &c.
(W) For the preceding account, Dugdale refers to Monast. Angl. i. [r. ii.] p. 185, but
gives it as enlarged by D. Powel, in his Hist. of Cambria, p. 196, who is known to
have followed ancient Welsh MSS. The words in the Monasticon are,--"Qui accersitis
SutoribusCestriæ et Histrionibus, festinanter cum exercitu suo venit domino suo
facere succursum Walenses vero videntes multitudinem magnam venientem, relicta
obsidione fugerunt... Et propter hoc dedit Comes antedictus... Constabulario
dominationem Sutorum et Histrionum. Constabularius vero retinuit sibi et hæredibus
suis dominationem Sutorum: et Histrionum dedit vero Seneschallo." (So the passage
should apparently be pointed; but eitheretorveroseems redundant.)
We shall see below, in note (Z), the proper import of the word Histriones: but
it is very remarkable that this is not the word used in the grant of the Constable De
Lacy to Dutton, but "Magisterium omniumLeccatorumetMeretriciumtotius
Cestreshire, sicut liberius illum [sic] Magisterium teneo de Comite" (vid. Blount's
Ancient Tenures, p. 156). Now, as under this grant the heirs of Dutton confessedly
held for many ages a magisterial jurisdiction over all the Minstrels and Musicians of
that county, and as it could not be conveyed by the word Meretrices, the natural
inference is that the Minstrels were expressed by the term Leccatores. It is true, Du
Cange, compiling his Glossary, could only find in the writers he consulted this word
used in the abusive sense, often applied to every synonym of the sportive and
dissolute Minstrel, viz.,Scurra, vaniloquus, parasitus epulo, &c. (This I conceive to
be the proper arrangement of these explanations, which only express the character
given to the minstrel elsewhere: see Du Cange passim, and notes (C) (E) (F) (I), &c.)
But he quotes an ancient MS. in French metre, wherein the Leccour (Lat. Leccator)
and the Minstrel are joined together, as receiving from Charlemagne a grant of the
territory of Provence, and from whom the Provencal Troubadours were derived, &c.--
See the passage above in note (C).
The exception in favour of the family of Dutton is thus expressed in the
Statute, Anno 39 Eliz. chap. iv. entitled, "An Act for punishment of Rogues,
Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars."