Eye Priory Cartulary and Charters : Part 2

This second volume of the charters of the Benedictine priory of Eye, a cell of the Abbey of Bernay in Normandy, comprises an introduction to the charters and completes the text of the thirteenth-century cartulary edited in the first volume, together with certain other charters from a fourteenth-century rental and custumary and the very few original deeds which survive. As well as being of interest to those studying ecclesiastical and social history, the charters are important in casting light on the history of the `honor' of Eye itself, in particular the succession of its lords in the twelfth century. Interesting links can be made to earlier volumes in the Suffolk Chartersseries. As an alien priory in the centre of an `honor', Eye has affinities with Stoke by Clare, and the evidence which the charters of Eye provide for local history and genealogy is all the more comprehensive in the light of other charters, particularly those of Sibton, Leiston and Blythburgh. VIVIEN BROWNworked on Eye priory material with her husband, R. Allen Brown, the initiator and first General editor of the series.