Hello All,
There was a book by The Lincoln Record Society on e-bay the other week, entitled The
Transcripts of Charters Relating to Gilbertine Houses, printed in 1922 by W.K.Morton &
Sons.
I got it for the asking price, no other bidders!
It relates to the five Gilbertine Houses in Lincolnshire (there was a sixth one in
Bedfordshire) namely, Sixle, Ormsby, Catley, Bullington and Alvingham.
The Charters Transcripts were extracted from the Monasticon which gave full papal annual
returns as to the state of affairs within each Monastic House, to give evidence at The
Canterbury Convocation held on the 10th May 1406 to convince the Court of King Henry 4th
that the Gilbertine Order being a very (literally!) Poor Order, could not pay the
increasing taxes that Henry levied on such houses (eight times in his short reign) and
that they should be considered as exempt.
In the case of Catley, they include 29 of the 62 Charters offered by all five Houses and
whilst these 29 only form a small part of the Catley transcripts available to be viewed in
The Monasticon, they still give a fascinating insite into 12-13th Centuary life in an
English Monastic settlement.
The publication consists, as does The Monasticon itself, a left hand page text from the
original Latin documents, whilst on the right page, an English translation.
The variations of spelling of the "Catley" House within the 29 annual returns
offered in Latin is interesting in that it consists of nine different versions:-
CATLE
CATELE
CATELEY
CATELEIA
CATHELEY
CATTHELEY
CATTELEY
CATTELE
CATTELEYA.
I assume that the above were "faithful Latin interpretations" of the sound of
the spoken place name word as used to identify the Priory by those in and adjacent to it
in those times?
Note that eight out of the nine versions place the E before the L which is contary to
"English" spelling?
I will leave it to you, The Listers, to make of it what you will and if the Latin texts
have any bearing on the Catley/Cattley latter day spelling?
Regards
Tim Cattley