of his chapter to Dean Ivo as follows: 'As to the question at issue between you and your archdeacons, the law and custom here is this. Archdeacons have no power in prebends over canons or their clerks or parishioners: for the canons themselves are archdeacons in their own prebends, and they must present their clerks to the dean for orders, and the dean must present them to the bishop. Hence it is plain that it is quite contrary to our customs that priests or clerks of canons should be summoners or apparitors to archdeacons, since they owe them no kind of subjection: but the churches and chapels which are in our diocese, whether on our own estates or not, are entirely free from the vexation and servitude of archdeacons. Our subdean holds from the dean the archdeaconry of the city and suburb, in regard to all persons to whomsoever they appertain.'[1]
Immediately after this letter there follows in the Wells register a letter from the dean and canons of Salisbury to R. bishop of Bath; and this is followed by a letter from Henry dean of Salisbury to Richard dean of Wells.[2] From its position we may assume that in the former letter Robert (not Reginald) is the bishop addressed: it is a reply to certain questions raised under seven heads, of which one only concerns us here: 'Each of the canons', it declares, 'is archdeacon over his own men in his prebend, and the churches of prebends are in no way subject to the archdeacons'.
We must now return to our series of archdeacons. We saw that Robert and Thomas appear together in 1159, but with no local designations. Robert however is frequently styled archdeacon of Wells, and Thomas occurs by himself as archdeacon of Bath in 1165.
We have reached the period in which the king makes promising young men archdeacons in consideration of services rendered or to be rendered in the administration of royal affairs. Somerset will be found to provide conspicuous instances of this practice in the years which follow. Some of the archdeacons will be absentees, who are hardly ever in their archdeaconries and must have done their work by deputy. The result is confusing. Documents indeed are more numerous than before; but it is more difficult, as from the historical point of view it is more important, to ascertain the dates of their tenure of office. Archdeacons of other dioceses are found acting in Somerset, and sometimes we are tempted to suppose that an archdeacon who appears for a short period is in reality a deputy who signs with the style of his principal. If the investigation on which we must enter is minute and tedious, it has more than an
