from this that Thomas had become archdeacon of Wells about Mich. 1169. In 1171–2 a like sum is debited against Thomas archdeacon of Bath. But clearly the same person is meant; for the debt is now reckoned as £21, and it stands against Thomas archdeacon of Bath until it is finally paid off by him in 1179–80. We might imagine from this that Thomas was archdeacon of Wells from Mich. 1169 to Mich. 1171, and then became archdeacon of Bath. But the following facts are sufficient to shew that he was known by both titles.
(1) A charter of K. Henry II given at Feckenham, and placed by Eyton c. March 1170, is attested by Thomas archdeacon of Wells.[1] (2) Early in June 1170 the king sent to the archbishop of Rouen Thomas 'the new archdeacon of Bath', in the matter of the young king's coronation which took place soon after on 14 June.[2] (3) A charter of the young king, issued at Winchester before the end of 1170, is attested by Thomas archdeacon of Wells.[3]
It would seem therefore that, while he himself attests charters as archdeacon of Wells, he was known to the world outside as archdeacon of Bath, the designation being taken from the diocese to which he belonged: the greater celebrity of Bath would fully account for this. He attests numerous charters as archdeacon of Wells until c. 1192,[4] and we still find him in office c. 1195.[5]
In 1173, as we learn from a letter of Arnulf bishop of Lisieux, he
- ↑ Eyton, Itinerary, p. 1.35. Possible dates for this charter seem to be: MayJune 1165, Sept. 1165-Mar. 1166, Mar. -1 June 1170. The last is the most likely; for the church of Birling in Kent, which this charter confirms (Monast. v. 101), was given according to the Bermondsey Chronicle in 1168.
- ↑ Mem. of Th. Becket, vii. 311, a letter to St Thomas from 'amicus quidam' c. June 1170, says: The archbishop of Rouen and the bishop of Nevers had been commissioned by the pope to stop the coronation: the bishop of Nevers reached Caen just as the prince left, and it was now impossible for him to cross: 'de cetero sciatis Thomam novum archidiaconum Bathoniensem nuper a rege ad archiepiscopum Rothomagensem venisse, et a Nivernensi episcopo transeundi inducias impetrasse usque ad sequentem dominicam: publice enim Thomas ille clamavit, et mult] alii quotidie clamant, regem in proximo esse venturum: quod penitus est falsissimum.' The king in fact did cross c. 24 June.
- ↑ Cat. of Charter Rolls, 6 Mar. 1318; inspeximus of charters of St Augustine's Bristol (no. 2).
- ↑ Cf. R. i. 101 b, an institution by Dean Alexander to the parsonage of Binegar, apparently sede vacante. Once we find him as archdeacon of Bath attesting with ' Ralph archdeacon of Wells ': but as Ralph [de Lechlade] regularly attests as archdeacon of Bath, we must suppose an error of inversion on the part of the copyist of this charter (Buckl. 11: 8 Nov. 1186): cf. the signatures of the nearly contemporaneous charter, R. i. 35 b.
- ↑ In the Pipe Roll of 6 Ric. I (1194-5) we read: 'De hidagio de Somerseta assiso ad redemptionem domini regis per Tomam archidiaconum de Welles et Alexandrum decanum de Welles,' &c. (Madox, Exchequer, 411).
