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certain small grants he conceded “libertates quas ego dominus possum conferre”.
His men, however, also seem to have given to the priory. 259 There are also various
grants by his daughter and heiress, Margaret de Chesney. 260 Hugh Bigod, son of
Roger Bigod, granted the canons freedom from toll and customs after 1141. Before
1159, the canons had acquired property in Dunwich, confirmed by a later lord of the
honour of Eye, William of Blois, count of Mortain and Boulogne. 261
The grandson of Walter de Caen, William de Chesney was the founder of the
Sibton Abbey. He was noticeably more generous than at Blythburgh, granting all his
lands and rights in Sibton, Wrabton (in Yoxford), Peasenhall and Stikingland (in
Yoxford) as well as some lands in Dunwich. Also he confirmed gifts of his men and
allowed them to take up the religious life. 262
One cannot say that the Norman Conquest started the process of church
reform in England. One can, however, say that church reform in England, both
before and after the Conquest, was influenced from the Continent and often through
immigrants from the Continent. In that sense, the spread of church reform fits quite
well with Bartlett’s ideas. After 1066, through the monastic policy pursued by the
Conqueror and his associates — as if they tried to demonstrate their church reform
credentials and the fact of conquest itself — the process of reform was undoubtedly
accelerated. The often quick conversion of collegiate churches into monasteries was
probably a consequence of the Conquest. There are a few examples of the
replacement of English ecclesiastics by Normans during the reign of Edward the
Confessor. By 1066, however, such replacements became very common among the
leadership of many important religious institutions. Other religious personnel,
259 Cartulary of Blythburgh Priory, i, no. 42.
260 Ibid., nos. 35, 38, 43, 87.
261 Ibid., no. 209; ii, no. 257.
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