“Confirmatio B. Episcopi Exoniæ de Decimis de Sully.”—It is probable that the person indicated by B, was Bartholomew Iscan, consecrated in 1161, and died in 1184.
“Omnibus fidelibus ad quos præsens scriptura pervenerit, B. divina miseratione dictus Episcopus Exoniæ salutem in Domino. Noverit universitas vestra me vidisse et legisse cartam Ricardi de Wicha, in qua confitetur se concessisse, et in liberam et perpetuam elemosinam dedisse omnes decimas suas de Sully (et nominatim de cuniculis, quas injuste aliquandiu detinuerat, eo quod de rebus hujusmodi decimas dandas esse non putavit,) Abbati et Conventui Tavistochiæ, et Fratribus Monasterii Beati Confessoris Nicholai de Sully, pro salute animæ suæ, et parentum suorum, necnon et Reginaldi quondam Comitis Cornubiæ Domini sui; et hanc donationem super altare Beati Rumoni Tavistochiæ per Librum Evangeliorum manu propria obtulisse in præsentia B. Abbatis et conventus ejusdem loci et multorum aliorum.
“Quoniam autem tam Monasterium Tavistochiæ,
quam tota terra prædicti Ricardi de Sully ad meam pertinet Diocesim, ego sicut Episcopus diocesanus prænotatam ipsius Ricardi donationem, auctoritate episcopali, præsenti scripto, et sigilli mei, sicut eam quam gratam et ratam habeo, appositione confirmo.
“Hiis testibus, B. Archidiacono Cornubiensi, &c.”
There is also a letter of protection from King Edward the First for the prior of St. Nicholas, within his island de Scilly. This letter is addressed among others, to the constable of his camp in the island of Enmour in Scilly.
Enmour may well be a corruption of Ennis Moor, the great island, possibly the secular name of St. Mary’s.
In the time of Edward the Third, this priory or cell to Tavistock must have been of very little importance, since in the 19th year of his reign, it appears by the following entry in the Abbreviatio Rotulorum Originalium, that two monks only were resident. Since, for some reason which it is difficult to discover, secular priests were to be stationed in Scilly during the continuance of a war with France, instead of the monks, which gave rise to the following agreement:
“Abbas et Conventus de Tavistok finem fecerunt cum Rege per viginti solidos, pro licentia habenda, quod ipsi duos capellanos sæculares pro animabus progenitorum Regis, quondam Regum Angliæ, et hæredum suorum, in Insula de Sulley celebraturos, loco duorum Capellanorum commonachorum suorum, quos ibidem ex causa prædicta invenire solebant, durante guerra inter Regem et homines de Francia mota, invenire possint.”
Since the Reformation the tithes have been appropriated, and passed with the different leases of the lands. Remains of the convent, most properly dedicated to St. Nicholas, are still to be seen on the island of Trescow. St. Nicholas was the patron of mariners, and frequently preserved vessels in a miraculous manner when his aid had been fervently invoked; perhaps the right of wreck was given to the convent for the pupose of attaching an increased degree