"Eius (i.e. Christi) quippe largiflua bonitate regia dignitate subtronizatus, ego Knu[d] rex Angligenæ nationis, pro nauciscendo eius immensitatis misericordiæ dono, concedo sibi de suo proprio quæ mihi gratuito concessit, villam," &c.
C. W. G.
Cassek Gwenwyn (Vol. iv., p. 269.).
—I learn from the dictionaries of Walters and Owen, that casec gwanwyn, mare of spring, means a woodpecker. And the more curious part of the name is confirmed by Llwyd, who calls a woodpecker casec drychin, mare of storms. But here I read that casec gwenwyn, mare of poison, means a screech-owl. Of this I have not elsewhere found anything. Therefore I ask for more information; to save me from the heresy of thinking that that woman was turned into a woodpecker. In what country and language does mara mean a screech-owl?
A. N.
The Monumental Inscriptions of the Bourchier Family (Vol. iv., p. 233.).
—Your inquirer L. M. M. will most probably meet with the information he desires in the county of Essex, of which portion of the kingdom they were Earls, and held immense possessions from the early part of the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. Their principal estates were in the parishes of Moreton, Tollesbury, Chingford, Little Laver, Greensted, Ramsden, South Church, Wakering, Maldon, North Farnbridge, Lachingdon, Mayland, Langford, Great Totham, Bentley, Wickes, Tendring, Great Holland, Beaumont, Ramsey, Bromfield, Rivenhall, Halsted, Hanningfield, Chicknall, Ulting, Messing, Hedingham Sibil, Ballington, Foxearth, Belchamp, Toppesfield, Braintree, Little Easton, Chickney; Broxted, Roding Aythorp, Little Hallingbury, Walden, and Farnham. In all these parishes they held manors, with the advowsons of several of the churches. Many of the manors are called after the family, Bourchier's Hall; some members of the family were buried in Bilegh Abbey, which stood in the west part of the town of Maldon. In Halsted they founded a chantry for a master and eight priests; and adjoining Little Easton church still remains a fine chapel, known as Bourchier's chapel, where there are tombs to some of the family in fine preservation. By a visit to the churches of the parishes above enumerated, much information may probably be obtained, for there can be little doubt but so powerful a family were great benefactors to the churches of the several parishes where their estates and mansions were situated; and most probably many members of the family were interred in them, and had tombs to their memory.
J. R. J.
Test of the Strength of a Bow (Vol. iv., p. 56.).
—TOXOPHILUS will find all his Queries well answered in Hansard's Book of Archery. The modern method of proving a bow is very different from that quoted by PHILOSOPHUS from Ascham, p. 211. A bow is now, I believe, tested by placing the bow across a piece of stout timber made for the purpose, and hanging weights to the string till it reaches about twenty-seven or twenty-eight inches. The weight necessary to do this determines the power of the bow.