I t has been hinted in a former letter that Sir Adam Gurdon had
availed himfelf by marrying women of property. By my evidences
it appears that he had three wives, and probably in the
following order: Conjlantia, Ameria, and Agnes. The firft of thefe
ladies, who was the companion of his middle life, feems to have
been a perfon of xonfiderable fortune, which fhe inherited from
Thomas Makerel, a gentleman of Selborne, who was either her father
or uncle. The fecond, Ameria, calls herfelf the quondam wife of
..Sir Adam, “ quae fui uxor,” &c. and talks of her fons under age.
• Now Gurdon had no fon : and befide Agnes in another document
fays, “ Ego Agnes quondam uxor Domini Ada Gurdon in pura et
.“ lioea viduitate mea:” but Gurdon could not leave two widows;
•and therefore it feems probable that he had been divorced from
Ameria, who afterwards married, and had fons. By Agnes Sir
Adam had a daughter Johanna, who was his heirefs, to whom Agnes
in her life-time furrendered part o f her jointure:— he had alfo a
baftard fon.
Sir Adam feems to have inhabited the houfe now called Temple,
;lying about two miles eaft of the church, which had been the
-property o f Thomas Makerel.
In the year 1262 he petitioned the prior of Selborne in his own
name, and that of. his wife. Conjlantia only, for leave to build-him
an oratory in his manor-houfe, “ in curia fua.” . Licenfes of this
fort were frequently obtained by men of fortune arid rank from the
bilhop of the diocefe, the archbifoop, and fometimes, as I have