CHRISTCHURCH TWYNEHAM PRIORY, HAMPSHIRE. THERE was at Christchurch a house of secular canons of the order of St. Augustine, as early as the year of our Lord 636; but by whom, or at what particular time, it was founded, is not now known. In the reign of William Rufus we are informed, that the number of canons was twenty-four, of whom the head canon was denominated senior. Towards the latter end of the reign of king Stephen, it having become customary with the patrons of these conventual societies, to change the easy rule of secular canons for the more rigid discipline of regular ones, Baldwin de Redvers, the then patron of Christchurch, adopted the general practice, and, in the middle of the twelfth century, introduced into the monastery of Christchurch, a certain number of canons regular of the order of St. Augustine, and placed them under the government of a prior; permitting, at the same time, the secular canons to continue in the society until their respective deaths, though in a state of subordination to the new comers. The Church which before was dedicated to the Holy Trinity was now dedicated to Christ. William Rufus had given this monastery to Ralph Flambard, who subsequently was bishop of Durham; and, C |