-
Question
-
I would like to know what a preceptor did in the early part of the 14th century, specifically in the village of Ansty. I am aware of the name of the preceptor, but would like to know more about what he did and how he got that position.
-
Question asked on
-
04 July 2011
-
Answer
-
In 1210 Ansty was granted to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John by Walter de Turbeville for £12 a year. They had established a commandery or preceptory there by 1223. This referred to the manorial estate, with a hospice in which injured knights could recuperate after service on crusades and in the Holy Land. It would seem that the word preceptory was only used by the Hospitallers after 1312 when the lands of the suppressed Knights Templar were transferred to them. The preceptory probably consisted of buildings around a courtyard and here lived a small number of knights, with a chaplain and servants. The preceptor was the head of the preceptory, directing and controlling the running of the estate. The few books I have seen on the Hospitallers and the Templars do not mention their domestic affairs but I imagine that a preceptor would have been appointed by the controlling body.
Ansty was considered quite a large estate for the Hospitallers and in 1338 there was the preceptor, 2 knights, a corrodian (the recipient of a church pension or living), a chaplain, 3 clerks, the preceptor's squire and 6 servants living there. The Hospitallers held Ansty until the Dissolution and the commandery, or preceptory, was pulled down in the time of Elizabeth I. Their guest house, near the church, survived until 1927 when it burned down.
-
Bibliography
-
