770 Order by King Henry I to the bishop of Salisbury and Earl David that, if the sheriffs of Berkshire and the reeves of Cholsey have given any of the inland of Cholsey and put it out of the demesne, they are to cause it to return to the demesne of Reading Abbey by the oath of lawful men of the hundred. Witness(es) [omitted]

[prob. latter half of 1123]

B f 17v

Pd. Regesta, ii. 353 (no. clxxv); (cal.) ibid., 191–2 (no. 1423)

The date is after the appointment of the first abbot, 15 Apr. 1123 (Flor. Hist., ii. 49) and probably also after 19 June, the date of Pope Calixtus II's confirmation to Reading, which does not mention Cholsey (no. 139). The king's attempt to recover alienated demesne probably took place at the same time as his recovery of the church of Cholsey from the abbey of Mont St Michel in the latter half of 1123 (no. 3). Earl David is King David I of Scotland, earl of Huntingdon and Northampton 1113/14–36.