Charter, Whitby Abbey.

William, King of England, to all his faithful subjects greeting:

Know ye that I have given, and by my charter confirmed, to the Church of Whitby, and to Serlo the Prior and the monks of that place for ever, all liberties and privileges over whatever land they may have acquired, or may acquire; as also over all their homagers wheresoever dwelling, as absolutely and freely as the Royal power hath granted, or can grant them, to any church whatsoever. And I grant to them and their homagers, wheresoever they go to buy and sell, an immunity from every tax toll or demand of Kings, Earls, Barons or Lords, whether made by themselves or other bailiffs.

And I forbid, under penalty of my royal displeasure, all manner of persons from meddling with these lands or homages wherever they are; or with their forests, or the wild beasts within their liberties, or with their water in the Port of Whitby or elsewhere, or with their other possessions, whether ecclesiastical or liacal, or with anything belonging to the Church at Whitby, except the monks themselves, or such bailiffs or servants as they may provide. Dugdale, Monast. Angl.

The origional charter [in Latin] is witnessed by William de Percy.

de Fonblanque, Edward Barrington (1887) Annals of the House of Percy, from the Conquest to the opening of the Nineteenth Century, p. 481