urely a civilian city. At Chedworth, 7 m. N.E., is one of the most
noteworthy Roman villas in England. Cirencester (_Cirneceaster_,
_Cyrenceaster_, _Cyringceaster_) is described in Domesday as ancient
demesne of the crown. The manor was granted by William I. to William
Fitzosbern; on reverting to the crown it was given in 1189, with the
township, to the Augustinian abbey founded here by Henry I. The struggle
of the townsmen to prove that Cirencester was a borough probably began
in the same year, when they were amerced for a false presentment. Four
inquisitions during the 13th century supported the abbot's claims, yet
in 1343 the townsmen declared in a chancery bill of complaint that
Cirencester was a borough distinct from the manor, belonging to the king
but usurped by the abbot, who since 1308 had abated their court of
provostry. Accordingly they produced a copy of a forged charter from
Henry I. to the town; the court ignored this and the abbot obtained a
new charter and a writ of _supersedeas_. For their success against the
earls of Kent and Salisbury Henry IV. in 1403 gave the townsmen a gild
merchant, although two inquisitions reiterated the abbot's rights.
These were confirmed in 1408-1409 and 1413; in 1418 the charter was
annulled, and in 1477 parliament declared that Cirencester was not
corporate. After several unsuccessful attempts to re-establish the gild
merchant, the government in 1592 was vested in the bailiff of the lord
of the manor. Cirencester became a parliamentary borough in 1572,
returning two members, but was deprived of representation in 1885.
Besides the "new market" of Domesday Book the abbots obtained charters
in 1215 and 1253 for fairs during the octaves of All Saints and St
Thomas the Martyr. The wool trade gave these great importance; in 1341
there were ten wool merchants in Cirencester, and Leland speaks of the
abbots' cloth-mill, while Camden calls it the greatest market for wool
in England.

See _Transactions_ of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological
Society, vols. ii., ix., xviii.

CIRILLO, DOMENICO (1739-1799), Italian physician and patriot, was born
at Grumo in the kingdom of Naples. Appointed while yet a young man to a
botanical professorship, Cirillo went some years afterwards to England,
where he was elected fellow of the Royal Society, and to France. On his
return to Naples he was appointed successively to the chairs of
practical and theoretical medicine. He wrote