Wine for which he assigned ten pounds yearly to be paid from his own Chamber out of the Lands of his Mannor of Polebrook He gave also a great Bell to the Church whereon was written Jon de Caux Abbas Oswaldo consecrat hoc vas In his time Anno 1250. the Pope then Innocent the fourth Vid. Privileg in App. granted leave to the Monks that in consideration of the coldness of Winter in these parts the Monks should perform their service in the Church with their Hoods on their heads Abbot John having held the government of this Church the space of thirteen years died at London Anno 1262. the 46 of King Henry the third and was brought to his Church at Peterburgh and buried in the Isle on the South side of the Quire The King after his death challenged his Palfrey and his Cup but upon what grounds I know not unless it was because John had been his Officer the Cup he had after some urgent demands but the Palfrey he had not Some write that this Abbot John was also made Lord Treasurer Mr. Filpot by the Barons in the 44. year of King Henry the third and according to this account he held that Office to his death which was two years after His Secular employments might take off his mind from Books and plead for the poorness of his Library Flores Evangeliorum Tractatus de Theologia Concilium Lateranense Templum Domini Testamentum 12 Patriarcharum This was his stock of Books as I find in an ancient Manuscript 31. ROBERTVS de Sutton So called from the place of his birth being a little Village in the Parish of Castre He was a Monk of Peterburgh Deputy to his Predecessor and upon his death chosen Abbot in April 1262. He received benediction from Richard Bishop of Lincoln and gave him his Cope which some demanded as a fee the Archdeacon of Northampton demanding also his Palfrey as his vale Abbot Robert made him go without it The Earl Marshal received five Marks for his Palfrey when he took the Oath of Allegiance to the King But it was not long ere Abbot Robert falsified his Oath for in the Wars of those times the Town of Northampton being fortified against the King Robert Abbot of Peterburgh took part with them in defence of that Town The King coming thither to assault the Town espied amongst his enemies Ensigns on the wall the Ensign of the Abby of Peterburgh whereat he was so angry that he vowed to destroy the nest of such ill birds But the Town of Northampton being reduced Abbot Robert by mediation of friends to the King saved both himself and Church but was forced to pay for his delinquency To the King 300 Marks to the Queen 20 pounds to Prince Edward 60 pounds to the Lord Souch 6l 13s 4d After this hapned the Battel of Lewes wherein King Henry with Prince Edward was taken Prisoner then did the other side fleece the Abbot of Peterburgh for his contribution to the King the General and several Barons and Commanders forcing the Abbot to composition by several sums of mony Afterwards at the Battle of Evesham Prince Edward overthrew the Earl of Leicester with his whole Army and the King having recovered himself called a Parliament at Winchester wherein he required large benevolence from the Church Particularly the Abbot of Peterburgh because he had held with the Barons was again constrained to purchase his peace at these rates The King had of him 333l 6s 8d The Queen 33l 6s 8d The Prince Prince Edward 200l He paid also to the Earl of Gloucester 133l 6s 8d Earl Warren had of Abbot Robert for his Mannors of Castre Tinwell and Thirlby 100l Warin Lord of Bassingburn 42l The Commander of Fotheringay Castle 100l 6s 8d Lord Thomas Typtot for the Mannors of Fiskerton and Scotter 65l 13s 4d The Lord of Fanecourt for the Mannor of Collingham 12l Lord Robert Picot for several Mannors 14l 6s 8d Thomas of Bulton 6l 13s 4d All which summs of mony he carried to Winchester and there paid them These and other payments which he made at other times exhausted from him amounted to the summ of 4323l 18s 5d Having paid thus dear for his disloyalty he became more obedient to his right Master and when King Henry sent to him for aid against the Castle of Kenilworth Abbot Robert did what the King required for that siege Vid. Chartam in App. In these times Prince Edward having occasion for mony he borrowed a great summ of certain Merchants for which the Abbot of Peterburgh and his Convent became Sureties And the Prince granted unto them his Mannor of Graham until he should repay that mony unto them Edward was no sooner King but in the first year of his Reign he came to Peterburgh where he was entertained by this Abbot Robert And from hence he dated a Charter which he granted to the Church of Ely as the close Ms Eliens in manu Geo. Glapthorn Armig. pag. 135. thereof testifieth Teste meipso apud Burgum Sancti Petri 13 die Aprilis Anno regni nostri primo This was in the year of our Lord 1273. And perhaps this is that entertainment which Wittlesey makes mention of the Queen being then with the King and Abbot Robert expended in the entertainment the summ of six hundred pounds In the 11 Year of his Government he was called to the Council of Lions Gregory 10 being then Pope which Council being ended in his return homewards he sickned and died and was buried in a Monastery near Bononia the Abbot of Croyland celebrating his Funeral rites His heart was brought in a Cup to his Monastery of Peterburgh and there buried before the Altar of S. Oswald Anno 1274. being the second year of King Edward the first In his Library were these Books Psalterium glossatum Summa Raimundi cum apparatu Summa fratris R. de Fissacre super Sententias in 4 voluminibus Summa Qui bene praesunt Templum domini cum tractatu de professione in 1 volumine Summa M. J. de Cantia cum aliis rebus Secunda pars Hugucionis super Decreta Summa Gaufridi Liber naturalium Aristot Raimundus abbreviatus cum meditationibus Bernardi Manuale Liber de miseria humanae conditionis Psalterium B. Virginis Vita S. Thomae S. Oswaldi versifics. Psalterium parvum In his time Anno 1270. lived Elias Trickingham a Monk of Peterburgh who wrote certain Annals from the year of our Lord 626 to 1270. Pitseus 32. RICHARDVS de London Steeple Born there in the Parish of S. Pancratius He having run through many Offices in this Monastery at length arrived at the Abbot's when he was aged sixty years And so being of much experience he governed his Monastery carefully and happily He contended in Law with Gilbert Earl of Clare for the Mannor of Biggins near Oundle wherein he had good success through the wisdom and diligence of William Woodford one of his Monks who being a
he gave to the Monastery many Lands as in Muscham Schotter Scalthorp Yolthorp Messingham Malmeton Cletham Hibaldstow Rachevildthorp Holme Riseby Walcot Normanby Alethorp there joyning with him Askylus Syricus and Sivortus who procured from King Edward a confirmation of these Lands to the Church Brando when he was Abbot created his Nephew Herewardus le Wake Lord of Brunne now Bourn Knight which Herewardus was a valiant man and stoutly opposed the Normans in those parts Brando enjoyed not long his Government but in November Anno 1069. which was the third of King William he died 14. TVROLDVS or THOROLDVS A Norman was placed by King William in the vacant Abby of Peterburgh He being a stranger neither loved his Monastery nor his Convent him He began to make a strange dispersion of the Lands belonging to his Church conferring sixty and two Hides of Land upon certain stipendiary Knights that they might defend him against Herewardus le Wake This Herewardus was son of Leofricus Lord of Brunne and having had a Military education beyond Seas repaired home to employ his valour in defence of his native Country against the Normans It hapned at that time that the Danes under Sweyn their King son of Canutus invaded this Land amongst whom Osbernus an Earl and Bishop entred into the Isle of Ely with whom Herewardus joyned and incited him to set upon the Monastery of Peterburgh for that the King had given it to a Norman Herewardus and the Danes coming hither the Monks and others with them defended themselves for a time with much valour in a hot dispute at Bolehith-gate now commonly called Bulldyke-gate being on the South of the Monastery and yet standing where when Herewardus and the Danes perceived their entrance doubtful and that they could not cut their way with their Swords and Weapons they assayed to do it by fire upon the adjoyning buildings and so entred through flame and smoke Being entred they seized upon all the good things they found carrying them away to Ely leaving much of the buildings the Monastery only excepted destroyed by fire and taking Adelwoldus the Prior with many of the more ancient Monks thither also But Adelwoldus watching for an opportunity to get away and return home the Danes being jovial and merry at a triumphal feast for this their booty Adelwoldus got privately to himself some gold and silver with some Reliques amongst which was S. Oswald's arm which he hid in his bedstraw till he could make his escape But an agreement being made between King William and Sweyn the Danish King that the Danes should depart with all their spoil most of the good things of this Monastery were carried away towards Denmark and a great part of them lost in the Sea by tempest those which arrived there were afterwards recovered by Iwarus the Secretary of the Monastery who took a journey thither for that purpose And now had Adelwoldus the Prior with the other Monks a time of returning without stealth to his Monastery of Peterburgh and taking the Abby of Ramsey in their way the Ramisians entertained them kindly for awhile but at their departure they detained their Reliques which afterwards upon the threats of Abbot Thorold they yielded up yet did not the Monks enjoy their newly recovered Treasures long for they being careless and drunken and their Abbot absent a fire seized upon the Church and other remaining buildings from which they rescued some few Reliques but little of other things All this while Turoldus Abbot absented himself from his Monastery and made his abode at Stamford but Herewardus being withdrawn he returned to his Monastery where he found all things in a desolate condition He brought along with him 140 Normans well armed to secure him against Herewardus and also built a Fort or Castle within his Monastery which for many years retained the name of Mount Thorold so that now the Monastery of Peterburgh seemed rather a warlike than religious place Yet for all that Turoldus could do for his own security he was at length taken by Herewardus and constrained to ransome himself with the payment of thirty marks in silver So profuse was this Turoldus of the goods of his Monastery that at his entrance an estimate of the goods thereof amounting to fifteen hundred pounds ere Turoldus had done there remained scarce five hundred But his disposing of the Lands as hath been said to certain Knights for their service in these Military times was remarkable and valid in after ages where I could give a large declaration of the persons thus invested with the Church-Lands and what Lands those were but it shall suffice to say that there were in all forty one men of note who received those Lands from Turoldus to hold upon that condition but they did not all receive in equal proportion but some more and some less some to find and afford the service of six Knights some of four some of one and some less as their portions of Land were yet in all the number of Knights for which they were to be answerable amounted to sixty eight and from whence there began a new addition to be annexed unto the name of the place as to be called The Honour of Peterburgh But there happened another Act of Turoldus which raised his discontents higher in himself and brought him lower in the good affection of his Convent for he received into his Monastery two Monks from beyond Sea who secretly stole away and carried many of the Church Goods with them At length Turoldus weary of his Government here procured for himself the Bishoprick of Beavois in France whither he transported many of the goods of the Monastery but he was not so welcome to his new Bishoprick as to make any long continuance there for on the fourth day he was expelled thence and returning again into England he gave the King a great summ of Money that he might be seated again in his Monastery of Peterburgh whither he returned and in all continued his Government there the space of 28 years and died Anno 1100 or as some say 1098. being the 10 or 11 year of William the Second 15. GODRIC VS The Monks now began to be provident for themselves for considering the inconveniences they suffered by Turoldus being imposed upon them they gave the King three hundred Marks in Silver that they might have the power of Electing their own Abbot which having procured from the King they chose Godricus who was Brother to Abbot Brando Whether or no Godricus might incurr the guilt of Simony by what the Church had done Bishop Godwin calleth him Geffrey page 34. I will not determine yet was he with Richard Abbot of Ely and Adelwinus Abbot of Ramsey deposed from their Governments by a Councel held under Anselmus then Archbishop of Canterbury for that as Peterburgh Writers say they had entred by Simony Yet Matth. Paris renders another reason that it In vita W. Rufi was because
Peterburgh where Abbot Godfrey entertained them very nobly the Abbot presented the Prince with a rich Robe and the Prince asked the Messenger if the Abbot had sent one to his friend Peter the Messenger answering No the Prince then would not accept his the Messenger returning to the Abbot certified him of the Princes refusal and the reason whereupon another rich Robe was sent to Peter whose mediation the Messenger solicited for the Prince's acceptance of his Robe also whereupon Peter sends to the Prince and bids the Messenger say Volo I will that thou receive the Abbots gift which was done accordingly and the Abbot had thanks returned to him In his fourth year the 32 of King Edward Galfridus de la A Market and Fair at Northburgh Mare then Lord of Northburgh had procured from King Edward a Charter to hold a Market and Fair at Northburgh but Abbot Godfrey considering how prejudicial the same would be to his Town of Peterburgh compounded with Galfridus who quitted his Charter to the Abbot of Peterburgh and his Successors for ever In his fifth year the Church of Wermington was made an Appropriation Wermington Church Gate-house Godfrey was also a great builder adding much to his Monastery but we cannot say which for they are long since demolished only the great Gate-house over which was the Chamber called The Knights Chamber is yet standing the Chamber only being lately translated into another fashion about it were the Pictures of Knights upon the walls who held Lands of the Abby and the very Rafters were adorned with Coats of Arms. Godfrey also purchased the Mannor of Lullington or Luddington for 113l 6s 8d of Luddington Mannor Gregory then Lord thereof allowing him above this summ a Corrody in his Monastery that is maintenance during his life for himself two servants and their horses He setled a yearly stipend of five pound upon the Chaplain of Northolme And upon a certain number of Monks then residing at Oxney he setled a weekly portion of Victuals thirteen stone of Cheefe which they were to receive out of the Mannor of Eye and every week from May 3. to September 13. three pounds and an half of Butter He procured a Fair to be held at Northolme yearly on S. Matthews day and a Weekly Market every Thursday He built the dwelling A Fair and Market at Northolme Vid. Chart. in App. Mill-dam House at Burghberry and made the Dam commonly called Mill-Dam with a Water-Mill at the end thereof which hath been in use in our memory He built also of his own free will the Bridge now standing over the River and leading into the City of The Bridge which more in the next King Edward preparing for War with Scotland sent to Abbot Godfrey for contribution towards it and the Abbot sent him an hundred Marks The King sent the second time to the Abbot for his Knights service in horse and arms and the Abbot sent the King sixty Marks more The King sent the third time and the Abbot sent him 220l The King sent the fourth time for a supply of Carriages and the Abbot satisfied that with 30l The King sent the fifth time to borrow four hundred Marks which the Abbot also satisfied with the free gift of an hundred pounds About that time the King seized upon all the Lands of Walter de Langton his Treasurer and amongst the rest upon Thorp Watervile belonging to the Abbey of Peterburgh which by advice and assistance of John of Milton the Abbots Seneschal or Steward was recovered by the Abbots paying to the Kings Exchequer for the same 50 l. But John of Milton having taken the said Mannor of the Abbot and shortly after dying the King gave that Mannor to Earl Warren so that the Abbot was brought to a new composition of 120 Marks The King at that time imposed 40 s. upon every Knights-fee throughout the Realm towards the marriage of Elianor his eldest daughter and then Abbot Godfrey sent the King 127 l. Howbeit Wittlesey Registrum Adae fol. 76. I find in another Register that the King sent his Breves to the Sheriffs of Northampton Lincoln Nottingham Leicester Warwick Huntingdon and Bedford that they should not levy any such moneys upon the Lands of the Abbot of Peterburgh whereby it may seem that this 127 l. was rather the Abbots free gift than a tribute of duty the Abbot standing upon his exemption from such demands by the Charters of the Kings predecessors from the first foundation of his Abby Abbot Godfrey entertained the King the second time when for duties to the King and free gifts to his followers the Abbot expended the summ of 1543 l. 13 s. 4 d. He entertained also two Cardinals which were travelling towards Scotland to mediate for a peace betwixt King Edward and the Scots And the Abbot presented one of them called Gaucelmus with a Psalter curiously written with golden Letters And those Cardinals in their return coming hither again the Abbot presented Gaucelmus with an embroidered Cope of the value of 100 Marks And the other Cardinal Lucius de Aysk with a silver Cup gilt and fifty Ells of Scarlet So that the moneys expended by Abbot Godfrey for Vestments and ornaments of the Church for Lands purchased to his Abby and for gifts to several persons amounted to the summ of 3646 l. 4 s. 3 d. Abbot Godfrey made him a Pastoral Staff of Silver gilt over and in the head of it was the image of the Trinity which is the first and last staff that I find amongst any of the Abbots When he had governed his Abby the space of twenty two years he died and lieth buried at the upper end of the Quire betwixt William Genge and John Deping The Brass of his Monument was divorced from his Marble in the year 1643. being his pourtraicture and a small inscription in the Verge Whilst he lived his Library consisted of these Books Duae Bibliae una Gallice scripta Avicenna Instituta apparitata Sextus liber Decretalium cum apparatu Legenda Sanctorum Summum bonum Regula Sanctorum Benedicti Basilii cum aliis rebus Processionarium Breviarum in duobus voluminibus Manuale cum exequiis mortuorum Godfrey being dead there came an extent from the King against the Lands of the Abby and Barony of the Abbot when a Jury upon Oath returned them at this rate The Abbot of Peterburgh received for Rent yearly at  l. s. d.   Castor 18 10 6   Thorpe 15 1 6 ob  Burghberry 64 9 4   Glinton 23 6 1   Witherington 20 9 4   Walton 12 16 11   Eyebury 24 5 0   Oundle 43 11 0   Aston 15 16 11   Wermington 52 13 4 ob  Kettering 57 3 6   Cottingham 19 4 11   Stanwigg 16 7 10 ob q. Irtlingburgh 18 12 0   Polebroke 14 6 8   Okeslow
In the time of this Abbot there was an Indictment at Northampton against a stoppage of the Water at Vpwell so that the River of Nen could not have its course towards Lynn whereby the Counties of Northampton Lincoln Bedford Huntingdon and Cambridge were much endamaged The Abbot of Peterburgh laboured hard to get the drain scowred and at length procured a Decree from Galfridus Scroop the Kings Chief Justice for clearing the passage the Abbots of Ramsey Thorney and Croyland joyning with him this cost the Abbot of Peterburgh 63 l. 11 s. 1 d. In Abbot Adams time there happened a fray in the Chappel at Registr Adae fol. 41. Oxney and blood being shed therein the Chappel was polluted and stood suspended from its priviledge of Divine Service The Bishop of Lincoln being then otherwise employed could not attend to reconcile it but gave his consent that any other Bishop might whereupon Abbot Adam wrote to the Bishop of Carlile intreating him that as he returned from the Parliament towards his Mannor of Horncastle he would come and reconcile the said Chappel And as Abbot Adam had been free towards the King so was the King to him confirming his Possessions and Priviledges particularly by Charter the tenth of his huntings Tenth of huntings throughout Northamptonshire that whosoever hunted any game throughout this County for the Kings use or by his authority was responsible to the Abbot of Peterburgh for the tenth thereof which were granted and confirmed long before by his Predecessors King Richard 1. and W. Rufus And King Henry 3. and King Edward 1. did both of them command by their express Warrant to the Forester that the Abbot of Peterburgh should have five Bucks in acknowledgment thereof What this Abbot was for Learning and Ability in his Function let the Reader conjecture by his Library which Wittlesey sets down Decretales Sermones Johannis de Abbevile Mediapars Missal Breviarium Manuale Liber Chartarum Actus Apostolorum Epistolae Canonicae Apocalypsis Gerardus super Psalterium Summa summarum Diurnale Dicta Senecae cum 36 tractatibus content is in eodem volumine These were his Books set down by Wittlesey which agrees with another ancient Catalogue that I have by me Adam in the beginning of his eighteenth year died being the year of our Lord 1338. and the 12 of King Edward 3. On the fourth day of December following he was honourably interred the Abbot of Ramsey performing his funeral service and making a Sermon He was buried betwixt the Quire and the great Altar a fair Marble Stone being laid over him with some Brass upon it which was taken away in the late demolition of Monuments The Epitaph written about it was this Claustri praelatus hujus cubat hic vocitatus Adam qui natus erat a Boothby nece stratus Vir castus justus omni virtute robustus M semel x trina ter sex i quoque bina Pars donetur ei celestis nunc requiei Presently after his death was the Seal of the Monastery broken and care was taken for the Kings consent to a new election But before we name the Successor we shall present the Reader with a bill of Adams funeral expences which I shall give in Latine as I find it in Wittlesey If the Reader be but a good Deipnosophist he may construe the meaning of some words better than I can In cera 250li De frumento pro distributionibus pauperum 45 quarters De allecibus pro eisdem 1000. culibet 6. In pane pro die sepulturae frumenti 20 quarters Brasii pro cervisia 40 quarters In vino 1 dolium 1 pipam In allecibus pro die sepulturae 8500 De Lupis aquaticis grossis 100 De Cod-lingis 12 Sem. De Haddok 1 Sem. De Spar-lingis 1 Sem. De Salmon 24 De Milvellis 120 De Dogdrout 100 De Plais 10 Sem. De Congris 1 De Wilkis 5 Sek De grossis anguillis 5 estik De minutis anguillis 70 estik De Sturgeon 1 Barrel De Lintea tela pro nappis mensarum pro naperouns 200 Vlnae De Platellis diversis garnitis 1400 De Trowes 12 Bollis 4 De ciphis de ligno pro vino cervisia  In ollis luteis pro vino cervisia 300 De Corbellis 5 Abbot Adam being interred and the turmoil of his funeral past the thoughts of the Monks returned to continue the succession in 36. HENRICVS de Morcot A wise and discreet man Being elected Abbot he was according to the custome though this be the first mention that I find thereof carried on shoulders with a Te Deum to the great Altar and from thence to the Pulpit where the Prior published his Election Then Henry took his journey towards London but the King being then at Antwerp Henry's Election was confirmed by those whom he left in Authority with whom Abbot Henry compounded for his Mannors and Lands for the summ of 200 l. the Queens mony excepted and the reservation to the King of the Knights-fees and the advowsons of the livings of the Monastery during the vacany And so Henry returned towards Peterburgh and although he might have returned to some of his own Mannors yet with the Abbot of Thorneys leave he stayed at Stanground the space of three weeks In the mean time Simon of Islepe Vicar general to the Bishop of Lincoln the Bishop being then out of the Kingdom published in the Church of Peterburgh that if any persons could object any thing against Henry or the form of his Election they should appear such a day in the Church of S. James in Thrapstone and signify the same where because none appeared the said Simon ratified the Election and granted his Letter to any Bishop to confer his benediction upon this new Elect at any place within or without the Diocess of Lincoln which was performed by the Bishop of Ely the Lord Chancellor in his Chappel at his house in Holbourn Then did the Chancellor direct his Letters to the Convent and Tenants of the Church of Peterburgh for their obedience to this their Abbot and also to William Trussell the Kings Eschaetor beyond Trent not to meddle with any Lands belonging to the Church of Peterburgh Abbot Henry being returned staid a while at his Mannor of Eye and shortly after came to Peterburgh and was installed the seventh of the Ides of Feb. Anno 1338. which was the twelfth year of K. Edward 3. Here Walter of Wittlesey leaves me who hitherto hath been a good guide to our story wherein further our progress must be assisted by such other Records and Rolls as we light of When Abbot Henry had governed this Church about 15. years he died Anno 1353 which was the 27 of King Edward 3. His Library consisted of these Books viz. Parva Biblia Decreta Decretale Apparatus sexti Libri Decretalium Liber qui vocatur Innocentius Hostiensis in summa Breviarium Antiphonarium cum Psalterio Processionarium Item Decretale Catholicon He had a sharp
Richard enough is delivered by Roger Bird his Register telling us that they were Benedictine Monks or Monks of the black Order and lived under that rule but when this rule was first received here I cannot positively say though probably it was from the beginning In the time of this Richard strict inquisition began to be made into Discipline how the Monks of this Order observed the rules of their Founder for which purpose the Bishop of Lincoln sometimes visited the Abby of Peterburgh and sometimes the Abbots of this Order visited one anothers Monasteries according to articles agreed upon in their General Chapter which was commonly held at Northampton As the Abbot of Eyneshame in Oxfordshire sent his summons to the Abbot of Peterburgh Johannes permissione divina Abbas Mon. de Eyneshame Ordinis Sancti Benedicti Lincoln Dioc. ad visitanda omnia singula Monasteria nigrorum monachorum dicti Lincoln Dioces In Capitulo generali ejusdem Ordinis apud Northampton c. And so the Abbots of Peterburgh Bardney Thorney Ramsey Trinity Monastery in Norwich the Priory of S. Ethelreda in Ely did mutually visit each other as occasion served Many Corrodies were granted by this Abbot Richard but the Abby for diet got their Lands or other Benevolences Two were remarkable the first of John Delaber Bishop of S. Davids Bird Fol. 45. who was much affected towards this Monastery and for bestowing upon them his Mitre Cross Dalmaticks Sandals Sabbatines Gloves and Mass Book he received a Corrody which he might take at his own choice either at Peterburgh or at the Abbots Mannor of Eyebury with a yearly pension of 32l to be received during his life out of the Abbots Mannor of Kettering in consideration of a great summ of Money which the Abby had borrowed of him and he forgave it The other Corrody was to Alice Garton Widow which I thought fit to mention in regard the pavement of the Church Bird Fol. 63. doth still retain the memory of her and her family which lieth buried in the Body of the Church over against the Cloister door On the first stone are engraven these verses Hic duo sunt nati Thomae Garton tumulati Thomas quinquennis fuit Agnes feretriennis On the second these This Tho. Garton beautified some of the Windows in the Western Cloister with painted glass Corpus sub Lapide Thomae Garton jacet arte Conjugis Aliciaeque suae dextra sibi parte Quorum nunc animae coelesti luce requiescant On the third these Conjugis Aliciae Thomae Garton miserere O pater egregie quiat tecum residere Mantello teste viduali vixit honeste Brigge Fair. Vid. Chartam in App. In the 2 year of this Abbot Richard 1439. King Henry 6 by his Charter bearing date July 14 and the 17 of his Reign granted to the Abbot and Convent of Peterburgh the keeping of a Fair for three days viz. on S. Matthew's day the day before and the day after and that they should hold the said Fair as well in Huntingdonshire as Northamptonshire which Fair is now commonly known by the name of Brigge Fair. And in regard that a Fair was formerly granted to be kept the same day at Northolm in the time of Abbot Godfrey as hath been said 't is probable that the Fair there either by reason of discontinuance or some other inconvenience was setled here at Peterburgh Bird Fol. 14. This Abbot Richard was summoned to sit in Parliament at Westminster and being unable to undertake such a journey he delegated William Tresham and John Kirkby Clerk of the Parliament to sit in his place and to act for him and in his name as if himself were present as appeareth by his Letter to the King dated Febr. 12. 1444. He was summoned again to a Parliament at Coventry where he took the Oath of Allegiance to King Henry in manner and form as followeth Bird Fol. 49. I Richard Ashton Th'abbot of Peterburgh knowledge you most high and mighty and most Crysten Prince King Henry the Sixth to be my most redoubted Severayn Lord and rightwessly by succession born to Reign upon me and all your lege People Whereupon y voluntarily without cohertion promitte and oblish me by the Faith and Trouth that y owe unto God and by the Faith and Trouth and ligeance that y owe unto you my most redoubted Soveraign Lord that I shall be without eny variance True Faithful humble and obeysaunt Subjet and Liegeman unto you my most redoubted Soveraign Lord And that y shall be unto my lifes end at all times and places redy and attending in my most harty wise and maner as eny Liegeman oweth to be unto his Soveraign Lord putting me in my true undelayed Devoir to do all that that may be unto the we le and suerty of your most Royal Person of your most noble Estate And the way conservation and continuance of your most high Autority preheminence and Prerogatyf to the we le suerte and preserving of the Person of the most high and benigne Pryncesse Margaret the Queen my Soveraign Lady and of her most noble Estate she being your wife And also to the we le suerte and honour of the Person of the right high and mighty Prince Edward my right redoubted Lord the Prince your first begotten Sonn And of the right high and noble Estate of the same And faithfully truly and obeysantly in my most humble wise and Maner Honour serve obey and bear mind Allegeance unto my most redoubted Soveraign Lord during your lyfe wich God Fadir of mercy for my most singular recomfort preserve long in prosperity to endure And if God of his infinite power take you from this transitory life me bering lif here in this World that than y shall accept my said redoubted Lord the Prince Edward your said first begotten Sonn for my Soveraign Lord and bere my trouth Feith and Legiaunce unto him as my natural born Soveraign Lord. And aftre him unto his Succession of his Body lawfully begotten And in defaute of his Succession wiche God deffend unto eny other succession of your Body lawfully commyng And that y shall never at eny time for eny manner occasyon colour affinite or cause consent gyf aide assistance or favour or agree to eny thing that y may understond or know by eny meane that may be prejudicial or contrary to the premisses or eny of theym but that y shall as soon as y may so have knowlege put me in my dewe undelayed devoir in my most hearty and effectuous wyse and manner without colour or fayntise with my body goods myght pouer counsell and advertisement to resist withstond and subdue all theym that would in eny wyse presume to do contrary to the premisses or eny of them So God me help and those holy Evangelists In witness whereof y set to these presents my Seal and my Sign Manuel After that Richard had been Abbot here about thirty three years he surrendred his Government
00 4  Mannor of Glinton and Peikirk 63 15 00  Mannor of Maxey 19 04 00  Mannor of Northburgh 07 08 01  Mannor of Stamford S. Martins 18 11 03 ob Mannor of Irtlingburgh 33 05 11 ob Mannor of Stanwigge 25 08 00 ob Mannor of Polebrook 40 08 01 ob q. Leicestershire  l. s. d.  Mannor of Eston and Bringhurst 92 06 01 q. Lincolnshire  l. s. d.  Mannor of Fiskerton 68 15 03 ob Mannor of Repham Scothern Sudbrook 40 09 10  Mannor of Scotter 49 04 06  Mannor of Walcot 06 18 01  Mannor of Grantham 00 12 08  Stamford beyond the Bridge 00 07 00  Boston 00 10 00  Mannor of Careby 00 07 00  Liberty or Hundred of Scotter 03 08 04  Nottingham-shire  l. s. d.  Mannor of North-Collingham and South-Coll 85 19 5  Huntingtonshire   l. s. d.  Mannor of Botolphbridge and Overton 07 12 00  Mannor of Alwalton  39 10 05   Sum. total 811 16 01 q. Out-Rents in other places not comprehended in the former values Fishing in Wittlesmere 03 13 04 Fishing in Woland 01 13 04 Fishing in the Water of Vpwell Com. Norf. 00 02 04 Fishing in the River Nene 07 00 00 Advowsons and Presentations of Churches belonging to the Dean and Chapter Peikirk Northburgh Stanwigge Alwalton Fiskerton Irtlingburgh All-Saints Vicaridges of Maxey North-Collingham Bringhurst Stanwigge Parsonage was afterwards taken away with the Mannor Portions or Pensions from several Churches Castre 05 00 00 Peikirk 01 18 00 Northburgh 00 10 00 Bernack 05 10 00 Irtlingburgh 01 13 04 Stanwigge 01 16 08 South-Collingham 01 00 00 Polebrook 01 00 00 Fiskerton 00 15 00 Scotter 02 00 00 Careby 00 07 00 Thornhaw 00 03 00 Vfford 00 16 08 Woodford and Stoke Doile 02 08 08 Churches Appropriate Maxey Eston North-Collingham In these Lands the Dean and Chapter of Peterburgh injoyed such priviledges as commonly Lords of Mannors used to do Yet was there one special priviledge which the Abbots from ancient times injoyed and executed and by the Grant of King Henry and also by Queen Elizabeth January 29. and third of her Reign confirmed unto the Dean and Chapter a Priviledge known of late days by the name of Non molestandum that is a freedom from payment of Tolls and Customes in all Fairs Markets passages of Bridges Ways Ports in and without the Realm of England This the Dean and Chapter of Peterburgh had power to grant to their Tenants and there are some living who reap benefit by this Non molestandum at this very day this priviledge having been granted unto them when the Dean and Chapter were in power so to do And whosoever should act contrary to this Priviledge was to incur the penalty of ten pounds And by her general Inspeximus bearing date July 9. in the ninth year of her Reign Anno 1567. she confirmed all the Lands and Priviledges of this Church What Religious care the late King Charles had for the augmentation of the Dean and Prebendaries with other Stipendiaries belonging to this Church shall be seen in the close of our Appendix The Succession of this Ecclesiastical body from the first Constitution thereof by King Henry was thus the first in each being particularly nominated in King Henry's Charter DEANS 1 Francis Abree Prior of Northampton Bachelor in Divinity was made Dean 1541. 2 Gerard Carlton Bachelor in Divinity 1543. 3 James Curtop Master of Arts. 4 John Boxhall Doctor of Law 5 William Latimer Doctor in Divinity 1560. In his time the Cathedral was by a great Peer begged of Queen Elizabeth to build him an House upon Information to the Queen that it was ruinous and no Prayers said therein but Dean Latimer recovered it by the Queens favour upon better Information 6 Richard Fletcher Doctor in Divinity 1585. translated hence to the Bishoprick of Bristol thence to Worcester thence to London 7 Thomas Nevil Doctor in Divinity 1590. first Master of Magdalen-Colledge and after of Trinity-Colledge in Cambridge where he built that stately back Court commonly known by his Name 8 John Palmer Doctor in Divinity 1598. was Master of Magdalen-Colledge in Cambridge 9 Richard Cleyton Doctor in Divinity 1608. first Master of Magdalen-Colledge in Cambridge then of S. Johns 10 George Meriton Doctor in Divinity 1612. 11 Henry Beamount Doctor in Divinity 1616. 12 Guil. Pierse Dr. in Divinity Canon of Christ-Church in Oxford made Dean 1622. translated to the Bishoprick of Peterburgh afterwards to Bath and Wells 13 John Towers Doctor in Divinity 1630. translated to the Bishoprick of this Church 14 Thomas Jackson Doctor in Divinity 1638. President of Corpus-Christi Colledge in Oxford He liveth and will live in his learned Works to the Worlds end 15 John Cozin Doctor in Divinity 1640. Master of S. Peters Colledge in Cambridge preferred to the Bishoprick of Durham 16 Edward Rainbow Doctor in Divinity and Master of Magdalen-Colledge in Cambridge installed Dean of this Church Jan. 5. 1660. Advanced to the Bishoprick of Carlile to which he was consecrated July 10. 1664. 17 James Duport Doctor in Divinity of Trinity-Colledge in Cambridge Installed July 27. following The Succession of the Prebendaries was as followeth In the first PREBEND Matthew Whittall D. D. A secular Priest Howeton Peter Anthony Burton M. A. Robert Rodes B. D. William Bayly B. D. William Smith B. D. Tobias Bland B. D. Sub-Almoner to Q. Eliz. and Parson of Abbot Rippon Com. Hunt John Bridgeman D. D. removed to the Bishoprick of Chester John Williams D. D. removed to the Bishoprick of Lincoln October 11. 1621. He wrote himself John Lincoln elect C. Sigilli whilst he was Prebendary here Thomas Swift B. D. Parson of Waddington Com. Lincoln Simon Gunton M. A. Cambr. In the second PREBEND William Judd B. D. A Monk of the place Edwin Sands D. D. William Binsley L. D. Edwin Sands restored being ejected by Q. Mary or withdrawing himself as others did in her days Nicolas Shepheard D. D. William Hill M. A. Edward Lively Robert Williamson D. D. Parson of Tichmarsh Com. Northampton Robert Williamson D. D. Fellow of Magd. Coll. Oxon. John Howorth B. D. President of Magd. Coll. Cantabr afterwards D. D. and Mr. of the same Colledge William Henchman M. A. Parson of Barton Com. Northampton Cambr. In the third PREBEND Robert Pierson T. B. A Monk of the place Christopher Hodgson B. A. Edward Baker Cler. James Howland M. A. William Bayly B. D. Edward Marshal T. B. Parson of Wimple Com. Cantab. Warner Marshall M. A. Parson of Castor Sebastian Smith M. A. Oxon. Abraham Jackson M. A. William Louch M. A. Oxon. In the fourth PREBEND John Barlow M. A. Nicolas Murrey L. B. Miles Johnson James Ellis L. D. Richard Cleyton D. D. Richard Cleyburne D. D. John Pocklyngton D. D. William Towers B. D. Oxon. Thomas Greaves D. D. In the fifth PREBEND John Cheyney Prior Pollard B. D.
Abby of Ramsey that the Abbot of Ramsey should give to the Abbot and Covent of Peterburgh 4000 Eeles in the time of Lent and in consideration thereof the Abbot of Peterburgh should give to the Abbot of Ramsey as much Free-stone from his Pitts in Bernack and as much Rag-stone from his Pitts in Peterburgh as he should need Nor did the Abbot of Peterburgh from these Pitts furnish only that but other Abbies also as that of S. Edmunds-Bury In memory whereof there are two long stones yet standing upon a balk in Castor-field near unto Gunwade-Ferry which erroneous tradition hath given out to be two draughts of Arrows from Alwalton Church-yard thither the one of Robin Hood and the other of Little John but the truth is they were set up for witnesses that the carriages of Stone from Bernack to Gunwade-Ferry to be conveyed to S. Edmunds-Bury might pass that way without paying Toll And in some old Terrars they are called S. Edmunds Stones These Stones are nicked in their tops after the manner of Arrows probably enough in memory of S. Edmund who was shot to death with arrows by the Danes King Wolfere dying without issue his Brother Etheldred succeeded him and continued his good affection to the Monastery of Speed speaks as if K. Wolfere was buried at Peterburgh Medeshamsted the Royal Founder whereof built also an house for the Abbot which upon the dissolution by Henry the Eighth became the Bishops-Palace A building very large and stately as this present age can testifie all the rooms of common habitation being built above stairs and underneath were very fair Vaults and goodly Cellars for several uses The great Hall a magnificent room had at the upper end in the Wall very high above the ground three stately Thrones wherein were placed sitting the three Royal Founders carved curiously of Wood painted and gilt which in the Year 1644. were pulled down and broken to pieces Under them were written in ancient Characters lately renewed these three Verses Per Peadam primo domus haec fundatur ab imo Post per Wolferum stabat possessio rerum Favit Ethelredus fraternum ponere foedus To which there was added a fourth when the three old ones were renewed Praebeat exemplum rara est concordia fratrum Johannes Brampton pag. 773. King Ethelred having reigned thirty years laid down his Crown and Scepter and shaving himself became first a Monk and afterwards Abbot of Bardney as Malmsbury writeth Anno 704. And Konredus succeeded him as in the Chronological Table annexed to Ingulphus The nest being thus fitted and prepared care was taken to furnish it with birds And first with an Abbot who should procreate and nourish a brood of religious underling Monks and the first of all that was made Abbot was 1. SAXVLFVS A pious and prudent man He being an Earl thought it no shame to assume a Religious presidency in this place and arriving at a great height of fame and reputation by his piety and holy life he quickly gathered a Covent of Monks who flocked to him from several places so that in a short time this nest produced many birds by whom other Monasteries were also founded and replenished especially that of Thorney was founded by this Abbot Saxulf which place was so called from the woody or thornie nature thereof whence others of like nature so called also as that of Westminster though it was otherwise known and recorded in ancient Writings by the name of Ancarig There did Saxulf build a place for Anchorites and having been Abbot of Medeshamsted the space of thirteen years he was translated to the Bishoprick of Durham or as some say to the Archbishoprick of the Midland English or Mercians Bishop Godwin reckoneth him amongst the Bishops of Coventry and Litchfield whom there succeeded in the Monastery of Medeshamsted 2. CVTHBALDVS He being a Monk of this place was by reason of his holy and devout life thought the fittest to succeed Saxulf So observant he was in the practice of devotion and withall so prudent in Ecclesiastical affairs that many other places were desirous of him for their Governour which because they could not obtain they desired some of his appointing whence Thorney Bricclesworth Bredune Wermondsey Repingas Wochingas and many other places were furnished with Abbots of his commending It was in the time of this Cuthbaldus that King Wolfere died and his Brother Ethelred succeeded who also was very liberal to this Monastery confirming to it what his Brethren had granted and likewise added more donations and priviledges of his own gift Amongst the rest that the Abbot of Medeshamsted should be chiefest of all the Abbots on that side of the River Thames and should have the first place in all Conventions and Ecclesiastical Assemblies And according to the present reputation of the Church and City of Rome for Rome it self had but lately some 73 years before this at the request of Pope Boniface the fourth to the Emperor Phocas Sigebert Gembl ad an 607. Lanquet Platina saith Boniface 3. obtained the Primacy over all the Churches of the world which from the beginning was not so if at any time the people of whole Britain or any of the neighbouring Nations should have a desire to visit the City of Rome and either by the length of the journey or by any other impediment should be hindered from such a purpose it should then suffice if they visited S. Peter in this Monastery Here they might pay their vows be absolved from their sins and receive the Apostolical blessing which with other priviledges was confirmed by Pope Agatho in a publick See the Appendix Council of an hundred and twenty five Bishops then assembled at Rome in the Year 680. I find not how long this Cuthbaldus continued in this place but there succeeded 3. EGBALDVS Whose life and actions are wholly buried in oblivion that I have nothing to say of him what he was how or how long he governed this Monastery onely that he was Abbot when Ethelbaldus the then King of Mercia granted his Charter for the founding of the Monastery of Croyland making Kenulphus a Monk of Evesham the first Abbot thereof which Charter was signed Anno 716. And this Abbot Egbaldus was one of the witnesses to it as Ingulphus writes 4. PVSA 5. BENNA or BEONNA He was a witness to the Charter of King Offa granted to the Monastery of Croyland Anno 793. Ingulphus 6. SELREDVS or CELREDVS He was a witness to the Charter which Kenulphus King of Mercia granted to Croyland Anno 806. Ingulphus 7. HEDDA He was a witness to the Charter of Witlafius King of Mercia granted to Siwardus Abbot of Croyland for that the said Siwardus concealed King Witlafius in a time of danger in his Monastery The Charter beareth date Anno 833. As also to another Charter granted by King Bertulphus Anno 851. To another of King Beorredus Anno 860. as Ingulphus telleth us He was also present at a general
Council holden at London Anno 833. At another Council at Kingsbury Anno 851. as S. H. Spelman writeth The Writers of this Monastery of Peterburgh are silent concerning There was saith Vossius one Elias Trikingham a Monk of this Church who wrote Annals from An. 626. to 770. wherein he lived but what mention he makes of his own Monastery non conslat See in Robert Sutton the times lives and actions of these Abbots their Records having been either none or perished therefore we shall be beholding to Ingulphus the Abbot of Croyland for a memorable History concerning this Abbot Hedda In his time the glory of the Monastery of Medeshamsted suffered a great Eclipse through the invasion of the Danes destroying all before them with fire and sword In which bloudy tempest the Monastery of Croyland was first overwhelmed the Danes killing there all the Monks they met with and Osketulus the barbarous King slaying the Abbot Theodorus upon the Altar with his own hand and having plundered the Monastery they set it on fire Britanuus a Monk of this Abby having escaped the slaughter wrote lamentations upon the destruction of his Monastery in Verse An. 807. Pitfeus On the fourth day after the Danes departed with a great booty of goods and cattel towards Medeshamsted where they found many of the Country people retired within the Monastery who with the Monks stood upon their guard The Danes making several assaults Tulba brother of Earl Hulba was by the defendants mortally bruised on the head with a stone cast from that Tower which he assaulted whereat Hulba was so enraged that having entred the Monastery he slew all the Monks with his own hand Our Peterburgh writers call them Hubba and Lubba the rest of the people were slaughtered by the Soldiers The aged Abbot Hedda escaped not the hands of Hulba but was slain with his Monks Then were the Altars broken down Monuments demolished a goodly Library set on fire Charters Evidences and Writings to a great number all torne in pieces The Church it self with all the appendent buildings was set on fire which continued for fifteen days together The Danes as I find in a Continuator of Ingulphus with the riches of the Monastery and the cattle of the Country departing on the fourth day there were two Earls among them both called by one name Sidroc the one the elder the other the younger who marched in the reer of this devouring multitude to guard them in their passage over streams and rivers And when the multitude had passed over the River Nen these two Sidrocs being to pass over with their booty two Waines laden with their choicest riches were overthrown and together with their horses sunk into a deep pit a little beneath the Bridge which haply was the Medeswell before mentioned Now to Ingulphus again who proceeds in his own story That certain Monks of Croyland who had secured themselves by flight into the Fens the Danes being gone they returned to their Monastery cleansed it from ashes and other pollutions as they could and consulted to chuse another Abbot which they did Godricus a reverend and religious man being he upon whom the election passed to whom there came Toretus Prior of Ancarig with his sub-prior Tisa desiring Godricus that he would take some brethren with him and go over to Medeshamsted to give Christian burial to the bodies of those Monks which were there exposed to beasts and birds Godricus embracing the motion took some of his Monks with him amongst the rest one Turgarus of twelve years of age who being by the younger Sidroc saved was by him taken to Medeshamsted and seeing the Danes busie in getting their carriages out of the River Nen he stole away from them and returned to his Monastery of Croyland Abbot Godricus coming to Medeshamsted with much toil and pains gathered together the bodies of the slaughtered Monks to the number of 84. and laid them all in one large grave in the middle of the Church-yard by the East front of the Monastery upon the Feast of S. Cecilia November 22. setting up over the body of the Abbot resting in the midst of his sons a pyramidal stone three foot in heighth three in length and one in thickness engraven with the So Ingulphus calls it pictures of the Abbot and his Monks about him which stone in memory of the destroyed Monastery he named Medeshamsted and every year after so long as he lived he visited that place pitching his Tent over the said stone saying Mass two several days for the souls of Abbot Hedda and his Monks The high way then into Holland was through the same Church-yard having that monumental stone on the right hand and a cross of stone over against it erected also by Abbot Godricus on the left that passers by in memory of the ruined Monastery might remember to pray for the souls of those there buried and abstain from sacrilegious rapines and demolitions of that place for his sake who was crucified Thus far Ingulphus The Cross is long since demolished and the place where it stood not known but the stone is still remaining agreeable to Ingulphus his description which as it was at first called by the name of the place Medeshamsted so it is now amongst some known by the name of Peterburgh and there being certain little holes in the sides of the stone it was lately a merry custom for strangers to put their fingers into one of those holes that they might say they had been at Peterburgh There was within these few years a door in the Church having the Picture of Abbot Hedda and the King or Captain of the Danes as it were expostulating the business and underneath were these four Verses written in ancient Saxon Letters as if they had been spoken by the Abbot Fers mala pejora timeas cedasque rigori Nec teneare mora ne teneare mori Hoc ne dabo domitus quod Barbarus advena quaerit Da necer immeritus mors mihi munus erit The Monastery of Medeshamsted thus destroyed by the Danes Ingulphus fol. 494. lay buried in its own ruines the space of ninety and six years no Abbot Monk Government or Religion there professed in all that time that is to be found in story only King Beorredus seized the Lands of the Monastery giving them to his Souldiers until Adelwoldus or Athelwoldus Bishop of Winchester a man very zealous in the building and restoring of Churches laid his hand to the restauration of it for as Writers say he was warned of God in the night that he should go to the midland English and repair the Monastery of S. Peter so that taking his journey into these parts he came to Oundle supposing that to be the place but being warned the second time that he should follow the course of the River he came at length to Medeshamsted which he found desolate and forsaken but presently with such help as he could get he fell to cleansing
of it But seeing what a great business this restauration was like to prove he returned to Winchester to make preparation for so great a design And first he made his address to God by fervent prayers to encline the hearts of King Edgar and his Queen and Nobles that he might have them so propitious as to contribute their assistances to this work And being one time at his prayers the Queen had secretly gotten behind the door to listen what it was that Athelwold prayed and suddenly she came forth upon him telling him that God and her self had heard his prayers and from thenceforth she began to solicite the King for the reparation of this Monastery to which the King assenting applied himself thereunto until he had finished the same which was in the year 970. The Monastery thus re-edified King Edgar desirous to see it went thither with Dunstane then Archbishop of Canterbury and Oswald Archbishop of York attended also with most of the Nobility and Clergy of England who all approved and applauded both the place and work But when King Edgar heard that some Charters and Writings which some Monks had secured from the fury of the Danes were found he desired to see them and having read the priviledges of this place that he had a second Rome within his own Kingdom he wept for joy And in the presence of that Assembly he confirmed their former priviledges and possessions the King Nobles and Clergy offering large oblations some of lands some of gold and silver At this glorious assembly the name of the place was changed from Medeshamsted to Burgh and by reason of the fair building pleasant situation large priviledges rich possessions plenty of gold and silver which this Monastery was endowed withal there was an addition to the name as to be called Gildenburgh though in reference to the dedication it hath ever since been known by the name of Peterburgh Malmsbury would have the nomination of the place Burgh to be from Abbot De gestis Pont. lib. 4. Kenulphus his enclosing the Monastery with a Wall as shall be noted hereafter but our Peterburgh Writers are not of his mind but place it here Writers say that in those days this Monastery was of so high account that what person soever came thither to pray whether King Lord Bishop or Abbot he put off his shoes at the gate of the Monastery and entred barefoot And the Covent there was very much had in esteem that if any of them travelled into any of the neighbouring parts they were received with the greatest respect and reverence that could be The Monastery thus restored King Edgar was mindful of the government also by Abbots as it had anciently been and there was appointed 8. ADVLPHVS He being Chancellor to King Edgar changed his Court life for a Monastical in this place the reason of which change was this He had one only Son whom he and his Wife dearly loved and they used to have him lie in bed betwixt them but the Parents having over night drunk more wine than was convenient their Son betwixt them was smothered to death Adulphus the father being sadly affected with this horrid mischance was resolved to visit S. Peter at Rome after the manner of a penitentiary for absolution imparting his intent to Bishop Athelwoldus who disswaded him from it telling him it would be better if he would labour in the restauration of S. Peters Church in this place and here visit him Adulphus approving this advice came with King Edgar to Burgh where in the presence of the King and the rest of that Convention he offered all his wealth put off his Courtly Robes and put on the habit of a Monk and ascended to the degree of Abbot in the year 972. In those days the whole Nasee or Country adjoyning and which is now known by the name of Burgh-soke was all a woody and solitary place until this Abbot Adulphus cut down woods built Mannors and Granges and let the Lands to farm for certain Rents so that the people increasing and as yet no Churches built amongst them they came to Peterburgh to receive the Sacraments and to pay their Church-duties which continued for many years after And although in the days of Turoldus Abbot Churches and Chappels began to be built the said Turoldus distributing the Lands of the Monastery to those Knights who desired to serve God at home yet still the Church of Peterburgh received the whole revenue until the time of Abbot Ernulfus Anno 1112. when there were assigned to the respective Ministers of Churches and Chappels certain revenues for their maintenance as due to their service saving to the Church of Burgh two parts of the predial Tythes of those Knights and saving the burial of See in Ernulphus the said Knights their wives and children in the Church of Burgh and also a certain portion of the Knights estates for the maintenance of their wives and children Saving also to the Church of Burgh from the Churches so built certain pensions which being imposed upon them in their first endowments or collations by this Church many of them have continued unto and been paid in these our days to the Bishop or Dean and Chapter as they were assigned by King Henry the Eighth as shall be declared hereafter Adulphus was present at the dedication of the Church of Ramsey in the year 974. After that this Abbot Adulphus had happily governed this Monastery about the space of twenty years Henry of Pightly saith Codex Ramis in manu H. Cromwell Armig. fol. 58. thirty one he was translated to the Archbishoprick of York there to succeed Oswaldus then deceased Some say he was translated to the Bishop of Worcester And in the place of Adulphus there came 9. KENVLPHVS Who was made Abbot in the year of our Lord 992. and was highly honoured far and near for his wisdom and piety many coming to him from several parts Bishops Abbots Priests and Monks as to another Solomon to hear his wisdom And by reason of his great fame for his learning he is supposed to have been a Writer and is therefore by Pitseus inserted into his Catalogue of English Writers though what he wrote is not extant or evident by his or any other testimony that I have met with This Abbot Kenulphus enclosed the Monastery of Burgh with a Wall a great part whereof is yet standing Having continued B. Godwyn Abbot here about thirteen years he was translated to the Bishoprick of Winchester Anno 1006. for the procurement whereof he is charged with Simony His successor in this Monastery was 10. ELSINVS Or Elsius Of whom I find no glorious Character recorded by Writers save this if it may be so accounted that he was very inquisitive after Reliques with which he was very industrious to inrich his Monastery And because Swapham and Wittlesey the compleatest Historians of this place have punctually set down a bedrole of his Reliques the Reader I hope will
not take it ill if I give a relation of them Amongst the Reliques of this place that which was most famous and bare the bell away from all the rest was S. Oswalds arm which continued uncorrupted for many years and that in the time of Abbot Martin it was shown to Alexander Bishop of Lincoln 487 years after its cutting off And of it some of the Monks in those times wrote these Verses Cum digitis dextram cute sanguine carneque tectam Oswaldi Regis Burgensis continet aedis Vngues sunt tales fuerant vivo sibi quales Intus in hac dextra paret cernentibus extra Nervus hinc vena dextra junctura serena In cubiti veluti nova paret fossa veruti Quo fuit appensum pretiosum martyris armum The story of this arm I suppose to be taken out of Beda his History of England lib. 3. cap. 6. who relates that this Oswald King of Northumberland was very free and liberal in giving of alms to the poor and one day whilst he sate at meat one of his servants told him of a great number of poor people come to his gate for relief whereupon King Oswald sent them meat from his own table and there not being enough to serve them all he caused one of his silver dishes to be cut in pieces and to be distributed amongst the rest which Aydanus a Bishop who came out of Scotland to convert and instruct those Northern parts of England beholding took the King by the right hand saying nunquam inveterascat haec manus let this hand never wax old or be corrupted which came to pass This arm was first deposited at Bamburgh a religious place in Yorkshire Walter of Wettlesey writing the story thereof tells that it was brought to the Monastary of Burgh by Winegotus of Bebeberch but saith not when therefore I cannot conjecture better than that it was by the procurement of this Abbot Elsinus It is said that this arm wrought many cures upon several diseased folk and that it was of such fame in the days of King Stephen as that he himself came to Peterburgh purposely to see it and offered his Ring to S. Oswald and also remitted King Stephen at Peterburgh to the Monastery the summ of forty marks wherein it was indebted unto him But that the Reader may know more fully the story of S. Oswald and his arm it is to be remembred that Penda King of the Camden Mercians being of a fierce nature and withal ambitious made war upon his neighbour Kings and particularly upon Oswald King of Northumberland who was a Christian him Penda encountred at Oswaldstreet now Oswestre in Shropshire though Wittlesey saith this battle was fought at a place called Burne and there overthrew him and caused him to be torn in pieces whom some in remembrance of Bishop Aydan's blessing might preserve his arm which at length was here at Peterburgh treasured up If the Reader be still at a stand when he shall read in Authors that King Oswald was buried at several places I cannot help him And now that we are upon this subject of Reliques we may I hope without offence to the Reader extend the Legend to the full Besides S. Oswalds arm there were some of his ribs and some of the earth where he was slain There were two pieces of our Saviours swadling cloaths Of the Manger wherein he was laid in two places Two pieces of the Cross which would not be burnt More of the Cross in four places Of the Sepulchre of our Lord in four places Of the five loaves with which he fed the five thousand men Of the garment of S. Mary in two places Of her vail in two places Of Aarons rod. Reliques of S. John the Baptist Of old Symeon Of the Sepulchre of Lazarus in two places Of the stone-patin of S. John the Evangelist Reliques of S. Peter the Apostle Of S. Paul Of S. Andrew Of S. Bartholomew Of S. Philip and Jacob. A shoulder blade of one of the Innocents whom Herod slew Reliques of S. Stephen S. Dionysius Rusticus and Elutherius Of the sackcloath and shirt of S. Wenceslaus Of the hand of S. Magnus Martyr Of S. Laurence The jaw and tooth and arm of S. George Martyr Reliques of S. Hippolytus and of S. Gervase The jaw and tooth of S. Christopher Reliques of S. Cyriacus of S. Potitus of S. Quirinus Two teeth of S. Edward King and Martyr Reliques of S. Trudon of S. Maximus of S. Salinus of S. Theodorus of S. Innocentius of S. Mauritius of S. Apollinaris of S. Gorgon of S. S. Cosmus and Damianus of S. S. Sergius and Bachius The finger of S. Leofridus Abbot Reliques of S. Hugo S. Wulgarus S. Adelwold S. Cuthbald S. Vindemianus S. Lotharius Three sinews of the hand of S. Athelard Abbot of Corbey Reliques of S. Acca Bishop of S. Machutus of S. Egwinus Abbot of S. Kenulphus The arm of S. Swithune Bishop A relique of S. Medard The shoulder-blade of S. Ambrose The tooth of S. Aydanus of S. Grimbaldus of S. Adelmus Two pieces of S. Cecilia of S. Lucia of S. Christina Of the bones and bloud and garment of S. Eutopia Of S. Mary the Egyptian Of S. Mary Magdalen Of the head and arms of S. Rogelida Of * See the Matriculatory at the end O. S. Anstroberta Of S. Edburga Of S. Emerentiana Of S. Juliana Virgin Of the hairs of S. Athelwold Bishop The tooth of S. Sexburga Virgin Reliques deposited under the great Altar Of the wood and Sepulchre of our Lord. Of the head of S. George Of the arm of S. Sebastian Of S. Pancratius Of S. Procopius S. Wilfridus S. Botwinus S. Albertus S. Suffredus S. Tadbertus S. Wildegelus Abbots Pag. 91. Reliques in the silver Tower Of the Sepulchre of our Lord. Of the garment and Sepulchre of S. Mary Of S. Andrew and S. Philip and S. James Of S. Dionysius S. Rusticus and Eleutherius Of S. Oswaldus S. Laurentius S. Vincentius S. Potitus S. S. Cosmus and Damianus S. Adelwoldus S. Adelinus S. Cecilia S. Edburga What became of these or some of these reliques in after times some small mention will be made hereafter but whether any of them were extant in the Monastery at the dissolution by King Henry the Eighth I find nothing amongst Writers no not of great S. Oswalds arm though Nicolas Harpsfield a late Historical Romanist would make us believe that the prayer of Aydanus was still in force as if that arm was somewhere extant But to return to Abbot Elsinus He was three years in Normandy with Queen Emma where he also collected many other reliques and like a laborious Bee stored his Abbey with them It hapned at that time that there was a great dearth in that Country of Normandy insomuch that many of the inhabitants forsook the Country and planted themselves in other places The Abbey of S. Florentinus having spent their treasures in buying of food and nothing left
them but the shrine of their Saint and Patrone at length they sold him also all but his head which they still reserved to themselves Elsinus having bought the body sent it to Peterburgh whither the Monks of that Abbey in Normandy did often repair to do their devotions to their Saint But whilst Elsinus was careful abroad for profitable reliques his Abbey at home sustained loss in more real endowments for Hoveden in Yorkshire with many other lands were wrested from the Monastery of Peterburgh Yet Elsinus added something of his own purchasing a fourth part of Wittleseymere and giving it to his Monastery which had a part thereof before purchased by Adelwoldus Bishop of Winchester in the time of King Edgar Wittlesey In those days was the Monastery of Ramsey accused to the King who threatned the dissolution thereof but by the mediation of this Elsinus it was reprieved upon condition that Elsinus should undertake the charge of it which Elsinus afterwards remitted to the Ramisians About this time Leofricus who was Secretary of Burgh translated the bodies of S. Kyneburga and Kyneswitha from their Church of Castre and the body of S. Tibba from Rihale to Peterburgh Others place this translation in the Harpsfield from Capgra pag. 85. time of King Henry the first and that they had a yearly memorial celebrated here In the time of this Abbot Elsinus Anno 1051. Elfricus Archbishop of York died at Southwell and was buried at Peterburgh where he had been a Monk of whom more hereafter Elsinus having been Abbot here the space of fifty years died Anno 1055. and there succeeded 11. ARWINVS or ERNWINVS Ingulphus He was made Abbot by Election which deservedly passed upon him being a man of great holiness and simplicity but he liking better a private and solitary life freely surrendred his government after eight years continuance therein In his time Anno 1059. or as some say 1060. died Kinsius Archbishop of York who formerly had been Chaplain to King Edward the Confessor and was buried in the Church of Peterburgh where he had been a Monk Radulphus de Diceto calls him Kinsigius and commends him highly for his austere way of living his humility and other vertues Of whom again hereafter About this time S. Wulstan formerly Monk of Peterburgh was made Bishop of Worcester Bishop Godwyn Anno 1062. 12. LEOFRICVS or LEVRICVS Vid. appendiam Chartarum Having by his birth relation to the Royal bloud was first made a Monk of Burgh and afterwards Abbot upon the retirement of Arwinus He being dear to King Edward and Edgith his wife held by extraordinary benevolence five Abbeys in his hand at once viz. Burton Coventry Croyland Thorney and Peterburgh He redeemed of King Edward certain lands belonging to his Monastery as Fiskerton for twenty marks Fleton for eight marks and Burleigh for eight marks which being demised by lease to Elfgarus the Queens Chaplain for the term of his life he being dead the Queen would have taken it from the Church of Peterburgh had it not been for Abbot Leofricus In the third year of this Abbot Anno 1066. William Duke of Normandy entred England with an army and subdued it to his Norman power Of which I find these old Monkish Verses in some of our Writers Anno Milleno Sexageno quoque seno Agenito verbo Duce jam regnante superbo Anglorum metae crinem sensêre cometae Belli transacti sunt hic anni numerati Quod fuit hic factum quod est nunc usque vocatum Dilecti Christi fuerant tunc festa Calixti Abbot Leofricus was then in the English army where sickning he returned to his Monastery of Peterburgh and died the night after All-Saints day Deeping Bank In the time of this Abbot Leofricus one Egelricus a Monk of Burgh was made Archbishop of York but the Canons there envying that a Monk should be set over them though but lately it had been so refused to receive him wherefore he was made Bishop of Durham where he was received with general approbation Whilst he was Bishop there he gathered great store of wealth yet not to himself but that he might be rich in good works amongst which there is one that continues his memory to this very day the bank from Deeping to Spalding for in those days the passage being very difficult by reason of Woods and deep Marishes he raised that Causey for the benefit of Travellers which for many years after was called by his name Egelric Rode though now it be known only by the name of Deeping Bank But some affirm that Egelricus found his wealth for intending to build a Church at Coneester now Chester upon the street in laying the foundation thereof he chanced to light upon a great mass of treasure wherewith he finished that work and many others Such a new found treasure might be an additional to what he had before which surely was not small else he would scarce have undertaken to build Churches When Egelricus had held his Bishoprick of Durham long enough to weary himself with publick employments he returned to his Monastery of Peterburgh having resigned his Bishoprick to his brother Egelwinus But it hapned that these two brethren were accused to King William the Conqueror who laid up Egelricus in Chains at Westminster during his life and when he was near his end he refused to have his Fetters taken off and desired that he might be buried with them and so was he buried in S. Nicolas Porch in Westminster the other Brother Egelwinus was deposed from his Bishoprick by King William and sent to Abendone where he died The Writers of Peterburgh Swapham and Wittlesey say That in the time of Abbot Leofricus his sickness this Egelricus being at his accustomed Evening devotions the Devil appeared to him in the shape of a boy of terrible countenance and told him that ere long he should triumph over the chiefest of them which perhaps was in the death of Leofricus Abbot and that three several times he would revenge himself upon the Monks and Monastery telling him also the manner First that he would cause all the Monks to be expelled and the goods of the Monastery to be taken away Secondly he would cause the Monastery to be set on fire Thirdly he would set the Monks so at strife that they should cut one anothers throats But Egelricus replying The Lord rebuke thee Satan the Devil vanished and left a horrible stink behind him 13. BRANDO Having been Coadjutor to Leofricus was thought the fittest to succeed him and being elected he made his address to Edgar Atheling for his confirmation supposing him to be lawful heir to the Crown of England notwithstanding the late Conquest by K. William but William hearing thereof was much incensed against Abbot Brando that he was forced to give him forty marks for his favour to confirm him in his Monastery and the Lands to his Church Whilst he was a Monk
they had received investiture into their Abbeys from the King and not from Anselme So Godricus held his Abbey of Peterburgh but one year which was an unhappy year too for in that year Foreign Thieves from Almain France and Flanders broke in through a window into the Church and stole away a Cross of beaten Gold with many Jewels two Chalices and Patins two golden Candlesticks which Elfricus Archbishop of York had given to this Church Although the Thieves were pursued and taken yet the goods were not recovered but came into the Kings hand who held them so fast that the Abbey could not retrieve them Godricus being deposed the Abbey was destitute of an Abbot about the space of four years all which time it continued in the Kings hand at length King Henry 1. in the year 1103. and the 3 or 4. of his Reign sent an Abbot unto them Until these days of King Henry all the Charters and Grants of former Kings and other Benefactors to the Church were without Seals and signed only with their Names and Figures of a Cross but now they began to affix Seals to their Deeds 16. MATTHIAS Was the man whom King Henry sent to the Abbey of Burgh after that Godricus was deposed One may almost smell the wind that blew Matthias hither for he was Brother to Galfridus Ridel the Kings Chief Justice to whom Matthias gave the Mannor of Pightesly belonging then to his Church What conveyance Abbot Matthias made to his brother Galfridus I cannot determine but Galfridus resolved to hold the Mannor of Pightesly as his own and not of the Monastery of Peterburgh which caused a long suit betwixt them until at length an agree-ment was made betwixt the Abbot not this Matthias but one of his Successors and Galfridus that he should hold the said Mannor for his life paying to the Abbot the yearly rent of four Marks and that after his decease the Mannor should return again to the Church of Peterburgh which it did not long after for Galfridus was drowned at Sea with William Son of King Henry Not long after Abbot John de Sais gave the King 60 Marks in Silver to confirm again the Mannor of Pightesly to his Monastery Matthias held his Monastery of Peterburgh but one year for on the same day he entred thereon on the same day twelve month he died at Gloucester about the year 1105. and the King again kept the Monastery in his hand three years till the coming of 17. ERNVLFVS He was Prior of Canterbury and there being then a Council holden at London wherein many were promoted to Ecclesiastical Dignities Ernulfus was offered to the Monks of Peterburgh for their Abbot and they willingly accepted of him knowing him to be both a pious and prudent man Whilst he was Prior of Canterbury the business concerning the marriage of Priests was hastily agitated and Anselme the then Archbishop was strongly for the negative writing Letters to this Ernulfus which are to be seen in Mr. Fox his Acts and Monuments Whilst Ernulfus was Abbot here all things went happily with the Monastery Ernulfus promoting the good thereof by the Kings favour which he had in a plentiful measure He built the new Dormitory the Necessary and finished the Chapter-house which was began before he made an agreement betwixt his Convent and those Knights who held Lands of his Abby that every Knight See in Adulphus should pay yearly to the Sacristary two parts of his Tythes and at his death the third part of his whole Estate for his burial in the Church all his Knightly endowments as well Horses as Armes being to be brought with his body and offer'd up to S. Peter the Convent were to receive the Corps with procession and to perform the office for the dead In the time of this Ernulfus Anno 1112. was the Church of Thirlby near Bourn in Lincolnshire dedicated by Robert Bloet then Bishop of Lincoln Thirlby Church dedicated Swapham fol. 115. pag. 1. which Church with the Mannor belonged then to this Monastery of Peterburgh Abbot Ernulfus was translated from this his government in his seventh year Anno 1114. For King Henry being to pass over the Sea and waiting for a wind at Bourn he sent to Peterburgh for Ernulfus to come unto him to consult about weighty Affairs he being the Kings Confessor but being come the King with Raulfus so our Peterburgh writers call him but Bishop Godwin Rodolphus the Archbishop of Canterbury importuned him to take upon him the Bishoprick of Rochester which Ernulfus did though much against his will the Monks also taking it very heavily wept for the loss of their Abbot Ernulfus being Bishop of Rochester wrote a Book in answer to certain questions propounded See the Catalogue at the end O. and B. by Lambertus Abbot of S. Bertine as also another book of incestuous Marriages although Pitseus makes no mention of him Ernulfus being thus removed the King gave his Monastery to Johannes de Sais or 18. JOHN of Salisbury He being appointed Abbot was honourably received of the Monks He took a journey to Rome but I find not to what end and returned the year following In his time the Monastery was burnt again only the Chapter-house Dormitory Necessary and the new Refectory escaped the flames which took hold of the Village and wholly consumed it Wittlesey writes that one in the Bakehouse being to kindle a fire with much pains could not make it burn which John the Abbot being present seeing in a cholerick mood cried The Devil kindle it and presently the fire flamed to the top of the house ran through all the Abbots Offices and thence to the Town The life burning in one of the Towers for nine days together a violent wind drove the Coals upon the Abbots house and fired that also Afterwards Abbot John began to build the Church anew Anno 1118. which he industriously prosecuted but lived not to finish it for he held his Abby but eleven years and died of a Dropsie Anno 1125. being the 25 or 26 of King Henry I. A year before this was the Church of Castri dedicated as may be seen by an Inscription yet continuing over the Chancel door XV KL MAII DEDICATIO HUJUS ECCLESIAE MCXXIIII Abbot John being dead the King again kept the Monastery in his hand two years And although as hath been said this John gave the King 60 Marks for the confirmation of the Mannor of Pightesly yet upon the death of John the Abbot of Peterburgh the King having all at his disposing for 60 Marks more sold Pightesly to Richard Basset and for Abbot of this Monastery appointed 19. HENRICVS de Angeli Or Henry of Anjou who was made Abbot Anno 1128. He being ambitious sought after many preferments but held them not long for besides he was unstable and voluntarily deserted his present Governments or else found opposition in new ones that he was compelled to withdraw Having an Abbey beyond Sea he got a
Commission to come over into England to gather up Peter pence which gave him opportunity to espy out some preferment or other here therefore coming to the King and much complaining of the troubles in his own Countrey whose Wars by reason of his age he could not endure he besought the King to conferr upon him the Abby of Peterburgh which was then vacant which he being allyed to the King obtained notwithstanding that both Archbishops and Bishops opposed it telling the King it was not lawful for him to hold two Abbeys But the King afterwards perceiving his fraud and covetousness commanded him to depart the Realm when he had held the Abbey of Peterburgh 5 years and so Anno 1133. he returned to his Abbey De Angeli In the first year that this John came to be Abbot here as Wittlesey writes there were heard and seen in the night time throughout Lent in the Woods betwixt Stamford and Peterburgh Hunters with their Horns and Dogs all of them of black and ugly complexion some riding upon black Horses and some upon Goats they had great staring eyes and were seen sometimes twenty and sometimes thirty in a company 20. MARTINVS de Vecti So called of the Isle of Wight from whence he came some call him Martin Cook He was first Prior of S. Neots and the King gave him the Monastery of Peterburgh into which he was honourably received by the Monks upon S. Peters day Anno 1133. being the 33 of King Henry 1. He was very industrious in repairing and perfecting the buildings of the Monastery and especially the Church to the dedication whereof anew there came thither Alexander Bishop of Lincoln the Abbots of Thorney Croyland Ramsey and others to whom Abbot Martin shewed the Holy Reliques and S. Oswalds arm Anno 1123. 23 years after its burning The tokens of which conflagration are yet to be seen or of some other in the inside of the West Porch above This Martin built a Gate of the Monastery but which I cannot say He likewise changed the situation of the Village to the Western side of the Monastery for before it was on the East he appointed the market place as now it is and built many houses about it He changed also the place of Wharfage for Boats coming to the Town to that place which is now commonly used He removed the Church of S. John Baptist which before stood in a Close still known by the name of S. John's Close to the place where now the said Church standeth And as he was a great builder so was he also in some sort a demolisher for he pulled down a Castle standing near the Church which perhaps was Mount Thorold formerly mentioned He planted the Vineyard and added many buildings to his own dwellings He entertained King Stephen who came hither to see the Arm of S. Oswald to whom he offered his Ring and forgave the Church 40 Marks which it ought him and confirmed many other Priviledges Abbot Martin in the time of his Government took a journey to Rome and along with him the Charter of King Ethelred that the then Pope Eugenius the Third might grant his Confirmation But in Wittlesey the Consistory there arose a debate about the form of the Charter which hitherto had gone currant for the space of almost 500 years for one of the Cardinals present besought the Pope that he would not give the honour of his name to another whereupon a new Charter was granted to Abbot Martin in the name of Eugenius and the name of King Ethelred Founder and Benefactor was put out Martin having sitten in his Abbattical See the Appendix Chair here about the term of 22 years died Anno 1155. which was the second year of King Henry 2. And there succeeded 21. WILLIHELMVS de Watervile Vid. Chartam in App. Who being Elected Abbot by the Monks the Election easily obtained the Kings ratification in regard this William was one of his Clerks or Chaplains The King also confirmed unto him and his Abbey the eight Hundreds of that part of the County which had formerly been granted by the Kings Predecessors This Abbot erected a Priory in Stamford and the Church of S. Michael there He setled a yearly maintenance upon the Church of S. John Baptist in Peterburgh enacting that the Chaplain should yearly upon Michaelmas day bring his Church-Key to the Sacrist of the Monastery as an acknowledgment of his dependance upon it He was very industrious in perfecting the buildings of his Monastery and adding new ones He built the Cloister and covered it with Lead He ordered Cloister and disposed the Quire of the Church in that manner as it lately stood and in some sort continues still He founded Quire the Chappel of Thomas Becket which was finished by his Successor and is now standing in the middle of the Arch of the Church-Porch as you enter into the Church He built a Chappel also in his own House and other necessary Offices At length he was accused by his Monks to the Archbishop so that he was deposed without conviction or his own confession as our Writers say of any crime deserving that censure when he had held his Abby twenty years Anno 1175. being the 21 or 22 year of King Henry the Second And although our Peterburgh Writers are silent in the cause of his deposition yet others have taken notice of it Johannes Brompton Jornallensis relates it thus that Richard Archbishop of Canterbury came to the Abby Pag. 1107 1108. of Peterburgh and deposed William of Watervile the Abbot there for that he against the will of the Monks entred with a band of armed men into the Church and took from thence some Reliques and the arm of S. Oswald pro denariis ad Judaeos invadendos the Monks standing in defence of their Reliques many of them were grievously wounded Roger Hoveden relates another reason as the most principal which he addeth to that of Jornallensis Pag. 313. that this Abbot William was fallen into the Kings disfavour for his brothers sake one Walter of Watervile in the Parish of Achrich in the County of Northampton where anciently was his Castle whom Abbot William received with others of that party being then in Arms against the King which shewed that Abbot William was not so Loyal to his Master the King as he should have been but abetting with his brother it might cause his own deposition 22. BENEDICTVS William being deposed the King held the Abby in his hand two years and then Benedict Prior of Canterbury was thought the fittest for it and made Abbot Anno 1177. in the Twenty fourth of King Henry the Second He was a very Learned man and as Pitseus who gives him very high commendations doth certifie wrote two Books Vitam S. Thomae Cantuariensis De ejusdem post mortem miraculis and certain others saith he yet because I find these Books mentioned in the Catalogue of this Abbots Library it may be
doubted whether he wrote them himself more than he did the rest I shall therefore set down his Books as also some of the succeeding Abbots that the Reader may conjecture what Scholars those Abbots might be and see what Books were most in request amongst them Abbot Benedicts Library was furnished with these Books Quinque libri Moysis glossati in uno Volumine Sexdecim Prophetae glossati in uno Volumine Duodecim Minores glossati in uno Volumine Liber Regum glossatus Paralipomenon glossatus Job Parabolae Salomonis Ecclesiastes Cantica Canticorum glossati in uno Volumine Liber Ecclesiasticus Liber Sapientiae glossati in uno Volumine Tobias Judith Esther Esdras glossati in uno Volumine Liber Judicumglossatus Scholastica Historia Psalterium glossatum Item non glossatum Item Psalterium Quatuor Evangelia glossata in uno Volumine Item Matthaeus Marcus in uno Volumine Johannes Lucas in uno Volumine Epistolae Pauli glossatae Apocalypsis Epistolae Canonicae glossatae in uno Volumine Sententiae Petri Lombardi Item Sententiae ejusdem Sermones Bernardi Abbatis Clarevallensis Decreta Gratiani Item Decreta Gratiani Summa Ruffini de Decretis Summa Johannis Faguntini de Decretis Decretales Epistolae Item Decretales Epistolae Item Decretales Epistolae cum Summa sic incipiente Olim. Institutiones Justiniani cum Autenticis Infortiato Digestum vetus Tres partes cum Digesto novo Summa Placentorum Totum corpus juris in duobus Voluminibus Arisimetica Epistolae Senecae cum aliis Senecis in uno Volumine Martialis Terentius in uno Volumine Morale dogma Philosophorum Gesta Alexandri Liber Claudii Claudiani Summae Petri Helyae de Grammatica cum multis aliis rebus in uno Volumine Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi genealogia ejus Interpretationes Hebraicorum nominum Libellus de Incarnatione Verbi Liber Bernardi Abbatis ad Eugenium Papam Missale Vita Sancti Thomae Martyris Miracula ejusdem in quinque Voluminibus Liber R. Plutonis qui dicitur Vnde malum Meditationes Anselmi Practica Bartholomaei cum pluribus aliis rebus in uno Volumine Ars Physicae Pantegm practica ipsius in uno Volumine Almasor Dioscorides de virtutibus herbarum Liber dinamidiorum aliorum multorum in uno Volumine Libellus de compoto This was the stock of his Literature as Wittlesey hath set it down though another ancient Copy in some few things differeth from it There is some clashing betwixt Vossius and Possevine about the time of this Benedict but it is not worth the trouble of reciting It seems Benedict was a man of good note that his preferment to this Abby should sound in foreign parts Sigebertus Gemblacensis making mention thereof Benedictus Prior Cantuariensis factus est Ad an 1177. Abbas de Burc The Abby was at his entrance 1500 marks deep in debt from which Benedict freed it He laboured much in recovering of his Abby Lands some by suits in Law and some by force for as if he were Tam Marti quam Mercurio as well for the Sword as the Book he went sometimes in person armed upon such adventures His actions at home towards his Monastery were great and many It seems the Nave or body of the Church did not please him therefore he built it after a better manner from the Lantern to the Porch as now it is so that the painted Ceiling at the top which is still remaining was probably of his doing He set up also the Pulpit in the body of the Church which was but lately taken away He finished the Chappel of Thomas Becket which his Predecessor had begun He built a large and goodly House of stone for several Offices which was standing in our age He built the great gate leading to the Monastery and over it the Chappel of S. Nicolas both which are yet standing He was much in the Kings favour that the King King Richard for his piety gravity and wisdom was wont to call him Father And when King Richard in his return from the Holy Land was taken prisoner by Arch-Duke Leopold who detained him this Abbot Benedict being in the Kings absence made Coadjutor and Councellor with William Bishop of Ely Chancellor of the Realm Councelled that the Chalices of the Church should be sold to pay the Kings ransome which was done and the King returned home Then did King Richard confirm to Abbot Benedict and his Monastery the Marsh of Pekirk now commonly called North-Fenne about which there fell out some difference betwixt Radulphus le Wake and the Monastery for Radulphus being Lord of Deeping claimed Common in the Marsh as being but on the other side of the River but Abbot Benedict impounded his Cattel alledging that the Marsh belonged only to his Tenants of Pekirk Glinton Makeshye and Northburgh and desired Radulphus to enquire into the truth thereof So Radulphus came to Peterburgh with some others where being fully informed of the Abbots right he forbare to trespass any more Benedict also recovered the Marsh of Eye and the Hermitage of Singlesholt King Richard also granted unto Benedict his confirmation of the eight Hundreds as his predecessors had done And withal his Charter for the holding of a Fair in Peterburgh upon the Feast of S. Peter S. Peters Fair. to continue for 8 days although now it be contracted into one He also granted a weekly Market every Thursday and a Fair for three days at the Feast of S. Peter to be holden at the Mannor of Scotter in Lincolnshire then belonging to this Monastery Vid. Chartam in App. Pag. 252. John the Kings brother who was Earl of Moriton and afterwards King of England was also kind to Abbot Benedict and his Monastery giving them by his Charter yearly three Staggs and six Bucks out of his Forest of Sheerwood without contradiction In his time there flourished one William of Peterburgh a Monk of Ramsey a very Learned man upon whom Pitseus bestows a large Character whither the Reader that would see his works may resort Benedict having been Abbot the space of seventeen years died Anno 1194. being the sixth Year of King Richard the first and had for his Successor 23. ANDREAS He was first a Monk here then Prior and afterwards for his many vertues was chosen Abbot The Villages of Alwalton and Fletton which then belonged to him he gave to the Monks Kitchin for the augmentation of their Commons Having been Abbot about five years he died the same year with King Richard which was Anno 1199. He was buried in the South Isle of the Church at the back of the Quire in the same Grave where two of his Predecessors had been buried before as the Epitaph on the Wall over his Monument will testifie which was lately in ancient Saxon Letters but now in the ordinary renewed Hos tres Abbates quibus est Prior Abba Johannes Alter Martinus Andreas ultimus unus Hic
claudit tumulus Pro clausis ergo rogemus 24 ACHARIVS Fol. 456. Whom Hoveden calls Zacharias was Prior of S. Albanes and elected thence to be Abbot here Anno 1200. He by his care and providence much enriched his Church and built many buildings in several Mannors belonging to it He maintained suit with the Abbot of Croyland for the Marsh of Singlesholt and recovered it letting it again to the Abbot of Croyland for a yearly acknowledgement of four stone Petras of Wax He added to the number of Monks that then were two and twenty more And when he had happily governed this Abby the space of ten years he died Anno 1210. being the 11 year of King John And there succeeded 25. ROBERTVS de Lindesey Glass-windows Who was Monk and Sacristary of Burgh and now Abbot unto which he paved the way by his good deeds towards the Church for whereas the windows were before only stuffed with straw to keep out the weather he beautified above thirty of them with glasses and his example brought the rest by degrees to the like perfection He built also the Chancel at Oxney being chosen Abbot he was presented to the King at Winchester and had his election confirmed And at Northampton he received Episcopal benediction from Hugo the second then Bishop of Lincoln in the year 1214. for after the death of Acharius the King held the Abbey in his own hand three years He settled the Hundred of Nassaburgh in peace and quietness for in those days the Foresters with their Cattel over-ran all so that the inhabitants of the Towns therein were much endammaged by them and their domineering in these parts by vertue of Forest Lands therefore Abbot Robert made a composition with the King giving him Vid. Chartam in App. 1320 Marks for the dis-foresting that part of the Country He covered the Abbots Hall with Lead He made in the South Cloister a Lavatory of Marble for the Monks to wash their hands in when they went to Meals their Hall being near on the other The Lavatory side of the wall the door leading into it being yet standing though the Hall be long since demolished only some small remains on the wall side are yet to be seen but the Lavatory continued entire until the year 1651. and then with the whole Cloister it was also pulled down Abbot Robert at his entrance into his place found but seventy two Monks to which number he added eight more assigning the Mannor of Bellasise for their maintenance having built a fair Mannor-house there which Bellasise builded partly is now standing He built also the Hall at his Mannor of Collingham In the time of this Robert the fourth Laterane Council was held under Innocent the fourth Pope of that name Anno 1215. Abbot Robert was cited and went thither and received injunctions for his Convent concerning several times of fasting and other duties which at his coming home he put into execution Fol. 287. In his time there arose great discords betwixt the Civil and Ecclesiastical States that the Land stood interdicted by the space of six years Then followed bitter Wars betwixt King John and his Barons wherein how the Monastery of Peterburgh behaved themselves I find but little in any of our Writers Only by what Matthew Paris relates it may be conjectured they were none of the Kings friends though their Patron Ludovicus saith he besieging the Castle of Dover a long time in vain at length the King passed over into Suffolk and Norfolk and miserably wasted those Countries And coming to Peterburgh and Croyland he plundered the Churches there his Officer Savaricus de Mallo Leone with his accomplices committing many outrages in the Country thereabout At Croyland he fired all their stacks which the inhabitants had newly gathered in and so returned to the Town of Lynn with great spoils But afterwards the King taking his journey from Lynn Northward all his Carriages and Treasures were cast away and perished as he passed the River Wellestre Yet afterwards the Abbot of Peterburgh was summoned to assist King Henry the third in the siege of Rokingham Castle which was then the Abbots and the Abbot himself went in person in that expedition till at length that Castle was reduced to the Kings obedience but whether it was this Abbot Robert or some Hon. de Pightesly of his Successors mine Author tells me not Pag. 288. In the time of this Abbot Robert about the year 1217 according to Pitseus there was one Hugo Candidus or Hugh White a Monk of this Monastery of whom the said Author in his Book De Scriptoribus makes mention who wrote the whole History of his Monastery whose works were extant in later times for John Leland who lived in the days of King Henry 8 collected many things out of him but whether or where the said Author be now extant I know not Pitseus tells us also of another Hugh In Appendice Pag. 865. a Monk of this Church whom he calls an English Historian but professeth his ignorance of what he wrote or when he lived Perhaps both might be but one and the same Hugh But perhaps Wittlesey an antient Writer of this Church may make it clearer by telling us that there was one Hugo Albus so called from his white complexion as being subject to bleed a Monk here who was famous in the time of Abbot Ernulfus and of John Henry Martin and William his Successors who wrote the History of this Monastery and so was before Pitseus his account Robert having been Abbot here the space of seven years died October 25. 1222. being the seventh year of King Henry 3. He was not very rich in Books his Library consisting only of these few Numerale Magistri W. de Montibus cum aliis rebus Tropi Magistri Petri cum diversis summis Sententiae Petri Pretanensis Psalterium Glossatum Aurora Psalterium non glossatum Historiale 26. ALEXANDER de Holdernesse Who was first a Monk then Prior and lastly Abbot of this place after the death of Robert A great builder he was and built the Hall at his Mannor of Oundle that also at Castre Eyebury and other places Having been Abbot here only four years he died on the day of his entrance November 20. 1226. and of King Henry 3. the Eleventh These were his Books Psalterium Concordantiae utriusque Test Claustrum animae Opus alterum quod perfecit Rogerus de Helpston Aurora Poenitentiale Tria Breviaria Concilium Lateranense cum aliis rebus Corrogationes Promethei Missale The first day of May before the death of this Alexander there died at Peterburgh Richardus de Mansco Mr. Philipot Catal. Canc. Angl. pag. 10. Bishop of Durham and Chancellor of England 27. MARTINVS de Ramsey Being a Monk of Peterburgh was elected Abbot after the death of Alexander And on S. Andrew's Eve the King ratified his Election which was also confirmed by Hugo then Bishop of Lincoln in the Chappel
of S. Katharine at Westminster On the Feast of S. John the Evangelist following he received the said Bishops blessing at Tinghurst and on the Eve of Epiphany following he was received at Peterburgh In his first year he paid to the Kings Exchequer 5 Marks for the disforesting of Nassaburgh and 28 more to the Chancellor In that year died one Brianus de la Marc the Kings Forester in the Marsh of Kesteven and Holland and the King passing by that way towards York seized upon all the goods of the said Brian But Abbot Martin procured the Kings Writ to Hugo de Nevile then Justice of the Forest to enquire if the said Brian was not enfeoffed in certain Lands belonging to the Monastery of Peterburgh which being examined at a Commission holden at Bernat and found to be so the Heir of the said Brian was awarded as Ward to the Abbot of Peterburgh But Abbot Martin gave the said ward to Radulfus de Nevile then Bishop of Chichester and the Kings Chancellor This Abbot Martin in the year 1228. received a grand priviledge from Gregory the Ninth Pope of that name wherein this particular that whensoever there should be a general interdiction of the Land the Monks of Peterburgh when they said their Service might shut the Church doors ring no bell nor say their Service aloud but with a low voice to themselves that the people might not participate thereof But I have not found that ever this was put in practice In the year 1231 Hugh Bishop of Lincoln visited this Monastery and gave Articles to be observed both by the Abbot as also by the Convent Martin having been Abbot the space of six years died His Library was but thin Missale Item Missale ad Altare S. Katharinae Capitula collecta Evangelica in 2 Voluminibus ad magnum Altare 28. WALTERVS de S. Edmundo Who was first Monk then Sacristary and at length Abbot of this Church being void by the death of Martin Anno 1233. the 17 of King Henry 3. Here Robert Swapham ends his story of the succession of Abbots whom hitherto we have been much guided by but now we must follow Wittlesey and a few other Records which like Absirtus his limbs being scattered about in the late dispersion have come to our hands This Abbot Walter was a man generally good pious honest Loyal free and liberal in the dispensation of the demesnes belonging to his Church In those days King Henry was straitly put to it for maintenance and was constrained to live upon Ecclesiastical benevolence going from one Monastery to another to be entertained And he found Abbot Walter very free towards K. Henry at Peterburgh him who at two several times gave him the best entertainment his Monastery could afford At one of which times the Queen and Prince Edward came with the King This Abbot gave the King the summ of 60 Marks towards the marriage of Margaret his Daughter with Alexander 3. King of Scotland He added 30 more Monks to the number erected many buildings to those which were before Having been Abbot the space of 13 years he died Anno 1245 being the 30 of King Henry 3. What that dedication of this Church was which Matth. Paris mentions Anno 1238. I could never yet fully understand Page 481. But we must not leave Abbot Walter thus for the time of his Government is remarkable Three times saith Wittlesey with great costs and charges he journeyed to Rome The first was to have redress concerning the Church of Castre against R. de Somercot who was a Cardinal this journey he took when he was but Sacristary The second journey was being Abbot not to but towards Rome when he was summoned to be at a Council there with the rest of the English Clergy which Council was held there Anno 1234. under Pope Gregory 9. saith Franciscus Longus though Gabriel Pratiolus will have Innocent 4. to be then Pope and Gregory 9. to be some time after But Walter being on the way thither as far as Burgundy and hearing that the Emperour Frederick had imprisoned Otto the English Legate with many others he durst not proceed on his journey but staid in the City of Anvers 6 months and then returned home to the Monastery of Peterburgh But his retreat was so ill taken that presently the Pope sends a Mandate to him for the finding of five men with Horses and Arms which at length he took off at the charge of 174 Marks by the dispensation of Martin the Popes Nuntio The third journey to Rome was after the Council of Lions for thither also was he summoned and appeared there but rather as an offender than an Assessor for he was called to answer his contempt in giving the Church of Castre according to the Kings order and against the Popes yet did he regain the Popes favour by obliging himself to give to a Nephew of the Popes ten pounds a year Our Writers of Peterburgh say no more but Matthew Paris is more copious in Page 554. the story or another like it In the year saith he 1241. Pope Gregory desirous to promote some of his Favourites sends his Letters into England to cast the burthen of that care upon some Churches There was then sent to the Abbot and Convent of Burgh an Apostolick Mandate fraught with intreaties and threatnings that they would conferr the Rent of any Church under their patronage which should yearly be worth one hundred Marks and if it were double the value it would please him the more and the Pope would again demise unto the Church the same Living for the yearly rent of one hundred Marks and the surplusage should redound to the proper use of the Church And that the Abbot and Convent might consent to this provision or rather pernicious compact Simony and secret Fraud demanded by the Pope the Pope wrote Letters to certain Foreign Monks then well Beneficed in England that they should effectually admonish the Abbot and Convent therein and to compel them if need were These Monks coming to Peterburgh called the Monks together and bespake them after this manner Behold Friends and Brethren a great Pontifical kindness is offered to your hand for the Pope requires that of you which with bended knees and joyned hands ye ought to request of him And when they had explained the business they promised to accomplish the business on the Popes part so that the business might be secretly carried without scandal But the Monks of Peterburgh answered that they could do nothing without the Kings permission who was their Patron and Founder The Popes Messengers insisted that the business might be done privately hoping also that other Churches would follow their example and do the like The Monks of Peterburgh would not be circumvented by their Speeches but desired respite of the business until their Abbot came home being then absent that they might have his assent In the mean time they sent to their Abbot acquainting him with the whole business
The Abbot sends a messenger to the King intimating the danger of such a donation The King resenting the business and how it would redound to the damage of that and other Churches whereof he was Patron and Defender and detesting the secret snares and covetousness of the Roman Court strictly forbade such an horrid donation Thus far Matthew Paris Page 657. How this refusal of the Popes demand by the Abbot of Peterburgh was resented at Rome may appear by the same Author in another place where he writes thus But the Abbot of Peterburgh a man without exception who had more especially resisted the Pope's Mandate being arrived at the Roman Court was accused by Martin the Popes Agent then resident in England for that he would not conferr a Church upon a man fitting for the place to the use of the Popes kinsman So that the Abbot appearing in the Popes Court the Pope rebuked him in very opprobrious terms and commanded that he should be expelled the Court which was done so shamefully and irreverently that the poor Abbot taking it to heart fell into an incurable disease and the same year died to the great detriment of his Church which he had prudently governed And in another place the same Author recites it again telling us the name of the Abbot The same year on the eleventh of the Calends of Page 690. January after many vexations and tribulations which he suffered by the Court of Rome and an infirmity which himself had contracted to the great loss of his Church died Walter Abbot of Burgh This story makes good the Etymology that some of the Romanists themselves give of Rome Roma quasi Rodens Manus Johan Bononiensis in Decretab Bonif. 8. Fol. 32. Col. 4. One like it is given by another Radix Omnium Malorum Avaritia Waldens cit per Alexandrum Theologum in Destr vit part 6. cap. 33. Roma manus rodit quos rodere non valet odit Rome gnaweth hands as dainty Cates And whom it cannot gnaw it hates This by the way Walters Library was copious in comparison of his Predecessors consisting of these Books Decretale Aurora Claustrum animae Biblia Hexaëmeron S. Cantuariae versificé Rabanas de naturis rerum interpretationes Hebraicorum nominum in uno volumine Versus M. W. de Montibus Psalterium gloss Summa Magistri J. de Cantia de poenitentia Templum Domini cum arte confessionum Regula S. Benedicti Psalterium cum hympnario Item duo Psalteria Duo Missalia Duo Gradualia Liber Evangeliorum Liber orationum ad magnum altare 29. WILLIELMVS de Hotot William of Hotot or Hotoft why so called I know not for Wittlesey saith he was born at Carlton near Cottingham in the County of Northampton being a Monk of this place was chosen Abbot the sixth of February Anno 1246. the 31. of King Henry Fair at Oxeney 3. He procured from the King a Charter for a Fair to be kept at Oxeney to begin on the Eve of the Nativity of Mary and to continue for the space of eight days He made many orders in favour of his Monks as that he would not let any of his Abby Lands or do any thing of himself as Abbot without their consent When he had held his Abby about the space of three years he voluntarily gave it up on S. Nicolas day Anno 1249. And there was assigned unto him the Mannor of Collingham where he abode for a time until he was called thence by John his Successor who appointed him his abode at Oxeney allowing him the portion of four Monks Then William died and was brought to the Church of Peterburgh and buried before the Altar of S. Benedict Thus writes Wittlesey not naming the occasion of his reoess which Matthew Paris supplies In the year saith he 1249. there arose great dissension betwixt William Abbot of Page 769. Peterburgh and his Convent concerning dilapidations for that the Abbot had enriched his Kindred whereof he had great multitudes swarming about him to the great detriment of his Church but William being reproved would not reform this errour whereupon the Monks appealed to the Bishop of Lincoln and complained of the Abbots extravagancies who being convicted thereof and foreseeing the danger of his being deposed of his own accord resigned his place into the Bishops hand and there was assigned unto him a Mannor for his livelyhood So that having been Abbot only three years he surceased Perhaps he had not time enough to gather more Books than these into his Library Antissiodorensis abbreviatus Tractatus super Canonem Missae Templum Domini cum aliis rebus Libellus de diversis rebus Missale ad altare Michaelis As to the first book he wrote certain Collations which is in the Catalogue at the End T. XI but I find no mention of him any where else as a Writer See the Catalogue T. XI 30. JOHANNES de Caleto Page 895. So called from the place of his birth in Normandy He was of noble extraction and being made a Monk at the age of sevenyears was brought into England and placed in the Church of S. Swithune in Winchester for his education where growing in piety and wisdom as he did in years he was made Prior of Winchester and upon the recess of Abbot Will. elected Abbot of Peterburgh Anno 1249. which was the 33 of K. Henry 3. He was allied to Q. Elianor wife of K. Henry and such a ray of favour shined upon him through that relation that he was made one of the Kings Chief Justices and rode in the Circuit to execute Justice in the Kingdom At which though Matthew Paris seems to be much aggrieved as that which was not allowed by the rule of S. Benedict the first mention that I find of this Order in this Monastery whereof more hereafter in Richard Ashton and besides was prejudicial to his Church by reason of his absence yet Wittlesey saith that the Church suffered no damage thereby for he no ways neglected that but appointed Robert Sutton his Deputy by whom all things were as well managed as if Abbot John had himself been present And moreover Abbot John did often visit the Church himself to see how things were ordered how the Lands and Rents were bestowed how the Monks were governed and how the poor were relieved to whom he gave Alms with his own hand as oft as he came thither He was careful in adding to the buildings of the Monastery and built that goodly building called the Infirmary commonly the Farmary lately pulled down and at the The Farmary West end of the Chappel of S. Laurence This he appointed for sick and impotent Folk providing for them out of the Church demesns He was also liberal to his Convent giving for every day to the Monk that should sit President in the Refectory a gallon of Wine and half a gallon to the rest of the Society and to the Monk that celebrated high Mass a gallon of
man of great judgment and good elocution when he came to plead at Northampton before the Judge of Assize when his time was to speak he craved his Abbots blessing and spake so to the purpose that the Earl went as Wittleseys phrase is Sine die without the day and although the Earl brought the business to the Kings hearing yet there William Woodford worsted him also When this Richard was Sacrist he erected the great Steeple wherein the Bells hang but which I cannot say there being two such Steeples and gave two Bells which were called Les Londres Ladies Chappel In the time of Abbot Richard there was one William Parys Prior who built that goodly Chappel commonly called the Ladies Chappel which in the late times of violence was levelled with the ground William Parys himself laid the first stone and under it many sentences of Scripture written but whether in Brass or Lead Wittlesey tells not And he not only laid the foundation but perfected the whole work and adorned it with windows and paintings on the walls and settled five pound per annum upon it for service therein Afterwards dying he was buried in the North part of the Church near unto the said Chappel and the Inscription upon his Grave-stone is yet to be seen Hic jacet Willielmus Parys quondam Prior Burgi cujus animae misereatur Deus Amen Pater noster Ave Maria. The Books in Abbot Richards Library I find thus recorded Quatuor Evangelia Glos Psalterium Regula Sancti Augustini cum speculo caritatis edita à Beato Bernardo Nova Logica in 2. Vol. Priscianus de constructione cum aliis rebus Boëtius de Consolatione libellus diversarum rerum in uno Vol. Parabola Salomonis Ecclesiastes Processionarium cum hympnario Psalterium cum Gradale in choro Richard having been Abbot here the space of twenty two years and an half died Anno 1295. being the twenty third of King Edward the first and was buried in the South side of the Church near the Quire the Abbot of Croyland performing the Funeral service which being ended the company consisting of many Nobles and Abbots went to the Abbots house where they dined And dinner being ended there came one in the Kings name and seized on the whole Abby taking homage of the Tenants as had formerly been accustomed Afterwards two of the Monks went to the King to procure Licence for the election of an Abbot and the person elected was 33. WILLIHELMVS de Woodford Who for two years before had been Coadjutor with Abbot Richard in the time of his infirmity Writers commend him for a man of excellent parts and diligence in his government Being but Sacristary he purchased the Mannor of Southorp which when Southorp Mannor he came to be Abbot he assigned to the Monks He settled a daily proportion of bread upon some inferiour Officers added much to the buildings of his Monastery and was careful that dependant Eleemosynaries might receive their dues particularly he inquired into the Hospital of S. Leonard now commonly called by the name of The Spittle the original of which I must let alone till I can be informed and content my self with the allowance which The Spittle it received from the Abbot viz. Per annum quadraginta ulnas panni de panno Eleemosynae sicut Prebendarii Item ad festum Sancti Martini 1 petram uncti 1 petram sepi Item 3. bacon viz. 1 ad festum Natalis Domini 1 ad capiend quadrag 1 ad pasch de carnibus supersanatis Item totum ex .... porcorum fr. sanatorum Item 4 tuniatas servis viz. 1 tuniatam ad natal Domini aliam ad capiend quadrag tertiam ad pasch quartam ad festum Apostolorum Petri Pauli de Celario Abbatis Item quolibet mense 1 esk sol cujus summa per annum est 1 quar 5 esk Item servens dictorum infirmorum comedit cum familia Abbatis quater per annum viz. ad natal Domini ad Pasch ad festum S. Petri ad festum omnium Sanctorum The Monks having the Mannors of Alwalton and Fletton assigned them as hath been said they customarily paid out of them unto the Abbot 16s 6d yearly which Abbot William remitted unto them He died in the fourth year of his government and lieth buried in the South Isle of the Church near the Quire In his Library were these Books Instituta apparitata Decreta apparitata Apparatus Decret alium cum casibus Summa de vitiis Summa de virtutibus Summa Reynfridi Psalterium cum exequiis majorum Statuta Westmonasterii Statuta Capituli General Constitutiones extravagantes Regula Sanctor Basil Bened. Cartae Regum cum libertatibus Liber de arte praedicandi Processionarium Missale in duobus Voluminibus Duo Gradalia Breviarium 34. GODEFRIDVS de Croyland Was a Monk and the Celerarius of this Monastery and upon the death of William elected Abbot Anno 1299. which was the 27 of K. Edw. 1. It seems this Godfrey was much in King Edwards favour for at his entrance into his Abbatical government the King sent him a fair silver Cup gilt And when the Treasurer Walter de Langton demanded of Godfrey a thousand Marks for his Confirmation the King remitted it and would not suffer any more than his Exchequer fees to be taken In the first year it hapned that certain persons were fled for sanctuary into the Chappel of Thomas Becket whither they were pursued and against the priviledge of the place haled out from thence and some bloud was shed so that the Chappel for some time stood suspended and no service therein to be performed The Bishop of Lincoln passing that censure upon it until the persons so taken away should again be restored to the liberty of the place At length the Bishop sends his absolution appointing that the Abbot and some others with him should with the sprinkling of holy water and singing of the Penitential Psalms purge the said Chappel and so it should return to its former use The same year being 1300. A marriage being intended betwixt the heirs of Vfford and Southorp King Edward supposing himself to be concerned therein appointed Inquisition to be made whether the disposal of that marriage belonged to him or the Abbot of Peterburgh his Letters bearing date February 23. and the twenty ninth of his Reign And it being upon the Inquisition certified that those heirs and their progenitors held their Lands of the Abby of Peterburgh the right of disposal of those heirs did therefore belong to the Abbot which the King understanding desisted I find this Abbot Godfrey famous for worthy actions that there was scarce his like either before him or after In his third year saith Wittlesey who recounts the actions of every year but I shall name only the principal he entertained King Edward with his Queen and their several retinues Not long after came Prince Edward with his favourite Peter Gaveston to
  Navesford   Tinwell 16 6 9   Eston 35 10 1 ob q. Collingham 34 4 5 ob  Fiskerton 69 1 2   Scotter 37 6 0   Walcot 9 19 2   Thurlby 7 1 8   Stanford 2 0 0   In all 621 l. 16 s. 3 d. ob  Yet was not this the whole Demesnes of the Abbot in those times for there were many other Mannors and many Rents and Lands in and about Peterburgh and in several Counties but these are all which Wittlesey hath recorded and I have no leisure to examine why there were no more returned Godfrey being dead Anno 1321. 12. Cal. September being the 15 year of King Edw. 2. the person thought fittest to succeed him was 35. ADAM de Boothbie Born there and was made a Monk in Peterburgh where he also had the Office of Subcelerarius Being chosen Abbot he repaired to the King then in the Isle of Tanet for his confirmation which he obtained And having also Episcopal confirmation he repaired the second time to the King for his Temporalities which were likewise confirmed unto him paying the Fees and other demands at that time due His acts in the several years of his government are more punctually related by Wittlesey than I intend to transcribe In his first year Thomas Earl of Lancaster making War against the King to wit King Edw. 2. Adam aided the King with the summ of 133 l. 6 s. 8 d. and towards the Kings expedition into Scotland with 200 l. more In his fourth year the Mannor of Torpel and Vpton came to the possession of Edmund surnamed Woodstock half brother to King Edward the second now reigning and there arising great troubles betwixt the Earls Officers and the Abbots Tenants all was quieted by the Abbots becoming a Tenant to those Lands paying the yearly rent of 106 l. 13 s. 4 d. In his seventh year which was the first of King Edward the third there arose a great contention betwixt him and John Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex about the Son of Galfridus de la Marc which Galfridus Lord of Northburgh died Anno 1327. holding three Knights-fees of the Abby of Peterburgh and was buried at Peterburgh in S. Maries Chappel amongst his Predecessors And the said Galfridus held also of the said Earl of Essex Lands in the County of Essex by Knights-service He had three Wives and his last Wife by name Margaret he put away when she was great with Child at Peterburgh where the Child being born and baptized was called by the name of his Father Galfridus this young Galfridus had two Sisters by his Fathers side who charged him with being illegitimate saying that Margaret his Mother was not their Fathers Wife but his Concubine so that he had no hereditary right to his Fathers Lands Abbot Adam as guardian to the Child defended the Cause three years in the Consistory at Lincoln and in the Arches constraining the Sisters to desist But afterwards Queen Philipp Wife to King Edward the third Daughter of William Earl of Henault whom Roger of Northburgh Bishop of Chester so called by Wittlesey though I cannot find any such man elsewhere the Kings Proxie had beyond Sea espoused for the King coming to Peterburgh on New-years-day and the said Earl of Essex attending on her towards York where King Edward then was expecting her coming for the solemnization of Marriage which was performed the 24 day of the said Month of January 1327 the said Earl demanded young Galfridus of the Abbot and by threatnings and violence gat possession of him Whereupon the Abbot pursued the Earl at the Law the Earl on the other side accused the Abbot and his Covent of certain outrages upon his Mannor of Plaisic in Essex but this matter was composed by the Abbots giving the Earl 100l and yet the Earl was still possessed of Galfridus keeping him at Kimbauton in the County of Huntingdon Registrum Adae in manu D. H. The King sent his Breve to the Sheriff to seize upon him and to bring him to York there to appear before the Judge and to be awarded to his right Guardian But at length the Earl Wittlesey without more ado being conscious of his ill act freely restored the Child to the Abbot and moreover languishing upon his Bed of sickness and drawing towards his end he commanded his Executors to restore the 100l to the Monastery of Peterburgh And the Abbot married young Galfridus to the Daughter of Galfridus Scroope then one of the Kings Chief Justices Regist Adae About this time the Sheriff of Northampton required assistance and contribution from the Abbot of Peterburgh and his Tenants towards the Wall of Northampton Park which was quieted by the Kings writing to the Sheriff from York his Letters bearing date February 12. the second of his Reign wherein he certified the Sheriff that by ancient Charters of Kings his Predecessors the Abbot and Convent of Peterburgh with all their Lands and Dominions should be free from all works of Castles Parks Bridges and Inclosures Regist Adae The same day there was Inquisition made concerning the Bridge leading into Peterburgh which being gone to decay the question was Who should repair it for this there was a Jury empannelled six of Northampton-shire and six of Huntingdon-shire who upon examination returned an Ignoramus after this manner that there was none of right bound to repair or sustain the Bridge seeing none had done it in former time for there was no Bridge there until Godfrey Abbot of Burgh of his own good will in the fourth year of King Edward Father to King Edward that now is erected the said Bridge and himself kept it in repair so long as he lived But the King and Queen coming to Peterburgh the present Abbot Adam repaired the said Bridge for their passage although he was not bound thereunto to this the Jurors set their several Seals At this entertainment of the King Queen and John of Eltham the Kings Brother besides diet of meat and drink the King and Q. at Peterburgh Abbot in gifts Jewels Jocalibus and presents expended in ready mony the summ of 487 l. 6 s. 5 d. And for his Confirmation 50 l. 13 s. 4 d. more At other times also Abbot Adam was very free of his Purse giving the King towards an expendition into Scotland 100 l. and to the Queen 20 l. Attending upon the King at Oundle and Stanford he expended 34l 7s 4d with many other summs when the King or Queen came near his Monastery to Walmisford Bourn or Croyland And the second time giving entertainment King and Q. at Peterburgh to the King and Queen at his Monastery of Peterburgh besides other things he expended 327 l. 15 s. And after this Prince Edward the Kings eldest Son with his two Sisters and their Servants came and staied at Peterburgh eight weeks which cost not the Abbot nothing Wittlesey
and long contest with Sir Nicolas de Ry and the Abbot of Swinestead for Lands recovered from the Sea to his Mannor of Gosberchirch in Linconshire the story whereof Mr. Dugdale hath set down at large from a Peterburgh Manuscript Hist of Imb. and Draining page 235. Henry being dead was buried betwixt the Quire and the great Altar near unto his Predecessor Adam His grave being in the year 1648. Jan. 11. opened to receive the body of John Towers late Lord Bishop of this place there was found a Seal of Lead the instrument wholly consumed having on the one side these Letters thus inscribed SPA SPE over their several Effigies on the reverse Clemens P P vi 'T is probable that the instrument was some indulgence gotten at the Jubilee which was but three years before I must not here pass by a mistake of Pitseus who in his book of English Writers pag. 448. makes mention of one Johannes Petroburgensis who as he saith was first a Monk and afterwards Abbot of Peterburgh and lived about the year 1340. that he was a very learned man and wrote Annales Anglorum which he might do But for his being Abbot here at this time sure I am there was none such And Possevine in his Apparatus making mention of one Johannes Burgensis who wrote such a Book saith that he lived Anno 1200. but is not able to distinguish betwixt this and an other John mentioned in the life of Henry of Overton although Pitseus makes them two distinct Johns Vossius contradicts Possevine concerning the time of this supposed John but neither doth he agree with our account Henry being dead there succeeded 37. ROBERTVS Ramsey And all that we can say of him is that he succeeded Henry and was Abbot here the space of 8 years and that these books were the materials of his study Prima pars 2 Hostiensis in Decreta in 2. Vol. Hostiensis in Summa Speculum judiciale Decretale Derivationes Hugutionis Prima pars 2 Hostiensis in Decreta His next Successor was 38. HENRICVS de Overton Heu de Pightesly Who was made Abbot Anno 1361. or as some say a year after being the 36 of King Edward 3. No memorable act of his is extant upon any Record that I have seen Only that he instituted a yearly solemnity for the Soul of William Courtney Archbishop of Canterbury of Mary Courtney his Mother and of Hugh Courtney her Husband Earl of Devon and for the Souls of the Brethren and Sisters of the said Archbishop And likewise for the Souls of the Abbots of Peterburgh his Predecessors and Successors For which annual solemnity he appointed by his Charter bearing date 1390 the summ of 15l out of the Mannor of Thulby and some other Lands But why Abbot Henry should have the house of Courtney in so high esteem I find not In his time great Commotions were raised against the Church in several places which as Richardus Knighton Canon of Leicester relates in the year 1381. reached to the Church of Peterburgh where the Countreymen and Tenants arose against the Abby with intention to have destroyed it but by the hand of God they were prevented What the cause of these commotions was or the manner of their pacification as yet I do not find About this time flourished a very learned man one Johannes de Burgo who wrote certain Books Of the Sacraments and a Book known to this day by the name of Pupilla oculi He was Pastor of the Church of Collingham in the County of Nottingham then belonging to the Monastey of Peterburgh Afterwards he was chosen Chancellor of the University of Cambridg which at length he relinquished and returned to Collingham where he died Anno 1386. as Pitseus and others write Page 542. Henry was Abbot here 29 years compleat and died in his thirtieth year Anno 1391. which might be the 14 or 15 of King Richard 2. His Library was but small only these Books Decretale Johannes de Deo Breviarium novum Catholicon Breviarum in two Vol. Innocentius Liber de vita moribus Tartarorum Henry being dead there succeeded 39. NICOLAVS Whom H. of Pightesly sirnames Elmstow Being made Abbot 1391. he continued so the space of five years I have little to say of him only I find in the accompt of his Celerarius for his second year of his being Abbot wherein the daily expences of his Table are recorded that his provision for that year all entertainments of strangers being also considered amounted to no more then 79 l. 0 s. 11 d. His Library had in it these Books Digestum vetus Digestum novum Codex Justiniani Liber azonis Raymundus Liber Poenitentiale Parvum volumen Digestum infortiatum Instituta Quaterna de lege Vnus lib. de fisica Alius Liber de lege Psalterium pulchrum Psalterium Latine Gallice scriptum Now although the private Libraries of these Abbots were thus small yet was there a publick Library for the whole Monastery stored with above 1700 Books or Tractates as by an antient Matriculary of that Library may appear in an Appendix to this our story Nicolas dying in his 5. year 1396. the 19. or 20. of 2 King Rich. 2. there came in his place 40. WILLIHELMVS GENGE Who was the first mitred Abbot of Peterburgh and continued in his Government here the space of 12 years both which his Epitath will demonstrate He was buried betwixt the Quire and high Altar the brass of his Monument participating of the same fate with the rest in the late devasting or devesting of Monuments Anno 1643. His Epitaph must now live in paper and it was this Prudens praelatus Wilihelmus Genge vocitatus Primus mitratus Abbas jacet hic tumulatus Summe vivebat claustrum summeque regebat Mundum spernebat quae fecerat illa docebat Vixer at ornatus virtutibus immaculatus Tunsus quadratus tentatus igne probatus Annis bissenis Burgum rexit bene plenis Vt careat poenis precibus potiamur amoenis 41. JOHANNES DEEPING Was made Abbot in the year 1408. being the 10 of King Henry 4. When he had been Abbot the space of 30 years he resigned his place accepting of a Corrodie for his life which was but one year more He lieth buried at the upper end of the Quire at the left hand of his predecessors Godfrey of Croyland and William Genge The brass of his Monument fared as other Monuments did in the year 1643. the Inscription was this Orate pro anima Johannis Deeping quondam Abbatis hujus Monasterii qui obiit 5 die Decembris 1439. 42. RICHARDVS ASHTON Was upon the resignation of John made Abbot 1438. the 17 year of King Henry 6. and continued therein about 33 years Throughout the whole succession of the former Abbots I find but small or no discovery what order the Monks of Peterburgh were of or under what rule they lived saving the forementioned in Johannes de Caleto but in the time of this
into the hands of the Bishop of Lincoln June 27. 1471. which being certified to the King then Edward 4. and in the 11 year of his Reign upon the Convents Petition for a new Election the person thought fittest to succeed was 43. WILLIHELMVS RAMSEY Being a Monk of this Monastery out of that good repute which the whole Convent had of him was chosen to succeed Richard Ashton He contributed with John Maldon towards the brazen Standard with a displayed Eagle on the top which is still extant in this Church and serveth for the Bible to lie upon for the Reading of the Lessons On one of the knops is this Distich John Maldon Prior Willelmus de Ramiseya Haec tibi lectrina dant Petre metallica bina Fol. 70. The Election of this William is so punctually set down by Roger Bird who calleth himself the Abbots Chaplain that because it will make for the understanding of the Officers of the Monastery in those times I shall give it in the Authors own words In quo quidem termino videlicet xxvii die Julii supra scripta hora Capitulari celebrata primitus solempniter prout decuit ad magnum altare in Ecclesia Conventuali Monasterii nostri antedicti Missa de Sancto Spiritu pulsataque campana more solito consueto convenerunt de facto capitulariter pariter communiter ob hoc ad hoc congregati fuerunt in dicta domo nostra capitulari omnes qui voluerunt potuerunt debuerunt hujusmodi electioni futuri Abbatis nostri commode interesse videlicet Ego dompnus Johannes Maldon Prior praesidens praedictus Johannes York magnus Senn. in firmaria Willielmus Walmesford Senn. in firmaria Willielmus Burgh Robertus Lydington Robertus Notyngham Sub-Prior Johannes Pycheley gardianus de Oxney Richardus Oxford Subeleemosinarius Johannes Burgh Praecentor Willielmus Spalding Infirmarius Henricus Lynne sufficienter licentiatus ad peregrinandum comperuit per Willielmum Burgh confratrem suum nomine procuratoris qui quidem Willielmus Burgh onus procuratorii hujusmodi in se ad omnem juris effectum acceptavit admisit cujus tenor inferius describitur Johannes Nall Celerarius Johannes Hill tertius Prior claustralis Johannes Baston Camerarius Nicolaus Overton Magister operis Pitenciarius Johannes Glynton Sacrista Willielmus Bury quartus Prior claustralis Willielmus Ramsey Receptor Senescallus Robert Burghscolaris Johannes Croyland senior Refectarius Johannes Rypon magnus Eleemosinarius Thomas Burgh hostilarius Johannes Morys Johannes Gent scolaris Edmundus Lynne Georgius Burgh Subsacrista Johannes Tylly Thomas London custos crucis Gilbertus Holbech Johannes Lincoln Thomas Pynchebek Willielmus Newark Johannes Croyland scolaris Richardus Multon Capellanus Prioris Willielmus Holbech Galfridus Lynne Willielmus Shelford Monachi dicti Monasterii ordinem regulam sancti Benedicti in eodem expresse professi in sacris ordinibus constituti conventum dicti Monasterii sic facientes ac jus voces in hujusmodi electione solum habentes prout in de facto tunc convenimus capitulariter tunc congregati fuimus cum non essent aliqui absentes neque fuit esset neque sit plures monachi neque fratres aut alii vel alius jus aut vocem in hujusmodi electione habentes vel habens propositoque verbo Dei per confratrem nostrum Willielmum Burgh sequentem hoc thema Vnde quaeram consolatorem tibi Et deinde invocata statim spiritus sancti gratia per solempnem decantationem ympni Veni Creator spritus cum versiculo Emitte spiritum tuum oratione Deus qui corda c. Factis etiam vice nomine mandato nostris per Willielm Rest Mandatarium nostrum sufficienter in ea parte constitutum publicis Proclamationibus in valvis hostio domus capitularis nostri quod omnes praetendentes c. By this Chapter and after this manner was William Ramsey chosen to succeed Richard Ashton and was installed Abbot August 1. 1471. being the eleventh year of K. Edw. the fourth And although the precedent vacancy was but short yet the Treasurer of the Exchequer demanded 40 l. for composition for his Temporalties but the Kings Letter to the Treasurer took off that demand And the Archdeacon claiming his Palfrey for his Installation Fee the Popes Letter took off that also Abbot William in his ninth year Anno 1480. having committed an oversight in releasing a Felon who having stollen a piece of Bird fol. 117. Rotulo privato Cloth at Ketering and some other things was for that Felony committed to the Goal at Peterburgh where the Felon secretly bribed Abbot William with forty shillings and he quietly dismissed him for which dismission Abbot William himself was indicted at the Sessions before John Catesby and Guido Walston Justices of the Peace and being found guilty was forced to put in security of six sufficient men for his good Behaviour In his tenth year 1481. The Church of Oundle was made an Oundle Church appropriated Appropriation And Anno 1486. The Church of Bringhurst in the County of Leicester This William found opposition from some of his Tenants they Bringhurst appropriated of the Mannor of Bellasise making insurrection to the number of one hundred from thence and the adjacent parts throwing in Hedges and Ditches returning with Bagpipe and great jollity for what they had done The Abbot complained hereof but what was the issue the Informer tells not William having been Abbot here about twenty five years died and lieth interred at the upper end of the body of the Church under a fair Marble which of late was plentifully adorned with Brass but disrobed thereof with the rest About the Stone went a verge of Brass containing this Epitaph Abbas Burgensis Will'elmus ut hic tumulatus Ramisey natus praelatus jam nece stratus En qui protrusis rodendus vermibus instat Vir prudens justus pius omnibus honorandus Castus benignus omni virtute decorus Corde suo statuit nunquam offendere Christum Castigans rigidos tractans pietate modestos Debita persolvi diruta multa novari Praestet plena suis stipendia jam cenobitis Et propter missas celebrandas cotidianas Ipse Monasterio semper servabat honorem Pax donetur ei .................... 44. ROBERTVS KIRTON Formerly a Monk of this Monastery had his Commendatory Letters from William Ramsey to Thomas Bishop of Lincoln to be Bird fol. 78. made Priest those Letters bearing date March 3. 1473. This Robert succeeded William Ramsey and was made Abbot Anno 1496. In his fourth year viz. 1499. the Church of North-Collingham North-Collingham appropriated Registrum Lincoln was made an Appropriation In his nineteenth year which was Anno 1515. on July 8. William then Bishop of Lincoln Visited this Monastery In which Visitation many things out of order were complained of and rectified amongst which these are the most remarkable That one John Walpool a Monk was Seditious amongst his Brethren
that he had stollen out of S. Oswalds shrine certain Jewels and what he could elsewhere lay his hands on and given them to Women in the Town That one Reginald Bray what he was I know not but he is called Dominus should have a due proportion of Diet for number of Dishes That the Monks haunted a Tavern near the Monastery and gave themselves to singing and dancing in the Dormitory till 10 or 11 a Clock at Night to the trouble of the rest That at the Celebration of the Funeral of the late William Abbot of the Monastery there was withholden from every Priest 6 s. 8 d. and from every Monk 3 s. 4 d. which was used to be given at such times This Robert Kirton had great contention with his Tenants in Peterburgh about Pasturage in the Fenn called Burgh a little Fenn adjoyning to the Monastery which as the Inhabitants alledged the Abbot had overcharged with 1500 Sheep in two flocks complaining also to the King then Hen. 8. that he had suffered thirty Tenements in the street called Boongate-street to fall to utter decay and then emparked the same ground and made it a place The Park for his own Deer But notwithstanding these contests Abbot Robert forgat not to enlarge and beautifie the buildings of his Monastery for he built that goodly building at the East end of the Church now commonly known by the name of The New Building New buildings wherein he placed three Altars opposite to three pair of Stairs descending from the back of the great Altar The places of those Altars are yet discernable though their use be not known He built a Chamber in his dwelling House calling it Heaven-gate-Chamber which is extant and retaineth its name to this day Heaven-gate Chamber He made in his great Hall that goodly Bow window overlooking the Cloyster the memory whereof is fresh to this present age He set up in the Church the Crucifixerium or Rood-loft now standing at the entrance into the Quire though placed something lower than it was at its first erection He set up the Gate leading to the Deanry which is yet standing and retaineth the memory of the Builder in his Hieroglyphick of a Crosier with the letter R and a Church or Kirk placed upon a Tun which must be construed with the allusion thus Abbot Robert Kirk-Tun and so Kirton He beautified the Chappel of S. Mary or The Ladies Chappel with pictures and gilded work much of which was lately extant He maintained a long suit in Law against Margaret Countess of Richmond and Darby about Knights-service for Lands in Torpell Thorpe Watervile and Achirch wherein at last he prevailed I know not whether I have done well or ill in declaring the acts of this Robert but this must be according to the capacity of the Reader for I find Abbot Robert thus pleading for himself Legitur in historia scholastica quod Antipater Idumaeus M. Herodis pater in quodam praelio in servitio Imperatoris multis vulneribus confossus est qui tandem accusatus rejectis vestibus dixit Ego nolo me Domine Imperator excusare apud te sed ista vulnera quae suscepi pro te loquantur pro me si ego diligo te Sic ista parva praedicta loquantur pro me si aliqua feci digna Deo laude Si interrogaretur utrum haec manifestari vel celari debent nec carnalibus incredulis sunt revelanda nec devotis prudentibus vere fidelibus sunt abscondenda And when he had been Abbot about thirty two years he was buried in the said Chappel His Monument was in the year 1651. levelled with the ground above which it was erected some four foot and placed upon an hollow Arch where his body lay and at the head thereof was a fair Stone lying even with the pavement which covered a pair of stairs going down into the Sepulchre There let him rest if I may say he rested till we pass to his Successor the last of all the Abbots 45. JOHN CHAMBERS Was born in Peterburgh but what he was or upon what score made Abbot Records are wanting to inform us His advancement to the Abbatical Chair was Anno 1528. which might be the 19 or 20. of King Henry 8. In his first year Cardinal Wolsey came to Peterburgh where he kept his Easter upon Palm-Sunday he carried his Palm going with the Monks in procession and the Thursday following he kept his Maundy washing and kissing the feet of fifty nine poor people and having dried them he gave to every one of them 12d and three Ells of Canvass for a shirt he gave also to each of them a pair of shoes and a portion of red herrings On Easter-day he went in procession in his Cardinals Vestments and sang the High-Mass himself after a solemn manner which he concluded with his benediction and remission upon all the hearers In the seventh year of this John Katherine the first wife of King Hen. 8. and Mother of Queen Mary died at Kimbolton Castle in the County of Huntingdon Jan. 8. 1535. and was buried in this Church betwixt two pillars on the Northside of the Quire near to the great Altar her Hearse being covered with a black Velvet Pall crossed with white Cloth of silver which how it came to degenerate into one of meaner value is unknown to us yet this changeling was also taken away Anno 1643. with her Spanish Scutcheons affixed thereunto Some write that for her sake the Church of Peterburgh fared Lord Herbert in King Hen. 2 Kings 23. 18. the better at the dissolution of Abbys and was turned into a Cathedral as if King Hen. like King Josiah who favoured the grave of the Prophet should favour his Wifes grave in this place Be it so or no the goodly structure of the place convenient situation for a new erection with accommodations thereunto might make a fair plea for a reprieve from the stroke of that Ax which cut others down I have not as yet seen any Record showing how John Chambers demeaned himself towards King Henry or complied with him in that great dissolution of Abbys that the King should continue him in his place and not put him to death as he did some or depose him as he did others But probable it is that Abbot John loved to sleep in a whole skin and desired to die in his nest wherein he had lived so long and perhaps might use such means as might preserve if not his means to his Church yet his Church to posterity And now that we are come to those times wherein that great alteration in the Church and alienation of her Revenues hapned for our more orderly proceeding in the declaration thereof we shall first present the Reader with an Inventory of the Church-Utensils and of the Abbots domestick goods and then take him abroad to view the Mannors and Lands that he may understand what was taken from and what continued to the Church
gilt one Desk of Wood two Orfers one Front of painted Cloth In the Body of the CHURCH Item One Altar with Images Gilt one Front of green Silk with Ostrich Feathers one Coffer the Altar of our Ladies Lamentation Gilt one Front of painted Cloaths four Lamps in divers parts of the Church In the South I LE Item In S. Oswalds Chappel one Altar with a Front of painted Cloth one Table Gilt of S. Oswald Item In S. Bennets Chappel one Altar with a Front of painted Cloth one Table Gilt with the story of S. Bennet Item in S. Kyneburghs Chappel one Altar with a Front of painted cloth with one Table well Gilt. The Trinity CHAPPEL Item The Altar with a Front of old Silk one white Altar cloth of Diaper two Candlesticks of Latten one Table of Alabaster one Coffer and Seats of Wood one Lamp Item In S. Sprites Chappel a Table of Alabaster one Front of painted Cloth In the CLOYSTER Item One Conduit or Lavatory of Tynne with divers Coffers and Seats there In the Ostrie CHAPPEL Item One Altar Cloth two Fronts of painted Cloaths two Latten Candlesticks one Coffer one Super-altar of Marble one Vestment of Green Silk one Vestment of dove-coloured Silk two Albes In the Chappel of LOW Item one Altar two Fronts of old painted Cloaths two white Altar Cloaths two Vestments of Silk one Red the other Green and one Albe of Needlework Item One Chalice Gilt one Corporas one pair of Candlesticks of Latten three Bells to ring in the Chappel In the Infirmary CHAPPEL Item One Table of Alabaster one Front of Silk two Candlesticks of Latten three Coffers four Seats one Vestment one Albe of white Silk with Orfers of red Item One Vestment of white Bustian for Lent with an Albe three Corporasses with cases two Altar Cloths one old Vestment one old Albe Item One Vestment of blue Chamlet with Moons and Harts with one Albe to the same Item One Vestment of red course Satten of Cyprus with Harts and Knots Item One little Bell one Lamp hanging one broken Silver Crown Item Old Cloaths to cover Saints in Lent In the Abbots Gallerie CHAPPEL Item One Table of Alabaster In the other CHAPPEL Item One Table of Alabaster three old Chests an old Almery In the Abbots HALL These Tables were taken away 1644. to be used at the Siege of Croyland and never returned Item four fixed Tables four Forms one Table with two Tresles at the high Bench the hangings old Tapestry one Cupboard one Chair one Chaffer In the Abbots KITCHIN Item three great boyling Pots seven small Pots four Panns two Kettles one great brass Pan with two Handles a Ladle a Scummer five Spits one stone Mortar one Brandiron with four Barrs two Racks of Iron one Gridiron with four Barrs two Racks of Iron one Gridiron one flesh Hook two frying Panns one Porrenger one fire Fork In the Abbots Fish-HOUSE Item Old drie Ling of the last year 24 warp Item Great Ling of this year 100 warp Item In middle and small Ling 100 and a half warp Item In drie Haberdine 203 Fishes Item Stockfish 208 Fishes Item Salmon half a Barrel In Eyebury FARME Item In Sheep 29 score and ten sheep Item Oxen 19 Item Bulls and Bulchins 5 Item Kine 18 Item Heifers two years and upwards 13 Item Steeres 8 Item Yeerling Calves 12 Item Gueldings for the Saddle 4 In the Abbots BREWHOUSE Item Four Furnaces great and small two of Copper and two of Lead two great Mashing Fat 's an ark for ground Malt three Fatts five yieling Fatts six and thirty Keelers two cleansing Sives four Couls and a graining Tub. In the GARNET Item Six quarters of Malt ten quarters of Wheat two quarters of Oats two quarters of Barley six bushels of Pease In the BARNES Item Fifty loads of Hay by estimation The Abbots PLATE Imprimis A Basin and Ewer of Silver one Silver Pot of a quart two standing pieces covered all Gilt two flat Bowles of Silver two Salts with one cover Gilt one Nut without a cover two ale Pots with two covers four Masers great and small one dozen of silver Spoons two and twenty Masers great and small with bands of Silver and Gilt two pieces of Silver and ten Spoons of Silver a Horn with two feet of Silver and Tipped a Nut Tipped with Silver and Gilt. The length and breadth of the Church and other parts thereof Imprimis The Church containing in length 8 score yards in breadth 34 yards Item The Ladies Chappel containing in length 46 yards in breadth 14 yards Item The Cross Isle on the North side in length 18 yards and in breadth 12 yards Item Three Chappels with the entry into the Ladies Chappel in length 14 yards in breadth 7 yards Item The Isle on the South side with the Chappels in length 21 yards in breadth 20 yards Item The Cloyster about four square in length 168 yards in breadth 6 yards Item The Chapter House in length 28 yards in breadth 11 yards Item The great Dormitory in length 64 yards in breadth 13 yards Item The little Dorter in length 33 yards in breadth 12 yards Item The Fratry in length 54 yards in breadth 14 yards Item The Infirmary in length 65 yards in breadth 10 yards Item The Chappel at the gate of the Monastery 14 yards in length in breadth 8 yards Item The Vestry containing in length 18 yards in breadth 6 yards Item The Abbots Hall in length 32 yards in breadth 12 yards Item The Abbots great Chamber in length 33 yards in breadth 10 yards Item In the two Steeples of the Monastery at the Front Bells 10 and in other several places of the houses Bells 4. Item The Convents Kitchin in length 25 yards Item The Lavers in the Cloyster weighing 100 lib. All which goods were assigned to the said Abbot being Guardian for the same time by the Commissioners Philipp Pryce John Tregonnel and others Two years after this Inventory viz. 1541. and of King Henry 33. the King changed the person from an Abbot to a Bishop the Church from a Monastery to a Cathedral and the Town of Peterburgh from a Village to a City Here I must acknowledge my self at a stand as not able to give a perfect account of all Mannors Lands and Tenements belonging to the Monastery of Peterburgh at the time of the dissolution for it had Lands or Tenements in Catworth Thorp Watervile Achirch Tichmersh Winwick Hemington Kynethorp Armiston Grendone Thurning Pappelee Beningfield Addington Slipton Twywell Woodford Churchfield Stoke Pilketon Craneford Burlee Thornhaw Sibberton Walmisford Etton Lolhame Southorp Walcot Vfford Helpiston Woodcroft Vpton Cathwait Torpel Baddington Aston Nunton Deeping Bernack Marham Hargrave Allington Glapthorne Cotterstock Angotby Osgotby Swinstead Witham Careby Gretton Thrapston Denford Ringsstead many Lands in Holland c. Which how or when they were alienated from this Monastery whether by the King or by the Monastery it self before I cannot say But of such Lands as the
Abby was at this time in full tenure and possession of King Henry made a tripartite kind of division assuming a third to himself confirming another third upon the Bishop and the rest upon the Dean and Chapter Those which King Henry took to himself being surrendred unto him were then let out unto Tenants at a yearly rate these and thus Com. North. Â Â Â Â * Or L. Russel afterwards E. of Bedford Eyebury then in the hands of Sir John Russel 13 l. 6 s. 8 d. Â Oxeney then in the hands of Roger Horton Gent. 1 l. 10 s. 0 d. Â Dosthorp called Gillims le Lane-land then in the hands of John Stoddard 2 l. 0 s. 0 d. Â Pillisgate in the hands of David Vincent 19 l. 0 s. 0 d. Â Kettering cum Pightesly with the Advowsons of the Rectories there in the Queens hand 111 l. 3 s. 4 d. ob q. dimid * Given first to the Dean and Chapt. but taken away again with Polebrook also Stanwigge then in the Queens hand 27 l. 16 s. 0 d. ob Cottingham cum Desborough with the Advowsons of the Rectories in the Queens hand 67 l. 2 s. 1 d. Â Oundle with the Advowson of the Vicaridge in the hand of the Lord Russel 172 l. 0 s. 3 d. ob Ashton in the Queens hand 29 l. 3 s. 8 d. Â Wermington cum Egilthorp with the Advowson of the Vicaridge in the Queens hand 97 l. 4 s. 10 d. ob q. Polebroke with the Advowson of the Rectory then in the hands of Sir Edward Montague 12 l. 14 s. 0 d. ob q. Clopton with the Advowson of the Rectory in the hands of William Dudley Esq 3 l. 17 s. 4 d. Â Lullington with the Advowson of the Rectory in the hands of Sir Edward Mountague 8 l. 15 s. 7 d. ob Hundreds of Polebrook and Navesford in the Q. hand s. 19 l. 9 s. 3 d. q. Hundred of Howkeslow in the Queens hand 16 l. 13 s. 4 d. q. Com. Rutland Tinwel with the Advowson of the Rectory in the hands of Sir William Cecil 33 l. 13 s. 4 d. Â Com. Lincoln Gosberkirk in the Queens hand 74 l. 9 s. 2 d. ob q. 3 ob Com. Hunt Fletton in the hand of Roger Forest 27 l. 0 s. 6 d. Â Sum. total 733 l. 9 s. 9 d. 0. 3 pt q. dimid King Henry having taken these Lands from the Church of Peterburgh made provision for the Bishoprick to which he subjected the Counties of Northampton and Rutland for his Diocess and appointed the Abbots dwelling for the Bishops Palace and for his maintenance confirmed these Lands viz. Burghbury Eye Singlesholt Northam Witherington Walton Paston Gunthorp Southorp Thirlby The Hundred of Nassaburgh A Pasture in Park-lane of 8 Acres 40 Acres Sheepcotes S. Johns Yard The Vineyard and Toothill Snorshills Edgerly 50 Acres In Padholm 18 Acres Eastwood 180 Acres Westwood Burghbury 246 Acres The Spittle More at Eye and the Tything Barn there Pensions from Helpiston Etton Wittering Houses and Shops in the Parish of S. Gregory London and in the Parish of S. Bridget The Advowsons of Castre Bernack Paston Polebrook Scotter South Collingham The Vicaridge of S. John Baptist in Peterburgh The Deanery of the Colledge at Irtlingburgh and the Chantry there The Chappel of S. John upon or adjoyning to the Bridge in Stamford For all which the Bishop was to make to the King Annual acknowledgement by the payment of 33l 10s 8d In this Dotation of the Bishoprick bearing date September 4. and of King Henry 33. which was of our Lord 1541. John Chambers Hen. Isaacson in his Chronology pag. 375. B. Goodwin in J. Chambers the present Abbot was nominated for the Bishop whom some will have to be Doctor of Physick and Dean of S. Stephen's in Westminster and continued in his new transformed government about the space of 15 years to the year 1556. the 4 or 5. of Queen Mary Although an Inscription in Brass about the Verge of his Marble Monument beareth date otherwise for it was thus Credo quod redemptor meus vivit in novissimo die de terra surrecturus sum in carne mea videbo Deum salvatorem meum reposita est haec spes mea in sinu meo Moritur die ........... Anno Domini Millesimo Quingentesimo Tricesimo Which could not be for then he must die about his second year of government long before the dissolution of his Abby when he was nominated Bishop for Goodwin saith he was consecrated Bishop October 23. 1541. But it is probable that there was a mistake which if it hapned in his time a wonder he did not reform it the Monument indeed might be extant in his time for he might be careful in providing the house of his mortality before he came to inhabite therein At the foot of his figure upon the same Stone was laid a plate of Brass wherein these Verses were engraven En pius en validus pastor jacet hic Johannes Burgh Burgo natus ac domus hujus apex Cui caro mundus opes cesserunt idgenus omne Praelia divinus carnea vincit amor Ordinis infestos redigens sub vindice mores Dum comes ipse fuit norma locique decor Pauperimos ditans lapsis peccata remittens Mitibus ipse pius asperimus rigidis Sta lege funde preces Deus est cui singula cedunt Dic velit ipse dare celica regna sibi He had also another more stately Monument at the head of this made of white Chalk-stone with his Statue exquisitely carved lying on the top perhaps being Abbot and Bishop he might have a Monument for each but these Monuments habent sua fata sepulchra were demolished Anno 1643. There were lately some doors in the Church curiously carved with the device of this John thus An Eagle a Crosier and Mitre a Bur-dock with Burs thereon and a Ro-buck with the Letters R. O. on his side the summ whereof was John Abbot or Bishop of Bur-row At the same time that King Henry thus established the Bishop and his Revenues he established also the Dean and Chapiter with theirs of which hereafter Return we now to our Series of Succession John Chambers being dead the Succession continued in 46 DAVID POOL Who was first Fellow of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford afterwards Dean of the Arches and Chancellour of the Diocess of Lichfield and made Bishop of Peterburgh 1556. But I find not his nomination thereunto by Queen Mary only the Pope's in the donation and confirmation of him in this Bishoprick For it is sufciently known that this Church and Kingdom of England began again to submit to the Roman yoke from which they had been delivered in the time of King Edward 6. under which relapse I find the Popes power in reference to the Church of Peterburgh to have been more practised than ever it was before for throughout the whole Series of Abbots formerly recited
I find not any Papal election ratification confirmation or any other writing whereby the Pope contributed any thing to the establishment of any Abbot either to the Convent or any other persons but all was from the King alone who either himself nominated the person or accepted of such a one as the Monks elected whom he ratified and confirmed in the Abbey But now and I suppose through the succumbency of Q. Mary and K. Philip to the Roman Chair this David was presented unto and confirmed in this Bishoprick by Paul the fourth Pope of that name whose Letters in the behalf of Bishop David were as followeth First for his nomination or presentation Paulus Episcopus servus servorum Dei Dilecto filio Davidi Pool Petriburgen salutem Apostolicam benedictionem Apostolatus officium nobis meritis licet imparibus ex alto commissum quo Ecclesiarum omnium divina dispositione praesidemus utiliter exequi coadjuvante Domino cupientes solliciti corde reddimur solertes ut cum de Ecclesiarum ipsarum regiminibus agitur committendis tales eis in pastores praeficere studeamus qui populum suae curae creditum sciant non solum doctrina verbi sed exemplo boni operis informare commissasque sibi Ecclesias velint valeant auctore Domino salubriter regere foeliciter gubernare dudum siquidem provisiones Ecclesiarum omnium tunc vacantium in antea vacaturarum ordinationi dispositioni nostrae reservavimus decernentes extunc irritum inane si secus super hiis per quoscunque quavis auctoritate scienter vel ignoranter contingeret attemptari Postmodum vero Ecclesia Petriburgensis cui bonae memoriae Johannes Episcopus Petriburgensis dum viveret praesidebat per obitum ejusdem Johannis Episcopi qui extra Romanam curiam debitum naturae persolvit pastoris solatio destituta nos vacatione hujusmodi fide dignis relationibus intellecta ad provisionem ejusdem Ecclesiae celerem foelicem de qua nullus praeter nos hac vice se intromittere potuit sive potest reservatis decreto obsistentibus supradictis ne Ecclesia ipsa longae vacationis exponatur incommodis paternis sollicitis studiis intendentes post deliberationem quam de praesiciendo eidem Ecclesiae personam utilem fructuosam cum fratribus nostris habuimus diligentem Petriburgensem seu alterius civitatis vel dioeceseos legum Doctorem de legitimo matrimonio procreatum in aetate legitima constitutum quem charissima in Christo filia nostra Maria Angliae Franciae Regina illustris nobis per suas literas commendavit cui apud nos de munditia honestate morum spiritualium providentia temporalium circumspectione aliisque multiplicum virtutum donis fide digna testimonia perhibentur direximus oculos nostrae mentis Quibus omnibus debita meditatione pensatis de persona tua nobis eisdem fratribus ob tuorum exigentiam meritorum accepta eidem Ecclesiae de ipsorum fratrum consilio auctoritate Apostolica providemus teque illum Episcopum praeficimus pastorem curam administrationem ipsius Ecclesiae tibi in spiritualibus temporalibus plenè committendo in illo qui dat gratias largitur praemia confidens quod dirigente Domino actus tuos praefata Ecclesia per tuae diligentiae laudabile studium regetur utiliter prospere dirigetur ac grata in eisdem spiritualibus temporalibus suscipiet incrementa Jugum igitur Domini tuis impositum humeris prompta devotione suscipe curam administrationem praedictas sic exercere studeas sollicitè fideliter prudenter quòd Ecclesia ipsa gubernatori provido fructuoso administratorigaudeat se commissam tuque praeter aeternum retributionis praemium nostram Apostolicae benedictionem gratiam exinde uberius consequi merearis Dat. Romae apud Sanctum Petrum Anno Incarnationis Dominicae Millesimo Quingentesimo Quinquagesimo sexto nono Kal. Aprilis Pontificatus nostri Anno secundo The other Letters were to the Church of Peterburgh for the reception of David for their Bishop and were as followeth Paulus Episcopus servus servorum Dei dilectis filiis Vniversis Cathedralis Ecclesiae Petriburgens salutem Apostolicam ben Hodie Ecclesiae Petriburgen tunc per obitum bonae memoriae Johannis olim Episcopi Petriburgen extra Roman curiam defuncti pastoris solatio destitut de persona dilecti filii electi Petriburgen nobis fratribus nostris obsuorum exigentia meritorum accepta de fratrum eorundem consilio Apostolica autoritate providimus ipsumque illi in Episcopum praefecimus pastorem curam administrationem ipsius Ecclesiae sibi in spiritualibus temporalibus plenarie committendo prout in nostris inde confectis literis plenius continetur Quocirca universitati vestrae per Apostolica scripta mandamus quatenus eundem Davidem electum devote suscipientes debita honorificentia prosequentes ei fidelitatem debitam nec non consueta servitia jura sibi à vobis debita exhibere integre studeatis alioquin sententiam sive poenam quam idem David electus rite tulerit in rebelles ratam habebimus faciemus auctore Domino usque ad satisfactionem condignam inviolabiliter observari Dat. Romae apud Sanctum Petrum Anno Incarnationis Dominicae Millesimo quingentesimo quinquagesimo sexto nono Kal. Aprilis Pontificatus nostri Anno secundo Jo. Mathe B. Jens Jo. Csyrinus p. m. Jo. Gunnos Larengus Jo. Bapt. Capata Ant. Gibert Tortura Torti pag. 146. To these Letters was affixed the Common Seal of Lead But as peremptory as they were they could not secure David in his Bishoprick from the just Authority of the Q. Eliz. who in the second year of her Reign ejected him and placed another in his room What became of him after his ejectment let the late Learned and Reverend Bishop Andrews be the Informer for the Author of a Romish Pamphlet I mean Bellarmine having charged those times with cruelty that such Bishops as were deposed by Queen Elizabeth were yet more hardly used and died in misery The Bishop gives us account of them and particularly of this our David in these words Polus Petriburgensis summa comitate habitus liber semper Principis beneficio in agro suo matura aetate decessit His Successor in the Bishoprick was 47. EDMVND SCAMBLER Whom some will have to have been first a Secular Priest which we will not stand upon He was when he was nominated to this Bishoprick but Batchelor in Divinity as appeareth by the Queens Letter to the Church for his Election bearing date November 11. and second of her Reign 1560. He was Authorized to hold in Commendam with his Bishoprick of Peterburgh a Prebendary in York and another in Westminster for the space of three years by Commission from the Queen bearing date May 13. Anno Eliz. 3. And from Matthew Archbishop of Canterbury bearing the same date But he was made Bishop something before February some
for the same which being done by him we require you that he may have the Pall to be used for the purpose aforesaid Given under our Signet at our Honour of Hampton Court the eight and twentieth day of Septemb. in the tenth year of our Reign of England France and Ireland and of Scotland the six and fortieth In obedience to this Letter the Body of the Queen of Scots was taken up the eleventh of October following in the year of our Lord 1612. and translated to Westminster where we shall leave Her and return to our succession of the Bishops of Peterburgh Howland having been Bishop here the space of 15 years died at Castor and was buried in his own Cathedral at the upper end of the Quire And there succeeded 49. THOMAS DOVE Who was Dean of Norwich and Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth who had so good esteem of him for his excellency in preaching reverend aspect and deportment that she was wont to call him The Dove with silver wings He entred upon his Bishoprick in the year 1600. and continued therein the space of 30 years During which time he was like S. Paul's Bishop a lover of Hospitality keeping a very free house and having always a numerous Family yet was he so careful of posterity that he left a fair estate to his Heirs He died upon the 30 of August 1630. in the 75 year of his age and lieth buried in the North cross Isle of the Church Over his body was erected a very comely Monument of a long quadrangular form having four corner pilasters supporting a fair Table of black Marble and within the pourtraiture of the Bishop lying in his Episcopal habit At the feet on the outside were these Inscriptions Si quaeras viator quo hospite glorietur elegans haec mortis domus ipsa prose loquetur ipsa pro illo quae ideo loqui didicit ut sciant illi qui eò ingratitudinis inhumaniter obriguerunt ut in manes in urnas saevire studeant non defuturam saxis linguam quae doceat de mortuis bene loqui Vindex hoc pium marmor sacros cineres tegit sanctiorem memoriam protegit Charissimum utrumque pignus redituri Domini Reverendissimi in Christo Patris Thomae Dove quem novit Waldenum Ecclesiasten doctissimum Nordovicum Decanum vigilantissimum haec ipsa Ecclesia Episcopum piissimum cui postquam trigint a annis magno cum honore praefuisset ad magnum illum animarum Episcopum transmigravit Bonus pastor translatus ab ovibus in terris ad Agnum in coelis quocum regnabit in secula Hoc me loqui voluit Gulielmus Dove Equ Aur. Optimi hujus patris filius natu-maximus honoris pietatis ergo Carmine non pous est sat sat praestabit abunde Si sat flere potest officiosus amor Vixt Epitaphium sibi Te sprevisse Poeta Quam facile poterit qui bene vixit Abi. Atque abeo durum est numeris aptare dolorem Atque aequo lachrymas currere posse pede Me muto tibi non poterunt monumenta deesse Vivum quem soboles tam numerosa refert Hoc addam Hic illa est senio argentata Columba Davidis coelos hinc petit ille suos Dixi Musa loquax tanto non apta dolori Si non flere satis nostra silere potest But this Monument was in the year 1643. levelled with the ground so that Bishop Dove's Epitaph in stead of Marble must now live in paper 50. WILLIAM PEIRSE Being Canon of Christs Church in Oxford and Dean of Peterburgh was made Bishop after the death of Dove and installed Nov. 14. A man of excellent parts both in Divinity and knowledge of the Laws very vigilant and active he was for the good both of the Ecclesiastical and Civil State and had he continued longer in this See he would have rectified many things then amiss But he was translated to the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells after two years presidency at Peterburgh 51. AVGVSTINE LINDSELL Was Dean of Lichfield and upon the translation of Peirse made Bishop of this Diocess being elected December 22. 1632. and installed by Proxy Febr. 25. following He was a man of very great learning and gave sufficient evidence thereof to the Church by setting forth that excellent edition of Theophylact upon S. Paul's Epistles which work will make his name worth live be honoured among all learned Divines Foreign and Domestick In his time the Parsonage of Castor was annexed to the Bishoprick to be held in Commendam which was effected by W. Laud Archbishop of Canterbury as he left recorded in his Diary When he had been Bishop here the space of two years he was translated to Hereford and shortly after ended his life to the greatloss of the Church of England 52. FRANCIS d ee Was taken from his Deanry of Chichester and made Bishop here being elected April 9. 1634. and in May 28. following installed by Proxy He was a man of very pious life and affable behaviour After he had with much diligence and honesty meekness and hospitality gloriously shined in his Ecclesiastical Orb here the space of four years and six months he died much lamented October 8. 1638. bequeathing by his will towards the reparation of his Cathedral Church the summ of an hundred pounds and lieth buried in the upper part of the Quire near to his Episcopal Seat 53. JOHN TOWERS Being Dean of this Church ascended the other step and was made Bishop after the death of Dee being installed March. 8. 1638. He enjoyed his Bishoprick in peace a very little while for presently great dissensions arose betwixt the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland which occasioned the Bishops attendance upon the King both in the North at York and at London in time of Parliaments that which was convened April 13. 1640. and dissolved May 5. following the Convocation sitting by the Kings express Commission until May 29 wherein the new Canons were made and that also which began the same year November 3. and was of a far longer continuance On August 5. this year the great Commission for draining the Fenns began to be holden at Peterburgh the Commissioners sitting in the Bishops great Hall until the 11. of the same month the determinations therein being since known by the name of Peterburgh Law On the third of November following a new Parliament began to sit Bishop Towers according to his place giving attendance there In the year following arose great opposition against Bishops as to their Office and power in having Votes in Parliament insomuch that many of them apprehending their insecurity in attending upon the House much opposition meeting them in the way some of them to the number of twelve drew up a Protestation against all such Laws Orders Votes Resolutions and determinations as in themselves null and of none effect which in their absence from December 27. 1641. had passed or should afterwards pass during the time of their forced absence from
of that Bishop's Memorandums I have thought good to communicate to the Reader but that I might not too much interrupt the course of this History have placed them in the end of this Supplement together with some few other Records I shall only note here that there had been long an inclination in the people to this superstition appears by the Constitutions made in the Council held at St. Pauls London MCII. by Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury Where among other things it was ordained that none should dare to give holy reverence to the bodies of dead Men to Fountains and other things which some had done without Episcopal authority The words are these both in Malmsbury L. 1. de Gestis Pont. Angl. and Eadmerus L. 3. Hist Ne quis temeraria novitate corporibus mortuorum aut fontibus aut aliis rebus quod contigisse cognovimus sine Episcopali autoritate reverentiam sanctitatis exhibeat But within a few days almost all the Constitutions of that Council were broken and the principal transgressors were the Law-makers as William of Malmsbury's words are in MS. Copy of that Book in Sir John Cotton's Library Which are wholly omitted in the Printed Book among the Anglicarum rerum Scriptores MDCI. Eadmerus saith the same without mentioning particularly the prevarication of the Law-makers in the conclusion of those Constitutions Et hic quidem Lundoniensis Concilii textus est qui non post multos institutionis suae dies multos sui transgressores in omni hominum genere fecit And therefore no wonder Oliver Sutton found the people still poisoned with this error almost 200 years after that Council Which he honestly indeavoured to remedy by his Episcopal Authority But it is time to return to our History And to give a short account of the Founder of this Monastery and the time of its founding The first Founder all agree was Peada Son of Penda King of the Mercians Whose story is thus distinctly told by Hedda Abbot in a MS. Relation still remaining in the Book called Swapham There was a great Friendship between Peada Son of Penda and Alhfrid Son of Oswin King of Northumberland Brother to the great King and Martyr Oswald in so much that they made an interchangeable Marriage Alhfrid taking Kynesburga Sister to Peada and Peada taking Alfeda as he calls her Sister to Alhfrid unto Wife Whereupon Peada by the perswasions of his faithful Brother-in-Law and of his own pious Sister was made a Christian and baptized in Northumberland by that famous Bishop Finanus From whom he received also four Religious Preachers of the Gospel to carry with him to his own Country whither he returned plus jam gaudens de aeterna salute quam de petita Virgine rejoycing more in the eternal Salvation than in the Virgin he had gotten in Northumberland Symeon Dunelmensis speaks of this conversion in the very beginning of his History Cap. 4. and John Brampton names the place where he was baptized viz. Admurium twelve miles from the Eastern Sea together with the four Presbyters which Finanus gave him Ceadda Abde Betta and Dunna who coming into Peada's Country converted a great many to the Christian Faith in two years time for Penda did neither hinder these men from Preaching nor his people from believing All which is taken out of Bede L. III. Eccles Hist C. 21. where he saith that not only Peada but all his Nobles and Knights and every one of his Servants and Attendants were Baptized in vico Regis illustri qui vocatur Admurum And that Penda when his Son returned was so far from prohibiting the entertainment of the Christian Religion in his Kingdom that he hated and despised those who having received the Christian Faith did not live accordingly Saying they were wretched creatures who did not take care to obey the God in whom they believed These things were done two years before Penda died and in his Epitome he saith Penda died An. 655 and the Mercians were made Christians And in this year the foundation of this Monastery is said to have been laid by Peada with the assistance of Oswin King of Northumberland and of devout people newly Baptized and especially of Saxulph as Hugo often sayes Though the Chron. Johannis Abbatis saith it was An. 654. They are the very first words of it Anno Domini DCLIIII fundatum est Monasterium de Burgo Sancti Petri à Peada Rege Merciorum Saxulfo Comite facto ejus Abbate primo But Hedda before mentioned carries it still higher for he saith this Monastery was begun five and fifty years after the coming of Austin the Monk into England ab incarnatione Salvatioris DCL exacti The great Stones which Mr. G. observes were laid in the foundation Hugo sayes he saw when the Monastery was burnt and demolished quales octo paria boum vix unum traherent But it was only begun for Peada died in the year 656. as the forenamed Chronicle of John Abbot tells us A. DCLVI Peada mortuo Wlferus regnabat super Mercios erat Bissexto c. and left the Building to be perfected by his Brother Wolferus Who as Hugo sayes was no less in love with this work than Peada had been but pursued it with great zeal till he had finished it by the help of Saxulfus and the assistance of his Brother Ethelred and his two holy Sisters Kyneburga and Kyneswitha And having indowed it with Lands and other Revenues dedicated it to St. Peter This is all that Hugo sayes save only what belongs to his Charter c. in whom I find not a word about his revolting from Christianity or his growing cold in it nor in Hedda's Relation neither quo modo incipiente Christianitate in regione Mediterraneorum Anglorum initiatum sit Medeshamstedense Monasterium subsequentibus privilegiis confirmatum as the title of it bears But quite contrary he sayes King Wolfere was so flagrant as his word is in the worship of Christ that he made it his business not only to kindle the like affection in his own people but to bring the Southern Kings and people that were subject to him ad veram Dei sectam to Gods true Religion by sending them Royal gifts and inlarging their Dominions Yet I cannot say that Walter of Wittlesea devised all that story which follows in Mr. G. about him his Steward his two Sons and St. Chad and the Hart but he had it no doubt out of antienter Writers For Leland begins his Second Vol. of Collections out of a Book of an Author without name but as he gathers of the Church of Peterburgh whose title is De Martyrio Wulfadi Rufini filiorum Wulferi Regis And there is an old MS. in Sir John Cotton's Library intituled Passio Sanctorum Wlfadi Rufini filiorum Wlferi Regis in which the whole story is told more amply with the Speeches made by all parties concerned in it as may be seen in the 2. Vol. of the Monasticon p. 119. Out
Lusgerg Ethelhuniglond Barchanig Which were places not very far from Medeshamstede it appears by several Charters which still remain upon Record in the Book called Swapham Where I find fol. CXXX XXXI that in the time of this Cutbald the glorious King of the Mercians Ethelredus or Adilredus for he is called by both names came to visit the servants of God in this Monastery of Medeshamstede and to obtain their prayers for the relief of his Soul and out of a desire of Eternal life as the words of his Charter are gave to the Friers there all that land called Leugtricdun triginta manentes habentem Not long after which one of the Friers coming to this King upon a certain occasion he took a glebe from the forementioned Land and put it super codicem Evangeliorum upon the Book of the Gospels in confirmation and for a testimony of the aforesaid donation Unto which these witnesses were present Sexulfus Episcopus Merciorum Wecca and Berhthun Monachi Hostryga ipsius Regis Regina Henfric Eadfric principes Regis Adilredi that none might dare to attempt any thing against this donation of the King qui sibi divinam donationem adesse optaret in futura vita Amen Which Leugtricdun I have reason to think was an Appendix to one of the above named places The first of which Bredun was given to this Church of Medeshamstede by Friduricus one of King Adilred's Noble Men by a Charter bearing this Title Fridurici principis de Bredun ad Medeshamstede ' In which he saith that the number of Christians increasing and multiplying he had given to the family of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles inhabiting the Monastery of Medeshamstede terram cui vocabulum est Bredun viginti manentium cum omnibus ad eam pertinentibus Which was done in the presence and with the consent of Saxulph ejusdem gentis Episc and of the above-named King Adilredus For this end and purpose that they should found Oratorium in eadem praefata terra and there constitute a Priest for the teaching and Baptizing of the people Which upon due deliberation they undertook and chose one of their own number whose name was Hedda a man endued with admirable Wisdom and all manner of Virtues whom they made Abbot of Bredun with this condition that he should acknowledge himself to be a member of the Fraternity of Medeshamstede So it runs in the Charter whose words are these Et unum ex semetipsis nomine Hedda Presbyterum mirabili sapientia in omni virtutum genere praeditum summo libramine eligerunt eumque in loco praefato Abbatem constituerunt ea tamen conditione interposita ut se unum de eorum Fraternitatis membris esse noverit ' And the same Religious Prince Friduricus finding that this Venerable Abbot Hedda most diligently fed the people committed to his charge with the food of divine Preaching added another benefaction in a distinct Charter whose title is de Repinges ad Medeshamstede Wherein he gives to the aforesaid Abbot Hedda XXXI manentium terram quae vulgo vocitatur Hrepingas which is another of those places above mentioned This he did in the presence of King Adilredus and of Saxulph the Bishop of that Country who joyning their hands with his cespitunculam communiter praedictae terrae Sacrosanctae evangeliorum codici simul omnis coram multitudine populi imposuerunt and so subscribed this Deed with their own hands And afterward this Honourable Abbot Hedda as the Book calls him fol. CXXXIII and the Prior of the Monastery of Bredun obtained from King Adilred other Land which had quindecim Manentes 15 Tenents or Housekeepers as we now speak called by the name of Cedenanhac another of the places depending on Medeshamstede for fifty Shillings that is for Bedding and other Goods of that value which are thus specified in the Deed. Id est duodecim lectorum stramenta utpote culcita plumacia ornata capitalia simul cum sindonibus lenis quemadmodum in Britannia habere mos est nec non servum cum ancilla fibulam auream cum quatuor ex auro massiunculis arte aurificis compositis duos caballos cum cannis duabus pro praefata terra pretium dedit I have not room to examine the meaning of every word in this Deed some of which I no where meet withal but here which concludes as the former did that this price being paid the King in his Bedchamber at his own Town called Tomtun took a little clod of earth from the aforesaid Land with his own hands and laid it upon the Sacred Volume of the Gospels his Queen and Saxalph joyning their hands with his that none might dare to violate this grant The same Hedda if I mistake not was Abbot also of other two places before mentioned called Wermundshey and Wokinges for I find a Bull of Pope Constantine's about the Episcopal Jurisdiction over these places fol. LXXXVI directed unto him which I have not room to set down at large but only note that they are both said there to be found in nomine beati Petri Apostoli in the name of St. Peter Which makes it probable they were those belonging to this Church under the Government of this great man Hedda Whom I take to have been the Author of the Relation above named concerning the first plantation of Christianity in these parts of England and the next Bishop that succeeded Sexulf in the See of Litchfield who built that Church as I have already said and dyed DCCXXI When Cutbaldus dyed I am not able to affirm certainly but it was between the year DCCIX and DCCXVI For he was alive in the former of those years I gather from hence that Hugo saith Wilfrid dyed in his time at his Mannor of Owndle c. his words are In hujus Abbatis id est Cuthbaldi tempore Sanctus Wilfridus Episcopus in possessione ipsius Monasterii ad Vndalum transivit ad Dominum Ministeriis fratrum deportatus est ad suum proprium Monasterium in Rypun Now Wilfrid the first of that name who was Archbishop of York dyed An. DCCIX as I find in the Chron. Johannis Abbatis With whom agrees Tho. Stubbs Chron. Eccles Eborac whose words are to be corrected out of our Hugo commonly called Swapham for he speaking of the death of Wilfrid sayes Defunctus est in Monasterio suo apud Vndalum quod est juxta Stamford inde Ministerio fratrum delegatus in Monasterio suo apud Riponum est sepultus An. Domini DCCIX Where he calls Owndle Wilfrid's Monastery which it appears by all our Records was as Hugo only calls it part of the possession of the Monastery of Medeshamstede But as Cuthbald was then alive so it is certain he was dead before the year DCCXVI when as Mr. G. observes out of Ingulphus the Charter of King Ethelbald for the founding of Croyland Abbey was signed by Egbaldus Abbot of Medeshamstede EGBALDVS Concerning whom and the three next Abbots
following Hugo saith no more than this ' Egbaldus succeeded Cuthbaldus in the government of this Monastery and Pusa succeeded him after whom came Celredus to whom succeeded Hedda But what they did and at what time doth not appear unto us in these Ages all being abolished either by the negligence of Writers or by the times of persecution saving only what is written in Priviledges in which their names are found ' And particularly in the Records of the Church at the end of Hugo's Book fol. CXI there is a Charter of Ceadwalla King of Kent granting to this Abbot XL. terrae illius Manentes ubi Hogh nuncupatur ad Hebureahg insulam In which Charter he is called EGBALTHVS as he is also in one that follows granted by Suehardus Honorabili Abbati Egbaltho wherein he confirms the Donation of Ceadwalla and adds more of his own It would have been grateful perhaps to some Readers if I could have represented them at large but it will not consist with the bounds to which I am confined in this Supplement and therefore I shall only note the same of the next Abbot PVSA Who by the intercession of a great man called Brorda obtained of Offa King of the Mercians a grant of Land viginti Manentium for his Church at Woccing before named I shall set down the beginning of the Charter as I find it fol. CXXX In Trino nomine Divinitatis individuae Juste à nobis pietatis opera persolvenda sunt idcirco ego Offa c. rogatus à venerabili Abbate meo nomine Pusa simul à praefato meo it should be praefecto as appears by the Subscription vocabulo Brorda ut aliquam liberalitatem ejus Ecclesiae quae sita est in loco ubi dicitur Woccingas concederem quod libenter facere juxta eorum petitionem providi pro expiatione piaculorum meorum Domino devote largitus sum c. BEONNA There is a Charter of this Abbot which begins thus In nomine Gubernantis Dei monarchiam totius mundi Ego Beonna Abbas gratia dei cum conscientia licentia fratrum Dominum colentium in Monasterio quod appellatur Medeshamstede Wherein he grants to Prince Cuthberth terram decem manentium quae nuncupatur Suinesheade or Swineheved with the Meadows Pastures Woods and all the Appurtenances acknowledging that the forenamed Cuthberth had purchased the same of him for a valuable price i. e. mille solidis and every year for himself and his Successors unius noctis pastum aut triginta Oravit it should be Orarum I believe siclos Which Territory the Prince purchased on this condition that after his death it should go to his Heirs who should hold it for their lives upon the aforesaid terms in pastu vel pecunia but after their decease it should return quietly and without any suit at Law to the Monastery Of which bargain their were many Witnesses who signed it in manner following Ego Offa gratia Dei Rex Merciorum signo crucis Christi propria manu roboravi Ego Egferth Rex Merciorum consensi subscripsi Ego Higeberth Archiepiscopus firmando subscripsi After two Bishops subscribe and then Ego Beonna Abbas hanc meam Munificentiam signo crucis Christi firmavi To which the Prior and two other Priests subscribe their consent It may be necessary here to note that Ora was a piece of money of a certain weight or rather a weight whereby they received money and is written alsio hora in the Inquisition made into the Lands of this Church in the time of Martin the Second An. 1231. Where speaking of the Fishery at Walcote it is said to have yielded yearly duas horas The best explication of which that I can find is in the Laws of King Ethelred recorded by John Brompton in his Chronicle N. XXX which is concerning his Monetarii in all the ports of the Kingdom who were to take care ut omne pondus ad mercatum sit pondus quo pecunia mea recipitur eorum singulum signetur ita quod XV. Orae libram faciant But in the Inquisition now mentioned which was made through all the Mannors of this Church it seems to signifie a piece of money For thus the account is given of the Mannor of Walcote juxta Humbram after other particulars ibidem est situs unius Piscariae qui vocatur Holflet solebat reddere duas horas fol. CLIIII CELREDVS Besides his name Recorded by Hugo I find no mention of him but in Ingulphus which Mr. G. hath observed by which it appears he was Abbot here in the year DCCCVI and was Brother to Siwardus the third Abbot of Croyland But I suppose he is the same CEOLRED who in the year DCCCXLVIIII subscribed to a Charter of King Berthwulfus or Beorthwulfus wherein he granted great liberties to the Monastery of Breodun depending upon this Church of Medeshamstede as was said before then governed by the Venerable Abbot Swaph fol. CXXXII Eanmundus or rather Eadmundus as I believe it should have been written This Charter being remarkable for many things I have represented at large in the Appendix by which it will appear if my conjecture be true that this Celredus was advanced to the Episcopal dignity as Sexuulf had been though his See be not named whereby way was made for Hedda to succeed him here HEDDA When he entred upon the government of this Monastery or whence he came is not known but by Ingulphus we understand as is observed by Mr. G. that he was Abbot here in the year 833. and continued so to be till the destruction of the place by the Danes Who began to infest this Kingdom in the year 837. as John Abbot writes Chron. MS. in Sir J. C's Library DCCCXXXVII Dani crebris irruptionibus Angliam infestant And again An. DCCCXXXIX Dani passim per Angliam multas caedes agant And though they were several times beaten yet An. DCCCLI a great Army of them in 350 Ships came up the River Thames and pillaged Canterbury and London An. DCCCLIII the English fought against them in the Isle of Thanet magno dispendio An. DCCCLV they wintered in the Isle of Schepie and in the year DCCCLXIV in the Isle of Thanet having made peace with the Cantuarians In the year DCCCLXVI they did great mischief in the North took York depopulated the Country of the Eastangles entred into Mercia and wintred at Nottingham Three year after An. DCCCLXIX they left Mercia and went back to York and wintered there But the next year which was famous for the desolation they made of this Church and many other places they came and landed on Lyndesay Coast destroyed the Monastery of Bardney killing all the Monks without any pity and then entring Kestiven trod down killed and burnt all that came in their way Which Mr. G. hath largely enough related out of Ingulphus and therefore I shall follow my Author no further who hath nothing which is not to be found there The
Monument erected for the slain Abbot and Monks is here represented in this draught which I have caused to be taken of it as it now appears The very next year after the desolation of the Monastery An. DCCCLXXI Goredus so Abbot John's Chronicle calls him whom Ingulph calls Beorredus King of the Mercians took all the Lands of the Church of Medeshamstede between Stamford Huntingdon and Wisbeck into his own hands giving those that lay more remote to his Souldiers and Stipendiaries The same he did with the Lands belonging to St. Pege at Pegekyrk some of which he kept himself and gave the rest to his Stipendiaries Which are the very words of Ingulphus from whom its likely they were transcribed into that Chronicle In which we find nothing concerning this place till almost an hundred years after Edredus he saith in the year DCCCCXLVII cleared and restored the Monastery of Croyland by the instigation of Surketulus who turning Monk the King made Abbot of this place Which Ingulphus saith was done the year after An. 948. and sets down the Charter of that King in which there is no mention as in former Charters of the Abbot of Medeshamstede consenting to it and confirming it though in the boundaries of the Lands of Croyland Ager de Medeshamsted is there named Ingulphus p 35. Oxon. Edit Nor in King Edgar's Charter to the same Monastery of Croyland An. 966. is there any mention of his Subscription though among other Royal Woods there is mention made of Medeshamsted-Wood p. 42. For though Adelwaldus who by the assistance of King Edgar restored many Monasteries destroyed by the Pagans as Burgh Eli and Abenddon they are the words of John Abbot was made Bishop of Winchester An. 961. yet he did not apply himself to the rebuilding of this of Medeshamstede till nine years after if we may credit that Writer who saith it began to be restored just an hundred years after its desolation His words are these An. 970. Sanctus Adelwoldus Episcopus Wint. transtulit de Coemiterio in Ecclesiam reliquias Sancti Surthuni praedecessoris sui ante altare Sancti Petri honorifice collocavit Monasterium etiam de Medeshamstede restaurare coepit Burgum Sancti Petri appellavit Anno desolationis suae aequaliter centesimo In another different hand there is this Animadversion given that in claustro dicti Monasterii notantur anni desolationis LXXXXVI the time of its desolation are noted in the Cloyster of the said Monastery to have been but 96. years Which account Mr. G. follows though in Swapham or Hugo rather they are reckoned to be 99 years For so the Note is in the Margin of the Book in a hand of the same age with the Book it self Restauratio hujus loci à prima fundatione ejus An. CCCXIII. A destructione vero ejusdem Anno XCIX This great man Adelwold was at first a Monk in the Abbey of Glastonberry where as William of Malmsbury relates L. 2. de gestis Pontificum Angl. the Abbot had a dream representing to him how excellent a person this Monk would prove For he thought he saw a Tree springing up within the Walls of the Abbey which spread its branches to all the four quarters of the World and had all its leaves covered over with Cowles a very great Cowle being placed at the top of all At which being amazed an old man he thought told him that the great Cowle was Athelwold and the rest were innumerable Monks whom he should attract by his example Consonant to which was a vision his Mother had when she was with Child of him with which I shall not trouble the Reader but only note that it signified the large extent of his mind in this sort of Charity which reached to no less than forty Monasteries as all our Writers report Particularly W. of Malmsbury who saith L. 2. de gestis Regum Angliae he built so many and such noble Monasteries that it scarce seemed credible in his dayes that a Bishop of one City should do such things as the King of all England could not easily effect But he himself in another place makes this wonder cease by telling us that he could make King Edgar do what he pleased So his words are in the Book before named of the Acts of the Bishops of England it might seem a wonder he should do such things nisi quod Rex Edgar omnino ejus voluntati deditus erat à quo super omnes infra Dunstanum diligeretur And therefore the Abbot of Rieval L. de genealog Regum Angliae saith expresly that Edgar himself caused forty Monasteries to be built among which he reckons this of Burch as it now began to be called Which Athelwold saith Malmsbury L. IV. de gestis Potif Ang. built so sumptuously and endowed with such ample possessions ut penè tota circa regio illi subjaceat that almost all the Country round about was subject to it And this account also John Bromton Abbot of Joreval gives of this matter who having said that King Edgar built and repaired above forty Monasteries adds Inter quae consilio monitione Sancti Ethelwoldi Wintoniensis Episc Abbatiam Glastoniae Abendoniae composuit Abbatiam de Burgh prope Stamfordiam stabilivit c. So that the very truth in short is this Athelwold was to Edgar as Saxulf had been to Wulferus a trusty and diligent Servant who managed his Royal bounty in these magnificent Works And therefore is called by King Edgar in his Charter as Saxulf was by Wolfere in his Constructor the builder of the Churches before mentioned particularly of this formerly called Medeshamstede but now sua ac nostra instantia restauratum Burch appellatur Which by Ingulphus is called Burgum and by Matthew of Westminster ad An. 664. is said to be Vrbs Regia a Royal City Which this famous Bishop lived to see flourishing under Adulphus about thirteen year for he dyed not till the year 985. At which I find these words in the Chron. of John Abbot Sanctus Athelwoldus Wint. Episcopus qui Monasterium Burgi restauravit Kal. Augusti migravit ad Dominum There were some reliques of him preserved in this Church particularly of his Heirs ADVLPHVS Mr. G. having given an account of the most material things that are in Hugo concerning this Abbot whom John Bromton calls Eadrilf I shall only add that it is certain he succeeded Oswald in the Archbishoprick of York An. 992. So John Abbot writes Sanctus Oswaldus Archiep. Ebor. 2. Kal. Martii migravit ad Dominum cui Adulphus Abbas Burgi successit But though he call him Abbot of Burg which was become the new stile yet other writers still retained the old one and call him Abbas Medeshamstudensis So the Chron. of Mailros lately printed pag. 152. And so Florentius Wigornensis Ad An. 992 Venerabilis Medeshamstudensis Abbas Adulphus successit pro quo Kenulphus Abbatis jure fungitur Roger Hoveden also speaks the same language and Symeon of Durham in
his History de gestis Regum Angl. where he calls him Adulphus and speaking of Oswald saith cui Venerabilis Medeshamstudensis Abbas Adulphus successit And in that See he sat till the year 1003. Which John Abbot concludes thus Adulphus Archiep Eborac quondam Abbas Burgi obiit In the year before which 1002 as I find in the Chron. of Mailros he took up the Bones of St. Oswald out of his Tomb and honourably placed them in a Shrine Of which there is a larger account given by Thomas Stubbs in his Act. Pontif. Eboracens which explains also what Mr. G. saith about his being translated to Worcester and therefore I shall transcribe some of it Vicesimus Eboracensis Ecclesiae Archiepiscopus fuit Venerabilis Abbas Medeshamstedensis i. e. Burg Adulphus c. Who by the favour of King Adelredus held the Bishoprick of Worcester in his hand as his Predecessor St. Oswald had done Whom he honoured so much that in the 12th year of his Episcopacy his Brethren the Bishops with the Abbots and many other Religious men being gathered together he took up the Bones of St. Oswald out of his Tomb Anno Regis Agelredi XXV VII Kalend. Maii feria quarta and placed them in a Shrine which he had prepared honourably for them And not long after dyed himself 2 Nonarum Maii and was buried in the Church of St. Mary at Worcester Symeon Dunelmensis saith the same ad An. 1002. only he makes this to have been done not the VII but the XVII Kal. Maii. And there is a mistake also in the year for it should not be the 12th but the 10th year of his Episcopacy And here now it may be fit to note that in all probability the Monks of this Church were brought under the rule of St. Benedict when it was restored as hath been said by King Edgar and put under the government of Adulphus and not till then For though there was a famous regulation of Monastical Orders made before this time under Cutbert Archbishop of Canterbury An. 747. in concilio Clovishoviae in which some things were mended in the Manners and Habits of Monks yet there is not the least mention made of the Rule of St. Bennet though there was a very fair occasion for it nor is there one word of it in Venerable Bede It is true Wilfrid who was ordained 10 or 14 years after the foundation of this Monastery An. 664. as the Chron. of John Abbot affirms was imployed by Wulfere King of the Mercians to settle Monasteries as the Author of his life tells which is in MS. in Sir J. Cotton's library whom Malmsbury calls Stephanus Presbyter viz. Stephanus Heddius as he is named by Bede And after the death of Deusdedit was sent for by Ecbert King of Kent where he went up and down through his Country saith the same Author C. 14. Et cum regula Benedicti instituta Ecclesiarum benè melioravit and very much improved the Orders of the Churches by the Rule of Benedict which he had learnt beyond Sea being so much addicted to foreign customs that he refused to be consecrated by our Bishops and desired to be consecrated in France when he was to succeed Colman This passage is much to be observed for it appears thereby the Churches he visited were already under Rules and Institutions before he came to them who only bettered them by this Rule of St. Bennet but did not bring those Churches under it And as this was all he did so what he did was in the Kingdom of Kent alone not all England over And so as the Chronologia Augustinensis is to be understood in these words Inter Decem Scriptores p. 2232. Wilfridus Episcopus regulam Sancti Benedicti fecit in Anglia observari ad An. 666. that is in these parts of England for in the midland parts it was little known for several years after As appears by the Bull of Pope Constantine An. DCCIX the very year wherein Wilfrid died to Kenred King of the Mercians Offa his Son and Egwin Bishop of Worcester for the Monastery of Evesham which saith the Monks were to live under the rule Patris Benedicti quae minus in illis partibus adhuc habetur And so it continued to be little known for above two hundred years For Oswald whom Adulphus succeeded in the See of York who had been Bishop of Worcester before he went to York was the man who brought it hither from the Abby of Fleury in France where he had been a Monk So W. of Malmsbury expresly testifies in his Third Book de gestis Pontif. Angl. where not far from the beginning he saith that Oswald being Nephew to Odo the Archbishop was bred up in his Youth apud Floriacum in Gallia taking upon him the habit of a Monk as the custom of that time was for all that were piously disposed in the Benedictine Convent A quo viz. Oswald Religionis hujus manavit exordium as his words are in the MS. Copy in Sir J. Cotton's Library Which are the more remarkable because the very same W. of Malmsbury had a little before mentioned Wilfrid bragging that he was the first who commanded the rule of St. Bennet to be observed by the Monks But after all this there was no general Constitution for our Monasteries till the Second Reformation of the ancient English Monkery which was in the Council of Winchester An. 965. under King Edgar the great restorer as hath been said of Monasteries When there was framed a general Constitution partly out of the Rule of St. Bennet and partly out of the antient customs before mentioned which was called Regularis Concordia Anglicae Nationis and may be found in Mr. Selden's Spicilegium to Eadmerus both in Saxon and in Latin This Rule thus composed was called Oswald's Law as Sir H. Spelman observes he being then Bishop of Worcester to which he was promoted at the instance of St. Dunstan An. 960 Chron. Mailros p. 149. and translated to York not till 971. and had not long before as I have said brought the Rule of St. Bennet from Fleury From which Monastery of Fleury several Monks also were called and advised withal in the drawing up of the Constitutions of this Regularis Concordia So King Edgar himself tells in his Preface to it where he relates how that upon his Exhortation to all under his care to come under the same Rule which many Abbots and Abbatisses with the Colledges of Brethren and Sisters subject unto them had taken upon them to observe that so there might not be divers usages in one and the same Country thereupon the Bishops the Abbots and Abbatisses being wonderfully thankful that God had bestowed upon them such a Doctor who is there called Pastor Pastorum such was the language of those times concerning Kings lift up their hands to Heaven and consented to what he proposed And immediatly sent for some Monks of Fleury and from Gent to advise withal about this matter who as Bees suck
their honey out of several Flowers composed these Constitutions out of several former Rules And more particularly took care about the singing used in Monasteries V. Seld. ad Eadmerum p. 145. that it should not be hudled nor too swift but be so distinct that the mind might accompany the voice and they might fulfill that of the Apostle Sing with the Spirit and sing with the Vnderstanding also All which considered I look upon it as highly probable that this Monastery of Peterburgh now became subject to this Rule being one of those restored by King Edgar And yet it was not the very Rule of St. Bennet which was established in this Council but many ancient Orders and Customs improved by that Rule and accommodated to his Precepts For long after this when there was a Third Regulation of Monasteries under Lanfranc An. 1075 in the Council of London when several things were restored as the words are which had been defined by ancient Canons the Council after consideration of Episcopal affairs decrees concerning Monks ex Regula Benedicti Dialogo Gregorii antiqua Regularium locorum consuetudine as Baronius observes From which Sir John Marsham judiciously concludes in his large Preface before the Monasticon that even in the Norman times the Monastical Laws were mixed and that the Benedictine Rule was not so admitted as that the antient customs of the Monks were thereby abrogated I have noted already the day and year when Adulphus dyed but there is a mistake I since find in the day which if the Records of our Church be true was June 5. when he was solemnly commemorated in this Monastery and is the very first Abbot of whom there is any mention made in the Kalender of this Church which is still preserved in the Library of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth of which I shall give an account in its proper place Where over against the fifth of June are these Words Depositio Adulphi Anniversarium Ricardi de Lincolnia Agnetis uxoris ejus Of all the foregoing Abbots there is not the least memory little being certainly known of what passed in the time of the first Monastery before its desolation by the Danes But it 's like they were all comprehended in that general commemoration which was made in Whitson-Week Specialium Defunctorum and was repeated in the two Ember-Weeks following in September and December Where I find the same Order with this addition that there should be a Missa ferialis cum de Profundis and the names of those speciales defuncti were then read KENVLPHVS The Character which Hugo gives of this Abbot who was chosen by the unanimous consent of the Friers and the favour of King Edgar is that he was Flos literalis disciplinae torrens eloquentiae decus norma rerum divinarum secularium which was the cause of that general concourse from all parts ad ejus Magisterium which Mr. G. hath observed And it 's likely that he brought this Monastery into the credit wherein it continued for several years For Ingulphus P. 83. Oxon. Edit tells us that in the Reign of the Conqueror the Monks of Burgh were so famous and the World had such an high opinion of them ut totus mundus abiret post eos and many of the great men of the Land both the highest Bishops and other Noble Men and Lieutenants of the Countries chose to be Interred among them He procured a confirmation of the Priviledges of this Church and of all that had been given to it from King Ethelred the Son of Edgar in these words Swapham fol. XL. Ego Athelredus Anglorum imperio sublimatus has donationes praedecessorum meorum regnante Abbate Cenulfo solidavi cum hiis testibus Dunstano Oswaldo Archiepiscopis That he surrounded the Monastery with a Wall is certain but that it was thence called Burch or Burgh as W. of Malmsbury writes Mr. G. justly doubts For King Edgar in his Charter calls it upon its restauration by this name of Burch Yet notwithstanding this name Burh and Burgh and Byrigh signifying any place which was walled about and particularly a City or Castle from the Saxon word Deorgan which signifies to defend or take into safety W. of Malmsbury might mean that the place did not deserve the name of Burch till this time His words I confess imply more for he saith the place formerly called Medeshamstede being now incompassed with a Wall by Kenulphus à similitudine Vrbis Burch vocatus est was called Burch from its likeness to a City Upon the translation of St. Elphege to the See of Canterbury Kenulphus succeeded him in the Bishoprick of Winchester as Abbot John among others remembers ad An. 1006. Who saith not a word of his Simony with which William of Malmsbury boldly charges him L. 2. de gestis Pontificum Angl. Wentanum enim Episcopatum Kenulphus Abbas Burgensis nummis nundinatus fuerat Sed non diu sacrilego ausu laetatus ante duos annos hominem exuit For which cause it is likely there was no commemoration made of him in this Church his name not being in the Kalender before named as his predecessors and all his Successors are except one guilty of the same crime and another guilty of the like though he was so great a benefactor and famed also for his Wisdom and Learning Hugo saith he governed most admirably and sweetly till he was promoted to Winchester ELSINVS Called also Elfinus and Alfinus between whom and Kenulfus there was another Abbot viz. KINSINVS if we may believe the MS. Chron. of John Abbot of this Church which I have so often cited For though he say ad An. 1006. that upon Kenulphus his removal Elsinus succeeded him and was the third Abbot after the restauration yet ad An. 1048. speaking concerning the sute which the Abbot of Peykyrke had for the Lands of his Monastery which by the judgement of the Court of Hardecnute as I shall show hereafter were given away from him he saith it was contra Kenulfum Kinsinum Abbates Burgi And that this was no mistake we may learn from his remark upon the year 1051. where he saith expresly Elfinus succeeded him in this Monastery Alfricus Eboracens Archiepis obiit apud Burgum sepelitur cui successit Kinsinus Abbas Burgi cui successit Elfinus in Abbatem promotus Monachus ejusdem loci And again ad An. 1060. obiit Kinsinus Eborac Archiep. quondam Abbas Burgi c. What truth there is in this I am not able to say from any other record but that he was a great man and Archbishop of York and here buried it will appear more hereafter when I come to that time and we have gained this piece of knowledge from John Abbot that Alfinus was a Monk of Burch and chosen to be Abbot saith Hugo by the unanimous consent of the whole Congregation whom he governed fiftyyear By which account Kinsinus must either never have been Abbot here or but for
a few days or months Mr. G. hath related how he laboured to inrich this Church with Reliques and Hugo saith many other ways but is mistaken I think in his conjecture about his procuring the Arm of St. Oswald to be brought hither For Hugo mentions it among the benefits which the Church received in the time of Leofricus and thereabouts when Winegotus apportavit brachium Sancti Oswaldi de Bebeburch There it was preserved in Bede's time in urbe regia quae a regina quondam vocabulo Bebba cognominatur as his words are L. III. Cap. 6. and thence the ancient Seat of its rest it was furtim ablatum taken away by stealth if we may believe William of Malmsbury who relates what was pretended by the Church of Burgh which in his dayes said they had Oswald's Arm but doth not seem to give credit to it himself How they came to have his Arm at Bebbeburch a place in the North I cannot imagine if it be true which the MS. Chron. of John Abbot sayes ad An. MLXV that his body was not till then taken out of his Tomb. Agelwinus Dunelmensis Episcopus Ossa beati Oswaldi Regis Martyris apud Tynemutham de tumulo in scrinio cum honore levavit But perhaps Oswaldi is there false written for Oswini for Symeon of Durham saith it was Oswin's body that was taken up by that Bishop From the same Chronicle we learn also when it was that Elfinus went into Normandy and upon what occasion and bought there at Bonavalle the body of St. Florentine pro centum libris argenti Which was not till the year MXIII. when Suanus coming with innumerable Danes into England and exercising unheard of cruelties King Ethelred hardly escaped his hands and sent away his Wife per Abbatem Burgi and another person unto Richard Duke of Normandy he himself following her presently after In the same year Ingulphus P. 56. Oxon. Edit tells us this Monastery was again burnt by the same Suanus or Swanus and many Lands were taken away from the Church as Hugo relates while the Abbot was with the Queen in Normandy the English paying a vast Tribute to the Danish Army which wasted the Kingdom forty years together But he procured from Canutus the confirmation of their priviledges in as ample manner as they had been confirmed to Kenulphus by King Ethelred In these words Ego Cnut Rex Anglorum Deo favente Elfino abbate deprecante hoc Privilegium cum optimatibus corroboravi And in the dayes of Hardecanutus got a Judgment against Wolgatus Abbot of Pegekyrke both for the Seat of his Monastery and all the Mannors belonging thereunto which Elfinus claimed as Kenulphus had done to be part of the possessions of Burgh How just a sute this was I am not able to say Ingulph condemns it most heavily as a monstrous piece of oppression and it will not be amiss if I not only relate the whole story but give an account of this Monastery from its beginning there being very little said of it in the Monasticon Anglicanum St. Pege as Ingulphus informs us was Sister to St. Guthlac a person descended of a noble Stock both by the Father and Mother as Matthew of Westminster writes who being in love with a solitary life setled himself in the Island called Croyland where no body durst dwell because they were terrified as his words are with phantasies of Devils there inhabiting This was in the year DCXCIX as the often named Chronicon of John Abbot tells us Sanctus Guthlacus apud Croylandiam vitam Anchoreticam ducere coepit Anno aetatis suae XXVI About XV. year after he dyed as the same Writer informs us DCCXIIII obiit feria quarta in hebdom Pasch Upon whose death his Sister Pega setled her self in a Cell about four miles Westward distant from his Oratory of Croyland which afterward improved into a Monastery The place from her was called Pegekyrke now Peykirk and had Lands bestowed upon it by Edmund Athebing which of them doth not appear who gave for the redemption of his own Soul and of his Wives and of Siwerthus a little Country gift as he calls it of Land in a place called Pegecyrcan to the new Monastery of the Holy Trinity and our Lady and all the Saints viz. one Mansa and a half in that Village and three Perches in Waltun c Swapham fol. CXXXI It is a very remarkable Charter both for the Preface and for the Blessings and Curses annexed in the conclusion which therefore I have represented to the Reader intirely in the Appendix What other benefactions they had to that Monastery doth not appear but they were all seised as was said before by Beorredus in the year 871. after the first desolation made by the Danes And it was again destroyed by Swanus the Dane in the forenamed year 1013. And so lay waste till the time of Wlgatus when in the year MXLVIII after a long sute with the Abbots of Peterburgh he lost the very sight of his Monastery which was adjudged to belong to Burch Upon which Ingulph makes this severe reflection tantum tunc potuit super justitiam pecunia contra veritatem versutia c. So much could money then prevail over justice and craft against truth and so powerful was the Earl Godwin in the Court of King Hardecnute And he shows how several Mannors were recovered by particular persons from this Abbot Wlgatus so that he and eighteen Monks had nothing to live upon but wandered about till King Edward the Confessor took him into his Court and upon the death of Brickmerus made him Abbot of Croyland The same he repeats again when he comes to the Reign of the Conqueror telling us how in the times of Suanus Cnutus Harold and Hardecnutus many priviledges of Monasteries were lost the limits of their Lands changed c. according as the money of Rich men prevailed in the minds of the Barbarians who sought nothing but ruins Of which the erection of the Monastery of St. Pege was an evidence in the time of Hardecnute when the money of the Abbot of Burgh prevailed against the right of the Pegelandians and the power of Earl Godwin against the simplicity of the Poor So his words are praevalente contra justitiam Pegelandensium Abbatis Burgi pecunia super simplicitate pauperum Godwini comitis potentia But if we compare what he saith with the Chron. of John Abbot it will appear that this sute was commenced long before this in the time of Kenulphus and continued more or less till the time of Leofricus who dyed just before the Conquest I will set down both their words and so leave it Chron. Joh. Abbatis Burgi MS. MXLVIII Wolgatus Abbas de Peykirke amisit sedem Abbatiae suae cum omnibus Maneriis dicto Monasterio quondam pertinentibus per judicium Regis Hardecanuti contra Kenulphum Kinsinum Abbates Burgi ipsum Monasterium de P. suam possessionem esse calumpniantes Which Ingulphus
in a little Charter Ibid. pag. CXXII containing the Names of all the Lands and Possessions of the Church which was recorded for the honour of their Benefactors whose names are written in the Book of Life c. Among which it is said Askill filius Toke dedit Walcote super Humbram dum adhuc viveret post obitum illius fratrum ejus sc Scirici Siworthi dedit Brand Abbas frater eorum eidem Ecclesiae Sancti Petri Muskam c. And in the Charter of Edward the Confessor confirming this benefaction it is said that Askil or Askitill gave this Land upon occasion of a journey which he undertook to Rome Askitillus Romam pergens dedit Sancto Petro Ecclesiae suae de Burch septem carrucatas terrae in Walcote duabus bovatis minus in Alcheburn unam Carrucatam totam Ecclesiam in Normandy unam Carrucatam quae sunt super fluvium Humbre William the Conqueror in his confirmation Ibid. pag. CIX petente Abbate Brand saith the same concerning the number of Plough-Lands in that place held by the Monastery sub Rege Edwardo Most of which it should seem by a trial which John Deeping Abbot of this Church had about the Lands in those Towns in the 13th year of Hen. 4. were part of the possessions of the Abby from its foundation and being alienated perhaps were again restored or redeemed by Brand and his Brethren before mentioned For that Abbot then before the Kings Judges at Westminster Ibid. pag. CCCLII. declaring how he was destrained by the Servants of Thomas de Lancaster the Kings Son pretending that he held a Mannor of his in Holderness and ought to do him homage and suit at Court for six Carrucatae of Land in Walcote juxta Humbr and one in Normanby which they said he held of the aforesaid Thomas alledged against all this that Wolferus King of the Mercians long before the Conquest gave and granted by his Charter which he there produced and laid before them to God and the blessed Apostle St. Peter and the servants of God in Medhamstede which is now called by another name Peterburgh in puram perpetuam eleemosynam praedictas sex Carucatas terrae cum pertinentibus in Walcote juxta Humbr praedictam unam carucatam terrae cum pertin in Normanby in Lincoln c. Of which Land he and his Predecessor were seised and held as parcel of the first foundation of the Abby from the King and not from the aforesaid Thomas of whom he held no Land at all nor owed him any service c. And accordingly it was adjudged for the Abbot This Estate was in danger to be lost again after the Conquest being got into the hands of Yvo Talbois but restored by him to the Monks as I shall observe in my Remarks upon the next Abbot Turoldus The Character which Ingulphus Pag. 70. Edit Oxon. gives of Abbot Brand is that he was a very Religious person and as he had heard from his Predecessor and many others very much addicted unto Alms-deeds wherewith he relieved the poor and in short adorned with all Vertues They that have a mind may in the same Author find the form and manner after which this Abbot made Hereward a Knight which was a thing forbidden afterward in the Synod of London held under Anselm as Eadmerus informs us p. 68. Where Mr. Selden calls this Abbot Brand Coenobiarcha Edmundoburgensis Spicileg ad Eadmerum p. 207. N. 5. not attending I suppose to those words of Ingulphus where he mentions Abbatem Burgi the Uncle of Hereward which he construes as if he spake of the Abbot of St. Edmundburgh There is mention of Brand as witness to a Charter of William the Conqueror in the second year of his Reign 1068. wherein he setled the Collegiat Church of St. Martins le Grand in the City of London indowed by Ingelricus and Girardus his Brother out of their own Revenues as may be seen in the third Tome of the Monasticon Anglicanum De Eccles Collegiatis p. 26. But the next year after he dyed as not only Hugo but John Abbot of this Church tells us in his Chronicon Where An. MLXIX having spoken of the death of Aldredus Archbishop of York he adds Obiit etiam Brando Abbas Burgi Patruus dicti Herewardi de Wake ex Regis collatione successit Turoldus Brando dedit pro Fyskyrton XX. marcas auri alias XX. pro Quametis pro ibidem ..... VIII. marc auri Our Writings also mention his redeeming Burleigh as well as the forenamed places which shows how studious he was of the prosperity of this place Where he dyed 2. Kaland Decembris saith Hugo agreeable to the Kalander which saith 30. Novemb. Depositio Brandonis Will de Waterville Abbatum c. TVROLDVS Or THVROLDVS as he is called in a Chater of King Henry the First was no sooner setled in the Monastery but all manner of evils as Hugo's words are came to it For that very year 1069 the Danes returned to infest England under the conduct of Suenus Abbot John saith the Sons of Swane their King with a very great Army Part of which under Osbern came to Eli and was presently re-inforced by Hereward de Wake and his associates who came and joyned with them He was a very great man called by one of our best Historians vir Serenissimus Walsingham who at his return out of Flanders where he had been for a while hearing how much his Family and Kindred had suffered by the Normans and finding Ivo Talbois the Conqueror's Sisters Son possessed of his Estate the Conqueror having given Ivo large possessions in Holland was extreamly inraged thereat and resolved by force of Arms to recover his own though with the havock and spoil of other people I cannot say that this place felt the first effects of his fury but here he discharged it after a most terrible manner as Hugo relates the story For he it was that invited and incited also Osbern and his Danes to go and plunder this Abby where he heard the Abbot his Uncle was dead and the place filled with a Norman whom he accounted an intruder and he a very severe man who lay then with some Souldiers at Stamford They came therefore with great speed though not so hastily but the Monks of Burgh had some notice so that the Sacrist called Ywarus by the Counsel of the Monks carried away all that he could viz. the Texts of the Gospel with the Chesibles Copes and Albes c. and went with them to the Abbot Turoldus at Stamford The very same morning came Hereward and his company in Boats against whom the Monks maintained the Close so stoutly as is observed out of him by Mr. G. that he had no way but to set fire to the Houses near the Gate by which means his Forces entred and burnt all the Offices of the Monastery and the whole Town except the Church and one House The Monks therefore
ably with his Countrymen and Friends dyedin peace after he had lived many Years Other Writers say he having taken Ivo Talbois in Battle would not deliver him until the King to have his Nephew preserved promised by Oath unto Hereward Reconciliation Pardon his former dignity with full restitution of all that had been his Which was done in the year 1076. Until which time from the death of Brando not only this Monastery but others also suffered very much For in the year 1070. many Abbots as well as Bishops by the Kings procurement were deposed or ejected upon slight surmises that the English might be deprived of all dignities So John Abbot who after he had related how Stigandus was deposed to make way for Lanfranc adds Plures eo anno tam Episcopi quam Abbates vel nullis vel levibus suspitionibus deponuntur aut ejiciuntr procurante Rege ut Angli nullis dignitatibus potirentur In the year 1072 the Monks of Eli were Outlawed having afforded succour to some Great men who were in Rebellion against the King I suppose to those who in the year before were in that Isle and in that Church in open rebellion with Hereward So Abbot John MLXXI Hereward le Wake Ecclesia intra paludes Heliensi cum multis aliis Anglis exlegatis resistit And then it follows An. MLXXII Monachi Helienses quibusdam Angliae Magnatibus contra Regem rebellantibus succursum praebentes exlegati sunt Et multi Monachi Anglici per totam Angliam malè tractati plurimum vexati Multa Monasteria tam de propriis pecuniis quam de aliorum apud ipsos depositis ad quadrantem ultimum spoliata Walsingham Hypodigm Neustriae p. 418. writes much to the same purpose telling us the Conqueror made all the Abbeys in England to be searched and caused all the money which the Richer people had there deposited to be brought into his Coffers only he places this in the year 1070. In the year MLXXV. Comes Northampt. Sanctus Walterus apud Wynton decollatus as the same Abbot John writes Which was done he saith notwithstanding that Lansranc pronounced him innocent and that if he was put to death he would be a Martyr And accordingly he was honoured by Wlfketulus Abbot of Croyland who gave him an honourable Burial and thereupon was violently deposed As indeed all the Bishops and Abbots were if they were Angligenae as he again repeats it introductis in eorum sedes Normannis Which I the rather mention because this Wlfketulus had been bred up in this Church of Burgh as we learn from what follows For that Coronicle saith that Ingulphus succeeding Wlfketulus for though he was an Englishman born he had lived long among the Normans interceeded with the King for his predecessor that he might come from Glastonbury where he was shut up in the Cloyster ad Ecclesiam suam de Burgo Which was granted ubi post paucos dies morbo correpto in Domino requievit Ingulphus P. 78 79. Oxon. Edit himself saith he was taken with a Palsy and that having been kept ten Year at Glastonbury he dyed 1085 after he had been not a few days but four Months at Burgh While he was here Ingulphus had frequent conversation with him for he procured leave that Wlfketulus might come from Burgh to Croyland as often as he thought good to call him Who informed Ingulphus of the Estate of the Church of Croyland and brought back to it many rich things but some he saith still remained at Burgh He was the more acceptable because there were Lands concealed from that Monastery in the discovery of which he thought Wlfketulus might assist him For one Alsford Bailiff of the Church of Croyland had been notoriously guilty of it and was called to an account for it by Ingulphus presently after he entred upon his Government But as he was in the way to appear before the King's Justices at Stamford he broke his neck by a fall off from his Horse and was carried to be buried at Burgh according to the order he had taken about it in his life time They that delight to read wonderful things may look into Ingulphus Pag. 77. and find a story he tells of a miraculous cloud about the Sun as they were carrying his body thither But it is time to return to Turoldus who as Hugo writes was a mischief to this Church eight and twenty years Which is not to be understood so rigorously as if he did no good for first as he gave away much Land so he got some back again particularly the Mannors that had been granted to Ivo Talbois which he was perswaded to restore to the Monks in his life time so that after his decease they should return ad dominium Sancti Petri. This I find in a Charter of William Rufus which runs thus Gulielmus Rex Anglorum Roberto Lincolniensi Episcopo by this it appears this was William the second for he made Robert Bishop of Linc. in the 6th year of his Reign 1092 Oswino vicecomite omnibus Baronibus suis fidelibus salutem Sciatis me concessisse Sancto Petro de Burgo Thuroldo Abbati Monachis ejusdem Ecclesiae ad victum eorum terras illas quas Ivo Talbois de praedicto Abbate tenuit ipse idem Yvo eisdem Monachis in vita sua reddidit ita sc ut post decessum ejus ad dominium Sancti Petri redirent Testante Cyrographo ab eodem Yvone Thuroldo Abbate conscripto Haec autem sunt terrarum nomina scil Scotere Walcote cum omnibus appendiciis c. And secondly all these Soldiers who had feods given them out of the Estate of the Church for its defence were bound by the original grant to serve the King also when there was occasion in his Wars This I understand out of a description of all the feoda militum still remaining in the Book called Swapham Fol. CCLXX. where this account is given why they were granted Quia omnes milites praedicti pro defensione domus facienda in exercitu Domini Regis alibi cum necesse esset de dominico Abbatis conventus feodati fuerant There also it appears how they sewed in King John's time and before that in Henry the seconds nay from the time of their first Infeoffement So the words are Et ante tempus ejusdem Henrici postquam feodati fuerunt à tempore dicti regis usque ad praesens hac ratione quia c. And Thirdly He and his Souldiers not only built Towns in those wast places which Adulphus had cleared from Wood and let the Lands out to Farm at a certain Rent c. some of which Towns were called by their names and remain to this day as Gunthorp Melton Walton Barnak c. but also Churches and Chappels the profits of which the Monastery received intirely for many years till the time of Ernulphus So the words are Ibid. fol. CCXCV. eodem vero tempore construebatur
tam Ecclesiae quam capellae per praedictos Abbatem sc Thuroldum milites quarum proventus Monasterium Burgi totaliter recepit per multos annos usque ad tempus bonae memoriae Domini Roberti Lincoln Episcopi Abbatis Ernulphi Burgensis Ecclesiae Anno viz. Domini MCXII. The names of those Milites who were first infeoffated and did these good things are there set down fol. CCXCVI. There were but nineteen of them the first of them called Azelinus de Watyrvil I shall not trouble the Reader with the rest but end this account of Turoldus who dyed saith John Abbot MXCVIII Obiit Turoldus Abbas Burgi qui milites feodavit de terris Ecclesiae Castellum juxta Abbatian constraxit alia multa mala secerat Hic erat alienigena The Hill whereon this Castle stood called now Touthill is on the Northside of the Minster Notwithstanding all which he had an honourable memory perserved in this Church upon the XIIth of April upon which was Depositio Thoroldi so he is called and Guidonis Abbatum Anniversarium Roberti de Hale Agnetis Matris ejus Who Guido was I have not yet found GODRICVS He is called by Roger Hoveden Bodricus de Burch who was not deposed in that Council mentioned by Mr. G. but only removed for he was barely elected to the place but not blessed or consecrated So Eadmerus informs us who tells this story more exactly than any following Writers except William of Malmsbury who to a little agrees with him and says that in the year MCII. in the 4th year of Pope Paschal and the third of King Henry there was a Council held by Anselm with all the Bishops of England in the Church of St. Paul Where in the first place simonicae haeresis surreptio dampnata est In qua culpa inventi depositi sc Guido de Perscora called by others Wido Wimundus de Tavestock Aldwinus de Ramesei Et alii nondum sacrati remoti ab Abatiis suis sc Godri cus de Burgo Hanno de Cernel Egelricus de Mideltune Absque vero Simonia remoti sunt ab Abatiis pro sua quisque causa Ricardus de Heli Robertus de Sancto Edmundo ille qui erat apud Micelneie Many other of our Writers tell this story though not so distinctly particularly Florentius Wigornensis and Gervasius Monk of Canterbury in the life of Anselm who calls Goderick Electum de Burgo agreeable to what Eadmerus saith And yet notwithstanding this deposition they tell us that Anselm going to Rome the next year 1103 had two of these Abbots in his company viz. Richard of Ely and Aldwinus of Ramsey as both Florentius and Symeon of Durham report which would make one think he did not take them upon further inquiry to be so guilty as was pretended And as for our Godrick it is very strange he should be touched with this crime who was chosen Abbot against his Will if we may give credit to Hugo and had been before Elect to an Archbishoprick in Little Britain but refused the dignity And therefore this is all he saith of his being thrust out of this place that when Richard of Ely and Alduinus of Ramsey and others were deposed in Council for purchasing their Abbies he also was deposed with them Neither doth Abbot John mention his crime but only saith ad An. MCII. Anselmus Archiepiscopus Concilio convocato apud Lond. Rege consentiente plures deposuit Abbates vel propter Simoniam vel propter aliam vitae infamiam Depositi sunt ergo Burgensis Persorensis Heliensis de Sancto Edmundo Ramesiensis Cervel Midleton Tavestock Micheln And so Symeon of Durham plures Abbates Francigeni Angli sunt depositi honoribus privati quos injuste acquisierunt aut in eis inhoneste vixerunt c. What became of him afterward I do not find He hath no memorial in the Kalander of this Church as all the rest since the Restauration of it but Kenulphus and another have till the time of Henry Morcot John Abbot adds at the end of the year 1098. that the Church wanted an Abbot five years Vacavit Ecclesia quinque annis That is from the death of Turoldus to the coming in of Matthias which was in the year 1103. So he makes Godricus to have been but a Cypher by whom the place was not filled at all This vacancy began in the time which Eadmerus speaks of p. 26. when W. Rufus kept many Abbies in his hands and making no Abbots the Monks went whither they list The robbery Mr. G. mentions was committed in Whitsunweek by climbing up to a window over the Altar of St. Philip and Jacob where those Vagabonds broke in While they were taking the things away one of them stood with a drawn Sword over the head of the Sacrist Turicus who was fast asleep that if he waked he might instantly dispatch him MATTHIAS John Abbot of Burgh comprehends the most that can be said of this Abbot in these words Chron. M. S. MCIII Matthias Abbas factus est post Godricum Abbatem qui uno anno praefuit Ecclesiae Burgensi Et eodem die quo receptus est anno revoluto ex hac vita decessit Hic concessit fratri suo Galfrido Manerium de Pyetislee ad firmam Only we understand from Hugo that he dyed at Gloucester and was there buried and that the day of his reception and death was XII Kal. Novemb. the Kalander saith 22. Octob. Depositio Domini Matthiae Abbatis c. and that he granted this Mannor of Pichlee unto his Brother to Farm but for one year but after the Abbot's death he kept the Village by force And yet he swore when he was accused before the King for himself and for his Heirs upon the high Altar and the Reliques of St. Peter promising he would compel his Wife and Children to make the same Oath that he would restore the said Mannor with all belonging to it unto the Church without putting them to the trouble of a sute and for the time he had held it pay four pound a year Rent This Oath he made to Ernulphus But in the time of the next Abbot John de Says An. 1117. Godfrey came to him in his Chamber and by importunity procured a grant of it for his life at the yearly Rent of four pound provided that when he dyed it should without sute at Law return to the Monastery Unto which he swore upon the Gospel before many Witnesses whose names Hugo saith were written super textum Evangelii and therefore he did not mention them Three years after this agreement viz. An. 1120. he was drowned as he was crossing the Sea with the Kings Son and the same Abbot seised on the Mannor according to the forenamed agreement But fearing some sute he gave the King Sixty Marks of Silver to confirm the possession of this Mannor to the Monastery for ever per suum Breve The Chron. of the other Abbot John saith he gave
Charter from King Henry I. for the holding a great many Lands therein specified and in the same right and with the same Customs and Liberties wherein they were held die ipso quo Thuraldus Abbas vivus fuit mortuus habuerit from whose time little had been done by any Abbot till now This was seconded with many other Grants full of great Priviledges and at last in a distinct Charter he gives to the Abbot Manerium suum de Pichelee quod Galfridus Ridellus de eo tenuit cum tota instauratione quae in manerio erat die quo fuit vivus mortuus This was confirmed by King Stephen that I may put all belonging to this matter together in following times that they should have their Mannor de Pichelle quod Henricus Rex eis reddidit concessit charta sua confirmavit quod oculis meis vidi c. And afterwards Hen. 2. confirmed the same in these words Sciatis me concessisse Ecclesiae Abbati de Burgo Manerium suum Pihtislea quod Galfridus Riddel de eo tenuit sicut Charta Henrici Regis avi nostri testatur c. Two years before this there was an alteration made in the Churches and Chappell 's built by the Milites in the time of Turoldus For now in the year 1112. some of them whose profits had hitherto been received intirely by the Monastery were assigned to the use of those that ministred in those Churches and served in the Chappels Who were there appointed to administer the Ecclesiastical Sacraments to the people it being too far for them to come to Burg and the ways also dangerous But there were referred to the Church of Burg two parts of the predial Tythes of those Milites and saved to the same Church the Sepulture of the aforesaid Milites their Wives and their Children and a certain portion of their Goods thereupon saving also to the Church of Burg from some of the Churches so indowed certain Pensions which had been paid to it from the Foundation Then followed the Convention made before Robert Bishop of Lincoln between Ernulphus and the Monks and the Milites of the same Church that every Knight should give two parts of his Tythes to the Sacristry of Burgh and when he dyed tertia pars substantiae suae ad sepulturam cum militaribus indumentis tam in equis quam in armis which were to be brought to his Funeral with him And then a Solemn Procession was to be made by the whole Convent before him and a plenary Office celebrated for him by all and he was to partake both himself and his Wife and their Children of the benefits of the place for ever viz. in Eleemosynis in celebratione Missaram in jejuniis in vigiliis in Psalmodiis in caeteris bonis quae Deo annuente usquequaque in Ecclesia Sancti Petri fiant In like manner their Wives and their Children it was agreed should be brought with their substance belonging to them to the same Church in the end of their life And the Divine vengeance they desired might light upon them who made void this agreement In the same year the dedication of the Church of Turleby mentioned by Mr. Gunton was made by the same Bishop In whose presence and in the presence of the whole Parish Bencelina Mother of Ralph de la Mare granted to that Church for the health of her own Soul and of her Parents dimidiam bovatam terrae unam acram prati c. He lived after he went to Rochester some days above Nine years and dyed leaving many Monuments of his vertue in the 84. year of his age So Malmsbury writes Vixit in Episcopatu aliquot dies super Novennium decessitque quatuor octoginta annos natus multa probitatis suae monumenta relinquens Which doth not disagree with Abbot John if we remember he was elected the year before he was enstalled who says he was Bishop Ten years and dyed An. 1124. So John Bromton also JOHN of SALISBVRY This Abbot whom our Writers call John de Sais or Says was no sooner appointed by the King to succeed Ernulphus but he was immediately dispatched to Rome by the Archbishop of Canterbury Radulphus to fetch his Pall from Pope Paschal So Hugo or Sawpham as it 's commonly thought expresly tells us and names two persons who were sent with him Guarnerius and Johannes Archidiaconus Nephew to the Archbishop which makes it the more strange that Mr. G. should overlook this passage so as not to find to what end he was sent Eadmerus also relates the same from whom we learn also why he was called John de Says for he calls him Johannes Monachus Sagii who being elected and Consecrated Abbas Burchorum was sent to Rome with Warnerius a Monk of Canterbury and Johannes Clericus Nephew to the Archbishop upon the business before named Which they effected in little more than a years time for Radulphus was Consecrated as Radulph de Diceto informs us on the 6. of the Kal. of May and received the Pall on the 5. Kal. of July Agreeable unto which Hugo saith the Abbot returned to the Monastery the next year after he went to Rome upon the Feast of St. Peter One reason I believe why he was chose to be sent upon this errand was that he had been an old acquaintance of the Archbishops bred in the same Monastery wher 's Radulphus had been Abbot as John had been Monk For so I find him called by Gervasius Actus Pontif. Cantuar. Radulphus Abbas Sagiensis and by Symeon of Durham also ad An. 1104. Where he speaks of the body of St. Cutbert being found incorrupt after he had been buried above 400. years a Radulfo Sagiensi Abbate postmodum Hrofensi Episcopo deinde Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo De gestis Regum Angliae From this place I doubt not that is from Say or Says in Normandy he had the name of Says or Sais and is by mistake called John of Salisbury which they fancied was contracted into Sais This must be corrected therefore in Mr. G. for Sagiusn is not Salisbury but Say where he was bred and perhaps born And it is very likely was the Author of that contract of mutual Friendship which was between this Monastery and that of Sais For so I find in our Records fol. CCLXXIV among divers Conventions which were made between the Friers of St. Peter of Burch and a great many other Churches there is one cum fratribus nostris de Sais Wherein they ingaged when any Monk dyed in either Church three plenary Offices should be said for him by the other Church and every Priest should sing three Masses for him and they that did not sing Mass should say the whole Psalter The next year after his return An. 1116. I find he cleared the Abby of the yearly payment of forty shillings which Azeo Wardeden had long unjustly claimed from it For upon a full hearing of the difference between them before King
Henry at Bramton the Bishop and Barons then present in Court judged that Azeo had no right to the aforesaid forty Shillings and so Abbas Johannes disraisniavit as the word is apud Bramtonam in curia Regis quadraginta solidos quod Azeo Wardeden called also Wardede diu injuste habuerat c. Swaph fol. CXII One of the Witnesses to this was Galfridus Ridel before named who herein I suppose indeavoured to serve the Abbot and the next year after as I have showed got of him the Mannor of Pithesle for his life I have observed before in the life of Elfinus how the same year 1116. he made an end of a controversie with the Church of Croyland where there is the same phrase disrainiatum fuit for disproving and by showing the contrary to clear the Abby from pretended claims But before this year ended that dreadful fire hapned which is mentioned by Mr. G out of Walter of Witlesea who doth not tell the story so exactly as it is in Hugo From whom we learn that it burst out upon the second of the Nones of August as the Chron. of John Abbot also relates in the Vigils of St. Oswald King and Martyr after this manner The Friers having been in the Refectory that morning to mend the Tables the Abbot not liking what they had done fell a Cursing and straightway went out ad placitum apud Castre to keep a Court at Caster And one of the Servants in the Bakehouse making a Fire which he could not kindle so soon as he desired in an angry fit cursed also and said Come Devil and blow the fire Whereupon the flame instantly broke out and ran to the very top of the house and through all the Offices to the neighbouring Town which Hugo saith was wholly consumed but Abbot John in his Chronicon saith only a great part of it Magna pars villae adjacentis c. And thus was fulfilled the second prediction of Elricus mentioned by Mr. G. in the life of Leofricus who said the Church should be set on fire Let us all therefore saith Hugo in whose time these things hapned deprecate the Divine displeasure that the third may not come to pass And let every one of us walk circumspectly and bridle his anger and contain his hands that he do no evil not calling the Enemy to do any thing nor commending any thing to him for he is alwayes ready to do mischief c. After which pious reflection he proceeds to relate how the fire continued burning in the Tower of the Church Nine days and on the night of the ninth day a furious wind arising blew the fire and live coals upon the Abbots houses so that we thought saith he all the remaining Offices would have been consumed Dies tristitiae doloris erat dies ille But the next year upon the eighth of the Ides of March the Abbot laid the foundation of a new Church MCXVIII An. ab incarnatione Domini Millesimo centesimo octavo saith Hugo It should be MCXVII even by his own computation for he brought the Pall from Rome 1115. the next year the Monastery was burnt and the next he began to build it And so the Chronicon Johannis Abbatis expresly saith that he began to build it again 1117. In which year also he recovered duos sochemannos apud Castre which were unjustly detained from the Church by one Leofwine who came into the Chapter house and openly acknowledged that they belonged to the Demeans of St. Peter of Burch and accordingly quitted to God and St. Peter and Abbot John the two aforesaid Sochemans whose names were Willielmus filius Leoffi Lickadisc Leofricus avunculus ipsius with all that they held in the aforesaid Village and from thence forward held them of the Abbot The same Leofwinus requiring from this Abbot five Shillings from the houses beyond the River of Stanphord which he pretended to have a grant of from Abbot Ernulphus and other Abbots he came into Court the next year 1118. and it was adjudged that he should lose these five Shillings Unto which the names of the Judges and Witnesses are set Swaph fol. CXIII What other good Acts he did I do not find but Hugo saith he laboured much in the restauration of the Church though he could not finish it and governed the Church and the Abbey well all his time and purchased Lands After all which he was struck with an incurable disease viz. the Dropsie which put an end to his life 1125. Immediately upon which the King sent his Justitiaries Richard Bassed and Walter Archdeacon and many others to search the Abbots Treasures and Goods but found nothing he having spent all in his life time But they then took an account of all that belonged to the Church and the Abbey and carried it to the King who kept the Abbey in his hand two year Thus Hugo This account of all its Mannors and Goods I find among the records at the end of that History whose Title runs thus Ibid. fol. CXXXIV c. Haec est descriptio Maneriorum Abbatiae de Burch sicut Walterus Archidiaconus eam recepit sei sivit in manu Regis Henrici I. post obitum Johannis Abbatis By which it appears there were at that time LXXII Monks who had the full diet of Monks In the Bakehouse there were duo pistores who had victum militis and unus vanator who had the same and two other Bakers who had every day two White loaves and two Brown loaves which he calls panes bisos with Beer duo caratores I suppose he means labourers for afterward in the Brewhouse mention is made of Caratores ligni Carriers of Wood who had four brown loaves and bear two Servants that grinded in the Mill who had the same Every one of which had a yearly salary of Twenty four Shillings and four pence Then follows the number of Servants and their allowances in the other Offices in Bracino in Coquina Monachorum in Sartrino in Ecclesia in Infirmario In the last of which the Infirmary there were no less than forty Servants In the diet of the Monks there was spent every week in Bread XII achersetos de frumento VIII achersetos de brasio IV. de grud 2. achersetos de fabis in denariis 2. Marcas argenti as the words are fol. CXL Where achersetos I suppose signifies that which we now call a quarter but I cannot find its Original nor mention of it in any Glossary unless it come from Chirchset or Chirchsed which Fleta L. 1. c. 47. says was a certain measure but he doth not tell us of what quantity of Wheat which in old time every one both Britains and Englishmen paid to the Holy Church at Martinmasse After the Normans came hither many great men gave it under the name of first-fruits as appears he observes in a Brief of King Knute sent to the Pope wherein this Contribution is called Chirchsed as much as to
say Semen Ecclesiae the Seed or Corn of the Church Which I find word for word in very old French in a short Glossary upon unusual English words in the antient Charters or in the Laws of King Alred Alfrid Edward and Knute Chirchesed vel Chircheomer vel Chircheambre un certein de ble batu R checun hume devoyt au ceus de Bretuns e de Englis a le Eglise le jur seint Martin Mes pus le venue de Normans c. donewint sulum la velie ley Moysi ratione primitiarum sicun lein truve en le lettris Cnut Kilenveya a Rome c ' est dit Chirchesed quasi semen Ecclesiae The Letter it self is in Ingulphus but it was not sent adsummum Pontificem as Fleta says but to the Archbishops and Bishops and all the Nation of England as he was coming from Rome 1031. wherein he desires them that before he arrived in England all the dues which by ancient Laws were owing to the Church might be paid and after the rest he mentions the tenths of the fruits in August and in the feast of St. Martin the first-fruits of the seeds called Kyrkset So his Letter concludes Et in Festivitate Sancti Martini primitiae seminum ad Ecclesiam sub cujus parochia quisque degit quae Anglice Kyrkeset nominatur Ingulph p. 61. Edit Oxon. c. This description of their Lands and Goods concludes with a Customary of their Tenants Villani Cottarii and Sochemanni in every Mannor belonging to the Church Which while the King held in his hand he gave away as Mr. G. observes the Mannor of Pithtesle for the same summ of money which the late Abbot had given him to confirm it Deo Sancto Petro Monachis sigillo authoritate regia And the person to whom the King granted it it may be further observed was one imployed to take the forenamed account of the Estate of the Church viz. Richard Basset or Bassed This Abbot was commemorated upon the 10. of November on which it appears by the Kalander was Depositio Johannis de Says Abbatis Anniversarium Henrici Talbot c. HENRICVS de Angeli His story is told more perfectly by Hugo in this manner He was first of all Bishop of Soissons and afterward made a Monk and Prior of Cluni and then Prior of Savenni After which because he was Cosin to the King of England and the Count of Aquitain the same Count gave him Abbatiam Sancti Johannis Angeli from whence he took his denomination And he being crafty cunning and ingenious afterward got the Archbishoprick of Besenscun but staid there no more than three days For he had not yet enough but got the Bishoprick de Senites where he staid about seven days And out of this preferment as well as that of Besenscun the Abbot of Cluni got him expelled He got therefore being never quiet to be Collector of Peter-pence in England Where he obtained this Abbey of Burch by pretending he was very old past labour and toil unable to bear the Wars and Troubles of his own Country and would quit his Abbey there of St. John de Angeli and that by the advice of the Pope and the Abbot of Cluni and would here take up his rest There was another thing also that had a great stroke in his preferment for besides he was near of kin to the King and that the forenamed discourse seemed to have truth in it he was the principal Witness to make Oath in a difference between the Kings Nephew the Duke of Normandy and the Daughter of the Count of Anjoy Upon all these scores the Abby was bestowed upon him in the year mentioned by Mr. G. So John Abbot also in his Chron. MS. An. MCXXVIII Henricus Abbas Andagavensis precibus optinuit à Rege Henrico Abbatiam Burgensem What Walter of Witlesea saith of Spectres seen that year he came to the Abby he had out of Hugo who saith Hoc non est falsum quia plurimi veracissimi homines viderunt audierunt cornua He staid one year in the Monastery and received homage and money of the Milites and of the whole Abbey but did not the least good for he sent and carried all to his Abbey beyond Sea whither he went by the Kings licence And having staid there a whole year he returned hither and said he had absolutely quitted his other Abbey for good and all as we speak The same year came Petrus Abbot of Cluni into England and was honourably received by the Kings command in all the Monasteries Particularly here at Burch whither he came to see Henry who complemented him highly and promised he would procure the Abbey of Burch to be made subject to that of Cluni with which hopes Peter went home The next year Henry got together a great summ of money and went beyond Sea again where the King then was Whom he made believe that he was commanded by the Abbot of Cluni to come and resign his Abbey of St. John de Angeli to him and then he would return free from that care into England So he went thither and there staid till the Feast of St. John Baptist And the next day after the Monks chose another of their own body into his place and installed him singing Te Deum and doing all other things necessary for that end expelling Henry by the help of the Count of Anjoy with great disgrace and detaining all that he had there Where he had done no more good than in other places all the five and twenty years that he had governed them Being thus cast out he went to Cluni where they kept him prisoner the Abbot and Monks being very angry with him saying he had lost the Abby of St. John by his folly Nor would they let him stir out of Doors till by his craft he again deceived them with promises and Oaths that if they would permit him to return into England he would subject the Abbey of Burch to them and as Hugo's words are ibi construeret Priores Secretarios Cellerarios Camerarios omnia commendaret in manibus eorum intus foris By which agreement he got into England whither the King also returned out of Normandy Unto whom Henry came and accused the Monks of Burch to him very heavily though with out any truth in order to his end of subjecting them to Cluni The King in great anger sent for them to Bramtun where a Plea was managed against them with so much art that the King was almost deceived But God stept in to help them by the Counsels of the Bishops there present particularly Lincoln and the Barons who understood his fraud Yet he would not desist but being thus defeated indeavoured to make his Nephew Gerardus Abbot of Burch that what he could not do by himself might be effected by him All which made the lives of the Monks very uneasie till the King at last understood his knavery
and sending for him commanded him to surrender his Abbey and be gone out of his Realm Which he did in the year MCXXXII So John Abbot Henricus Abbas de Burgo quem dimisit ad Andegavenses redit With which Hugo agrees who says he recovered his Abbey of St. John de Angeli and that notwithstanding all his faults bonus Eleemosynator omnibus diebus fuit he was good to the poor all his days And therefore he made a good end not living long after he returned thither There is no memory of this Abbot in the Kalander of the Church no more than of Kenulphus and Godricus MARTINVS de Vecti Henry being gone the King gave this Abbey by the consent of the Monks saith Hugo to a religious Monk Martinus de Bec the Prior of St. Neots who was here installed upon the Feast of St. Peter with great honour and with the joy of the whole Convent and all the people An. MCXXXIII Where Chron. M. S. Johannis Abbatis saith Martinus de vecto in Abbatem Burgi est electus in die Sancti Petri receptus The next year the day after the Feast of St. Peter ad Vincula the King crossed the Seas again when about six a clock the Heavens were on a sudden so darkned that the Sun saith Hugo lookt like the Moon I suppose by a great Ecclipse and for three or four hours the Stars appeared which many took to portend some great thing And so it did for that year the King dyed and all ancient and wise men of the Land fell with him and so the Land was darkned because peace and truth and righteousness were taken away from it The same year 1135. King Stephen Nephew to the former King a Prince of a mild and low Spirit got the Crown and with him as Hugo goes on Young men who were very wicked also got into power and troubled the Land The Church especially was in great tribulation all England over and among the rest this of Burgh whose Abbot suffered very much and kept his Abbey with great difficulty And yet for all that he provided all things necessary for his Monks and for Strangers there being great love among them and the Monks being assistant to him He went on also with the building of the Monastery and of the Church the Chancel of which he finished and brought in cum magno honore the holy Reliques and the Monks into the new Church upon the Feast of St. Peter in the year of our Lord One thousand one hundred and forty three and twenty years after the burning of the place It should be twenty seven years after if we may belive the MS. Chron. of John Abbot which saith MCXLIII Conventus Burgi hoc anno intravit in novam Ecclesiam that they did not go into the new Church till 1143. At this great solemnity of bringing the Reliques and Monks into the new Church the Arm of St. Oswald was produced before Alexander Bishop of Lincoln the Abbots of Ramsey Thorney Croyland many Barons and a vast number of people as it had been once before brought forth to satisfie Matthias Abbot and shown intire in its slesh skin Nerves and every thing else The story of this Arm is in short related by Mr. Gunton where he speaks of the Reliques of this Church To which Will. of Malmsbury gives no great credit for though he saith there was shown here at Burgh the hand of St. Oswald with the Arm and devoutly worshipped by the people being kept loculo argenteo deaurato in Ecclesia Beati Petri yet he adds that too much credit is not to be given to it for fides dictorum vacillat ubi nihil auditor visu explorat L. 4. de gest Pontif. Which he doth not say he pretends because he doubted of the thing but he would not too hastily affirm that his Arm was in this place But waving this doubt of his Hugo saith he saw it and kissed it and handled it with his own hands at this time and relates a great many wonderful cures which were performed merely by the water wherein it was washed with which I shall not trouble the Reader He saith it had been shown before this to satisfie Martin himself who desired to see it either out of curiosity or because he doubted of its being uncorrupted And a Third time he adds it was shown to King Stephen who came to Burgh and offered his Ring to him c. as Mr. G. hath observed In like manner it was again shown that I may put together what belongs to this matter to King John in the time of Abbot Akarius as I learn from the Chron. of John Abbot An. MCCVI. Brachium Sancti Oswaldi Regis Martyris ostensum est Johanni Regi apud Burgum It was ordered also by a Statute of Abbot Walter to be carried in solemn procession every year upon the Feast of the Dedication of the Church unless it had been carryed about on the Feast of St. Oswald Swaph fol. CCLXXIII But leaving this let us take some account of his benefactions to this Church which were very many Hugo says indeed that by the instinct of the Devil and by ill Counsel he was guilty of imbezzling the Treasure of the Church in the beginning of his Government but he made amends afterward giving a whole Town called Pilesgate to the Church with all the Tythes and Offerings and many possessions c. By his Charter also in the time of King Henry I suppose the first for he dyed just after the second came to the Crown he gave with the consent of the King a great deal of Land and Rents and Services in several Towns which are therein named for the use of the Sacrist and for the Building and Repairing of the Monastery Ibid. fol. 100. This was in the beginning of his Government when Richard Priest of Castre having a mind to change his life and take upon him the habit of a Monk prevailed with this Abbot by his own and others intreaties to receive him into the Monastery of Burch Accordingly he came on a day appointed 1133 which was the first year of Martin into the Chapter-house and there before the Abbot and all the Monks made it his humble Petition that they would receive all he had viz. the Church of Castre which he then held with all belonging to it both in Lands and in Tithes and in other things which he gave to God and to St. Peter for ever Whereupon the Abbot granted what he desired on condition that he should come into Court coram Baronibus suis and there confirm what he had now done in the Chapter-house which he performed accordingly For the aforesaid Richard Priest came into the Abbots Chamber and there before the Abbot of Thorney and Will. de Albeni and Richard Basset and many other Barons of the Abbey and divers other persons who came with William and Richard restored his Church of Castre to the Church of St. Peter de Burch de
quo prius exierat Which his Brother Galfridus hearing contradicted it affirming that Church was de feodo suo servitium sicuti de alio feodo suo in se habuisse Whereupon the Abbot impleaded him about this and about other forfeitures and he fearing the penalties if judgment went against him came and made the same surrender his Brother had done and disclaimed all interest in this Church which he had pretended to be his Fee and as Hugo's words are clamavit solutam quietam de se haeredibus suis in perpetuum ac in manum Abbatis per quandam virgam reddidit dimisit His heirs also Turoldus and Robertus did the same in open Court which was very full and the aforesaid Galfridus begged the Abbots pardon which he obtained The Abbot also before the above named persons freed him from the service dimidii Militis and pardoned him seven Marks of Silver de relevamine suo All which was done on the day that the Abbot Martin received the Homages of his Tenents which shows it was in the entrance of his Government The same year Pampelina Wife of Osbern holding certain Lands unjustly in Burch Withrington and Glinton for which she could show no right came into the Abbots Court at Castre and surrendred them all into his hands declaring them to be free from her and her Heirs and begging with many prayers the Abbots pardon Who took compassion upon her when he understood her poverty and restord her the Land of Wither de Witherintona which she said her Husband Osbern had bought to hold it of him for sixpence a year Rent instead of all services owing to the Abbot And because she was Niece to his Predecessor John he pardoned her ten shillings she owed him for the service of her Land There are several other such Acts of his of the same year which show he was not unmindful of the good of the Church in the very entrance of his Government The Church of Castre after this was supplied by a Chaplain whose name was Robert as I find in a Grant made of this Church but it doth not appear in what year by the Abbot and the Convent to the Archdeacon of Northampton in Eleemosynam with all its appurtenances in Tithes and Lands either Wood or Pasture Meadow or Arable For which he was to pay every year one Mark of Silver for the service of the Altar and if he either dyed or took upon him a Religious habit it was to return to the right of the Monastery freely and quietly salva Episcopali dignitate They granted him also plenariam societatem in capitulo So that they would give him the habit of a Monk if he would live among them or if he dyed in another place and in another habit obsequies should be made for him as for one of their Monks Whereupon Robert Chaplain of Castre proclaimed with a loud voice in the Chapter-house the Church of Castre to be free and quiet from all claim that he had hitherto had unto it and delivered the Charter which he had received to the Archdeacon I do not find what was done in the following years till 1140. when Radulphus filius Arconbi de Glinton being mindful of the salvation of his Soul and repenting of his sins came to Burgh and standing before the great Altar many standing about him offered to God and St. Peter for the salvation of his Soul and forgiveness of his sins unam culturam terrae de suo dominio in Peychirche quae jacet pro sex acris In testimony of which Donation he demised his Knife in the very Church laying it upon the Altar and Martin the Abbot on the other side gave from the Charity of St. Peter one Mark of Silver to the aforesaid Radulphus desiring to make him the more cheerful in this Donation That form of confirming a grant by the donors laying his Knife up on the Altar was usual in those times For in the year wherein King Stephen was taken Prisoner the next I think after that now mentioned upon the Feast of the invention of the holy Cross Guido Malfet with Adelize his Wife came into the Chapter-house of Burg and there restored to God and to St. Peter and the Monks of the Church ad luminare Altaris two parts of all the Tythes of the Land he held of St. Peter for the Souls of his Father and Mother and for his own Soul his Wives and Childrens which Tythes he had in part formerly kept wrongfully from the Church And after he had done this in the Chapter-house he went to the Altar of St. Peter and there finally granted and confirmed what he had done in the Chapter-house per cultellum super altare ab eodem positum In the year 1150. also I find that Ingelramus Wardeden came to Burgh with his three Sons and there made a solemn acknowledgment that the thirty shillings which he yearly claimed from the Abbey had been unjustly and to the peril of his Soul received by him And therefore before the High-Altar in the presence of the Convent he both promised amendment of his fault which he acknowledged by laying his Knife on the Altar and also disclaimed all right in the premise by the same Knife c. so the words are Et de culpa sua quam timuit recognovit cultellum super illud pro emendatione posuit omne rectum quod in eisdem triginta solidos hactenus clamaverat de se haeredibus suis natis innatis de omni progenie sua per eundem cultellum reddidit quietum clamavit After which they all took their Oaths also upon the Altar that they would never pretend to these thirty Shillings in time to come There were more memorable things than these done in the year before mentioned 1140. When King Stephen granted a great many Charters to this Church The first of which directed to the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Chancellor Justices Barons and all his Subjects declares that he had granted in perpetuum Eleemosynam to God and St. Oswald and the Church of St. Peter de Burgh c. for the Soul of King Henry his Uncle and other Kings his Ancestors and for the health of his own Soul of Matildis his Wife and Eustachius his Son and his other Children omnia assarta quae Abbas Monachi de Burgo homines sui fecerunt c. i. e. all the Woods grubbed up which was a great offence by the Abbot Monks and their Tenants in the Lands of the Abbey of Burgh untill the day that he came to Burgh in his return from Lincolnshire when he had newly finished his Castle at Castre in Lindsey viz. Septimo idus Junii An. MCXL Ã passione Oswaldi Regis Martyris quingentesimo primo Another Charter he granted about the Liberties of the Village of Pilesgate a second concerning Land in Northorp a third about Essarts in Nasso de Burgo with three more which I shall not mention
to the same Church one Oxegang of Land Walter Ponhar another Ralph de Pippewell half an Oxegang and the people of the Village XV. Acres a dwelling house for the Priest Which conditions if they were not fulfilled the Chapel was to return to its former subjection unto Cottingham Osbert was to have the right of Patronage and to find a fit Clerk to serve God and the Parishioners there The same Robert Bishop of Lincoln made a composition between the Church of Burch and of Spalding about the Church of Haltbarge viz that the Monastery of Spalding should pay yearly to the Abbot of Burch sixteen shillings and four pence out of the Church of Haltbarge and out of the Lands they had in that Parish and out of one Oxegang of Land in Walcote And the same Monastery consented that the Abbot of Burch might erect a Chapel in Walcote and consecrate a burying place belonging to it yet so that the Monks of Spalding should present the Priest that served in that place and none should be buried there without the consent of the Prior and Monks of Spalding The Abbot of Burch also stood bound to assign and give in a commodious place unam mansuram terrae for the dwelling house of the Priest which there officiated It would be too long to mention all the Lands which he recovered that had been held by rich and potent men from the Church some of which are taken notice of in Hugo and all the Ordinances he made among which this was one that in the principal Festival of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul seven Wax Candles should be lighted before the Altar and four upon it à principio matutinorum ad finem Swaph fol. CCLXXIV I shall only note that Hugo concluding his story gives this Character of him that all loved and feared him too for his honesty and his holiness and that in all the time he governed which was twenty it should be one and twenty years six months and eight days neither Monk nor stranger wanted any thing but rather were provided for in abundance He fell sick and took his Bed upon the Sunday before the Nativity of our Lord and died not long after on the fourth of the Nones of January as he reckons in the Kalander it is Jan. 3. when he was commemorated in the year 1155. So the Chron. of John Abbot MCLV. obiit Martinus Abbas Burgi successit Willielmus de Waterville WILLIHELMVS de Waterville The same day that Martin dyed all the Monks met together that they might chuse one of their own body to be their Pater Pastor and Custos fearing lest by delay some stranger might get in by money and domineer over them The manner of it was this they chose twelve of the Seniors and Wisemen out of their whole number to make an Election for them it being very hard for a multitude to agree in one man But they first made them swear upon the holy Gospels and the holy Reliques that they would act sincerely and be moved in their choice neither by love nor hatred c. Which they all did Hugo the Eldest whom I take to have been the Author of this History beginning to take the Oath and all the rest following after which the whole Convent swore that they would chuse him in whom those 12 should agree This being done the 12 went into the Abbot's Chamber and the Prior with the rest that remained in the Chapterhouse sung the Seven Psalms and prayed God to direct them by the grace of his holy Spirit which the 12 also begged by singing Veni Creator Spiritus and then conferred among themselves And it was agreed that Hugo the Eldest of them should hear every one of them confess and tell what God had put in their heart Which being done he asked them if they would know what every mans opinion was singly They said no but he should declare in whom the Major part of them agreed to which he replied that they were all in a manner agreed in one man William de Waterville and if any one were against it he had liberty still to contradict it But they were so far from opposing it that they all consented and entering into the Chapterhouse and there declaring what they had done the whole company praised God And the day after having performed the Obsequies of the deceased Abbot Remaldus the Prior and Hugo with the Abbot Elect went to the King Henry II. then at Oxford Who upon inquiry finding the Convent really desired it confirmed the Election by his Charter After which Te Deum being sung and prayers made the Abbot did his homage to the King and then repaired to Robert Bishop of Lincoln who prefixing him a day and place gave him his benediction and thereupon he was installed at Burch on the Sunday called Sexagesima with a solemn procession of Abbots Monks Clergy and Laymen In the beginning of the insuing Lent he found there was a great want of Provisions in the Monastery which he presently began to buy and continued so to do both Wheat and Malt Oats and Beans Flesh Cheese and Wine with all other things necessary till the Feast of St. Bartholomew This was a very great expence and yet he moreover discharged all the Debts of his Predecessor which were 300 Marks of Silver besides 60 more owing the King for interest which he got him to pardon He recovered also the fee and the service of Galfridus de la Mare for a hundred Mark which he gave the King To whom he also gave an hundred Marks more for the confirmation of Nine Knights Fees which had been held by Earl Simon At the same time he built a Nunnery at Stanford in honour of God and St. Michael and both founded and built the Church there in which he placed no less than forty holy Virgins Who were to pay yearly to the Chantery of Burgh a Noble of Silver as an acknowledgement with ten Shillings to the Sacristry out of the Church of St. Martins which this Abbot purchased It would be too long to mention particularly all the Land Rents or Pensions which this Abbot bought at London Irtlingborough Hargrave Easton Warmington Paston Walton Cambridg and several other places I will name only one he purchased all the Village on this side the Bridge of Stanford and redeemed for a summ of money fourteen houses with the ground belonging to them beyond the Bridge which a certain Knight claimed as his Inheritance He increased the Rents of the Market and Town of Burgh and built useful Offices in all the Mannors belonging to the Church and did a great many other good things besides those mentioned in Mr. G. and had done more and greater if he had not been hindred by great misfortunes and disturbances which were given him both by false domesticks and by some other rich men Who accused him to the King and to the Archbishops Theobald Thomas a Becket and Richard who succeeded them so that
are of his but I shall name only one more concerning their Woods in Nasso Burgi with free liberty of hunting the Fox the Hare the Cat in all their Mannors saving to the King his other game and that they should have Canes non expedatos Dogs not lawed as they called it by cutting off the three fore Nails or paring the ball of the foot There was this priviledge also in the same Charter that they should not answer for any offence in this kind but before himself or his Chief Justice de Foresta because his pleasure was that they should be quiet from all other Bailiffs The Charter mentioned by Mr. G. granted by King John while he was only Earl of Mortaing runs thus Karissimo amico meo Benedict Abbati de Burgo omnibus successoribus c. wherein he grants tres cervos sex damas singulis annis capiendas whensoever they pleased between the feast of St. John Baptist and the Exaltation of Holy Cross either in his Forrest de Siruuod or in Clay I must omit the Compositions made by him with several persons Among his Ordinances this was one that the Sacrist should find a Cope and an Albe every year for the blessing of Fonts and Wax in the Vigils of Easter Swaph fol. CCLXXIV Statutum est per venerabilem Abbatem Benedictum c. quod Sacristia inveniet singulis annis in perpetuum unam cappam novam bonam ad benedictio nem fontium unam albam bonam bullatam ad benedictionem cerae in vigiliae Paschae There was a great controversie in his time between Baldwin Archbishop of Cant. and the Monks of the Holy Trinity where Benedict had been Prior about Roger de Norreis whom the Archbishop had made Prior against the will of the Monks and some other things About which the Pope sent over a Cardinal à latere who with King Richard his Mother and a great many Bishops and Abbots made peace and a final agreement between them unto which they all set their Seals and among others Benedictus Abbas de Burgo An. 1189 Rog. Hoveden p. 662. Three years after Hugo the Bishop of Durham being Excommunicated by Gaufridus Archbishop of York and appealing to Pope Celestine he sent his Letters directed to the Bishops of Lincoln and Rochester dilecto suo Abbati de Burgo requiring that in their Churches they should declare the Excommunication to be void Which Letter John Bromton hath set down at length ad An. 1192. The next year this Abbot dyed as the Chron. Johan Abbatis tells us An. MCXCIII obiit Benedictus Abbas Burgi cui successit Andreas So he did not live to see King Richard return from his Captivity which was not till the next year as the same Writer saith MCXCIV Rex Richardus liberatus à carcere venit in Angliam The Counsel he gave about the Kings redemption is thus related by Swapham Many of the Nobles being of opinion that ten of the best Cities of the Kingdom should be sold and with that money his Ransome paid this Abbot being extreamly afflicted to think of the disgrace and damage it would be to the Realm humbly advised them to have all the Chalices in England prized and gathering their price as his words are into one summ that should be given for his redemption sine gravamine alicujus Which Counsel was approved and confirmed by all present and it was done accordingly But Walsingham reports it thus that the greater Churches promised their Treasures which had been heaped up from antient time the Parish Churches their Silver Chalices and by common consent it was agreed that the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors of Conventual Churches Earls and Barons should give the fourth part of their Annual Rents Swapham saith he dyed on Michaelmas-day But the Kalander saith on the 25. was Depositio Domini Benedicti Abbatis ANDREAS The Character Swapham gives of him is that he was a man of great Religion and Authority as well as age and being very mild and peaceable made it his indeavour to plant and establish peace and tranquillity in his flock He gave as Mr. G. observes the two Towns of Alwalton or Athelwoltone and Fletun to the Kitchin of the Convent but with exception of the auxilia ad festum Sancti Michaelis Which his Successor remitted and assigned also to the Monks Kitchin by his Charter He gave also to the Infirmary 6 Marks a year de furno Burgi as appears by his Charter fol. 102. which gift remained till the time of Abbot Walter who assigned those 6. Marks to the pitanciary to find as much Wine as should be sufficient But afterward the Pitanciarius being negligent they were brought into the Treasury by the order of the Abbot and Convent to be imployed for the above said use This Andrew first assigned forty shillings de Alebode for the Anniversary of his Predecessor Benedict who had recovered that Man nor of Alebode from the Canons of Berlinges I do not read of any Anniversaries observed before this and therefore suppose those words primo assignavit are to be understood as if he had said that Andreas first brought up the Custom of Anniversaries with such solemnity that is as shall be hereafter mentioned Fol. CCLIII He gave also two Windmils at Paston and six pound per an from Tinewell and forty shillings from Castre as appear by his Charters which I find about other matters but have not room to give a particular account of them Among the innumerable gifts to the Eleemosynary the time of whose grant is not specified I find one in this Abbots days by Willielmus de Witerinton with the assent and will of his Wife and his Son William and his Heirs of IIII. Acres of Arable Land sub Estwood which lay between the tillage of the Abbot and the Land of Salomon fratris piae memoriae B. quondam Abbatis Burgi Which four Acres he offered upon the great Altar of St. Peter to God and the Eleemosynary coram Dominis meis Andrea tunc Abbate Burgi toto conventu ejusdem c. as the words of the Charter are Immediately after which follows a gift of David de Beggevile of all his Land in the same place in consideration of which the Abbot and Convent received him and all his whether living or dead into their Fraternity in vigiliis jejuniis orationibus in missarum celebrationibus in omnibus aliis beneficiis quae fient in praenominata Ecclesia in perpetuum Not far from which there is a Deed of William Vicar of Burgh it is not said in what time which in an exchange of Land mentions a Chapel of St. Botulphs which I know not where to find It is in these words sciant presentes futuri quod ego Willielmus Vicarius de Burgo ad petitionem Parochianorum meorum dedi concessi in Escambium Deo Sancto Petro Eleemosynarie Burgi unam dimidiam acram terrae arabilis quam adquisivi sc illam que
jacet inter terram Thome Speciarii terram Agnetis quondam uxoris Henrici in cultura que jacet inter boscum de Westwoode Capellam Sancti Botulphi pro quadam placia pertinente ad ortum Eleemosynarie Burgi super q. cancellum capellae Sancti Johannis Bapt. constructum est c. Which Chapel also of St. John Baptist seems to be distinct from the Church of that name Swapham doth not tell us when he dyed But the often mentioned Chron. of John Abbot saith An. MCC obiit Andreas Abbas Burgi cui successit Acharius Sancti Albani So he governed not about 5. but about seven year His memory was celebrated on the twenty first of February when I find in the Kalander was Depositio Domini Andreae Abbatis ACHARIVS As King John gave the Abbey of Burgh to this Prior of St. Albans so in the same year he gave the Abbey of Ramsey to the Prior of Burgh They are the words of Rog. Hoveden Ad An. 1200. p. 802. in that place where he calls this Abbot Zacharias as Mr. G. observes But he did not put him in presently upon the death of Andreas for Swapham tells us he received the Abbey in Rogation week and found it so bare of all manner of Provisions that there was not food enough for one day The reason was the Archbishop of St. Andrews in Scotland to whom the King had given the custody of the Abbey while it was void had left nothing but carried all that he could away with him Notwithstanding which this good man in a short time was able to furnish the place not merely with necessaries but superfluities For besides a great many rich vestments he gave to the Church Silver Basins for the great Altar with a case of Gold and Silver set with pretious stones opere pulcherrimo subtilissimo for the Arm of St. Oswald A yearly Rent also to the Refectory and the Pittancia to the former of which he gave likewise two excellent Cups de Mazaro with great Silver feet richly gilt and Covers to them one of which had the three Kings offering their gifts to our Saviour in the bottom of it He gave moreover to the said Refectory Nine great drinking Cups de Mazaro and four Table Knives with Ivory hafts He assigned Thurleby also to the Chamberlain from whence saith Swapham we have XII Coverlids of St. Alban and as many Coats He assigned also to the Chamber the house which Richard Crookman offered to St. Peter when he was made a Monk which yielded the yearly Rent of a Noble And when the Celleraria upon a time wanted Provision he fed the whole Convent from the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul to the Feast of St. Andrew at his own charge And caused the Mill of Athelwalton to be repaired the Land to be ploughed and Sown and the Corn gathered which he caused to be brought into the Cellerary And out of his pitty to the infirm Monks who had no where to take the comfort of the air he gave them of his own accord without asking a part of his Vineyard where Rich. de Scoter afterwards planted a garden He also bought houses hard by St. Pauls London which cost him above two hundred and fifty Marks and in several of the Mannors belonging to the Church caused Halls Chambers and other edifices to be built as the Hall at Scottere the Hall at Fiskertune and divers other places which Swapham mentions He gave two hundred Marks to King John for his Charter of Liberties which is still remaining and discharged the house of above a thousand Marks in the Exchequer He recovered the Mannor of Walcote from Peter Son of Radulphus who had held it long and got many confirmations of it from the Kings of England as well as the Marsh between Singlesholt and Croyland mentioned by Mr. G. from which he received yearly by the consent and agreement of the Abbot of Croyland four Stone of Wax which he appointed to be imployed for Wax-Candles on the Feasts of the Saints of this Church They that have a mind may read the whole story of this recovery in the continuation of the History of Crowland lately put out at Oxford with Ingulphus c. P. 471 472. which tells us it was in the year 1202. not long after he came to the Abbotship But though the King himself then after many meetings and treaties and great expences made a final end as they speak yet the controversie was renewed again not long after as shall be shewed in its place His Constitution wherein with the consent of the Brethren he orders how the four Stone of Wax should be yearly spent is as follows That it should be delivered to the Keeper of the Altar of St. Mary who was to take care that in each of the 3. Festivals of St. Peter one Wax Candle of five pound weight should burn continually before the great Altar from the beginning of the first Vespers till after the completorium of the Festival In like manner in the four Festivals of St. Mary and in those of St. Oswald St. Kyneberge St. Kyneswithe and St. Tibbe What remained of the four Stone of Wax and was left after the completorium of those Festivals he was to take care should be spent every day ad missam Sanctae Mariae There is another agreement between him and the Abbot of Crowland which I find at the very end of the Book called Swapham whose title is this De bunda de Fynfet Be it knowen to all that be olyve and to all that shall come here after that the Bounde of Fynfete which is made mention of in the Fyne betwix Akary Abbot of Peterburgh and his Covent and Henry Abbot of Croyland and his Covent it is set in an Angyl besyde a Plot that is called now a days Nomansland betwix the waters of Weland and of Nene Wich water of Nene hath its course directly from thence until Croyland-Brig after the cours of water be the wich men rowe from Croyland unto Dowesdale on the South syde of a Crosse set there And the water of Weland hath his cours directly from Croyland Brig unto Nomansland Hyrum by a water called Twandam Dyke And there the water of Weland fallyth into Nene And the seid Hyrum is set at a barre and an Old Welow anens the Dyke by the wich men go to a place called Tutlakisland He bought Land at Stowe near Simpringham where Abbot Robert afterward built houses and the custom being that the Abbot should have the Auxilia Sancti Michaelis before mentioned from Alwallon and Flettune viz. twenty Mark he gave 15. to the Convent and left only 5. to his Successors which Abbot Robert also assigned to the Convent This goodness therefore of his saith Swapham deserves to be had in everlasting remembrance and yet it would be tedious to tell the persecutions he endured Which were exceeding great from a hard King and from untamed Tyrants from Forresters and other
to be loved than feared and out of mere respect to piety took in two and twenty Monks by whose merits and the merits of all the Saints he prayes the Lord to grant this Abbot pardon and eternal joy Chron. MS. Johan Abbatis saith MCCX obiit Akarius Abbas Burgi cui successit Robertus de Lyndesey He was commemorated on the 13th of March which was Depositio Domini Akarii Abbatis ROBERTVS de Lyndesey When ad An. 1210. John Abbot saith that Rob. de Lyndesey succeeded Akarius it must be understood thus that four year after he came into his place till which time not only this Monastery but many other Churches were kept by King John in his own hands So the same Writer tells us at the year 1214. Vacabant sedes Cathedrales c. ' The Cathedral Sees of York and Durham were void with the Abbey of Wytheby In the Province of Canterbury the Bishopricks of Worcester Exeter Chichester the Abbeys of St. Edmund St. Austin apud Cant. Redyng St. Bennet de Holme St. Martin de Bello Ramsey Burgh Cirencester and Evesham All which were in manu Domini Regis but this year libenter concessit ut istis Ecclesiis vacantibus Pastores providerenter Only he desired it might be secundum formam consuetudinem Regni the Bishops on the other side contradicting and desiring it might be done according to the Canons Thus he who adds that hereupon the Interdict which had continued upon the Kingdom VI. year III. months and XVI days was taken off viris Religiosis non facta restitutione bonorum but without any care that the Religious should have their Goods restored to them So much did Pandulphus favour the Kings inclination This Abbot with whom this Church was happily provided but whether by the Kings Nomination or no I find not for the Chron. before named saith some Abbeys proceeded immediately to chuse their Abbots that the King might not obtrude one upon them was a wise discreet and honest man in all things very provident as Swapham hath delivered his Character to us Who relates a great many worthy things he had done and gifts he had bestowed on the Church while he was only Sacrist Among which that of making thirty glass Windows which before were stuffed with Reed and Straw was one of the least He made one Window also of Glass in the Regulare Locutorium another in the Chapterhouse on the side where the Prior sat nine in the Dormitory and three in the Chapel of St. Nicolas He made the whole Chancel of Oxney and a Table with the Image of the Blessed Virgin upon the Altar He augmented also the Dormitory and made private Chambers and then built a Larder hard by the Kitchin for the use of the Celerarius Which solicitous goodness of his moved the Convent with one consent to raise him to a higher station by chusing him for their Abbot whom they presented to King John at Winchester upon the day of the Assumption of St. Mary Being kindly received by him he went to Northampton and there on St. Barnaby's day received from Hugh 2. Bishop of Lincoln ordinationis suae benedictionem As soon as he returned home he offered a rich Cope and a Pall and then made it his business to deliver the Country from that grievous slavery and bondage they were in by the Forresters and the Beasts which at that time domineered over men Mr. G. hath given some account of it I shall only add that this deafforestation was made in the year 1216. as appears by the agreement made between this Abbot and the Milites and Francolani who had any interest in the Nasse of Burgh which is annexed to the Description of all the woods and their names and the names of those to whom they belonged when it was disafforested In the year before which 1215. King John had granted his Charter confirming all the liberties of the Church which was confirmed by Pope Innocent the Third as may be seen in Matth. Paris and there is the very same in our Records at the end of Swapham Besides the benefactions mentioned by Mr. G. the first of which was only covering the Abbots Hall with lead versus claustrum in that part next the Cloyster I find divers others no less memorable For he gave four Marks of Silver to the Infirmary and eight Shillings custodi Hospitum to buy Matts and other necessaries for his Office and got a Bond out of the bands of the Jews for five and thirty Mark upon which they demanded a vast summ of money it being an old debt He freed also the Tenants of this Church in the Mannor of Stanwig à secta Vn dredi de Hecham for a summ of money which he gave to the Earl of Ferers He purchased likewise the Advowson of the Church of Clopton and gave two Marks of Gold and his own Silver Cup ad feretrum Sanctae Kyneburgae He made the new inward gate and the new Stable for the Abbots Horses and the Vivarium near the Church-yard He built not only the Hall of Collingham but of Stowe which Martin Abbot afterward changed and a Chamber at Tinewell another at Cottingham a Summer-house at Stanwick with a Chapel and almost finished the Chapel at Kettring Barns he built in several places and erected the great building beyond the Bakehouse and Malthouse and by a plea against the Abbot of Croyland obtained the power of inclosing as much as he pleased of the common Pasture in the Marsh of Pykirke and made it separate and finding the Church-yard too strait he gave to the honour of God and of his Church a part of his own Vineyard to inlarge it for the Burial of the Monks and of their Parents and Friends which he surrounded also with a strong and high Wall Anciently the Abbot and Convent received 60. Marks of Silver yearly from Fiskertune and Scoter for their Clothes and Shoes which he finding to be too little added 20. Mark more And twenty shillings also for the celebration of three Feasts in Copes viz. the Transfiguration of our Lord the Translation of St. Thomas and the birth day of St. Hugh For Hugh Bishop of Lincoln who dyed in the year 1200. was canonized a Saint by Pope Honorius 2. in this Robert's time An. 12200. The Bull is at large in the Records at the end of Swapham Fol. LXXXVII directed to the Bishop Chapter Clergy and people of the Diocess of Lincoln bearing date from the same place and the same day and year with that in Matthew Paris who hath set down but a little scrap of it In his time the Monastery petitioned Pope Gregory the 9. representing the danger they were in to lose some Tythes which they had held from the very Foundation of the Church because some Deeds concerning them were lost or could not be found and therefore desiring that he would command some very old men to be examined about this matter before they dyed lest they should lose all
possible proof of their right Whereupon the Pope sent his Apostolical Letters to the Priors of Deeping and St. Leonard in Stamford and to the Dean of Stamford that they should hear and examine such Witnesses as the Abbot and Convent could produce and cause their testimony to be Recorded and to make a publick Instrument thereof Datum Laterani 7. Kaland. April Pontif. nostri Anno 7. And here it may be fit to mention the Council of Laterane unto which there was a general citation saith Swapham thoughout Christendom in so much that there were assembled 400. Bishops above 800. Abbots and Priors and Procurators without number So John Abbot MCCXV Romae Concili um Lateranense secundum celebratum est ubi Episcopi CCCC Abbates Priores DCCC ultra Procuratorum non erat numerus Here it was provided among other things that all Convents of Monks should fast that is eat no Suppers from the Feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross till Easter Which order the Abbot when he returned from this Council prevail'd with his Convent to observe as they did at Rome But not without many intreaties for it had been the custom not only here at Burgh but in other places for the Monks to eat two meals a day at certain times for instance from the exaltation of Holy Cross till the first of October from the Nativity till the Octaves of the Epiphany and many other days within that compass of time forementioned on which the Convent was wont to have one dish at Supper with Cheese And therefore propter integrita tem Eleemosynae that their constant allowance might not be diminished the Abbot ordained that what was wont to be provided for their Supper they should have at Dinner While the Abbot was at Rome King John demanded the whole military service of the Abbot Whose Attorneys complaining that they could not justitiare milites libertatis Burgi make these men do their duty the King commanded their fees to be destrained Which when the Attorneys said they could not do the King gave away the Land of Nic. de Bassingburn to Baldwinus de Gynes and the Land of Roger de Torpel to Will. Blome and the Land that was Rad. de Dyve in Vpton to Rob. de Nevile of Scottone and the Land of Richard de Watervile to Will. de Palmes and the Land of Will. Andegavensis in Chirchefeild to Ade Furneis and the Land of Hugo Wac in Deeping with the appurtenances to Will. de Bruere and so he disposed of the rest of the Lands And commanded Will. de Aundres Constable of Rockingham that he should destrain all the military feods and that he should not meddle with the demesne of the Abbot but let it be undisturbed utpote liberam Eleemosynam Domini Regis These feods I suppose were restored upon their submission for I find in a Marginal Note Swaph fol. CCLXX. that Rog. de Torpel refused to serve unless the Abbot paid his expences upon which his Estate he held of the Abbot being ordered to be seised he scarcely obtained the favour to serve upon his own proper charges Before his time there had been great discord and murmuring contention and envy frequently happened among the Brethren propter minutionem about blood-letting which was very necessary some time to those sedentary people who were subject to repletion And no wonder because no body could accipere minutionem be let blood without an Order from the Prior who let some have it oftner others more rarely some after five weeks others after 6. and others not till after 8. or 10. or 15. or perhaps half a year To take away therefore all trouble out of their minds about this matter this Abbot ordered that the Convent should be divided into six parts and upon the day of letting blood he that was the Senior of that part whose turn it was to have the benefit of it should ask licentiam minuendi and that under his hand for his Brethren from the Prior. In the Margin of the Book there is this Note That in Abbot Walter 's time this mode of minution was thus far altered that they should be divided into five parts and then minuerentur modo supradicto For Robert Grosteste Bishop of Lincoln in his Visitation had forbidden the eating of flesh altogether unto the Monks every where except only in the Infirmary or in the Abbots Chamber which was accounted by them an unsupportable burden It is further also noted that the Convent in former times had liberty at three seasons in the year to eat as much flesh as they pleased in a house deputed for that purpose and in the domus Hospitum house where they entertained Strangers and in all places where they eat out of the Refectory they might eat flesh Which liberty was quite taken away by the above named Inhibition of the Bishop They who were minuti let blood were formerly refreshed in the Refectory three times a day with a regular diet as appears by the antient Customary of this Church Swapham observes that he found LXXII Monks here when he came to the Convent and so many I have noted before King Henr. I. found here when he took an account of all belonging to the Monastery upon the death of John de Sais And therefore what is said of Akarius his taking in XXII Monks must be understood I think of supernumeraries whom he maintained for his time at his own charges ex intuitu pietatis as the words there are For the maintenance of these the Lands in Alwalton and Flettun had been given by Andreas but were not sufficient to supply the Kitchin with provisions though it had other Rents besides which are all distinctly mentioned in a Charter of his Swaph fol. CV wherein he gives those Mannors intirely to the Celerary with all that had been reserved out of them to the Abbot at the Feast of St. Michael This Abbot Robert therefore gave other Revenues not only for the recreation as the word is of those 72 Monks but for the increment of eight Monks more whereby the whole Number was made LXXX And particularly Belasise as Mr. G. observes to find those 8. with Bread and Beer Which Corn and Malt was afterward changed into money in Abbot Walters time because the Celerarius of the Abbot and his Servants would receive none but the very best which was the occasion of great quarrels In the Charter wherein he settles those Lands he makes mention of the observation of his own Anniversary the expences of which were to be born out of them Andreas I noted before began this custome as far as I can find assigning an annual Pension for the celebrating of the Anniversary of Benedict his Predecessor After which I find no mention of it till this Abbots time who took care not only of his own but both of Andreas his and of his Successors Akarius For after the Constitution of Akarius directing how the sour Stone of Wax from Croyland should be imployed
there follows immediately a Statute of this Abbot Robert ordaining that upon the Anniversaries of Andreas and Akarius the Celerarius should provide four good dishes of meat for the Convent together with Wine if it could be had or else good Beer and that the Eleemosynary should distribute to the Poor that came on those dayes a convenient portion of Bread and Ale What the Religious part of the observation of these days was in this Church I have not yet found but in other Churches it appears to have been very solemn and great Particularly in that of Westminster where they were of the same Order with the Monks of this Church Anniversaries were about this time kept in all regards very magnificently For example Abbot Walter who dyed not long before Rob. Lyndsey's days An. 1191. gave the Mannor of Padington to that Church and totally deputed it to this use for the celebration of his Anniversary on the Feast of St. Cosmas and Damianus On which day he requires the Almoner to provide for the whole Convent Simnella Gastella Canastella Brachinella and Wafras and to every one of the Brethren one Galon of Wine cum tribus bonis pitanciis with three good dishes of Meat called pitancias from the word Piety and thence also called Misericordias now called in the Colledges exceedings and also good Ale in abundance before the Brethren at all the Tables as upon other Feasts and Anniversaries it was wont to be found by the Celerarius in the great Tankard of five and twenty Galons For the ordinary guests who should that day dine in the Refectory he requires him to provide two dishes of Meat with Bread and Wine and Ale honourably and abundantly and for the more honourable persons make the same provision as for the Convent And besides find for all comers whatsoever from the hour that the Table concerning the Anniversary was read in the Chapterhouse untill the Completorium of the next day both in Meat and Drink Hay and Oats all things necessary nor was entrance to be denyed to any person whether Footman or Horseman He was to make provision also for the Nuns of Holborn for the Servants of the Monastery and for three hundred poor every one of which was to have a loaf of Bread of the same weight with the Bread of the Convent and a pott of Ale and they who had no Vessels might drink pro voluntate as much as they pleased And to omit the rest there was after all Mede to be provided for the Convent ad potum charitatis As for the Religious part of the Ceremony it was after this manner On the vigils of the forenamed day the Prior and the Convent sang Placebo and Dirige with three lessons as on other principal Anniversaries they were wont with ringing of Bells two Wax-Candles burning continually at his Tomb which was on the South side of the Cloyster from the said Vigils to the end of the Mass da Requem which was sung the next day On the Anniversary of Richard de Crokesley who dyed as long after this time as the other did before it 1258. there was a far greater solemnity for which he gave the Mannors of Hampestede and of Stoke with other Rents It began with ringing of Bells the evening before for which they received xiii s. iiii d. and the next day after Mass there were Alms given to a thousand poor people and for six days following to five hundred every day to every body a peny c. And he ordained that four Monks should every of those days say Mass for his Soul at four several Altars four Wax Candles burning at his Tomb during the Mass if he was buried in the Monastery if without it then two of the Candles were to burn at the Altar of the Holy Trinity the other two at the Altar of Edward the Confessor Provided that upon his Anniversary four Wax-Candles should burn all day about his Tomb or before the Altars now named for which he assigned three pound c. This was agreed in the Chapterhouse on the Friday after the Feast of St. Barnaby 1256. and he got a confirmation of it from Alexander 4. But ten year after his death they obtained a Modification of this Anniversary from Pope Clement IV. according as the Abbot of Waltham and other Delegates appointed for this business should think fit to moderate it I omit many others which are in a MS. History of that Church written by John Fleete a Monk of that Church which he collected out of better writers than himself After some such manner no doubt Anniversaries were observed in this Church of Burgh for I find that in Akarius his time Hugo de Longo Campo Son of Henry de Longo Campo out of respect to God and the Salvation of his Soul granted all his Land in Eyliswurthe viz. quadraginta sex solidatas terrae in liberam puram ac perpetuam Eleemosynam for the making of his Anniversary cum debita ac solita solemnitate with due and with usual solemnity Which Charter of his was afterward confirmed by Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury Swaph fol. XC Immediately after that Statute about the forenamed Anniversaries there follows a Constitution which I suppose therefore was made by this same Abbot Robert directing what was to be done when any part of the Body or Blood of our Lord in the Sacrament by negligence fell upon the Ibid. Fol. CCLXIII Ground or upon a Matt Carpet or the like Concerning which two other Constitutions follow with verses comprehending the sense of them which I have transcribed and put in the Appendix This Abbot lived in evil days which makes the many good things he did besides these the more commendable there having been great discord as Swapham observes between the King and the Church insomuch that the Kingdom was interdicted for above six years after which followed cruel and most shameful Wars between the King and his Nobles in which Charches were broken down and destroyed and what was in them was pillaged and carried away After he had governed Nine year and ten months he dyed in the Feast of Crispinus and Crispinianus It should be eight year for he began to govern in the year 1214. and all agree he dyed in the year 1222. So the MS. Chron. Johan Abbatis An. MCCXXII obiit Rob. de Lyndesey Abbas Burgi cui successit Alexander Abbas And so Swapham himself In which year I find in the same Chronicon there was a Council held at Oxford in the Church of Osney by Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury where the Bishops and other Prelates being generally present some of the Institution made in the forenamed Council of Lateran with some additions for the reformation of the Clergy and people were recited Two of the most Noble of which as he calls them he sets down The first concerning the Prelates that all of them both Bishops and Abbots should be bound to change every year those that waited on them in their
Chambers ut plures haberent testes suae Sanctimoniae castitatis The other belonging to Subjects that all Monks and Nuns who were under a Rule should every year openly in the Chapterhouse recite their profession before the whole company ut semper illius memores siant ad Deum devotiores He was commemorated here on the day after Symon and Jude as appears by the Kalander where over against that day I find Deposuio Domini Roberti de Lyndsey which doth not agree with Swapham's account who places his death on the 25th of October ALEXANDER de Holderness So named from the Country where he was born which also gave the preceding Abbot the name of Lyndesay He was a man much beloved by his Convent because he was a good Pastor who gave many very rich Vestments to the Church mentioned particularly in Swapham and built not only the Halls Mr. G. speaks of but the solarium magnum at the door of the Abbots Chamber and a Cellerarium under it and furnished the Church also with that pretious Crystal Vessel as Swapham calls it wherein the blood of Thomas a Becket was kept and with divers Reliquerâ—â— And the was about many other works in which death stopt him after he had governed four years compleat For he dyed on the same day he was chosen Abbot which was the Feast of St. Edmund King and Martyr or as he saith a little after the Vigils of that day An. 1226. And so it is in the Kalander Nov. 17. it should be 19. Depositio Alexandri Abbatis Anniversarium Reginaldi de Castre Matildis Vxoris ejus The Chron. Johan Abbatis agrees to the year beginning An. MCCXXVI with these words Ob. Alexander Abbas Burgi cui successit Martinus In his time the fifteenth part of all the Goods in England were given to the King Hen. 3. as appears by his Charter The Friers Minors also came into England as Abbot John bewails with many deep sighs and groans at the end of An. MCCXXIV Eodem Anno O dolor plusquam dolor O pestis truculentissima fratres Minores venerunt in Angliam He made this composition with Baldwin de Ver of Thrapestone from whom the Abbot and Convent claimed many payments de auxiliis Vicecom sectis Hundredorum visu franciplegil c. that he should he be free from those and all other demands upon the account of his Lands in the Abbots VII Hundreds paying yearly on the Feast of St. Michael half a Mark of Silver c Swaph fol. CCIII He made also a friendly confederacy with Hugo the Abbot of St. Edmund and their respective Convents who by this league were tied in a Bond of special affection for mutual Counsel and assistance for ever It is set down at large in Swapham Fol. XCIX but I shall only give the Reader a taste of it They were so linkt together as to account themselves one and the same Convent so that if one of the Abbots dyed the survivor being desired was immediately to go to his Convent and there before him they were to make a Canonical Election or if already made they were to declare it in his presence If the Friers of either place were by any necessity driven from their Monastery the other was to receive them and afford them a familiar refuge and aid with a place in their Quire Chapterhouse and Refectory secundum conversionis suae tempus This Abbot among others signed the confirmation of the great Charter of England and the Charter de Foresta in the 9th year of Hen. 3. unto which the great Bishops and Abbots and Earls are witnesses and among the rest Abbas de Burgo Sancti Petri but he is not named in the Annales Burton ad An. 1224. But that which was most memorable concerning this Abbot is the care he took about the VIII Monks augmented by his Predecessor which I find in a Charter by it self in these terms Vniversis Sanctae Ecclesiae filiis ad quos presens scriptum pervenerit Alexander permissione Dei Abbas de Burgo salutem in Domino c. Wherein out of his paternal care to provide well for those eight Monks which Robert his predecessor had added to their wonted number and at the Petition of the Convent he granted and confirmed to the Celerary all the new assarts belonging to the Monastery in Nasso Burgi sc Belasis with all its appurtenances Glintonhawe and the assart of Estuude and Franehawe of the purchace of the forenamed Robert Abbot of Will. de Ginniges and all the Meadow in Norburch to find fifty seam of Wheat and threescore of Barley and 80. of Oates for the drink of those VIII Monks He grants also to the Chamber of the Monastery for the increment of those Monks X. Marks of Silver to the wonted Rent of LXX Marks from Fiskerton Collingham and Scottere to be paid yearly at the 4. quarters viz. XX. Marks at the Feast of the Nativity c. And besides he grants to the same Chamber all his Land in Thurlbey with all the appurtenances c. His Successor Martin confirmed this Charter in the very same words Fol. CVI. MARTINVS de Ramsey Alexander dying on the Viglis of St. Edmund and being buried the next day after Martin was chosen on the fourth of the Nones of December that is on the second day of that month and was received by King Henry on the Octaves of St. Andrew and the same day confirmed by the Bishop of Lincoln after the examination of the Prior and three Monks About his Election in St. Katherines Chapel at Westminister and received his Bendiction as Mr. G. observes on the Feast of St. John Evang. apud Tinghurst and then was installed at Peterburgh on the Sunday after the Octaves of Epiphany Thus Swapham who lived in his time who tells he immediately discharged the Abbey of a debt remaining to the Exchequer from Abbot Robert for the disafforestation of Nassaburgh which was fifty Marks And so the Chron. Johan Abbatis relates ad An. 1227. Martinus Abbas Burgi solvit ad scaccarium Regis pro disafforestatione Nassa de Burgo 50. Marcas argenti The same year he got their Charters confirmed by King Henry for sixscore Marks of Silver to his own use and eight and twenty more to the Chancellors besides many other gifts The Story of Brianus is related by John Abbot as belonging to the same year 1227. with very little difference from the account Mr. G. hath given of it The Inquisition made before the Kings Justice was whether Brians Predecessors held of the Monastery or of the Forest utrum prius fuerunt Predecessores dicti Briani feoffati de domo Burgi an de foresta The Inquisition was taken apud Bernack per XII legales homines Regi transmissa Adjudicata est Warda dicti Briani Abbati de Burgo suis successoribus in perpetuum The next year 1228. the same Chronicon tells us the Pope summoned a Council at Rome but the ways were stopt by
1245. as the Chron. of John Abbot informs us Therefore all that Mr. G. hath out of Matthew Paris belongs not to this time In that very year which he mentions the eighth year of his Abbotship which was 1241. the milites of the Abby were summoned to Saropesbury to go to Wales Fol. CCLXX. whither the Abbot himself went and some Knights with him Who earnestly insisting to have their expences Horses and Arms from the Abbot he would by no means grant it but commanded them by the Fealty they owned to the King and to him to follow the King to Chester which they did The Abbot also came thither where they again made the same demands pretending that Stephen de Segrave had given judgment for them apud Lehayetayle Of whom when the Abbot had diligently inquired he declared before him and his family that it was false and said the Knights ought to defend the Abbot at their own charge with Horses and Arms. Then they complained to Hugh Earl of Hereford Marshal of the Army who determined the matter against them and the Abbot commanded them that at the summons of the Marshal they should be inrolled which they refused But the Abbot ad cautelam caused Radulph de Ayston and Hugo de Bernack to be inrolled and two Servants of his family pro uno milite And so the Abbot returned with good grace from the King and his Knights neither going nor coming could recover one farthing of him The Steward of the Bishop of Lincoln and other Prelates did the same And by the diligence of the Abbot he received from the Kings Exchequer plenarie scutagium suum sc de quolibet scuto X L. Sol. In like manner in the time of John de Calceto he had scutagium suum plenarie de dictis militibus And when they complained to the King and the Magnates that the Abbot ought to pay that scutagium out of his own Chamber the Abbot made it appear that he ought not In that grand Priviledge of Innocent's there is the same grant which is mentioned in Greg. the IXths that they might say divine Service with a low voice in the time of a general Interdict the gates being shut no Bells rung and all Excommunicated and interdicted persons excluded Many other Bulls there were of his as I noted out of Swapham some of which remain One of them imports that by his Mandate they stood bound to pay to Opizomus Archdeacon of Parma a Pension of fifteen Mark yearly untill they had provided him with some Ecclesiastical Benefice worth forty Mark of Silver yearly o◠more But he now granted them this indulgence for the future that they should not be bound to provide any person with a benefice for the future against their wills nor receive any Letters Apostolical to that purpose unless they made express mention of this Indulgence and said that notwithstanding any Apostolical Indulgence they must do it Afterward Letters Apostolical were directed from another Pope to several Priors therein named to see his Absolution executed which he had granted to the Abbot and Convent of Burgh from the payment of such Pensions when the person who received them would not accept of the Ecclesiastical Benefices to which they offered to present them when they fell Which some refused because they had benefices already but no dispensation to hold another and so would have kept their Pensions when a Benefice was provided for them to the great grievance of the Monastery Another of Innocent's is dated from Lyons on the Kal. of Sept. the seventh year of his Pontificate which was a little before his death Wherein they having represented their Monastery to be built in a cold place so that they could not without danger in Winter time especially perform divine Offices with heads uncovered he grants them a licence utendi pileis ipsorum ordini congruentibus to use Capps suitable to their Order according as the Abbot in his discretion should think fit Another is that they having represented to him how great a disturbance it was to their devotion to have causes frequently referred to them by the See Apostolical he grants them this Indulgence that they should not be bound against their wills to take Cognizance of any cause committed to them by the same See for the future unless in the Letters of Reference express mention were made of this Indulgence There is a Statute made by this Abbot but I do not find in what year with the consent of the Chapter that on the Feast of the Dedication of their Church as upon the principal Feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul seven Candles should burn before the Altar super baccas and four upon the Altar à principio Matutinorum usque ad finem totius servitii and that the Arm of St. Oswald as I noted before should be carried in procession on this festival unless it had been carried on his own day Out of a Meadow in Peykirk which he bought of Roger Son of Paganus de Helpstona he gave forty Shillings to the celebration of his own Anniversary viz. twenty Shillings for the recreation of the Brethren and the other for the refection of the Poor upon the day of his death This Meadow William his Successor made over to the Convent intirely and warrants it to them that he and his Successors might be freed from the payment of that forty Shillings At the last time of his crossing the Seas he gave several pretious things feretris trium Virginum viz. Kiniburge Kiniswith and Tibbe and a great number of Vessels and Jewels when he dyed which were all brought into the Chapterhouse and there disposed according to the pleasure of the Convent He was not well before he went and the infirmity of his body was increased by his journey so that he dyed not long after his return An. 1245. For whom Swapham makes this prayer The Lord grant he may enjoy eternal life and joy in the Land of the living by the merits of the Mother of God and of St. Peter and St. Benedict and all the Saints He was pious and merciful to all did nothing without the advice of his Brethen of the better sort exacted nothing unduly of his Tenants whether rich or poor But if any poor Man or Woman made their necessities known to him he would burst out into tears and take compassion upon them In some things he acted tepide which he bewailed all his days but he left the Abbey abounding in all good things stored with Horses Oxen Sheep and all Cattle in great multitudes and Corn in some places for three years But after his decease Magister R. de Gosebek to whom the King committed the custody of the Abbey wasted and sold and in a manner carried all away There were found in his Chamber when he dyed a great many Cupps of Gold and Silver whose weight and worth are set down in Swapham with six silver Plates twenty nine Spoons thirty gold Rings and a great
deal of Riches besides Which is the more wonderful since he was so very charitable and frequently gave Presents and Jewels of Gold and Silver to King Henry and Eleanor his Queen and Prince Edward their Son and to the Nobles and great Men of England besides what Mr. G. mentions and all for the peace and tranquillity and defence of the Liberties of the Church He dyed in the latter end of the year as the MS. Chron. of Johan Abbatis P. 690. N. 30. saith Matth. Paris saith 1245. 29 Hen. 3. obiit Walterus Abbas de Burgo 2. Kaland. Januarii Which doth not perfectly agree with the Kalender of the Church where is placed on the 26. Decemb. Depositio Domini Walteri Abbatis Here Swapham's History ends WILLIAM de HOTOT The controversie that had been between this Church and Croyland in the time of Akarius was now revived between this Abbot and Richard Bardenay Abbot of Croyland contrary to the agreements made before between their Predecessors as the words are in the Continuator of the History of Croyland Lately Printed at Oxon. p. 478. Who lays the blame upon this Abbot because he hindred the Abbot of Croyland in their Fair time from taking Toll or making Attachments upon Crowland Bridge c. This he saith was in the year 1240. Which cannot be for then Walter was Abbot it should be therefore 1246. in the very beginning of William's time Who the next year made a composition about this matter 1247. as I find in our Records at the end of Swapham Fol. CLXX where there is an agreement between Richard Abbot of Croyland and Robert Abbot of Burgh about the Fen between Singleshould and Croyland and this agreement made in the Kings Court at Northampton before the King Justices between these two Abbots Richard and William de villa de Croyland ponte tempore Nundinarum which is too long to be inserted It is called finalis concordia but the quarrel was renewed in the time of William of Ramsey In the same year 1247. Robert de Taterhille Physician made his last Will and Testament and thereby gave to the Church of St. Peter his Body with his Palfrey to the Fabrick of St. John's Church V. Shillings and to the Church of St. Mary de Oxney two Shilling c. and four Acre of Arable Land apud Rumpele to find two Wax-Candles before the Altar of the blessed Virgin in Ecclesia majori de Burgo as long as the said Robert lived And if his Wife Ailice out-lived him she was to enojoy that Land and the house he also gave c. for her life if she remained a Widow and to find four Wax-Candles After both their deaths all to go to the Custos luminaris beatae Virginis to find so many lights before her Altar as that Land House and Meadow would furnish In the same year likewise An. 2. Will. 2di Abbatis as the words of the Record are there was a Subsidy given to Pope Innocent according to an Estimation that had been made of the Estate of the Abbey in the time of Stephen Nuncio to Pope Gregory of which subsidy the Obedientiaries as several officers in the Church were called paid the fourth part being taxed seven Pence for every pound of yearly Rent as followeth Estimatio Cellerariae 121 l.  Contributio 70 s. 7 d. Estimatio utriusque Sacristiae 106 l. 10 s. Contributio 72 s.  Estimatio Eleemosynariae 63 l. 6 s. Contributio 36 s. 2 d. Estimatio Pitanciariae  115 s. Contributio  40 d. Estimatio Infirmariae 7 l.  Contributio 3 s. 10 d. Estimatio Precentoriae  36 s. Contributio  12 d. Estimatio Refectoriae  20 s. Contributio  7 d. Estimatio Camerae praeter portionem Abbatis 4 l.  Contributio  28 d. Estimatio auxilii de Pylesgate 100 sol Contributio  35 d. Notandum quod Dominus Willielmus Abbas solus fecit hanc taxationem One half of which was paid at the Feast of St. Martins the other half at the Purification Here a fit occasion offers it self to mention the several donations bestowed upon the forenamed Offices of the Monastery which they called Obedientias and the Names of their benefactors which were very many especially to the Sacristy and to the Altars Sanctae Mariae and Sanctae Crucis in particular but it would prolong this work too much and swell it beyond the designed proportion Fol. CVII This William in the year 1248. obliged himself and Successors to several things very profitable for the Convent For instance that no composition should be made for the future about their possessions and liberties no Wards granted no Woods sold without the consent of the Convent no nor any thing of weight attempted without their advice And moreover that one or two Monks should without intermission be Custodes of the Mannors of the Abbot and two receivers of all the profits of them one of them a Monk residing in the house and one of the Chaplains of the Abbot And lest in process of time the condition of the Convent should be worsted he granted and promised that neither he nor his Successors would diminish their allowances nor procure them to be diminished And that the Parents and acquaintance of the Monks should be competently and sufficiently provided with better bread and beer than ordinary out of the Celerary of the Abbot c. To which he set his Seal and the Chapter theirs In the same year he granted out of his mere liberality to the Celerary of the Church his Mannor of Gosdkirk with all the appurtenances and all the Tenement called Belasise with the appurtenances for the eight pound Sterling in which he and his Predecessors stood bound at the four quarters of the year for the celebration of the principal Feasts and for the forty Shillings which Walter his Predecessor gave for celebrating the Feast of the Dedication of the Church Yet so that he and his Successors should pay the increment of Wheat and Malt for the augmentation of the VIII Monks throughout the whole year without substraction every week out of their own Granary Then follows the assignation of the Capital Messuage in Northbruch for the increase of the Chamber In this year as the Chron. of John Abbot tells us the King demanded a Subsidy of all the Prelates and this William gave him an hundred Pound of Silver presently after which he resigned his place but he doth not tell us any reason why he left it His words are ad An. MCCXLVIII Henricus Rex petiit subsidium à Prelatis Willielmus Abbas Burgi dedit ei C. marcas argenti Cui cedenti successit Johannes de Kaleto The cause which Matth. Paris who places this the year after 1249 assigns of his receding is something strange he having been so compliant as I have related with his Convent and so studious of their good And the damage they complained of was not so great but he had an honourable commemoration in
forty days of Penance that had been injoyned them And he also confirmed such Indulgences as had been granted by any of his Suffragans It bears date from Croyland the Thursday before the Feast of St. Michael There had been the like Indulgence granted a little before by Hugo Balsom Biship of Ely to those who out of devotion went piously to visit the Arm of St. Oswald and other Reliques in this Church c. To whom he grants 30. days relaxation of Penance Dated 11. Kalend. Sept. 1253. Another there is of Will Bishop of Ossory granting ten days Indulgence as I noted before to those that visited this Church on the Feast of the Dedication before mentioned All which show the true nature of Indulgences which were only relaxations of Penance and that other Bishops granted them as well as the Bishop of Rome as they also sometimes canonized a person for a Saint I have transcribed them all and set them down in the Appendix together with an Indulgence of Oliver Sutton some years after wherein he grants a merciful relaxation to all those that on certain times should devoutly come to the Altar of the blessed Virgin in her Chapel in the Monastery of Burgh which he had newly consecrated The same Boniface on the same day and year directed his Letters to the Bishop of Lincoln mentioning a Constitution of the Council held at Oxford which Excommunicated all those who either violated or disturbed the Ecclesiastical rights and liberties which he being desirous to maintain by these presents commands that all the disturbers or violaters of the rights and liberties of the Church of St. Peter de Burgo which had been granted by the Kings of England or any other persons should publickly and solemnly in general and by name be Excommunicated when it appeared they were guilty of such disturbance or violence About this time I suppose it was that Polebroke before mentioned out of which the ten pound for finding the five Hogsheads of Wine was paid was purchased by this Abbot The whole History of which is related in the Monasticon out of a Register of this Church in Sir Joh. Cotton's Library Which saith that Eustachius Vicecomes Founder of the Church of St. Mary de Huntingdon held two Fees de Honore Burgi in Clopton Polebroke Catworth c. Which Estate came afterward to one Will. de Lovetot and then to his Son Richard who held these two Fees in King Richard the first 's time as appears by his Charter in the first year of his Reign which confirms to the Abbot of Burgh among other Lands duo feoda in Clopton pertinentiis which were held by Richard de Lovetot Who had two Sons William and Nigell and three Daughters Amicitia Rosia and Margeria William dying without Issue the Estate came to Nigel who being a Beneficed Clergyman it came upon his death to the three Sisters The two Eldest of which though married had no share in these Fees but they fell to the youngest who was married to Richard Patrick and by him had a Son and a Daughter William and Margery She married to Will. de Vernon and her Brother William gave all his share in the Estate which was in the hand of Hugo Fleming and Tho. Smert and their Heirs who did homage to Will. Patrick for it to his Sister Margery Who after his death in her free Widowhood gave and granted all the Homages and Services of the aforesaid Fleming and Smert and their Heirs to John de Caleto Abbot of Burgh by her Deed. And afterward Rob. Fleming feofavit praedictum Johannem Abbatem de omnibus terris Tenementis quae habuit in Polebroke per Chartam Which Charter I find in our Records here remaining wherein Rob. de Flemenk gives to John de Caleto his Tenement in Polebroke and the Advouson of the Church In this year King Henry granted the very same Charter to this Church which Richard the first had done confirming all their Lands in the several Counties of the Realm by name It bears date at Windsor 12 Junii Anno Regni sui 37. The like for their Liberties in which is the Fair for eight days and the eight Hundreds c. and for their Woods In the next year 1254. three neighbouring Abbots dyed as I find in the Chron. of John Abbot viz. Thomas de Wells Abbot of Croyland David Abbot of Thorney and William Abbot of Ramsey Pope Innocent the IV. dyed also And in this year there was an aid granted to the King ad primogenit fil suum Militem faciend for the making Prince Edward a Knight An. Regis Hen. 38. sc de quolibet scuto de Honore Burgi XL. Sol. every Knights Fee of the Honour of Burgh paying forty Shillings which was received by one of the Friers Rich. de London So the Title of this account runs in our Book fol. CCCLXXI Recept fratris R. de Lond. de denariis Auxilii Domini Regis H. c. And then follow the names of all the Knights and their payments the first being Galfridus de Sancto Medardo who payd twelve Pound and therefore had six Knights Fees the second Radulph de Kameys who paid as much c. I have not room for the rest who are two and fifty in all some of which had but half Fees and others less In this year it was also that the King sent his Justices into many places in England to do right to every man and to free the Country from Thieves and Highwaymen Quorum unus fuit Abbas de Burgo saith Matth Paris one of which Justices was the Abbot of Burgh as Mr. G. hath observed In the year 1257. there was a power granted to this Abbot to distrain both of his Knights and of all other Freeholders who owed him service but had not done it that he might be able to perform the service wherein he stood bound to the King for his assistance in his War then in Wales For the Abbot stood bound to the King for Sixty Knights Fees which he had not performed and therefore a distress was granted against him upon all the Land he held of the King in that service without any prejudice to what the Church held in perpetuam eleemosynam In the next year I find a final agreement made between him and Ralph Crumbwell Son of Rob. Crumbwell about sixty Acres of Meadow in Collingham A confederation also between him and the Prior of Worcester whereby they engaged their Churches in such a mutual society and Friendship as I mentioned before between Alexander and the Abbot of St. Edmunds and several other things which I cannot find in what year they were done Particularly a Charter made by Steven de Horbiling wherein he gives to him and the Convent a Capital Messuage in Burgh in the Street called Tugate and another hard by it and three Acres of Arable Land c. Mr. G. saith p. 34. that he found no mention of the Rule of St. Benedict in this Monastery till
permit the burial of his Father which had been already made at Scottun hâc vice for this time and that in like manner they would be pleased hâc vice to remit the Mortuary due to them And accordingly the Abbot and Convent with respect to the love which the aforesaid Robert bare to them did for that time allow the Burial and release the Mortuary de gratia liberalitate sua Dat. apud Burgh in Crastino Sancti Barthol An. Dom. MCCLXX Quinto In the Year MCCLXX Octavo there was the like case with the first only with this difference that Emma the Wife of Galfridus de Sancto Medardo died about Michaelmas at the Mannor of Osgoteby and the same W. de Wodeford Sacrist of Burg presented himself being ready to defend the right of the Church to have the Body of the said Woman to be buried at Burgh according to an agreement made long before between the Monks and the Knights of the said Church before the Bishop of Lincoln but she having desired to be buried at Stanford at their devout request the fore-named Sacrist out of special grace and favour condescended for that time saving the rights of Burgh to let her desire be fulfilled This Abbot recovered many Rents belonging to the Church and many grants were made to it in his time but I do not find in what years nor have I room to mention them particularly But one must not be forgotten which was the Gift of a whole Street in Burgh by Will. de Wauton or Walton Son of William Son of John de Wauton who says dedi concessi hac presenti carta mea confirmavi Dominis meis Richardo Abhati de Burgo Sancti Petri ejusdem loci convent totam illam plateam cum domibus super aedificatis in villa Burgi sitam in Market stede c. There is a grant which John Gowke of Stowe also made of a Meadow to him which runs in this Style Dedi concessi hac presenti Charta mea confirmavi Domino Ricard Dei gratia Abbati de Burg. Sancti Petri ejusdem loci conventui totum pratum meum c. But Richard himself I find writes himself Abbot only permissione Divina There was an agreement made between him and Oliver Bishop of Lincoln about some things in difference but they are not mentioned in the MS. Chron. Johan Abbatis ad an 1282. where there are these words Dominus Rex Edwardus Walliam adiit David novum principem cepit Facta est etiam concordia inter Dominum Oliverum Episcopum Lincoln Ricardum Abbatem Burgi But four years after they were at difference again perhaps about the same thing for in the fourteenth of Edward the First Dr. Thoreton's Hist of Nottingham p. 190. the Bishop of Lincoln complained of the Abbot of Peterburgh for setting up a Gallows at his Mannor of Collingham and there hanging a Thief to the derogation of the liberty of the Wapentack of Newark which the Bishop held of the grant of the Kings predecessors To which the Abbot answered That the Kings Father in the 37th year of his Reign granted him and his successors Infangthef and Vtfangthef in all his Hundreds and Demeasnes and so he avowed his Gallows and complained against the Bishop for taking two Horses and six Cows at Newark and driving them to his Parc or Pound and there detaining them To which the Bishop replied That he held his Wapentak of the gift of the King within which were the two Towns of Collingham which the said Abbot held and for which he ought to make suit at the said Wapentac by three Men of each Town which he not doing therefore he took the Horses and Kine The Cause went against the Abbot and he was constrained to submit and pull down his Gallows It was this Abbot I suppose who bound himself and whole Convent and all their Goods to certain Merchants for a summ of Mony for the Kings use who made over to them his Mannor de Graham and all the Appurtenances until the Debt was satisfied with all damages and expences For I find Letters Patents of this King Edward the First unto the Abbot and Convent of Burgh making mention of this and of the Writings on each part under their Hands and Seals and how the Debt being paid the Abbot and Convent had restored to the King his part with his Seal but he could not find their Counter-part Which therefore he declared by these Letters to be cassa vacua penitus nullius valoris in perpetuum and should be restored to the Abbot when it could be found There is a Petition also to this King from the Abbot that they might enjoy the right they had per cartas omnium Regum Angliae à tempore Williemi Bastardi usque ad nunc to the Tithe of all the Venison decimam totius venationis taken in the County of Northampton by whomsoever taken in possession of which they had always peaceably remained Which the King confirmed by two Charters and the Queen also sent her Letters about it In this Year 14 of Edw. 1. William Parys died who built as Mr. G. observes the Chappel of the Blessed Virgin adjoyning to the Church on the North-side of the Quire So the MS. Chron. ascribed to John Abbot MCCLXXXVI obiit Dominus Willielmus Parys Prior Burgi Successit Dominus Ricardus de Bernewell This Chapel was finished six year before being consecrated as I observed before by Oliver Sutton in the year 1290. There was a Chapel of the blessed Virgin belonging to this Church before called Capella beatae Virginis de Parco as I noted in the life of Akarius because it stood I suppose in the Park belonging to this Monastery But I find no other memory of it The same Chronicon of John Abbot notes ad An. MCCXCV obiit Dominus Ricardus Abbas Burgi Cui successit Willielmus de Wodeford He departed this Life on the first of August after he had been Abbot one and twenty year For on that day the Kalendar saith was Depositio Ricardi de London Abbatis WILLIHELMVS de Wodeford He was born I suppose at Wodeford in this County where this Church had a great deal of Land as appears from many Records but more particularly from a Transcript of all the Mannors and Tenements of the Abby of Burgh in the several Counties of the Realm as they are contained en le domes dai in Tesauraria Domini Regis apud Westemon tempore Regis Edwardi primi which was made about this time and remains in our Book Fol. CCXCII c. The most memorable thing that I can find done in his time was the Taxation of all the Mannors of the Abbey for their Goods Temporal and Spiritual by Apostolical i. e. the Papal authority which was done I find by 24 Jurates 12 Clergymen and 12 Laymen in the first year of this Abbot 1296. It remains still at the end of the Book called Swapham Fol. CCCXLV. bearing this
all the English Saints lye that he who desired to address himself to any particular Saint might know where to find him or her And speaking of Tibba he saith she was cosin to the two forenamed Sisters Kyneburgh and Kyneswith whose Reliques here were in such high esteem that Ingalphus reckons the treading of their pretious pledges under Feet as one of the principal profanations when this Monastery was demolished by the Danes in the year 870. when Altaria omnia suffossa c. Sanctarum Virginum Kyneburgae Kyneswitae Tibbae pretiosa pignora pedibus conculcata P. 23. Edit Oxon. Henry of Bolingbroke then Earl of Derby afterward Duke of Hereford and at last King of England lay for some time in this Monastery with a great train in the beginning of this Abbots Government Particularly in the year 1392 when his Courtiers as my Author calls them Hist Croyland Continuatio p. 489. threatned to destroy Depynge and its inhabitants as enemies to him and his Father as well as injurious to Croyland which had suffered much by them and the neighbouring people of Holland Which put them into such a fright that the Steward of the Courts of the Earl of Kent Lord of Depynge and four and twenty of the best of the Town came with all speed to Burgh St. Peter and submitted themselves to the mercy of the Earl of Derby Whose Treasurer interceded for them and procured their Pardon upon promised confirmed by their Oath that they would keep the Peace hereafter with all Hollanders and most strictly punish all disturbers of it that could be found among them WILLIELMUS GENGE If he were the first Mitred Abbot of this Church as Mr. G. sayes Sir H. Spelman's notion is not true that they put on Miters in token they had Episcopal Jurisdiction and being advanced to the dignity of Barons sate in Parliaments which no other Abbots did For the Abbot of Burgh St. Peter sate in Parliament in the 4th year of Edw. 3. as appears by the summons to the Parliament at Winton And there is little truth also in what is commonly said that Mitred Abbots were not subject to any Bishop for after this Abbots time I shall show presently the Bishop of Lincoln kept both the Abbot and Convent for some time under his Visitation There are certain Constitutions I find made by him 1398. and others in the years 1401. and 1406. which I can but mention JOHANNES DEEPING The first of Henry 5th was the fifth year of his Abbotship as a memorandum still remaining tells us and thence we learn he was made Abbot 1407. All that I find of him are some Statutes which he made 1409. about the right observations of certain Festivals and others made by him in the year 1420. Which he calling the eleventh year of his Abbotship from thence it appears he was not made Abbot till the year 1409 He defended also the right the Church had to the Mannor of Walcote in Lincolnshire as I have observed already in the 13 year of Henry the 4th an 1314. against Thomas of Lancaster the Kings Son making it appear that it had been part of the Demeasnes of the Abbey from the first Foundation and had never held of the aforesaid Thomas his Mannor in Holderness In the year 1421. which was the eighth of Hen. 5. a complaint being made to the King of grievous excesses and abuses among the black Monks of the Order of St. Benet all the Abbots and Priors of that Order were Hist Croyl Contin p. 513. summoned to appear before the King at Westminster Where in the Chapterhouse on the 7th of May the King being personally present the charge against them was read by the Bishop of Exeter and he with several persons on both sides were appointed to consider it and to make a reformation which they all promised the King hereafter faithfully to observe RICHARDVS ASHTON In his time about the year 1448. the controversie between this Abbey and that of Croyland revived again the Metes and Bounds of the several Fens belonging to each which had been limited in divers places which the History mentions by crosses and other marks being so worn Hist Croyl Continuatio P. 525. c. out by carelesness in length of time that a very obscure and confused knowledge was the most that was left of them But by the consent of parties and the supervising of the Bishop of Lincoln the business was referred to four indifferent Arbitrators the Abbots and their Convents binding themselves under their Seals in an Obligation of a thousand Marks to acquiesce in what they should Decree Who met several times and inspected the Evidences on both sides but after much time and expences could not agree to determine any thing but resolved to throw the matter upon the Abbots themselves to make an end of it Who met at Ibury a Mannor of the Abbot of Burgh with the Priors of each Monastery and heard from one of the Arbitrators what it was which they would not determin without the express consent of both parties but after much discourse between them they could come to no agreement nor was the controversie setled till many years after But the most remarkable thing in this Abbots time is the pains he took in the regulation of Divine Service in this Monastery about which he made many Ordinances with the consent of all the Convent and drew up a Gustomary out of the ancient usages of the Church for all the Sundays from the Octaves of Whitsunday to the first Sunday in Advent All which are yet extant in his Grace's the Lord Archbishop of Canterburie's Library at Lambeth in two Volumes One written by Simon of Yarwell as he tells us in six verses at the beginning of the Book the other by John Trentam who concludes it with the like verses By this Customary they were directed how to sing their Offices longer or shorter every day as is expressed in the last Rubrick of it Before these Books is prefixed the Ecclesiastical Kalendar which I have had occasion frequently to name at the side of which are set down those Festivals or Anniversaries which were peculiar to this Church and their neighbour as follows January 3. Depositio Domini Martini Abbatis viz. the first of that name 6. Will. de Hotot Abbatis Anniversarium Richardi de Waterville Johannis filii ejus 13. Depositio Elfini Abbatis Anniversarium Matthai Capellani 23. Depositio Domini Elfrici Archiepiscopi February 21. Depositio Domini Andreae Abbatis Abbas missam celebravit 26. Commemoratio fundatorum omnium benefactorum March 1. Depositio Joh. de Caleto Abbatis pro anima Patris Matris ejus Anniversarium Ivonis Supprioris The Abbot was to say Mass himself and the Prior read Divine Service usque ad dirige Quia ista Depositio est in Albis One Ivo de Gunthorp gave all his Lands in Witherington to this Church as appears by the Charter of Rich. 1. who perhaps
that Church who inriched it with many others also particularly of St. Oswald King and Martyr vid. 3. Vol. p. 332. It would be too long here to name all the other Churches with whom this of Burgh made the like Confederations which shall be put in the Appendix having this further to note that it appears by the forenamed Customary a piece of the Cross was presented to them all to kiss in Passion-week and that there being Sixty four Monks in this Richard Ashton's time there hapned so great a mortality among them that thirty two or more of the best Monks in the Monastery died So that Divine Service could not be performed according to the Statutes then made but they were forced to omit some things which in those Books were appointed WILLIELMVS RAMSET It appears by a Record at the end of those Lambeth Books that in the year 1483. John Russel Bishop of Lincoln summoned the Convent to come and attend him at Bugden in his Visitation adhuc pendente and there gave them Injunctions about their behaviour one towards another and towards the Abbot William Who was still subject to the Episcopal Jurisdiction notwithstanding his Mitre as all his Predecessors had been For there had been anciently a Decree in a Synod held near Cloveshom in the year 747. and that in obedience to the Letters of Pope Zachary which were publickly read in the Assembly for the reformation of Manners that the Bishops should visit their Dioceses every year and admonish both Abbots and Monks to live regularly as William of Malmsbury informs us In pursuance of which this Monastery had been often visited and Injunctions given to them as I could easily show had I room for such Discourses I shall content my self only with the account I find in our Books of the Visitation of that famous Bishop of Lincoln Robert Grosthead who visited tam domus Religiosas quam Ecclesias Parochiales And among others required the Abbot and Convent of Burgh to show what Right they had to the Monastery of St. Michael in Stamford and the Hospital of St. Thomas there upon the Bridge and the House of the Lepers to all which they pretended And they making it appear that they were Patrons of them and that their Consent was requisite to the choice of a Prioress of St. Michael and that they were in the quiet possession of appointing Custodes to hear the Confession of the Nuns in that place a Presentation being made of them to the Bishop and of placing Custodes also in the Hospital and in the House of Lepers and that the Nuns in the Monastery and the Friers in the Hospital and in the House of the Lepers were not received but by consent of the Abbot who had right to enter into the Monastery of St. Michael and to make Moniales professas which Possession he showed he had time out of mind by Witnesses and by Letters of Hugh Bishop of Lincoln who had also here visited and by Letters of the Nuns themselves thereupon the forenamed Robert Grostehead having sitting by him for his assistance his Official R. de Cadencia and many other persons pronounced that the Abbot who was there present was in the quiet possession of all the aforesaid salvo jure uniuscujusque The contention about the Fenn de Alderlond was renewed in the same year 1483. between Richard Abbot of Croyland and William Ramsey Abbot of Burgh which had hung long as the Continuation of Croyland's History observes Page 569. but was comprimised by Thomas Rotheram formerly Bishop of Lincoln and Ordinary of the Place now Archbishop of York Yet it was not finally determined and settled till two or three years after when both parties submitting themselves to the Archbishop he Decreed under the penalty of a thousand pound that the Abbot and Convent of Croyland should pay an annual Pension of ten pound a year to the Monastery of Burgh until they had at their own charge purchased Land of that yearly value to be delivered in perpetual possession to the Monastery of Burgh or had at their own like expence appropriated and united to the said Monastery of Burgh the Church of Brynkehurst or Eston in the County of Leicester which belonged to the Patronage of the said Monastery Whereupon Edmond Thorp then Abbot of Croyland chose to do the latter and accordingly the Church of Brynkehurst was appropriated for the perpetual uses of the Monastery of Burgh and Letters Patents from the King were obtained for Licence to do it Ib. 577. And by another Continuation of the same History it appears that John Russel Bishop of Lincoln before mentioned came to Croyland and staid there a whole Month with twenty other persons for whom as well as himself he gave them such satisfaction as contented both Parties in which time after conference with the Abbot of Burgh at Singlesholt the Union and Appropriation was made judicially by the Episcopal Sentence which is there at large set down Pag. 582. and 587. with all other proceedings in that Business The broad Seal also was procured for the confirmation of it which was to put an end to all Controversies whereby both Abbeys had received much damage as the Reader may find p. 588 589 593. to which I must referr him It was in this Abbot's days also that John Wysbeck Abbot of Croyland by his industry and gentle management procured an exchange of that 4. Stone of Wax which was yearly paid by them to the Church of Burgh on St. Peters day in the nature of a Service not to say Homage as the Continuator of that History speakes p. 560 into a yearly Pension of twenty shillings in money that more sincere Love might be preserved between the Brethren of each Monastery for the future This was in the year 1477. ROBERT KIRKTON The Contention which Mr. G. mentions between him and the Inhabitants of Peterburgh makes me think he was the Abbot who Petitioned the King against certain of the Towns-men who seditiously opposed his Jurisdiction and his appointment of Officers there Which Petition was among our Records concerning the Mannor of Peterburgh as I find in a Note of the Titles of them which is all that remains till in the late great Rebellion it with the rest was torn in pieces or burnt There is another Note whereby it appears the 14th of Henry 8. was the 26th year of his Abbotship and therefore he was made Abbot not in the year 1496. but 1497. JOHN CHAMBERS There is this traditional story goes concerning the preservation of this Church at the dissolution of Abbeys that a little after Queen Katherine's Interment here which Mr. G. mentions some Courtiers suggesting to the King how well it would become his Greatness to erect a fair Monument for her he answered Yes he would leave her one of the goodliest Monuments in Christendom meaning this Church for he had then in his thoughts the demolishing of Abbeys which shortly after followed John Chambers also preserved himself
in favour by making a Resignation of his Abbey as many did under the common Seal into the Kings hands Which though I cannot find in the Augmentation Office yet there is a Grant there made by King Henry to Abbot Chambers which confirms me in this opinion It bears date 1 March An. 31 Hen. 8. which was 1540. before the Bishoprick was erected by which it is expressed that the Monastery of Peterburgh being dissolved the King out of his Grace and Favour did grant to the said late Abbot Chambers Two hundred and sixty pound thirteen shillings and four pence per annum during his life with an hundred Load of Wood out of the Woods called Eastwood and Westwood There were Letters which are now lost sent from the Duke of Somerset and others of the Council 1548. to examine the matter in Controversie between the Bishop of Peterburgh and one Acton concerning words pretended to be spoken against the Sacrament and concerning Images in the Church undefaced with Plate sold out of the Town-Church How it ended I cannot find nor have I any thing to add about David Pool who was made Bishop in Queen Mary's time Of Bishop SCAMBLER I might say much more than is in Mr. G. but have not room for it For before those Articles mentioned by Mr. G. there were Injunctions or Ordinations given to the Dean and Chapter by Thomas Yale Dr. of Law and Edward Leeds Licentiate and John Porey Dr. in Divinity being Visitors and Commissaries authorized by the Archbishop of Canterbury to exercise his Metropolitical Visitation c. They were in number Nine publicatae traditae octavo die Januarii 1560. in domo Capitulari Ecclesiae Cathedralis Petriburg The Injunctions also and Articles of Inquiry in several Triennial Visitations of Bishop Scambler are still remaining in the years 1561 1564 1567. in which year I find 21 Injunctions of his to the Dean and Chapter and other Ministers and 1570. In the next Visitation 1573. he delivered no Articles to be enquired of nor more Injunctions but only commanded them to keep their Statutes which were not against the Queens Majesty's Proceedings nor her Visitors c. In the last of these Visitations but one it was that the Tabernacles were taken down in the Ladies Chappel which was not done till the 12. of Elizabeth How this Bishop passed away the Lands of the Bishoprick wherewith King Henry had indowed it Mr. G. hath related in part Others have told us more and that he obtained his Translation to Norwich as a Reward of one of these Grants to a great man at Court RICHARD HOWLAND Bishop They that would read more of the History of Mary Queen of Scots may find a great many memorable things in the Memoires of Sir James Melvil a faithful Servant of hers and of his Country not long ago brought to light Bishop Morton in his Protestant Appeal L. IV. Cap. I. hath given the best account I meet with of that passage which the Apology of the Roman Church took out of Martin Prelate in the Bishop of Lincoln's Sermon at her Funeral which made a great noise among factious people who reported that he prayed his Soul and the Souls of all there present might be with the Soul of the Queen deceased But the truth of the Story he saith was this that the Reverend Bishop now mentioned understanding how that great and honorable personage in the last act of her life renounced all presumption of her own inherent righteousness and wholly affianced her Soul unto Christ in belief to be justified only by his satisfactory Justice did therefore conceive hope of her Salvation by vertue of that Cordial prescribed by the holy Apostle viz. that where sin aboundeth the grace of God doth super-abound Which the Apostle hath ministred for the comfort of every Christian who erring by Ignorance shall by sincere repentance especially for all known sins depart this mortal life having the heel or end of it shod with this preparation of the Gospel of peace not of the new Romish but of the old Catholick Faith which is the faith of all Protestants And this consideration of that our Preacher cannot but worthily condemn the Apologists of partial prejudice who chose rather to be informed concerning that Sermon by as they confess a reproachful traducer and libeller than which they might easily have done by testimony of a thousand temperate and indifferent hearers then present I referr the Reader to Sir John Harrington's brief view of the State of the Church c. for an account of Dr. Fletchers advancement from the Deanry of Peterburgh to the Bishoprick of Bristol and so to London which he himself could not justifie but was forced to cry Herein the Lord be merciful to me THOMAS DOVE The same Sir John Harrington saith he had known this Bishop to have been greatly respected and favoured by Queen Elizabeth and no less liked and approved in the more learned judgment of King James When the Queen first heard him she said she thought the holy Ghost was descended again in this Dove for he was a very eloquent Preacher In his time there was a Font erected in the Body of the Church where none had been before whereof there is this Memorial in the Register Book Baptisterium in Nave Ecclesiae Cathedralis de Burgo Sancti Petri Anno Salutis MDCXV gravissimorum virorum Georgii Dean Meriton meritò istius Ecclesiae Decani reliquorumque tunc temporis Paerbendariorum consilio extructum nam antea nullum in Ecclesia extiterat Reverendissimus in Christo Pater Dominus Thomas de Burgo Sancti Petri Episcopus in magna hominum Corona solenni processione illuc adductus consecravit scilicet Psalmo LXXXIV prius a Choro coetu decantato tum demum piâ eleganti fervidâ precatione Deo suppliciter invocato ut servis suis Baptizantibus Baptizandis omnibusque aliis infantes ad hoc sacrum Christi lavacrum adducentibus spiritu suo in perpetuum adesse velit Hac finita solennitate mox ad Baptismum allatus est venerabilis viri Mri. Jo. annis Bridgeman sacrae Theologiae Doctoris ac serenissimo Jacobo Regi à sacris in ista Ecclesia primam tunc Prebendam occupantis filiolus Qui imposito Henrici nomine sponsoribus praedicto Domino Episcopo Humfrido Orme milite Elizabetha Vxore D. D. Walter Waley in Christi familiam ascriptus est Cui omnibus in posterum baptizandis benedicat Deus Amen I must omit all the rest and only take notice of two or three things of later date which ought not to be forgotten Bishop Laney his benevolence mentioned by Mr. G. was this He gave an hundred Pound toward the repairing one of the great Arches of the Church Porch which was faln down in the late times Dr. Cosins Dean of this Church and after the Kings Restauration made Bishop of Durham by his last Will and Testament gave forty Pound for a Monument to be erected
of Peterburgh On the 30 of November 1539. being the 31 of King Henry 8. an Inventory was taken as followeth Imprimis One Cross set with Crystal silver and gilt Item One Cross of silver gilt with a staff of silver Item One Cross of Byrral with a staff of silver Item One old Cross plated upon wood Item Five staves of the Rectores Chori with heads of silver Item Two Candlesticks gilt Item Two Candlesticks parcel gilt Item Two Censors gilt parcel of them Item One Censor gilt Item One Ship gilt with a foot Item One little Bason and Ewre gilt Item Ten Chalices gilt with the Patens Item One little Chalice parcel gilt Item One broken Crewet gilt Item One holy water-stock parcel gilt Item A Ghospeller and a Superaltare garnished with silver and gilt Item Two Verge rods of silver ALTAR-Cloths Item One Altar-Cloth of two Kings and Bishops Item Two Altar-Cloths of Purple Velvet embroidered with Eagles and Flower de Luces Item Two Altar-Cloths of Bawdkyn Item Two Altar-Cloths of Cloth of silver Item Two Altar-Cloths of Bawdkyn with Leopards and Stars Item Two Altar-Cloths of white Bawdkyn Item One Altar-Cloth of white Diaper with a border embroidered with Bucks ALBES Red Albes for Passion-week 27. Item Eight Albes with Crowns and Moons Item Fourteen red Albes Item Forty blue Albes of divers sorts Item Seven and twenty other Albes to be worn on single Feasts Item Six Albes with Peter-Keys Item Six Albes called The Kydds Item Seven Albes called Meltons Item Six Albes called Doggs Item One old Albe richly embroidered Item Eight Albes with Apples of Cloth of gold Item Eight Albes with Apples of blue Tissew Item Five old Albes with red Tissew Item Eight Albes embroidered with Vines Item Five old Albes embroidered Item Fourteen Albes embroidered with divers sorts Item Thirty Albes of old Cloth of Bawdkyn Item Nine Albes embroidered with green Item Thirteen Albes of divers sorts Item Fourteen green Albes with counterfeit Cloth of gold Item Four Albes called Ferial White Item Seven Albes called Ferial Black VESTMENTS Item One suit of Crimson Velvet upon Velvet with a Cope and Albe suitable to the same Item One Chesible with an Albe called The Burgon Item One suit of blue Damask with a Cope and thirteen Albes to the same Item One suit of Purple Velvet embroidered with Flowers and Angels with a Cope and five Albes Item One suit of black Velvet with a Cope and four Albes with Flowers Item One suit of rich white Cloth of Bawdkyn with seven Albes Item One suit of blue Velvet with five Albes Item One suit of red Velvet with ragged staves with three Albes of green Bawdkyn Item One suit of Crimson Velvet with Flowers and one Cope and three Albes Item One suit of red Satin with three Albes Item One suit of red Tissew with three Tunicles Item One suit of blue Tissew with two Tunicles Item One suit of Cloth of gold with orphers of Tissew Item One suit called The Crowns with two Copes Item One suit called The Londus with four Copes Item One suit of Peter Keys with two Copes Item One suit of the Doggs with two Copes Item One suit of the Meltons so called with eight Copes Item One suit called Overtons with three Copes Item One white suit called Godfreys without a Cope Item One suit of white silk called The Georges with eight Copes Item One suit called the Kydds with four Copes Item One suit called Red Needle-work with two Copes Item One suit of green silk called Martyrs with four Copes Item One suit called The Squirrels with two Copes Item One suit of green silk called The Cocks with one Cope Item One suit of green Velvet with one Cope Item One suit of yellow silk with two Copes Item One suit of changeable silk with one Cope Item One suit called The Daysies with one Cope Item One suit called The Popinjays without a Cope Item One suit of Purple Velvet without a Cope Item One Vestment of black Velvet with one Albe Item Three Tunicles of black Woorsted Item One suit of course red without a Cope Item Three Tunicles with Peter Keys Item One Vestment called The Vines COPES Imprimis Eighteen of red Tissew Item Two Copes called The Burgons Item Three Copes called The Golds. Item Six Copes of red Velvet Item Three Copes of red Bawdkin Item One Cope of red Damask Item Six Copes of blue Tissue Item Two Copes of dun Tissue Item Nine blue Copes called The Roots Item Five Copes of blue Velvet Item Thirteen Copes of blue silk called The Georges Item Seven Copes of blue Bawdkin called The Hindes Item Four Copes of old black Bawdkin Item Seven Copes of Sattin of Cyprus Item Three Copes of red silk Item Three Copes of green silk Item Four Copes of red Needlework Item Four Copes of green Velvet Item Thirteen Copes of white Silk Item Two other Copes In the QUIRE Imprimis The high Altar plated with Silver well gilt with one image of Christs passion and a little shrine of Copper enameled for the Sacrament Item two pair of Organs and two desks of Latten seven Basins hanging with four Candlesticks and Banners of Silk above the Quire joyning to the Tomb where Q. Katharine lieth buried Item in the inclosed place where the Lady Katharine lieth buried one Altar Cloth of black Cloth one Pall of black Velvet with white cloth of Silver Crossed and one white Altar Cloth Item belonging to the same remaining in the Sacristy two Candlesticks of Silver parcel Gilt one Chalice and two Crewets gilt Item One pair of Vestments of black Velvet with an Albe to the same Item Ten Cloaths called Pedecloaths to lye before the high Altar Item Sixteen Cloaths to hang in the Quire Item At the upper end of the Church three Altars and upon every Altar a Table of the Passion of Christ Gilt with three stained Fronts In the Ladies CHAPPEL Imprimis An Image of our Lady with reddis Rissey set in a Tabernacle well gilt upon Wood with twelve great Images and four and thirty small Images of the same work about the Chappel Item a pair of Organs one Desk and four Seats one Tabernacle of the Trinity and one other of our Lady one Desk and one old Candlestick of Latten four Pedecoaths called Tapets Item Two Vestments of white Damask with Flowers one red vestment of Satten with Flowers and also Albes for the same Item One suit of Crimson Velvet with Orphers of Imagery of Gold and one Cope and four Albes Item Three white Altar Cloaths one of them Diaper with three old painted Fronts two Orfers eight Surplisses In S. Johns CHAPPEL Item A Table of Alabaster one front of painted Cloaths with two Images of Alabaster In S. James CHAPPEL Item One Table of Alabaster two Images of the same and one Front of painted Cloaths In the Rood LOFT Item One Table upon the Altar eighteen Images well