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
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
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
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
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
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
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
  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
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
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
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
it was near the Chappel of S. Laurence which was at the East end of the Infirmary now demolished only the Chancel of that Chappel is yet remaining and made the Hall of a dwelling House belonging to one of the Prebendaries But to return to our Story Penda King of the Mercians at that time reigned who had five Children Peada Wulfere and Ethelred being his Sons Kyneburga and Kyneswitha his Daughters Penda being dead Peada his eldest Son succeeded who in the year 656 or as some say 655 founded the Monastery of Medeshamsted in the Foundation whereof he laid such Stones as that eight Yoke of Oxen could scarce draw one of them But King Peada lived not to finish his Work for his Wife Alfleda forgetting the glorious Memory of her Ancestors Oswald the martyred King of Northumberland her Grandfather King Oswine her Father and King Alfred her Brother betrayed him to Death at the Paschal Feast when he had reigned four Years Then did his Crown and Kingdom descend upon Wolfere his next Brother This Wolfere was made a Christian by Finanus a Bishop who came out of Scotland for that Kingdom had Bishops then and long before and being baptized by Finanus Wolfere vowed to purge his Kingdom from Idolatry to demolish all idolatrous places and to the utmost of his power to promote Christian Religion which Vow he likewise made the second time when he was married to S. Ermenilda daughter of Egbert King of Kent Malmsbury calleth him Erconbert but within a while giving too much ear to Werbode his Steward he neglected his Vow taking no care of Christian Religion The life of Ermenild is related in an ancient M S. of Ely now in the hand of Geo. Glapthorn Esq p. nor of erecting Temples but committed many Impieties so that the Chaos of Heathenism began to overspread all again He had by his Wife S. Ermenilda two Sons the elder Wulfade the other Rufine Wulfade was much addicted to Hunting and one day pursuing a goodly Hart which being hotly pursued took Soil in a Fountain near unto the Cell of S. Chad who espying the Hart weary and almost spent was so compassionate towards him that he covered him with Boughs and Leaves conjecturing as if Heaven had some design in the access and deportment of that Beast Presently comes Prince Wulfade and enquired of S. Chad concerning the Hart who answered That he was not a Keeper of Beasts but of the Souls of Men and that Wulfade was then as an Hart to the Water Brooks sent by God to the Fountain of Living Water which Wulfade hearing with astonishment entred into further conference with S. Chad in his Cell and was by him baptized And returning with joy to his Father's Court he secretly told his Brother Rufine of all that had passed perswading him to be baptized also to which Rufine consenting Wulfade brought him to S. Chad who likewise baptized this other Brother This Christian pair of Brothers did often resort to a private Oratory where they performed their Devotions but at length being discovered to their Father by the Steward Werbode who instigated and inflamed the fire of paternal fury against the Sons King Wolfere the Father watching the time when his Sons were gone to pray followed them and entering the Oratory slew both his Sons with his own hand and he and Werbode demolishing the place left the bodies of his Sons buried in the rubbish Shortly after this unnatural and bloudy act Werbode the Steward was strangled by the Devil before the Kings house and King Wolfere being deeply wounded in conscience the distraction whereof deprived him of all rest and quietness what through the worm tormenting him within and S. Ermenild his Wife without counselling him thereto repaired to S. Chad to whom he confessed his great offence and professed an hearty contrition for the same which he was resolved to expiate with what ever Pennance S. Chad should impose upon him which was no more but to restore the Christian Religion and the ruinated Temples thereof and likewise to found new ones Walter of Wittlesey an ancient Monk of Peterburgh writing this Story relates what I will not press upon the Readers faith That S. Chad having prayed with King Wolfere in his Oratory prayers being ended S. Chad put off his Vestment and hanged it upon a Sun-beam which supported it that it fell not to the ground which King Wolfere seeing put off his Gloves and Belt and assayed to hang them there also but they presently fell to the ground whereat King Wolfere was the more confirmed in the Christian Faith In the Western Cloyster of the Church of Peterburgh as shall hereafter be more largely related was the story of this King Wolfere curiously painted in the Windows and in the midst of the quadrangle of the whole Cloyster commonly called The Laurel Yard was there a Well which common Tradition would have to be that wherein S. Chad concealed Prince Wulfades heart And if it shall be considered that King Wolfere the Father did sometime Speed in his description of Northamptonshire keep his Court at Wedon in the Street in the Western parts of this County of Northampton it may make way for a probable conjecture that these things hapned at Peterburgh But the scene must not be laid in a wrong place for S. Chad had his Cell in the County of Stafford was the first Bishop of Litchfield where Beda Hist Angl. lib. 4. cap. 3. he founded the Cathedral Church and there lieth buried And Queen Ermenild having searched for the bodies of her Sons found them out and giving them burial built in the same place where they were slain a Church of Stone and called the place Stanes or Stones which is known by this name in Stafford-shire unto this day There also King Wolfere founded a Colledge of Regular Canons And now the building of the Monastery of Medeshamsted begun by King Peada went on a-main through the zealous endeavours of King Wolfere his Brother Etheldred and his Sisters Kyneburga and Kyneswitha assisting him therein until the same was perfected which he dedicated to the memory of the Apostle S. Peter bestowed many large priviledges and immunities upon it gave many fair possessions and established the bounds of its jurisdiction Vid. Char. in App. from Croyland on the East to Walmisford Bridge on the West and so Northward to Eston and Stamford and all along by the River of Wiland to Croyland again as is more at large set down in his Charter which he Sealed and Confirmed in the presence of Kings Nobles and Bishops in the Year of our Lord 664. and the seventh of his Reign The Quarry from whence King Wolfere fetched Stone for this Royal Structure was undoubtedly that of Bernack near unto Stamford where the Pitts from their hollow vacuities speak Antiquity and contribution to some such great design and I find in the Charter of K. Edward the Confessor Anno which he granted to the
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
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
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
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
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
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
say January 16. being the year of our Lord 1560. What he was for Learning and integrity of Religion in the now reformed Church of England wherein he was a Bishop may appear by these Doctrinal Articles which in his first Episcopal Visitation he prescribed to the Dean and Prebendaries of his Church requiring their subscription thereunto For as yet the general Articles of the Church of England were not formed until about two years after Jan. 29. 1562. B. Scamblers Articles were these 1 Sacra Scriptura in se continet omnem doctrinam pietatis ex qua sufficienter error convinci possit veritas stabiliri 2 Symbolum Nicaenum Athanasii quod communiter Apostolorum dicitur continent brevissime articulos fidei nostrae sparsim in Scripturis ostensos qui istis non crediderint inter veros Catholicos non sunt recipiendi 3 Ecclesia Christi est in qua purum Dei verbum praedicatur sacramenta juxta Christi ordinationem administrantur in qua clavium autoritas retinetur 4 Quaevis Ecclesia particularis autoritatem habet instituendi mutandi abrogandi caeremonias ritus Ecclesiasticos modo ad decorem ordinem aedificationem fiat 5 Christus tantum duo sacramenta expresse nobis commendat Baptisma Eucharistiam quae conferunt gratiam rite sumentibus etiamsi malus sit Minister non prosunt indigne sumentibus quamvis bonus sit Minister 6 Laudandus est Ecclesiae mos baptizandi parvulos retinendus 7 Coena Dominica non est tantum Symbolum benevolentiae Christianorum interse sed magis Symbolum est nostrae redemptionis per Christi mortem nostrae conjunctionis cum Christo ubi fidelibus vere datur exhibetur Communio corporis sanguinis Domini 8 Sacramentum Eucharistiae ex usu Primitivae Ecclesiae neque servabatur vel elevabatur vel adorabatur 9 Missa quae consuevit a sacerdotibus dici non erat a Christo constituta sed a multis Romanis Pontificibus confirmata nec est Eucharistia ex se sacrificium propitiatorium sed recordatio sacrificii semel peracti 10 Scholastica transubstantiatio panis vini in corpus sanguinem Christi probari non potest ex sacris literis 11 Non omne peccatum mortale seu voluntariò perpetratum post baptismum est irremissibile peccatum in Spiritum Sanctum 12 Post acceptum Spiritum potest homo peccare ac denuo resipiscere neque sine peccato vivit quamvis regeneratio in Christo imputetur 13 Justificatio ex sola fide est certissima doctrina Christianorum 14 Elizabetha Regina Angliae est unicus supremus gubernator hujus regni omnium dominiorum regionum suarum quarumcunque in rebus causis Ecclesiasticis quam temporalibus 15 Verbum Dei non prohibet foeminarum regimen cui obediendum est juxta ordinationem Dei 16 Romanus Pontifex nullam habet jurisdictionem in hoc regno Angliae nec alia quaecunque potestas extranea 17 Leges civiles possunt Christianos propter flagitia morte punire 18 Christianis licet ex jussu Principis bella gerere ex justa causa propria possidere 19 Doctrina scholasticorum de Purgatorio invocatione Divinorum nullum habet fundamentum ex verbo Dei 20 Praeceptum Dei est ut quae leguntur in Ecclesia illa lingua proferantur quae ab Ecclesia intelligatur 21 Absque externa legitima vocatione non licet cuiquam sese ingerere in aliquod ministerium Ecclesiasticum vel seculare 22 Matrimonium inter Christianos legitime juxta verbum Dei initum contractum est indissolubile nec per traditiones hominum unquam vellendum 23 Coelibatus nulli hominum statui praecipitur neque injungitur ministris Ecclesiae ex verbo Dei Haec omnia vera esse publice docenda profiteor eaque juxta datam mihi facultatem eruditionem tuebor docebo Hancque meam confessionem manus meae subscriptione testificor contrariamque doctrinam abolendam esse judico detestor By these Articles it may appear that Bishop Scambler was no friend to the Church of Rome nor they to him and whether it was for these Articles or some other Book which he published I find him recorded in the Roman Index of Books prohibited and branded with the Title of Pseudoëpiscopus But his name and memory are the more honourable by that name of Infamy which the Papists might cast upon the Worthies of our English Church Scambler having been Bishop here the space of twenty three years was translated to Norwich whither he that would know the residue of his life end burial or Epitaph must follow him it being without the Climate of our story But whilst he was at Peterburgh he empaired the honour priviledges and revenues of his Bishoprick passing quite away the Hundred of Nassaburgh with the whole Liberties thereof The Goal The Mannor of Thirlby The Mannor of Southorpe c. to the Queen from whom the Earls of Exeter enjoy them to this day As if King Henry had not taken away enough the Bishop himself would pass away more Scambler being translated to Norwich there succeeded 48 RICHARD HOWLAND Who was Master of S. John's Colledge in Cambridge and made Bishop here March 16. 1584. being the 27 year of Queen Elizabeth We have not much to say of him his parts or actions but shall enlarge this Paragraph of his being Bishop here with the story of Mary Queen of Scotts her death at Fotheringhay Castle and burial in the Cathedral Church of Peterburgh The whole progress of her life and actions from her first arrival in England May 16. 1568. to her coming to Fotheringhay with her several places of removal and several keepers is so largely related by Mr. Vdal Mr. Saunderson and others who have wrote her story that I shall remit the Reader to them and content my self with her death and burial Upon the seventh day of February 1586. eighteen years from her first arrival The Commissioners for her execution came to Fotheringhay the Earls of Shrewsbury Kent c. and Thomas The Earl of Shrewsbury was George Talbot and E. Marshal of England The Earl of Kent was Henry Grey Andrews of Sheriff of Northamptonshire for that year By these the Queen of Scotts understanding that the Lease of her life was not long to last only one day longer she seemed not dismayed with the Message but told the Commissioners she did not think that Queen Elizabeth would have consented to her death but since it was so she would most gladly embrace it and in order thereunto desired of the Commissioners the benefit of her Clergy that her Confessor might come to her which the Commissioners denying propounded the Bishop or Dean of Peterburgh which the Queen of Scotts refused The Commissioners being departed she gave order for her Supper at the time whereof she drank to her servants and comforted them because she saw them much
Lady 8. Scotish Gentlewomen Sr. Tho Cecil Sr. Tho. Mannors Sr. Edw. Mountague Sr. George Hastings Sr. Richard Knightly Sr. Andrew Nowell Sr. George Savel Sr. James Harrington Mr. John Mannors as a Knight 18. Scotish Gentlemen Divers Esquires with Gent. 2 Kings at Arms Garter Clarentius 5. Heralds at Arms. An hundred poor women The solemnity being setled the Prebends and the Quire which received them at the Church door sung an Antheme the Scotish all saving Mr. Melvin departed and would not tarry at Sermon or Ceremonies The Bishop of Lincoln preached Wickham out of that 39. Psalm 5 6 7 ver Lord let me know mine end c. Who shall gather them c. In the Prayer when he gave thanks for such as were translated out of this vale of misery he used these words Let us give thanks for the happy dissolution of the High and Mighty Princess Mary late Queen of Scotland and Dowager of France of whose life and death at this time I have not much to say because I was not acquainted with the one neither was I present at the other I will not enter into judgment further but because it hath been signified unto me that she trusted to be saved by the bloud of Christ we must hope well of her Salvation For as Father Luther was wont to say many one that liveth a Papist dieth a Protestant In the discourse of his Text he only dealt with general doctrine of the vanity of all flesh The Sermon ended the offering of the Chief Mourner and hatchments were received by the Bishop of Peterburgh and the offerings of the rest by the Dean which ended the mourners departed The Ceremony of burial was done by the Dean the Officers breaking their Staves and casting them into the vault upon the Coffin And so they departed to the Bishops house where was a great Feast appointed accordingly The concourse of people was of many thousands and after dinner the Nobles departed away every one towards his own home The Master of the Wardrobe paid to the Church for the breaking of the ground in the Quire and making the grave 10l And for the blacks of the Quire and Church 20l. When Cardinal Barbarini afterwards Pope Vrban 8. wrote his Poem upon this Queens death wherein he hath this Regalique tuum funus honore caret c. either he was ignorant of this her manner of interment or else he undervalued it as not suitable to her quality This relation was attested in a Church Register by Dean Fletcher himself subscribing his name thereunto to which especially that of the Sermon we may give more credit than to Martin Mar-Prelate who to slander the Bishops of England with Popery in a railing Pamphlet which he entituled an Epistle charged the Bishop of Lincoln with praying at this solemnity That his Soul and the Souls of all the rest there present might be with the Soul of that unrepentant Papist departed Though the Bishop as became a charitable Christian might hope well of her Salvation yet who but Martin again would accuse him of being so credulous as to bind up his own Salvation in so confident an assurance of hers Shortly after this interment there was a table hanged up against the wall which contained this Inscription Maria Scotorum Regina Regis filia Regis Gallorum Vidua Reginae Angliae Agnata Haeres proxima Virtutibus Regiis animo Regio ornata jure Regio Frustra saepius implorato barbara tyrannica Crudelitate ornamentum nostri seculi lumen Vere Regium extinguitur Eodem nefario judicio Et Maria Scotorum Regina morte naturali omnes Superstites Reges plebeii facti morte civili mulctantur Novum inauditum tumuli genus in quo cum vivis Mortui includuntur hic extat Cum sacris enim Divae Mariae cineribus omnium Regum atque Principum vio latam atque prostratam Majestatem hic jacere scito Et quia tacitum Regale satis superque Reges sui Officii monet plura non addo Viator Which in English may be rendred thus Mary Queen of Scots daughter of a King Widow of the King of France Cousin and next heir to the Queen of England adorned with Royal vertues and a Royal mind the right of Princes being oftentimes in vain implored by barbarous and Tyrannical cruelty the ornament of our age and truly Royal light is extinguished By the same unrighteous judgment both Mary Queen of Scots with natural death and all surviving Kings now made common persons are punished with civil death A strange and unusual kind of monument this is wherein the living are included with the dead For with the sacred ashes of this blessed Mary know that the Majesty of all Kings and Princes lieth here violated and prostrate And because Regal secrecy doth enough and more admonish Kings of their duty Traveller I say no more This Table continued not long but was taken away and cast aside by whose hand or order I know not yet the Royal Ensigns of an Helmet Sword and Scutcheon remained to the year 1643. hanging high over the place of her burial yet did not their height secure them from the storms which then fell upon this Church and Monuments After that the body of this Queen had rested in this place the space of 25 years her Son King James being minded to remove it to Westminster wrote to the Church of Peterburgh as followeth JAMES R. Rich. Neile TRusty and well-beloved we greet you well for that we think it appertains to the duty we owe to our dearest Mother that like honour should be done to her Body and like Monument be extant of Her as to others Hers and our Progenitors have been used to be done and our selves have already performed to our dear Sister the late Queen Elizabeth we have commanded a memorial of her to be made in our Church of Westminster the place where the Kings and Queens of this Realm are usually interred And for that we think it inconvenient that the Monument and Her body should be in several places we have ordered that her said Body remaining now interred in that our Cathedral Church of Peterburgh shall be removed to Westminster to her said monument And have committed the care and charge of the said translation of her body from Peterburgh to Westminster to the Reverend Father in God our right trusty and well-beloved servant the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield bearer hereof to whom we require you or to such as he shall assign to deliver the Corps of our said dearest Mother the same being taken up in as decent and respectful manner as is fitting And for that there is a Pall now upon the Hearse over Her Grave which will be requisite to be used to cover Her said Body in the removing thereof which may perhaps be deemed as a Fee that should belong to the Church we have appointed the said Reverend Father to pay you a reasonable redemption
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
Richard Kay B. D. Thurstane Murry Nicolas Brown B. D. Henry Williamson B. D. Thomas Dove M. A. Archdeacon of Northampton Henry Smith D. D. Mr. of Magd. Coll. Cambr. William Halls M. A. In the sixth PREBEND Richard White A Monk of the place Isham M. A. William Binsley Robert Johnson B. D. Richard Smith B. D. John Aungier L. D. Robert Summer M. A. now Parson of Northburgh John Wyldbore M. A. Parson of Wittering Thomas Lany B. D. John Whitehall I have now no more to do to the body of our story but to present the Reader with a relation of some few Monuments with their Inscriptions not yet mentioned and then the story of this Church will arrive at its period But before I give the relation of the Monuments of this Church I shall let the Reader know when and by whom they were destroyed In the year 1643. the Town of Croyland was by the inhabitants thereof made a Garrison for the King which they had great reason to do not only to shew themselves good Subjects but good Tenants they holding their Lands of him In the month of April on the 18 day came the Parliament-Forces to Peterburgh in order to the besieging of Croyland and here having settled themselves in their Quarters they fell to execute their fury upon the Cathedral destroying all things as the malicious Eye of each Sectarian Varlet prompted him to do mischief beating down the Windows defacing the Monuments tearing the Brass from Grave-stones plundering of Vestments Records and whatsoever else came to hand which nothing could resist Their Commanders of whom Cromwel was one if not acting yet not restraining the Souldiers in this heat of their fury But some two or three days after a finger of divine vengeance touched Cromwel although his rabble and he would not see it For being at that time quartered in the house of Mr. Cervington commonly called the Vineyard at the East end of the Cathedral out of the Court of which dwelling there was a passage into the Churchyard which since is mured up ascending by 3 or 4 Stone-steps Cromwel as others did riding up those steps his Horse fell under him and rising suddenly under the lintels of the door dashed his head against the lintels so that he fell to the ground as dead was so carried into the house and it was about a fortnight ere he could be recovered those who were eye-witnesses affirmed that the blow raised splinters in his Scalp near a fingers length But yet the siege of Croyland went on and on the 28 of April the Town was taken on the 5 of May. Cromwel with his Forces marched to Stamford and other places leaving the abomination of desolation in this Church behind them And now I shall give an accompt of such Monuments as were in the Church before their coming and have been added since I shall begin at the Nave or body of the Church where I shall omit such as are broken and worn out as not to be compleatly rendered Many also as bear only names and dates of burial which will give but little content to any that should read them As you enter into the Church high above on the left hand stands the figure of R. Scarlet once a Sexton of this Church one that was famous in his generation as may be collected by what is under written You see old Scarlet 's picture stand on high But at your feet there doth his body lye His gravestone doth his age and death time show His Office by these tokens you may know Second to none for strength and sturdie Limme A scare-babe mighty voice with visage grimm He had interr'd two Queens within this place And this towns Housholders in his live space Twice over But at length his own turn came What he for others did for him the same Was done No doubt his Soul doth live for ay In Heaven though here his body clad in clay Joyning to a Pillar on the Northside stood a comely Font the water whereof though it purged many yet it could not purge this Vessel in the opinion of those that brake it down 1643. Against the Cloister door are some antient Inscriptions only this perfect besides that of Garton formerly mentioned in Abbot Richard Ashton Aswalton natus jacet hic Henricus humatus Presbiter ornatus cui solvas Christe reatus Something beyond towards the upper end lieth a fair marble of late adorned with the figure of the deceased in Brass and on a Edward 3. Anno 46. Plate round about Hic jacet tumulatus Robertus de Thorp Miles There was one Sir W. Thorpe L. Chief Justice of the Kings Bench who for Bribery was condemned to be hanged Anno Edw. 3. 24. 22. y. before this Robert quondam Cancellarius Domini Regis Angliae qui obiit vicesimo nono die Junii Anno Domini Millesimo trecentesimo septuagesimo secundo Cujus animae propitietur Deus Amen By his side is another fair Marble which carried this Inscription Hic jacet tumulatus miles filius Domini Willielmi de Thorpe qui moriebatur apud Tou'ton Wat'vyle die Jovis xo. die Augusti Anno Domini Millesimo trecentesimo LXXV Cujus animae propitietur Deus On the left hand is a Marble bearing the figure of a cross legg'd Knight after the manner of the Templers with a dog at his feet lately the Brass was divorced from the Marble and Senour Gascelin de Marham stripped of his Monumental bravery A little above Here lieth the Body of William Leafield sometimes Edwardi 3. Anno 49. Inhabitant of this City who departed this life January 22. Anno Domini 1625. Near unto lieth one that was taken away in his budding his name and quality may be seen in the Inscription Robertus Carrier Subter Supra Anno Dom. 1651. Aetat 19. Grad Bacc. 1. Novemb. 24. Not far from this is one later who may be mentioned as another Siphrah both in function and piety Here lieth the Body of Jane Parker the wife of Valentine Parker She departed this life Sept. 19. day 1653. Here lieth a Midwife brought to bed Deliveresse delivered Her body being churched heere Her Soul thanks gives in yonder Spheer A little higher lieth a fair Marble which acts the second part of Niobe weeping for many figures of Brass which it hath lately forgone if the Inscription may be thought worth the weeping for Siste gradum mortale meum speculare Sepulchrum Hic ego qui jaceo sum genus ecce tuum Frater Willimi Ramsey venerabilis olim Istius Abbatis hic in honore loci Petriburgh Bayly Killire vocor ipse Johannes Mecum sponsa jacet ecce Johanna mea Tot mihi sunt nati mihi sunt nataeque puellae Willimus Thomas Willimus ipse Johannes Walt'rus Richardus Thomas Agnes mihi Marga Grata fit proles ac Katherina mihi Orate precor nos omnes ut Deus ipse Salvet ab inferno Pactus fuit en lapis iste 1489. April 19. The
teacheth Wulfade the feyth And words of Baptism over him he seyth Col. 3. Seynt Chad devoutly to Mass him dight And hoseled Wulfade Christy 's knight Col. 4. Wulfade wished Seynt Chad that day For his brother Rufine to pray THE FOURTH WINDOW Col. 1. Wulfade told his Brother Rufine That he was Christned by Chaddys doctrine Col. 2. Rufine to Wulfade said again Christned also would I be fain Col. 3. Wulfade Rufine to Seynt Chad leedeth And Chad with love of Faith him feedeth Col. 4. Rufine is Christned of Seynt Chaddys And Wulfade his Brother his Godfather is THE FIFTH WINDOW Col. 1. Werbode Steward to King Wulfere Told that his Sons Christned were Col. 2. Toward the Chappel Wulfere gan goe By guiding of Werbode Christys foe Col. 3. Into the Chappel entred the King And found his Sons worshipping Col. 4. Wulfere in woodness his Sword out drew And both his Sons anon he slew THE SIXTH WINDOW Col. 1. King Wulfere with Werbode yoo Burying gave his Sons two Col. 2. Werbode for vengeaunce his own flesh tare The Devil him strangled and to hell bare Col. 3. Wulfere for sorrow anon was sick In Bed he lay a dead man like Col. 4. Seynt Ermenyld that blessed Queen Counselled Wulfere to shrive him cleen THE SEVENTH WINDOW Col. 1. Wulfere contrite hyed him to Chad As Ermenyld him counselled had Col. 2. Chad bade Wulfere for his sin Abbeys to build his Realm within Col. 3. Wulfere in hast performed than Brough that Peada his brother began Col. 4. Wulfere endued with high devotion The Abbey of Brough with great possession THE EIGHTH WINDOW Col. 1. The third Brother King Etheldred Confirmed both his Brethrens deed Col. 2. Saxulf that here first Abbot was For Ankerys at Thorney made a place Col. 3. After came Danes and Brough brent And slew the Monkys as they went Col. 4. Fourscore years and sixteen Stood Brough destroyed by Danes teen THE NINTH WINDOW Col. 1. Seynt Athelwold was bidden by Gods lore The Abbey of Brough again to restore Col. 2. Seynt Athelwold to King Edgar went And prayed him to help him in his intent Col. 3. Edgar babe Athelwold the work begin And him to help he would not lyn Col. 4. Thus Edgar and Athelwold restored this place God save it and keep it for his grace Here I have a fair invitation to conclude with my heartiest prayers that this Church may stand and be employed to Gods glory and his peoples good To which how far the usurped authority of the late times was propitious I leave to the world to judge by the ensuing Act Passed 19 August 1651. An ACT Concerning the MINSTER in Peterburgh BE it Enacted by the Parliament now assembled and it is Enacted by the Authority of the same that the great Church called the MINSTER within the City and Burrough of Peterburgh and the Church-yard thereunto belonging shall be employed and made use of by the Inhabitants of the said City and Burrough in all time to come for the publick worship and service of God and for a Work-house to employ the poorer sort of people in Manufactures the said Inhabitants at their own Costs and Charges repairing and maintaining the same FINIS AN APPENDIX BEING A TRANSCRIPT OF SUCH Charters and Priviledges As are mentioned in the foregoing DISCOURSE King Wolfere HIS CHARTER FOR THE Endowments and Priviledges OF THE MONASTERY OF MEDESHAMSTED WOlfere Dei beneficio Rex Merciorum Mediterraneorum Anglorum Australiumque regnorum praesentibus posteris omnibus Christum sanctamque ejus Ecclesiam colentibus perpetuam Salutem Benedicat anima mea Dominum Jesum Salvatorem meum Et coram omnibus viventibus confiteor ei cum fratribus sororibus meis populisque meis novo nuper baptismate initiatis quia Soljustitiae ortus est nobis qui nos de tenebris idololatriae transtulit in admirabile lumen suae agnitionis Qui non solum reos paternis roribus absolvit advenas pupillos suscepit sed etiam in filios adoptionis credentes elegit Cumque aeterna regna omnium regnorum distributor suis fidelibus repromiserit etiam in hac brevi via qua ad aeternitatem transitur nos regnare facit Quid ergo retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi cum sine ipso nihil habeamus nihil valeamus nihil sumus magna etiam aviditate salutis nostrae omnium Largitor accipit parva infirma nostra quatenus causam habeat retribuendi maxima sua quodque dederimus sanctis suis quodque dilectae Ecclesiae suae hoc sibi datum acceptum ipse testabitur in fine mercedem quoque justi justi susceptorem promittit accepturum esse Quia propter illum divinae fidei Ecclesiarum principem regnique Dei Clavigerum per quem admittar in Paradisum Domini specialius reconciliari mihi gestio per privilegium domus suae quae in Medeshamstede studio venerabilis Abbatis Saxulfi gloriose est condita divina Monachorum familia bene disposita Cui quicquid Antecessor germanus meus Peada vel Oswinus Christiana fide confrater conregnator concessere non solum mea autoritate cupio stabilire verum etiam de meo aliquid addere Ego ita faventibus fratribus meis Aethelredo ac Meruvala cum beatissimis sororibus meis Kyneburga Kynesuida quarum prior Regina mutavit imperium in Christi ancillatum praesidens Monasterio Kyneburgensi quod suo nomine decoratur mater sacrarum Virginum altera illibata virginitate in divinum flagrat thalamum His inquam consentientibus trado Beato Petro ad praefatum Medeshamstede Monasterium haec stagna paludes lacus piscaturas cum terris videlicet omnibus infrajacentibus quae de meo regali jure vel principum meorum mutuatione assensu amodo in perpetuum libere famulentur Deo famulantibus Quae ita hic determinari volumus Ab ipso Medeshamsted ad Northburch inde ad locum quem vocant Folies inde totam paludem indirectam usque ad Esendic de Esendic ad locum quem Federmuder dicunt deinde in directum ad locum via decem leugiarum quem Cuggedic circa habitantes nominant deinde ad Raggewith de Raggewith quinque miliariis ad Magistram aquam quae ducit ad Elm ad Wisebeche atque inde sicut itur tribus leugiis contra cursum Magistrae aquae usque ad Trokenholt de Trokenholt indirectum per immensam paludem ad Dereforde longitudine viginti leugiarum inde ad Gratescross per unam pulchram aquam Bardanea nomine sex leugiis ad Paccelade Sic in medium partitis stagnis plurimis immensis paludibus cum habitatoribus Huntedunensis provinciae una cum stagnis lacis Scalfremere Wyttlismere aliis quamplurimis ad haec pertinentibus cum terris quoque mansionibus quae adjacent in Australi parte de Scalfremere cum infrasepta undique
appendiciis eorum Feodum Radulphi de Nevile Scotton Malmton cum appendiciis eorum Feodum Rogeri Malfe Wodeford cum appendiciis suis Feodum Roberti Frehille Dalmiton cum appendiciis suis Feodum Wilihelmi de Lunetot Clopton cum appendiciis suis Feodum Roberti Marmioun Langeton Pokebroc cum appendiciis suis Feodum Gaufridi de Winchestria Armeston Burghlay cum appendiciis eorum Feodum Gilberti Faunel Walcote cum appendiciis suis Feodum Roberti de Fisi Sutton cum appendiciis suis Feodum Rogeri de Melton cum appendiciis suis Feodum Radulphi Tot in Paston Feodum Wallon ' in eadem villa cum appendiciis Feodum Ysenbardi Pappele cum appendiciis suis Feodum Wimundi Stoke cum appendiciis suis Feodum Engelrami in eadem villa Feodum Roberti de Oyli Craneford Feodum Richardi Engaine Benifield Feodum Wilihelmi Engain Hargrave cum appendiciis suis Feodum Theobaldi Bringhurst cum appendiciis suis Feodum Godefridi de Cambrey Plumbtre Berham cum appendiciis suis Feodum Roberti de Guinges Carleby cum appendiciis suis Feodum Gaufridi de Nevile Walcote cum appendiciis suis Feodum Eylsi Helpiston cum appendiciis suis In Wenewyk tenementum Brutnaldi Feodum Pancenolt in Eston Feodum Ansredii in Overton in Thorp in Ermiston Tenementum Turici in Churchfield Wermington Undel Tenementum Viviani in Wodecroft Tenementum Osberni in Muscham Tenementum Geroldi Libertates à Regibus Angliae eidem Monasterio concessas pia devotione scripto eorum confirmatas atque antiquas rationabiles ipsius Monasterii consuetudines vobis nihilominus confirmamus Obeunte vero M. nunc ejusdem loci Abbate vel tuorum quolibet successorum nullus ibi qualibet surreptionis astutia vel violentia praeponatur nisi quem fratres communi assensu vel fratrum pars sanioris consilii secundum Dei timorem Beati Benedicti regulam providerint eligend Praeterea praedecessoris nostri Sanctissimi Papae Gregorii vestigiis inhaerentes missas publicas ab Episcopo in vestro Coenobio fieri prohibemus omnino ne in servorum Dei recessibus eorum receptaculis ullis popularibus occasio praebeatur conventibus vel mulierum fiat novus introitus quod omnino non expedit animabus eorum Nec audeat Episcopus aliquis ibi Cathedram collocare vel quamlibet potestatem imperandi habere nec aliquam ordinationem quamvis levissimam faciendi nisi ab Abbate loci fuerit rogatus quatenus Monachi semper maneant in Abbatum suorum potestate nullusque Monachum sine testimonio vel concessione Abbatis sui in aliqua teneat vel ad aliquem promoveat honorem Decernimus ergo ut nulli omnino hominum liceat praefatum Coenobium temere perturbare aut ejus possessiones auferre vel ablatas retinere minuere seu alibet vexationibus fatigare sed omnia integra observentur eorum pro quorum gubernatione sustentatione concessa sunt usibus omnimodis profutura Salva sedis Apostolicae autoritate Diocesanorum Episcoporum Canonum Canones justitia Si qua igitur in futurum Ecclesiastica secularisve persona hanc nostrae constitutionis paginam sciens contra eam temere venire temptaverit secundò tertióve commonita si non satisfactione congrua emendaverit potestatis honorisque sui dignitate careat reamque se Divino judicio existere de perpetrata iniquitate cognoscat a sacratissimo corpore sanguineque Dei Domini Redemptoris nostri Jesu Christi aliena fiat atque in extremo examine districtae ultioni subjaceat Cunctis autem eidem loco justa servantibus sit pax Domini in Christo quatenus hic fructum bonae actionis percipiant apud districtum Judicem praemia aeternae pacis inveniant Amen Dat. Sextodecimo Cal. Januarii Anno Domini M. C. XL. sexto Such another Priviledge was granted by Pope Gregory the Ninth 1228. but I shall not trouble the Reader with it but make a retrograde motion to King Edgars Charter THE CHARTER AND PRIVILEDGES OF King Edgar After that the Monastery of Medeshamstede had been destroyed by the Danes and continued in its desolation ninety six years and then restored through the pious industry of Athelwold Bishop of Winchester when the name thereof was changed into Burgh Together with the Confirmations of several Kings his Successors GRatia Domini nostri Jesu Christi Regis omnium saeculorum omnia suo nutu distribuentis regna terrarum moderantis habenas rerum Ego Edgar sub ipso sydereo Rege praesidens magnae Britanniae saepe petitionem Venerabilis Deo dilecti Pontificis Adelwoldi super stabilitate Ecclesiarum quarum ipse infatigabilis constructor accepi maxime autem super antiqui Monasterii restitutione ac libertate quod primitus Medeshamstede modo Dei adjutorio ac sua ac nostra instantia restauratum Burch appellatur Quod scil quadam praerogativa gratiae Sancti Petri ac pristinae nobilitatis eminentius diligit Recolens enim illud a pristinis Regibus Wolfero necnon Ethelredo aliisque successoribus magnifici ditatum Regalibus privilegiis fortissimè stabilitum sed ab externo Paganorum exercitu destitutum Hic Dei sapiens archietectus magno zelo domus Dei studuit reparare Et acquisitis ac redemptis possessionibus rerum cum nostra Regali donatione prout potuit amplificare Ego itaque pro gratia Sancti Petri tantique patris charitate atque animae meae redemptione concedo gratantissimè illud sanctum Apostolicum Coenobium in perpetuum esse liberum ab omni seculari causa servitute ut nullus Ecclesiasticorum vel Laicorum super ipsum vel super ipsius Abbatem ullum unquam habeat dominium sed ipso Abbate cum subjecta Christi familia in pace Dei superni Janitoris Petri patrocinio illud regente ac Rege in omnibus necessitatibus adjuvante ab omni mundiali jugo tam securum aeternaliter persistat quam liberum sed etiam ab Episcopali exactione iniquietudine ex Apostolica libertate Reverendissimi Archiepiscopi nostri Dunstani autoritate cum suis appendiciis id est Dodisthorpe Eye Paston perpetuo maneat absolutum Villam quoque Undale cum toto jure adjacentium quod Ethenhundred Anglice nominatur cum Mercato ac Theloneo ea prorsus libertate donamus quatenus nec Rex nec Comes nec Episcopus praeter Christianitatem attinentium parochiarum nec Vicecomes nec ulla unquam major minorve persona ulla dominatione occupare nec de ipsa villa Undale ubi legitime considere debet in alium locum transferre ullatenus praesumat Sed tantum Abbas praedicti Coenobii illud cum suis causis legibus totum in sua potestate liberrime teneat quando vel in quo loco sibi placuerit sine ulla contradictione sedere faciat Item terras nostro adjutorio vel dono vel optimatum meorum per praefatum Episcopum eidem Monasterio adsectas quae hic ex parte
cunctisque rebus justitiis pertinentibus cum saca socna ut nullus inde quicquam repetat praeter Arcis vel expeditionis subsidium Hanc ergo contestor omnes posteros meos Reges Judices per Dominum omnium judicem justitiae amatorem totius injustitiae vindicem nequis unquam audeat quicquam tam ex his quam de omni jure Sancti Petri detrahere aut diminuere quià revera sicut illi consequuntur aeternam vitam qui Ecclesiam Dei amplificant ita illis manent sempiterna Tormenta qui eam in aliquo spoliant Qui autem haec violaverit omnium Sacerdotum Ministrorum Dei ore Anathema sit Anno ab Incarnatione Domini Millesimo LX. confirmatum est hoc Testamentum Cui testes conspicui subscribendo annotantur ✚ Ego Eduardus Rex constitui ✚ Ego Edryd Regina concessi ✚ Ego Stigandus Archiepiscopus collaudavi ✚ Ego Aldredus Archiepiscopus comprobavi ✚ Ego Wolfrius Lincoln Antistes corroboravi ✚ Ego Haroldus Dux favi ✚ Ego Tostinus Dux testis fui ✚ Signum Raulfi Regis dapiferi ✚ Signum Asgeri Regis dapiferi ✚ Signum ✚ Signum Godrici filii Edryfe ✚ Signum Ulf de Lincona ✚ Signum Askill Tokes sun ✚ Signum Laulf Maltes sun Ego Wilihelmus Dei beneficio Rex Anglorum petente Abbate Brandone istud Privilegium in omnibus laudo confirmo sicut suprascripti Reges ante me Similiter terras fratrum vel propinquorum suorum quas habebant sub Rege Edwardo haereditarias liberas hoc est Scotter Scotton Malmeton Ragenaldetorpe Messingham Cletham Hibaldistow Walcote Muscham cum omnibus adjacentibus Ego concedo Monasterio suo ejusdem loci Patrono Beato Petro Apostolo in perpetuam liberas quietas cum omnibus consuetudinibus quae appellantur Anglice Sake Soke quatenus jugiter sint proprie dominicè ................... infirmas quaslibet necessitates ibidem Deo servientium Haec ergo nemo haeredum vel successorum meorum temerare audeat ne excommunicationis gladio intereat pro haereditate Ecclesiae infernum possideat Huic testes affuere Aldradus Archiepiscopus Eboracensis Wilwinus Lincolniensis Episcopus Merlesuein Vicecomes Vif filius Topi Willielmus Comes Willielmus Malet Ingelramus Presbyter K. William Rufus HIS CHARTER For the Tenth of his HUNTINGS IN NORTHAMPTON-SHIRE WIllielmus Rex Anglorum Omnibus fidelibus suis Ministris Francigenis Anglis Salutem Sciatis me concessisse dedisse Sancto Petro Abbati de Burgo totam decimam de mea venatione in Northamptonshire amodo concedo ut illam omni tempore habeant Testes Rad. Pagnallo W. Peverello R. de Escuris H. de Bello Campo Dat. per Richardum Engaine apud Bristestocam This Charter was again granted by King Henry the second and likewise by King Richard the first and another also for Huntingdonshire which we shall give in its place King Henry II. HIS CHARTER Confirming the Eight Hundreds TO THE MONASTERY OF PETERBVRGH HEnricus Rex Anglorum Dux Normannorum Aquit Comes Andeg. Justiciariis Vic. Ministris suis Angliae Salutem Praecipio quod Willielmus Abbas de Burgo teneat bene in pace libere quietè juste honorificè octo hundreda sua cum omnibus libertatibus liberis consuetudinibus suis justitiam suam de octo hundredis suis sicut aliquis Antecessorum suorum melius liberius quietius honorificentius tenuit tempore Regis Henrici Avi mei Et prohibeo ne quis eum in aliquam novam injustam consuetudinem ponat T. Thoma Cant. apud Winton This CHARTER was also Confirmed by King Richard the First King Richard I. HIS CHARTER FOR A FAIR To be holden Eight Days in PETERBURGH S. Peter's Fair. RIchardus Dei Gratia Rex Anglorum Dux Normannorum Aquitan Comes Andeg. Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus Justiciariis Vic. omnibus Ministris fidelibus suis Francis Anglis Salutem Sciatis nos concessisse Carta ista confirmasse Benedicto Abbati de Burgo omnibus successoribus suis Monachis ibidem Deo fervientibus Nundinas octo dierum in Villa de Burgo omni anno in festo Apostolorum Petri Pauli Quare volumus firmiter praecipimus ut praedicti Abbas Monachi habeant in praedictis Nundinis omnes libertates liberas consuetudines quas alii Baroni nostri habent in Nundinis suis Et prohibemus ne aliquis eos inde impediat nec Mercatoribus illuc venientibus vel inde redeuntibus aliquod gravamen inferat vel molestiam faciat T. Waltero Rothom Archiepiscopo 24 Martii Apud Rothom King Richard I. HIS CHARTER FOR A Weekly MARKET in Scotter in Lincolnshire Market and Fair at Scotter in Lincolnshire belonging to the MONASTERY of Peterburgh and for a FAIR to be holden for three Daies RIchardus Dei Gratia Rex Angl. Dux Norman Aquit Comes Andeg. Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus Justic Vic. omnibus Ministris fidelibus suis Salutem Sciatis nos concessisse praesenti Carta confirmasse Benedicto Abbati de Burgo omnibus Successoribus suis Monachis ibidem Deo servientibus ut commune Mercatum in Villa sua de Scotter in omni septimana in die Jovis Nundinas trium dierum omni anno in eadem Villa ad festum Apostolorum Petri Pauli Quare volumus firmiter praecipimus ut praedicti Abbas Monachi habeant in praedicto Mercato in praedictis Nundinis omnes libertates liberas consuetudines quas alii Baroni nostri habent in Mercatis Nundinis suis Et prohibemus ut nullus eos inde impediat nec Mercatoribus illuc euntibus vel redeuntibus aliquod gravamen inferat vel molestiam faciat T. Waltero Rothom Archiepiscopo 24 Martii Apud Rothom King Richard by his Charter bearing Date the first Year of his Reign which was 1189. granted the former Fair to Peterburgh and this to Scotter which because they with other Priviledges granted to this Monastery were in some sort changed whilst he was detained in Almain in his return from Warring in the Holy Land he renewed his Charter September 15. in the Tenth Year of his Reign saith John Trikyngham King Richard I. HIS CHARTER FOR THE Abbot and Covent OF PETERBURGH To have the Tenth of HUNTINGS IN HVNTINGDON-SHIRE And also for themselves to HUNT RIchardus Dei Gratia Rex Angl. Dux Norman Aquit Comes Andeg. Justic Vic. Forestariis Omnibus Ministris fidelibus suis Francis Anglis Salutem Sciatis nos concessisse Carta ista confirmasse Abbati de Burgo Monachis ibidem Deo servientibus totam decimam totius Venationis quae capietur in Huntingdonscire quicunque eam ceperit in perpetuum Et quod liceat eis venari Leporem Vulpem Catum salva alia venatione nostra Et ideo prohibemus ne
ad Eugenium Papam G. Translatio Sancti Cuthberti Episcopi Duodecim libri Cassiani Johannes Cassianus was a Scythian by Nation and Deacon under Chrysostome Anno 435. Trithemius 440. Bellarm His works are extant Printed Basileae 1497. wherein he is also called Johannes Eremita Liber decem Collationum a Johanne Heremita conscriptus Item septem Collationes ab eodem conscriptae H. Ambrosius de Sacramentis libri sex Idem de Mysteriis liber unus Idem de Officiis libri tres Item Johannes Constantinopoleos civitatis Episcopus de compunctione cordis libri 4. I. Liber Ambrosii de Nabuthe K. Ambrosius de laude virginum libri tres Item de laude viduarum liber unus De Virginitate libri duo Epistola Ambrosii ad Vercellensem Ecclesiam Sermo ejusdem de lapsu virginis consecratae Sermo ejusdem ad violatorem Lamentatio ejusdem super eisdem L. Ambrosius de Patriarchis liber unus Duo libri ejusdem de excessu fratris sui Tres libri ejusdem de laude virginum Vnus liber de laude Viduarum Duo libri ejusdem de virginitate Sermo ejusdem de lapsu virginis consecratae Sermo ejusdem ad violatorem Lamentatio ejusdem super eisdem M.. Libellus de differentiis partium N. Expositio libri Jesu Nave de morte Moysi Expositio libri Judicium Expositio super Ruth Expositio Regum iv O. Liber Poenitentialis in fine P. See G. Alquinus ad Guidonem Comitem de vitiis virtutibus Glossae super epistolas Pauli Liber cucullarum Miracula de imagine Domini Tractatus cujusdam de Dedicatione Ecclesiae Item de Clericis ordinandis Item de convenientia veteris novi Testamenti Q. Vita S. Martini Episcopi Perhaps this might be that which was written by Sulpitius Severus Altercatio Apostolorum cum Simone Mago R. Vita S. Egidii Abbatis S. Aetates ab origine mundi Tractatus sic incipiens Evangelistis Expositio super Orationem Dominicam Quaedam Evangelia Glossata Tractatus de Sacramentis Liber poenitential sive Pastorale magistri Bartholomaeus Iscanus lived An. 1188. saith Pitseus and makes mention of a book which he wrote De Poenitentia Bish Godwyn dates him B. of Exeter 1161. Bartholomaei Exon. Episcopi Tractatus de diversis libris Bibliae T. Dares Dares Phrygius was a Souldier in the Trojan War and a writer of it His History was translated out of Greek into Latin by Cornelius Nepos which he dedicated to Crispus Sallustius and is extant Frigius de Excidio Trojae Libellus Pauli de itinere Aeneae de casibus ejus Gesta Romanorum Valenti Maximo Augusto conscripta Liber de Origine gestis Francorum sed imperfectus Gesta Tyrii Apollonii Philostratus in the time of Severus wrote the life of Apollonius a Pythagorean Philosopher by some accounted a great Magician Philostratus wrote his Miracles to parallel them with those of our Blessed Saviour to please Julia wife to the Emperor Severus U. Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae tempore Genserici Henrici Regis Vandalorum a S. Victore Episcopo Patrievicensi conscripta X. Epistola Alexandri ad Magistrum suum Aristotelem Dares Frigius de Excidio Trojae Y. Fulgentius Fulgentius was Episcopus Rusâ—ensis a City in Africa An. 500. Johannes Ridevallus who lived Anno 1330. paraphrased upon this piece of Fulgentius and is now in the publick Library of the University of Cambridge saith Pitseus de expositionibus fabularum Dares Frigius de Excidio Troiae Prophetia Sibyllae Z. Liber graduum Libellus sic incipiens Aes ustum A ... Commentum Herbasii super Aphorismos Hippocratis Liber Galen a Physician of Pergamus in the time of M. Aurelius and Commodus about 170 years after Christ Galeni de febribus Antibolomenon Isagoge Johannicii Item Antibolomenon De Phlebotomia Prolivius de Physica B ... Decreta Willielmi Bastardi emendationes quas posuit in Anglia Tractatus magistri Johannes Biletheus or Bilet Pitseus is doubtful whether he was English or French yet makes mention of this book which is commonly printed and joyned with Durandus his Rationale He flourished about the year 1328. Johannis Beleth de officiis Ecclesiasticis consuetudinibus C ... Litera quae sic incipit Hugoni S. Victoris Priori D ... Tractatus de Computatione a sinistra in dextram Regula S. Basilii Liber Sermonum sic incipiens Humilitas mons est Duo libri Soliloquiorum Isidori Augustinus de conflictu vitiorum Epistola Hieronymi ad Paulinum Presbyterum de capitulis divinorum librorum non tota E ... Ambrosius de Nabuthe Vita S. Wadragisili Abbatis Passio S. Nicasii sociorumque ejus Passio This Dionysius seems to be the same mentioned Acts 17. 34. His companions were Rusticus and Eleutherius who as the story goes were beheaded at Paris under Domitian They say that Dionysius being beheaded his body rose upright and stooping down took up its own head and carried it two miles in its armes and laying it down again was there buried His Memorial is Octob. 9. S. Dionysii sociorumque ejus Liber de inventione miraculisque eorum Vita S. Wulfrani Episcopi F ... Decreta Gregorii de quiete Monachorum G ... Liber Sermonum sic incipiens Dicite pusillanimes This book is reckoned amongst those of Petrus Babion an English man who lived Anno. 1317. Pits H ... Tractatus Cypriani de 12 abusivis seculi Formula vitae honestae Septuaginta quinque epistolae Cypriani I ... Epistolae Ernulfus came into England 1164. and laboured a reconciliation betwixt King Hen. 2. and T. Becket Hoveden pag. 282. Ernulfi Lexoviensis Episcopi Excidium Troiae versifice Tractatus de Astronomia Vita S. Agnes was martyred at Rome being 13 years of age in the time of Dioclesian about the year 304. When the fire would not burn her she was thrust into the mouth with a sword S. Ambrose in his first book De Virginibus and in his 90 Serm. is copious in her praise and story The day of her memory is Jan. 21. S. Agnetis versifice Versus de ruina urbis Romae K ... Edilnulphus de Monachis L ... Visio Baronei Monachi Narratio Josephi de S. Maria Magdalena Tractatus de naturis bestiarum volucrum M ... Formula vitae honestae Versus de Jona propheta de Thaide See O. Passio S. Laurentii versifice Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiac secundum Hildebertus was first Bish of Cenoma a Town or Province in France afterwards Arch-Bish of Tours An. 1090. saith Trithemius as to the first An. 1125. saith Bellarmine as to the second They both mention Poetical and other works of his but neither of them this yet Vossius ascribeth it to Hildebert pag. 281. and 378. Hildebertum Cenomanensem Episcopum Passio S. Mauritii sociorumque ejus versifice Versus Hildeberti Cenomanensis Episcopi de Missa N ... Interrogationes responsiones optimae de Theologia quae sic incipiunt Deus summe verus vere
I think fit wholly to omit it and return to Sexulph When he was advanced to the Episcopal Authority the forenamed Author doth not tell us but we learn it from the Chronicon Litchfeldense which saith it was DCLXXIII Sexulfus post depositionem Winfridi per Theodorum Episcopus Litchfeldiae consecratus est An. Domini DCLXXIII which is exactly agreeable to the account given of these Matters by V. Bede who calls his Predecessor by the name of Winfridus whom other later Writers call Wilfridus and Wolfridus who was deposed they all say by Theodore ob meritum cujusdam inobedientiae but do not tell us what that disobedience was which deserved so great a punishment For he was esteemed a good man and had been Deacon to St. Chad as Bede tells us and thought worthy to be his Successor in the Episcopal See to which he was promoted An. DCLXX. and within three years time removed Radulphus de Diceto indeed saith it was not till the year DCLXXX Where he hath these words Offensus Wilfrido Merciorum Episcopo per meritum cujusdam inobedientiae Theodorus Dorobernensis Archiepiscopus Eum de Episcopatu deposuit in loco ejus Saxulfum Episcopum ordinavit Constructorem Abbatem Monasterii quod dicitur Burch in regione Girviorum Whensoever this was it is certain Sexulfus was his Successor and is reckoned the Seventh Bishop of the Mercians or of Litchfield For Duina a Scotch man was the first Bishop of the Mercians as well as of the Lindifararians as my Author speaks Chron. Litchf the paucity of Priests in those days compelling them to set one Bishop over divers people who having governed two years dyed DCLVIII and had another of the same Nation his Successor called Cellach who left it presently and returned to his Island Hii DCLIX. And then came Trumhere an Englishman but ordained by the Scots who dyed DCLXII And then Jarmannus who dyed DCLXVII to whom succeeded Cedda or Ceadda as Bede calls him who was the fifth Bishop not the first as Mr. G. hath it and dyed DCLXX. And then as I have said followed Winfrid and after him Saxulf who flentibus moerentibus as Hugo's words are ejus Monasterii fratribus eligitur ad Episcopatum Mediterraneorum Anglorum Merciorum simul Lindisfarorum By which it appears that the people of those different regions still continued under the same Bishop But in Saxulph's time a great and happy alteration was made by the increase I suppose of Priests and of such Priests as were fit to be advanced to the Episcopal charge For the Bishoprick of the Mercians to say nothing of Lindsfarn was in his days divided in quinque Parochias into five Diocesses as we now speak in Herefordensem Wigornensem Lichfeldensem Legecestrensem Lindifiensem Two of which it should seem by the forenamed Chronicle Sexulphus governed viz. Litchfield and Leogastre which were divided after his death between two Hedda and Wilfrid but upon the death of Wilfrid again united in Hedda who governed both Diocesses By which Hedda the Church of Lichfield was built secundo Kal. Januarii An. DCC and the body of St. Chad translated into it By all which it is evident that passage in Mr. G. p. 3. must be corrected that S. Chad was first Bishop of Litchfield where he founded the Cathedral Church Bede saith no such thing in the place quoted in the Margin but rather the contrary that he had his Episcopal See at Litchfield where he dyed and was buried nigh the Church of St. Mary and afterward viz. by Hedda as I have shown the Church of blessed St. Peter being built his bones were translated thither How long Saxulf governed this Church is not certain The forenamed Chronicon saith he dyed DCLXXIIII but it should be DCLXXXIIII I make no doubt For all agree he was alive when Edilred wasting the Country of Kent and prophaneing Churches and Monasteries made Putta Bishop of Rochester seek for safety else where and at last betake himself ad Sexulfum Merciorum Antistitem as Bede tells L. IV. C. 12. and this was in the year DCLXXVII He was witness also to the Priviledge granted by Pope Agatho as I showed before which was DCLXXX in which year the forementioned division of the Kingdom of the Mercians into five Diocesses was made as we learn from the MS. Chronicle of John Abbot Whose words are An. DCLXXX Regio Merciorum in V. Parochias est divisa per Theodorum Archiepiscopum Johannem Romanum Archicanc Legatum And Symeon Dunelmensis mentions him ad Ann. DCLXXXIII where speaking of the Towns given by the King of Northumberland to St. Cutbert and his Successors and of the Witnesses to this grant he makes Saxulf one of them who thus subscribes Ego Sexulfus Merciorum Episcopus subscripsi In the next year I suppose he dyed and left his See to Hedda whom other Authors call Etheldus and Bede L. IV. C. 12. Eadhedus for I find no ground for what Matth. of Westminster writes who makes him to have lived till the year DCCV CUTHBALDUS Sexulf being promoted to the See of Litchfield An. DCLXXIII Cuthbaldus was chosen by all the Monks to be their Abbot and that Saxulfi consensu voluntate by the consent and the desire of Saxulph as Hugo writes Who gives him this Character that he was a most religious and most wise person in so much that his reliques were preserved in the Church after his death he being reputed a Saint I observed before out of Hedda's relation how other Convents began to spring out of this as Daughters from a fruitfull Mother in the time of Sexulf Which grew so considerable in the time of Cuthbaldus that they could not any longer be well governed by him but desired as many other places did an Abbot to be appointed over them out of this Monastery of Medeshamstede So Hugo reports it not as Mr. G. says that they desired to have him for their Abbot he being so already but that they thought themselves happy and blessed who could receive either Abbot or Monk from their first Mother who might diligently instruct them and preside over them Whence it came to pass saith he that from this Monastery many others were built and both Monks and Abbots appointed out of the same Congregation viz. at Ancarig al. Thornei and at Bricclesworth and the rest of the places mentioned by Mr. G. p. 6. Which is not to be understood as if they became wholly independant upon this Mother Monastery for they still continued subject to it as the manner was in after times for small Abbeys which had been drawn as Colonies out of a greater to be under the command of that from whence they were derived being as so many Cells and members of it Such were these and several other mentioned by the same Hugo which in the time of Pope Agatho had their dependance upon this great Monastery viz. Bredun Reping Cedenac Swinneshead Hehanbyrig Lodeshale Schuffenhalch Costesford Streford Weteleburn
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
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
relates in this manner Wlgatus diutissimam calumniam passus ab Abbatibus Burgi Elfino Arwino Leofrico Abbatiae suae sedem amittens tandem succubuit proh dolor totum situm Monasterii sui judicio Regalis Curiae perdidit In the time of Edw. 4. 1477. John Wysbech Abbot of Croyland rebuilt the Chappel of St. Pege de Paylond as it was vulgarly called quae per multas ante annos solo aequata jacebat as I find in the Continuation of the History of Croyland lately printed p. 560. For though the Church of Peterburgh had the greatest interest in that place and still hath the Mannor and Advowson of Peykyrke yet the Abbot of Croyland also had some Land there by an antient right Which appears from an agreement made between John de Says Abbot of Burgh and Godfrey Abbot of Croyland in the year MCXVI. in coemiterio de Peichirche in the Church-yard of Peykyrke where there were complaints on both sides de Sochemannis For the Abbot of Croylande had antiently as the agreement acknowledges a certain Court in that Village in which were his Houses de qua nulla soca Ecclesiae Sancti Petri de Burgo reddi debebat But all the rest of the Land in the Village de soca Sancti Petri de Burgo erat consuetudines socae Abbati Monachis reddebat Now the Monks of Croylande complained that some did unjustly intra septa suae curiae hospitari whereas they ought to have in that Court octo hospitum domos quietas sine soca And therefore they came at last to this conclusion that it was acknowledged upon Oath that all the Land was in soca Sancti Petri except that antient Court and the eight houses therein the House of the Abbot of Croyland himself not excepted So the words are Swaph fol. CXVIII Fuit ergo in praedicto coemiterio de Peichirche disraimatum per Sacramentum firmatum omnes esse in soca Sancti Petri excepta illa antiqua Curia octo hospitum domibus Domus quoque Abbatis de Croylande quam Monachi in soca Sancti Petri fecerant sicut justum erat in soca Sancti Petri fuit jurata The names of the Jurates on both parts are set down and the Witnesses also The last of which on the part of Croyland is Robertus Nepos Abbatis Ingulphi There have been more Records belonging to this matter but a whole Leaf concerning it is torn out of the Book and other differences between this Church and that if I have room shall be noted hereafter Towards the latter end of the government of Elfinus all our Historians agree Elfricus or Alfricus for his name is diversly written as the other is was buried in this Church He had been bred up here but came to be first Bishop of Winchester as Tho. Stubbs tells us Actus Pontif. Eborac and afterward Archbishop of York who had a Palace at Suthwell where he died An. MLI and commemorated here in this Church of Burgh upon the 23. Jan. over against which I find in the Kalender these words Depositio Elfrici Archiepiscopi He was succeeded in his See by Kinsinus or Kinsius as some call him Radulph de Diceto calls him Kinsigius then Chaplain to King Edward the Confessor Four years after which Elfinus dyed as among many others John Abbot tells us Whose words are these ad An. MLV. Elfinus Abbas Burgi obiit successit Ariwinus It hapned in January also for in the forenamed Kalender are these words over against the 13. day Depositio Elfini Abbatis Anniversarium Matthaei Capellani I have nothing further to add but that Elfricus the Archbishop gave to this Church together with his body as Hugo writes two rich Albes wrought with Gold two of their best Copes an Altar with Reliques two Palls and two great Silver Candlesticks which were afterward stoln and his own Staff with many other things AREWINVS Eruinus as some call him or Arnewinus was chosen by the whole company being vir mirae Sanctitatis simplicitatis as Hugo Characterizes him Who out of too much simplicity changed the Royal Village of Holneie which was in the Demean of St. Peter as the writings of the Church witness for that of Stokes for no other reason but because it was a nearer way unto his own Farm to go by Stokes In this private Farm it was I suppose that he chose to live rather than in this great dignity wherein he continued a far less time than Mr. G. mentions For if W. the Conqueror came into England the XIth year it should be the IXth of Leofricus as Hugo saith then Arewynus could not possibly be Abbot here eight year For Elfinus dying as hath been shown 1055 there passed from thence till the coming in of the Conqueror which was 1066. no more than Eleven year He resigned therefore his place after he had been two year Abbot An. MLVII as it is in the Margin of Hugo and after that lived eight year So the words of Hugo run very plainly Hic in prosperitate vitae suae voluntarie dimisit Abbatiam suam VIII postea feliciter vivens annos And so I find it in the MS. Chron. of Abbot John ad An. 1057. Arewynus Abbas Bur i demisit se de Abbatia cui successit egregius Pater Leofricus He dyed it appears by the Kalender on the 30. of May where are these words Depositio Arewyni Abbatis LEO FRICVS Called in the Kalander of this Church Lefricus and by Hugo Leuricus and by the Annals of Burton Levericus was chosen by the whole society with the consent of the King and of Arewinus being pulcherrimus Monachorum as Hugo describes him flos decus Abbatum descended of the noble Stock of the Angles and more Noble for his behaviour most nobly governed and inriched this Church and as it is written ornavit tempora sua usque ad consummationem vitae For he purchased much Land and bestowed divers Ornaments upon it particularly the great Crucifix upon the Altar of marvellous work of Silver and Gold Gold and Silver Candlesticks a great Table before the Altar all of Gold and Silver and precious Stone and besides other things mentioned in Hugo Casulam ex purpura optime de auro pretiosis gemmis ornatam alias multas casulas cappas pallia alia ornamenta plus quam ullus ante cum fecit aut post eum facturus est In short this place he saith was inriched so incredibly in his time that now it was called not simply Burch but Gildinburch i. e. aurea civitas the Golden City At his petition Edward the Confessor confirmed all the Grants of his Ancestors to this Church and made him the more able to inrich it by letting him hold four other Abbeys with it Which though mentioned by Mr. G. I take notice of again because he hath omitted the reason why the second of them viz. Coventry was granted to him which was because it
had been founded and indowed by his Uncle of the same name So Hugo relates speaking of the King and Queen who out of love to him gave to him and St. Peter other Abbeys viz. Birtune Coventre quam Comes Leuricus avunculus ipsius construxerat nimis in auro argento ditaverat c. Yet he did not give all he could to this Church for in an antient explanation of Lands as it is called Swaph fol. CXXXIII I find that he gave a forfeited Estate to his Brother Leowinus The words are these Reteford occidit quendam Ylkytelum pro hac forisfactura terra silva sua Franewude pervenit in manus Abbatis de Burch Sed Leofricus praepositus Sancti Petri permisit eam suo fratri Leowino He was Abbot of Burton before he was Abbot of Burgh unless there was another of that name for the Annals of that Church say An. MLI Annalis Monast Burton venit Levericus Abbas The account indeed they give of this Levericus his death is so widely different from what Hugo saith of Leofricus his that it inclines me to think it was another person For they say MLXXXV obiit Levericus Abbas whereas ours dyed as I have said almost twenty year before In his time there were three great Benefactors to this place Egelricus Kinsinus and Wulstanus Of the first of which Mr. G. hath given some account but to make his History more compleat I must let the Reader know how he came to rise to the dignity he held in the Church Which Symeon Dunelmensis relates in this manner L. 3. Hist Eccl. Dunelm C. 6. Eadmundus being chosen Bishop of Durham would first be made a Monk before he was consecrated by Wulstan Archbishop of York who was then at Worcester From whence returning home he diverted into the Monastery of Burch where being mightly pleased he requested the Abbot to bestow a Monk upon him skilful in Ecclesiastical Offices and in regular discipline to be his constant companion and teach him the way of the Monastical life Accordingly the Abbot appointed this Monk Elgericus or Algericus for he is called by all these names to wait upon him who as Hugo writes was vir Sanctissimus a most holy man and thought fit for the Archbishoprick of York to which he saith he was consecrated But being there rejected as Mr. G. out of him relates factus est Episcopus Dunhelmiae he was made Bishop of Durham and there received with love of all both Laicks and Monks This was in the year 1042 as John Brompton informs us where he continued twelve years saith Hugo but it should be fourteen for both the Chron. of Mailros and the Chron. of John Abbot of Burgh say he resigned in the year 1056. the words of the last named are these MLVI quinta feria Kal. Augusti Monachus factus est Dunelmensis Episcopus Egelricus Episcopatu sponte relicto ad Monasterium suum de Burgo ubi quondam Monachus erat remeavit Agelwino fratre suo Monacho ejusdem Monasterii in locum suum consecrato John Brompton places this resignation in the year 1057. the very year Leofricus was made Abbot which agrees with Symeon Dunelmensis who should best know who saith after he had been Bishop fifteen year he returned to his Monastery whither he had sent his Gold and Silver and other Goods of the Church of Durham before The Gold and Silver he acknowledges was found as he was digging very deep to lay the foundation of a Church of Stone in honour of St. Cutberd which before was of Wood but he saith it had been formerly hidden there by the Church of Durham because of the Covetousness and Tyranny of Sephelmus And therefore though he did good Works with this money which he immediately sent away to Burgh intending to follow it himself making Highways with Wood and Stone in the fenny Countries building Churches and other things yet in the Reign of the Conqueror he was accused for carrying away this Treasure which he would not restore and being brought up to London and committed to custody there he died in captione Regis as Symeon of Durham tells the story L. III. Histor Dunel Eccles C. 9. It was in the year 1072. when death delivered him out of Custody and he was buried in the Chappel of St. Nicolas in the Abby of Westminster but constantly commemorated here at Burgh on the 15th of October over against which day I find in the Kalander these words Depositio Domini Eylrici Episcopi Memoria Benefactorum Which no doubt was this Egelricus or Elgericus for so names are wont to be contracted as the Abbot of Rieval Adilredus or Ethelredus is not only called Aluredus but Ailredus also and Eilredus But besides this Hugo Or Swapham as commonly called p. 11. expresly calls him Eilricus and the rode he made in the Fenns for Travellers was called Elrich-rode Whence Bishop Godwin hath it that he was accused of Treason by the Conqueror I cannot yet find Perhaps he was thought to be confederate with his Brother Agelwinus whom he left his Successor in Durham Who as the forenamed Symeon Dunelmensis relates not long after the Conquest viz. An. 1070 L. de gestis Regum Angliae being weary of the troubles of England took Ship at Weremuth with many other great persons and went into Scotland But returned the next year with Hereward de Wake and the rest to the Isle of Eli. Where they were all in a manner taken except Hereward and a few others and Agelwinus being sent prisoner to Abbandon there in the Winter ended his days 1071. one year before his Brother The second of these great men viz. Kinsinus who had been Chaplain to King Edward the Confessor as was said before and succeeded Aluricus as Radulphus de Diceto calls Elfricus in the Archbishoprick of York 1051. after he had sate there nine years dyed at Burg if we may believe John Abbot's Chronicle in the year MLX. where his words are Kynsinus Archiepiscopus apud Burgum obiit jacet tumulatus in scrinio juxta magnum Altare in parte Boreali And there the Scrinium still remains just above that of Elfricus who lies at his feet with these words on the side Hic posita sunt Ossa Kynsini Archiepiscopi Eborac 1059 which by the Characters appear to be a late Inscription and hath mistaken the year For all agree it was 1060. though none but he mention his dying at Burgh but all suppose he dyed at York Particularly Roger Hoveden who saith he was brought from York to this Monastery of Burch to be buried honorifice tumulatus est They agree also that he dyed on the XIth of the Kalands of January and accordingly I find in the Kalander of the Church Decemb. 20. Depositio Kynsini Archiepiscopi Radulphi Comitis It is possible that Chronicle may mean another Burgh which was in the North and belonged afterwards to the Church of York For Tho. Stubbs saith
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
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
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
at last he was by the anger of the King deposed in the Chapterhouse of Burgh by Robert Archdeacon before a multitude of Abbots and Monks being neither convicted of any crime nor confessing any but privily accused to the Archbishop by some Monks This is all that Hugo if he lived to write the end of this great man saith concerning his deposition Gervasius in his Chronicon saith more that the Archbishop himself came to the Abbey of Burgh and deposed Will. manifestis culpis accusatum convictum but saith not what they were Nor doth Radulphus de Diceto give any account of them but only saith multis impetitus notoriis being charged with many notorious crimes and convicted of them in the presence of the Archbishop he received the sentence of deposition 3. Kaland. Novembris Nay Gervase in another place in the life of Richard Archbishop of Canterbury saith not so much but only that he deposed the Abbot of Burgh certis ex causis for certain reasons John Bromton indeed who saith the Archbishop came hither a little before Christmas and Roger Hoveden as Mr. G. hath observed assign the reasons which I cannot contradict though it seems something strange that a man who was brought in with such an Universal kindness of the society and did such abundance of good should be guilty of the violence which the first of them mentions and of such Sacriledge also as is scarce credible And it is less credible that he who inriched the Monastery so vastly as it hath been already said should impoverish and oppress it as he is accused to have done in the account they gave to the Pope of this business For I must let the Reader know that William thinking himself wronged by this sentence appealed to Pope Alexander Who upon mature hearing of the Cause confirmed the deposition and commanded him silence for ever So we are told in a Bull of his Successor Pope Vrban still exstant Swaph fol. LXXVI directed to Benedict who succeeded this William confirming the aforesaid deposition of W. de Watervilla by whose malignity the Monastery saith the Bull was much attritum gravatum and he himself also de prava conversatione graviter infamatus Which damage done to the Monastery if he was truly accused arose it's likely from borrowing money to carry on all those great works which he did and attempted For in the same Bull it is said that William Norman Procurator for the Abbot having taken up great summs of money in the Abbots name for which he stood bound desired satisfaction But the money appearing to have been borrowed non pro utilitate sed pro gravamine Monasterii Pope Lucius absolved the Monastery ab impetitione tam creditorum quam fidejussorum freeing them from all obligation to pay the money so borrowed as appears the Bull saith by the writing of Pope Lucius Whereupon Vrban being induced by these reasons and moved by the desire of King Henry again confirmed the deposition as Alexander had done and again absolved them from that debt of which they had been acquitted in the judgment of his Predecessor Lucius Thinking it but reasonable that a debt which was remitted them communis juris aequitate should be relaxed also speciali Apostolicae sedis indulgentia But whatever his crimes were for which the King was incensed against him he had been once very much in his favour and procured from him a confirmation of all the priviledges granted by the Kings Grandfather Two of his Charters are very remarkable which run in the form of precepts One is omnibus militibus Abbatis de Burgo whom he commands without delay quod faciatis Abbati de Burgo servitium suum quod ei facere debetis and that not only in the present summons to serve in the Army in Wales but in all other intirely and fully Which if they did not do he tells them his Sheriffs should proceed against them according to Law Vicecomites mei in quorum balivis terras habetis justificent vos c. The other is to all his Justitiaries Sheriffs and Ministers Praecipio quod Willelmus Abbas de Burgo teneat bene in pace libere quiete juste honorifice Octo Hundreda sua cum omnibus libertatibus liberis consuetudinibus suis justitiam suam de octo Hundredis suis sicut aliquis antecessorum suorum melius liberius quietius honorificentius tenuit c. I find an agreement made in his time between the Sacrist of Burgh and Reginaldus Capellanus his Vicar that the same Reginald should serve honourably two Chapels viz. de Eea and de Thorp and pay all duties Swaph fol. CCXXIX to the Bishop Archdeacon and Dean for which he should have the diet of a Knight in the Abbots Hall and the third part of all the profits which belonged to the Altar together with the panis cum companagio altari oblatus which was to be his intirely And upon every Michaelmas-day inter tertiam the whole Convent being present he was to bring the Key of the Chapels and lay it upon the Altar from whence he received it there to receive it again from the Sacrist if he had well behaved himself Besides all which William the Abbot and the Convent of Burch granted and gave to the same Reginald another Chapel which was that I shall hereafter mention belonging to the Hospital of St. Leonard Capellam infirmorum quae sita est prope villam de Burch cum omnibus quae ad eam pertinere noscuntur custodiam infirmorum ananutim reddendo infirmis 2. Sol. This Domus infirmorum Hugo saith was built by William Waterville who did so many other worthy things that I have not room to insert them All agree he was deposed in the year MCLXXV where Chron. MS. Johan Abbatis hath these words Ricardus Cantuar. deposuit Will. de Waterville Abbatem Burgi He was commemorated in this Church notwithstanding his deposition on the last of November where I find these words in the Kalander Depositio Brandonis Will de Walterville Abbatum Anniversarium Adae de Walkote BENEDICT It appears from the Bull of Pope Vrban before mentioned that it was two year after the sentence given against William before Benedict was promoted all which time the King kept it in his hands And the truth is there were a great many Abbies void in his time as Hoveden tells us viz. Grimsbie Thornei Croyland Westminster Holm St. Austins in Canterbury Abendune Abbotsbury Battle Hide c. But at last the Archbishop who four year before had been Prior of Dover and elected to the See of Cant. 1173. prevailed with the King for the advancement of his old Neighbour and acquaintance Benedict who at this time was Chancellor to the Archbishop and also Prior of the Church of Canterbury that is of the Church of the Holy Trinity So Gervasius calls him Chron. ad Ann. 1176. Benedictus Domini Cantuariensis Cancellarius c.
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
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
Rich. de Dumar about Woods and the bounds of them in Eston and between him and Rob. de Burnebu and others about Essarts in the same Woods which I can but just mention He was one of the Witnesses to the great Charter of the Liberties of England granted by King Henry in the XIX year of his Reign upon the Kal. of January After the mention of which there follows in our Records that solemn Excommunication which was made eighteen year after 1253. of all those that infringed this Charter It is in Matthew Paris Pag. 866. only in our Book there are these words added which are not in him Qui omnes testes audierunt cum Dominus Rex non coactus sed propria voluntate petiit quod omnes Archiepiscopi Episcopi Abbates excommunicent ipsum Henricum nomine si ipse unquam veniret contra aliq ' articulum istius Chartae omnes alios venientes contra eandem chartam Et idem Rex tenuit candelam dum sententia fuit promulgata Whereas Math. Paris saith he refused to hold the Candle P. 887. Two years after 1237. followed the solemn dedication of this Church of Burg Which Matth. Paris places in the next year 1238. when he saith that several noble Monasteries in the Diocese of Lincoln within the Fens were dedicated by the venerable Bishop of Lincoln viz. Ramsey Burgh and Sautrei and that the Church of Burgh was dedicated quarto Calendar ' Octobris But the Chron. Johan Abbatis Burgi makes this to have been done as I said the year before and not on the 4th of the Kalends but of the Nones and by two Bishops An. MCCXXXVII quarto Nonarum Octobris dedicata est Ecclesia de Burgo à duabus Episcopis viz. à Sancto Roberto Lincolniensi Exoniensi Episcopis And so saith Swapham not naming the Bishops Ipse etiam dedicare fecit Ecclesiam Nostram à duobus Episcopis magnis sumptibus propriis This Robert Bishop of Linc ' was Rob. Groseteht who was consecrated Bishop of that Dicocese the year before Whose Sanctity as the Chronicon before mentioned celebrates so it gives this Character of his learning Iste er at in omnibus VII artibus liberalibus eruditissimus What this dedication meant Mr. G. doubts but it is explained by a passage in Matthew of Westminster who follows M. Paris and uses his very words about this business of the dedication of these Churches but then adds that it was done juxta Statuta Concilii London celebrati in obedience to certain Constitutions which had been made in a Council at London Which extended further than to the Churches before named for he saith the Church of St. Paul London was dedicated 1240. die Sancti Remigii What the ground of that constitution was I have not now opportunity to search but it was so famous a thing that the day of its Dedication was made an Anniversary and this Abbot gave the summ of forty Shillings a year ad festum dedicationis Ecclesiae nostrae annuum uberius procurandum for the making more plentiful provision upon the Feast of the Dedication of this Church as the words are in his Charter about it which still râ—mains And this Feast is mentioned in another Charter of his in which for Gods sake and with respect to peace as his words are he grants that instead of the assise of Corn which the Celerarius was wont to pay him out of Belasise he should hereafter pay him ten Pound six Shillings and three Pence per annum quarterly viz. instead of 28. Seam and one Sceppe of Corn 4 l. 13 s. 9 d. and instead of 33. Seam of Barly and 6. Sceppes 3 l. 7 s. 6 d. and instead of 45. Seam of Oates 2 l. 5 s. Which Seams are called Summae Regiae Fol. CVI. And there is this Note in the Margin that before the time of this Abbot till the making this Charter the Abbots were wont to pay the Celerarius for the celebration of the principal Festivals eight Pound to which this Abbot added forty Shillings for celebrating the dedication of the Church which was in his time in all ten Pound So that the ten pound before mentioned the Celerarius received back again and it is to be noted that this Assise of Corn was first granted because of the increment of eight Monks augmented by Abbot Robert To which eight Monks this Abbot Walter added thirty more which made the number in all an hundred and ten But I suppose it was an act like that of Acharius who maintained two and twenty besides the usual number which lasted for his own time only Swapham's words are that he received them out of Charity by divine Inspiration to serve Christ perpetually Recepit itaque Domino inspirante Caritatis intuitu XXX Monachos Jesu Christo perpetue famulandos The Bishop of Ossory I must add to make this Feast of the Dedication the more solemn granted an indulgence wherein ten days of Penance injoyned are relaxed to all those who confessing their sins and being truly penitent should come to visit the Church of St. Peter of Burgh on the Feast of Dedication for devotion sake It is in the end of the Appendix In the next year all the Abbots of this Order were summoned to appear at London in order to their Reformation as the Chron. Joh. Abbatis tells us An. MCCXXXVIII Otho Cardinalis ad reformationem ordinis Sancti Benedicti omnes Abbates Nigri Ordinis London convocavit In what year he took his first journey to Rome I do not find nor shall I add any thing about it or the other two but what Mr. G. hath omitted In his first journey he procured certain priviledges for the Church which Swapham only mentions but tells not what they were When he returned from his second in which he went no further than Anvers he offered two pieces of rich Silk Of which two Copes were made by John of Holderness the Subsacrist The third time he was called by a special Mandate to answer the contempt with which he was charged of granting the Church of Castre according to the Kings commandment contrary to the Provision of the Pope For which he was not so shent as Mr. G. relates if we may believe Swapham but procured his favour by that gift of ten pound a year out of his Chamber to the Popes Nephew insomuch that he got a great priviledge at that time for the liberties of the Church which begins thus Innocentius Servus c. and another that none belonging to the Monastery should be forced to go ultra duas dietas above two days journeys in any cause before the Judge-delegates and some others At his return he offered a precious Pall of Baldekine with the Image of the blessed Virgin and her Son in her Arms. This was in the year 1244. for then that large Charter of Pope Innocent the IVth bears date called Magnum Privilegium Fol. LXXXII The Council at Lyons was held the year after
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
the end of it The Hall was as fair a Room as most in England and another call'd the Green-Chamber not much inferior to it These all were then pull'd down and destroyed and the materials Lead Timber and Stone exposed to Sale for any that would buy them But some of the Bargains proved not very prosperous The Lead especially that came off the Palace was as fatal as the Gold of Tholouse for to my knowledge The Merchant that bought it lost it all and the Ship which carried it in her Voyage to Holland And thus the Church continued ruined and desolate and without all divine Offices for a time till at length by the favour of a great Person in the Neighbourhood it was repaired and restored to some degrees of decency again and out of the ashes of a late Cathedral grew up into a new Parochial Church in which way it was employ'd and used ever after untill the Kings happy Restauration For Mr. Oliver St. John Chief Justice then of the Common Pleas being sent on an Embassy into Holland by the Powers that govern'd then requested this Boon of them at his Return that they would give him the ruin'd Church or Minster at Peterburgh this they did accordingly and he gave it to the Town of Peterburgh for their use to be employ'd as a Parochial Church their own Parish-Church being then very ruinous and gone to decay Now the the Town considering the largeness of the Building and the greatness to the charge to repair it which of themselves they were not able to defray they all agree to pull down the Ladies Chapel as it was then called an additional Building to the North side of the Minster being then ruinous and ready to fall and to expose the materials thereof Lead Timber and Stone to Sale and to convert the mony that was made of them towards the Repairs of the great Fabrick All this they did and appointed certain persons to oversee the Work and expended several summs thus in Repairs mending the Leads securing the Roof Glazing several Windows and then fitting up the Quire and making it pretty decent for the Congregation to meet in And this they did by taking the Painted Boards that came off from the Roof of the Ladies Chapel and placing them all along at the back of the Quire in such manner as they continue to this day When the Place was thus fitted up and the Devastations which the Souldiers had made in some measure repaired one Mr. Samuel Wilson School Master of the Charter-house in London was sent down by the Committee of Plundred Ministers as they were then called to be Preacher with a Sallary of 160 l. per an in which employment he continued untill the Kings Return Then Dr. Cosin the antient Dean of the Church after almost 20 years Exile in France return'd and re-assumed his Right again in the year 1660 about the end of July He then after so long an Interval renew'd the antient usage and read divine Service first himself and caused it to be read every day afterward according to the old Laudable use and Custome and setled the Church and Quire in that order wherein it now continues But though the Church was thus delivered from publick Robbers and Spoilers yet it was not safe from the injuries of private hands For some ten or twelve years after certain Thieves in the dead of the Night broke into the Church and stole away all the Plate they could find viz. a fair Silver Bason gilt and the Virgers two Silver Rods and a Linnen Table-Cloth to wrap them in which were never heard of to this day This was the same Bason that had been plunder'd by the Souldiers and recovered again but irrecoverably lost now Yet both these losses were soon repaired one by Dr. Henshaw Bishop then of the Place who gave a fair new Silver Bason gilt the other made up by Dr. Duport then Dean who furnisht the Virgers again with the Ensigns of their Office by buying two new Silver Maces for the Churches use And thus is this History brought down at length within our own knowledge and remembrance where we have seen what various fortunes this Antient Church has had which now reckons at least 1000 years from its first Foundation It has been often ruinated and as often reedified Once it was destroyed by Danes twice consumed by Fire It escaped the general downfal of Abbies in Hen. the Eighth's time though not without the loss of some of her fairest Mannors And yet what that King took away in revenues he added to it in Dignity by converting it from an Abbey into a Cathedral Church But the worst mischief that ever befel it was that in the late Rebellious times when the Church it self was miserably defaced and spoiled and all the Lands for the maintenance thereof quite alienated and sold And yet through Gods especial goodness and favour we have lived to see the one repaired the others restored and the Church it self recovering her ancient beauty and lustre again And that it may long thus continue flourish and prosper and be a Nursery for vertue a Seminary for true Religion and Piety a constant Preserver of Gods publick worship and service and free from all Sacrilegious hands is the earnest and hearty Prayer wherewith I shall conclude this Discourse Ex Libro Memorandor Oliv. Sutton Episc Lincoln Anno Pontificatus sui XI A. D. 1290. OLiv c. Archidiacono Oxon. c. Ad Audientiam nostram nuper certa relatione pervenit Quod nonnulli juxta suarum mentium inconstantiam quasi vento agitati a cultu fidei temere deviantes locum quendam in campo juxta Ecclesiam Sancti Clementis extra Municipium Oxon. fontem beati Edmundi vulgariter nuncupatum veluti locum sacrum venerari illumque sub simulatione sacrorum Miraculorum quae perpetrata confingunt ibidem causa devotionis erroneae frequentare ac populum non modicum illuc attrahendo hujusmodi figmentis dampnatis decipere imo pervertere noviter presumpserint errorem Gentilium inter Christicolas introducere superstitiose conando Nos vero hujusmodi incredulitatis perfidiam veluti contra fidem Ecclesiae Doctrinam Apostolicam ne corda renatorum caligine haereticae pravitatis obducat temporis per processum si forte radicari germinare zizania permittatur tortuose serpente virus sui cautius ministrante fomentum eliminare prorsus amputare deo propitio volentes Vobis firmiter injungendo mandamus quatenus in singulis Ecclesiis intra Missarum folempnia locis aliis Archidiaconatus vestri in quibus videritis expedire per vos alios firmiter inhibeatis ne quis ad dictum locum causa venerationis ejusdem de cetero convenire illum superstitiose frequentare presumat sub pena Excommuncationis Maj. omnes singulos contra hujus inhibitionem scienter temere venientes dicta sententia comminata solempniter in genere innodantes donec de culpa contriti
besought them to be favourable to it but they not regarding their cries entred armed into it and indeavoured to carry away the great Cross but could not Yet they took the golden Crown from the head of the Crucifix with the pretious Stones and the Footstool under its feet made of pure Gold and Gemms together with duo aurea feretra two golden or gilded Bears whereon they carried the Saints Reliques and other such like things in Procession and nine Silver ones and twelve Crosses some of Gold some of Silver And besides all this went up into the Tower and took away the great Table which the Monks had hidden there which was all of Gold and Silver and pretious Stone and wont to be before the Altar with abundance of Books and other pretious things which were invaluable there being not the like in all England And they pretended to do all this out of faithfulness to the Church for the Danes they told them would preserve these things for the use of the Church better than the Franks would do Nay Hereward himself was Homo Monachorum a lover of Monks and therefore some believed what they said and he also afterwards swore that he did all this with a good intention because he thought William the Conqueror would get it all Away they went therefore with their Booty and made all the hast they could to their Ships fearing the Normans might fall upon them and coming to Eli they committed all their spoil into the hands of the Danes themselves What became of it Mr. Gunton hath largely enough related out of Hugo Which doth so little agree with what I find in the life of Hereward de Wake that we must suppose all this to have been done if he was not mistaken in his story in the year 1070. and that he came again and spoiled this Church after the Goods which remained were restored as I shall show presently when I have finished the foregoing History Which saith that Turoldus came to the Abby the very same day the Danes went away with an hundred and sixty Normans well armed hoping to meet with the Enemy before they carried off their prey but found no body there and the place laid desolate all being burnt both within and without except the Church Insomuch that the City not long ago called aurea was now made pauperrima But the Abbot being come the Monks who had been scattered returned and performed divine Offices which had been discontinued seven dayes He strengthened himself also by Stipendiary Souldiers upon whom he setled threescore and two Hides of Land that they might defend him from Hereward So John Abbot ad An. 1069. Turoldus vero lxii hidas terrae de terris Ecclesiae Burgi dedit Stipendiariis militibus qui eum contra Herewardum le Wake tuerentur He built a Castle also hard by the Monastery as I shall note anon out of the same Chronicle and had the pleasure to see Hereward the next year 1071. hardly escaping out of the Isle of Eli where most of his accomplices as I have said were taken And yet notwithstanding that great man rallied again and came into these parts with Forces against which a great Army was raised out of Northamptonshire Cambridgshire Linoclnshire Holland Leicestershire Huntendone and Warwickshire while Hereward lay with a few Souldiers in comparison skulking in the Woods nigh unto Burch This I learn out of a Treatise at the end of Swapham intituled de gestis Heruuardi inclyti militis gathered out of such fragments as could be found of a Book written in the English tongue by Alefricus Diaconus who was Hereward's Priest at Brun. Who says this great Army gathered out of those severai Counties was lead by Turoldus Abbot of Burch and Yvo Talbois who incompassed Hereward and his men so strictly that they greatly distressed them But he nothing terrified placed all his Sagittarii and balistarii among the Trees which they had there for their security and from thence issued out as he saw his opportunities and having made great slaughters retreated under their shelter again This he continued to do after several manners all the day long till he had tyred the opposite Army and made them raise their Siege And then Hereward with all his men rushing out upon their Rere all at once put them into such a confusion that he took many of them Prisoners and among the rest Abbot Turoldus Whom he kept in Custody till he redeemed himself and other considerable persons with the summ of three thousand Marks of Silver So that writer saith Fol. CCCXXXVI with whom John Abbot agrees but mentions a far greater summ Nihilominus tandem cum multis aliis magnatibus speaking of Turoldus ab Herewardo captus quousque pro sua redemptione XXX marcas argenti solveret cum aliis suis conductitiis in custodia detentus est But after this ransome of himself and his Nephew and others whom he received from the hand of a Cosin of Herewardus called Siwardus Albus who had honourably entertained him out of reverence to the Abbot he forgot both his Covenant and the benefits he had received renewing the War against Hereward For the carrying on of which he gave away more Goods of his Church and many Possessions to Souldiers ut haberet semper militare auxilium ad expugnandum Herewardum Which coming to the Ears of Hereward who saw he was like to suffer for his kindness he made no delay but the same night marched with all the force he could make to Burch and burning the whole Town which it seems by this story began to be built again carried away all the Treasure of the Church and pursued the Abbot himself licet latitando cum suis evaserit But the next night if we may believe this Writer Hereward thought he saw in his dream an old man of inestimable beauty and in brighter habit than he had ever beheld or imagined with a terrible countenance threatning him with a great Key he held in his hand and with a dreadful voice that he should immediately restore all he had taken out of the Church if he loved his life Whereupon he rose up the very same hour and carrying back all that he had pillaged immediately departed from Burgh But lost his way in the night and wandred up and down in the Woods not knowing whither he went till a vast Wolf appeared who marched before them like a houshold Dog and led them into their right way As they saw by lighted Candles which appeared upon every mans Shield which none of them could pull off or blow out But when morning appeared both Wolf and Candles vanished and they came whither they desired beyond Stamford He relates many other wonderful atchievements of this famous Warrior who was accounted the Hector of his time and at last shows how he was reconciled to the King and served him faithfully having all his Fathers Lands and Possessions restored to him and living comfortably and peace