to those that have neither leasure to consult nor money enough to purchase the Monasticon And it may likewise be usefull to those that have the Monasticon allready upon account of the Additions and Corrections the Arms the Repertory of MS. Registers and Charters and the references to the Monasticon and other Printed Histories For it cannot be denied but that the Monasticon is capable of many Additions The principal design of the Editors of those Noble Volumes being to collect Charters and other Authentick Muniments they neglected several short notes which give an account of the Foundation Order and Dedication of several Monasteries This is evident from Leland's MSS. which tho' Sir Will. Dâ—gdale frequently perused and partly transcribed yet short accounts of great many Religious Houses are to be met with therein which are totally omitted in the Monasticon And the greatness of that work forced the industrious â—ublishers to let slip several mistakes which we might expect to have found corrected in the late Epitome of it But therein to the errors of the Original are added several of the Translator and 't is pity that Charters and Records should loose their use and authority by being thus curtail'd and mangled or as the term is abridg'd Tho' it is not pretended that this short History of Religious Houses is complete or free from all errors which is impossible considering the great loss of Monastick Records yet all imaginable care was taken that it should be more full and correct than any Book of this kind extant To which end all our printed Historians were examined that might any way conduce toward the story of these Places as also Leland's Collections and Itinerary and several other MSS. Two particularly were very useful one of which was an old Parchment MS. wrote by a Monk of Canterbury about the later end of Henry VI. Reign It is in the Bodleian Library NE. E. 2. 17 and contains the Names Dedication and Orders of all the Religious Houses in every Shire Wherein tho' the Monasteries were often false placed yet it gave great light towards recovering of the Order and Dedication of several of them The other was a fair paper MS. in the Ashmolean Musaeum Num. 839. collected not long after the Dissolution by one who probably had a sight of Leland's Collections This chiefly supplied me with the Names of several Founders which were before wanting More errors might possibly have been amended and defects supplied could we but have got the sight of that Book which I am afraid is now lost which Henry Crump a Cistercian Monk and Doctor of Divinity of this University wrote about A. D. 1380. Concerning the Foundation of all the Monasteries in England from the time of S. Birin the first Bishop of Dorchester till the age of Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln The method observed in this Book is to take the Counties according to Alphabetical order and in them to describe the Monasteries according to the seniority of their Foundations The time when some of them was built is not yet discovered and those are put behind all the rest but before the Colleges because we may take it for granted that all or most of the Monasteries were founded before the Statute of Mortmain whereas few or none of the Colleges were â—ounded before Now the Reader may be pleased to know something more concerning the subject of this Book The Religious Houses in England and Wales By Religious Houses are only imply'd Cathedral Churches Abbies Priories Priories-Alien Colleges and Preceptories Houses of Friers are purâ—osely omitted because not endowed with Lands Chantries because they were not incorpoâ—ate Hospitals and Gilds because they consisted of Lay-Brethren Few are ignorant of what is meant by Cathedral Churches but the distinction â—etwixt an Abbey and a Priory and the Names of Priories-Alien Colleges and Preceptories are not â—o well understood An Abbey was a Society of Religious People wherein presided an Abbat â—r Abbess and a Priory was where the chief â—erson was term'd a Prior or Prioress Not but in every Abby there was a Prior immediately under the Abbat who during the Abbat's absence had the chief care of the House under him was the Sub-Prior and in great Abbies the third and fourth Prior who were Officers in the House and all removeable at the will of the Abbat as were also the other Obedientiarii And here by the way we may take notice that in every Abby and great Priory there were four great Obedientiarii or Officers viz. 1 the Sacrista or Sexton who took care of the buildings the vessels the Books and Vestments of the Church 2 The Thesaurarius or Bursar who received all the Rents and Revenues of the Monastery and disbursed all expences 3 The Cellerar who provided food for the Monks 4 The Camerarius or Chamberlain who found the Monks clothing These were the four chief Officers but beside these was also the Hospitalarius who took care that Hospitality was kept up and that entertainment was afforded to strangers who resorted to the Monastery The Eleemosynarius or Aâ—moner had the oversight of the alms of the House which were daily distributed at the gate to the poor The Infirmarius had the charge of the Infirmary and the sick Monks who were carried thither out of the common Dormitory Many other Officers there were in Monasteries but these were the chief But to return to Priories which were of two sorts one where the Prior was chief Governour as absolute as any Abbat in his Abby and was chosen by the Convent such were the Cathedral Priors and most of those of the Austin Order The other was where the Priory was a Cell subordinate to some great Abby and the Prior placed and removed at the will of the Abbat Soveraign and even among these there was a great deal of difference some were altogether subject to their respective Abbies who sent them what Officers and Monks they pleased and the revenues of these went to the common stock of the Abby others consisted of a certain number of Monks only had the Prior from the greater Abby and paid a small pension yearly as an acknowledgement of their subjection These Priories were allways of the same Order with the Abbies on whom they depended tho' sometimes of a different Sex it being usual after the Conquest for some greaâ— Abbies to build Nunneries in some of their Mannors which were Priories to the Abbies and subject to their Visitation Priories-Alien were when Mannors or Tithes were given to any foreign Monastery the Monks either to encrease their own Rule or rather to have faithful Stewards of their Lands built convenient Houses for the reception of a small Convent and then sent over such a number as they thought fit constituting Priors over them successively as occasion required Colleges or Collegiate Churches were a certain number of Secular Canons living under the government of a Dean Warden Provost or Master There belonged to these Foundations sometimes
Men which love their Nation as they should do Thus Bale one of the bitterest enemies the Monks ever had is forced to lament the great damage the Learned World sustained at the Dissolution Indeed those well furnish't Libraries that were in most Monasteries plainly shew that we are too much prejudic'd against the Monks when we rashly condemn them as idle ignorant and discouragers of Learning and that on the contrary we ought to esteem many of them to be Learned and industrious and promoters of several usefull parts of knowledge In every great Abby there was a large Room called the Scriptorium to which belonged several Writers whose whole business it was to transcribe good Books for the use of the publick Library of the House Tho' sometimes they wrote the Leiger-books as also Missals and other Books used in Divine Service yet generally they were upon other Works viz. Fathers Classicks Histories Philosophy c. And to give but one instance the care they had to encrease the number of good Books will appear by the large Catalogue of Books which were transcrib'd at Glastonbury in one Abbat's time and are as follow Bibliotheca una Plinius de Naturali Historia Cassiodorus super Psalteriam Tria Missalia magna Duo Lectionaria Breviarium in domo infirmorum Jeronimus super Ieremiam Isaiam Origines super Vetus Testamentum Ejusdem Omeliae Idem super Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos Hieronymus super Epistolam ad Galathas ad Ephesios ad Titum ad Philemonem Vitae Patrum Collationes Patrum Breviarium Hospitum Antiphonarium Pars una Moralium Cyprianus Registrum Liber dictus Paradisus Jeronimus contra Iovinianum Ambrosius contra Novatianos Septem Volumina de Passionibus Sanctorum per totum anni circulum Vitâ—e Caesarum Gesta Britonum Gesta Anglorum Gesta Francorum Pascasius Radbertus de corpore sanguine Domini Summae quaedam Liber Abbatis Clarevallensis de amando Deo Hugo de S. Victore de duodecim gradibus Humilitatis de Oratione Physionomia Lapidarium Liber Petri Alfimii in uno volumine Rhetorica prima secunda Vnum Volumen Quintiliani de causis Epistola Augustini de oratione Dominica super Psalmum Miserere mei Deus Benedictionale unum Episcopale Decreta Juonis Carnotensis Episcopi Jeronimus super XII Prophetas Lamentationes Ieremiae Augustinus de Trinitate Augustinus super Genesin Ysidori Etymologiae Paterius Augustinus de verbis Domini Hugo de Sacramentis Cassianus de Incarnatione Domini Anselmus cur Deus Homo These valuable Books could never have been without the expence of a great deal of time and money transcribed had not the Monks had a Spirit of Learning and industry There were no less than 1700. MSS. Tracts in the Library at Peterburgh and the Catalogues of Books belonging to the Priory of Dover and the Abby of St. Mary de la Pre at Leicester clearly evince that those Houses had no mean Libraries and those kept in very good order Nay so zealous were the Monks for the encouragement of Learning that they very often got Churches appropriated ad libros faciendos And in the Abby of St. Austin at Canterbury there was temp Edw. II. an order made by Thomas the Abbat with the unanimous consent of the whole Convent that yearly on the first day of Lent Prayers should be made for the Souls of the dead and the good estates of the living Benefactors to the Library that for the living the Mass of the Holy Ghost should be solemnly sung and for the dead the Mass Pro Defunctis with the Prayer Inclina c. And not only their diligence in procuring new Books but their care in preserving the old was very commendable Of this St. Aldhelm's Psalter at Malmsbury and St. Cuthbert's Gospels kept till the Dissolution in Durham Abby and now among that curious Collection of MSS. belonging to Sir Iohn Cotton at Westminster are pregnant instances And Leland tells us that in Bath Library he found several Books given them by King Ethelstan To this end they had in some Monasteries Librarians as Flaccus Albinus at York and William Somerset at Malmsbury and in others there is reason to believe the Libraries were under the care of the Camerarius It would be too hard a censure to think that those who were so great lovers of Books should not make some use of them The ancient British Irish and Saxon Monasteries we find were the Schools and Universities of those times they were not only Cells of Devotion but also Nurseries of Learned Men for the use of the Church The works of Bede are a sufficient argument of the knowledge the Monks of those times had in all parts of Learning Their skill in the Learned Languages was so very eminent that 't is reported some of them understood Greek and Latin as well as their Mother-tongue But it is to no purpose to enlarge any more in this matter which requires a particular Treatise When the Monks were rooted out by the Danish wars an universal ignorance overspread the land in so much that there was scarce any one in England that could read or write Latin But when by the care of King Edgar and Arch-bishop Dunstan Monasteries were restored Learning found it's former encouragement and flourished very much within the walls of the Cloisters So that Leland who was no great friend to the Monks often confesses that in these old times there few or no Writers but Monks and that all the knowledge of those dark ages was amongst them Even after the Conquest tho' by reason of the introducing several new Orders of Religious who minded their Devotions more than Books there were but few Learned Men yet all or most of the Writers were Monks and Regular Canons till the rise of the Mendicant Orders in the beginning of the Reign of King Henry III. In the preceding Centuries Learning began to flourish in our Universities tho' the original or at least the Restoration of one of them is owing to the â—onks of Croiland In them were taught â—chool Divinity and Canon Law then mightily 〈◊〉 vogue and the Friers resorting thither in â—reat numbers and applying themselves to â—earning with indefatigable industry went beâ—ond the Monks in all parts of the then fashioâ—able knowledge But in the next age the â—onks had Colleges in the Universities foundâ—â— and liberally endowed for the education of â—â—eir Novices Thus Leland tells us The â—â—mes of Peterburgh Haulle Semplingham and â—auldey remain at Stanford as places for those â—ouses of Men of Religion that sent their Scholars â—â—ther to study And in Oxford we had Glocester â—â—rham Canterbury and London Colleges for 〈◊〉 Benedictines St. Marie's near North-gate 〈◊〉 the Austin Canons and the College of St. 〈◊〉 for the Cistercians Here the young â—onks were instructed for some years in Grammar Rhetorick Philosophy School Divinitâ— c. and
NOTITIA MONASTICA OR A Short History OF THE Religious Houses IN ENGLAND and WALES By THOMAS TANNER B. A. OXFORD Printed at the THEATER and are to be sold by A. and J. Churchill at the sign of the Black Swan in Pater-noster-row LONDON 1695. Imprimatur Henr. Aldrich VICE-CAN OXON Martii 13. 1694 5. TO THE Honourable and Reverend D r. Leopold-William Finch WARDEN OF ALL-SOULS COLLEGE In Oxford SIR FROM the Popular Clamours that have been raised and carried on against the Old Monks ever since the Reformation it is easie to foresee what cold reception a Book of this nature must meet with The reflections of the witty and the censures of the prejudiced are the best entertainment it must expect and the Author is too mean to afford it the least protection In this melancholy condition it flies to Your Patronage when nothing but such a Great Name can defend it against the ill usage of ignorance and malice For the World must needs be convinced that the Knowledge of Monastical affairs is neither barbarous nor insipid when it is countenanced by One in whom are to be found Politeness Exactness and all other Accomplishments becoming a Noble Birth and Academical Education You well know Monasteries were in those dark Ages the only Preservers of Learning and maintainers of Hospitality Orders and Statutes for the relief of the poor were never known till after their Dissolution Their Founders were men of the greatest Honour and Virtue in their respective Ages and it cannot but be some satisfaction to the remaining branches of the Nobility and Gentry to survey the Pious Monuments of their Ancestor's Greatness best expressed in these splendid Acts of their Liberality and Devotion Among many other reasons assign'd for the founding these Religious Houses it was usual to erect them after their returns from foreign Wars both as an acknowledgement of Praise and Gratitude to their Maker for their Success and Safety and also out of Charity according to the Religion of those times to the Souls of their slain Friends It was to the Conquest of France that Noble College wherein You preside ows it's Birth which never had a Governour fâ—om whom that Society and the whole University could expect more than from You who fill that Place with all those Qualities which exactly answer the very mind Idea and desire of the great CHICHLEY It cannot be denied but that our Historians and Lawyers must have constant recourse to their Annals and whatever some modern Authors may in Essays pretend against their Learning most certain it is that the more judicious draw their best arguments from them And those that neglect such Records find great reason sooner or later to repent their ignorance especially when their Faults come to be discovered and exposed Those Great Men of the latter Age were of another opinion Arch-bishop Parker Sir Henry Savil and Mr. Camden thought they did the Publick good service when they brought to light those valuable writings of Asserius William of Malmsbury Tho. Walsingham Ingulphus and other Monks Mr. Selden and Sir Roger Twisden thought they could not join their Studies more to the honour of England than in retrieving from oblivion those excellent Pieces of Simeon Dunelmensis Joh. Brompton Stubbs Thorn c. which will ever remain a noble Monument of their Pains and Affection to their Native Country And the great design of that excellent Bishop to publish from our Theater all the Latin Writers of the English History met with universal Applause a Work the Learned World may hope waits for Your Care to see carried on and finished I shall rather choose to trespass against the Custom of such Addresses than make the least approaches to offend You with those Characters of respect which Your Virtues exact from all that have the Honour and Happiness to be known to You. So that I shall only crave leave to acquaint You that I presumed to Dedicate this Treatise to You out of an innocent ambition to publish how freely You have been pleas'd to encourage this sort of Learning in which the Author because of his natural inclination to History and Antiquities has been thought by the partial kindness of his Friends in some measure fit to serve his Country 'T is this grateful remembrance of Your late generous kindness to a Person altogether unknown to You and without which he must have left this beloved Place and his Studies that obliges him to offer these his First-Fruits of Duty and Gratitude and will also give You a right to command all his future Labours That therefore Your Health and Vigor may be such as to compleat the hopes and expectation of all good Men in seeing You a Glory to Your Function Age and Country and that You may by your Learning Prudence and Conduct be a support and credit to the Church and Universities is as a Publick Wish so in a more particular manner the sincere Prayers of Reverend Sir Your most obliged and most Obedient Humble Servant THOMAS TANNER THE PREFACE THE advances that all parts of Learning have within these few years made in England are very obvious but the progress is visible in nothing more than in the illustrations of our own History and Antiquities To which end we have had our ancient Records and Annals published from the Originals the Chorographical Description of these Kingdoms very much improved and some attempts made toward a just body of English History For those also that are more particularly curious we have had not only the Histories both Natural and Civil of several Counties the descriptions of Cities and the Monuments and Antiquities of Cathedral Churches accurately collected but even the memoirs of private Families Villages and Houses compiled and published And the great prices those Books bear in our publick Auctions are a sufficient demonstration of their Credit and Esteem with Men of Learning seeing no Library is thought complete without them For the inquisitive Men of the Nation now find the pleasure and use of being well versed in the History and ancient customs of their own Country of reading the Acts of their renown'd Ancestors and of having their own Names recorded to posterity So that to satisfie the curiosity of those who are willing to know when by whom and for whom these Religious Houses were Founded the Majesty of whose very ruines strike Travellers with admiration To preserve some remembrance of these Structures once the Glory of our English Nation and of their Founders that so highly deserved of the several Ages they lived in is the design of this Book Tho' I am not ignorant that the generality of people ever since the Dissolution have thro' a mistaken zeal and false prejudices thought that the very memory of those Great Men who erected these places ought to be buried in the rubbish of those Structures that they design'd should perpetuate their Names to Eternity Thus they have been always censured as well wishers to the introducing of Popery