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
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
Imprimatur Jo. Battely RR mo P. D no. Wil. Archiep. Cantuar. Ã Sacris Domesticis Ex Aedibus Lamb. Aug. 20. 1685. THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF PETERBURGH WHEREIN The most remarkable Things concerning that Place from the First FOUNDATION thereof With other Passages of HISTORY not unworthy Publick View are represented BY SYMON GUNTON late Prebendary of that CHURCH Illustrated with Sculptures And set forth By Symon Patricl D. D. now Dean of the same LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVI THE PREFACE THe Author of this History was the better fitted for the Work he undertook because he was born at Peterburgh and there lived all his days a few years excepted whereby he had the advantage of being perfectly acquainted with many things about which he writes Particularly the Monuments in the Church broken down in the late Sacrilegious times whose Inscriptions when he was but a Boy as he himself writes in a Letter to Dr. Henshaw late Bishop of Peterburgh he both often read and also transcribed These he hath preserved and transmitted to Posterity as that learned Antiquary Sir William Dugdale hath also done Who in the Year 1641. fearing what shortly followed was at the pains and charge to take the Draughts as well as the Inscriptions of the Monuments in sundry Cathedral Churches of this Realm which soon after were demolished and of this Church among the rest By whose kindness they would have been communicated to the World if the Undertaker had come to the knowledge of them before he had received Subscriptions to his Proposals which were not high enough to bear the charge of them But the best Monuments the Records of the Church out of which a more compleat History might have been gathered are never to be recovered being torn in pieces or burnt by the more than Gothish Barbarity of those ignorant people who took upon them the glorious name of Reformers An account of which is given by a faithful hand in the conclusion of the Supplement to this Work One Book indeed and but one still remains which was happily redeemed from the fire by the then Chaunter of the Church Mr. Humfry Austin Who knowing the great value of it first hid it in February 1642. under a Seat in the Quire and when it was found by a Souldier on the 22 April 1643. when all the seats there were pulled down rescued it again by the offer of ten Shillings for that old Latine Bible as he called it after which he pretended to enquire The name of the Bible by the help of the ten Shillings preserved this pretious Treasure from the Flames whither it was going as Mr. Austin hath left upon Record in the beginning of the Book with a Copy of the Souldiers acknowledgment that he had given him satisfaction for it in these words I pray let this Scripture Book alone for he hath paid me for it and therefore I would desire you to let it alone By me Henry Topclyffe Souldier under Captain Cromwell Colonel Cromwell 's Son therefore I pray let it alone Vnto which goodly Warrant for its security the Fellow subscribed his name The Book I speak of is commonly called by the Name of SWAPHAM it being vulgarly believed to have been composed by Robert Swapham a Monk of this Church of Peterburgh But in truth is for the greatest and most antient part of its History the work of HUGO surnamed CANDIDUS or White an eminent Monk also of the same Church who himself in the very body of the Book gives an account both when he lived and that he was the Author of the History which now all passes under the Name of Swapham For speaking of the Reliques of the Church the principal of which was St. Oswald's right Arm super omne aurum pretiosum as his words are he saith that he himself saw it and kissed and handled it with his own hands when it was shown intire both in the flesh and skin to Alexander Bishop of Lincoln and to the whole Convent with many others 487 Years after the death of St. Oswald Now he was slain in the year 643 and therefore this was in the year 1130. From whence it appears that Mr. Selden is out in his account when he saith in his Preface to the Decem Scriptores fol. XLVI that this History of our Church vulgarly thought to be Robert Swapham's was written in the Reign of Henry the Third or thereabouts He should have said that then Robert Swapham lived as I shall show by and by he did but he who wrote the greatest and best part of the History lived in the Reign of Henry the First King Stephen and his Successor And therefore it might more truly have been said to have been written in the Reign of Henry the Second or thereabout unless his words be restrained to that particular part of the History which he hath occasion to mention which followed immediately upon the death of HUGO This is declared more plainly and fully in another place of the History viz. in the life of Abbot ERNULPHUS Where mention is made of two famous Sacrists of this Church Victricus and Remaldus The latter of which is said to have made a Brother of his a Monk when as yet he was but a child whose name was Hugo who always attended upon Remaldus and served him qui etiam hunc libellum collegit collectumque scripsit who also collected this little Book and having collected it put it in writing And then follows a description of him that in his childhood he fell into a disease which made him very weak For every Year and that often he vomited abundance of blood and once was brought so low by vomiting fifteen Basons full in one week that they utterly despaired of his life gave him extream Vnction and were called out of the Chapterhouse by Nicolaus then Keeper of the Infirmary to come and commend his Soul to God he being upon the point of departure But Egelbrithus a most holy man perswading them to go into the Church and beg his life of God who would not deny them one man as his words were they did so and he was miraculously restored as there is at large related And he lived a long time beloved by all the succeeding Abbots John Henry Martin William under whom he served the Church having all the business of the Monastery both withindoors and without committed to him till he came at last to the degree of Supprior first under Martin then under William de Watervile in whose time he dyed Remaldus his brother being then Prior. I have given the larger account of this man because he is mentioned in many Authors as an excellent person being known as our History adds in the neighbouring Monasteries nay famed far and near and no less loved than praised by all that were acquainted with him And had the name of Candidus or Albus in all likelyhood from his pale Complexion caused
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
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
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
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
the House of Lords which Protestation so heightned the displeasure against them that those twelve Bishops were charged with High-Treason and committed to the Tower Only Bishop Morton and B. Hall to the Black Rod. Of those twelve Bishops The other 11 were Williams Archbishop of York Morton B. of Duresme-Wright B. of Coventry and Lichfield Owen B. of Asaph Peirse B. of Bath and Wells Cooke B. of Hereford Skinner B. of Oxf. Wren B. of Ely Owen B. of Landaffe Goodman B. of Glocester Hall B. of Norwich John Towers Bishop of Peterburgh was one continuing under restraint some 4 or 5 months and being enlarged returned to his bare Palace of Peterburgh where although his revenues were taken away yet he enjoyed but little quiet or security being continually alarm'd by threatnings and molestations which caused him to flie to Oxford then the Kings Garrison under which shelter he continued until it was surrendred to Sir Thomas Fairfax and then on June 29. 1646. Bishop Towers came again to his own dwelling at Peterburgh But then did other troubles draw nearer to him sicknesses and diseases which prevailed upon him until they had brought him to his dissolution which happened January 10. 1648. twenty dayes before his great Master King Charles and he was buried the day following in the Grave of Abbot Henricus de Morcot as hath been said before His eminency in his Bishoprick was more illustrious by his being passive than active in the dispensation of his Office the times not digesting such zeal in the way of conformity to the Church of England as he was endowed withal yet did he Preach as oft as occasion required wherein he was so excellently qualified as that he had but few equals and fewer superiours in his time He was earnest in his zeal to the house of God a testimony whereof he gave long before he had relation to the Church of Peterburgh which I have heard from his own mouth and it was this King James using to visit Castle-Ashby the Seat and Mansion of the Earls of Northampton where Dr. Towers was Parson It was the custom of those houshold Officers which belonged to the Wardrobe to use the Chancel of the Parish-Church for a Wardrobe King James not knowing any thing thereof Dr. Towers being to Preach before the King in his Sermon spake something in signification thereof which King James apprehending and laying up he questioned Dr. Towers presently after Sermon about it D. Towers acquainting him with the abuse and that he thought himself bound in conscience to say what he had said The King was so far from being displeased that he thanked him for his honest boldness and gave order for the remedying of that abuse Presently after the death of Bishop Towers the purchasers of his Episcopal Palace began to demolish it and the first place they laid their hands on was the Chappel Jan. 29. John Towers being dead the Church of Peterburgh continued under an Inter-Episcopate for the space of a dozen years although the Bishop was made but a Cypher some years before until it pleased the Sun of Divine mercy to dispel that black cloud which had so long Eclipsed the glory both of Church and State by the happy and never to be forgotten restauration of His Sacred Majesty King Charles the Second to his just Rights who out of His pious care for this Church appointed 54 BENJAMIN LANY Dr. in Divinity Dean of Rochester and Master of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge whose election was November 20. 1660. and Installation Decemb. 21. His Presidency here was not long nor his Hand short in expressing its benevolence towards the repairing of the Cathedral Church His removal was to the Bishoprick of Lincoln 1662. And his Successor 55. JOSEPH HENSHAW Dr. in Divinity and Dean of Chichester was elected April 15. 1663. and Installed May 28. being Ascension day Thus having set down the Succession of the Abbots and Bishops of this Cathedral Church we shall now apply our selves to the other Ecclesiastick Government viz. The Dean and Chapter which K. Henry founded at the dissolution of Abbyes This he constituted of a Dean and six Prebendaries to be exempt from the Bishop of Lincoln and his Jurisdiction and also distinct from the Bishop of Peterburgh and to be an entire Ecclesiastical Corporation of themselves Their temporal jurisdiction in such Mannors Lands and Rents as were assigned to them was like that of the Abbots formerly as their Successors therein To the Dean and Prebends all other Officers and Members were subordinate and this was the Original Constitution and foundation of the whole The Dean l. s. d. Six Prebendaries Priests l. s. d. Eight Petty Canons l. s. d. These were afterwards taken away the King releasing them for Stanwigge and Polebrook Four Students in Divinity l. s. d. Eight Clerks or singing-men l. s. d. An Epistoler l. s. d. A Ghospeller l. s. d. Two Sextons l. s. d. Eight Choristers l. s. d. A Master of Choristers l. s. d. Twenty Scholars at the Grammar School l. s. d. Six Alms-men or Beads-men l. s. d. The Head-Master of the Grammar-School l. s. d. The Usher l. s. d. A Yearly distribution in Almes l. s. d. For the Yearly reparation of the Cathedral l. s. d. This was taken off in time of K Edw. 6. For making and mending of High-ways l. s. d. A Steward of the Lands l. s. d. Auditor of the Accompts l. s. d. Two Porters l. s. d. Principal Cook l. s. d. Under-Cook l. s. d. Butler l. s. d. Purveyor l. s. d. Receiver of the Rents l. s. d. For extraordinary expences Yearly l. s. d. Organist l. s. d. Sub-Dean l. s. d. Sub-Treasurer l. s. d. Chantor l. s. d. Two Councellors in Law l. s. d. Solicitor l. s. d. Register l. s. d. Principal Steward l. s. d. Keeper of the Cloak l. s. d. These were the Officers and dependents of this Church amongst which the Revenues were to be distributed But I have not yet met with any Authentick Copy for all these save only the Dean and six Prebendaries The rest I find in several Transcripts which varie one from another that whether they were all fixed by authority or some left to the discretion of the Governors of the Church to be changed as occasion served I cannot justly say The Lands and Rents assigned to this foundation were first the whole site or bounds of the Monastery excepting such as were allotted to the Bishop wherein were many dwelling houses assigned to several places as to the Dean Prebendaries and Church-men such as performed daily service in the Church which were set forth by the Kings Commission bearing date July 20. 1541. The Revenues for the Dean and Chapter with such offices and places as were subordinate were these In Northampton-shire  l. s. d.  Mannor of Peterburgh rated Yearly at 127 07 00 ob Mannor of Longthorp 41 16 11 q. Mannor of Castre 51 10 07 q. Mannor of Sutton 17
Chests of about three foot long a piece in each of which were the bones of a Man and of whom appeared by a Plate of Lead in each Chest whereon the name of the person was engraven in the one was Elfricus on the other Kynsius both which had been Arch-Bishops of York and being dead their bodies were interred in the Monastery of Peterburgh where formerly they had been Monks In those time Epitaphs and Inscriptions on the outside of Monuments were either not yet or not commonly used but a plate of Lead was put into the Coffin having the name of the deceased party and so it was done to Dunstane Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as Matthew Paris witnesseth Ad ann 1527. But Elfricus and Kynsius could not have their repositories so short from the beginning but it is probable they had a removal from under ground to lie above ground in this Wall so near the Altar their first places of Sepulture being not thought fit to contain them any longer The place of Elfricus burial I cannot tell but for Kynsius I have heard my Father who was well read in the Antiquities of this Church say that the Marble Monument now lying on the Northside of the Quire was his It bears the Portraicture of a shaven Monk lying on the top Beyond the Quire the most Eastern part of the Church is the New Building erected by Abbot Robert Kirton as hath been said The windows therein are fair and lately beautified with painted glass which contained no great matter worthy of recital save only the pictures of Saints largely expressed In the South end of this building lie many of the family of Ormes interred Sir Humfrey Orme Frances his Lady with their Children In the Wall adjoyning was placed a fair and comely Monument with their Statues which Monument was first erected upon the burial of a vertuous Gentlewoman of the same name born in Sommerset-shire whom Humfrey the eldest Son of Sir Humfrey had taken to Wife who though by her Marriage she changed not her name yet she did her Countrey and here died Under her Figure was written this Epitaph Mistake not Reader I thee crave This is an Altar not a Grave Where Fire rak't up in Ashes lies And Harts are made the sacrifice Till time and truth her worth and fame Revive her embers to a flame I cannot tell whether this Monument fared the worse for the Statues or the word Altar in the Epitaph but it was defaced And Sir Humfrey Orme his Lady and eldest Son lived to see the death of what was erected to continue their memories after death Near towards the midst of this building lieth interred the body of Frances Wife to Dr. John Cosin Dean of this Church who died not long after her Child-birth March 25. 1642. A Gentlewoman well deserving a Monument to perpetuate her name and memory for which purpose her honoured Husband made some progress in one upon the pavement with black and white Marble chequered but before it could be compleated on the Wall by a Statue or Inscription it was blasted by an Eastern wind The day of her burial was remarkable in this that whilst the Child a Daughter Christned Anne was at the Font to be Baptized the Mother lay by upon the Bier to be carried presently to her Grave A pretty accident if we may call it an accident fell out the day before It being the Eve of the Annunciation and none making the least question but that this Gentlewoman was in a fair way of recovery after her delivery and all things prepared for the Christening of the Child the Chanter whose Office it was to appoint the Anthems appointed to be sung that part of the Burial-Service Composed by Mr. Wilkinson I am the Resurrection c. Dean Cosin being then at Church and having the Anthem brought him asked the Chanter why he appointed this Anthem The Chanter replied It is a good Anthem and you have not yet heard it The next morning this Gentlewoman died and that day the same Anthem was sung again at her Burial Dean Cosin afterwards observed the Omen As you pass out of this building on the Northside of the Church there was lately a passage into the now demolished Ladies Chappel in which passage was a little Chappel on the right hand Archt over with Stone having a fair East-window and on the Northside little windows looking into the Ladies Chappel Over head were two Chambers which common tradition hath told to have been the habitation of a devout Lady called Agnes or Dame Agnes out of whose Lodging-Chamber there was a hole made a-skew in the window walled up having its prospect just upon the Altar in the Ladies Chappel and no more It seems she was devout in her generation that she chose this place for her retirement and was desirous that her eyes as well as ears might wait upon her publick Devotions I could never yet see any Record to inform me who this Dame Agnes was And surely this Church owes the world a better account of her than I can give in regard she was a great Benefactoress to it giving that which at this day is commonly known by the Name of Dame Agnes Wood not far from Peterburgh Over against this on the left hand was a little Chappel but what or whose we cannot say In the Ladies Chappel were many fair Gravestones but few Inscriptions only these Hic jacet Helena nomine English quondam uxor Willielmi Gunton quae obiit 9 Octobris 1613. Near unto this was buried Simon English who was of great esteem in his generation for a School-Master under whom the late famous and learned Antiquary Sir Robert Cotton and many others of his time and quality received education The Inscription in Brass upon his Monument was this Simoni English Archididascalo Petriburgi celeberrimo Epiphaniae die Anno Domini 1592. mortuo Discipulus Thomas Green Hieronymi filius Gratitudinis ergo posuit The Eastern window of this Ladies Chappel was the fairest and goodliest in all the Church scarce a fairer in any other Cathedral It was adorned with painted glass containing many stories amongst the rest of Julian the Apostate and these two Verses Cuspide Mercurii Julianus Apostata caesus Vincis ait vincis heu Nazarene potens At the West end of this Chappel were two small Chappels of wooden inclosure in one of which the Northern anciently the Chappel of S. John the Baptist are interred the bodies of Christopher Swinscoe Gent. and Alice his Wife their Monument of Marble is still extant but the Inscription lost This Alice was a good Benefactoress to the poor of the Town In this Chappel I have often seen a Stone in the pavement hollowed like a shallow Platter which tradition hath said to have been so worn by the frequent kneeling of a devout person thereon which might be it being at that end which was next to the Ladies Chappel But now that stone is gone In a Pillar near was a pretty small
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
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
Girardus obtained of King William the second six Churches Five of which he gave to St. Peters Church of York i. e. de Dyrfeld de Kyllum de Pokelymon de Pykerynga de Burgh where perhaps Kynsinus dyed The same Thomas Stubbs Actus Pontif. Eborac saith the vulgar opinion of him was that he was not born but cut out of his Mothers Womb. He gave to this Church the Village of Linewelle as Hugo tells us with the textum Evangelii excellently wrought with Gold and so many Ornaments that they were apprised at three hundred pound which with his Body were all brought hither But Queen Edgit he adds took them all away The Character he gives of him is this that he always lived like a Monk most abstemiously and Holily So that when his Clergy and Family had a splendid Table he contented himself with coarse and Barly Bread and with the viler sort of meat and drink And walking on foot from Town to Town Preaching and giving Alms he often went bare-foot and commonly travelled in the nights that he might avoid vain-glory Which makes him call him Sanctus Kinsinus The last Wulstanus was also Archbishop of of York and Successor to Adulphus holding the Bishoprick of Worcester together with the See of York as he and St. Oswald before him had done Who if we may believe Hugo gave himself and all that he had to this place but going to visit the places where other Saints lay buried and coming to Eli there he fell sick and dyed and was buried in the year MXXIII V. Kal. Junii 3. feria as Thomas Stubbs relates after he had been Archbishop twenty year He and Radulphus de Diceto differ from Hugo in the place of his sickning and dying for they make him to have been brought to Eli to be buried according to his own prediction as the latter of them affirms upon a time when he came thither for devotion sake The mention of him puts me in mind of another of that name who was bred in this Monastery and therefore ought not to be here omitted For though he dyed a good while after this time yet he was advanced to the See of Worcester in the days of Leofricus viz. MLXII So John Abbot Venerabilis vir Wlstanus Burgi Monachus Wigorn. fit Episcopus Roger Hoveden also who saith that literis Ecclesiasticis Officiis imbutus in Nobili Monasterio quod Burch nominatur The very same hath Symeon Dunelmensis John Brompton But the largest account I find of him is in his Life written in Three Books MS. in Sir J. C's Library by Bravonius a Monk of Worcester 1170. who relates at large all that he did both before and after the Conquest He was born at Jceritune in Warwickshire his Father Athelstanus his Mother Wifgena who put him to School at Evesham where he received the first Elements of learning and then sent him hither to be perfected in it so his words are perfectiori mox apud Burch which I shewed before was famous for learning scientia teneras informavit medullas Here he gave great indications of his future Vertue when he had scarce taken the first step out of his Childhood He had a Master called Eruentus who could Write admirably and Draw any thing in Colours Who made Wlstan when he was but a Boy Write two Books Sacramentarium Psalterium and Flourish the Principal Letters in Pictures with Gold The former of which his Master presented to King Cnute the Psalter to Queen Emma After this he went from Burch to his Parents who putting themselves into Religious Houses at Worcester he also became Monk And in a short time was made Master of the Boyes then Chanter and then Sacrist and afterward Praepositus ut tunc Prior ut nunc dicitur Monachorum constitutus and at last made Bishop of Worcester though against his will upon the preferment of Alredus to York Who presuming upon the simplicity of Wlstan committed great rapine at Worcester and kept from him a considerable part of the Possessions of that Church which he could not recover as long as Alred lived but though William the Conqueror seised them at his Death yet Wlstan never left till the cause had a fair hearing and his Church had all restored to it which its first Founders had left unto it The story is told at large by John Bromton Chron. Williel primi p. 976. c. who sayes Lanfranc would have deposed him for insufficiency but by a Miracle was moved to restore him his Staff and his Ring which he had resigned And indeed he was not so ignorant as many imagined but knew all that was necessary for him to be acquainted withal only was not learned in the Fables of the Poets and in the perplexities of Syllogisms which perhaps he did not vouchsafe to know as not worthy his notice So Henry de Knyghton in these remarkable words L. 2. de Eventibus Angliae C. 6. Sed ille magis virtute quam literis fretus res Ecclesiae defensabat Quanquam non it a hebes in literis fuerit ut put abatur quippe qui caetera necessaria sciret praeter fabulas poetarum tortiles syllogismos quae forsan nec nosse dignabatur He pulled down the old Church of Worcester built by St. Oswald and made the new one we now see Weeping as Malmsbury saith when they began the Work For which he gave this reason when he was told he ought rather to rejoyce at the erection of a more magnificent Structure Alas said he we miserable sinners destroy the Works of the Saints that we may get glory to our selves That age of happy men did not understand how to build pompous Temples but under any kind of Roof offered up themselves to God and attracted their Subjects by their examples We on the contrary neglecting the Cure of Souls heap up Stones and raise goodly Piles c. He lived till he was almost 90 years old dying in the year MXCV where John Abbot writes Sanctus Wlstanus obiit BRANDO While he was only a Monk in this Church he was not only a Coadjutor to Leofricus in all the good things that he did as Hugo his words are but also a great Benefactor to the Monastery out of his own Patrimony and that of his Brethren For he and his two Brethren Askatillus and Syricus purchased Walcote de proprio patrimonio and gave it to the Church in perpetual inheritance together with Scotere Scotune and other places mentioned by Mr. G. This was in the time of Edward the Confessor who confirmed this Grant by his Charter rogatus ab Abbate Lefrico Monacho ipsius nomine Brand Hugo or Swap pag. 5. f. 2. Another writing mentions a third Brother named Siworthus in these words Brand Abbas Burgensis Askilus Sericus Sivortus fratres dederunt has terras Deo Sancto Petro fratribus in Burgh sc Muscham ex alia parte Trentae Scotere c. Which is related something more distinctly