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
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
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
claudit tumulus Pro clausis ergo rogemus 24 ACHARIVS Fol. 456. Whom Hoveden calls Zacharias was Prior of S. Albanes and elected thence to be Abbot here Anno 1200. He by his care and providence much enriched his Church and built many buildings in several Mannors belonging to it He maintained suit with the Abbot of Croyland for the Marsh of Singlesholt and recovered it letting it again to the Abbot of Croyland for a yearly acknowledgement of four stone Petras of Wax He added to the number of Monks that then were two and twenty more And when he had happily governed this Abby the space of ten years he died Anno 1210. being the 11 year of King John And there succeeded 25. ROBERTVS de Lindesey Glass-windows Who was Monk and Sacristary of Burgh and now Abbot unto which he paved the way by his good deeds towards the Church for whereas the windows were before only stuffed with straw to keep out the weather he beautified above thirty of them with glasses and his example brought the rest by degrees to the like perfection He built also the Chancel at Oxney being chosen Abbot he was presented to the King at Winchester and had his election confirmed And at Northampton he received Episcopal benediction from Hugo the second then Bishop of Lincoln in the year 1214. for after the death of Acharius the King held the Abbey in his own hand three years He settled the Hundred of Nassaburgh in peace and quietness for in those days the Foresters with their Cattel over-ran all so that the inhabitants of the Towns therein were much endammaged by them and their domineering in these parts by vertue of Forest Lands therefore Abbot Robert made a composition with the King giving him Vid. Chartam in App. 1320 Marks for the dis-foresting that part of the Country He covered the Abbots Hall with Lead He made in the South Cloister a Lavatory of Marble for the Monks to wash their hands in when they went to Meals their Hall being near on the other The Lavatory side of the wall the door leading into it being yet standing though the Hall be long since demolished only some small remains on the wall side are yet to be seen but the Lavatory continued entire until the year 1651. and then with the whole Cloister it was also pulled down Abbot Robert at his entrance into his place found but seventy two Monks to which number he added eight more assigning the Mannor of Bellasise for their maintenance having built a fair Mannor-house there which Bellasise builded partly is now standing He built also the Hall at his Mannor of Collingham In the time of this Robert the fourth Laterane Council was held under Innocent the fourth Pope of that name Anno 1215. Abbot Robert was cited and went thither and received injunctions for his Convent concerning several times of fasting and other duties which at his coming home he put into execution Fol. 287. In his time there arose great discords betwixt the Civil and Ecclesiastical States that the Land stood interdicted by the space of six years Then followed bitter Wars betwixt King John and his Barons wherein how the Monastery of Peterburgh behaved themselves I find but little in any of our Writers Only by what Matthew Paris relates it may be conjectured they were none of the Kings friends though their Patron Ludovicus saith he besieging the Castle of Dover a long time in vain at length the King passed over into Suffolk and Norfolk and miserably wasted those Countries And coming to Peterburgh and Croyland he plundered the Churches there his Officer Savaricus de Mallo Leone with his accomplices committing many outrages in the Country thereabout At Croyland he fired all their stacks which the inhabitants had newly gathered in and so returned to the Town of Lynn with great spoils But afterwards the King taking his journey from Lynn Northward all his Carriages and Treasures were cast away and perished as he passed the River Wellestre Yet afterwards the Abbot of Peterburgh was summoned to assist King Henry the third in the siege of Rokingham Castle which was then the Abbots and the Abbot himself went in person in that expedition till at length that Castle was reduced to the Kings obedience but whether it was this Abbot Robert or some Hon. de Pightesly of his Successors mine Author tells me not Pag. 288. In the time of this Abbot Robert about the year 1217 according to Pitseus there was one Hugo Candidus or Hugh White a Monk of this Monastery of whom the said Author in his Book De Scriptoribus makes mention who wrote the whole History of his Monastery whose works were extant in later times for John Leland who lived in the days of King Henry 8 collected many things out of him but whether or where the said Author be now extant I know not Pitseus tells us also of another Hugh In Appendice Pag. 865. a Monk of this Church whom he calls an English Historian but professeth his ignorance of what he wrote or when he lived Perhaps both might be but one and the same Hugh But perhaps Wittlesey an antient Writer of this Church may make it clearer by telling us that there was one Hugo Albus so called from his white complexion as being subject to bleed a Monk here who was famous in the time of Abbot Ernulfus and of John Henry Martin and William his Successors who wrote the History of this Monastery and so was before Pitseus his account Robert having been Abbot here the space of seven years died October 25. 1222. being the seventh year of King Henry 3. He was not very rich in Books his Library consisting only of these few Numerale Magistri W. de Montibus cum aliis rebus Tropi Magistri Petri cum diversis summis Sententiae Petri Pretanensis Psalterium Glossatum Aurora Psalterium non glossatum Historiale 26. ALEXANDER de Holdernesse Who was first a Monk then Prior and lastly Abbot of this place after the death of Robert A great builder he was and built the Hall at his Mannor of Oundle that also at Castre Eyebury and other places Having been Abbot here only four years he died on the day of his entrance November 20. 1226. and of King Henry 3. the Eleventh These were his Books Psalterium Concordantiae utriusque Test Claustrum animae Opus alterum quod perfecit Rogerus de Helpston Aurora Poenitentiale Tria Breviaria Concilium Lateranense cum aliis rebus Corrogationes Promethei Missale The first day of May before the death of this Alexander there died at Peterburgh Richardus de Mansco Mr. Philipot Catal. Canc. Angl. pag. 10. Bishop of Durham and Chancellor of England 27. MARTINVS de Ramsey Being a Monk of Peterburgh was elected Abbot after the death of Alexander And on S. Andrew's Eve the King ratified his Election which was also confirmed by Hugo then Bishop of Lincoln in the Chappel
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
mil. quod idem Dominus Joh. de nobis tenet in capite in villa de Eston juxta Rockingam viginti sol nostro auxilio ad primogenitam fil Domini R. maritandam 20. sol de scutagio nobis à Domino Rege concessa de an trigesimo primo In cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras eid Rob. fieri fecimus Patentes Dat. apud Burg. S. Pet. die lunae in Septima Paschae c. In the 4th year of Edw. II. which was the 12th of Godfrey on the Sunday before the Feast of the Ascension Joh. fil Domini Rogeri de Hegham did homage and Fealty to the said Abbot in his Hall at Burgh for Land he held of him in Helpston in the presence of Robert de Thorp then Steward of the Liberties of Burgh In which year 4. Edw. 2. it was that of his own Charity he built the Bridge over the River Nen. In the same Register I find this Record that in the very first year of his Abbotship he bound himself in the summ of five hundred Marks for the redemption of John St. John taken Prisoner and kept so by the King of France Dominus Johannes de Sancto Johanne Capitivus in Carcere Philippi Regis Franc. remanens Abbas de Burgo Sancti Petri obligatus pro 500 Marcis de redemptione sua An. 1299. Which agrees with what Tho. Walsingham saith of this Gentleman whom he calls Johannes de Sancto Johanne de Baiona who was taken Prisoner in the year 1298 going to the relief of Bellagarda together with the Earl of Lincoln who commanded one half of the Army but would not fight By which means it came to pass that this J. St. John and Will. de Mortuomari and Will. de Bermanglen and eight other Knights were made Prisoners and carried to Paris in Triumph How this Abbot came to be engaged for him or what relation he had to him I do not find nor have I room for any further account of him but only this That in his sixth year there hapned a difference between him and the Abbot of Thorney about a certain Highway de quodam chimino from a place in the River Neen called Herlotefforth unto the Town of Eye And at last this agreement was made at the instance of Walter Bishop of Coventry and Litchf then Lord High Treasurer and other friends to them both viz. that the aforesaid Abbot and Convent of Burgh of their own mere will and special benevolence for the cherishing of mutual love and charity between them granted for them and their Successors that the Abbot of Thorney and the Convent and their Servants Friends or Strangers coming thither might hereafter use that Highway ad latitudinem quindecim pedum with their Carts Waggons Carriages Horses drift of Cattle to Fairs or Markets without any disturbance c. Dat apud Stamfordiam die Martis proxima post festum Sanctorum Tiburtii Valeriani Anno Reg. Edw. Tricesimo quarto He dyed after he had been Abbot one and twenty years So MS. Chron. Johan Abbatis ad An. MCCCXX obiit Dominus Godefridus Abbas Burgi cui successit Adam de Botheby c. And the day was on the 9th of August as we learn from the Kalendar which tells us then was Depositio Godfridi de Croyland Abbatis ADAM de Botheby The Character which the forenamed Chronicon gives of him is this that he was vir magnae innocentiae simplicitatis a man of great innocence and simplicity In whose time the Controversie between this Church and the Bishop of Lincoln in the 10th of Edw. the Third was revived When the Bishop impleaded divers men of North and South Collingham for breaking his Pound and taking away some Cattle which his Bailiff had seised being the Goods of several condemned and Outlawed persons of the same Towns some whereof were hanged Which he said belonged to him in the right of his Wapentac of Newark but they said belonged to the Abbot of Peterburgh as Lord of the Mannor of Collingham But the judgement before mentioned in the 14 Edw. I. ended the strife and the Bishop prevailed In his first year An. 1321. there were seen in many places of England nocturnae acies armatae invicem militari more dimicantes in aere maxime super Castellum Comitis Lancastriae as the MS. Chron. of Joh. Abbatis writes Who makes no doubt they predicted what followed in this year wherein he and many other Barons were put to Death Sanguinem illustris Comitis ac aliorum nobilium qui postea nequiter effusus est effundendum indubitanter praemonstrantes The same Chron. ad an 1338. saith Hoc anno 7. Kal. Decemb. in festo Sanctae Katherinae obiit piae memoriae Dominus Adam de Botheby nuper Abbas de Burgo Sancti Petri. Cui successit Here a line is scraped out and this is the last Abbot mentioned in that Chronicon though it doth not end till the year 1368. Which shews it was carried on by some other hand that was not much acquainted with this Church or did not regard it And it speaking here of Adam de Botheby as lately dead was the thing that deceived Pitseus who as Mr. G. observes took John Abbot to have lived now because he found he that wrote this latter part of the History which bore the name of John in the Title was alive about the year 1340. who saith the same year that Adam Abbot dyed per multa Angliae loca salices Rosas germinaverunt The day of his death the Kalendar also places upon the 23. of November which was Depositio Adae Abbatis de Botheby Anniversarium Domini Joh. de Aysby c. HENRICVS de Morcot In this Abbots time as I take it Edward the Third granted his Licence for the turning the Parochial Church of St. Peter de Irtlingburgh into a Collegiat Church of six Secular Canons one of which to be the Dean and of four beneficed Clarks to be nominated by the Abbot and Convent of Peterburgh who and John Pyel had the Advowson of the Church alternis vicibus The said John Pyel on his part ingaging to assign such a portion of his own Estate as might be a sufficient maintenance for the said Dean Canons and Clerks together with the other profits belonging to the said Church and having obtained a Bull also from Pope Gregory the XI to the Bishop of Lincoln to permit this Colledge to be erected if it were so indowed by John Pyel as to pay all Episcopal duties and other burdens And the said Abbot and Convent also having after sufficient deliberation consented to this unanimously provided their right of presenting alternately to those Canonries or Prebends and other benefices were preserved and the aforesaid Dean Canons and Clerks said divine Service in that Church every day for ever John Pyel indeed dyed before this could be effected for the Bishop of Lincoln had deferred to execute his intention But his Wife Johanna Executress of his last Will
that he had stollen out of S. Oswalds shrine certain Jewels and what he could elsewhere lay his hands on and given them to Women in the Town That one Reginald Bray what he was I know not but he is called Dominus should have a due proportion of Diet for number of Dishes That the Monks haunted a Tavern near the Monastery and gave themselves to singing and dancing in the Dormitory till 10 or 11 a Clock at Night to the trouble of the rest That at the Celebration of the Funeral of the late William Abbot of the Monastery there was withholden from every Priest 6 s. 8 d. and from every Monk 3 s. 4 d. which was used to be given at such times This Robert Kirton had great contention with his Tenants in Peterburgh about Pasturage in the Fenn called Burgh a little Fenn adjoyning to the Monastery which as the Inhabitants alledged the Abbot had overcharged with 1500 Sheep in two flocks complaining also to the King then Hen. 8. that he had suffered thirty Tenements in the street called Boongate-street to fall to utter decay and then emparked the same ground and made it a place The Park for his own Deer But notwithstanding these contests Abbot Robert forgat not to enlarge and beautifie the buildings of his Monastery for he built that goodly building at the East end of the Church now commonly known by the name of The New Building New buildings wherein he placed three Altars opposite to three pair of Stairs descending from the back of the great Altar The places of those Altars are yet discernable though their use be not known He built a Chamber in his dwelling House calling it Heaven-gate-Chamber which is extant and retaineth its name to this day Heaven-gate Chamber He made in his great Hall that goodly Bow window overlooking the Cloyster the memory whereof is fresh to this present age He set up in the Church the Crucifixerium or Rood-loft now standing at the entrance into the Quire though placed something lower than it was at its first erection He set up the Gate leading to the Deanry which is yet standing and retaineth the memory of the Builder in his Hieroglyphick of a Crosier with the letter R and a Church or Kirk placed upon a Tun which must be construed with the allusion thus Abbot Robert Kirk-Tun and so Kirton He beautified the Chappel of S. Mary or The Ladies Chappel with pictures and gilded work much of which was lately extant He maintained a long suit in Law against Margaret Countess of Richmond and Darby about Knights-service for Lands in Torpell Thorpe Watervile and Achirch wherein at last he prevailed I know not whether I have done well or ill in declaring the acts of this Robert but this must be according to the capacity of the Reader for I find Abbot Robert thus pleading for himself Legitur in historia scholastica quod Antipater Idumaeus M. Herodis pater in quodam praelio in servitio Imperatoris multis vulneribus confossus est qui tandem accusatus rejectis vestibus dixit Ego nolo me Domine Imperator excusare apud te sed ista vulnera quae suscepi pro te loquantur pro me si ego diligo te Sic ista parva praedicta loquantur pro me si aliqua feci digna Deo laude Si interrogaretur utrum haec manifestari vel celari debent nec carnalibus incredulis sunt revelanda nec devotis prudentibus vere fidelibus sunt abscondenda And when he had been Abbot about thirty two years he was buried in the said Chappel His Monument was in the year 1651. levelled with the ground above which it was erected some four foot and placed upon an hollow Arch where his body lay and at the head thereof was a fair Stone lying even with the pavement which covered a pair of stairs going down into the Sepulchre There let him rest if I may say he rested till we pass to his Successor the last of all the Abbots 45. JOHN CHAMBERS Was born in Peterburgh but what he was or upon what score made Abbot Records are wanting to inform us His advancement to the Abbatical Chair was Anno 1528. which might be the 19 or 20. of King Henry 8. In his first year Cardinal Wolsey came to Peterburgh where he kept his Easter upon Palm-Sunday he carried his Palm going with the Monks in procession and the Thursday following he kept his Maundy washing and kissing the feet of fifty nine poor people and having dried them he gave to every one of them 12d and three Ells of Canvass for a shirt he gave also to each of them a pair of shoes and a portion of red herrings On Easter-day he went in procession in his Cardinals Vestments and sang the High-Mass himself after a solemn manner which he concluded with his benediction and remission upon all the hearers In the seventh year of this John Katherine the first wife of King Hen. 8. and Mother of Queen Mary died at Kimbolton Castle in the County of Huntingdon Jan. 8. 1535. and was buried in this Church betwixt two pillars on the Northside of the Quire near to the great Altar her Hearse being covered with a black Velvet Pall crossed with white Cloth of silver which how it came to degenerate into one of meaner value is unknown to us yet this changeling was also taken away Anno 1643. with her Spanish Scutcheons affixed thereunto Some write that for her sake the Church of Peterburgh fared Lord Herbert in King Hen. 2 Kings 23. 18. the better at the dissolution of Abbys and was turned into a Cathedral as if King Hen. like King Josiah who favoured the grave of the Prophet should favour his Wifes grave in this place Be it so or no the goodly structure of the place convenient situation for a new erection with accommodations thereunto might make a fair plea for a reprieve from the stroke of that Ax which cut others down I have not as yet seen any Record showing how John Chambers demeaned himself towards King Henry or complied with him in that great dissolution of Abbys that the King should continue him in his place and not put him to death as he did some or depose him as he did others But probable it is that Abbot John loved to sleep in a whole skin and desired to die in his nest wherein he had lived so long and perhaps might use such means as might preserve if not his means to his Church yet his Church to posterity And now that we are come to those times wherein that great alteration in the Church and alienation of her Revenues hapned for our more orderly proceeding in the declaration thereof we shall first present the Reader with an Inventory of the Church-Utensils and of the Abbots domestick goods and then take him abroad to view the Mannors and Lands that he may understand what was taken from and what continued to the Church
say January 16. being the year of our Lord 1560. What he was for Learning and integrity of Religion in the now reformed Church of England wherein he was a Bishop may appear by these Doctrinal Articles which in his first Episcopal Visitation he prescribed to the Dean and Prebendaries of his Church requiring their subscription thereunto For as yet the general Articles of the Church of England were not formed until about two years after Jan. 29. 1562. B. Scamblers Articles were these 1 Sacra Scriptura in se continet omnem doctrinam pietatis ex qua sufficienter error convinci possit veritas stabiliri 2 Symbolum Nicaenum Athanasii quod communiter Apostolorum dicitur continent brevissime articulos fidei nostrae sparsim in Scripturis ostensos qui istis non crediderint inter veros Catholicos non sunt recipiendi 3 Ecclesia Christi est in qua purum Dei verbum praedicatur sacramenta juxta Christi ordinationem administrantur in qua clavium autoritas retinetur 4 Quaevis Ecclesia particularis autoritatem habet instituendi mutandi abrogandi caeremonias ritus Ecclesiasticos modo ad decorem ordinem aedificationem fiat 5 Christus tantum duo sacramenta expresse nobis commendat Baptisma Eucharistiam quae conferunt gratiam rite sumentibus etiamsi malus sit Minister non prosunt indigne sumentibus quamvis bonus sit Minister 6 Laudandus est Ecclesiae mos baptizandi parvulos retinendus 7 Coena Dominica non est tantum Symbolum benevolentiae Christianorum interse sed magis Symbolum est nostrae redemptionis per Christi mortem nostrae conjunctionis cum Christo ubi fidelibus vere datur exhibetur Communio corporis sanguinis Domini 8 Sacramentum Eucharistiae ex usu Primitivae Ecclesiae neque servabatur vel elevabatur vel adorabatur 9 Missa quae consuevit a sacerdotibus dici non erat a Christo constituta sed a multis Romanis Pontificibus confirmata nec est Eucharistia ex se sacrificium propitiatorium sed recordatio sacrificii semel peracti 10 Scholastica transubstantiatio panis vini in corpus sanguinem Christi probari non potest ex sacris literis 11 Non omne peccatum mortale seu voluntariò perpetratum post baptismum est irremissibile peccatum in Spiritum Sanctum 12 Post acceptum Spiritum potest homo peccare ac denuo resipiscere neque sine peccato vivit quamvis regeneratio in Christo imputetur 13 Justificatio ex sola fide est certissima doctrina Christianorum 14 Elizabetha Regina Angliae est unicus supremus gubernator hujus regni omnium dominiorum regionum suarum quarumcunque in rebus causis Ecclesiasticis quam temporalibus 15 Verbum Dei non prohibet foeminarum regimen cui obediendum est juxta ordinationem Dei 16 Romanus Pontifex nullam habet jurisdictionem in hoc regno Angliae nec alia quaecunque potestas extranea 17 Leges civiles possunt Christianos propter flagitia morte punire 18 Christianis licet ex jussu Principis bella gerere ex justa causa propria possidere 19 Doctrina scholasticorum de Purgatorio invocatione Divinorum nullum habet fundamentum ex verbo Dei 20 Praeceptum Dei est ut quae leguntur in Ecclesia illa lingua proferantur quae ab Ecclesia intelligatur 21 Absque externa legitima vocatione non licet cuiquam sese ingerere in aliquod ministerium Ecclesiasticum vel seculare 22 Matrimonium inter Christianos legitime juxta verbum Dei initum contractum est indissolubile nec per traditiones hominum unquam vellendum 23 Coelibatus nulli hominum statui praecipitur neque injungitur ministris Ecclesiae ex verbo Dei Haec omnia vera esse publice docenda profiteor eaque juxta datam mihi facultatem eruditionem tuebor docebo Hancque meam confessionem manus meae subscriptione testificor contrariamque doctrinam abolendam esse judico detestor By these Articles it may appear that Bishop Scambler was no friend to the Church of Rome nor they to him and whether it was for these Articles or some other Book which he published I find him recorded in the Roman Index of Books prohibited and branded with the Title of Pseudoëpiscopus But his name and memory are the more honourable by that name of Infamy which the Papists might cast upon the Worthies of our English Church Scambler having been Bishop here the space of twenty three years was translated to Norwich whither he that would know the residue of his life end burial or Epitaph must follow him it being without the Climate of our story But whilst he was at Peterburgh he empaired the honour priviledges and revenues of his Bishoprick passing quite away the Hundred of Nassaburgh with the whole Liberties thereof The Goal The Mannor of Thirlby The Mannor of Southorpe c. to the Queen from whom the Earls of Exeter enjoy them to this day As if King Henry had not taken away enough the Bishop himself would pass away more Scambler being translated to Norwich there succeeded 48 RICHARD HOWLAND Who was Master of S. John's Colledge in Cambridge and made Bishop here March 16. 1584. being the 27 year of Queen Elizabeth We have not much to say of him his parts or actions but shall enlarge this Paragraph of his being Bishop here with the story of Mary Queen of Scotts her death at Fotheringhay Castle and burial in the Cathedral Church of Peterburgh The whole progress of her life and actions from her first arrival in England May 16. 1568. to her coming to Fotheringhay with her several places of removal and several keepers is so largely related by Mr. Vdal Mr. Saunderson and others who have wrote her story that I shall remit the Reader to them and content my self with her death and burial Upon the seventh day of February 1586. eighteen years from her first arrival The Commissioners for her execution came to Fotheringhay the Earls of Shrewsbury Kent c. and Thomas The Earl of Shrewsbury was George Talbot and E. Marshal of England The Earl of Kent was Henry Grey Andrews of Sheriff of Northamptonshire for that year By these the Queen of Scotts understanding that the Lease of her life was not long to last only one day longer she seemed not dismayed with the Message but told the Commissioners she did not think that Queen Elizabeth would have consented to her death but since it was so she would most gladly embrace it and in order thereunto desired of the Commissioners the benefit of her Clergy that her Confessor might come to her which the Commissioners denying propounded the Bishop or Dean of Peterburgh which the Queen of Scotts refused The Commissioners being departed she gave order for her Supper at the time whereof she drank to her servants and comforted them because she saw them much
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
Richard Kay B. D. Thurstane Murry Nicolas Brown B. D. Henry Williamson B. D. Thomas Dove M. A. Archdeacon of Northampton Henry Smith D. D. Mr. of Magd. Coll. Cambr. William Halls M. A. In the sixth PREBEND Richard White A Monk of the place Isham M. A. William Binsley Robert Johnson B. D. Richard Smith B. D. John Aungier L. D. Robert Summer M. A. now Parson of Northburgh John Wyldbore M. A. Parson of Wittering Thomas Lany B. D. John Whitehall I have now no more to do to the body of our story but to present the Reader with a relation of some few Monuments with their Inscriptions not yet mentioned and then the story of this Church will arrive at its period But before I give the relation of the Monuments of this Church I shall let the Reader know when and by whom they were destroyed In the year 1643. the Town of Croyland was by the inhabitants thereof made a Garrison for the King which they had great reason to do not only to shew themselves good Subjects but good Tenants they holding their Lands of him In the month of April on the 18 day came the Parliament-Forces to Peterburgh in order to the besieging of Croyland and here having settled themselves in their Quarters they fell to execute their fury upon the Cathedral destroying all things as the malicious Eye of each Sectarian Varlet prompted him to do mischief beating down the Windows defacing the Monuments tearing the Brass from Grave-stones plundering of Vestments Records and whatsoever else came to hand which nothing could resist Their Commanders of whom Cromwel was one if not acting yet not restraining the Souldiers in this heat of their fury But some two or three days after a finger of divine vengeance touched Cromwel although his rabble and he would not see it For being at that time quartered in the house of Mr. Cervington commonly called the Vineyard at the East end of the Cathedral out of the Court of which dwelling there was a passage into the Churchyard which since is mured up ascending by 3 or 4 Stone-steps Cromwel as others did riding up those steps his Horse fell under him and rising suddenly under the lintels of the door dashed his head against the lintels so that he fell to the ground as dead was so carried into the house and it was about a fortnight ere he could be recovered those who were eye-witnesses affirmed that the blow raised splinters in his Scalp near a fingers length But yet the siege of Croyland went on and on the 28 of April the Town was taken on the 5 of May. Cromwel with his Forces marched to Stamford and other places leaving the abomination of desolation in this Church behind them And now I shall give an accompt of such Monuments as were in the Church before their coming and have been added since I shall begin at the Nave or body of the Church where I shall omit such as are broken and worn out as not to be compleatly rendered Many also as bear only names and dates of burial which will give but little content to any that should read them As you enter into the Church high above on the left hand stands the figure of R. Scarlet once a Sexton of this Church one that was famous in his generation as may be collected by what is under written You see old Scarlet 's picture stand on high But at your feet there doth his body lye His gravestone doth his age and death time show His Office by these tokens you may know Second to none for strength and sturdie Limme A scare-babe mighty voice with visage grimm He had interr'd two Queens within this place And this towns Housholders in his live space Twice over But at length his own turn came What he for others did for him the same Was done No doubt his Soul doth live for ay In Heaven though here his body clad in clay Joyning to a Pillar on the Northside stood a comely Font the water whereof though it purged many yet it could not purge this Vessel in the opinion of those that brake it down 1643. Against the Cloister door are some antient Inscriptions only this perfect besides that of Garton formerly mentioned in Abbot Richard Ashton Aswalton natus jacet hic Henricus humatus Presbiter ornatus cui solvas Christe reatus Something beyond towards the upper end lieth a fair marble of late adorned with the figure of the deceased in Brass and on a Edward 3. Anno 46. Plate round about Hic jacet tumulatus Robertus de Thorp Miles There was one Sir W. Thorpe L. Chief Justice of the Kings Bench who for Bribery was condemned to be hanged Anno Edw. 3. 24. 22. y. before this Robert quondam Cancellarius Domini Regis Angliae qui obiit vicesimo nono die Junii Anno Domini Millesimo trecentesimo septuagesimo secundo Cujus animae propitietur Deus Amen By his side is another fair Marble which carried this Inscription Hic jacet tumulatus miles filius Domini Willielmi de Thorpe qui moriebatur apud Tou'ton Wat'vyle die Jovis xo. die Augusti Anno Domini Millesimo trecentesimo LXXV Cujus animae propitietur Deus On the left hand is a Marble bearing the figure of a cross legg'd Knight after the manner of the Templers with a dog at his feet lately the Brass was divorced from the Marble and Senour Gascelin de Marham stripped of his Monumental bravery A little above Here lieth the Body of William Leafield sometimes Edwardi 3. Anno 49. Inhabitant of this City who departed this life January 22. Anno Domini 1625. Near unto lieth one that was taken away in his budding his name and quality may be seen in the Inscription Robertus Carrier Subter Supra Anno Dom. 1651. Aetat 19. Grad Bacc. 1. Novemb. 24. Not far from this is one later who may be mentioned as another Siphrah both in function and piety Here lieth the Body of Jane Parker the wife of Valentine Parker She departed this life Sept. 19. day 1653. Here lieth a Midwife brought to bed Deliveresse delivered Her body being churched heere Her Soul thanks gives in yonder Spheer A little higher lieth a fair Marble which acts the second part of Niobe weeping for many figures of Brass which it hath lately forgone if the Inscription may be thought worth the weeping for Siste gradum mortale meum speculare Sepulchrum Hic ego qui jaceo sum genus ecce tuum Frater Willimi Ramsey venerabilis olim Istius Abbatis hic in honore loci Petriburgh Bayly Killire vocor ipse Johannes Mecum sponsa jacet ecce Johanna mea Tot mihi sunt nati mihi sunt nataeque puellae Willimus Thomas Willimus ipse Johannes Walt'rus Richardus Thomas Agnes mihi Marga Grata fit proles ac Katherina mihi Orate precor nos omnes ut Deus ipse Salvet ab inferno Pactus fuit en lapis iste 1489. April 19. The
a few days or months Mr. G. hath related how he laboured to inrich this Church with Reliques and Hugo saith many other ways but is mistaken I think in his conjecture about his procuring the Arm of St. Oswald to be brought hither For Hugo mentions it among the benefits which the Church received in the time of Leofricus and thereabouts when Winegotus apportavit brachium Sancti Oswaldi de Bebeburch There it was preserved in Bede's time in urbe regia quae a regina quondam vocabulo Bebba cognominatur as his words are L. III. Cap. 6. and thence the ancient Seat of its rest it was furtim ablatum taken away by stealth if we may believe William of Malmsbury who relates what was pretended by the Church of Burgh which in his dayes said they had Oswald's Arm but doth not seem to give credit to it himself How they came to have his Arm at Bebbeburch a place in the North I cannot imagine if it be true which the MS. Chron. of John Abbot sayes ad An. MLXV that his body was not till then taken out of his Tomb. Agelwinus Dunelmensis Episcopus Ossa beati Oswaldi Regis Martyris apud Tynemutham de tumulo in scrinio cum honore levavit But perhaps Oswaldi is there false written for Oswini for Symeon of Durham saith it was Oswin's body that was taken up by that Bishop From the same Chronicle we learn also when it was that Elfinus went into Normandy and upon what occasion and bought there at Bonavalle the body of St. Florentine pro centum libris argenti Which was not till the year MXIII. when Suanus coming with innumerable Danes into England and exercising unheard of cruelties King Ethelred hardly escaped his hands and sent away his Wife per Abbatem Burgi and another person unto Richard Duke of Normandy he himself following her presently after In the same year Ingulphus P. 56. Oxon. Edit tells us this Monastery was again burnt by the same Suanus or Swanus and many Lands were taken away from the Church as Hugo relates while the Abbot was with the Queen in Normandy the English paying a vast Tribute to the Danish Army which wasted the Kingdom forty years together But he procured from Canutus the confirmation of their priviledges in as ample manner as they had been confirmed to Kenulphus by King Ethelred In these words Ego Cnut Rex Anglorum Deo favente Elfino abbate deprecante hoc Privilegium cum optimatibus corroboravi And in the dayes of Hardecanutus got a Judgment against Wolgatus Abbot of Pegekyrke both for the Seat of his Monastery and all the Mannors belonging thereunto which Elfinus claimed as Kenulphus had done to be part of the possessions of Burgh How just a sute this was I am not able to say Ingulph condemns it most heavily as a monstrous piece of oppression and it will not be amiss if I not only relate the whole story but give an account of this Monastery from its beginning there being very little said of it in the Monasticon Anglicanum St. Pege as Ingulphus informs us was Sister to St. Guthlac a person descended of a noble Stock both by the Father and Mother as Matthew of Westminster writes who being in love with a solitary life setled himself in the Island called Croyland where no body durst dwell because they were terrified as his words are with phantasies of Devils there inhabiting This was in the year DCXCIX as the often named Chronicon of John Abbot tells us Sanctus Guthlacus apud Croylandiam vitam Anchoreticam ducere coepit Anno aetatis suae XXVI About XV. year after he dyed as the same Writer informs us DCCXIIII obiit feria quarta in hebdom Pasch Upon whose death his Sister Pega setled her self in a Cell about four miles Westward distant from his Oratory of Croyland which afterward improved into a Monastery The place from her was called Pegekyrke now Peykirk and had Lands bestowed upon it by Edmund Athebing which of them doth not appear who gave for the redemption of his own Soul and of his Wives and of Siwerthus a little Country gift as he calls it of Land in a place called Pegecyrcan to the new Monastery of the Holy Trinity and our Lady and all the Saints viz. one Mansa and a half in that Village and three Perches in Waltun c Swapham fol. CXXXI It is a very remarkable Charter both for the Preface and for the Blessings and Curses annexed in the conclusion which therefore I have represented to the Reader intirely in the Appendix What other benefactions they had to that Monastery doth not appear but they were all seised as was said before by Beorredus in the year 871. after the first desolation made by the Danes And it was again destroyed by Swanus the Dane in the forenamed year 1013. And so lay waste till the time of Wlgatus when in the year MXLVIII after a long sute with the Abbots of Peterburgh he lost the very sight of his Monastery which was adjudged to belong to Burch Upon which Ingulph makes this severe reflection tantum tunc potuit super justitiam pecunia contra veritatem versutia c. So much could money then prevail over justice and craft against truth and so powerful was the Earl Godwin in the Court of King Hardecnute And he shows how several Mannors were recovered by particular persons from this Abbot Wlgatus so that he and eighteen Monks had nothing to live upon but wandered about till King Edward the Confessor took him into his Court and upon the death of Brickmerus made him Abbot of Croyland The same he repeats again when he comes to the Reign of the Conqueror telling us how in the times of Suanus Cnutus Harold and Hardecnutus many priviledges of Monasteries were lost the limits of their Lands changed c. according as the money of Rich men prevailed in the minds of the Barbarians who sought nothing but ruins Of which the erection of the Monastery of St. Pege was an evidence in the time of Hardecnute when the money of the Abbot of Burgh prevailed against the right of the Pegelandians and the power of Earl Godwin against the simplicity of the Poor So his words are praevalente contra justitiam Pegelandensium Abbatis Burgi pecunia super simplicitate pauperum Godwini comitis potentia But if we compare what he saith with the Chron. of John Abbot it will appear that this sute was commenced long before this in the time of Kenulphus and continued more or less till the time of Leofricus who dyed just before the Conquest I will set down both their words and so leave it Chron. Joh. Abbatis Burgi MS. MXLVIII Wolgatus Abbas de Peykirke amisit sedem Abbatiae suae cum omnibus Maneriis dicto Monasterio quondam pertinentibus per judicium Regis Hardecanuti contra Kenulphum Kinsinum Abbates Burgi ipsum Monasterium de P. suam possessionem esse calumpniantes Which Ingulphus
had been founded and indowed by his Uncle of the same name So Hugo relates speaking of the King and Queen who out of love to him gave to him and St. Peter other Abbeys viz. Birtune Coventre quam Comes Leuricus avunculus ipsius construxerat nimis in auro argento ditaverat c. Yet he did not give all he could to this Church for in an antient explanation of Lands as it is called Swaph fol. CXXXIII I find that he gave a forfeited Estate to his Brother Leowinus The words are these Reteford occidit quendam Ylkytelum pro hac forisfactura terra silva sua Franewude pervenit in manus Abbatis de Burch Sed Leofricus praepositus Sancti Petri permisit eam suo fratri Leowino He was Abbot of Burton before he was Abbot of Burgh unless there was another of that name for the Annals of that Church say An. MLI Annalis Monast Burton venit Levericus Abbas The account indeed they give of this Levericus his death is so widely different from what Hugo saith of Leofricus his that it inclines me to think it was another person For they say MLXXXV obiit Levericus Abbas whereas ours dyed as I have said almost twenty year before In his time there were three great Benefactors to this place Egelricus Kinsinus and Wulstanus Of the first of which Mr. G. hath given some account but to make his History more compleat I must let the Reader know how he came to rise to the dignity he held in the Church Which Symeon Dunelmensis relates in this manner L. 3. Hist Eccl. Dunelm C. 6. Eadmundus being chosen Bishop of Durham would first be made a Monk before he was consecrated by Wulstan Archbishop of York who was then at Worcester From whence returning home he diverted into the Monastery of Burch where being mightly pleased he requested the Abbot to bestow a Monk upon him skilful in Ecclesiastical Offices and in regular discipline to be his constant companion and teach him the way of the Monastical life Accordingly the Abbot appointed this Monk Elgericus or Algericus for he is called by all these names to wait upon him who as Hugo writes was vir Sanctissimus a most holy man and thought fit for the Archbishoprick of York to which he saith he was consecrated But being there rejected as Mr. G. out of him relates factus est Episcopus Dunhelmiae he was made Bishop of Durham and there received with love of all both Laicks and Monks This was in the year 1042 as John Brompton informs us where he continued twelve years saith Hugo but it should be fourteen for both the Chron. of Mailros and the Chron. of John Abbot of Burgh say he resigned in the year 1056. the words of the last named are these MLVI quinta feria Kal. Augusti Monachus factus est Dunelmensis Episcopus Egelricus Episcopatu sponte relicto ad Monasterium suum de Burgo ubi quondam Monachus erat remeavit Agelwino fratre suo Monacho ejusdem Monasterii in locum suum consecrato John Brompton places this resignation in the year 1057. the very year Leofricus was made Abbot which agrees with Symeon Dunelmensis who should best know who saith after he had been Bishop fifteen year he returned to his Monastery whither he had sent his Gold and Silver and other Goods of the Church of Durham before The Gold and Silver he acknowledges was found as he was digging very deep to lay the foundation of a Church of Stone in honour of St. Cutberd which before was of Wood but he saith it had been formerly hidden there by the Church of Durham because of the Covetousness and Tyranny of Sephelmus And therefore though he did good Works with this money which he immediately sent away to Burgh intending to follow it himself making Highways with Wood and Stone in the fenny Countries building Churches and other things yet in the Reign of the Conqueror he was accused for carrying away this Treasure which he would not restore and being brought up to London and committed to custody there he died in captione Regis as Symeon of Durham tells the story L. III. Histor Dunel Eccles C. 9. It was in the year 1072. when death delivered him out of Custody and he was buried in the Chappel of St. Nicolas in the Abby of Westminster but constantly commemorated here at Burgh on the 15th of October over against which day I find in the Kalander these words Depositio Domini Eylrici Episcopi Memoria Benefactorum Which no doubt was this Egelricus or Elgericus for so names are wont to be contracted as the Abbot of Rieval Adilredus or Ethelredus is not only called Aluredus but Ailredus also and Eilredus But besides this Hugo Or Swapham as commonly called p. 11. expresly calls him Eilricus and the rode he made in the Fenns for Travellers was called Elrich-rode Whence Bishop Godwin hath it that he was accused of Treason by the Conqueror I cannot yet find Perhaps he was thought to be confederate with his Brother Agelwinus whom he left his Successor in Durham Who as the forenamed Symeon Dunelmensis relates not long after the Conquest viz. An. 1070 L. de gestis Regum Angliae being weary of the troubles of England took Ship at Weremuth with many other great persons and went into Scotland But returned the next year with Hereward de Wake and the rest to the Isle of Eli. Where they were all in a manner taken except Hereward and a few others and Agelwinus being sent prisoner to Abbandon there in the Winter ended his days 1071. one year before his Brother The second of these great men viz. Kinsinus who had been Chaplain to King Edward the Confessor as was said before and succeeded Aluricus as Radulphus de Diceto calls Elfricus in the Archbishoprick of York 1051. after he had sate there nine years dyed at Burg if we may believe John Abbot's Chronicle in the year MLX. where his words are Kynsinus Archiepiscopus apud Burgum obiit jacet tumulatus in scrinio juxta magnum Altare in parte Boreali And there the Scrinium still remains just above that of Elfricus who lies at his feet with these words on the side Hic posita sunt Ossa Kynsini Archiepiscopi Eborac 1059 which by the Characters appear to be a late Inscription and hath mistaken the year For all agree it was 1060. though none but he mention his dying at Burgh but all suppose he dyed at York Particularly Roger Hoveden who saith he was brought from York to this Monastery of Burch to be buried honorifice tumulatus est They agree also that he dyed on the XIth of the Kalands of January and accordingly I find in the Kalander of the Church Decemb. 20. Depositio Kynsini Archiepiscopi Radulphi Comitis It is possible that Chronicle may mean another Burgh which was in the North and belonged afterwards to the Church of York For Tho. Stubbs saith
tam Ecclesiae quam capellae per praedictos Abbatem sc Thuroldum milites quarum proventus Monasterium Burgi totaliter recepit per multos annos usque ad tempus bonae memoriae Domini Roberti Lincoln Episcopi Abbatis Ernulphi Burgensis Ecclesiae Anno viz. Domini MCXII. The names of those Milites who were first infeoffated and did these good things are there set down fol. CCXCVI. There were but nineteen of them the first of them called Azelinus de Watyrvil I shall not trouble the Reader with the rest but end this account of Turoldus who dyed saith John Abbot MXCVIII Obiit Turoldus Abbas Burgi qui milites feodavit de terris Ecclesiae Castellum juxta Abbatian constraxit alia multa mala secerat Hic erat alienigena The Hill whereon this Castle stood called now Touthill is on the Northside of the Minster Notwithstanding all which he had an honourable memory perserved in this Church upon the XIIth of April upon which was Depositio Thoroldi so he is called and Guidonis Abbatum Anniversarium Roberti de Hale Agnetis Matris ejus Who Guido was I have not yet found GODRICVS He is called by Roger Hoveden Bodricus de Burch who was not deposed in that Council mentioned by Mr. G. but only removed for he was barely elected to the place but not blessed or consecrated So Eadmerus informs us who tells this story more exactly than any following Writers except William of Malmsbury who to a little agrees with him and says that in the year MCII. in the 4th year of Pope Paschal and the third of King Henry there was a Council held by Anselm with all the Bishops of England in the Church of St. Paul Where in the first place simonicae haeresis surreptio dampnata est In qua culpa inventi depositi sc Guido de Perscora called by others Wido Wimundus de Tavestock Aldwinus de Ramesei Et alii nondum sacrati remoti ab Abatiis suis sc Godri cus de Burgo Hanno de Cernel Egelricus de Mideltune Absque vero Simonia remoti sunt ab Abatiis pro sua quisque causa Ricardus de Heli Robertus de Sancto Edmundo ille qui erat apud Micelneie Many other of our Writers tell this story though not so distinctly particularly Florentius Wigornensis and Gervasius Monk of Canterbury in the life of Anselm who calls Goderick Electum de Burgo agreeable to what Eadmerus saith And yet notwithstanding this deposition they tell us that Anselm going to Rome the next year 1103 had two of these Abbots in his company viz. Richard of Ely and Aldwinus of Ramsey as both Florentius and Symeon of Durham report which would make one think he did not take them upon further inquiry to be so guilty as was pretended And as for our Godrick it is very strange he should be touched with this crime who was chosen Abbot against his Will if we may give credit to Hugo and had been before Elect to an Archbishoprick in Little Britain but refused the dignity And therefore this is all he saith of his being thrust out of this place that when Richard of Ely and Alduinus of Ramsey and others were deposed in Council for purchasing their Abbies he also was deposed with them Neither doth Abbot John mention his crime but only saith ad An. MCII. Anselmus Archiepiscopus Concilio convocato apud Lond. Rege consentiente plures deposuit Abbates vel propter Simoniam vel propter aliam vitae infamiam Depositi sunt ergo Burgensis Persorensis Heliensis de Sancto Edmundo Ramesiensis Cervel Midleton Tavestock Micheln And so Symeon of Durham plures Abbates Francigeni Angli sunt depositi honoribus privati quos injuste acquisierunt aut in eis inhoneste vixerunt c. What became of him afterward I do not find He hath no memorial in the Kalander of this Church as all the rest since the Restauration of it but Kenulphus and another have till the time of Henry Morcot John Abbot adds at the end of the year 1098. that the Church wanted an Abbot five years Vacavit Ecclesia quinque annis That is from the death of Turoldus to the coming in of Matthias which was in the year 1103. So he makes Godricus to have been but a Cypher by whom the place was not filled at all This vacancy began in the time which Eadmerus speaks of p. 26. when W. Rufus kept many Abbies in his hands and making no Abbots the Monks went whither they list The robbery Mr. G. mentions was committed in Whitsunweek by climbing up to a window over the Altar of St. Philip and Jacob where those Vagabonds broke in While they were taking the things away one of them stood with a drawn Sword over the head of the Sacrist Turicus who was fast asleep that if he waked he might instantly dispatch him MATTHIAS John Abbot of Burgh comprehends the most that can be said of this Abbot in these words Chron. M. S. MCIII Matthias Abbas factus est post Godricum Abbatem qui uno anno praefuit Ecclesiae Burgensi Et eodem die quo receptus est anno revoluto ex hac vita decessit Hic concessit fratri suo Galfrido Manerium de Pyetislee ad firmam Only we understand from Hugo that he dyed at Gloucester and was there buried and that the day of his reception and death was XII Kal. Novemb. the Kalander saith 22. Octob. Depositio Domini Matthiae Abbatis c. and that he granted this Mannor of Pichlee unto his Brother to Farm but for one year but after the Abbot's death he kept the Village by force And yet he swore when he was accused before the King for himself and for his Heirs upon the high Altar and the Reliques of St. Peter promising he would compel his Wife and Children to make the same Oath that he would restore the said Mannor with all belonging to it unto the Church without putting them to the trouble of a sute and for the time he had held it pay four pound a year Rent This Oath he made to Ernulphus But in the time of the next Abbot John de Says An. 1117. Godfrey came to him in his Chamber and by importunity procured a grant of it for his life at the yearly Rent of four pound provided that when he dyed it should without sute at Law return to the Monastery Unto which he swore upon the Gospel before many Witnesses whose names Hugo saith were written super textum Evangelii and therefore he did not mention them Three years after this agreement viz. An. 1120. he was drowned as he was crossing the Sea with the Kings Son and the same Abbot seised on the Mannor according to the forenamed agreement But fearing some sute he gave the King Sixty Marks of Silver to confirm the possession of this Mannor to the Monastery for ever per suum Breve The Chron. of the other Abbot John saith he gave
1245. as the Chron. of John Abbot informs us Therefore all that Mr. G. hath out of Matthew Paris belongs not to this time In that very year which he mentions the eighth year of his Abbotship which was 1241. the milites of the Abby were summoned to Saropesbury to go to Wales Fol. CCLXX. whither the Abbot himself went and some Knights with him Who earnestly insisting to have their expences Horses and Arms from the Abbot he would by no means grant it but commanded them by the Fealty they owned to the King and to him to follow the King to Chester which they did The Abbot also came thither where they again made the same demands pretending that Stephen de Segrave had given judgment for them apud Lehayetayle Of whom when the Abbot had diligently inquired he declared before him and his family that it was false and said the Knights ought to defend the Abbot at their own charge with Horses and Arms. Then they complained to Hugh Earl of Hereford Marshal of the Army who determined the matter against them and the Abbot commanded them that at the summons of the Marshal they should be inrolled which they refused But the Abbot ad cautelam caused Radulph de Ayston and Hugo de Bernack to be inrolled and two Servants of his family pro uno milite And so the Abbot returned with good grace from the King and his Knights neither going nor coming could recover one farthing of him The Steward of the Bishop of Lincoln and other Prelates did the same And by the diligence of the Abbot he received from the Kings Exchequer plenarie scutagium suum sc de quolibet scuto X L. Sol. In like manner in the time of John de Calceto he had scutagium suum plenarie de dictis militibus And when they complained to the King and the Magnates that the Abbot ought to pay that scutagium out of his own Chamber the Abbot made it appear that he ought not In that grand Priviledge of Innocent's there is the same grant which is mentioned in Greg. the IXths that they might say divine Service with a low voice in the time of a general Interdict the gates being shut no Bells rung and all Excommunicated and interdicted persons excluded Many other Bulls there were of his as I noted out of Swapham some of which remain One of them imports that by his Mandate they stood bound to pay to Opizomus Archdeacon of Parma a Pension of fifteen Mark yearly untill they had provided him with some Ecclesiastical Benefice worth forty Mark of Silver yearly o◠more But he now granted them this indulgence for the future that they should not be bound to provide any person with a benefice for the future against their wills nor receive any Letters Apostolical to that purpose unless they made express mention of this Indulgence and said that notwithstanding any Apostolical Indulgence they must do it Afterward Letters Apostolical were directed from another Pope to several Priors therein named to see his Absolution executed which he had granted to the Abbot and Convent of Burgh from the payment of such Pensions when the person who received them would not accept of the Ecclesiastical Benefices to which they offered to present them when they fell Which some refused because they had benefices already but no dispensation to hold another and so would have kept their Pensions when a Benefice was provided for them to the great grievance of the Monastery Another of Innocent's is dated from Lyons on the Kal. of Sept. the seventh year of his Pontificate which was a little before his death Wherein they having represented their Monastery to be built in a cold place so that they could not without danger in Winter time especially perform divine Offices with heads uncovered he grants them a licence utendi pileis ipsorum ordini congruentibus to use Capps suitable to their Order according as the Abbot in his discretion should think fit Another is that they having represented to him how great a disturbance it was to their devotion to have causes frequently referred to them by the See Apostolical he grants them this Indulgence that they should not be bound against their wills to take Cognizance of any cause committed to them by the same See for the future unless in the Letters of Reference express mention were made of this Indulgence There is a Statute made by this Abbot but I do not find in what year with the consent of the Chapter that on the Feast of the Dedication of their Church as upon the principal Feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul seven Candles should burn before the Altar super baccas and four upon the Altar à principio Matutinorum usque ad finem totius servitii and that the Arm of St. Oswald as I noted before should be carried in procession on this festival unless it had been carried on his own day Out of a Meadow in Peykirk which he bought of Roger Son of Paganus de Helpstona he gave forty Shillings to the celebration of his own Anniversary viz. twenty Shillings for the recreation of the Brethren and the other for the refection of the Poor upon the day of his death This Meadow William his Successor made over to the Convent intirely and warrants it to them that he and his Successors might be freed from the payment of that forty Shillings At the last time of his crossing the Seas he gave several pretious things feretris trium Virginum viz. Kiniburge Kiniswith and Tibbe and a great number of Vessels and Jewels when he dyed which were all brought into the Chapterhouse and there disposed according to the pleasure of the Convent He was not well before he went and the infirmity of his body was increased by his journey so that he dyed not long after his return An. 1245. For whom Swapham makes this prayer The Lord grant he may enjoy eternal life and joy in the Land of the living by the merits of the Mother of God and of St. Peter and St. Benedict and all the Saints He was pious and merciful to all did nothing without the advice of his Brethen of the better sort exacted nothing unduly of his Tenants whether rich or poor But if any poor Man or Woman made their necessities known to him he would burst out into tears and take compassion upon them In some things he acted tepide which he bewailed all his days but he left the Abbey abounding in all good things stored with Horses Oxen Sheep and all Cattle in great multitudes and Corn in some places for three years But after his decease Magister R. de Gosebek to whom the King committed the custody of the Abbey wasted and sold and in a manner carried all away There were found in his Chamber when he dyed a great many Cupps of Gold and Silver whose weight and worth are set down in Swapham with six silver Plates twenty nine Spoons thirty gold Rings and a great