per an Dugd. 623 l. 13s 2d ob Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 253. 6. Horton A Monastery of Benedictines founded by Ordgar Earl of Devon temp K. Edgari but annexed by Roger Bishop of Sarum to Shirburn about A. D. 1120. Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 62 220. 7. Abbotesbury A. D. 1026. Orcus and Tola his wife built an Abby for Black Monks to the honour of St. Peter It was rated 26. Hen. VIII at 390l 19 s. 2d ob Dugd. 485. 3 s. 5 d. ob q. Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 276. * Reg. penes D. Joh. Strangways de Abbotsbury 8. Frampton An Alien-Priory being given by R. Will. Conq. to the Abby of St. Stephen at Caen in Normandy Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 571. T. 2. p. 955. 9. Shirburn Not long after the removal of the Bishop's See to Sarum the Canons Secular here were changed into Benedictine Monks by Roger Bishop of Sarum about A. D. 1122. This Abby was dedicated to St. Mary and endowed with 682 l. 14 s. 7 d. ob q. per an at the Suppression Vide Mon. Angl T. 1. p. 62 423. 10. Lodres An Alien-Priory to the Abby of Mountborow in Normandy to which it was given by Riâ—â—ard de Redveriis temp Hen. I. King Rich. II. bestowed it upon the Priory of St. Ann near Coventry Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 570 966. T. 2. p. 992. 11. Warham The Church of St. Peter and St. Ethelwold here being given by Rob. Bossu Earl of Leicester about A. D. 1160. to the Abbat and Convent of Lira in Normandy it became a Cell to that Abby But during the wars between England and France the Alien-Priories were seised into the King's hands so that King Rich. II. gave this to the Abby of Mount-grace in York-shire Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 968. T. 2. p. 985. 12. Bindon Rob. de Novo-Burgo built an Abby for Cistertian Monks here to the honour of St. Mary A. D. 1172. It was valued at the Dissolution at 147 l. 7 s. 9d per an Dugd. 229 l. 2 s. 1 d. Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 911. 13. Tarent A Nunnery of the Cistertian Order founded by Richard Poor Bishop of Sarum about A. D. 1228. It was dedicated to the blessed Virgin and at the Suppression found to be seised of revenues worth 214 l. 7 s. 9 d. per an Dugd. 239 l. 11 s. 10 d. Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 887. 14. Bridport An Alien-Priory dedicated to St. Iohn Baptist valued at 6 l. 15. Stowre An Alien-Priory Cell to the Abby of Preaus in Normandy 16. Holme A Cell to Montacute in Somerset-shire 17. Camestrum Qu. A Monastery of White Nuns dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene Speed DURHAM 1. Hartlepool Heortu Bed A Very ancient Nunnery founded by a Religious woman named Hieu But among many other outrages committed by the Danes in these parts this Monastery was raz'd to the ground 2. Iarrow ol Gyrwi 3. Wermouth King Egfrid A. D. 644. founded these two Abbies they were ruin'd in the Danish wars and never after recover'd their former glory but became Cells to Durham for two or three Black Monks in each The former being dedicated to St. Paul was endowed 26. Hen. VIII with 38 l. 14 s. 4d per an Dugd. 40 l. 7 s. 8 d. Speed The latter dedicated to St. Peter was rated at 25 l. 8 s. 4 d. per an Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 96. 4. Chester ol Cuncacester Bishop Eardulfus being forced A. D. 875. to fly from Lindissam founded the Bishops See here A. D. 883. which was A. D. 995. translated to Durham But at this Chester was afterwards built a College for a Dean and seven Canons of the foundation of Ant. Beck Bishop of Durham 20. Edw. I. Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 38. T. 3. P. 2. p. 44. Angl. Sacr. T. 1. p. 699. 5. Durham The Bishops See was removed hither by Bishop Aldwin A. D. 995. The Secular Priests were changed into Benedictine Monks 18. Will. Conq. by Bishop Will. de Carilepho The Tutelar Deity of this Abby and Country was St. Cuthbert It was endowed at the Dissolution with 1366. 10 s. 9 d. per an Dugd. 1615 l. 14 s. 10 d. ob Sp. K. Hen. VIII A. D. 1540. restor'd the Secular Canons Vide Mon. Angl. T. â— p. 38. T. r. p. 845. Angl. Sacr. T. 1. Simeonis Dunelmensis aut potius Turgoti Historiam de Ecclesia Dunâ—lmensi Impress inter X. Scriptores Hist. Angl. Lond. 1652. The Legend of St. Cuthbert with the Antiquities of the Church of Durham by Rob. Hegge Lond. 1663. 12 â— The ancient Rites and Monuments of the Monastical and Cathedral Church of Durham publish'd by Io. Davis Lond. 1672. 12 o. * Cartular Eccl. Dunelem in Bibl. Cotton Faust. A. 6. Titus A. 2. * Nomina Benefactorum Ecclesiae Dunelm ab Edwino ad Hen. VIII in Bibl. Cotton Domit. A. 7. Collectanea MS. Aug. Baker in Bibl. Coll. Jesu Oxon. Vol. IV. * Reg. penes Decanum Capitul Dunelm Chronica Ecclesiae Dunelmensis MS. in Bibl. Bodl. Laud. H. 7. L. 53. * Historiam de vitis Episcoporum Abbatum Religiosorum de Lindisfarn Dunelmia MS. in eadem Bibl. Fairfax 6. * Catalogum Reliquiarum Ecclesiae Dunelmensis MS. in Bibl. Bodl. Digb 11. * Boldon-book sive Inquisitionem de Consuetudinibus redditibus Episcopatus Dunelmensis A. D. 1183. captam MS. in eadem Bibl. Laud. I. 52. 6. Finchale A Benedictine Priory of thirteen Monks subordinate to the Abby of Durham built by Hugh Pusar Bishop of Durham about A. D. 1180. to the honour of St. Godric the Hermite It 's yearly revenues at the Dissolution amounted to 122 l. 15 s. 3 d. Dugd. 146l 19 s. Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 512. 7. Egleston A Priory of Black Canons founded by Gilbert de Leya about A. D. 1200. and commended to the Patronage of the blessed Virgin and St. Iohn Baptist. Vide Mon. Angl. T. 2. p. 196. 8. Overton Alan de Wilton temp Reg. Ioh. founded a Priory of Gilbertines here and made it subordinate to Sempringham It was valued 26. Hen. VIII at 11 l. 8 s. per an Vide Mon. Angl. T. 2. p. 825. 9. Langcester About 20. Ed. I. Anthony Beck Bishop of Durham built and endow'd a College here for a Dean and seven Prebendaries Vide Mon. Angl. T. 3. P. 2. p. 38. 10. Aukland A Collegiate Church dedicated to St. Andrew founded by Anthony Beck Bishop of Durham for twelve Prebendaries Vide Monast. Angl. T. 3. P. 2. p. 39. 11. Staindrop A Collegiate Church founded by Ralph Nevil Earl of Westmorland temp Hen. V. for a Master six Priests six Clerks six decay'd Gentlemen six Grooms and six poor men Endow'd with 126 l. 5 s. 10 d. per an Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 3. P. 2. p. 142. 12. Bernard-Castle Richard Duke of Glocester 17. Edw. IV. built a College here for a Dean
him the Benedictines at Carow in Com. Norf. and at Heyham in Com. Cant. the Black Canons at Thornâ—olm in Com. Linc. and the Cluniac Monks at Feversham in Com. Cant. owe their Foundations and endowments and the Knights Hospitalers their Commanderies at Cressing Temple in Com Essex and at Egle in Com. Linc. A. D. 1146. the Premâ—nstratensian Order was brought into England their first Monastery being Newhouse in Lincolnshire Two years after the Gilbertine â—rder had its rise at Sempringham in that County The troubles the Kingdom was for a great part of this Reign embroiled in could not restrain the Piety and Charity of the English from building Religious Houses to the number of fifteen of the Benedictine Order twenty five Priories of black Canons thirty five Cistercian Abbies six Houses of the Premonstratensian six of the Gilbertine and four of the Cluniac Rule one College two Preceptories and three Alien-Priories King Henry II. was very obliging to the Clergy especially after the murder of S. Thomas Becket of Canterbury He founded the first house the Carthâ—sians had in England viz. Witham in Somersetshire as also Waltham in Com. Essex Newstede in Com. Nott. Ivy Church in Com. Wilt. and Marton in Com. Ebor. of the Austin Order Newstede in Com. Linc. for Gilbertine Canons Stonely in Com. Warw. for Cistercian Monks and the Alien-Priory of Hagh in Com. Linc. In his Reign were founded twenty two Benedictine thirty Austin eight Premonstratensian four Gilbertine and six Cluniac Monasteries three Collegiate Churches six Preceptories for in the year 1185. the Templers came into England eight Alien-Priories and what is more remarkable almost twenty Cistercian Abbies notwithstanding it was contrary to a Canon made at the general Chapter of the Cistercian Order A. D. 1152 wherein the erection of any more Abbies of that Rule was expresly forbid because there were above five hundred of them already founded In Richard I. time the humour of going to recover Holy Land from the Saracens mightily prevail'd in England as well as in all other parts of Christendom And the mony design'd for pious uses being expended in those Wars and for the Ransom of the King there were few Monasteries built in this Reign viz. six of the Benedictine four of the Austin one of the Cistercian four of the Premonstratensian and two of the Gilbertine Order with one Alien-Priory This King is said to have mortally hated the Black Monks the Cistercians and the Templers and not only those three sorts but also all Religious Men for we do not find that he built one Monastery in England King Iohn tho' he was always prejudiced against the Ecclesiasticks yet he founded a stately Abby for the Cistercians at Beaulieu in Com. Hants to which he made Farendon in Com. Berks. a Cell He built also the Ben. Nunnery of Lambley in Com. Northumb. and made Otterington in Com. Devon an Alien-Priory In his Reign were founded seven Benedictine Abbies and Priories eleven for Regular Canons seven for Cistercian Monks one Preceptory two Premonstratensian Abbies six of the Gilbertine Order and two Alien-Priories In King Henry the third 's long Reign we find but four Benedictine Abbies and Priories built fifteen of the Austin nine of the Cistercian and of the Gilbertine and Cluniac Orders each one as also one of the Premonstratensian viz. Tichfield in Com. Hants which was the last of that Order that was built in England and one Alien-Priory viz. Rumney in Com. Cant. the last that was subjected to any foreign Monastery And the King himself founded only the small Gilbertine Cell of Fordham in Com. Cantab. For during this Reign came the Dominican or Preaching Friers into this Kingdom A. D. 1217. and the Franciscans or Friers Minors A. D. 1224. who for the pretended severity of their lives and their frequent Preaching were at first mightily admired by the people to the great loss of the parish Priests as well as the Regulars King Edward I. succeeded next who built the stately Abby of Vale-Royal in Com. Cest. In this King's time the Charity and Devotion of the English began to be very cold the greatness and riches of the Ecclesiasticks being envied by the Nobility and Gentry and the affections of the people alienated by the Sermons Pamphlets and secret insinuations of the begging Friers The Nobility and Commons being thus prepared the Statute of Mortmain easily passed A. D. 1279. 7. Edw. I. By this Act it was not allowed to any Religious person to enter upon any Fees either to buy them or to receive them of the gift of others without licence of the chief Lords upon pain of forfeiture and the reason of this Statute was because the services due from such Fees and which at the beginning were provided for the defence of the Realm are wrongfully withdrawn and the chief Lords do loose their escheats of the same Upon the making this Statute the Religious seem'd to complain and to supply the loss of new benefactions procured pensions privileges from paying Tithes and what the Church finds the inconvenience of to this very day Impropriations These last thoâ— they were sometimes used before yet after the enacting this law were obtained by Bulls from Rome on every small occasion A. D. 1295. the King seised all the Aliâ—n-Priories the rents and profits which issued out of them to foreign Monasteries in case they received as formerly being conceived of advantage to the Kings enemies In this King's time were founded three Monasteries of the Benedictine Order two Austin Priories three Cistercian Abbies one Preceptory and nine Colleges as also one Gilbertine Priory viz. Pulton in Wiltshire which was the last House of that Order in England In King Edward II. his Reign we find no great stir made about the Monks or their lands Indeed the Knights Templers were seised and their goods and revenues confiscated tho' they were not appropriated to any Secular use but settled on the Knights Hospitalers by Act of Parliament 17. Edw. II. In which Statute there are some things very remarkable which shew the opinion Parliaments in those times had of Church-lands It seemeth good these are the words of the Act to our Lord the King the Noblemen and others assembled in Parliament for the health of their Souls and the discharge of their consciences that whereas the Military Order of Temples were originally instituted for the defence of Christians and the Universal Holy Church subversion of the enemies of Christ and Christians and canoniz'd to the augmentation of the honour of God and liberal almsgiving That the foresaid lands and tenements in demesnes Lordships Services c. according to the wills of the givers shall be assign'd and delivered to other men of most holy Religion to the intent the fruits obventions and profits of the same lands tenements and other things may be converted and charitably disposed of to godly uses I can't meet with any Monastery founded by this unhappy Prince and indeed
to those that have neither leasure to consult nor money enough to purchase the Monasticon And it may likewise be usefull to those that have the Monasticon allready upon account of the Additions and Corrections the Arms the Repertory of MS. Registers and Charters and the references to the Monasticon and other Printed Histories For it cannot be denied but that the Monasticon is capable of many Additions The principal design of the Editors of those Noble Volumes being to collect Charters and other Authentick Muniments they neglected several short notes which give an account of the Foundation Order and Dedication of several Monasteries This is evident from Leland's MSS. which tho' Sir Will. Dâ—gdale frequently perused and partly transcribed yet short accounts of great many Religious Houses are to be met with therein which are totally omitted in the Monasticon And the greatness of that work forced the industrious â—ublishers to let slip several mistakes which we might expect to have found corrected in the late Epitome of it But therein to the errors of the Original are added several of the Translator and 't is pity that Charters and Records should loose their use and authority by being thus curtail'd and mangled or as the term is abridg'd Tho' it is not pretended that this short History of Religious Houses is complete or free from all errors which is impossible considering the great loss of Monastick Records yet all imaginable care was taken that it should be more full and correct than any Book of this kind extant To which end all our printed Historians were examined that might any way conduce toward the story of these Places as also Leland's Collections and Itinerary and several other MSS. Two particularly were very useful one of which was an old Parchment MS. wrote by a Monk of Canterbury about the later end of Henry VI. Reign It is in the Bodleian Library NE. E. 2. 17 and contains the Names Dedication and Orders of all the Religious Houses in every Shire Wherein tho' the Monasteries were often false placed yet it gave great light towards recovering of the Order and Dedication of several of them The other was a fair paper MS. in the Ashmolean Musaeum Num. 839. collected not long after the Dissolution by one who probably had a sight of Leland's Collections This chiefly supplied me with the Names of several Founders which were before wanting More errors might possibly have been amended and defects supplied could we but have got the sight of that Book which I am afraid is now lost which Henry Crump a Cistercian Monk and Doctor of Divinity of this University wrote about A. D. 1380. Concerning the Foundation of all the Monasteries in England from the time of S. Birin the first Bishop of Dorchester till the age of Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln The method observed in this Book is to take the Counties according to Alphabetical order and in them to describe the Monasteries according to the seniority of their Foundations The time when some of them was built is not yet discovered and those are put behind all the rest but before the Colleges because we may take it for granted that all or most of the Monasteries were founded before the Statute of Mortmain whereas few or none of the Colleges were â—ounded before Now the Reader may be pleased to know something more concerning the subject of this Book The Religious Houses in England and Wales By Religious Houses are only imply'd Cathedral Churches Abbies Priories Priories-Alien Colleges and Preceptories Houses of Friers are purâ—osely omitted because not endowed with Lands Chantries because they were not incorpoâ—ate Hospitals and Gilds because they consisted of Lay-Brethren Few are ignorant of what is meant by Cathedral Churches but the distinction â—etwixt an Abbey and a Priory and the Names of Priories-Alien Colleges and Preceptories are not â—o well understood An Abbey was a Society of Religious People wherein presided an Abbat â—r Abbess and a Priory was where the chief â—erson was term'd a Prior or Prioress Not but in every Abby there was a Prior immediately under the Abbat who during the Abbat's absence had the chief care of the House under him was the Sub-Prior and in great Abbies the third and fourth Prior who were Officers in the House and all removeable at the will of the Abbat as were also the other Obedientiarii And here by the way we may take notice that in every Abby and great Priory there were four great Obedientiarii or Officers viz. 1 the Sacrista or Sexton who took care of the buildings the vessels the Books and Vestments of the Church 2 The Thesaurarius or Bursar who received all the Rents and Revenues of the Monastery and disbursed all expences 3 The Cellerar who provided food for the Monks 4 The Camerarius or Chamberlain who found the Monks clothing These were the four chief Officers but beside these was also the Hospitalarius who took care that Hospitality was kept up and that entertainment was afforded to strangers who resorted to the Monastery The Eleemosynarius or Aâ—moner had the oversight of the alms of the House which were daily distributed at the gate to the poor The Infirmarius had the charge of the Infirmary and the sick Monks who were carried thither out of the common Dormitory Many other Officers there were in Monasteries but these were the chief But to return to Priories which were of two sorts one where the Prior was chief Governour as absolute as any Abbat in his Abby and was chosen by the Convent such were the Cathedral Priors and most of those of the Austin Order The other was where the Priory was a Cell subordinate to some great Abby and the Prior placed and removed at the will of the Abbat Soveraign and even among these there was a great deal of difference some were altogether subject to their respective Abbies who sent them what Officers and Monks they pleased and the revenues of these went to the common stock of the Abby others consisted of a certain number of Monks only had the Prior from the greater Abby and paid a small pension yearly as an acknowledgement of their subjection These Priories were allways of the same Order with the Abbies on whom they depended tho' sometimes of a different Sex it being usual after the Conquest for some greaâ— Abbies to build Nunneries in some of their Mannors which were Priories to the Abbies and subject to their Visitation Priories-Alien were when Mannors or Tithes were given to any foreign Monastery the Monks either to encrease their own Rule or rather to have faithful Stewards of their Lands built convenient Houses for the reception of a small Convent and then sent over such a number as they thought fit constituting Priors over them successively as occasion required Colleges or Collegiate Churches were a certain number of Secular Canons living under the government of a Dean Warden Provost or Master There belonged to these Foundations sometimes
in Warwickshire to the value in the Monasticon it would not even then agree with Speed's It is also very probable that there are other Copies of the valuations of the Religious Houses besides those two For Leland gives us the worth of the annual revenues of several Abbies in Lincolnshire altogether different from Dugdale or Speed So the Charter of Henry VIII by which he re-founds the Priory of Stixwold in Com. Linc. tells us that the value of the old Priory was 152 l. 10 s. 7 d. whereas according to Mr. Speed's Rate it is 163 l. 1 s. 2 d. ob and according to Sir Will. Dugdale but 114 l. 5 â— 2 l. ob And in Warwickshire the valuation which Sir Will. Dugdale had out of a MS. in the custody of Sir Sim. Archer is also very different from the rest Having thus explained the use and several parts of the following book and let the Reader understand that he will find the Foundation Order Dedication and valuation of these Religious Houses but barely hinted to in this Manual It will be convenient for such whose business or curiosity require a more large account of them their Foundations Endowments c. to have directions where they may be satisfied To which end after the account of every Monastery References are made not only to the Tome and Page of the Monasticon but also to all other Printed Books wherein is any thing relating to the History of that House and to all MSS. whether original Charters Registers or Annals thereunto belonging that are yet preserved All men that know what memoirs are contained in these MSS. will readily own that no body that is engaged in the publick or private History of this Kingdom or any part of it should omit to consult these Records For as to the general History of England what can be of greater authority than the Chronicles that were compiled every year by those persons who were eye-witnesses of some and lived in the time when all the actions which they mention were done For in all the greater Abbies there were persons appointed to take notice of the principal occurrences of the Kingdom and at the end of every year to digest them into Annals And not only so but the Constitutions of the Clergy in their National or Provincial Synods and after the Conquest Acts of Parliament were sent to the Abbies to be recorded Here may be found Letters to and Treaties with foreign Princes Provisions Proclamations Charters and almost all other things that relate to the Prerogative of the King or the Liberties of the Clergy and People The story of King Edw. I. is well known how he sent to the Religious Houses to search for his Title to the Kingdom of Scotland in their Leigers and Chronicles as the most authentick Records for the proof of his right to the Crown And 't is easie to observe that the Learned Selden has from old Monastick Charters the greatest evidences for asserting the Dominion of the Narrow Sea to belong to the Kings of Great Britain And how helpfull these Muniments were to that great Antiquary Mr. Iohn Stow who was the first that drew up our English History in any tolerable method appears from that Learned Man's collecting above threescore Chronicles and Leiger-books of Monasteries and acknowledging that he made great use of them in the compiling his Annals As for the History of Counties and Towns it is impossible to recover any tolerable account of them except the Charters and Couchers of the adjacent Abbies be carefully perused For the quantities of Land these Religious Houses had in all parts of England being so great and the Monks so accurate in Registring the Donations and preserving all Charters Leases and other Deeds relating to their possessions not only after but also before it came into their hands here we may find the succession of the mean Lords of their Mannors and Fees the Privileges Tenures and Rents of them the Foundation Endowment and Appropriation of several Parochial Churches with the Ordinations of their Vicarages as also very frequently the ancient bounds of Forests Hundreds Parishes and lesser Estates And then as to the histories of private Families these Books are of unspeakable use For the gratitude of the Religious would not suffer the memories and Charity of their Pious Founders and Benefactors to be buried in oblivion In their Leiger-books we have not only the bare mention of the Benefactors but something of the lives of their Founders and their successors their Patrons We have in them generally the days and years of their Births and Obits their Marriages Children and the most considerable of their actions Here are also very often we find their Coats of Arms and Seals delineated and preserved How useful these Records are to the Histories of places and Families the numerous references in Sir Will. Dugdale's Warwickshire to MS. Charters and Registers and the quotations of the Monasticon in every column of the Baronage sufficiently manifest which two Noble Volumes tho' they are the most perfect pieces in that kind that ever were published might yet have been in several particulars more compleat if that Learned and industrious Author had had the opportunity of consulting more of these Monastick Books I shall add but one thing more and that is concerning the great use that some eminent Common Lawyers have made of these Registers who wish that those who apply themselves to that study would have oftner recourse to these Records Here they may find all sorts of Writs old forms of Grants Leases and Wills the original and several kinds of Tenures the Privileges Customs Homages Services and Rents of the mean Tenents Cases concerning Reservation of Quit-rents upon Gifts in puram perpetuam cleemosynam concerning Mortmains Corrodies and Pensions The methods of Pleading in the Abbat's Courts the manner of appropriating Churches and endowing Vicarages These and several other Law-matters an industrious Student may find in the Cartularies and make use of to many good purposes and so will have no reason to repent of the time and pains he shall bestow in reading these Books And if we are willing to take example in this from the French whom we are ready enough to imitate in several other things we shall find that the most eminent of their Advocates and Counsellors of Parliament make it their business to be well versed in the Muniments of their Religious Houses as the best places to be informed in the customs of their Country about all matters relating to estates either personal or real I am last of all to account for the Coats of Arms of the Religious Houses which in hopes that they will be grateful to the Curious because most of them were never before publish'd I have caused to be engraven on five Copper plates Most of these I took out of an ancient MS. in the Ashmolean Library wrote about the â—ime of the Reformation the rest I had from good Authorities the Arms
given to the Chronicle that records how that St. Wilfrid A. D. 666. introduced that Rule or rather as others say improved the Orders of the English Churches by it And as for the Bull of Pope Constantine commanding that the Monks of Evesham should live under that Rule there are great probabilities that 't is forged and spurious and tho' 't was genuine it does not make much for the Patrons of the Benedictines because it follows in the next words that at that time A. D. 709. that Rule was very little used in England For Bede who hath given us a very accurate account of the state of Religion in this Isle till A. D. 731. hath nothing of Saint Bennet or his Rule And at the first Regulation of the Monks in England by Arch-bishop Cuthbert A. D. 747. in the great Synod at Clovesho there is not the least mention of it In this Council several things were amended relating to the Habit and manners of the Monks and according to the Canons thereof without doubt the Religious especially of the Province of Canterbury walked till the fatal invasions of the Danes who were very barbarous where ere they came in rifling and burning Monasteries and stripping wounding and very often killinâ— the poor Monks During their incursions Monkery and with it Christianity had almost been extinguished and there were scarce any remains of a Monastery save at Glastonbury and Abingdon And even at Winchester and Canterbury in King Alfred's time there was such a scarcity of Monks that Seculars were permitted to assist them in performing the Divine Offices Nay Gervasius saith that before St. Dunstan's time the name of Abbat was scarce heard of and very few had seen a Convent of Monks This Dunstan being promoted to the Archiepiscopal Seâ— and countenanced by King Edgar was the great restorer of the Monastick way of living by repairing the ruinous Churches and Religious Houses and placing Monks and Nuns in the room of Secular Canons It was by his advice that King Edgar made the second Reformation of our ancient English Monks in the Council of Winchester A. D. 965. To this end several Monks were sent for from Fleury and Corby in France who were to inform them in the particulars of St. Bennet's Order So little was that rule known then in England which several fondly imagine was generally received some hundreds of years before At this Synod was framed a general Constitution for our English Monâ—s composed partly out of the Rule of St. Bennet and partly out of the ancient customs of the English Devotees This was called Regularis concordia Anâ—licae Nationis and is published in Saxon and Latin by the Learned Selden in his Spicilegium after Eadmerus According to this Rule were Monasteries founded and governed in the Southern and more civilized part of Britain and their number encreased so very much that 〈◊〉 is King is recorded to have erected or rather re-founded fourty seven Neither were new Monasteries only founded but all the Lands which by the iniquity of the times had been taken away from Religious places were restored by the authority of the King and the care of Dunstan Arch-bishop of Canterbury Ethelwold Bishop of Winchester and Wulstan Bishop of Worcester After this Kings death the Secular Clergy began to lift up their heads again and were encouraged by Elfere Prince of Mercia who expelled the Monks out of all the Monasteries in that Province and restored the Secular Canons These things occasioned the contests between the Monks and Seculars at the Synods of Winchester Caln and Ambresbury in the time of King Edward the elder Where being convinced by pretended miracles or else over-ruled by the power of Arch-bishop Dunstan and others of the Monks party the Seculars made no great stir afterward and so the Monks quietly enjoyed their Lands till the Conquest But this must be understood only of the state of Monasteries in the South parts of the Isle in the Kingdom of the Northumbrians Monasteries were more frequent even from their first receiving Christianity For here the new Converts being mightily taken with the powerfull Preaching and exemplary lives of Aidan and the Scotch Monks were very zealous in building and endowing Religious Houses So great an opinion had they of the sanctity of those Monks and their way of living that it was very usual for their Nobles and very often their Kings and Queens to renounce the world as they call'd it and put on Religious Habits Not to make any mention here of the old Scottish Monks or Culdees of whom we had none in England except at St. Peter's in York because they were the same with the Monks of the Irish Rules As in the South parts of England 't was usual to send their children to France to learn the Monastick way of living so in the North they were sent into Ireland to the Monasteries there to be instructed in Learning But as Sim. Dunelmensis saith after the devastation of that Country by the Danes A. D. 867. who reduced the Churches and Monasteries to ashes Christianity was almost extinct very few Churches and those only built with hurdles and covered with straw were rebuilt but no Monasteries were re-founded for almost two hundred years after The Countrey people never heard of the name of a Monk and were frighted at their very Habit till three Monks from Winchelcomb brought again the Monastick way of living to Durham York and Whitby It may be necessary here to note 1 Something concerning the Nunneries before the Conquest That we had Nuns in the time of the Britains is very probable because the Irish and Scots allowed of them before St. Austin came into England and the Constitution of the British Churches were in a manner the same with them But if Leland's authority be allowed in this case I think it is clear enough to decide the controversie for he tells us of Nunneries in the time of the Britains more than once particularly of one at Caermarden What Monastick Rules so ever St. Austin might introduce we meet with none relating to religious Virgins Yet in the next Century we find them very frequent among the Saxons King Eadbald is recorded to have founded about A. D. 630. a Nunneâ—y at Folkstone in Kent which 't is likely was the first in England So according to this it must be an oversight in Mr. Weaver and Sir W. Dugdale to say that Barking in Essex was the first Nunnery in England which was not built till A. D. 680. About which time without doubt Nuns were in great plenty because we find in that year Domneva to have presided over no fewer than seventy in one Monastery in the Isle of Thanet And A. D. 694. Abbesses were in so great esteem for their Sanctity and Prudence that they were summon'd to the Council at Becanceld and the names of five and not one Abbat subscribed to the Constitutions there made Bishop Aidan
made Hieu who was afterward Abbess and Foundress of Hartlepool the first Nun among the Northumbrians A. D. 640. And 't was afterward a custom in Northumberland and Scotland in these old times for Monks and Nuns to live together in the same Monastery who were all subject to the government of the Abbess thus it was at Whitby Repingdon Coldingham c. 2. Some account of the Secular Clergy who make so great a noise in the Ecclesiastical History of the Saxon times would not be impertinent But the Monks having so blacken'd them it will be a very hard matter to recover their just character The invective Oration King Edgar made against them hath given us a catalogue of their crimes but probably their memories had not suffered so much if their defences had been as carefully preserved I am not satisfied what was the distinction between the old Secular Canons and the Monks for Historians by calling the Houses of Monks Collegia and the Chapters of Secular Canons Monasteria confound these two sorts of Religious Persons Nor does the opinion of the Learned Mr. Wharton seem unlikely when he tells us that before the Reformation by King Edgar and St. Dunstan our Monasteries were nothing but Convents of Secular married Clergy This conjecture he confirms by a great many quotations which must be here omitted I shall only presume to acquaint the Reader farther that 't is probable the Monks and Nuns in the first ages of Monkery might marry a pregnant proof of which we have from Bede who reports that in St. Iohn of Beverley's time the Abbess of a Monastery called Vetadun had a carnal daughter who was Nun of that House And on the contrary some of the Seculars obliged themselves to the vow of chastity It is certain they observed some regular Constitutions for the Canons of Durham read the Psalms in the same order as they were appointed in the Rule of St. Bennet At Peykirk as Ingulphus relates they observed the Canonical hours of the Monks and took the vows of Chastity and Obedience And at Canterbury they wore the very Habit of the Monks but indeed as Gervasius notes did not strictly observe the Rule So that in all likelyhood the terms of Monk and Secular Canons were indifferently used or at most with very little distinction till King Edgar's time when St. Dunstan enforcing a stricter observation of St. Bennet's Rule those that were willing to retain their wives and Parochial Cures were termed Secular Clerks and those came to be called Monks or Regulars who quitted both according to the Constitutions of that Order Lastly The Monks of this Isle were never under one Rule before the second Reformation For not to mention the difference between the British Scottish and Roman Monks we may observe that every holy Man that was an Abbat laid down particular Rules of the Monastick way of living for those under his jurisdiction Hence it is that we meet with the Rules of St. Patric S. Congall S. Columba Molva S. Columban S. Carthagus Segenius Fursaeus S. Coman and others among the Irish and Scots S. David S. Asaph S. Cuthbert S. Aldhelm c. among the Britains and Saxons Neither did Arch-bishop Cuthbert's Regulation make an uniformity in these matters for in King Alfred's time there were diversi generis Monachi And even after the Conquest at a general Visitation of Religious Houses A. D. 1232. among the Benedictines there were not two Monasteries that lived after the same manner At the Conquest Monasteries had a deep share in the afflictions of the Conquer'd Nation Some of the best of their Mannors were sacrilegiously taken away their Treasuries were rifled and their Liberties infringed by the insulting Normans Most of the English Abbats being deposed for small or no causes strangers were preferr'd to the richest Abbies in the Kingdom who introduced several new customs to the grievance of the old Saxon Monks One thing that seemed very hard was the altering their Missals Upon this account what heats were in the Abby of Glastonbury when Thurstan the pragmatical Norman Abbat would needs compell the Monks to lay aside the old Gregorian service which had been sung in that Abby time out of mind and to make use of the new devotions of one William of Fiscamp These and several other innovations in the Divine Worship were growing up apace in the Church had they not been stopp'd by the pains of Osmund Bishop of Salisbury who composed a new Ritual which was afterwards known by the name of Missale in usum Sarum and generally used in England Scotland and Ireland 2. Another thing that was a burden to the Religious especially those of the Cathedral Convents was the making of Secular Priests Bishops of those Churches Of this the Monks made loud complaints because it was rarely or as they pretended never heard of in the Saxon times and even forbid by a positive Canon made in the time of Arch-bishop Theodore and afterwards confirm'd by King Edgar And this was so strictly observed among the Saxons that tho' a Secular Priest was nominated or elected by a Conventual Chapter yet he was forced to be made Monk before he could be consecrated Thus Odo Bishop of Shirburn being chose Arch-bishop of Canterbury could not get his Pall or be Installed till he had received the Religious Habit from the Abbat of Fleury Thus the Monks who after the Conquest would be as exempt as possible from the jurisdiction of any Secular made this a plea for all or most of their quarrels with the Bishops They were always very jealous of their privileges and upon the least occasion were ready to publish how much the Secular Bishops acted to the disadvantage of the Cathedral Priories by imposing several things repugnant to the Immunities of their Order 3. The third disadvantage that was occasioned in Monasteries by the Conquest was the distinction that was afterward made between the Lands of the Bishop and the Convent For during the Saxon times whatever donations happened they were given Deo Ecclesiae to the Bishops Priors and Monks in common But after the Conquest the Bishops assigned what revenues they thought sufficient to maintain the Prior and Convent and reserved the rest and best part of the Church-Lands to the use of themselves and their successors This division I am afraid fell very hard upon the Monks in several places for the Canterbury Historian complains that their Arch-bishop had retained the Services and Fees of the Earls Barons and Knights and allowed the Monks none but Yeomen and Husbandmen Certain it is that this gave occasion at first for the distinction in other Monasteries of the Lands of the Abbat and Convent and afterward of the several great Officers of the House So that we never read till after the Conquest that any grants were made in usum Prioris Sacristae Eleemosynarii Cellerarii Camerarii c. or as others run in more
particular terms ad vestitum Monachorum ad victum ad luminaria ad hospitalitatem faciendam ad fabricam Ecclesiae ad reparanda Ecclesiae ornamenta and other uses to which those revenues were particularly appropriated The last grievance that shall be mentioned which indeed affected the Clergy in general was the Conqueror's charging Church-Lands with Military Services This is taken notice of by Matthew Paris but I shall crave leave to describe it in the words of a late ingenious Writer Whereas saith he before the Conqueror's time the Clergy held all their land by Franc Almonage and subject to no duties or impositions but such as they laid upon themselves in their Ecclesiastical Assemblies This Prince finding above a third part of the Lands of the Kingdom in the possession of the Clergy and the Forces of the Crown which consisted in Knights service lessened in proportion by their Immunities He reduced all their Lands to the common tenure of Knight's Fees and Baronage and thereby subjected them to an attendance upon the King in his wars and to other services anciently due and sometimes raised upon all Lands that held in Fee from the Crown This innovation touched not only the Bishops but all the Abbats throughout the Kingdom many of whom were endowed with great Lands and Revenues But Sir Will. Temple must pardon me if I suspend my opinion in this particular till better inform'd viz. That the Conqueror found above a third part of the Lands of the Kingdom in Possession of the Clergy ' The truth of this may be examined with more certainty than any other part of English History the Lands of the Ecclesiasticks being all particularly recorded in Doomsday-book so that it will be easie to compute the proportion But not having in this place the opportunity of consulting the Original it cannot be very accurate However by the transcript of those few Counties we have a pretty exact guess may be made In Cheshire were but twenty seven Mannors belonging to Churchmen in Warwickshire not fourty in Berkshire about sixty in Staffordshire about fifty and in Nottinghamshire but fourty Besides it ought to be considered that one fourth of the Lands that were in Church-men's hand in the time of King Edward III. at which time the Commons shewed the King that the Temporalities of the Clergy amounted only to above a third part of the Kingdom was not given to Religious places at King William's first coming to the Crown For there were not above an hundred Monasteries and endowed Churches founded before the Conquest which tho' they were richer for the most part than any after founded yet according to the highest account the revenues could not amount to above a fourth part of the incomes of the Religious Houses in the time of Edward III. And if so then the Ecclesiasticks had but at most a twelfth part of the Lands of the Kingdom in their hands at the time when the Conqueror imposed these services viz. A. D. 1170. After this digression we must again carry on some brief account of the state of the Monastick Orders here in England It was in the Conqueror's time that the third and last Regulation of Monks was made by Arch-bishop Lanfranc in the Council held at London A. D. 1075. This Reformation brought the English Monks nearer the Benedictines than ever before I mean those of the old Foundations but as for the new Monasteries they were replenished with Monks of what Order the Founder pleased For during this Reign were brought into England the Orders of Regular Canons of St. Austin and of Cluniac Monks Of each sort were six founded in this Kings time as also sixteen Benedictine Abbies and Priories besides fourteen Alien-Priories A note annexed to an old MS. book of Ecclesiastical Constitutions in the Bodleâ—â—n Library desires us to note the slyght of the Pope that when he had causyd the Deuke of Normandy to Conquer England under pretence of penance causyd him to give muche Lands to Abbyes and that Deuke dyd bylde many of the Order of Cluny because Pope Gregory VI. was a Monk of Cluny Thoâ— I cannot find that ever he founded any of this Order yet he built and endowed the great Abbies of Battel Com. Suss. and Selby in Com. Ebor. and the Priory of Hitchinbroke in Com. Hunt and the Alien-Priories of Frampton in Com. Dors. Paunsfeld in Com. Essex Derehirst in Com. Gloc. Andover in Com. Hants and Stayning in Com. â—uss Will. Rufus succeeded next heir to the vices not the vertues of his Father He miserably oppressed the Religious seised upon the Revenues of the vacant Abbies and Bishopricks and would never let them be filled without some Simoniacal bargain In this Kings Reign several of the Bishops of whom Walkeline Bishop of Winchester was the chief made strong efforts to expel all the Monks out of Cathedral Churches and to place Secular Canons in their rooms This infallibly they had accomplished having got the Kings consent had not Archbishop Lanfranc a man of universal Goodness and approved Wisdom maintain'd the cause of the Monks with a great deal of courage and not only brought the King to change his mind but also procured a Bull from the Pope prohibiting the like attempts for the future In the thirteen years of this Kings reign were not above thirteen Religious Houses except Priories Alien founded viz. seven of the Benedictine four of the Cluniac and two of the Austin Order and about nine Alien-Priories but not one Collegiate Church in this or the preceeding Reign The King built only the small Priories of Armethwait in Com. Cumb. and S. Nicholas in Exeter King Henry I. is recorded to have been a very pious good Prince an encourager of Learning and Piety and one that had a great esteem for the Church and all Religious Persons His founding nine or ten Monasteries confirms the truth of this character viz. the Episcopal See and Priory of Regular Canons at Carlisle the Abbies of Cirencester in Com. Gloc. and Mertâ—n in Com. Surr. with the Priories of Dunstable in Com. Bedf. St. Dennis at Southampton and Wells near Grimsâ—y in Com. Linc. of the same Order as also the stately Benedictine Abby at Reading besides the Alien-Priories of Steventon in Com. Berks. Tackley in Com. Essex and Newent in Com. Gloc. In the beginning of this Kings Reign the Knights Hospitalers settled in London A. D. 1128. the Cistercians were first brought into England and placed at Waverâ—â—y in Surrey and about this time the Canons 〈◊〉 the Holy Sâ—pulcher came to Warwick The number of Religious Houses founded in the Reign of King Henry I. were above an hundred viz about thirty of the Benedictine Monasterieâ— fourty of the Austin Order five Cluniac ten Cistercian Houses four Colleges two Preceptories and thirteen Alien-Priories King Stephen was Virtuous Religious and Liberal and after the wars between him and Maud the Empress were ended a great builder of Religious Houses To
at 88 l. 6 s. 10 d. per an Sp. In 20. Hen. VIII Cardinal Wolsey obtain'd leave of the King to found in the place where this Priory stood a College for a Dean twelve Canons eight Clerks eight Choristers and a Grammar School which he design'd for a Nursery to his College at Oxford 21. Dodnash A Priory of Black Canons dedicated to St. Mary and founded by one Wymarus It was rated 26. Hen. VIII at 42 l. 18 s. 8 d. ob Speed 22. Flixton A Nunnery of the Order of St. Austin erected by Margery de Creike A. D. ... Valued at 23 l. 4 s. 1 d. ob per an Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 2. p. 362. 23. Herinflete A Priory of Canons Regular built by Roger Fitz-Osbert A. D ... to the honour of St. Olave Endowed at the Dissolution with 49 l. 11 s. 7 d. per an Dugd. Speed 24. Trem. A Benedictine Priory founded by Sir Iohn Bovile Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 545. 25. Kersey A Benedictine Priory dedicated to St. Mary and St. Anthony Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 532. 26. Wangford A Cluniac Priory founded by Doudo Asini A. D. ... and subordinate to Thetford It s yearly revenues at the Suppression were worth 48 l. 8 s. 10 d. Dugd. 30 l. 9 s. 5 d. Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 545. 27. Woodbridge A Priory of Black Canons built by ... Rufford to the honour of the blessed Virgin Valued 26. Hen. VIII at 50 l. 3 s. 5 d. ob per an Vide Monast. Angl. T. 2. p. 362. 28. Letheringham A Priory founded by Sir Iohn Boinet A. D. ... Valued at 26 l. 18 s. 5 d. per an 29. Liteburch Sp. A Priory of Black Canons dedicated to S. Mary 30. Rafford Sp. A Monastery dedicated to our Lady founded by one Robert Bishop or Earl of Lincoln Sp. 31. Walton A Benedictine Priory dedicated to St. Felix 32. Burshyard A College for a Warden and four Priests founded by Maud de Lancaster Countess of Vlton A. D. 1354. This Priory was not long after changed into a Nunnery of the Order of St. Clare It was valued 26. Hen. VIII at 56 l. 2 s. 1 d. per an Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 3. P. 2. p. 98. 33. Mettingham The Collegiate Church of St. Mary founded by Sir Iohn de Norwich temp Edw. III. It s yearly revenues were worth 202 l. 7 s. 5 d. ob per an 34. Suthbury A Cell of Benedictine Monks to Westminster Abby to which it was given by Richard Roke 35. Edw. III. It was dedicated to S. Bartholomew Here was also a College founded by Simon of Sudbury Arch-bishop of Canterbury to the honour of St. Gregory It consisted of a Master five Priests c. and was rated 26. Hen. VIII at 122 l. 18 s. 3 d. per an Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 367. 35. Denston A College endowed with 22 l. 8 s. 9 d. per an Sp. SURRY 1. Chertsey A. D. 666. Frithwaldus a petty King of Surry founded a Monastery here to the honour of St. Peter It was of the Benedictine Order and valued 26. Hen. VIII at 659 l. 15 s. 8 d. ob q. Dugd. 744 l. 13 s. 6 d. ob Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 875. Reyner Apost Bened. T. 1. p. 64. Registr in Bibl. Cotton Vitell. A. 13. * Reg. in Scacc. penes Remem Regis 2. Bermondsey An Abby of Clumac Monks built by Alwin Child a Citizen of London A. D. 1082. to the honour of St. Saviour It 's yearly revenues were worth 474 l. 14 s. 4 d. ob q. per an Dugd. 584 l. 2 s. 5 d. ob q. Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 639. Reyner Apost Bened. T. 2. p. 134. Cronica de Bermondsey in Bibl. Deuvesiana Registr penes Joh. Selden * Registrum in Bibl. Cotton 3. Southwark The Abby of St. Mary Overeie for Black Canons founded by William Giffard Bishop of Winchester A. D. 1106 It was valued at 624 l. 6 s. 6 d. per an Dugd. 656 l. 10 s. ob Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 2. p. 84. 940. 4. Merton A. D. 1121. King Henry I. founded an Abby here for Canons of St. Austin's Order and dedicated it to the blessed Virgin It was rated 26. Hen. VIII at 957 l. 19 s. 5 d. ob per an Dugd. 1039 l. 5 s. 3 d. Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 2. p. 135. Registr in Bibl. Cotton Cleop. C. 7. * Historiam fundationis in Officio Armorum 5. Waverley William Giffard Bishop of Winchester built an Abby here for Cistercian Monks A. D. 1128. to the honour of St. Mary It was the first house that Order had in England and was endowed at the Dissolution with 174 l. 8 s. 3 d. ob per an Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 703. T. 2. p. 912. Annales de Waverley in Bibl. Cotton Vesp. A. 16. editas per V. Cl. Thomam Gale Oxon. 1687. fol. 6. Newark near Guild'ord A Priory of Black Canons built by Ruald de Calva A. D. ... and commended to the Patronage of St. Mary and St. Thomas of Canterbury It was endowed with 258 l. 11 s. 11 d. per an Dug Sp. Vide Mon. Angl. T. 2. p. 247. 7. Tanrigge A Priory of Canons of the Order of St. Austin founded by Odo de Dammartin and dedicated to St. Iames valued at 78 l. 6 s. 10 d. ob Vide Mon. Angl. T. 2. p. 403. 8. Reygate Will. Warren Earl of Surry erected a Priory of Black Canons here to the honour of St. Mary and St. Cross temp Reg. Ioh. It was valued 26. Hen. VIII at 68. 16 s. 8 d. per an Dugd. 78 l. 16 s. 8 d. Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 2. p. 346. 9. Horsdey A Priory of Black Nuns 10. Shene A Carthusian Abby built by King Hen. V. A. D. 1413. to the honour of the Holy Iesus It s yearly revenues at the Suppression were worth 777 l. 12 s. ob Dugd. 962. 11 s. 6 d. Speed Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 973. Registr in Bibl. Cotton Jul. C. 2. 11. Lingfield A Collegiate Church founded by Reginald Lord Cobham temp Hen. VI. and dedicated to St. Peter Valued at 75. per an ☞ Mr. Speed placeth Horsham in this County but that Priory is in Norfolk SUSSEX 1. Selsey HEre was an old Monastery founded by St. Wilfrid A. D. 673. to the honour of the blessed Virgin and St. Peter and endow'd by King Ceadwalla A. D. 711. Eadbert Abbat of this House being Consecrated the first Bishop of the South-Saxons the Episcopal Seat remain'd here till temp Will. Conq. Stigandus translated it to Chichester Vide Mon. Angl. T. 1. p. 153. T. 3. P. 1. p. 115. 2. South-Malling A Collegiate Church first founded by King Ceadwalla and restored by one of the Arch-bishops of Cauterbury Valued at 45 l. 12 s. 5 d. ob per an 3. Bosenham An ancient Monastery built here by one Dicul a Scot Will. Warwast Bishop of