for the same which being done by him we require you that he may have the Pall to be used for the purpose aforesaid Given under our Signet at our Honour of Hampton Court the eight and twentieth day of Septemb. in the tenth year of our Reign of England France and Ireland and of Scotland the six and fortieth In obedience to this Letter the Body of the Queen of Scots was taken up the eleventh of October following in the year of our Lord 1612. and translated to Westminster where we shall leave Her and return to our succession of the Bishops of Peterburgh Howland having been Bishop here the space of 15 years died at Castor and was buried in his own Cathedral at the upper end of the Quire And there succeeded 49. THOMAS DOVE Who was Dean of Norwich and Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth who had so good esteem of him for his excellency in preaching reverend aspect and deportment that she was wont to call him The Dove with silver wings He entred upon his Bishoprick in the year 1600. and continued therein the space of 30 years During which time he was like S. Paul's Bishop a lover of Hospitality keeping a very free house and having always a numerous Family yet was he so careful of posterity that he left a fair estate to his Heirs He died upon the 30 of August 1630. in the 75 year of his age and lieth buried in the North cross Isle of the Church Over his body was erected a very comely Monument of a long quadrangular form having four corner pilasters supporting a fair Table of black Marble and within the pourtraiture of the Bishop lying in his Episcopal habit At the feet on the outside were these Inscriptions Si quaeras viator quo hospite glorietur elegans haec mortis domus ipsa prose loquetur ipsa pro illo quae ideo loqui didicit ut sciant illi qui eò ingratitudinis inhumaniter obriguerunt ut in manes in urnas saevire studeant non defuturam saxis linguam quae doceat de mortuis bene loqui Vindex hoc pium marmor sacros cineres tegit sanctiorem memoriam protegit Charissimum utrumque pignus redituri Domini Reverendissimi in Christo Patris Thomae Dove quem novit Waldenum Ecclesiasten doctissimum Nordovicum Decanum vigilantissimum haec ipsa Ecclesia Episcopum piissimum cui postquam trigint a annis magno cum honore praefuisset ad magnum illum animarum Episcopum transmigravit Bonus pastor translatus ab ovibus in terris ad Agnum in coelis quocum regnabit in secula Hoc me loqui voluit Gulielmus Dove Equ Aur. Optimi hujus patris filius natu-maximus honoris pietatis ergo Carmine non pous est sat sat praestabit abunde Si sat flere potest officiosus amor Vixt Epitaphium sibi Te sprevisse Poeta Quam facile poterit qui bene vixit Abi. Atque abeo durum est numeris aptare dolorem Atque aequo lachrymas currere posse pede Me muto tibi non poterunt monumenta deesse Vivum quem soboles tam numerosa refert Hoc addam Hic illa est senio argentata Columba Davidis coelos hinc petit ille suos Dixi Musa loquax tanto non apta dolori Si non flere satis nostra silere potest But this Monument was in the year 1643. levelled with the ground so that Bishop Dove's Epitaph in stead of Marble must now live in paper 50. WILLIAM PEIRSE Being Canon of Christs Church in Oxford and Dean of Peterburgh was made Bishop after the death of Dove and installed Nov. 14. A man of excellent parts both in Divinity and knowledge of the Laws very vigilant and active he was for the good both of the Ecclesiastical and Civil State and had he continued longer in this See he would have rectified many things then amiss But he was translated to the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells after two years presidency at Peterburgh 51. AVGVSTINE LINDSELL Was Dean of Lichfield and upon the translation of Peirse made Bishop of this Diocess being elected December 22. 1632. and installed by Proxy Febr. 25. following He was a man of very great learning and gave sufficient evidence thereof to the Church by setting forth that excellent edition of Theophylact upon S. Paul's Epistles which work will make his name worth live be honoured among all learned Divines Foreign and Domestick In his time the Parsonage of Castor was annexed to the Bishoprick to be held in Commendam which was effected by W. Laud Archbishop of Canterbury as he left recorded in his Diary When he had been Bishop here the space of two years he was translated to Hereford and shortly after ended his life to the greatloss of the Church of England 52. FRANCIS d ee Was taken from his Deanry of Chichester and made Bishop here being elected April 9. 1634. and in May 28. following installed by Proxy He was a man of very pious life and affable behaviour After he had with much diligence and honesty meekness and hospitality gloriously shined in his Ecclesiastical Orb here the space of four years and six months he died much lamented October 8. 1638. bequeathing by his will towards the reparation of his Cathedral Church the summ of an hundred pounds and lieth buried in the upper part of the Quire near to his Episcopal Seat 53. JOHN TOWERS Being Dean of this Church ascended the other step and was made Bishop after the death of Dee being installed March. 8. 1638. He enjoyed his Bishoprick in peace a very little while for presently great dissensions arose betwixt the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland which occasioned the Bishops attendance upon the King both in the North at York and at London in time of Parliaments that which was convened April 13. 1640. and dissolved May 5. following the Convocation sitting by the Kings express Commission until May 29 wherein the new Canons were made and that also which began the same year November 3. and was of a far longer continuance On August 5. this year the great Commission for draining the Fenns began to be holden at Peterburgh the Commissioners sitting in the Bishops great Hall until the 11. of the same month the determinations therein being since known by the name of Peterburgh Law On the third of November following a new Parliament began to sit Bishop Towers according to his place giving attendance there In the year following arose great opposition against Bishops as to their Office and power in having Votes in Parliament insomuch that many of them apprehending their insecurity in attending upon the House much opposition meeting them in the way some of them to the number of twelve drew up a Protestation against all such Laws Orders Votes Resolutions and determinations as in themselves null and of none effect which in their absence from December 27. 1641. had passed or should afterwards pass during the time of their forced absence from
Abby was at this time in full tenure and possession of King Henry made a tripartite kind of division assuming a third to himself confirming another third upon the Bishop and the rest upon the Dean and Chapter Those which King Henry took to himself being surrendred unto him were then let out unto Tenants at a yearly rate these and thus Com. North. Â Â Â Â * Or L. Russel afterwards E. of Bedford Eyebury then in the hands of Sir John Russel 13 l. 6 s. 8 d. Â Oxeney then in the hands of Roger Horton Gent. 1 l. 10 s. 0 d. Â Dosthorp called Gillims le Lane-land then in the hands of John Stoddard 2 l. 0 s. 0 d. Â Pillisgate in the hands of David Vincent 19 l. 0 s. 0 d. Â Kettering cum Pightesly with the Advowsons of the Rectories there in the Queens hand 111 l. 3 s. 4 d. ob q. dimid * Given first to the Dean and Chapt. but taken away again with Polebrook also Stanwigge then in the Queens hand 27 l. 16 s. 0 d. ob Cottingham cum Desborough with the Advowsons of the Rectories in the Queens hand 67 l. 2 s. 1 d. Â Oundle with the Advowson of the Vicaridge in the hand of the Lord Russel 172 l. 0 s. 3 d. ob Ashton in the Queens hand 29 l. 3 s. 8 d. Â Wermington cum Egilthorp with the Advowson of the Vicaridge in the Queens hand 97 l. 4 s. 10 d. ob q. Polebroke with the Advowson of the Rectory then in the hands of Sir Edward Montague 12 l. 14 s. 0 d. ob q. Clopton with the Advowson of the Rectory in the hands of William Dudley Esq 3 l. 17 s. 4 d. Â Lullington with the Advowson of the Rectory in the hands of Sir Edward Mountague 8 l. 15 s. 7 d. ob Hundreds of Polebrook and Navesford in the Q. hand s. 19 l. 9 s. 3 d. q. Hundred of Howkeslow in the Queens hand 16 l. 13 s. 4 d. q. Com. Rutland Tinwel with the Advowson of the Rectory in the hands of Sir William Cecil 33 l. 13 s. 4 d. Â Com. Lincoln Gosberkirk in the Queens hand 74 l. 9 s. 2 d. ob q. 3 ob Com. Hunt Fletton in the hand of Roger Forest 27 l. 0 s. 6 d. Â Sum. total 733 l. 9 s. 9 d. 0. 3 pt q. dimid King Henry having taken these Lands from the Church of Peterburgh made provision for the Bishoprick to which he subjected the Counties of Northampton and Rutland for his Diocess and appointed the Abbots dwelling for the Bishops Palace and for his maintenance confirmed these Lands viz. Burghbury Eye Singlesholt Northam Witherington Walton Paston Gunthorp Southorp Thirlby The Hundred of Nassaburgh A Pasture in Park-lane of 8 Acres 40 Acres Sheepcotes S. Johns Yard The Vineyard and Toothill Snorshills Edgerly 50 Acres In Padholm 18 Acres Eastwood 180 Acres Westwood Burghbury 246 Acres The Spittle More at Eye and the Tything Barn there Pensions from Helpiston Etton Wittering Houses and Shops in the Parish of S. Gregory London and in the Parish of S. Bridget The Advowsons of Castre Bernack Paston Polebrook Scotter South Collingham The Vicaridge of S. John Baptist in Peterburgh The Deanery of the Colledge at Irtlingburgh and the Chantry there The Chappel of S. John upon or adjoyning to the Bridge in Stamford For all which the Bishop was to make to the King Annual acknowledgement by the payment of 33l 10s 8d In this Dotation of the Bishoprick bearing date September 4. and of King Henry 33. which was of our Lord 1541. John Chambers Hen. Isaacson in his Chronology pag. 375. B. Goodwin in J. Chambers the present Abbot was nominated for the Bishop whom some will have to be Doctor of Physick and Dean of S. Stephen's in Westminster and continued in his new transformed government about the space of 15 years to the year 1556. the 4 or 5. of Queen Mary Although an Inscription in Brass about the Verge of his Marble Monument beareth date otherwise for it was thus Credo quod redemptor meus vivit in novissimo die de terra surrecturus sum in carne mea videbo Deum salvatorem meum reposita est haec spes mea in sinu meo Moritur die ........... Anno Domini Millesimo Quingentesimo Tricesimo Which could not be for then he must die about his second year of government long before the dissolution of his Abby when he was nominated Bishop for Goodwin saith he was consecrated Bishop October 23. 1541. But it is probable that there was a mistake which if it hapned in his time a wonder he did not reform it the Monument indeed might be extant in his time for he might be careful in providing the house of his mortality before he came to inhabite therein At the foot of his figure upon the same Stone was laid a plate of Brass wherein these Verses were engraven En pius en validus pastor jacet hic Johannes Burgh Burgo natus ac domus hujus apex Cui caro mundus opes cesserunt idgenus omne Praelia divinus carnea vincit amor Ordinis infestos redigens sub vindice mores Dum comes ipse fuit norma locique decor Pauperimos ditans lapsis peccata remittens Mitibus ipse pius asperimus rigidis Sta lege funde preces Deus est cui singula cedunt Dic velit ipse dare celica regna sibi He had also another more stately Monument at the head of this made of white Chalk-stone with his Statue exquisitely carved lying on the top perhaps being Abbot and Bishop he might have a Monument for each but these Monuments habent sua fata sepulchra were demolished Anno 1643. There were lately some doors in the Church curiously carved with the device of this John thus An Eagle a Crosier and Mitre a Bur-dock with Burs thereon and a Ro-buck with the Letters R. O. on his side the summ whereof was John Abbot or Bishop of Bur-row At the same time that King Henry thus established the Bishop and his Revenues he established also the Dean and Chapiter with theirs of which hereafter Return we now to our Series of Succession John Chambers being dead the Succession continued in 46 DAVID POOL Who was first Fellow of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford afterwards Dean of the Arches and Chancellour of the Diocess of Lichfield and made Bishop of Peterburgh 1556. But I find not his nomination thereunto by Queen Mary only the Pope's in the donation and confirmation of him in this Bishoprick For it is sufciently known that this Church and Kingdom of England began again to submit to the Roman yoke from which they had been delivered in the time of King Edward 6. under which relapse I find the Popes power in reference to the Church of Peterburgh to have been more practised than ever it was before for throughout the whole Series of Abbots formerly recited
say January 16. being the year of our Lord 1560. What he was for Learning and integrity of Religion in the now reformed Church of England wherein he was a Bishop may appear by these Doctrinal Articles which in his first Episcopal Visitation he prescribed to the Dean and Prebendaries of his Church requiring their subscription thereunto For as yet the general Articles of the Church of England were not formed until about two years after Jan. 29. 1562. B. Scamblers Articles were these 1 Sacra Scriptura in se continet omnem doctrinam pietatis ex qua sufficienter error convinci possit veritas stabiliri 2 Symbolum Nicaenum Athanasii quod communiter Apostolorum dicitur continent brevissime articulos fidei nostrae sparsim in Scripturis ostensos qui istis non crediderint inter veros Catholicos non sunt recipiendi 3 Ecclesia Christi est in qua purum Dei verbum praedicatur sacramenta juxta Christi ordinationem administrantur in qua clavium autoritas retinetur 4 Quaevis Ecclesia particularis autoritatem habet instituendi mutandi abrogandi caeremonias ritus Ecclesiasticos modo ad decorem ordinem aedificationem fiat 5 Christus tantum duo sacramenta expresse nobis commendat Baptisma Eucharistiam quae conferunt gratiam rite sumentibus etiamsi malus sit Minister non prosunt indigne sumentibus quamvis bonus sit Minister 6 Laudandus est Ecclesiae mos baptizandi parvulos retinendus 7 Coena Dominica non est tantum Symbolum benevolentiae Christianorum interse sed magis Symbolum est nostrae redemptionis per Christi mortem nostrae conjunctionis cum Christo ubi fidelibus vere datur exhibetur Communio corporis sanguinis Domini 8 Sacramentum Eucharistiae ex usu Primitivae Ecclesiae neque servabatur vel elevabatur vel adorabatur 9 Missa quae consuevit a sacerdotibus dici non erat a Christo constituta sed a multis Romanis Pontificibus confirmata nec est Eucharistia ex se sacrificium propitiatorium sed recordatio sacrificii semel peracti 10 Scholastica transubstantiatio panis vini in corpus sanguinem Christi probari non potest ex sacris literis 11 Non omne peccatum mortale seu voluntariò perpetratum post baptismum est irremissibile peccatum in Spiritum Sanctum 12 Post acceptum Spiritum potest homo peccare ac denuo resipiscere neque sine peccato vivit quamvis regeneratio in Christo imputetur 13 Justificatio ex sola fide est certissima doctrina Christianorum 14 Elizabetha Regina Angliae est unicus supremus gubernator hujus regni omnium dominiorum regionum suarum quarumcunque in rebus causis Ecclesiasticis quam temporalibus 15 Verbum Dei non prohibet foeminarum regimen cui obediendum est juxta ordinationem Dei 16 Romanus Pontifex nullam habet jurisdictionem in hoc regno Angliae nec alia quaecunque potestas extranea 17 Leges civiles possunt Christianos propter flagitia morte punire 18 Christianis licet ex jussu Principis bella gerere ex justa causa propria possidere 19 Doctrina scholasticorum de Purgatorio invocatione Divinorum nullum habet fundamentum ex verbo Dei 20 Praeceptum Dei est ut quae leguntur in Ecclesia illa lingua proferantur quae ab Ecclesia intelligatur 21 Absque externa legitima vocatione non licet cuiquam sese ingerere in aliquod ministerium Ecclesiasticum vel seculare 22 Matrimonium inter Christianos legitime juxta verbum Dei initum contractum est indissolubile nec per traditiones hominum unquam vellendum 23 Coelibatus nulli hominum statui praecipitur neque injungitur ministris Ecclesiae ex verbo Dei Haec omnia vera esse publice docenda profiteor eaque juxta datam mihi facultatem eruditionem tuebor docebo Hancque meam confessionem manus meae subscriptione testificor contrariamque doctrinam abolendam esse judico detestor By these Articles it may appear that Bishop Scambler was no friend to the Church of Rome nor they to him and whether it was for these Articles or some other Book which he published I find him recorded in the Roman Index of Books prohibited and branded with the Title of Pseudoëpiscopus But his name and memory are the more honourable by that name of Infamy which the Papists might cast upon the Worthies of our English Church Scambler having been Bishop here the space of twenty three years was translated to Norwich whither he that would know the residue of his life end burial or Epitaph must follow him it being without the Climate of our story But whilst he was at Peterburgh he empaired the honour priviledges and revenues of his Bishoprick passing quite away the Hundred of Nassaburgh with the whole Liberties thereof The Goal The Mannor of Thirlby The Mannor of Southorpe c. to the Queen from whom the Earls of Exeter enjoy them to this day As if King Henry had not taken away enough the Bishop himself would pass away more Scambler being translated to Norwich there succeeded 48 RICHARD HOWLAND Who was Master of S. John's Colledge in Cambridge and made Bishop here March 16. 1584. being the 27 year of Queen Elizabeth We have not much to say of him his parts or actions but shall enlarge this Paragraph of his being Bishop here with the story of Mary Queen of Scotts her death at Fotheringhay Castle and burial in the Cathedral Church of Peterburgh The whole progress of her life and actions from her first arrival in England May 16. 1568. to her coming to Fotheringhay with her several places of removal and several keepers is so largely related by Mr. Vdal Mr. Saunderson and others who have wrote her story that I shall remit the Reader to them and content my self with her death and burial Upon the seventh day of February 1586. eighteen years from her first arrival The Commissioners for her execution came to Fotheringhay the Earls of Shrewsbury Kent c. and Thomas The Earl of Shrewsbury was George Talbot and E. Marshal of England The Earl of Kent was Henry Grey Andrews of Sheriff of Northamptonshire for that year By these the Queen of Scotts understanding that the Lease of her life was not long to last only one day longer she seemed not dismayed with the Message but told the Commissioners she did not think that Queen Elizabeth would have consented to her death but since it was so she would most gladly embrace it and in order thereunto desired of the Commissioners the benefit of her Clergy that her Confessor might come to her which the Commissioners denying propounded the Bishop or Dean of Peterburgh which the Queen of Scotts refused The Commissioners being departed she gave order for her Supper at the time whereof she drank to her servants and comforted them because she saw them much
Lady 8. Scotish Gentlewomen Sr. Tho Cecil Sr. Tho. Mannors Sr. Edw. Mountague Sr. George Hastings Sr. Richard Knightly Sr. Andrew Nowell Sr. George Savel Sr. James Harrington Mr. John Mannors as a Knight 18. Scotish Gentlemen Divers Esquires with Gent. 2 Kings at Arms Garter Clarentius 5. Heralds at Arms. An hundred poor women The solemnity being setled the Prebends and the Quire which received them at the Church door sung an Antheme the Scotish all saving Mr. Melvin departed and would not tarry at Sermon or Ceremonies The Bishop of Lincoln preached Wickham out of that 39. Psalm 5 6 7 ver Lord let me know mine end c. Who shall gather them c. In the Prayer when he gave thanks for such as were translated out of this vale of misery he used these words Let us give thanks for the happy dissolution of the High and Mighty Princess Mary late Queen of Scotland and Dowager of France of whose life and death at this time I have not much to say because I was not acquainted with the one neither was I present at the other I will not enter into judgment further but because it hath been signified unto me that she trusted to be saved by the bloud of Christ we must hope well of her Salvation For as Father Luther was wont to say many one that liveth a Papist dieth a Protestant In the discourse of his Text he only dealt with general doctrine of the vanity of all flesh The Sermon ended the offering of the Chief Mourner and hatchments were received by the Bishop of Peterburgh and the offerings of the rest by the Dean which ended the mourners departed The Ceremony of burial was done by the Dean the Officers breaking their Staves and casting them into the vault upon the Coffin And so they departed to the Bishops house where was a great Feast appointed accordingly The concourse of people was of many thousands and after dinner the Nobles departed away every one towards his own home The Master of the Wardrobe paid to the Church for the breaking of the ground in the Quire and making the grave 10l And for the blacks of the Quire and Church 20l. When Cardinal Barbarini afterwards Pope Vrban 8. wrote his Poem upon this Queens death wherein he hath this Regalique tuum funus honore caret c. either he was ignorant of this her manner of interment or else he undervalued it as not suitable to her quality This relation was attested in a Church Register by Dean Fletcher himself subscribing his name thereunto to which especially that of the Sermon we may give more credit than to Martin Mar-Prelate who to slander the Bishops of England with Popery in a railing Pamphlet which he entituled an Epistle charged the Bishop of Lincoln with praying at this solemnity That his Soul and the Souls of all the rest there present might be with the Soul of that unrepentant Papist departed Though the Bishop as became a charitable Christian might hope well of her Salvation yet who but Martin again would accuse him of being so credulous as to bind up his own Salvation in so confident an assurance of hers Shortly after this interment there was a table hanged up against the wall which contained this Inscription Maria Scotorum Regina Regis filia Regis Gallorum Vidua Reginae Angliae Agnata Haeres proxima Virtutibus Regiis animo Regio ornata jure Regio Frustra saepius implorato barbara tyrannica Crudelitate ornamentum nostri seculi lumen Vere Regium extinguitur Eodem nefario judicio Et Maria Scotorum Regina morte naturali omnes Superstites Reges plebeii facti morte civili mulctantur Novum inauditum tumuli genus in quo cum vivis Mortui includuntur hic extat Cum sacris enim Divae Mariae cineribus omnium Regum atque Principum vio latam atque prostratam Majestatem hic jacere scito Et quia tacitum Regale satis superque Reges sui Officii monet plura non addo Viator Which in English may be rendred thus Mary Queen of Scots daughter of a King Widow of the King of France Cousin and next heir to the Queen of England adorned with Royal vertues and a Royal mind the right of Princes being oftentimes in vain implored by barbarous and Tyrannical cruelty the ornament of our age and truly Royal light is extinguished By the same unrighteous judgment both Mary Queen of Scots with natural death and all surviving Kings now made common persons are punished with civil death A strange and unusual kind of monument this is wherein the living are included with the dead For with the sacred ashes of this blessed Mary know that the Majesty of all Kings and Princes lieth here violated and prostrate And because Regal secrecy doth enough and more admonish Kings of their duty Traveller I say no more This Table continued not long but was taken away and cast aside by whose hand or order I know not yet the Royal Ensigns of an Helmet Sword and Scutcheon remained to the year 1643. hanging high over the place of her burial yet did not their height secure them from the storms which then fell upon this Church and Monuments After that the body of this Queen had rested in this place the space of 25 years her Son King James being minded to remove it to Westminster wrote to the Church of Peterburgh as followeth JAMES R. Rich. Neile TRusty and well-beloved we greet you well for that we think it appertains to the duty we owe to our dearest Mother that like honour should be done to her Body and like Monument be extant of Her as to others Hers and our Progenitors have been used to be done and our selves have already performed to our dear Sister the late Queen Elizabeth we have commanded a memorial of her to be made in our Church of Westminster the place where the Kings and Queens of this Realm are usually interred And for that we think it inconvenient that the Monument and Her body should be in several places we have ordered that her said Body remaining now interred in that our Cathedral Church of Peterburgh shall be removed to Westminster to her said monument And have committed the care and charge of the said translation of her body from Peterburgh to Westminster to the Reverend Father in God our right trusty and well-beloved servant the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield bearer hereof to whom we require you or to such as he shall assign to deliver the Corps of our said dearest Mother the same being taken up in as decent and respectful manner as is fitting And for that there is a Pall now upon the Hearse over Her Grave which will be requisite to be used to cover Her said Body in the removing thereof which may perhaps be deemed as a Fee that should belong to the Church we have appointed the said Reverend Father to pay you a reasonable redemption
not take it ill if I give a relation of them Amongst the Reliques of this place that which was most famous and bare the bell away from all the rest was S. Oswalds arm which continued uncorrupted for many years and that in the time of Abbot Martin it was shown to Alexander Bishop of Lincoln 487 years after its cutting off And of it some of the Monks in those times wrote these Verses Cum digitis dextram cute sanguine carneque tectam Oswaldi Regis Burgensis continet aedis Vngues sunt tales fuerant vivo sibi quales Intus in hac dextra paret cernentibus extra Nervus hinc vena dextra junctura serena In cubiti veluti nova paret fossa veruti Quo fuit appensum pretiosum martyris armum The story of this arm I suppose to be taken out of Beda his History of England lib. 3. cap. 6. who relates that this Oswald King of Northumberland was very free and liberal in giving of alms to the poor and one day whilst he sate at meat one of his servants told him of a great number of poor people come to his gate for relief whereupon King Oswald sent them meat from his own table and there not being enough to serve them all he caused one of his silver dishes to be cut in pieces and to be distributed amongst the rest which Aydanus a Bishop who came out of Scotland to convert and instruct those Northern parts of England beholding took the King by the right hand saying nunquam inveterascat haec manus let this hand never wax old or be corrupted which came to pass This arm was first deposited at Bamburgh a religious place in Yorkshire Walter of Wettlesey writing the story thereof tells that it was brought to the Monastary of Burgh by Winegotus of Bebeberch but saith not when therefore I cannot conjecture better than that it was by the procurement of this Abbot Elsinus It is said that this arm wrought many cures upon several diseased folk and that it was of such fame in the days of King Stephen as that he himself came to Peterburgh purposely to see it and offered his Ring to S. Oswald and also remitted King Stephen at Peterburgh to the Monastery the summ of forty marks wherein it was indebted unto him But that the Reader may know more fully the story of S. Oswald and his arm it is to be remembred that Penda King of the Camden Mercians being of a fierce nature and withal ambitious made war upon his neighbour Kings and particularly upon Oswald King of Northumberland who was a Christian him Penda encountred at Oswaldstreet now Oswestre in Shropshire though Wittlesey saith this battle was fought at a place called Burne and there overthrew him and caused him to be torn in pieces whom some in remembrance of Bishop Aydan's blessing might preserve his arm which at length was here at Peterburgh treasured up If the Reader be still at a stand when he shall read in Authors that King Oswald was buried at several places I cannot help him And now that we are upon this subject of Reliques we may I hope without offence to the Reader extend the Legend to the full Besides S. Oswalds arm there were some of his ribs and some of the earth where he was slain There were two pieces of our Saviours swadling cloaths Of the Manger wherein he was laid in two places Two pieces of the Cross which would not be burnt More of the Cross in four places Of the Sepulchre of our Lord in four places Of the five loaves with which he fed the five thousand men Of the garment of S. Mary in two places Of her vail in two places Of Aarons rod. Reliques of S. John the Baptist Of old Symeon Of the Sepulchre of Lazarus in two places Of the stone-patin of S. John the Evangelist Reliques of S. Peter the Apostle Of S. Paul Of S. Andrew Of S. Bartholomew Of S. Philip and Jacob. A shoulder blade of one of the Innocents whom Herod slew Reliques of S. Stephen S. Dionysius Rusticus and Elutherius Of the sackcloath and shirt of S. Wenceslaus Of the hand of S. Magnus Martyr Of S. Laurence The jaw and tooth and arm of S. George Martyr Reliques of S. Hippolytus and of S. Gervase The jaw and tooth of S. Christopher Reliques of S. Cyriacus of S. Potitus of S. Quirinus Two teeth of S. Edward King and Martyr Reliques of S. Trudon of S. Maximus of S. Salinus of S. Theodorus of S. Innocentius of S. Mauritius of S. Apollinaris of S. Gorgon of S. S. Cosmus and Damianus of S. S. Sergius and Bachius The finger of S. Leofridus Abbot Reliques of S. Hugo S. Wulgarus S. Adelwold S. Cuthbald S. Vindemianus S. Lotharius Three sinews of the hand of S. Athelard Abbot of Corbey Reliques of S. Acca Bishop of S. Machutus of S. Egwinus Abbot of S. Kenulphus The arm of S. Swithune Bishop A relique of S. Medard The shoulder-blade of S. Ambrose The tooth of S. Aydanus of S. Grimbaldus of S. Adelmus Two pieces of S. Cecilia of S. Lucia of S. Christina Of the bones and bloud and garment of S. Eutopia Of S. Mary the Egyptian Of S. Mary Magdalen Of the head and arms of S. Rogelida Of * See the Matriculatory at the end O. S. Anstroberta Of S. Edburga Of S. Emerentiana Of S. Juliana Virgin Of the hairs of S. Athelwold Bishop The tooth of S. Sexburga Virgin Reliques deposited under the great Altar Of the wood and Sepulchre of our Lord. Of the head of S. George Of the arm of S. Sebastian Of S. Pancratius Of S. Procopius S. Wilfridus S. Botwinus S. Albertus S. Suffredus S. Tadbertus S. Wildegelus Abbots Pag. 91. Reliques in the silver Tower Of the Sepulchre of our Lord. Of the garment and Sepulchre of S. Mary Of S. Andrew and S. Philip and S. James Of S. Dionysius S. Rusticus and Eleutherius Of S. Oswaldus S. Laurentius S. Vincentius S. Potitus S. S. Cosmus and Damianus S. Adelwoldus S. Adelinus S. Cecilia S. Edburga What became of these or some of these reliques in after times some small mention will be made hereafter but whether any of them were extant in the Monastery at the dissolution by King Henry the Eighth I find nothing amongst Writers no not of great S. Oswalds arm though Nicolas Harpsfield a late Historical Romanist would make us believe that the prayer of Aydanus was still in force as if that arm was somewhere extant But to return to Abbot Elsinus He was three years in Normandy with Queen Emma where he also collected many other reliques and like a laborious Bee stored his Abbey with them It hapned at that time that there was a great dearth in that Country of Normandy insomuch that many of the inhabitants forsook the Country and planted themselves in other places The Abbey of S. Florentinus having spent their treasures in buying of food and nothing left
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
Monument erected for the slain Abbot and Monks is here represented in this draught which I have caused to be taken of it as it now appears The very next year after the desolation of the Monastery An. DCCCLXXI Goredus so Abbot John's Chronicle calls him whom Ingulph calls Beorredus King of the Mercians took all the Lands of the Church of Medeshamstede between Stamford Huntingdon and Wisbeck into his own hands giving those that lay more remote to his Souldiers and Stipendiaries The same he did with the Lands belonging to St. Pege at Pegekyrk some of which he kept himself and gave the rest to his Stipendiaries Which are the very words of Ingulphus from whom its likely they were transcribed into that Chronicle In which we find nothing concerning this place till almost an hundred years after Edredus he saith in the year DCCCCXLVII cleared and restored the Monastery of Croyland by the instigation of Surketulus who turning Monk the King made Abbot of this place Which Ingulphus saith was done the year after An. 948. and sets down the Charter of that King in which there is no mention as in former Charters of the Abbot of Medeshamstede consenting to it and confirming it though in the boundaries of the Lands of Croyland Ager de Medeshamsted is there named Ingulphus p 35. Oxon. Edit Nor in King Edgar's Charter to the same Monastery of Croyland An. 966. is there any mention of his Subscription though among other Royal Woods there is mention made of Medeshamsted-Wood p. 42. For though Adelwaldus who by the assistance of King Edgar restored many Monasteries destroyed by the Pagans as Burgh Eli and Abenddon they are the words of John Abbot was made Bishop of Winchester An. 961. yet he did not apply himself to the rebuilding of this of Medeshamstede till nine years after if we may credit that Writer who saith it began to be restored just an hundred years after its desolation His words are these An. 970. Sanctus Adelwoldus Episcopus Wint. transtulit de Coemiterio in Ecclesiam reliquias Sancti Surthuni praedecessoris sui ante altare Sancti Petri honorifice collocavit Monasterium etiam de Medeshamstede restaurare coepit Burgum Sancti Petri appellavit Anno desolationis suae aequaliter centesimo In another different hand there is this Animadversion given that in claustro dicti Monasterii notantur anni desolationis LXXXXVI the time of its desolation are noted in the Cloyster of the said Monastery to have been but 96. years Which account Mr. G. follows though in Swapham or Hugo rather they are reckoned to be 99 years For so the Note is in the Margin of the Book in a hand of the same age with the Book it self Restauratio hujus loci à prima fundatione ejus An. CCCXIII. A destructione vero ejusdem Anno XCIX This great man Adelwold was at first a Monk in the Abbey of Glastonberry where as William of Malmsbury relates L. 2. de gestis Pontificum Angl. the Abbot had a dream representing to him how excellent a person this Monk would prove For he thought he saw a Tree springing up within the Walls of the Abbey which spread its branches to all the four quarters of the World and had all its leaves covered over with Cowles a very great Cowle being placed at the top of all At which being amazed an old man he thought told him that the great Cowle was Athelwold and the rest were innumerable Monks whom he should attract by his example Consonant to which was a vision his Mother had when she was with Child of him with which I shall not trouble the Reader but only note that it signified the large extent of his mind in this sort of Charity which reached to no less than forty Monasteries as all our Writers report Particularly W. of Malmsbury who saith L. 2. de gestis Regum Angliae he built so many and such noble Monasteries that it scarce seemed credible in his dayes that a Bishop of one City should do such things as the King of all England could not easily effect But he himself in another place makes this wonder cease by telling us that he could make King Edgar do what he pleased So his words are in the Book before named of the Acts of the Bishops of England it might seem a wonder he should do such things nisi quod Rex Edgar omnino ejus voluntati deditus erat à quo super omnes infra Dunstanum diligeretur And therefore the Abbot of Rieval L. de genealog Regum Angliae saith expresly that Edgar himself caused forty Monasteries to be built among which he reckons this of Burch as it now began to be called Which Athelwold saith Malmsbury L. IV. de gestis Potif Ang. built so sumptuously and endowed with such ample possessions ut penè tota circa regio illi subjaceat that almost all the Country round about was subject to it And this account also John Bromton Abbot of Joreval gives of this matter who having said that King Edgar built and repaired above forty Monasteries adds Inter quae consilio monitione Sancti Ethelwoldi Wintoniensis Episc Abbatiam Glastoniae Abendoniae composuit Abbatiam de Burgh prope Stamfordiam stabilivit c. So that the very truth in short is this Athelwold was to Edgar as Saxulf had been to Wulferus a trusty and diligent Servant who managed his Royal bounty in these magnificent Works And therefore is called by King Edgar in his Charter as Saxulf was by Wolfere in his Constructor the builder of the Churches before mentioned particularly of this formerly called Medeshamstede but now sua ac nostra instantia restauratum Burch appellatur Which by Ingulphus is called Burgum and by Matthew of Westminster ad An. 664. is said to be Vrbs Regia a Royal City Which this famous Bishop lived to see flourishing under Adulphus about thirteen year for he dyed not till the year 985. At which I find these words in the Chron. of John Abbot Sanctus Athelwoldus Wint. Episcopus qui Monasterium Burgi restauravit Kal. Augusti migravit ad Dominum There were some reliques of him preserved in this Church particularly of his Heirs ADVLPHVS Mr. G. having given an account of the most material things that are in Hugo concerning this Abbot whom John Bromton calls Eadrilf I shall only add that it is certain he succeeded Oswald in the Archbishoprick of York An. 992. So John Abbot writes Sanctus Oswaldus Archiep. Ebor. 2. Kal. Martii migravit ad Dominum cui Adulphus Abbas Burgi successit But though he call him Abbot of Burg which was become the new stile yet other writers still retained the old one and call him Abbas Medeshamstudensis So the Chron. of Mailros lately printed pag. 152. And so Florentius Wigornensis Ad An. 992 Venerabilis Medeshamstudensis Abbas Adulphus successit pro quo Kenulphus Abbatis jure fungitur Roger Hoveden also speaks the same language and Symeon of Durham in
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
say Semen Ecclesiae the Seed or Corn of the Church Which I find word for word in very old French in a short Glossary upon unusual English words in the antient Charters or in the Laws of King Alred Alfrid Edward and Knute Chirchesed vel Chircheomer vel Chircheambre un certein de ble batu R checun hume devoyt au ceus de Bretuns e de Englis a le Eglise le jur seint Martin Mes pus le venue de Normans c. donewint sulum la velie ley Moysi ratione primitiarum sicun lein truve en le lettris Cnut Kilenveya a Rome c ' est dit Chirchesed quasi semen Ecclesiae The Letter it self is in Ingulphus but it was not sent adsummum Pontificem as Fleta says but to the Archbishops and Bishops and all the Nation of England as he was coming from Rome 1031. wherein he desires them that before he arrived in England all the dues which by ancient Laws were owing to the Church might be paid and after the rest he mentions the tenths of the fruits in August and in the feast of St. Martin the first-fruits of the seeds called Kyrkset So his Letter concludes Et in Festivitate Sancti Martini primitiae seminum ad Ecclesiam sub cujus parochia quisque degit quae Anglice Kyrkeset nominatur Ingulph p. 61. Edit Oxon. c. This description of their Lands and Goods concludes with a Customary of their Tenants Villani Cottarii and Sochemanni in every Mannor belonging to the Church Which while the King held in his hand he gave away as Mr. G. observes the Mannor of Pithtesle for the same summ of money which the late Abbot had given him to confirm it Deo Sancto Petro Monachis sigillo authoritate regia And the person to whom the King granted it it may be further observed was one imployed to take the forenamed account of the Estate of the Church viz. Richard Basset or Bassed This Abbot was commemorated upon the 10. of November on which it appears by the Kalander was Depositio Johannis de Says Abbatis Anniversarium Henrici Talbot c. HENRICVS de Angeli His story is told more perfectly by Hugo in this manner He was first of all Bishop of Soissons and afterward made a Monk and Prior of Cluni and then Prior of Savenni After which because he was Cosin to the King of England and the Count of Aquitain the same Count gave him Abbatiam Sancti Johannis Angeli from whence he took his denomination And he being crafty cunning and ingenious afterward got the Archbishoprick of Besenscun but staid there no more than three days For he had not yet enough but got the Bishoprick de Senites where he staid about seven days And out of this preferment as well as that of Besenscun the Abbot of Cluni got him expelled He got therefore being never quiet to be Collector of Peter-pence in England Where he obtained this Abbey of Burch by pretending he was very old past labour and toil unable to bear the Wars and Troubles of his own Country and would quit his Abbey there of St. John de Angeli and that by the advice of the Pope and the Abbot of Cluni and would here take up his rest There was another thing also that had a great stroke in his preferment for besides he was near of kin to the King and that the forenamed discourse seemed to have truth in it he was the principal Witness to make Oath in a difference between the Kings Nephew the Duke of Normandy and the Daughter of the Count of Anjoy Upon all these scores the Abby was bestowed upon him in the year mentioned by Mr. G. So John Abbot also in his Chron. MS. An. MCXXVIII Henricus Abbas Andagavensis precibus optinuit à Rege Henrico Abbatiam Burgensem What Walter of Witlesea saith of Spectres seen that year he came to the Abby he had out of Hugo who saith Hoc non est falsum quia plurimi veracissimi homines viderunt audierunt cornua He staid one year in the Monastery and received homage and money of the Milites and of the whole Abbey but did not the least good for he sent and carried all to his Abbey beyond Sea whither he went by the Kings licence And having staid there a whole year he returned hither and said he had absolutely quitted his other Abbey for good and all as we speak The same year came Petrus Abbot of Cluni into England and was honourably received by the Kings command in all the Monasteries Particularly here at Burch whither he came to see Henry who complemented him highly and promised he would procure the Abbey of Burch to be made subject to that of Cluni with which hopes Peter went home The next year Henry got together a great summ of money and went beyond Sea again where the King then was Whom he made believe that he was commanded by the Abbot of Cluni to come and resign his Abbey of St. John de Angeli to him and then he would return free from that care into England So he went thither and there staid till the Feast of St. John Baptist And the next day after the Monks chose another of their own body into his place and installed him singing Te Deum and doing all other things necessary for that end expelling Henry by the help of the Count of Anjoy with great disgrace and detaining all that he had there Where he had done no more good than in other places all the five and twenty years that he had governed them Being thus cast out he went to Cluni where they kept him prisoner the Abbot and Monks being very angry with him saying he had lost the Abby of St. John by his folly Nor would they let him stir out of Doors till by his craft he again deceived them with promises and Oaths that if they would permit him to return into England he would subject the Abbey of Burch to them and as Hugo's words are ibi construeret Priores Secretarios Cellerarios Camerarios omnia commendaret in manibus eorum intus foris By which agreement he got into England whither the King also returned out of Normandy Unto whom Henry came and accused the Monks of Burch to him very heavily though with out any truth in order to his end of subjecting them to Cluni The King in great anger sent for them to Bramtun where a Plea was managed against them with so much art that the King was almost deceived But God stept in to help them by the Counsels of the Bishops there present particularly Lincoln and the Barons who understood his fraud Yet he would not desist but being thus defeated indeavoured to make his Nephew Gerardus Abbot of Burch that what he could not do by himself might be effected by him All which made the lives of the Monks very uneasie till the King at last understood his knavery
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
one place there was a single Fish in the other three Fishes in a Dish set before him This occasion'd that discourse and common Talk I remember I have often heard of the Paschal Pickeril at Peterburgh Now what should be the meaning of this conceit is left to every one to conjecture The Account that I have had from some was this That it was the device of some devout and ignorant Artist from a Notion he had of the time this last Supper must needs be in that is of Lent and that our Saviour himself was a strict observer of Lent and eat no Flesh all that season and therefore He took liberty to substitute a Fish instead of the Paschal Lamb. Whatever it was the matter of Fact was certain and that particular piece of Glass wherein the Three Fishes are portray'd happend to be preserved in the great Devastation and was committed to my trust by the Author of the foregoing History from whom I had this Relation and is yet to be seen But to proceed notwithstanding all the Art and curiosity of workmanship these Windows did afford yet nothing of all this could oblige the Reforming Rabble but they deface and break them all in pieces in the Church and in the Cloyster and left nothing undemolisht where either any Picture or Painted Glass did appear excepting only part of the great West window in the Body of the Church which still remains entire being too high for them and out of their reach Yea to encourage them the more in this Trade of breaking and battering Windows down Cromwell himself as 't was reported espying a little Crucifix in a Window aloft which none perhaps before had scarce observed gets a Ladder and breaks it down zealously with his own hand But before I conclude the Narrative I must not forget to tell how they likewise broke open the Chapterhouse ransack'd the Records broke the Seals tore the Writings in pieces specially such as had great Seals annexed unto them which they took or mistook rather for the Popes Bulls So that a grave and sober Person coming into the Room at that time finds the Floor all strewed and covered over with torn Papers Parchments and broken Seals and being astonisht at this sight does thus expostulate with them Gentlemen says He what are ye doing They answer We are pulling and tearing the Popes Bulls in pieces He replies ye are much mistaken for these Writings are neither the Popes Bulls nor any thing relating to him But they are the Evidences of several mens Estates and in destroying these you will destroy and undo many with this they were something perswaded and prevailed upon by the same person to permit him to carry away all that were left undefaced by which means the writings the Church hath now came to be preserved Such was the Souldiers carriage and behaviour all the time during their stay at Peterburgh which was about a Fortnights space They went to Church duly but it was only to do mischief To break and batter the Windows and any Carved work that was yet remaining or to pull down Crosses wheresoever they could find them which the first Founders did not set up with so much zeal as these last Confounders pulled them down Thus in a short time a fair and goodly Structure was quite stript of all its ornamental Beauty and made a ruthful Spectacle a very Chaos of Desolation and Confusion nothing scarce remaining but only bare walls broken Seats and shatter'd Windows on every side And in the time of this publick Confusion two other things hapned not unworthy of relating The one for the strangeness the other for the sadness of the Accident The first was this when now the Church doors lay open to all comers without locks and bars and none to look after them those specially that lead up to the Leads above Two young Children not above five years old had got up the Steeple by themselves and having lost their way down come to the place where the great Bells hang. Here there was a large round space left purposely in the Arch when first built for the drawing up Bells or any other things as there should be occasion This place used to be safely closed before but now it lay wide open and was between thirty and forty yards off from the ground The two children coming hither and finding this passage One out of his childish simplicity was for jumping down No saies the other let us rather swarm down there being a Bell rope then hanging down through that place to the Clockhouse below Now this last they did And a Gentlemen walking there beneath at that time sees two children come with that swiftness down the Rope like Arrows from a Bow who were both taken up for dead on the place This hapned on a Sunday i th' afternoon in Sermon time The news coming into the Parish-Church that two children falling off from the Minster were slain The Congregration was exceedingly disorder'd so that the Preacher could not go on for a time every Parent fearing it might be their own childrens case till at length they understood the truth and certainty of all For it pleased God by a strange and wonderful providence to preserve both these children having no hurt but only their Hands galled by the Rope and their Feet a little stunted by the fall from the Clock-house where they were thrown off the Rope being fastned there and this some four or five yards high The Persons I suppose are both living still and one of them whose Father was then one of the chief Tradesmen of the Town since a grave Minister and Rector of a Parish in Northamptonshire The other thing that hapned of more fatal consequence was this It being that time of the year when young Lads are busie in rifling Jack-Daws Nests to get their young a Scholar of the Free-School son to a Parliament Officer was got upon the Top of the Minster about this employment who going along the Cieling in the Body of the Church and treading unwarily on some rotten Boards fell down from thence upon the Loft where the Organ now stands having his Pockets filled with those inauspicious Birds and with the Fall from so great a height was slain outright and never stirred more These two things hapened much about the same time in the time of that publick Confusion and Disorder But to proceed in our intended Narrative These things I have related before were indeed the Acts of private persons only men of wild intemperate zeal and who had no Commission for what they did but what was owing to the Swords by their sides Yet notwithstanding all these things seemed afterward to be own'd and approved by the Powers then in being when they sold all the Churches Lands and many fair Buildings adjoyning to the Minster were likewise pulled down and sold by publick Order and Authority such were the Cloysters the old Chapterhouse the Library the Bishops Hall and Chapel at
I find not any Papal election ratification confirmation or any other writing whereby the Pope contributed any thing to the establishment of any Abbot either to the Convent or any other persons but all was from the King alone who either himself nominated the person or accepted of such a one as the Monks elected whom he ratified and confirmed in the Abbey But now and I suppose through the succumbency of Q. Mary and K. Philip to the Roman Chair this David was presented unto and confirmed in this Bishoprick by Paul the fourth Pope of that name whose Letters in the behalf of Bishop David were as followeth First for his nomination or presentation Paulus Episcopus servus servorum Dei Dilecto filio Davidi Pool Petriburgen salutem Apostolicam benedictionem Apostolatus officium nobis meritis licet imparibus ex alto commissum quo Ecclesiarum omnium divina dispositione praesidemus utiliter exequi coadjuvante Domino cupientes solliciti corde reddimur solertes ut cum de Ecclesiarum ipsarum regiminibus agitur committendis tales eis in pastores praeficere studeamus qui populum suae curae creditum sciant non solum doctrina verbi sed exemplo boni operis informare commissasque sibi Ecclesias velint valeant auctore Domino salubriter regere foeliciter gubernare dudum siquidem provisiones Ecclesiarum omnium tunc vacantium in antea vacaturarum ordinationi dispositioni nostrae reservavimus decernentes extunc irritum inane si secus super hiis per quoscunque quavis auctoritate scienter vel ignoranter contingeret attemptari Postmodum vero Ecclesia Petriburgensis cui bonae memoriae Johannes Episcopus Petriburgensis dum viveret praesidebat per obitum ejusdem Johannis Episcopi qui extra Romanam curiam debitum naturae persolvit pastoris solatio destituta nos vacatione hujusmodi fide dignis relationibus intellecta ad provisionem ejusdem Ecclesiae celerem foelicem de qua nullus praeter nos hac vice se intromittere potuit sive potest reservatis decreto obsistentibus supradictis ne Ecclesia ipsa longae vacationis exponatur incommodis paternis sollicitis studiis intendentes post deliberationem quam de praesiciendo eidem Ecclesiae personam utilem fructuosam cum fratribus nostris habuimus diligentem Petriburgensem seu alterius civitatis vel dioeceseos legum Doctorem de legitimo matrimonio procreatum in aetate legitima constitutum quem charissima in Christo filia nostra Maria Angliae Franciae Regina illustris nobis per suas literas commendavit cui apud nos de munditia honestate morum spiritualium providentia temporalium circumspectione aliisque multiplicum virtutum donis fide digna testimonia perhibentur direximus oculos nostrae mentis Quibus omnibus debita meditatione pensatis de persona tua nobis eisdem fratribus ob tuorum exigentiam meritorum accepta eidem Ecclesiae de ipsorum fratrum consilio auctoritate Apostolica providemus teque illum Episcopum praeficimus pastorem curam administrationem ipsius Ecclesiae tibi in spiritualibus temporalibus plenè committendo in illo qui dat gratias largitur praemia confidens quod dirigente Domino actus tuos praefata Ecclesia per tuae diligentiae laudabile studium regetur utiliter prospere dirigetur ac grata in eisdem spiritualibus temporalibus suscipiet incrementa Jugum igitur Domini tuis impositum humeris prompta devotione suscipe curam administrationem praedictas sic exercere studeas sollicitè fideliter prudenter quòd Ecclesia ipsa gubernatori provido fructuoso administratorigaudeat se commissam tuque praeter aeternum retributionis praemium nostram Apostolicae benedictionem gratiam exinde uberius consequi merearis Dat. Romae apud Sanctum Petrum Anno Incarnationis Dominicae Millesimo Quingentesimo Quinquagesimo sexto nono Kal. Aprilis Pontificatus nostri Anno secundo The other Letters were to the Church of Peterburgh for the reception of David for their Bishop and were as followeth Paulus Episcopus servus servorum Dei dilectis filiis Vniversis Cathedralis Ecclesiae Petriburgens salutem Apostolicam ben Hodie Ecclesiae Petriburgen tunc per obitum bonae memoriae Johannis olim Episcopi Petriburgen extra Roman curiam defuncti pastoris solatio destitut de persona dilecti filii electi Petriburgen nobis fratribus nostris obsuorum exigentia meritorum accepta de fratrum eorundem consilio Apostolica autoritate providimus ipsumque illi in Episcopum praefecimus pastorem curam administrationem ipsius Ecclesiae sibi in spiritualibus temporalibus plenarie committendo prout in nostris inde confectis literis plenius continetur Quocirca universitati vestrae per Apostolica scripta mandamus quatenus eundem Davidem electum devote suscipientes debita honorificentia prosequentes ei fidelitatem debitam nec non consueta servitia jura sibi à vobis debita exhibere integre studeatis alioquin sententiam sive poenam quam idem David electus rite tulerit in rebelles ratam habebimus faciemus auctore Domino usque ad satisfactionem condignam inviolabiliter observari Dat. Romae apud Sanctum Petrum Anno Incarnationis Dominicae Millesimo quingentesimo quinquagesimo sexto nono Kal. Aprilis Pontificatus nostri Anno secundo Jo. Mathe B. Jens Jo. Csyrinus p. m. Jo. Gunnos Larengus Jo. Bapt. Capata Ant. Gibert Tortura Torti pag. 146. To these Letters was affixed the Common Seal of Lead But as peremptory as they were they could not secure David in his Bishoprick from the just Authority of the Q. Eliz. who in the second year of her Reign ejected him and placed another in his room What became of him after his ejectment let the late Learned and Reverend Bishop Andrews be the Informer for the Author of a Romish Pamphlet I mean Bellarmine having charged those times with cruelty that such Bishops as were deposed by Queen Elizabeth were yet more hardly used and died in misery The Bishop gives us account of them and particularly of this our David in these words Polus Petriburgensis summa comitate habitus liber semper Principis beneficio in agro suo matura aetate decessit His Successor in the Bishoprick was 47. EDMVND SCAMBLER Whom some will have to have been first a Secular Priest which we will not stand upon He was when he was nominated to this Bishoprick but Batchelor in Divinity as appeareth by the Queens Letter to the Church for his Election bearing date November 11. and second of her Reign 1560. He was Authorized to hold in Commendam with his Bishoprick of Peterburgh a Prebendary in York and another in Westminster for the space of three years by Commission from the Queen bearing date May 13. Anno Eliz. 3. And from Matthew Archbishop of Canterbury bearing the same date But he was made Bishop something before February some
the end of it The Hall was as fair a Room as most in England and another call'd the Green-Chamber not much inferior to it These all were then pull'd down and destroyed and the materials Lead Timber and Stone exposed to Sale for any that would buy them But some of the Bargains proved not very prosperous The Lead especially that came off the Palace was as fatal as the Gold of Tholouse for to my knowledge The Merchant that bought it lost it all and the Ship which carried it in her Voyage to Holland And thus the Church continued ruined and desolate and without all divine Offices for a time till at length by the favour of a great Person in the Neighbourhood it was repaired and restored to some degrees of decency again and out of the ashes of a late Cathedral grew up into a new Parochial Church in which way it was employ'd and used ever after untill the Kings happy Restauration For Mr. Oliver St. John Chief Justice then of the Common Pleas being sent on an Embassy into Holland by the Powers that govern'd then requested this Boon of them at his Return that they would give him the ruin'd Church or Minster at Peterburgh this they did accordingly and he gave it to the Town of Peterburgh for their use to be employ'd as a Parochial Church their own Parish-Church being then very ruinous and gone to decay Now the the Town considering the largeness of the Building and the greatness to the charge to repair it which of themselves they were not able to defray they all agree to pull down the Ladies Chapel as it was then called an additional Building to the North side of the Minster being then ruinous and ready to fall and to expose the materials thereof Lead Timber and Stone to Sale and to convert the mony that was made of them towards the Repairs of the great Fabrick All this they did and appointed certain persons to oversee the Work and expended several summs thus in Repairs mending the Leads securing the Roof Glazing several Windows and then fitting up the Quire and making it pretty decent for the Congregation to meet in And this they did by taking the Painted Boards that came off from the Roof of the Ladies Chapel and placing them all along at the back of the Quire in such manner as they continue to this day When the Place was thus fitted up and the Devastations which the Souldiers had made in some measure repaired one Mr. Samuel Wilson School Master of the Charter-house in London was sent down by the Committee of Plundred Ministers as they were then called to be Preacher with a Sallary of 160 l. per an in which employment he continued untill the Kings Return Then Dr. Cosin the antient Dean of the Church after almost 20 years Exile in France return'd and re-assumed his Right again in the year 1660 about the end of July He then after so long an Interval renew'd the antient usage and read divine Service first himself and caused it to be read every day afterward according to the old Laudable use and Custome and setled the Church and Quire in that order wherein it now continues But though the Church was thus delivered from publick Robbers and Spoilers yet it was not safe from the injuries of private hands For some ten or twelve years after certain Thieves in the dead of the Night broke into the Church and stole away all the Plate they could find viz. a fair Silver Bason gilt and the Virgers two Silver Rods and a Linnen Table-Cloth to wrap them in which were never heard of to this day This was the same Bason that had been plunder'd by the Souldiers and recovered again but irrecoverably lost now Yet both these losses were soon repaired one by Dr. Henshaw Bishop then of the Place who gave a fair new Silver Bason gilt the other made up by Dr. Duport then Dean who furnisht the Virgers again with the Ensigns of their Office by buying two new Silver Maces for the Churches use And thus is this History brought down at length within our own knowledge and remembrance where we have seen what various fortunes this Antient Church has had which now reckons at least 1000 years from its first Foundation It has been often ruinated and as often reedified Once it was destroyed by Danes twice consumed by Fire It escaped the general downfal of Abbies in Hen. the Eighth's time though not without the loss of some of her fairest Mannors And yet what that King took away in revenues he added to it in Dignity by converting it from an Abbey into a Cathedral Church But the worst mischief that ever befel it was that in the late Rebellious times when the Church it self was miserably defaced and spoiled and all the Lands for the maintenance thereof quite alienated and sold And yet through Gods especial goodness and favour we have lived to see the one repaired the others restored and the Church it self recovering her ancient beauty and lustre again And that it may long thus continue flourish and prosper and be a Nursery for vertue a Seminary for true Religion and Piety a constant Preserver of Gods publick worship and service and free from all Sacrilegious hands is the earnest and hearty Prayer wherewith I shall conclude this Discourse Ex Libro Memorandor Oliv. Sutton Episc Lincoln Anno Pontificatus sui XI A. D. 1290. OLiv c. Archidiacono Oxon. c. Ad Audientiam nostram nuper certa relatione pervenit Quod nonnulli juxta suarum mentium inconstantiam quasi vento agitati a cultu fidei temere deviantes locum quendam in campo juxta Ecclesiam Sancti Clementis extra Municipium Oxon. fontem beati Edmundi vulgariter nuncupatum veluti locum sacrum venerari illumque sub simulatione sacrorum Miraculorum quae perpetrata confingunt ibidem causa devotionis erroneae frequentare ac populum non modicum illuc attrahendo hujusmodi figmentis dampnatis decipere imo pervertere noviter presumpserint errorem Gentilium inter Christicolas introducere superstitiose conando Nos vero hujusmodi incredulitatis perfidiam veluti contra fidem Ecclesiae Doctrinam Apostolicam ne corda renatorum caligine haereticae pravitatis obducat temporis per processum si forte radicari germinare zizania permittatur tortuose serpente virus sui cautius ministrante fomentum eliminare prorsus amputare deo propitio volentes Vobis firmiter injungendo mandamus quatenus in singulis Ecclesiis intra Missarum folempnia locis aliis Archidiaconatus vestri in quibus videritis expedire per vos alios firmiter inhibeatis ne quis ad dictum locum causa venerationis ejusdem de cetero convenire illum superstitiose frequentare presumat sub pena Excommuncationis Maj. omnes singulos contra hujus inhibitionem scienter temere venientes dicta sententia comminata solempniter in genere innodantes donec de culpa contriti